Chapter 58
Chapter 58: Chapter 58 Translator: – – Editor: – –
Kim Dohyuk was still staying in Ansan because one of the most important technicians he knew was living on the outskirts of Ansan city.
As soon as Kim met Hyunwoo, he deeply bowed to him, which was completely the opposite of his attitude when Hyunwoo went to his house in Chungju.
“Ah, long time no see. At that time I didn’t treat you correctly…”
“That’s alright. Please feel at ease when you talk to me. I’m much younger than you.”
“How can I do so in front of an important buyer in the future? Anyway, please forgive me if I displeased you last time.”
“Nothing. I was deeply moved by your thoughtful will last time. You’re great!”
Hyunwoo really wished that Kim would succeed, and made all his effort to help Kim as much as he could.
“As a matter fact, the biggest headache for me was how to find a dealer. Even though we have the best quality and lowered the unit price, we’re destined to go bankrupt if we can’t find a dealer. Never did I expect you to help me like this. Thanks so much.”
“I think you’re going to be of big help to me.”
“I’m not the one helping you. Aurum is helping you. What I did was just suggest my proposal to the president.”
Hyunwoo sounded humble, but Kim already knew that it was possible thanks to his help.
“I think your assistance will be of big help. I’ll pick up the speed the best I can.”
“Good luck!”
Kim’s eyes sparkled brightly, suggesting how much enthusiastic he was.
Hyunwoo felt good about it.
Several days later.
Hyunwoo had a call from Kwon Sangtaek.
“I found some machines I’ve been looking for. They are rather expensive, but their performance is really good.:
“Got it. As soon as Mr. Na sends me the bill, let me buy and ship them to you.”
“Okay.”
The machines Hyunwoo had to purchase were seven in total, and they cost close to 300 million won in total. However, as N&C’s factories were operating at full capacity, they got a loan from the Bank of Vietnam without any problems.
Kwon said the sellers of the machines were all trustworthy, but Hyunwoon reviewed them carefully.
After work and on weekends, Hyunwoo went and checked the machines nearby by himself. He took some photos of the machines and sent them to Kwon for verification. For the machines in remote places, he had Paek Sungwoo go and check them.
Paek complained, “Why are there so many orders? This is out of my business, dude.”
Hyunwoo grinned at him. Actually, Hyunwoo didn’t want to ask him to do that, but as he handled his business day by day, he found there were lots of things he had to ask a favor of Paek.
And the first thing he had to ask for Paek’s help had to do with Kim Dohyuk.
As the saying goes, if you know your enemy and yourself, you can win every battle.
Hyunwoo thought that even though he wanted to form a dream team, he felt Kim’s help was absolutely needed. No matter how hard Hyunwoo made efforts to make such a team, Kim could make him fail if he had his way.
In order to persuade Kim, Hyunwoo had to find out everything about him.
So, he gave Paek a special mission disguised as a favor.
Grumbling along the way, Paek went down to Chungju and began to collect various tips about Kim. If Hyunwoo fails to form a dream team under Kim, he will immediately turn to N&C in Vietnam. The reason he was investigating Kim was in preparation for that possibility. And this time, Paek’s mission was about the machines. Obviously, Paek, who enjoyed playing around, complained because he couldn’t move around freely.
“Hey, dude. Do you think it’s easy to earn your money from others? Isn’t it good for you to travel down to Daegu and Pusan on this occasion?” asked Hyunwoo jokingly.
“Hummm… it’s not in my element to do this kind of job.”
“If you don’t want to do it, work harder as a salesman. If you increase your sales high enough to hire a couple of salesmen, you’ll get more comfortable then.”
“Damn it. Let me increase sales more, man.”
“Ha ha. Thanks for that. By the way, this is an urgent task. So, hurry up!”
“Sure, will do.”
Paek immediately went down to Daegu and Pusan to inspect the machines. Fortunately, they were in good condition.
As soon as Na wired the money into Hyunwoo’s account, he purchased the machines and sent them to Vietnam.
While looking at the certificate on the export of machines, Hyunwoo felt secure in his heart. He felt as if N&C was growing by leaps and bounds every day.
Actually, N&C was growing rapidly.
Hyunwoo heard that the market capitalization of N&C’s stocks at the Stock Exchange of Vietnam was over 700 billion dong. When he indicated his willingness to invest, it was around 60 billion dong. Then, the stock was up as much as ten times in less than six months. His investment was 300 million Korean won, and he received about 13% of N&C’s stocks, given that the company was on the brink of collapse.
Given that the market capitalization of N&C stocks was 700 billion dong, it was equivalent to 3.5 billion Korean won, and 13% of it was 4.5 billion won.
‘Is my current wealth 4.5 billion won?’ Hyunwoo thought to himself.
But that was not the end of the story. N&C was one of the fastest growing companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Vietnam. There was a lull in the bullish trend of N&C stock, but stock experts forecast that its upward trend would continue for the time being.
That meant that Hyunwoo’s wealth was growing every day.
‘Am I going to be a millionaire someday?’
In the meantime, Kim Dohyuk was also full of hope.
In the late evening, Kim grabbed the hands of the technicians around the dinner table.
“Let’s make it work well.”
“Sure, let’s make a great comeback!”
A total of six, including Kim, were at the drinking get-together. They were the best castor technicians that Kim had solicited by looking for them the past one month.
In other words, they were the dream team members.
Kim had never thought that his plan would work out so easily like this. He thought it would take at least six months to form such a team.
And he owed all this success to the draft contract he made with Aurum. When he presented to them the draft contract that as long as they could adjust the quality and price to Aurum’s needs, it would purchase all their products, they supported his idea without any hesitation.
But the problem was he could not find a factory that could hire his dream team members.
The main reason was their salaries.
“We know their expertise, but we can’t pay them a manager’s salary. We can take into account their experience, but at the same we can’t pay more than 40 million won per year.”
“Actually, their expertise has more value than that.”
“Is their value so important? If we hire them all with an annual salary of 40 million won, it’s 240 million won per year. Do you think they can generate that much profit if they improve the product quality a bit?”
“What about giving them company stocks?”
“Stocks of my company? Why do I have to give them stocks to hire them? I have no reason to hire them.”
Most of the companies Kim contacted reacted in a similar way. Even though the product quality improved thanks to the dream team’s performance, the management of the companies judged that it would not necessarily lead to a surge in net profits.
Come to think of it, their logic made sense, given that most of their factories were small.
And there were no automation equipment systems, which meant that most of the production process was done by manual workers.
The bigger problem was the unit price. In fact, not all the companies Kim contacted rejected his idea. Some of them went to the brink of bankruptcy trying to hire Kim’s dream team members as a last resort. No matter how hard they thought about it, however, they could not adjust the price to what Aurum wanted.
The signature castor model for Kim’s dream team to supply to Aurum was C65F, which Aurum imported them for 31 cents per piece from Vietnam. It was about 320 Korean won.
Aurum said it was willing to raise the unit price up to 450 won on the condition of quality improvement. But that unit price was impossible to accept because they needed to receive at least 500 won to reach the break-even point. In other words, if the unit price was less than 500, the dream team members would be working without any pay. They could make about 3 million won monthly only when the unit price was 530 won per piece.
Considering this situation, Kim just got nervous. The only person Kim could rely on was Hyunwoo.
“Mr. Jang, without adding a single lie, our bottom line of the unit price is 530 won. I can never make any profit below that price, no matter how hard I think about it.”
Hyunwoo was just as agonized. If he had the decision right, he would think about it positively, but he couldn’t.
“Let me report to my president about this.”
“Please tell your president that he has to look at the future, not the present alone. I’ve gathered all the best technicians, so we’ll see an improvement in product quality at an alarming speed. Maybe we might be able to catch up with the Japanese product sooner or later.”
“Okay, let me arrange a meeting with you and the managers of the purchasing team. I think it will be much better for you to help me at the meeting instead of me persuading them alone.”
“Really? Thanks so much.”
On the spot, Hyunwoo introduced him to Park Youngsu and Yonggu. They moved to a conference room.
However, the situation was not good enough. Not only Park but also Yonggu, a strong ally of Hyunwoo, made a troubled expression.
“530 won per piece is too high.”
“Castor sells a similar model at 630 won per piece. If you insist on 530 won, I think we would rather buy Castor products with a little more money.”
Kim got more and more nervous because he explained it to them the best he could.
This time, Hyunwoo chipped in. He pointed out what Kim missed and augmented his explanation.
“I wish you took into account the publicity effect. This is like Korea’s best technicians coming together to throw down the gauntlet to Castor, a Japanese company, isn’t it? Our people will surely take note of that.”
“It’s kind of a patriotic marketing strategy.”
“You’re right!” said Hyunwoo, nodding his head strongly.
Kim was just too thankful to Hyunwoo. He could acutely feel Hyunwoo’s genuine considerations for him.
Did Hyunwoo’s genuine appeal pay off?
Park hit the desk with his palm, with a bang, and said,
“Okay. Let me report it to the president. Come with me and support me, Mr. Jang.”
“Yes, sir!”
Hyunwoo stood up, along with Park.
Kim kept bowing to them behind their backs, saying, “Please, please!”