The Hidden Compartment

The next morning, I opened Kim Miyoung's suitcase, but there was nothing inside. Or rather, there was something. What? All kinds of clothes. The kind of mismatched outfits that wouldn't look out of place if they were dumped on a stall at Dongmyo Market. Short-sleeved tees, winter pants, even a windbreaker. I told you to tear it open. What the hell was I supposed to tear?

Thinking he meant to rip up the clothes, I pulled them out one by one and searched through them. When I couldn't find anything, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was about to grab my phone to contact Gonzales when my foot caught on the suitcase. Even though it had tripped me, my instincts told me the weight hadn't changed. What?

I examined the suitcase from every angle and noticed something strange. For a 14-inch carry-on, the storage space was too small. Ah... There was a gap between the plastic shell and the inner lining. I went to the kitchen, grabbed a pair of scissors, and carefully tore the fabric open.

Miju and I returned to our daily routine after seeing her grandmother off safely.

Oh, it had been a while since Nakamura reached out after the China shipment.

Today, it seemed he was in a hurry. He jumped straight to the main topic. Normally he'd ease into it with some talk about the weather, politics, or the economy to get his head in the right place.

He started by saying that we had delivered the goods far too quickly. From their perspective, it had been so fast they worried it might be a scam, so they ran the quality inspection two or three times. But they couldn't find any problems. Still, I couldn't help but feel like Nakamura was sighing as he typed that last part. Was that just my imagination?

He continued, saying they had followed the plan and sent the goods to Shenzhen in China. Or rather, the goods had been taken there. So they hadn't even stopped in Japan. The smuggling operation went smoothly because Hong Kong handled such massive logistics volume and was connected to the mainland by train.

That was good to hear.

Then they had sold the product to the local distribution network at a price lower than what we charged them. In the beginning, distribution had gone very successfully. Of course it had. They were dumping it cheap. Even I would be tempted if the quality was that good at that price. Especially since there was no delivery risk involved.

Among the buyers was a newly formed local organization. They offered to buy the goods at twenty percent above the distribution price. It was obvious what happened next. They sold it to them.

Sure enough...

I couldn't help but laugh at the next part.

Fuck... What do you even call this? Shooting yourself in the foot? It was funny, but it also made me a little worried.

"Got it!"

After returning from Cancun, I finally got a real break. It was my first university vacation, and it felt great. Once finals were over, there was no closing ceremony. Summer break just started. I'd timed the Cancun trip perfectly for it, but Miju was incredibly stubborn. She told me she'd signed up for summer semester classes.

I suggested she should take some time to rest, but after hearing what she said next, I told her to go ahead and attend.

"If I stay home doing nothing, I just keep thinking about Grandma."

After taking a week off, she immediately threw herself back into lectures. As for me? I was working. At the welfare center.

I was listening to reports from Director Ha and Director Jo about the matters I'd asked them to handle. The company that the investment firm had introduced us to last time—Prior Medical. When we expressed interest in acquiring it, Accountant Kim had cleaned everything up neatly. He said he'd handle it all for a 1.5 billion won fee.

From what I could see of the progress, the work had been done cleanly. Director Ha and Director Jo had paid him 500 million won upfront as a retainer. Accountant Kim then gathered the creditors, announced that there was a buyer interested in acquisition, and gave a briefing.

About five people attended the meeting: two representatives from first-tier financial institutions, one from a second-tier institution, and a private loan shark. They revealed there was a buyer willing to acquire the company on the condition that debt restructuring would be implemented. Everyone except the first-tier banks agreed to the debt adjustment.

I wasn't sure if this was even legal, but apparently if the creditors' committee decided on restructuring, even the creditors who opposed it would be bound by the decision. Of course, they could refuse. In that case, there were two options. One was for the other creditors to buy out their share. The other was to take the loss on their portion of the debt, which would exceed ninety percent. Naturally, no financial institution was willing to take on those bonds.

So they had no choice but to agree, since accepting the restructuring would get them more than eating the loss. If they didn't agree, the company would go to auction and the creditors would be paid according to priority. The funny thing was that the first-tier banks were second in line, behind the second-tier institutions. There was a small mortgage lien held by the second-tier bank that took precedence, so there would be almost nothing left for the first-tier banks.

There were a lot of complicated details, but I just nodded along thinking, "I see." Director Jo explained all the possible scenarios... I'm sorry, but I didn't catch everything.

After the debt restructuring, they first purchased the CEO's shares for 2 billion won. That allowed them to transfer ownership and acquire the company. But the former CEO didn't see a single won of that money. It all went straight to the creditors.

Then, since the new owners announced they would resume factory operations in Cheonan, the city provided separate funding. Using that money, after setting aside some operating capital, they paid off the remaining debts. In the end, the company's financial statements showed almost nothing left except real estate. Even the real estate was listed at a book value lower than the neighboring farmland. Something about impairment loss on tangible assets? They used difficult accounting terms, but I just went along with it.

They also notified all existing clients that contracts were being terminated due to the change in ownership. They said they couldn't guarantee the same quality. The client companies, perhaps feeling guilty about the situation, accepted the terminations without complaint.

We registered the business as a logistics warehouse operation. It was the kind of business that wouldn't cause problems even if the factory remained empty, and I agreed with that reasoning so I didn't say anything. If no one entrusted us with goods for storage, it would just stay empty. That was the official story on the surface.

Behind it all was the acquisition settlement statement. I wondered if it was okay to make something like this so official-looking, but it was easy to understand at a glance. The fee was listed as 1.5 billion won, broken down into boutique commission and processing costs. Then there was 2 billion for the stock purchase and 5 billion in private loans. They had acquired a company whose real estate alone was worth over 6 billion won for a total of 8.5 billion.

But the private loan amount I'd seen before wasn't even 2 billion...? When I asked, they told me the loan team had planned it that way. The winners were the accounting team and the loan sharks. The losers were the former CEO and the first and second-tier financial institutions.

Of the total, 6.5 billion had been withdrawn from the Skylight account and 2 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠billion had been taken from the welfare center. That's when I learned the current financial status of our organization. Even without including my personal account, we had over 20 billion won. And that was excluding Prior Medical and the welfare center.

When I looked at the detailed breakdown below, it made sense. Just from marijuana, we were pulling in around 2 billion won a month from roughly 10 kilograms. The BS and Sleeping series brought in 3 billion, and special products like hashish and shisha added another 500 million on average per month. Of course, when Senior Manager Seon was on leave the numbers didn't climb that high, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but the average was around that level.

I felt my shoulders rise with pride. Why? Because two months ago, I'd moved 120 kilograms in a single deal. Even though the customer hadn't been satisfied.

As the meeting wrapped up, I made one request. If they had any ideas for using the Cheonan factory, please let me know. I also thanked Director Ha and Director Jo for their hard work and gave them the performance bonuses I'd prepared. This was exactly what such money was for. Our two executives initially refused, saying they were already well compensated, but when I insisted, they said they'd use it to buy presents for the kids.

The number of people had grown again in the meantime. There were about five more children, and three additional workers at the rehabilitation factory and the one supplying public institutions. They must have been the ones I saw when I came in earlier. Their faces still carried that detached expression unique to orphans, but I prayed in my heart that they would overcome it well.