Chapter 16: The Art of Selling
Chapter 16: The Art of Selling
Sipping wine in first class.
In first class, you eat and you sleep.
‘They even have Wi-Fi.’
The fact that I could even lie down to sleep made me look forward to this luxurious trip.
“Thank you for flying with us. Is there anything you need?”
The flight attendants and even the captain came to greet me.
I knew it was part of the service, but having the captain come over felt a bit excessive.
“I'm fine. Thank you for your concern.”
“We'll ensure you have a comfortable flight to your destination.”
For my meal, I was served steak and red wine.
I started eating without high expectations, but it was so delicious it ranked among the top three steaks of my life.
Although, if you excluded the Salisbury steak from the university cafeteria, I’d only had real steak about five times.
That was because we rarely went to family restaurants when entertaining doctors.
We usually went to Japanese restaurants for tuna.
‘Why do doctors love tuna so much?’
There was a time when I used to ponder that.
“Yes. I like this design. It should be good for targeting the younger demographic. The era has come where even compact cars in Korea can be dynamic.”
Managing Director Jin Yoo-kyung of Mirae Motors.
She was handling work on a phone call.
Being able to make phone calls on a plane was quite a culture shock.
As if sensing my stare, she looked at me while still on her call.
“Sorry, I have some urgent work. Were you planning to sleep?”
“Work is important. Please, carry on.”
“But why were you looking at me?”
“Because you look beautiful when you're working.”
“Excuse me?”
I had blurted out my thoughts without thinking.
This wasn't like me at all.
Was this the trap of first class, making me let my guard down?
The term 'career woman' usually evokes an image of someone buried in work, but seeing her working with documents and a tablet spread out in first class looked incredibly cool.
‘A pretty face, a young age. She must be from Mirae Motors' royal family.’
Even if she was royalty, we weren't colleagues. Just two people who happened to meet on a plane.
Now that I'd revealed my inner thoughts, there was nothing holding me back.
“Your dedication to your work is charming. So much so that I want to keep watching.”
“Ah...”
Are we perhaps over Japan?
Or in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
I could see Jin Yoo-kyung's face flush red at my words.
After a moment's hesitation, she spoke.
“How many glasses of wine did you have earlier?”
“Hmm? Three.”
The wine I had with my steak was just so delicious.
I finally realized I was a little drunk.
“I'm sorry. You were working hard, and I seem to have made a drunken comment.”
“It's quite all right.”
I was supposed to stay awake as long as possible to get my money's worth in first class.
But as soon as I realized I was drunk, I asked a flight attendant to prepare my bed, and I lay down under the covers.
* * *
‘This man, a salesman?’
A salesman for Arcor.
It was a German company Jin Yoo-kyung had heard of.
A high-tech corporation with a world-class competitive edge in the medical, semiconductor, optical lens, and microscope sectors.
‘Which division? The semiconductor equipment department?’
She was curious about what exactly he sold.
After all, a single piece of semiconductor equipment could cost anywhere from tens to over a hundred billion won.
‘But does semiconductor equipment even have a sales department?’
Even if he was in semiconductors, she couldn't quite understand how a mere employee could afford to fly first class.
A handsome man of a similar age wasn't uncommon. But for some reason, her first impression of him was strangely captivating.
Jin Yoo-kyung was embarrassed that she had been the one to offer her business card first.
It was a small thing, but she didn't usually hand out her card first.
‘It's a good thing no one from the company saw that.’
* * *
“This is the concept for the car commercial?”
“Yes.”
“You're shooting a commercial on a desert road. That must look cool.”
“It will probably only be on screen for a second or two. But the first commercial has a big impact on the car's image.”
With three hours left until their arrival in San Francisco.
I found myself chatting about this and that with Jin Yoo-kyung.
She had finished her work and woken up from a nap, and I had woken up too with nothing to do.
She naturally didn't show me confidential materials like the car's design proposal.
But the commercial's schedule had been made public, and she said employees from a Korean ad agency were already in the US preparing for the shoot.
“The model we're launching this time is a major effort to target not just the Korean market, but the American one as well. Our US sales have been steadily increasing.”
“I've seen articles about the growing popularity of SUVs.”
“You'll like it even more once it's released and you see it on the road. Mr. Kim Shin, what kind of car do you drive now?”
Jin Yoo-kyung asked with a confident smile.
Was it because her company held nearly 90% of the domestic car market?
“Actually, I don't drive a Mirae Motors car.”
“That's fine. Knowing what car you drive helps us understand customer preferences and other things.”
“A Ferrari 458.”
“Ah. A Ferrari...”
For a moment, she couldn't help but look embarrassed.
Who would have thought the day would come when I'd be flexing my car on a golden spoon who would have made me feel a wall between us in any other social setting.
‘So this is why they say you should drive a nice car?’
I realized how important one's attitude is during a first meeting.
Drinking wine, speaking my mind, and complimenting her looks had paved the way for a comfortable conversation.
‘I've never lived like this before.’
It was the first time I'd ever spoken so comfortably with a woman.
“We at Mirae Motors are also gradually releasing models that emphasize sportiness. We're also investing heavily in autonomous driving and electric vehicles.”
“I see. I've driven a Kona Electric in Jeju Island.”
“What did you think of it?”
“The accelerator and brake felt very unnatural.”
“...”
As a man with a trillion won, my perspective on the world had changed a lot.
Before, I probably would have seen Mirae Motors as just a domestic car brand with a high market share.
The extent of my thoughts would have been wanting to buy a mid-size or larger car if I saved enough money.
Mirae Motors' annual revenue, net profit, production volume, overseas market share, competitiveness in the electric vehicle sector, and so on.
I found myself interested in countless fields.
‘I never thought I'd personally experience the saying, "A man with a thousand sacks of rice has a thousand worries, and a man with ten thousand has ten thousand worries."’
The worries themselves felt enjoyable because it felt like I was learning more about the world and growing as a person.
Managing Director Jin Yoo-kyung.
The ability to speak so freely with a member of the royal family was also due to the confidence my wealth gave me.
I wasn't just a beggar to the bone; I was also good at knowing my place.
If I had met Managing Director Jin Yoo-kyung on a plane back when I was broke and living in a semi-basement, I would have shrunk into myself and not even been able to hold a conversation.
Since I kept saying unusual things, it seemed to have piqued Managing Director Jin Yoo-kyung's curiosity.
Her eyes sparkling, she asked.
“What brings you to San Francisco?”
“I'm going to see a friend.”
“Your friend must live in San Francisco. If you don't mind my asking, what does your friend do?”
“He's just an ordinary office worker. He works at Google.”
They say it's hard for a dragon to rise from a stream, but Oh Myeong-woo, through hard work and talent, had landed a job at a global IT company.
When you thought about it, both of the people who had lived in that semi-basement apartment had made it.
* * *
The day Kim Shin said he was selling his Ethereum and Ripple.
‘I'm not selling. I'll wait.’
Kim Sang-gi held on tight to both coins.
Just looking at the daily upward-trending price chart made him feel relaxed and happy.
A salesman's starting monthly salary: 3.1 million won.
Being at a pharmaceutical company, his starting salary was quite a bit higher than other office workers, but there was a downside.
His salary didn't increase much even with years of service.
There were incentives, but unlike other pharmaceutical companies, there was a limit to the performance he could achieve.
No matter how hard he worked, doctors would only replace their surgical machines when they needed to.
Worse, the company would pressure salesmen to quit once they reached their late 30s or 40s, claiming doctors found them uncomfortable to deal with.
You could say it allowed him to forget this suffocating reality and dream.
‘To the moon... To the moon...’
He desperately wished for the chart to go up, and it really did.
He was making money, and it was fun to post on the crypto forums.
- Resident of Ripple's 3rd floor here.
- Proof of 20 million won profit today.
- My return this month is about 700%. There are plenty of experts better than me, right? Heh.
Whenever Kim Sang-gi posted, hundreds of comments would follow.
Envy, jealousy, resentment.
He became a well-known figure on the crypto forums, called a master. He also received countless private messages asking him to teach them about crypto.
From people in their 20s to their 50s.
He even got messages from women in their 20s asking him to teach them about crypto.
‘Look at this vibe. With so much interest, it's bound to go up even more.’
On the domestic exchange, Ripple was at 4,000 won.
The day after Kim Shin sold, it hit 4,400 won, a further 10% gain.
‘It's rising. It keeps rising. This is some sweet profit.’
When he went to the rooftop after arriving at work, Na Sang-guk was chattering away.
“Look at this. Wasn't I right? If he'd just held on for one more day, he would have made 10%. Ten percent! You have to time your sales right. Assistant Manager Kim is a bit too impatient.”
Na Sang-guk was talking as if he were responsible for the 10% increase.
“In my opinion, Ripple is going to fly. Now is the cheapest it'll ever be. Selling because you're nervous? You'll never get it at this price again. We're at the 44th floor now. Even if it goes up to the 100th, 200th floor, that's 10,000 won, 20,000 won. How much is Bitcoin right now?”
He was so invested, it was as if Na Sang-guk had become Ripple itself.
The team leaders watching him didn't look pleased.
Team Leader An spoke.
“Sang-guk.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“The Myeonmok-dong eye clinic called. They asked why you didn't show up yesterday. Didn't you tell me you were in Myeonmok-dong when I called you in the afternoon?”
“Well...”
Na Sang-guk's eyes darted around.
He had marked on his schedule that he'd visited the clinic, but he had been on a date with a woman at that time.
‘I don't usually get caught.’
Before he could make an excuse, Team Leader An clicked his tongue and said.
“We're not a company that works you to the bone. You should at least stick to your schedule. You lied and skipped out?”
“Something urgent came up.”
“Then you should have reported it. That way we could have sent someone else.”
“I'm sorry.”
Na Sang-guk put out his cigarette, glanced around nervously, and quickly disappeared from the rooftop.
“Sigh. He needs to learn to slack off in moderation.”
Team Leader An stopped himself from saying more.
It was common for salesmen not to follow the schedules they submitted to the company.
But they were supposed to slack off in a way that didn't disrupt their work.
Team Leader Seo asked.
“So, what are you going to do about the coins? Are you selling?”
“Is it because of what Assistant Manager Kim said?”
“Yeah. It's been on my mind since last night.”
His initial investment was in the tens of millions of won, but with the profits, it had grown to several hundred million.
It was an amount that forced him to be cautious, and frankly, greed made it hard to sell.
“I sold as soon as I heard what Assistant Manager Kim said.”
“How could you bring yourself to sell?”
He obviously wasn't asking about the method of selling.
Team Leader An chuckled and explained.
“Because I didn't have the confidence to sell it myself.”
“Huh?”
“How can you sell a coin that's making you money? But Assistant Manager Kim said he was selling, decisively. That's when I knew. He's a real pro.”
“It really is a tough decision.”
“You can get lucky and pick a rising coin. You can pick anything and it might go up if you're lucky. But selling well... that's pure skill. That's why I trusted Assistant Manager Kim.”