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Jae-Yoon nodded his head and blinked slowly. On the contrary, he found this situation interesting. Park Choong-In was a figure who had been mentioned as a candidate for the next CEO. If he had given a simple answer, Jae-Yoon would have been disappointed.
He even thought it was fortunate. At least, it would serve as proof that the organization was not that sloppy.
“Ah, I see. It was indeed an important matter.”
“You don’t need to worry. Who do you think I am? I’m Park Choong-In. As It’s Food’s manager, I know how to placate them well. I’ll take care of everything…”
“Wait a minute, Mr. Park. You didn’t just plead with the It’s Food rep and come back, did you? If that’s the case, I’d be a little disappointed.”
“Mr. Min… No. First of all, we’re not in a position to do that…” Park Choong-In cut him off.
He thought he had made a good point, but, what, the CEO felt disappointed? No matter how much of a rookie CEO he was, he could not be unaware of the relationship with It’s Food. Park Choong-In wondered what on earth Jae-Yoon was basing such nonsense on.
“Why aren’t you in a position to do that? Doesn’t the General Team have that much distribution? If you don’t want to deal, just say so. Did you argue with the person in charge, or did you pay them off? Hmm…”
“Mr. Min, it seems that you don’t understand the situation.”
“The one who doesn’t understand the situation is you, Mr. Park. It’s Food, of course, is important. Naturally, it’s important because it’s no exaggeration to say that It’s Home Shopping is run by It’s Food.”
Is that how this dude would put it? I took care of such an important company myself. What kind of excuses should I make to shut up this noob CEO? Team Leader Park thought.
Attacking It’s Food was a surefire way to get him going—a guard-breaking technique. No matter what excuse he made, it was an absolutely indispensable business partner. It was no exaggeration to say that the affiliate company, It’s Home Shopping itself, was created to back up It’s Food.
Kimchi and dumplings were the basics, alongside instant retort foods such as beef broth (yukgaejang) and galbi stew (galbitang), as well as snacks such as tteokbokki and hot dogs.
And that was not all. They were expanding their size by launching coffee, drinks, and recently, even protein shakes. Of course, popular products were sold through It’s Home Shopping.
If you visited ten random households right now and opened their refrigerators, nine of them would have It’s Food products in them.
While Park Choong-In was thinking of various answers, Jae-Yoon quickly continued speaking, “But, what a shame. The disappointment should actually be on It’s Food’s side, not you, don’t you think, Mr. Park?”
“Mr. Min, you have to think rationally. If we lose those sales, of course, we’ll be hit...”
“Yes. The General Team will be hit, but It’s Home Shopping won’t be hit at all.”
“Are you trying to play word games with me now?”
“We’re both busy people, and I’m not one to hold onto you for word games, Mr. Park. Let’s confirm with some visible data.” Jae-Yoon handed over the data he had prepared.
[ 2022 It’s Home Shopping - General Team Sales Statement ]
It was a dense sales statement printed in font size 7. You had to look closely to see it.
_Is he crazy? He made this himself? What kind of guy is he?_Park Choong-In scratched his ear and just glanced at the data.
If a team member had brought such data, it would have been perfect enough to buy them a whole Hanwoo treat, but, at this very moment, it was disadvantageous to Team Leader Park himself.
No matter how much of a golden spoon Park Choong-In was raised with, it took him ten years rolling around as a team member before becoming a team manager. To put it bluntly, this kind of data could only be produced by a deputy manager or manager who had been in the business for at least five years.
Moreover, the vulnerabilities that were clearly revealed could only be grasped by someone who had actual field experience. Still, it wasn’t impossible if he had a helper in the back.
Let’s check what excuses he’ll make, Park Choong-In thought as he quietly pushed the data off to the side and spoke up,
“If you brought this data to praise me, you didn’t have to do it like this. The General Team is the only one that has shown remarkable growth out of ten teams.”
“Yes, thanks to It’s Food. That’s why you ran around like crazy today?”
“Now you’re talking with sense.”
“But. Mr. Park, let’s be honest since we’ve come this far; do you really think that will help the company?”
Park Choong-In pulled the data he had put aside back towards Jae-Yoon. Yes, it’s well-made data, but how are you going to attack me with this?
“Profit margin is important, but so is volume. Industry No.1, as you mentioned, is determined by sales, isn’t it?”
Home shopping was a business that ran on commissions. The average commission rate for companies was 30%. It’s Home Shopping’s commission rate was 27%, which was slightly lower than the industry average. It was an inevitable sales method. Since there was a demerit of being number 2 in the industry, it could be difficult to attract products unless a certain value was created for the partner company.
“Now, let’s take a look at the General Team’s data. The overall average commission rate is 27%. It’s compliant, but isn’t the graph a bit strange? It’s not even fluctuating.”
“Of course, that’s because,…”
“Let me ask you frankly, Team Leader Park Choong-In, are you an It’s Home Shopping person or an It’s Food person? You need to set your course straight.”
“Wow, just wow. Mr. Min... Sir. You’re talking about my course? I almost felt a little disappointed just now.”
“The ones who should be upset are the other partner companies. The average commission rate for It’s Food products is only 15%. What is this…?”
“That’s why we got them at a good price.” Team Leader Park’s voice gradually got louder.
Judging from the way his emotions were fluctuating, it seemed like Jae-Yoon had hit the nail on the head.
Let’s see what kind of excuses he comes up with.
“It’s Home Shopping isn’t a garbage dump for It’s Food. Let’s see... Yes, vegan dumplings. Oh, wow, the return rate is so high that the profit margin is negative? It’s not easy to return frozen food. Potato noodles and shrimp. This is a product that is always on the Internet because it contains more pollock than shrimp. Is that all? Wait, pet food; why do you keep accepting this? Regardless of the sales, it’s a product that caused a huge uproar because of the cat food ingredient problem.”
“...”
“Mr. Park Choong-In?”
“Yes, sir?”
“All of these products are handled by Manager Kim Tae-Hyeong. This doesn’t seem like a coincidence. I need an explanation.”
Park Choong-In clenched his pants tightly. Wrinkles formed on his silk slacks. Like his expression, they were ugly and deep.
“There’s no product that does well from the beginning, is there? As time goes on, some products will inevitably fail.”
“Fail? What do you mean? The team seems to have failed before the product failed.”
Bang~
Park Choong-In jumped up from his seat. What a surprise. The chair fell over, making a loud noise.
“If you’re going to nitpick and attack like this, I have nothing more to say.”
“I haven’t even started nitpicking. Calm down and sit.”
Their sharp gazes collided mid-air. Jae-Yoon aside, Park Choong-In’s momentum was also nothing to scoff at. The embarrassment of having the team’s corruption revealed, the frustration of not being able to respond properly to the young CEO who was so green; his feelings were somewhere in between.
Jae-Yoon continued to speak with a relaxed expression. Park Choong-In, still awkwardly standing, looked at Jae-Yoon. Jae-Yoon’s eyes came into view. Now, he knew; that was the gaze of a clear madman. Eyes that saw the situation coolly and without any malice. And what about the expression that was as if finding everything amusing?
He wanted to get up and leave right away, but he could not just turn around and leave like this.
“So, what do you want, Mr. CEO? You must have something you want since you prepared data like this and called me here.”
“Yes. That’s a good question. Then, shall we go back to the starting point? You said It’s Food won’t do business with us anymore. Then, let it be so.”
“Didn’t we finish talking about that?”
“Finished? I’m the only one who has the authority to make decisions here. I haven’t finished. I’m the one who makes the decisions. We’re not running a charity. It’s Food isn’t that poor of a company either.”
This was the reason why the strange team called the General Team was created. The point was to openly bring in all sorts of items and create superficial results. He could no longer tolerate the shenanigans of It’s Food and the General Team. It’s Food had been packaging bad stock as customer value and having the General Team dispose of it. Wasn’t that too humiliating?
“That will be difficult. There are already several that have been scheduled. How do you plan to solve that?”
“You can cancel them.”
“Cancel them?”
“Yes, cancel them. I’ll take full responsibility. If anyone asks who said so, just answer that it was Min Ho-Jun. You don’t have to worry about it anymore, Mr. Park. If you find it unpleasant to see, there’s no need to contact me. You can just forward everything to me.”
‘You’re crazy, you motherfucker.’ Park Choong-In’s expression clearly said so. This is different from what we were promised. This son of a bitch Min Ho-Jun is definitely not a straw man. We need to take action before things get worse.
“I’ll wrap things up.”
“No, you don’t have to. I’ll wrap things up. From now on, It’s Food will only broadcast with the food team. I’ll let the PDs know soon, so you’ll need to step aside cleanly.”
“...”
“It’s already past 7. I’m sorry. Holding meetings after work hours is considered old-fashioned these days. Please claim overtime as you wish.”
Jae-Yoon leisurely got up from his seat and gathered his outerwear. As he was putting on his coat, he snapped his fingers and continued speaking, “By 10 a.m. tomorrow, I want all of the General Team to come up to the CEO’s office. Well then, have a pleasant evening.”
The light and fluffy cashmere half-coat seemed to fit him well.
_Wow... I’m going crazy._Park Choong-In sat there in the conference room for a long time, organizing his thoughts. The more he thought about it, the more complicated the mess in his head became. I can’t just leave it like this and let him keep nagging me; I have to do something before it gets out of hand.
Park Choong-In picked up his cell phone and called someone.
“Hello, Mr. Kim. Yes, how are you? I called to check my father’s schedule. Yes, yes. Oh, I see. Yes. Tomorrow afternoon, Kuro Sushi. Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”
Jae-Yoon stretched his shoulders and walked down to the underground parking lot. When was the last time he had talked this much? He decided to stop by a nearby mart to buy a can of beer. As he was about to leave the parking lot, he noticed a familiar group.
One, two, three, four… It was four of the team leaders who had been in the conference room. Judging from the fact that they were still lingering in the parking lot after work, they were waiting for Team Leader Park.
Right, have your little group meetings.
After returning home, Jae-Yoon grabbed a can of beer and entered his study. He sat down by the window overlooking the Han River and took out his cell phone; a flagship folding smartphone. It was the cell phone that Min Ho-Jun had been using.
He sent a text message to Section Chief Lee Hyun-Woong and scrolled through the text message list. There was no other reason. If he had to give a reason, it was that he thought he should at least know who Min Ho-Jun was contacting personally.
“What the heck. Did he delete them?”
Min Ho-Jun had said that he had not touched either his PC or his phone for the investigation. By what Jae-Yoon saw, Section Chief Lee Hyun-Woong was the only person he contacted personally. The other text messages were meaningless company group texts and card approval texts. Jae-Yoon threw his smartphone into his jacket, thinking, ‘what a dry and boring person he is’.
“Let’s get some work done…”
He logged into the company server and searched for the General Team folder. A robot vacuum cleaner was being launched next week. It was a suspicious product in many ways. Confirmation was necessary. This was also a product that overturned the schedules of other company products to take up the important weekend prime time slots.
The person in charge was, as expected, Team Leader Park Choong-In’s right-hand man, Deputy Manager Kim Tae-Hyeong.
It was clearly a new product, but it looked strangely familiar. Jae-Yoon looked through the proposal and the planning document. It felt shady. Might as well dig into it.
Jae-Yoon’s strength and weakness was his tenacity that clung on persistently. Bad vibes never went wrong. In the first place, if it had been a decent product, there would have been no reason to feel cheap.
“Found it! Playing blind won’t do. The more I dig into the General Team, the more interesting it gets.” Jae-Yoon quickly sorted the data. No matter what excuses the General Team made, he was confident. He could no longer waste airwaves on such sloppy products.