Sharp Reporting and the Workaholic Secretary
"What book are you reading?"
"...Oh, I was reading an internet novel."
"What's it about?"
"It's called The Virtuous Wife After Regression."
"...Regression?"
"Well, regression is, um... it's a genre. For example, it's like going back to the time before you divorced me, Master. That's what we call regression."
Ah, I see. So that’s what it is.
"It's not about tying things up or... filling things, is it?"
"Pfft, no! The male protagonist dies because of his shrewish wife, so he decides to live a kind life after regressing. That’s the plot."
Aside from the dying part, it sounds a lot like my current situation.
Just like that, she had started consuming different genres of novels and movies. When he asked if she didn't want to work since she was just playing at home all day, Jia replied that she was on an extended leave and was considering resigning once the timing was right. Instead, she spent that time cultivating other hobbies. Perhaps she was trying to become the "virtuous wife" the novel title promised, as she began reporting her schedule like this:
Not only did she report what she was doing, but she almost never broke those promises. Watching Jia change like this, he thought of the saying that people change 180 degrees when facing death, and he even wondered if she had fallen ill.
On the other hand, Eunbyul was...
"Oh, you're here? Please read these organized materials on US-China relations and the summary of foreign media reports."
Contrary to his worries, she was working exceptionally well. There had been some difficulties during the first week or two. Even though she was his junior from university and he had personally helped her with her major studies, he felt they needed time to synchronize professionally.
"I've read it all. You organized it well. Do you think this will affect the stock price?"
"Well, rather than that, I think we need to manage our foreign exchange risk."
"For example?"
"Since the conflict is expected to intensify, the safe-haven assets like the Yen and the Dollar will likely be on an upward trend. I think we should recommend that our affiliates' overseas subsidiaries and Doowon Worldtrade's local trading companies maximize their use of triangular arbitrage."
Simply put, this is a method to reduce foreign exchange losses in the process of overseas subsidiaries earning US dollars and depositing them into Doowon's headquarters in Korea as Won. Generally, Doowon earns a significant amount of foreign currency overseas, and unless local circumstances are exceptional, the principle is to convert directly to Won before depositing. However, triangular arbitrage can be explained with an example like this:
A company called Doowon Worldtrade Ankara Co. Ltd. earns the local currency, the Lira, in Turkey. Instead of converting Lira directly to Won, the analysis showed that converting Lira to Russian Rubles first, and then converting Rubles to Won, could result in a larger exchange profit than the exchange fees. If that conclusion was reached, they would process it that way.
Using this method, if a 1 trillion Won exchange of Lira generates a 1-2% exchange profit, it creates an additional financial gain of approximately 10 to 20 billion Won. Furthermore, depending on each country's political situation, it has the advantage of avoiding exchange losses by converting through a third country (in this case, a country more intimate or stable with Turkey, with a solid currency swap agreement) rather than just converting to Korean money.
She was suggesting they use this method.
"That’s not something the Support Division should be doing."
"That may be true, but you need to broaden your perspective, Director. This entire company is practically yours."
"Fine. Then I'll report that part to the Chairman. I'm afraid he might get angry, saying he already knows."
However...
"Oh... Yes, that’s right. I hadn't thought of that. I thought I only needed to manage the disaster risk, but I should tell them to use that."
"...Pardon?"
"I tried it in the past, but the local staff found it cumbersome. I had completely forgotten about it. Yes. Since Director Han spoke well, issue an internal document to the local branches under the name of the Finance Director. Well done, Han Suhyun."
Why didn't he know this... "Just because I'm the Chairman doesn't mean I know everything. That’s why you need good staff."
"..."
"Don't you dare get cocky just because you mentioned something I didn't know."
He was a Chairman who took joy in seeing his son develop. It was a frequent occurrence. Ever since he started working in sync with Eunbyul, she not only caught things that he, other executives, and the Chairman didn't know, but even when he returned to his office and said he had received a positive response, she didn't show any signs of being conceited.
"What is this about 'refusal of interest rate reduction requests'? You were quite annoyed about it earlier, Director..."
"Hmm. When people who have taken out loans see their credit scores improve, their income rise, or they acquire professional certifications compared to when they took out the loan, they can use the right to request an interest rate reduction to lower their loan interest."
"Yes, Director."
"When such requests are received, we have to verify if that person is an eligible customer who can lower their interest rate. But Secretary Eun, logically speaking... who would want an interest rate reduction?"
"...? Um, that..." Eunbyul quickly racked her brain.
"Ah! Uh, people with a heavy interest burden?"
"Almost. People with excessive loans or those struggling with life. But if you plead that life is hard, will a financial company say, 'Oh, yes. That must be difficult,' and lower the interest? It doesn't work like that."
"There must be... factors to lower it."
"Exactly. Because they keep taking out loans, their credit scores drop. Basically, if you have a high income, you rarely have a reason to take out a loan, and you go to commercial banks. So the people taking out loans from us have lower incomes. There's no change. Professional certifications? How can someone who is busy working day and night to pay off debt get a professional certification... it’s not like it falls from the sky."
Eunbyul was sitting in the secretary's chair set up right next to his desk, listening to him quietly.
"So, people who are struggling exercise the interest rate reduction request right more often. And since there's no change, they keep getting rejected."
"If I may be so bold, couldn't we put a limit, like once a week?"
"Then Secretary Eun and I would be begging the Financial Supervisory Service on our hands and knees."
Do not put a limit on the interest rate reduction request right. Limiting it to once a day was tolerable, but once a week was a disciplinary matter from the Financial Supervisory Service. They could even get their business suspended.
"So that’s why you said someone was doing it for 30 days straight."
"Yes. And these bastards at the FSS are supposed to be smart, but they're all idiots."
"Why?"
"No, since Doowon Life is the largest among life insurers, Doowon Fire & Marine is the largest among non-life insurers, and Doowon Card is the largest among card companies, naturally the number of cases is high. They don't look at the ratio of interest rate reduction request rejections relative to the number of loan customers; they just look at the number of rejection cases. Then, naturally, for Doowon, which has many customers..."
"...The number of rejections is also overwhelmingly high..."
"Exactly."
Because his mind was sharp, he even enjoyed explaining things. If it were another employee, they would ask what on earth this was, and even if he explained it easily, they wouldn't understand. But Eunbyul didn't give up, listened to his words, and even proposed her own solutions in the meantime. She must have understood the whole situation to make such a suggestion. He would say that if she had experience working in financial affiliates, she wouldn't ask such questions, but hadn't Eunbyul never worked there? Furthermore, she wasn't too playful like before. When it was time to play, she played, and when it was time to work, she worked seriously. Who wouldn't want to teach someone like this?
As a bonus, if you teach Eunbyul one thing, ten is an exaggeration, but she seems to know about four or five. She is exceptional, far superior to others. That was the judgment he made after watching Eunbyul for a month.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Um, Director. You said you would submit a correction request to the FSS, but how about adding your own thoughts to it?"
She never called him 'Senior' at the company anymore. Only 'Secretary Eun' and 'Director Han.' That was all.
"I don't recommend that. They act like they're something special, and if you try to teach them, they'll think, 'How dare they?'"
"Ah..."
"Then how about poking the Financial Services Commission? Or the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee..."
"The FSS is a special agency, so they don't listen well even if the Financial Services Commission scolds them. They are the kind of people who shout that they are an independent agency whenever others try to interfere."
"The National Assembly..."
"The chairman of the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee is Jeon Ju-ho, a two-term lawmaker from the Mirae Jinbo Party. As you know, the opposition Mirae Jinbo Party..."
"...Hates, conglomerates..."
"So we live like this, huddled in the corner."
But that didn't mean they only worked every day. The reason Eunbyul kept her professional and private life well-separated was because she liked working with him, but there was another reason—