Chapter 24: Chapter 24

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The following morning, Hyunwoo headed to the customs office.

He already went there more than ten times this year. He stopped by the office whenever he was coming back from a business trip from the raw material suppliers.

Most of the time he brought some snacks like spicy rice cake and ice cream, etc. It was less than 20,000 won, but this kind of snack led to deeper relationship between him and the customs officers. Thanks to his visits, he was on friendly terms with Kwak and Lee Yuri. When Hyunwoo stopped by, they would go out to the bench near the parking lot.

Of course, there was some sort of clear limit to their relationship as public servants. Kwak and Lee drew a clear line at some point. In other words, they were keep the principle of getting neither too far nor not too close between them.

Hyunwoo was not greedy, either.

“Mr. Kwak, I saw you explaining FTA in the video material. Do you happen to have a video on FTA?”

“Maybe. Do you need it?”

“Yes, I would like to hammer at FTA.”

Kwak headed to the Trade Assistance Section immediately and said that Hyunwoo’s request was not that difficult to meet. He then came back in about five minutes.

“Here you are. They have some CDs on it.”

“Thanks. I’m beholden to you like this all the time.”

“You’re welcome. I think I have to repay your snacks, ha ha ha.”

When he came back to the office, he could play the CD only after his colleagues left the office. If he had to learn from the CD, he had to stay put at his desk, but the errands for his colleagues made it impossible for him to take time out to study during office hours.

As he watched the video, his eyes were glittering. And at some point, he snapped his fingers and said,

“Yes, this is what I want!”

In fact, he had a negative perception of the FTA between Korea and the United States, for he thought about the scene of the violent rallies against the FTA, with the protesters citing its poisonous clauses.

But when he watched the video on it, the United States was a land of opportunity for businessmen. They could save on tax hugely if they could make good use of the FTA, and Hyunwoo was confident that Aurum was no exception.

“I can’t be satisfied with only 50 million won. Let me show what a huge hit I can bring about this time,”

Hyunwoo examined the import characteristics of Aurum. It was easy for him to do so because he had already made some data to apply for the individual tax refunds.

However, he found out something strange. Aurum imported all of its raw materials from Taiwan. Looking at the different company names of each material, he found they were not Aurum’s sister companies.

Hyunwoo asked the team manager about the reason.

The manager explained readily,

“It’s because there is a low ratio of defective parts in terms of price and value. Parts made in China and Southeast Asia have a high ratio of defective parts. If we use defective parts, our company’s image will be ruined. Accordingly, Taiwanese parts account for almost 70%.”

The reason was quality. If they could find quality parts in Southeast Asia, they could lower the price and the customs duty by fully using the FTA between Korea and ASEAN.

At that moment, Hyunwoo thought of Jang Dukwoo.

Hwanggum Inc., Jang’s company, was sort of an import company of miscellaneous goods called ‘1000 won Mart.’ It imported cheap industrial products from China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Phillipines and sells them in the domestic markets. In addition to that, it allegedly owned several factories in Southeast Asia. As Jang’s father was the real owner of Hwanggum, he must be well versed in the factories in Southeast Asia.

Hyunwoo met Jang in the evening for this.

Though he felt sorry about calling him up often, Jang thought about it differently.

“Why is it so hard for me to meet you these days? I can hardly see Nami’s face because you don’t call me up, sir,” Jang said.

“Are you busy, Nami?”

Hyunwoo asked with a puzzled expression.

But Nami said shyly,

“I told you already about this. I decided to compete in the Miss Korea Contest, so I really can’t take time out these days. Even today I did so with difficulty.”

Jang grinned at her remarks.

“Then I have to see Dukwoo everyday,” Hyunwoo said jokingly.

But Nami shot out her lips as if she had some regrets about it too.

“Well, even if Dukwoo wants to see me, I can’t because the director told me this is the last time. I think I can take time out after the main contest is over in July.”

Jang let out a breath lightly at Nami’s answer.

He wanted to stop Nami, but there was no chance that she could give up. Because he was aware of it, he was supporting her.

“Let’s talk about other stuff, not about me.”

As the atmosphere got rather tense, Name quickly changed the topic. Only then did Dukwoo ask his business.

“In fact, I would like to change the imports from…”

Hyunwoo said he was looking for a method to change the imports of Aurum from Taiwan to the members of ASEAN.

“The problem is the rate of defects. However cheap parts are, they will cause bigger damage to the company if they have a high ratio of defects.

Dukwoo nodded at his remarks.

“You’re right. Though China and Southeast Asian countries caught up a lot technologically, they still have a lot of room for improvement. In particular, Southeast Asian countries. Their industrial goods are pretty low-grade.”

The furniture, including chairs, looked simple, but they were made up of various parts. However trifle parts may be, any piece of furniture with defective parts was defective as a whole. There were a variety of parts. For example, there were core parts like the frame or trifle parts like bolts and screws. Saving from lowering the price of parts, however, could ruin expensive chairs as a whole.

“I don’t mean that the technology of Southeast Asian countries is all bad. Local companies owned by foreigners have raised the quality of their parts by having their technology transferred.”

“Can you name any such foreign companies producing office chair parts?”

“I know one that produces castors. The president is Korean, and he made inroads into Vietnam more than 10 years ago. Finding that his company’s survival in Korea was too hard, he quickly moved to Vietnam with the low-wage labor market.”

“Then, he must have brought to Vietnam the technology he had in Korea, right?”

“Yes. He made a huge success in the early days of his venture company in Vietnam.”

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide. If any company combines Korea’s technology with Vietnam’s cheap labor, he felt that it could be a very competitive company.

But Dukwoo didn’t look happy while talking.

“However, he was too ambitious and seems to be going through tough times now. Maybe his company is on the verge of defaulting on its debts.”

“Default crisis? Why? I don’t think such a company has a chance of defaulting.”

“Well, he invested too much, which made the competitive edge of the company go awry. Its products are more expensive than others, and their quality is lower than their counterparts in other countries. Be it price or quality, he must have secured a competitive edge, but he lost both.”

“Do you know the quality of their products?”

“I don’t know exactly. It’s the best quality in Vietnam but less than that of Korea. Anyway, the president’s character is very good. Apart from the price and technology, he is not the type of businessman who deceives the people with his products.”

Parting with Dukwoo, Hyunwoo kept thinking about the castor factory in Vietnam. Castor is the wheel of a chair. Aurum was importing them from Taiwan, which accounted for the highest ratio of payment among foreign parts.

Is their quality below standard? If the company can meet the quality standard, it’s a perfect match with Aurum.

To confirm the quality, he would have to visit the company in Vietnam directly. Hyunwoo wondered if the team manager or Yonggu could send him on a business trip there.

“Oh, you’re coming back home now,” an old man said.

At his voice, Hyunwoo raised his head, noticing old man Song, who was making a living by collecting waste paper. Sometimes he would pull the hand cart with Song. Today, his cart was full of not only waste paper but also broken TV sets and scrap metal.

Hyunwoo got behind the cart to pull it from there.

“How are you, sir? Did you have dinner?”

“Oh, thanks. I heard you got hired by a good company.”

“Yes, it’s called Aurum. It’s been almost one month since I got hired.”

Hyunwoo talked freely about his company, but the old man stopped when he heard about Aurum.

“What did you say? Aurum?”

“Yes, you must have heard about it, right?”

“Tut, tut. Why did you choose it among all the companies?”

“Why? Is it a bad company?”

“Well, my friend’s life was ruined because of that company. Tut, tut. He was a man of good character, and he was armed with technical expertise. All of a sudden, he was jobless.”

“What happened to him?”

When he asked, Song put down the cart and squatted on the ground. Then, he took out a cigarette and lit it as if he wanted to tell a long story.

Hyunwoo approached him, and perched at the end of the cart.

“He used to supply parts to Aurum. Chair wheels. You know what I mean as you work for the company.”

“Yes, but as far as I know, Aurum imports all wheel parts from Taiwan.”

“Maybe you’re right. Because of that, his company went bankrupt. It was probably last fall, I think.”

It was a wheel production company with high-level technology, but because it could not reach an agreement with Aurum on the price adjustment, Aurum switched the supplier to Taiwan.

He tried his best to build a market by all means, but because he failed repeatedly, his company went bankrupt in the end.

After that, the president of the wheel company considered Aurum as his enemy, and his friend, Song, came to form a negative perception of Aurum.

However, Hyunwoo thought it was something inevitable because Aurum could not buy wheel parts from him while making a loss. It was like both companies going bankrupt together.

Song seemed to understand that part, too.

“I think he was too greedy. Aurum asked to adjuge the wheel price, but he didn’t budge at all, arguing that quality was more important than price. After that, their relationship turned sour.”

“That’s too bad. Such a man should succeed.”

“There is no use crying over spilled milk. That’s the way of life. I hope you can work tactfully at your company. You’ll ruin yourself like him if you stick to your own way of thinking.”

“Got it, sir.”

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