Company Visit

A warehouse-style mart.

From the consumer's point of view, it was genuinely fantastic.

Because it's cheap.

You could toss every minor drawback out the window. Price alone forgave everything.

"It's definitely cheap. Looking at this place, it almost feels like prices could actually stabilize."

"There's that effect, yeah."

Korea's prices climbed every year. Inefficient production and a deformed distribution structure.

And the buffer that softens the blow is…

Competition among the big retailers. Among them, the ones closest to the consumer's dinner table were these.

Dool-mart.

They sold so cheap it made you wonder if it was even legal, and that was how household prices managed to hold together at all.

"But they're selling in bulk, right? Isn't that a win-win for both the customer and the mart?"

"Nope."

Other retailers ran similar strategies. Costco was the prime example.

They sell ridiculously cheap.

Especially on imported food—there was no comparison. You could honestly call Costco Korea's best cheesecake shop. Quantity and quality both excellent. By focusing on a narrow range of products sold in massive volume, they slashed their cost ratios to the bone.

"Costco's membership-only, and they don't have that many stores."

"If there's none near you, you just can't go."

"People who don't go end up at Dool-mart anyway."

Traders was different. Same warehouse format, but it hadn't been built just to sell cheap.

It's eating its own flesh.

Sales simply shifted from regular Dool-mart stores over to Dool-mart Traders. Factor in depreciation and operating margins and it was a net loss.

"Then why do it?"

"Exactly."

"?"

"That's why we're here on a company visit."

But markets moved according to the big picture. Just like Lupang was willing to swallow hundreds of billions in losses every year.

Winner-take-all.

Monopolize the e-commerce sector and you could flip to profit through sheer volume. Subscription models and the rest would follow. Brand value would climb. Then, like Kakao, you could sprawl into every business under the sun. That was Lupang's endgame.

Dool-mart had its own target structure as well.

One look at the food section made it clear. Sora seemed to have realized something and spoke up.

"I've been looking around, and…"

"What?"

"Should we grab some sushi? Considering the price, it's better than hitting a neighborhood sushi place, right?"

"……."

She was only noticing the useless things. Still stuck in an ordinary civilian's viewpoint instead of an investor's.

It all flows straight from the fresh food section.

Beef, pork, fish. Whatever didn't sell got turned into ready-to-eat products and sold again.

"Beef becomes chilled, frozen, bulgogi, pizza toppings. Fresh salmon becomes sashimi, sushi, salmon salad."

"……."

"In short, you're the leftover cleanup crew."

"Hey."

Every other ingredient worked the same way. Recycled, re-recycled, wrung down to the marrow before disposal was even considered.

Extremely efficient.

Of course it wasn't restaurant leftover recycling. Everything was processed legally and hygienically under the relevant regulations.

"I still want to eat some."

"No."

"Why not!"

"You only buy when the discount sticker matches how underwater your stocks are."

"Ugh!"

After eight o'clock came the closing sale. They could slash 15 to 50 percent and still not lose money—that was why.

Though the real purpose isn't that, of course.

They moved on to the next section. Past the bakery, produce, and fruit corners that followed the same logic, deeper inside, they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arrived at the adults' zone.

Technically it was a facility that required an age restriction.

"Alcohol."

"Right."

"Nothing special."

"There is something special."

Wine, whiskey, the whole liquor lineup. Lately the big marts were paying more attention to these products than almost anything else.

Because you can't get these delivered.

Under Korean liquor law, everything except traditional liquor was banned from delivery. Meaning the customer had to show up in person.

"Oh, right."

"Price, ready meals, alcohol—they're building a system that forces the customer to come. All of it."

"But online shopping is still more convenient…"

"That's included too."

A warehouse mart. Shift your thinking just a little and the words became literal: a warehouse.

For offline marts, the logistics warehouse is an incredibly important hub.

These stores doubled as that hub. Every Traders location across the country.

They were working the online side hard as well. The difference from Lupang was that they were doing both.

"They call this an omnichannel strategy. Online and offline fully integrated."

"Oh…"

"The press only cares about Lupang's innovation, but the truth is Dool-mart is sharpening its knives just as hard."

The companies that weren't doing this—Lotte Mart, Homeplus, and the rest—were being left behind by the market.

From your bedroom they all look like the same company.

Business structure and corporate vision were completely different. Just walking the aisles of a mart could teach you a lot. That was the point of a company visit.

Sora, who'd never done this before and was staring like a complete virgin at the whole process, gawked with her mouth hanging open.

"You're a total know-it-all."

"Yeah."

"I could walk around a hundred times and never see any of this."

That was the truth. You only saw what you already knew how to look for. A company visit was decided by how much you knew and how much you'd prepared.

Think about it from the company's side.

They didn't want to open the books. They wanted to cherry-pick only what made them look good and use it for PR. Weaknesses especially—they hid those with everything they had. A company visit was a fight between the firm and the investor.

"A greenhorn like you is a hundred thousand years too early to go on one."

"Even a fraction of that and I'd be a grandma."

Show up half-prepared and you just got violated. The IR officer would gaslight you into completely misreporting the company's value.

A common screw-up at securities firms.

That was why you needed excellent staff. Experience mattered, but stages existed before that.

"You at least need to know which way the sickle points before you start learning."

"It's even more annoying because you're right."

"Whatcha gonna do about it?"

"Whatcha gonna do about me."

You could learn plenty just from the internet—market shifts and corporate business structures alike.

With that prior knowledge as the base…

You examined the company's growth engine. That was what an investor actually did on a company visit.

Dool-mart. If you couldn't even read what they were showing you this openly, you had zero chance of spotting what they were hiding.

Poke.

So go study more. The whole point of dragging Sora along was to make her grind the fundamentals properly.

"Sunbae."

"Yeah?"

"Doesn't shopping together like this feel kind of newlywed-y?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"'Ridiculous' is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little harsh."

Sora hadn't come here for just one reason either. She suddenly linked her arm through his and pressed close.

Why is she being creepy too.

Recent events had left him with a fresh case of PTSD, so his defenses kicked in automatically.

"Admit it, this is nice. Right?"

"You've got a real talent for paizuri."

"Don't be gross."

Sora's chest wrapped around his arm. She squeezed, and the firm, springy flesh delivered a solid pressure.

Her tits are stupidly big.

Rachel he could at least wreck in bed, but if Sora ever got him horizontal he had no idea how it would end.

"Honey, I just want to buy one bottle of wine…"

"Buy it with your allowance."

"Nooo, my allowance is too small, that's the problem."

The final form of a man who'd ended up like that. A husband archetype you saw everywhere in Korea these days walked past them.

I wonder if living like that is actually fun.

They were doing it because they wanted to, so there was nothing to criticize. He just personally had no interest.

"Do you think people around us see us as a couple?"

"They'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠see a sugar daddy and his girl."

"You psycho."

Having a stacked woman like this on his arm was far better. Sora giggled and called it a date.

Well, I'm not here for just one reason either.

Dool-mart. It held considerable weight in the Korean economy. Corporations were conservative by nature. Korea especially so.

KakaoTalk!

Digging into the interior was never easy. But for him as he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was now, it wasn't impossible either.

Dool-mart.

The company that owned more large-scale marts than any other in Korea. It was no exaggeration to say the entire nation shopped there. Their position had looked unshakable.

"Do you consider this situation normal?"

Lately, things had changed.

The man seated at the head of the ten-meter-by-three-meter conference table opened his mouth. The atmosphere was heavy. He hadn't even raised his voice, yet an oppressive force seized the room.

"The current share price weakness is due to the broader market decline and rising raw material costs, so…"

"Is that what I asked?"

"It does not appear so."

The people seated along both sides of the table were no ordinary executives either. Half-bald scalps, streaks of white hair. Minimum director-level. Managing directors, senior managing directors, executive vice presidents, presidents—people ordinary employees could barely make eye contact with.

"Did I summon all of you, busy people whose monthly salary equals a regular employee's annual pay, just to hear the obvious?"

Even they couldn't ignore the room. The man paying their salaries was speaking.

So much for leaving early.

Should've leaned harder on the share-price management team.

Never thought it'd get this bad without anyone stepping up.

No one could miss what the chairman was saying. If you didn't want to get fired, produce a solution right now.

Recently Dool-mart was facing the greatest crisis in its history. The share price had lost a third of its value in six months. You couldn't wave that away as market decline and commodity inflation. The company was shaking.

"I take it no one can properly explain this."

"Ah, well…"

"What is it?"

"We simply ran short on time. By the next meeting we will have preparations ready, so…"

"In the meantime the salaries of several more part-timers will go up in smoke, I see."

"……."

Directors sounded like people in enormously high positions. And they were. The problem was that they could stop being directors overnight. High pay meant you could be cut in an instant.

Not a single one of them works as hard as they're paid.

He wanted to replace the entire lot. For Chairman Kang Mu-yeol, the frustration was crushing. But that was corporate life—you couldn't always do what you wanted.

In that respect, the man he was about to bring in was extremely refreshing.

"As expected, no one prepared anything."

"We are deeply sorry, Chairman."

"We have been making every effort both inside and outside the company, but…"

"Enough. I prepared something myself."

"…What?"

The moment Mu-yeol finished speaking, the conference room door opened as if it had been waiting—or rather, as if it refused to wait any longer. Considering what this place was and who was gathered here, it should have been unthinkable.

He shattered that common sense without effort.

"Hello. I'm Lee Chanuk. I was invited."

That was the kind of man he was.