I rushed back to the company and headed straight to my office.
I had already called Park Jong-bum and Maru on my way back, so they were waiting for me in the office.
"Sir, you're back."
I ignored their greetings, tossed my coat onto the coat rack, and said,
"It's an emergency."
"What happened? Weren't you at Hanyang University to check on the sampling technology?"
I hurriedly explained what had transpired at the university, and their faces turned serious.
Park Jong-bum said worriedly,
"If the technology is that simple, the barrier to entry is also that low. If word gets out, recovery businesses could pop up all over the country."
"That's right, that's what I'm worried about. We do have a significant price advantage, so we could crush the competition from the start, like we did with the secondhand goods. But the situation is different this time. Our price advantage is limited."
The one-year exclusivity contract with the smelter was the problem.
"Can we extend the contract with the smelter?"
Park Jong-bum shook his head.
"It'll be difficult."
"Even if we offer them a lot of money?"
"We were only able to secure the one-year exclusivity contract because the smelter was focused on their domestic operations in Japan. We can't assume they'll have the same stance after a year."
"Try persuading them anyway. It doesn't matter to them who they receive the goods from, as long as they can smelt them and make a profit. And it would be much easier for them to manage if they have a designated supplier for regular transactions instead of collecting the scrap themselves. Fortunately, we still have eight months left on the contract. Explain the benefits clearly and persuade them."
Park Jong-bum nodded.
"Alright, I'll try my best to persuade them."
"It doesn't have to be immediate. Keep trying. Until they agree."
"Yes, sir."
I sighed deeply and said,
"And another concern is retaliation. When I first started my business, Changjo Resources went under because they were too greedy and angered the companies. I'm worried we might suffer the same fate. As you've experienced with large corporations, their pride and power are on a different level."
Maru asked,
"Should we gradually raise the prices to prepare for any potential backlash?"
"We should. I was planning to raise them slowly as the contract with the smelter neared its end, but now that we know there's a possibility of domestic gold recovery businesses emerging, we need to prepare in advance. But a sudden price increase would attract attention and suspicion, so we need to raise them gradually. Let's aim for a 30% profit margin. That should be enough to maintain our monopoly until the contract expires."
After giving all the instructions, I sighed again.
"Relying on someone else's technology has its limitations. Things would be different if we had our own technology like Naoshima Smelter."
"It can't be helped. We're essentially middlemen."
Park Jong-bum's words cleared my head.
He was right. We were essentially middlemen, neither producing nor consuming the final product.
We were just buying from one company and selling to another, making a profit from the price difference.
We had been lucky so far, exploiting various methods and first-mover advantage to secure huge profits, but we were still just middlemen, vulnerable to market fluctuations.
Our work consisted of nothing more than hammering and shredding. There was nothing unique about our company.
"If we're not smart enough, we need to hire smart people."
My sudden words made Maru and Park Jong-bum look at me curiously.
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Let's hire smart people and have them do research. It's not like only large corporations are allowed to do research. We have our main business, but let's hire some electronics and chemistry graduates and have them do research."
Park Jong-bum said with a concerned expression,
"Sir, if you're talking about establishing a research lab, I think you should reconsider. Research is not that simple. You could end up spending hundreds of millions of won with no results. And it's unlikely that talented people would join a company like ours."
I straightened my shoulders and said in a firm voice,
"I don't care. The company will continue to grow, and we need to be competitive to reach the next level. I'm willing to invest whatever it takes. And I'm not saying we need to start big. Let's build a new building at the electronic scrap factory and create the best possible conditions to attract talent. Start recruiting and proceed with establishing a research lab."
***
"Hmm, it's already July, huh."
Time flew by, and it was already July 1996.
We had struggled to find researchers, but we managed to establish a small research lab. The business was growing steadily.
As Koreans' incomes increased, so did the amount of discarded goods. We adjusted the prices gradually and achieved a profit margin of 20%.
Electronic scrap was also becoming increasingly profitable, contrary to our expectations.
We had been gradually raising the price per kg from 200 won to 2,000 won in preparation for the end of our exclusivity contract, and the junkyards' interest exploded.
They realized that electronic scrap was valuable and started collecting and delivering it to us with a vengeance. Our profit margin decreased, but the volume more than doubled, increasing our profits accordingly.
I had always been obsessed with large corporations and mid-sized companies, but now that electronic scrap was becoming popular nationwide, the amount we were collecting from small businesses through junkyards was much larger than we had anticipated.
As expected, some recovery businesses had started emerging, but they were still in their early stages and didn't pose a significant threat.
There was only one problem.
"Those smelter bastards…"
No matter how much Park Jong-bum pleaded with them, they refused to renew the contract.
It didn't make sense. It shouldn't matter to them who they received the goods from, as long as they could smelt them and make a profit.
And rumors were circulating that other Japanese smelters had started their own research after seeing Naoshima Smelter's profits skyrocket from gold recovery. I felt frustrated.
"And the research lab isn't making any progress."
We had invested 300 million won and even installed a small furnace in the lab, but there were no significant results yet.
Our current peace was built on the foundation of our electronic scrap monopoly, and we only had two months left.
"This is frustrating. So frustrating."
As I was sighing in my office, Maru entered with a thick document.
"What are you doing, moping around again?"
"I'm frustrated. Nothing is going my way."
"Hyung, Chunha Trading's sales have already exceeded 60 billion won this year. Our net profit is 20 billion won. You're acting like we're going bankrupt."
We had accumulated over 30 billion won in cash.
It was technically Chunha Trading's corporate assets, but 93.5% of the shares belonged to me, so it was practically my money.
"I know, I know. But it's a shame. If we lose our electronic scrap monopoly, our profits will be cut in half. Don't you feel sorry for our poor employees who are working hard, relying on me?"
"Since when did you start caring about the employees? Here, take this."
Maru chuckled and tossed me the document.
"What's this?"
"Read it. I brought it because I didn't want to see you moping around. There are some big deals here, so go and have some fun."
The document was a bid list from Donga Insurance.
"Insurance? Why suddenly…"
"I brought it so you can get some work done and clear your head. They said there are some big companies involved, so it might be a good distraction."
"I'm not in the mood for this, and it's not like it's a big deal anyway."
"That's why I'm telling you to go. Keeping yourself busy will help you forget your worries. Nothing will change even if you keep moping around here, so go and have some fun."
"Sigh, Maru, you little… You're sending me out to work when I'm the CEO? You're getting too big for your britches."
I grumbled as I drove to one of the factories on the list.
I knew what Maru was trying to do, but I was so preoccupied with the smelter contract renewal that I couldn't focus on anything else.
"Alright, let's think of this as a distraction."
I arrived at the company, Doha Corporation, located in Yongin. It was a major first-tier supplier for Yeondae Motors.
There were a few other people at the fire-damaged factory, presumably there to participate in the auction.
"So this is the scene of the fire. What did they manufacture here?"
I covered my mouth and entered the factory. The spacious site was littered with ash-covered machinery.
In the past, I would have been analyzing the amount of scrap metal and non-ferrous metals I could extract from the machinery, but now I felt indifferent.
I saw an unfinished product on one of the production lines and approached it. It was a radiator grille for a car.
I tapped it a couple of times and frowned.
"What the… It's plastic?"
I checked the other lines, but they were all plastic parts.
"Sigh, this is a bust."
The next place I visited was the Osan factory of MG, a major corporation.
I had been there before, trying to secure an electronic scrap deal.
"It's an MG Electronics factory, so there must be something valuable here."
The MG Osan factory was one of the few factories we hadn't been able to penetrate since starting the electronic scrap business.
There was a particular wholesaler, Daeho Metal, that was fiercely competing with Chunha Trading. They had monopolized the MG Osan factory's waste.
Rumor had it that the head of the waste disposal department at the MG Osan factory was related to someone at Daeho Metal. No matter how much we explained that we only handled electronic scrap, Daeho Metal refused to share, and the factory wouldn't give us their business, so we had given up.
I arrived at the factory and was guided to the fire site by the security guard. It was surprisingly small compared to the size of the factory.
A building that looked to be about 3,300 square meters was charred black.
As I entered the building, my eyes lit up.
"This isn't a production line, it's a warehouse! A finished goods warehouse!"
The warehouse was filled with burnt remains of what were once products, piled high on pallets.
Intrigued, I put on gloves and reached into the ashes, pulling out something I found.
"A video cassette? So this was a video cassette factory."
It was charred black, but it was definitely a video cassette.
"Is this a bust too?"
Video cassettes were electronic products, so they contained circuit boards, but most of them were low-grade boards, the lowest grade of electronic scrap.
"But this is strange. Why am I so drawn to this?"
My intuition was tingling.