Second Thoughts on Starting a Business (1)

Kim Chirok headed for Seoul. It was the day of the second hearing in Oh Ha-young's sexual harassment case, and today's session, like the last, was scheduled for Courtroom 404 in the annex of the Seoul District Court.

The hearing began. The judge was the same aging man as before, and the prosecutor was a young woman around thirty. Unlike the prosecutors in dramas and movies, she did not raise her voice to demand that the accused be punished. She seemed to say only what was necessary, and in a quiet voice at that.

Kim Chirok believed the judge would deliver a proper ruling today. He had already submitted a written statement of his defense, after all.

The judge called the case number and then the defendant's name — Kim Chirok. He answered and stepped forward. But today, Oh Ha-young's lawyer was nowhere to be seen.

The judge spoke.

"Counsel for the complainant is not present today?"

No one answered. The judge turned to Kim Chirok.

"Have you reached a settlement with the complainant?"

"There was no need to settle, so I didn't."

"I see the complainant's counsel has not appeared. Today's hearing will be postponed."

And with that, he immediately called the next case number.

The hearing had been postponed again, just as flatly as before. This time, there was not even a word about when the next session would be held.

Why didn't Oh Ha-young's lawyer show up today? Was he sick? Or did he drink himself into a stupor last night?

They said trials dragged on forever, and it seemed that was true.

With nothing else to do, Kim Chirok left the Seocho-dong courthouse and made his way to Sadang Station. He grabbed a hamburger near the station and headed down to Hyangnam-eup.

When he walked into the factory, the Plant Manager was talking with someone. Kim Chirok recognized the man as a contractor from the outside firm that handled electrical safety management for the Hyangnam Tech plant.

Kim Chirok gave the Plant Manager a quick bow.

"A lot of people have been slipping out of the office lately, what with the company in trouble. That's exactly when you need to work even harder."

"I, uh — I submitted a proper early-leave request. I was only gone for a little while."

"You'd better not start taking after Director Ma."

"Pardon? Director Ma? Oh — you mean the Production Director?"

The Production Director's name was Na Yongseong. But people, whether out of teasing or habit, often called him Ma Yongseong when they referred to him. That was how he had become "Director Ma."

"That's right. Director Ma's been coming and going a lot lately too. Is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that any way for a department head to behave?"

Kim Chirok figured the Production Director was probably out scouting rental factory space. When choosing a plant, floor area mattered, but so did electrical capacity. You also needed a site where large trucks could pull in and turn around easily, and where forklifts could move without trouble.

There seemed to be some friction between the Plant Manager and the Production Director. The Plant Manager outranked him, but the Production Director was older — that was probably the source of it. But if this factory was going to shut down anyway, none of that would matter. Kim Chirok gave a wry smile and headed up to the second-floor office.

He sat down at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his desk. He was taking a sip of bottled water when the Accounting Manager spoke up with a smile.

"Kim Chirok, you weren't out interviewing at another company, were you?"

"An interview? Nothing of the sort."

"In this kind of atmosphere, if you're in and out of the office as much as Production's Director Ma Yongseong, people get the wrong idea."

"Is Director Ma doing that?"

"This morning the Plant Manager even told the Managing Director that Director Ma was acting suspicious."

"Is that so?"

"He also said that if the company goes under, Director Ma would be the first one to jump ship."

"Director Ma doesn't seem like that kind of person. Besides, he's the one who keeps the production staff in line — him and the Production Manager, I mean. Director Na, that is."

"The Plant Manager talks behind his back, though. Says Director Ma's been here a long time but still can't even read a blueprint properly."

"Ah, that's just the two of them locking horns. The Plant Manager outranks him, but Director Na's got more years and more time in the trenches. That's all it is."

"Manager Cho in Production always takes Director Ma's side. They're from the same hometown, and Director Ma's his senior."

"Which side are you on, Manager?"

"Haha. Why would I get in the middle of those two? I can't stand either of them."

"Why's that?"

"I know perfectly well they both call me a 'fire fox' behind my back."

"Haha. That's probably because you're too good at your job. You never leave a single gap."

The Accounting Manager stuck out her lower lip in a little pout and went back to her work. She glanced at the figures on the vouchers and hammered away at her calculator — and at that one thing, she really was lightning-fast.

The next afternoon, Kim Chirok got a call from the Production Director.

The Production Director was probably going to bring up starting a company again.

Kim Chirok found himself wondering if he should just move to another small-to-medium enterprise. What if he threw in with them, invested his money, and the whole thing fell apart? But he also had the sense that the Production Director and the Production Manager would have a hard time of it without him. Those two were not strong on the administrative side. They probably could not even handle the four major social insurances properly. Both of them had spent their lives working injection molding machines, not computers.

Even if I end up going somewhere else, I might as well hear Director Ma out.

Without even realizing it, Kim Chirok had started calling Na Yongseong "Director Ma" too.

Evening arrived. These days, the sun was gone within an hour of people leaving work — proof enough that the days had grown short.

Kim Chirok ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠opened the second-floor office window and looked toward the production building. The lights were on in the production office, so Director Ma was probably there. But there was no light coming from the work floor where the injection molding machines stood. Looks like no overtime tonight.

He headed over to Production. In the production office, the Production Director and the Production Manager sat facing each other, talking.

Director Ma smiled.

"Come on in."

"No overtime tonight, I see."

"We're not taking any new orders. One of the Korean-Chinese workers already told me he's quitting."

"Did you get his resignation letter?"

"I'll have it tomorrow. Once I do, I'll send it up to you. He's been here less than a year, so no severance pay."

"Understood. Once I receive the resignation, I'll get the President's approval and process the four major insurance cancellations."

"Want a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee keeps me up at night, so..."

"Green tea, then?"

The moment Director Ma finished speaking, Manager Cho — the Production Manager — jumped up and went to make the green tea.

As they sipped, Director Ma said,

"People have been talking about me being out of the office a lot lately, haven't they?"

"I went up to Seoul yesterday myself, actually. Had something to take care of."

"What for? You're not planning to skip out on us, are you?"

Kim Chirok did not mention that he had gone for a hearing in a sexual harassment case.

"No. I won't leave until the President makes the decision to shut us down."

"That so?"

"Even if you leave first, Director Ma — I mean, Director Na — I'll stay and hold down Hyangnam Tech until the very end. Sorry for calling you Director Ma, by the way."

"Director Ma's fine. My own daughter calls me that. There's some comic book with a Director Ma in it, apparently."

"Haha, is that right? Then I'll call you Director Ma too."

"The reason I've been out, actually, is I've been looking at rental factories."

"I figured as much."

"There's a good rental plant available over in Songgok-ri. About a thousand square meters of grounds, and the building itself is around five hundred. Plenty of room to set up four injection molding machines."

"Where's Songgok-ri? The park near my studio is called Songgok Park too."

"Ah, it's not far from here. Fifteen minutes by car, easy. And you've got a car, so what's the worry?"

"Is Songgok-ri in Hyangnam-eup as well?"

"It is. On the east side of Hyangnam-eup. Lots of factories over there too. This whole city of Hwaseong is basically one big industrial zone, isn't it? That's why there's so much work around here."

"That's true. In an era of rural decline, Hwaseong is one of the places where the population is actually growing."

"I liked the factory I looked at this time. Electrical capacity is more than enough, and the building's fairly new."

"Oh, really?"

"The rent's a bit steep, though. They're asking forty million won for the deposit and four million a month."

"Are you really confident about going out on your own, Director?"

"If we bring over all four of the Mitsutech molds and run even two of them, we can easily do a hundred million won a month in sales."

"So if we ran all four, that would be two hundred million a month."

"That's right. Even if we don't pick up work from anyone else, four Mitsutech molds running would get us there."

Kim Chirok ran the numbers in his head.

Four molds, and even running just two of them would mean a hundred million a month? That's 1.2 billion won in annual revenue.

1.2 billion in sales... that could actually work. Seven people in on the startup could make a living off that, no problem. Whether the company would grow from there or shrink was another question. The one thing they could not afford was defective products. A single quality claim could put a brand-new company in crisis.

The real question, though, was whether Mitsutech would even hand those molds over to a newly founded company.

Kim Chirok took a sip of green tea and spoke.

"Have you all raised the money? The startup capital, I mean."

"That's the sticking point... How much could you put in?"

"I haven't said I'd join yet."

"If you don't come in, we'll have to rethink the whole thing."

"If I did it, I could put together fifty million won."

"Fifty million!"

Director Ma crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and sat thinking for a long while. Then he uncrossed his arms.

"Can't you do any more than that?"

"That's everything I have. And even that, I'd need an employed-worker loan to cover."

"Hah."

Director Ma let out a sigh.

Kim Chirok smiled.

"Why the sky-is-falling sigh?"

"Truth is, I haven't raised much myself. Who walks around with tens of millions in cash? I could only put together fifty million either."

"Then that's a hundred million secured. The remaining hundred million could come from the other five putting in twenty million each. Manager Cho and the four foreign workers are in, right?"

"The foreign guys aren't putting their own money into a startup. I talked to them about it, but they said once they send money home, they've got nothing left. These guys don't go in for anything risky."

"How much can Manager Cho put in?"

"Well..."

Manager Cho, the Production Manager, scratched the back of his head.

Director Ma looked at him.

"Should I just be honest?"

"Go ahead."

Director Ma turned back to Kim Chirok.

"I mentioned once that Manager Cho is a credit defaulter, didn't I?"

"I think I heard that."

"He's in credit recovery right now. So he said he can't raise anything on his own. But his wife put together thirty million, and he can put that in."

"What about the foreign workers?"

"The Vietnamese guy says he's got nothing. The ones from Bangladesh said they could put in a little."

"Is that so?"

The Bangladeshi workers were the ones who had eaten black-bean noodles with Kim Chirok last time.

"The Vietnamese haven't been in Korea long, but the Bangladeshi guys have been here a while, so they've got a bit saved up. Still, they said they can't put in more than ten million each."

"So if those two put in ten million apiece, that's another twenty million."

"Right. So that's your fifty million, my fifty million, Manager Cho's thirty million, and twenty million from the two Bangladeshi guys. That comes to a hundred and fifty million."

"Fifty million short of the two hundred million in capital we need."

"That's what I'm stuck on right now. Times are hard for everyone, so borrowing money from people personally is tough. Even if you offer interest, it's tough."

"Could we just start with a hundred and fifty million in capital? You'd be Representative Director with that, Director Ma."

"I already said I won't be Representative Director. It'd be better if you put in a little more and took the role yourself..."

"Let's try starting with a hundred and fifty million. That's assuming Mitsutech lends us the molds, of course."

"I thought about that too, but I don't think it'll work. We'd need to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bring in compounded raw rubber, and the supplier said they won't give us credit."

"So we'd have to pay cash up front."

"That's not all. Once you start a business, there's a million things you need to buy. A forklift, a cutting machine..."

The three of them fell silent, sipping their green tea.

If Kim Chirok took out an employed-worker loan, he could put in around a hundred million. But he sank into a long, hard think about whether to do it or not.

The night grew deeper still.