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nChapter 52

nWhen Hyunwoo gave his card to Sangyun, another friend held out his hand for one, saying

n“Hey, you should have handed one out to everyone here as soon as you arrived here.”

nIt was Paek Sungwoo, who was in sharp contrast to Kim Hyungsun in every way. Paek was the type of person people wanted to talk to when he was around. Though he was a man of few words, he always took the lead in controlling the conversation. Maybe it was because he would make his friends relaxed and comfortable. In addition, he was handsome, had a great sense of humor, and was very good at brightening the atmosphere. Because of his versatile talents, he was popular among men and women alike.

nHyunwoo was envious of Paek’s natural and relaxed attitude. At the same time, Paek was a hopeless fellow in some way.

nGiving a name card to him, Hyunwoo asked, “Do you still like to move from one place to another?”

n“Yep, why shouldn’t I?”

nPaek was good in every way except that he had itchy feet. As he had no particular job, he had no dwelling in any specific place. Nobody was surprised that he would leave for Cheju island suddenly after living in Seoul for so long. Nonetheless, he never asked for anybody’s help. That meant he was very good at making money.

nIn the meantime, Kim Hyungsun stood up to leave.

n“Sorry, I have to leave first for a business appointment,” said Kim.

nThen, other friends began to rise from their seats, citing one reason or another.

n“My wife is getting so sensitive these days”

n“I have to take care of my baby, who’s just 100 days old.”

nWhen it was over midnight, all his friends left the place.

nNow only Hyunwoo and Paek were left alone.

n“Shall we go to the sauna for a break?”

nPaek gladly nodded at Hyunwoo’s suggestion.

nThe sauna house they visited had a few customers.

n“Where are you living these days?”

n“In Daejon.”

n“What are you doing there?”

n“A big brother I know asked me to take care of his shop inside a department store. There are so many blonde bimbos there. To them, 1 million won is nothing. I got a 100,000 won bill as a tip.”

n“Maybe she is interested in you.”

n“Probably. I really had a great time with her for several days. Her face and figure were gorgeous, though she was an empty-headed woman.”

nHyunwoo felt envious of him on the one hand, but he felt sorry about him on the other hand. He had great potential if he could make good use of his talents.

nAnyway, Hyunwoo went back home after parting with Paek.

nSeveral days later, Sangyun emailed him on the wheel of the handcart they had mentioned the other day at the alumni meeting. It was about the specification of the Chinese part, but there was no information about its unit price.

nCome to think of it, that was understandable because he could not reveal it even if they were close friends, or the material department of Sangyun’s company might have kept it a secret.

nHyunwoo called Sangyun, saying, “I got your email, but I don’t see the unit price.”

n“Damn it. They scolded me because I meddled in their business. Looks like I can’t find out the unit price. Can you just make a proposal based on the unit price of the Vietnamese product?”

n“I could do that. Let me send the product specification to the Vietnamese factory for the estimated price.”

nAfter the call, he forwarded Sangyun’s email to Mr. Na Sungji in Vietnam, and he then called Na.

n“I sent you an email. It is about a domestic handcart factory that imports castors from China. If we can agree on the unit price, I think we can add another company. Can you give me the unit price for this one?”

n“Really? I’m so grateful! As soon as I find out the estimated price, I’ll let you know.”

nTwo days later, Na called Hyunwoo in the evening.

n“I called you now because you might not be available in the office. Can you talk now?”

n“Thanks for your consideration. I usually sleep after midnight, so you can call me anytime before that.”

n“I just emailed you the estimated cost.”

n“Really? As soon as I confirm it, let me contact them.”

n“By the way, I want you to do me a favor. That’s why I called you during non-business hours like this.”

nHyunwoo got tense at the moment.

n“What kind of favor do you want to ask of me?”

n“As a matter of fact, our factory here is operating well thanks to Aurum. Nonetheless, we have lots of idle machines, and I think we need to find some more business to get them running.”

nHyunwoo had the same thought. When he had visited N&C factory, it had a huge site and large buildings. Supplies to Aurum alone were not enough to make all the factories run at full capacity.

n“Actually, I’m trying hard to expand local markets, but I don’t see much profits here. We need to find markets in Korea or Japan to make more money.”

n“I understand. The local companies in Vietnam use cheap parts, and I don’t think they use the expensive castors produced by our company.”

n“The problem is we don’t have any good salesman in Korea or Japan. Even those with some sales experience are busy fattening their own profits.”

n“It’s only natural that they receive a commission in return for opening up a local trader. They rely on commissions for their living.”

n“The thing is they are trying to take too much. Running our factories night and day to produce parts, we just get 30 won per piece while they take 100 won per piece. Some of them just run away after taking the commission.”

n“Can’t you find the right person to do the job? I think Mr. Kwon Sangtaek might know some.”

n“I talked to him. I felt he might know some, but he didn’t know any. Can I ask a favor of you?”

n“What is it?”

n“Don’t you want to set up a sales company?”

n“What? Me? I’m an employee with Aurum. How can I do that?”

n“No big deal, I think. It’s not a crime if you have another job, right? And you shouldn’t think that a sales job is hard. All you have to do is play as an intermediary who can send me the estimate cost. You can hire a smart man to help you. Let me guarantee that a sales job is profitable enough.”

n“Well, I just feel it embarrassing to introduce Aurum’s rivals to you”

n“I’m not asking you to introduce Aurum’s rivals to me. I’m not talking about the castors for the furniture or chairs alone. There are handcarts you just mentioned, travel bags, and even electronic products that require wheels. There are various types of castors produced by our factory.”

nHyunwoo scratched his head.

nHaving heard his explanation, he saw no problem at all. As long as his additional job as a salesman or intermediary didn’t do any harm to Aurum, it wouldn’t matter at all whether he worked as a chauffeur or worked as a salesman for N&C products.

nBut the problem was whether he could find the time.

nIf he were to work as a salesman, he should go around to other companies during their normal office hours, which coincided with his own working hours. He couldn’t go after he got off work for the day because the office hours of other companies were also over.

nBut Na continued to instigate Hyunwoo.

n“I don’t have anyone who I can trust as a salesman. I talked with Mr. Kwon, and he said he knew no other person than you.”

n“Ha ha. Thanks for your compliment, but I really can’t work as a salesman no matter how hard I think about it. Instead, let me try to find out if I can find someone I can trust.”

nAfter all, Hyunwoo declined Na’s proposal.

nNa let out a sigh of regret and said,

n“Phew. I understand. Just let me know anytime when you change your mind.”

n“Yes, sir.”

nAfter the call, Hyunwoo thought of the faces of his acquaintances one by one and checked out the names saved on his phone, but it was not easy to find the right person. Most of them led busy lives, and the names he saved on his phone were so numerous that he could not recall some of their faces, though he knew their names.

nThe spam texts he occasionally received disturbed him. They were mostly about real estate or his chauffeur service.

nHyunwoo chuckled at the spam texts, thinking to himself,

nCan they do business by sending spam texts like this?

nOf course, it could be effective sometimes, but it needed to meet two preconditions.

nFirst, the sender of the texts should have a good name so that the recipients wouldn’t believe that they would be ripped off.

nSecond, the contents of the texts should coincide with the demands of the recipients. Even if they received such texts, they would not feel the desire or impulse to buy stuff that they didn’t need.

nSuddenly, Hyunwoo thought of N&C company. Namely, publicizing the company like that.

nWhen he gave it a serious thought, he felt that method could work.

nFirst of all, the N&C products were something the consumers needed.

nAny factory would want cheap and good raw materials. In particular, if the sales pitch was targeted toward the companies that needed industrial wheels, that kind of publicity might be effective.

nTrust and recognition of N&C company were already there. For the press release about N&C’s supplies to Aurum after testing the quality standard was already widely reported in the daily papers and TV outlets.

nIn other words, it would be like an internet shopping mall without the actual warehouse. The unit price of those existing products would be revealed, and the products that needed a new design would need an estimate. In addition, his father was available for this job. Though he was physically uncomfortable, he could do sales over the phone. His father could be appointed as the CEO and sales executive of the new company.

nThis time, Hyunwoo called Na Sungji.

n“Mr.Na, let me do that sales business. I think I can do it on the internet.”

n“I would really appreciate it so much if you could do that. If you’re staring a sales business, you might need some money. Also, you had better take an appropriate commission. As you said you want to do it, let’s make a contract then.”

n“Contract?”

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