Munsik Choi had a prodigious memory for his age. Though his memory began to fail a bit when he passed 60, he could still recall dozens of phone numbers that he had known ten years ago.

But when he noticed the name ‘Duyoung Jang,’ he had a distant memory of him. He didn’t remember it accurately, but it was clear that he had a bad impression of him.

“Do you have the tips on him, too?”

“He’s a Ph. D degree in chemistry. He had his lower part of the body paralyzed because of a traffic accident about twenty years ago. He used to run a company called ‘Green Oil’ previously…”

“What? Green Oil?” screamed Munsik.

The manager stopped speaking, stunned by his reaction then stared at him with a scared expression.

Munsik had a violent temper. When he didn’t like his subordinate’s performance, he abruptly threw an ashy tray, ball-point pen, or anything that he had his hand on before his eyes.

“What’s the matter with you?”

Munsik glared at him fiercely, but he didn’t throw anything. Instead, he blamed the manager with harsh words.

“Hey, dude, didn’t you know anything about this Green Oil company?”

At that moment, the manager broke out in a cold sweat on his back.

Of course, he was aware of that company. It was in the media limelight when it developed a new concept of car energy, but that company appeared and disappeared like a comet. When the government levied the same tax rate on green oil that it did on gasoline, that company lost competitiveness and disappeared from the public.

What’s wrong with it?

The manager could not understand what had happened at that time. For he was hired at Singyong only five years ago and the incident was very sensitive. It was an open secret that major oil refineries colluded with politicians to ruin Green Oil.

So, it was treated as a top secret within Singyong. Everybody involved kept quiet about it. It was natural that the manager didn’t know it.

But Munsik thought differently. He felt the manager should have found it out if he was really a competent manager.

Is he so upset because he is scared about Duyoung’s developing a new green oil?

If that was the case, the manager understood his position. If Duyoung could develop a green oil that was cheaper than gasoline, Singyong will inevitably be dealt a big blow.

Come to think of that, there was one important thing missing in the file.

Haenim School was not just an alternative school for the students. Duyoung set up a research room in the school to work on something.

When he thought as far as that, the manager’s jaws dropped.

Only then did Munsik clicked his tongue and asked, “Now, do you begin to get wind of anything suspicious? That guy is the source of disaster!”

“What should I do?”

Munsik didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he rested his chin on hand and beat his brain.

And then he looked at the manager as if he made a conclusion.

“You don’t have to do anything about him now. Don’t you know the saying, ‘A bear does a handspring and its owner takes the money?”

The manager was a smart guy. He immediately grasped Munsik’s intention.

“So, it’s your intention that once Duyoung develops a new green oil, you want to make it your own, right?”

Munsik smiled at that as if he was satisfied with the manager’s response.

“You said Duyoung was staying at the alternative school, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I guess all we have to do is bring a couple of the students over to our party. I believe you can do it without any difficulty, right?”

The manager’s eyes opened wider at that. That seemed really simple.

“Just make sure that Duyoung does not get wind of this, okay?”

“Got it.”

***

Hyunwoo looked at the newly built second warehouse of KOVE DREAM with satisfaction. It was a huge warehouse with the floor space over 1000-pyong (0.8 acre).

Juhwan and other staff uttered an exclamation, “Is this our new warehouse?”

Nodding with a satisfied expression, Hyunwoo answered, “Yes, it is. You guys will be working there from now on.”

Advisor Hwasik Kang stayed calm. As he worked as a customs official for a long time, a warehouse this size was not a big deal.

“Our request for the increase of the capacity of our bonded warehouse has been approved. From now on, let me hand customs clearance by transporting the import products to this place. Instead, let me have the existing warehouse store domestic products only.”

“Sure, please go ahead.”

Hyunwoo also purchased 15 new freight trucks. As there were so many shipping items, the truck drivers had to move around incessantly.

The foundation work on the new office had already began.

It will be built in a 3-story edifice that could house 60 people. The third floor would be used as a day room for the employees.

It appeared that everything was going smoothly. The matter of the bonded warehouse was resolved and its internet homepage was constructed and going through testing. According to its administrator, it would be available in 15 days.

“Hey, Director Juhwan, the new hires will report to work next Monday, so give them a good orientation.”

“Yes, sir!”

Hyunwoo added the title ‘director’ to Juhwan’s name, and he was very pleased.

Not only Juhwan, but also Sonjong also got the same title. And other team members were promoted as the company was bigger in size and hired 30 new people.

The only person who was excluded from the promotion was Hwasik, who didn’t want a new title.

“You guys should stay alert. As soon as the new website is constructed, we will start retail sales, too. Your workloads will be doubled in that case. The first month is very important, so just hang in there until then. Let me hire more people after that.”

“Got it.”

Hyunwoo’s prediction was realized in 15 days. As soon as KOVE DREAM’s website was constructed, Hyunwoo aggressively put promotion ads on TV, radio, and newspapers. He spent 500 million won on advertisements.

Thanks to special programs about it, KOVE DREAM was already well known to the public. As it only dealt with wholesales, however, the retailers could not place an order, which was their main complaint.

If they wanted to purchase KOVE products, they had to go through the wholesalers, which made them pay 50% more than the direct sale prices of KOVE, so when KOVE advertised that retailers could now purchase its products directly at cheap prices, it was natural that they showed an explosive interest.

But what they regretted about the retail sale was the differentiated pricing based on the size of the orders and the delivery time, which took about five days on average.

Actually, the delivery time was decided based on Hyunwoo’s deliberate calculation. As most of the staff didn’t handle their job well, it would be impossible for them to process the explosive growth in orders quickly. When they were accustomed to their work, it would be possible to process the orders and quicken the delivery time.

That’s why Hyunwoo intentionally put the phrase ‘long delivery time’ on the homepage. That would draw less complaints from the retailers about shipping delays.

At best it would be just one month to have the delivery system established. I think I have to hire more people until then.

Suddenly, Hyunwoo came to think of Yonggu, his high school friend. He wished Yonggu would assume the general manager of KOVE DREAM whenever he hired new people.

In fact, Yonggu agonized over Minhye Park, his girlfriend and CEO of Space Design.

She was still dating Hyongsun Kim, his rival friend who wanted to take away her from Yonggu. Because of his conflict with her, Yonggu confided to Hyunwoo about his emotional distress over drinks when he met Hyunwoo.

“As you recommended, I’d like to quit right away. If I quit, can you give me a job at your company?” asked Yonggu.

Hyunwoo felt Yonggu was just grumbling out of frustration with Minhye, but as time went on, he began to get more serious about quitting.

Yea, just resign one of these days and get out, Yonggu murmured to himself.

But Minhye was not aware of the seriousness of the situation at all.

She began to meet Hyungsun more often.

Even today she came to the office very late after dating Hyungsun last night.

As he couldn’t stand it anymore, Yonggu spoke out.

“As you know, Space Design has not yet established itself firmly. I think as CEO you seem to do your own business too often outside.”

“Well, our company won’t go into the red this year. Don’t you think our company has established itself by now? Mind your own business, will you?” said Minhye in an icy tone as if she didn’t want to listen to his advice.

Yonggu let out a sigh then walked to her desk briskly.

Everybody in the office cast a glance at him.

Executive Director Youngsu Park was tense at the moment. If they started a quarrel, he was ready to stop it.

As if she sensed the atmosphere was serious, Minhye stopped doing her work and looked at him.

Yonggu slowly walked up and stood before her.

“Do you have anything to say?” asked Minhye coldly.

Yonggu didn’t answer. Instead, he showed his displeasure by action.

He took out a white envelope from the inside pocket and put it on her desk.

At that moment, her eyes popped out. On it was written the following words: