Signing the Mold Storage Contract (2)

The next day, Kim Chirok logged into the Mitsutech ERP system. He entered his ID and password, and the partner company Hyangdong Tech Co., Ltd. appeared on the screen. When he clicked on orders, the current order status came up.

Kim Chirok called in the Plant Manager and Manager Cho and showed them the order displayed on the Mitsutech ERP system.

The Plant Manager smiled.

"Then I'll stop by the compounding plant today to pick up more raw rubber, and drop by Ilryung Precision to buy the rings."

"Please do."

"And since we've been registered as a Mitsutech partner, I'll ask if we can buy on credit."

"If they won't, tell them we'll pay cash. Ask the compounding plant and Ilryung Precision for their account numbers, and have them send tax invoices."

"Got it."

"You already gave copies of our business registration certificate to the compounding plant and Ilryung Precision, right?"

"I did."

"Don't bring too much all at once. Split it into two trips."

"And I already called the two ladies from the cutting team to come in."

"Did you? Good work."

"Turns out one of the housewife workers who used to be at Hyangnam Tech lives around here, so I was able to get in touch."

"Oh, really?"

"It's Lee Myeong-sun from the cutting team. I'm sure President Kim knows her. She said she's bringing a friend along, so two of them should be enough."

"That's great."

"Experienced housewife workers are better for the cutting team. Assembling the rings and doing the finishing work takes fast, clean hands."

"We'll need experienced people if we want to keep the defects down."

Kim Chirok found himself wondering whether he ought to hire ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ayaka, the Japanese woman. But Aunt Ayaka had never done cutting work — she'd only handled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠loading, unloading, and inspection. He let the idea go. The Plant Manager and Manager Cho would likely object to her anyway.

Once the Plant Manager had left the office, Kim Chirok decided he ought to contact the Mitsutec CEO. A word of thanks seemed in order. He considered calling the personal number on the business card, then thought better of it. In both social standing and age, he was far below the Mitsutec CEO. Ringing him up out of the blue would be a breach of courtesy. So he sent a text instead.

Less than a minute after the text went out, the Mitsutec CEO called. To Kim Chirok's astonishment — and his deep gratitude — the man had dialed him personally.

Kim Chirok was genuinely grateful to the Mitsutec CEO. If it hadn't been for him, Hyangdong Tech never would have been registered as a partner. That wasn't all. They would have been dragged into a legal dispute over a mold-return lawsuit. They never would have landed any work at all. And now they had an order for forty thousand units.

What kind of luck was this?

And it wasn't a one-time order, either. As long as Hyundai Motor's finished vehicles weren't discontinued, the MC24 product series would keep being supplied.

Manager Cho came into the office.

"Lunch just got delivered."

Kim Chirok went out and found lunch laid out on a plastic table. The Plant Manager was out on business, so he wasn't there. The Bangladeshi workers sat around the table, and every one of them looked cheerful. They seemed to have heard that a formal order had come in from Mitsutech.

The curly-haired one who spoke Korean the best among them spoke up.

"We heard you got a big order. So we are happy."

"Thank you for coming to Hyangdong Tech instead of going somewhere else."

"We like it here too. At Hyangnam Tech, the Chinese workers looked down on us."

"Haha. Is that so?"

"They treated us like their subordinates. But there are no Chinese here, so it's good."

"There are plenty of good Chinese people too. You just didn't click with them, I suppose."

"And two ladies are coming. That's good too."

Manager Cho cut in.

"Hey! Why are you so happy about the housewife workers coming?"

"Heh. You're even happier about it, Manager."

Kim Chirok laughed at that too. Eating together in such a warm, easy atmosphere felt good — even warmer than it had ever been at H Group.

In the afternoon, trucks loaded with raw rubber arrived. Manager Cho mobilized the foreign workers to haul it, and Kim Chirok pitched in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as well. The rubber was brutally heavy.

After they'd finished moving everything, Kim Chirok turned to Manager Cho.

"We're going to need a forklift."

"The Plant Manager already said we probably need a 1.5-ton forklift. If we buy a used one on installment, we'd pay about four or five hundred thousand won a month."

"Is the installment period three years? Then go ahead and sign the contract. Raw rubber is going to keep coming in, isn't it? And we'll need it to load our finished products too."

"I'll talk it over with the Plant Manager when he gets back."

Now the factory filled with the sound of all four injection molding machines running at once. At last, it felt like a real factory.

The next day, the Plant Manager brought two housewife workers to the office. One of them had worked at Hyangnam Tech, so Kim Chirok already knew her. She beamed.

"Kim Chirok! I mean — President Kim! Good to see you!"

"I'm glad we'll be working together too."

"I nearly fell over when I heard President Kim was a Seoul National University graduate. I still can't believe you hid it from us so perfectly."

Kim Chirok thought the news that he was an SNU graduate had spread awfully fast. It was probably because the Plant Manager and Manager Cho had been talking it up.

"I don't know the first thing about rubber product manufacturing. I'm only able to do this because of you seniors."

"People who've studied a lot really are different. You know what we housewife workers used to say when President Kim came down to the floor at Hyangnam Tech? We said a handsome young bachelor had shown up. Good-looking, and you could tell he was well educated."

"Haha. Thank you for thinking so kindly of me."

"I hear President Kim and the Mitsutech president are university alumni, too? And the partner registration went through so fast — that's great, isn't it? All of us housewife workers want to come ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work here."

"Haha. We don't have the order volume yet to take everyone on, I'm afraid."

"I'll work hard. And this lady next to me lives in my neighborhood — we're like friends. She used to work at an electronics assembly plant, so her hands are fast."

Kim Chirok greeted the other woman as well and shook her hand.

That afternoon, the Plant Manager came back with a forklift. Now the factory was running properly. Inside, the injection molding machines hummed; out in the yard, the forklift rumbled; and from the cutting room came the bright, pealing laughter of the women. The staff now numbered nine, including Kim Chirok.

After meals, the housewife workers cleaned up the dishes. Lee Myeong-sun sometimes even brought seasoned vegetable side dishes or pickled cucumbers she'd packed herself.

Kim Chirok worked alone in the office. The Plant Manager and Manager Cho were on the floor, so they didn't come in often — only to drink coffee after meals or to check the Mitsutech ERP system. It was a factory, so the noise outside was considerable, but the office itself was quiet. Close the door, and the din fell away. Kim Chirok worked well on his own, free of stress.

Manager Cho handled the deliveries to Mitsutech. He drove the truck himself all the way to the Poseung Industrial Complex in Pyeongtaek, and when he brought back the goods receipt, Kim Chirok entered the delivery as complete in Mitsutech's ERP system.

Three weeks had passed since they'd started making deliveries. Kim Chirok felt it was time to set salaries.

The foreign workers and the housewife employees weren't a problem. You simply multiplied the hourly wage by hours worked, and if there was overtime or extra work, you calculated the additional allowance on top. Depending on the nature of holiday overtime, the hourly rate was sometimes one and a half times, sometimes double, so their monthly pay varied a little. In other words, it wasn't a fixed salary.

The Plant Manager and Manager Cho were different. As management, they needed a fixed wage. Kim Chirok pulled up the payroll ledger from their days at Hyangnam Tech.

Compared to a large corporation, it was worse than even an entry-level employee's pay.

Kim Chirok decided he needed to call them in. He went into the workroom to fetch them. Manager Cho was working alongside the foreign workers. The Plant Manager was building shelves for the cutting team, apparently trying to sort finished and semi-finished products onto them. He was fabricating the shelves himself, welding as he went. The Plant Manager was good at that sort of thing.

"Plant Manager, Manager Cho — I have something to discuss. Come to the office when you're done."

"Discuss? What's it about? All right. I'll finish this and come."

A short while later, the Plant Manager and Manager Cho came to the office. Kim Chirok smiled.

"Next week is the day Mitsutech settles payment for the goods we've delivered."

"Already, huh."

"It's a relief we sent forty thousand units without a single defect."

"I figured we couldn't afford defects from the start, so I was extra careful. I was more on edge than I ever was at Hyangnam Tech."

"The reason I called you both in is to set salaries."

"Set salaries?"

"How should I treat the two of you?"

"Just match what we were making at Hyangnam Tech. You should set your own salary, President Kim."

"Mine can wait. You two are the ones directly involved in production, so you should come first."

"Manager Cho! What do you think? Just matching the Hyangnam Tech salary is fine, right?"

"Yeah, that should be fine."

Kim Chirok went on.

"I looked at the Hyangnam Tech payroll. The Plant Manager was making 4.5 million won a month, and Manager Cho 3.5 million."

"That's right."

"But that was the Hyangnam Tech salary, so I want to raise it a bit. One of you went from Production Department Head to Plant Manager, and the other from Production Manager to Production Department Head."

"If you're raising it, that's good for us. Even a hundred thousand more would be nice."

"At Hyangnam Tech, each rank difference came with a raise of about two to five hundred thousand won."

"That's right. That's why that Hyangnam Tech plant manager bastard made five hundred thousand more than me. Younger than me, too, just because he went to university."

"But you two are founding members, before you were ever Plant Manager and Production Department Head. So I want to raise it a bit more."

The Plant Manager and Manager Cho looked at each other. For a moment their faces said they hadn't heard right. Then their mouths split into grins that ran from ear to ear.

"C-can we really do that?"

"I believe we can make the numbers work. As long as Mitsutech doesn't cut the orders."

"That's great for us."

"And if we add more injection molding machines and the order volume grows and the company's operating profit increases, I'll pay dividends in proportion to your capital contributions."

"Huh. Dividends? Can we even hope for that? Companies that pay dividends at our scale are rare."

"No matter what anyone says, you two have earned it. And next is my salary."

"You're the president, so you should take what the Hyangnam Tech president used to take."

"I was the lowest-ranking employee at Hyangnam Tech. Can I really take that much?"

"No. Hyangdong Tech got this far because of your efforts, President Kim. So you deserve it."

Manager Cho chimed in.

"From what I know, H Group employees average over a hundred million won a year, right? Take that."

"Haha. I can't take that much. Then how about I take the same as the Plant Manager?"

The Plant Manager nearly came out of his chair.

"That won't do. If I left Hyangdong Tech, you could hire someone else in my place. But you can't hire someone like President Kim. Where are you going to find another Seoul National University graduate who's the junior of the Mitsutech president?"

"Then how about a hundred thousand more than the Plant Manager's 5.5 million?"

Manager Cho shook his head.

"Then President Kim's salary should be 6.5 million. That way it's 6.5 for the president, 5.5 for the Plant Manager, and 4.5 for the Production Department Head."

The Plant Manager clapped his hands.

"Good. I'm with you."