The Fool, Deputy General Manager Cho

After a brief chat with Park Dae-ri in the break room, Young-hoon returned to his desk.

A group message from the members of Five Girls would be coming in any minute now. He was just settling into a pleasant daydream about what they might chatter about this time, when Cho Cha-jang came hurrying out of Managing Director Kim's office and began rushing his preparations for a field trip.

His mood seemed slightly improved, at least — and then Kim Gwa-jang asked to see him in the conference room for a moment. Jin-man was back from his training, which meant they had work to share and deputy Hong's dealership accounts to redistribute.

"Jin-man was away at training, so you might not know this yet... but the company right now is the calm before the storm, let's call it. Things are heading in a bad direction. Did you hear anything while you were at training?"

Even Jin-man had sensed something off in the atmosphere, and he spoke up with his guard raised. "No, sir. Nothing in particular."

"A supply audit is expected at the end of this month or early December. For every supply deal we've processed this year, let's make sure the supporting documents and the like are gathered up and kept safe. Don't just sit there like fools and end up getting torn apart."

Kim Gwa-jang double-checked that nothing had been overlooked, then turned his eyes back to Young-hoon. "Kim Dae-ri, Park Dae-ri — either of you caught any extra rumors floating around?"

"Nothing so far."

"Good. If anything comes your way, pass it along, no exceptions. And for Deputy Hong's dealership — I'll take Kyungin Distribution, and Kim Dae-ri, you take Namseoul. Deal?"

"Understood, sir."

"Alright, then. Back to work, everyone."

With the short meeting with Kim Gwa-jang wrapped up and everyone back at their desks, Lee Ji-young handed Young-hoon a memo: a call had come in from President Kim of Namseoul Distribution.

Young-hoon didn't waste a second dialing back.

"Yes, sir. What can I do for you?"

"If the boss calls, I run over no matter what. Should I be there by noon?"

Namseoul Distribution was located in Gwanak-gu, home of Seoul National University. It was a dealership whose business leaned heavily toward procurement sales to schools and government offices — a perfectly clean operation with nothing suspect about it, which left Young-hoon genuinely curious what reason this man could have for seeking him out.

When Young-hoon walked into the dealership, President Kim greeted him with a look of delight, like a blind fortune-teller laid eyes on Sim Cheong. The moment Young-hoon sat down in the president's office, the man went and fetched a thick bundle of documents.

Reading it over carefully, it turned out to be the tender announcement for the 2017 winter dormitory appliance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠replacement contract at Myeongseong University — TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, a wide range of items. President Kim said he'd attended the site briefing yesterday, and that a dealership for Samjung Electronics, their rival, had also been present.

The problem was that after last week's Hankook University bid, where Young-hoon had gutted them like a fish, the Samjung side was seething with poison. The one silver lining was that this tender used the Suitable Estimation Bidding System.

Under this system, designed to prevent shoddy work caused by cutthroat low-ball bidding, a pool of roughly twenty projected winning prices is prepared in advance, two of them drawn at random, and the average of those two becomes the target price — the bidder who submits the price closest to it takes the contract. To eliminate the unfairness of the winning price leaking out beforehand, it was a pure luck-of-the-draw bidding process.

Even then, coming in first didn't guarantee you the contract. Any company holding qualification for the bid could participate — which meant over a thousand dealerships across the country would enter. Once the electronic bidding closed, the buyer would call in the first-place bidder to verify their qualifications, and if they fell short, the right would naturally pass to the second-place bidder, and so on down the line.

The truth of it was that under the Suitable Estimation Bidding System, an LK Electronics or Samjung Electronics dealership almost never took first place. But in the end, it was nearly always an LK or Samjung dealership that signed the actual contract. Even a first-place winner couldn't fulfill the contract if the manufacturer cut off its product supply, so they'd accept a commission and forfeit their rights. For that very reason, LK and Samjung dealerships had to hold priority over any competitor — even if they couldn't win first place — because only then could their products be supplied.

And that was exactly what made it a blood-draining ordeal. It was nothing short of a blind bid. If it were lowest-price-wins, there'd at least be something to try; but with the target price a total mystery, there was no move to make. The goods alone, priced at factory rates, came to over 2.5 billion won — and with installation costs included, it was a massive tender exceeding 4 billion.

President Kim clung to Young-hoon, fussing and fluttering like a man who absolutely could not let this chance slip away. "Kim Dae-ri, what do you think we should do with this?"

"Whew, there's really no magic answer for a case like this... When does electronic bidding close?"

"This Friday, eleven a.m."

"Let's do this, then. Since it's a complete blind bid, whichever dealer the luck lands on takes the job. So, President, run your installation cost estimate lean — don't go fat on it — and set the price at a moderate profit. Meanwhile, I'll dig through the company records for data on all the past target-price bids. As I remember, product prices usually landed somewhere around 80 to 85 percent of the factory list price. Let's just do our best."

If the bid landed them anywhere but first place, they'd have to pad the installation costs to buy the rights from the winning bidder as a commission.

"Right. Either way, it's the lucky bastard who eats, eh?"

"President, since we need preliminary approval, please get me the cost breakdown by Wednesday morning. And make me one copy of the tender announcement, then scan the original and email it over. My luck's been turning lately, you know. Who's to say you won't land this thing flat-out, sir?"

"Ha, I know, I know. And speaking of which — word is, it was you who ran the Hankook University bid?"

"Oh no, sir, nothing like that. Deputy Hong was on leave, so I just filled in at the bid hall. The pricing itself was won by the dealership and our managing director haggling with the factory."

"Come on, Kim Dae-ri, why do we players have to dance around each other? President Park of New Seoul Distribution and I are close. We worked out together last Saturday, and he couldn't stop singing your praises. Said you were the one who set the price that day too — off by a measly one million won, at that? Well, he says your luck's good, so let's hope he's right. Anyway — let's go get some lunch."

"Sounds good. I hear there's a place nearby ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that does a great dried-pollack soup — could we go there?"

"Missing the taste of home, are you?"

"Yes, sir. It's been a while since I've had good hwangtae soup."

Young-hoon had lunch with President Kim and returned to the dealership to find the tender announcement already copied. He collected every page of the copy, stopped by the other dealerships in the area, and then headed back to the office.

At that very moment, Deputy General Manager Cho and President Jung of Kyungin Distribution were locked in a grim conversation in the dealership's president office.

"So let me get this straight — because you're in danger, you want to cancel the TV supply and give me my money back? Are you people the type to abandon the whole market because one maggot scared you? And get your story straight while you're at it. When did I ever say I'd dump the phones? You people told me to dump them! You promised compensation later! And now that the dumping's been caught, you want to call off the TV deliveries?"

"Sir, that's not what this is—"

"The TV thing — was that my idea too? Your Managing Director Kim was the one who came to me saying he needed money! Do I have stacks of cash sitting in a vault somewhere? Product costs, Kim's kickback on top... When I need to scrape together 1.2 billion won, what else is there but dumping it into the electronics markets?"

"President Jung, we sincerely apologize. Please, just this once, try to understand."

"Understand? Freeze to death first! How many phones do you think I can move in a month? Three to four hundred, at the outside — how am I supposed to burn through 1,500 of them in one month? The old models in the first round, I only dumped those because you promised compensation, Deputy Cho! If I sell these latest models at a normal pace, it'll take four or five months — and by then they'll have launched a new model, won't they? Who was it that ordered me to dump phones into the electronics market, and now that it's blown up, you're trying to scuttle away like lizards cutting off their own tails?"

"Managing Director Kim has promised that, as far as the phones are concerned, no harm will come to President Jung whatsoever. So please, forgive us this time."

As Cho Cha-jang apologized over and over, the fire in President Jung's belly seemed to cool a notch. But if he gave ground meekly here, he'd be played for a complete fool. He was the hogu of the hour, and he knew it.

"Think about it, Deputy Cho. How would it feel to suck something dry and sweet to the last drop, then get tossed aside? That is exactly how I feel right now."

"Tossed aside? That will never happen. We understand perfectly the concern you've raised, sir. Please, grant us this one forgiveness."

President Jung kept his eyes closed for a long while, then finally opened his mouth with a show of grudging concession.

"Alright, Deputy Cho, here's what we'll do. I have no wish to see a man who graduated from Seoul National — no less — get disciplined at his own company on my account. So, here's what I want: just write me one simple memorandum."

"Wh-what? A memorandum? That could trip me up later... Could we not just do it verbally?"

"Tut-tut. You're already knee-deep in the mud, Deputy Cho. Let's live this life together, you and I. Who knows — maybe I'll go to bat to save your career? And honestly, the contents are nothing at all."

"......"

"Oh, and before you write it — pass this along to Managing Director Kim. The 300 million he took from me — I want it back by the end of this week."

"I beg your pardon? Managing Director Kim only ever spoke of 200 million."

"What are you talking about? If he took 300 million from me, he returns 300 million."

"...I'll report to Managing Director Kim first."

"That's your business, Deputy Cho, not mine. As for the memorandum — I've written out the contents in advance. All you need to do is sign here."

Cho Cha-jang read the memorandum's contents over with a fine-tooth comb. It did nothing but state the plain facts as they were.

And yet, the moment he imagined putting his signature down, he couldn't shake the feeling that a set of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sharp fangs would rise up and fix itself on his throat. The whole thing left a sour itch under his skin.

"This much should be fine, no? I have to leave myself an escape route too, after all. Don't you think?"

Even by his own reckoning, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kyungin Distribution bore no fault whatsoever. They had been nothing more than sacrificial pawns in the achievement of his own aims. Given that, he couldn't say President Jung's demand was entirely unreasonable.

But President Jung's expression kept nagging at him. The man wore a smile of generous accommodation — yet somehow it didn't feel that way at all. He looked, if anything, like a sleazy trafficker about to bind a man into slavery.

Steadying himself, Cho Cha-jang resolved to settle the matter of the exchanged bribe money first. Since none of it had passed through his own hands, he needed Managing Director Kim's confirmation on it.

He called Managing Director Kim and relayed President Jung's demands. Truly, Managing Director Kim was a dog of a man. Whether it was the money stinging, he dug in his heels and insisted he'd return 200 million and not a won more. Only after President Jung flatly refused, and after a lengthy display of the pettiest tantrum imaginable, did Kim finally give a firm answer that he would return the full 300 million.

While he was at it, Cho Cha-jang went ahead and signed the memorandum as well. There was nothing left for him to do now.

At any rate, the dealership association would be sending its complaint to the audit office. Managing Director Kim had said he'd handle blocking that on his end, so all that remained was to sit back and watch how it played out.

The fake TV delivery, at least, had been stopped.

And yet — he had signed that memorandum. There was no telling when it might come whirling back to him like a boomerang.

But whatever the future held, one thing was certain: his days were numbered.