Prove It (2)
Han Ha-jin was truly aggrieved.
After hearing Kang Min-hyuk tell him to prove his abilities, he had gotten angry and rashly accepted the bet.
His plan had been perfect.
Before meeting Vice President Oh Sang-do, he had contacted his mother and asked for full support for Team 1’s project.
Thanks to that, Vice President Oh Sang-do had given a firm answer without even listening to the details of the project, saying he would push for it, and had accompanied him all the way to the meeting room to lend his strength to Team 1.
But the moment they got off the elevator, he suddenly grabbed his lower abdomen and said he needed to stop by the restroom for a moment?
It had delayed the move by ten full minutes.
Why the hell did the signal have to come at that exact moment!
If it was going to take that long, he could have told him to go in first.
Then, even if he had brought Team Leader Kim, they would have arrived at the meeting room on time.
He didn’t even want to think about how twisted his guts had been while waiting helplessly in the hallway.
When they finally reached the meeting room, it was only five minutes late from the promised time.
Just five minutes!
But Kang Min-hyuk declared Han Ha-jin’s defeat as if the situation meant nothing.
This defeat couldn’t be easily accepted, however, because it wasn’t Han Ha-jin’s fault.
It had simply been bad luck.
On the way back to the office after the meeting,
Kang Min-hyuk patted Han Ha-jin’s shoulder and said in a subtly unpleasant tone, “Life is unpredictable, so it’s interesting, right? Even if you’re born with a silver spoon, one mistake can drop you into the abyss, and there’s no law that says if you’re born poor, you’ll just crawl at the bottom forever.”
Kang Min-hyuk’s words had been more than enough to stir Han Ha-jin’s competitive spirit, who had come to work with a light heart to get a feel for the situation before returning to headquarters after starting his own business.
He was born to be the owner of Iljin Group.
A perfect manager who didn’t suit the word “failure” at all.
That was the destiny Han Ha-jin, the eldest grandson of Iljin Group, had to bear.
He had worked tirelessly to become a person worthy of it.
To make Kang Min-hyuk know that he was never an easy opponent.
To engrave into Kang Min-hyuk’s brain that he was a person who must never be ignored.
If he couldn’t even get recognition from a mere deputy, even if he became a manager, he couldn’t remove the tag of “successful because of good parents.”
Kang Min-hyuk, I’ll make sure you have no choice but to acknowledge my abilities!
Han Ha-jin’s loose heart had finally caught fire.
At the moment when Han Ha-jin, feeling a burning thirst like his throat was on fire, reached out to grab a cool energy drink from the vending machine,
Kang Min-hyuk had entered the break room with a smiling face.
Han Ha-jin instantly changed to a kind expression and bowed to him.
“Good morning, Deputy Kang!”
“Ha-jin, you came early. Are you drinking a drink?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to drink coffee, Ha-jin, make one for me too?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Since Ha-jin made it yesterday, today it’s my turn to make it. Just sit for a moment and wait.”
Han Ha-jin had never touched instant coffee before, but since he couldn’t refuse his superior’s offer, he had sat at the table and waited quietly.
A short while later, Kang Min-hyuk had brought two cups of hot coffee with steam rising, poured into small paper cups.
“The coffee Ha-jin made yesterday was delicious, but it was a bit bland for me.”
“I followed the instructions on the package and mixed it with the exact amount of water. It said 100 ml per packet. They said it’s the golden ratio.”
“Really? Well, everyone’s taste is different. I like the refined sweet taste that comes up after the strong bitter coffee taste! It’s also an experience to try different styles. That’s how you find your taste.”
Kang Min-hyuk had wrapped the paper cup and taken a sip of the coffee, then smiled broadly.
“Ha! This is the taste, right? Mix coffee… It’s like a soul drink filled with the joys and sorrows of office workers. Only after drinking this does the day start, it seems.”
What grand expressions for just one cup of mix coffee.
The more he saw it, the stranger the person was.
“Try it. It’ll be fine.”
“Yes.”
Han Ha-jin had brought the paper cup to his lips, and the fragrant coffee aroma had tickled his nose.
Well, the aroma is appealing.
Still, it couldn’t be as good as coffee brewed with care by a barista.
Han Ha-jin had blown on the hot coffee lightly and taken a small sip without much expectation.
The thick, warm liquid had slid across his tongue and down his throat.
At that moment, Han Ha-jin’s eyes had widened in surprise.
He had recognized the true flavor of Korean mix coffee.
“Oh~ This is really delicious.”
“Right?”
Kang Min-hyuk had smiled happily and said.
“Office workers shouldn’t not know the taste of mix coffee. Congratulations on entering the jungle. Let’s navigate well together from now on.”
“Yes!”
Kang Min-hyuk had drunk another sip of coffee and asked.
“No special schedule in the afternoon, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know how to drive?”
“I do.”
“Good. I’m going to visit a partner company in the afternoon, so I’ll go with you. I’ll report to the team leader and leave at 10, so prepare.”
“Understood.”
Ha-jin had cheered inwardly.
Since he had gotten a chance to closely analyze Kang Min-hyuk and catch his flaws.
I’ll properly imprint my abilities so that he never makes such lame advice again!
I thought the eldest grandson of a chaebol would act without thinking, but it’s unexpected.
Team Project had succeeded, so he should have been boastful, but he was calm as if he had done what he had to do. It was pleasing.
The attitude of accepting the result without complaint was also like that.
People say children are mirrors of their parents.
That saying seemed to fit perfectly.
He looked just like Chairman Huh Ji-hye.
Therefore, he had decided to go with him to the partner company visit today.
Of course, about 10% of the reason was that he didn’t feel like driving.
After getting permission for an off-site from Team Leader Kim and receiving the company car key, Han Ha-jin had headed to the parking lot with him.
“You can ride in my car.”
“What kind of car is it?”
Ha-jin had answered with a proud expression.
“It’s not expensive, it’s a Porsche Cayenne 4S.”
“The same car as the one my younger sister drives.”
“When a car seller introduces a car, it’s called a dream car that young people prefer these days, and it really is.”
“Oh~ You know it.”
“We see a lot of it in our apartment parking lot. My younger brother also drives that.”
Ha-jin had tilted his head.
“Really? Strange. I heard only a few entered the country.”
“It seems all the residents of our apartment bought a car that only a few entered the country.”
“Since talking too much might get me investigated, I quickly changed the subject.”
“Today’s destination is a bit far, so it’s rough. If you ride a good car, it might get scratched.”
“Ah, yes.”
Ha-jin had made an expression as if he was a bit regretful.
“Did he want to show off his car?”
“If that’s the case, I should give him a chance later.”
“I thought he would only ride cars that others drove like the young masters of other chaebol families, so he wouldn’t know how to drive well,”
“But Han Ha-jin’s driving skills were surprisingly stable.”
“Ha-jin, you drive really well.”
“I like cars. My hobby is driving racing cars on a racetrack.”
“Oh ho~ Really? I didn’t have the aptitude for driving.”
“After taking a taxi for commuting, driving became even more bothersome.”
“The driver uncle who drives the car I ride is really good at driving.”
“He has a good impression too.”
Ha-jin had said to him with a proud face.
“If there’s an off-site, please let me know anytime. I’ll drive you.”
“Haha. Even saying it makes me grateful.”
The car had passed the Pyeongtaek toll gate and crossed the downtown area, then entered a quiet national road.
“There are a few houses here and there, but the surroundings are all mountains.”
“By the way, where are we going now?”
“This is the factory where I submitted the estimate for the plastic container business I’m proceeding with. I’m going to check if the estimate is appropriate.”
“Isn’t that something the practical team can do?”
“Before handing over the project completely to the practical team, I have to do a final inspection. If they hear that I’m making things without knowing the practical work, it won’t do.”
“I see.”
“What I told Ha-jin was a superficial reason.”
“The real purpose of the visit was different.”
“After handing over the eco-friendly plastic container business to Team Leader Lee Jung-wan, a while later,”
“While reviewing the report, I found something suspicious and went to look for Team Leader Sung Min-woo, a practical researcher in Team 2.”
“At that time, when I asked where he received the estimate, Team Leader Sung Min-woo had vaguely said the company that submitted the estimate had disappeared and left the seat as if running away.”
“Feeling something strange from his attitude, I had decided to thoroughly check the project from the beginning.”
“How this business started and why it was stopped.”
“The first thing I had checked was the budget.”
“To proceed with the business, the budget plan needed clear grounds.”
“So, I had requested estimates from a total of 20 plastic container manufacturing factories that had any transaction with Iljin Group, including the existing registered partner companies.”
“Among them, eight companies had replied that it was difficult to produce products applying eco-friendly plastic materials, and three companies that submitted insincere estimates had been excluded.”
“The remaining nine factories’ estimate prices had been averaged to create a draft.”
“Comparing the average price obtained here with the budget received from Team 1 last year, my average had been about 50% cheaper.”
“No matter how it was a budget for business viability review, it was an unreasonable situation that it had decreased by nearly half in just one year.”
“Even though labor and material costs had risen sharply after the pandemic, making the factory’s manufacturing cost higher than before.”
“Upon realizing that there was a problem in the business budget plan, I had immediately realized that Team Leader Lee Jung-wan had planned to embezzle initial business costs through this business.”
“At the same time, the more I got close to the truth of this business, the more I had sensed that I could uncover another corruption of Team Leader Lee Jung-wan.”
“Corruption is a thing that once a person commits it, they tend to commit it again.”
“That was the real reason that had pulled Han Ha-jin deep into this business.”
“After all, I planned to escape Iljin Group after taking revenge on Lee Jung-wan and Han Se-ah.”
“Someone had to stay and dig up and correct Team Leader Lee Jung-wan’s corruption.”
“Assigning Han Ha-jin, the eldest grandson of Iljin Group, to the role of vanguard of corruption audit.”
“By giving strength to Han Ha-jin, the eldest grandson of Iljin Group, there would be a day when I could receive his favor someday.”
“The first visit destination I had chosen was Eco Plastic in Pyeongtaek.”
“Confirming that the current location was not far from the target location marked on the navigation, I had taken out the estimate.”
“Eco Plastic was the place that had used the lowest average price among the nine manufacturing companies I had averaged.”
“Even though the factory size and sales were significantly smaller, it had been registered as a partner company, so I had thought it was strange and looked up the detailed records.”
“The person who had recommended the company registration was Director Park Kwang-il of Iljin Food Procurement Division.”
“What kind of department is the procurement team?”
“A department that selects suppliers needed for production, signs contracts, finally issues purchase orders, and confirms delivery.”
“A department head in charge of such work had recommended the company, so it was likely registered as a partner without a complicated verification process.”
“Moreover, it had been strange that only single-source contracts were processed after the company registration at the end of last year.”
“Perhaps I had judged that it might be a joint corruption between Director Park Kwang-il and Team Leader Lee Jung-wan, so I had decided the three companies recommended by Director Park Kwang-il as the current site visit destinations.”
“While checking the last page of the estimate, the car had stopped.”
“Deputy, we’re here. But is this the correct destination?”
Looking up outside,
“The place we had arrived was a desolate plot of land carved out from the middle of the mountain.”
“A old factory building that looked less than 30 pyeong was visible far away.”
“At the entrance of the building, a skinny, yellow dog that looked like he hadn’t eaten properly had been barking weakly towards us.”
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone around.”
“I’ll go check.”
Opening the passenger door, an old man in security guard clothes had come out of the factory after hearing the dog barking.
Approaching the security grandfather, I had asked.
“Hello, sir. I came because there’s a plastic container manufacturing factory here. Could I see the president?”
“The security guard had scratched his white hair and answered.
“The president is not here now.”
“Then, the factory manager?”
“The factory has been stopped for a while. There’s no work.”
“Ah… I see. Then, could you tell me when the work stopped?”
“Let’s see.”
“The security guard had counted on his fingers and answered.
“It seems more than 6 months.”
“There shouldn’t be.”
“I had checked that there were several single-source contracts of less than 50 million won last month.”
“The total amount of the contracts concluded had been reaching 1 billion won this year alone.”
“Perhaps this time.”
“This might not end with just firing Team Leader Lee Jung-wan.”
Team Leader Lee Jung-wan had said he was on Oh Sang-do’s line, so if that’s the case…
My gaze had naturally turned to Han Ha-jin who was holding the steering wheel.