Chapter 26
I’m translating the chapter into the required HTML format and keeping the names/terms consistent with your glossary. I’m also checking the special-content boundaries so dialogue stays in `
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After President Kim Pan-seok left, the office, which had been in an uproar, finally settled back into peace.
Then A-young, who had been handling accounting work, received a phone call.
"Yes, this is Haesol Textile... Ah, hello. You're calling from Daeryung Sangsa? Yes... just a moment."
The caller was none other than Choi Jin-a, the section chief at Daeryung Sangsa.
When Lee A-young knocked on the president’s office door, a voice from inside told her to come in.
"President, it’s Section Chief Choi Jin-a from Daeryung Sangsa."
Jung Seung-hyun was straightening the desk, which was cluttered with all sorts of documents, when he answered the phone.
"Yes, Section Chief. What can I do for you..."
"First, let me give you the good news. The GyeolBit art fabric is getting a very strong response. In addition to Lime Design, several smaller designer brands have contacted us about possible collaborations. For now, we’re gauging their intentions through our Aureum division."
"Really? That’s a relief. We’re also preparing things little by little on our end, so please let us know anytime if you need anything."
At the very least, Seung-hyun felt reassured that there wouldn’t be any major problems for the time being.
The initial order from Daeryung Sangsa was 3,000 yards.
If there was more interest from other places as well, then art fabric alone might soon be enough to keep Haesol Textile going.
On top of that, because it was made with C-grade yarn, the raw material cost was less than half that of A-grade yarn, making it clear that the profit margin would more than double compared to before.
It was the sort of situation that could make anyone hum under their breath.
Since it wasn’t difficult to get C-grade yarn, he had been able to cut off President Kim Pan-seok of Dongil Sangsa so decisively.
"But I do have one question."
"Yes? What is it?"
"Do you happen to know Roche Bobois?"
He couldn’t possibly not know.
The luxury furniture store in Nonhyeon-dong where he had gone to learn about art fabric technology.
"I do know it."
"We asked them about Haesol Textile. They were curious about your contact information, so I said I’d ask you first..."
Seung-hyun would understand later, but for now he was busy. He didn’t especially want to meet and spend time chatting about this and that.
"Well, I’m not particularly..."
"Ah, I see. We’ll handle it ourselves."
For Aureum at Daeryung Sangsa, GyeolBit art fabric was practically a weapon.
So of course they wouldn’t be thrilled by an inquiry asking them to reveal the identity of that weapon.
And since the person in question didn’t seem to like it either, Section Chief Choi had every reason to feel relieved.
So she didn’t even bother wondering why President Jung had reacted that way and simply said she’d take care of it herself.
After the call ended, Factory Manager Park Han-soo knocked and came in.
These days he had thrown himself into producing high-value art fabric from C-grade yarn, and though work was busy and difficult, his face seemed to be growing brighter by the day.
"Is something wrong?"
The factory manager sat down across from the desk and calmly handed over a stack of papers.
It listed in detail the kinds of fabric Haesol Textile had produced and delivered over the past month, along with the time and labor required for each.
In places where the numbers were much higher than usual, red circles had been drawn with a pen.
"The art fabric is high-value cloth made from C-grade yarn, but with the way things are now, using only manual work and the existing equipment, we’re starting to have trouble keeping up with orders."
"We do have a lot of orders. I’ll give you that."
Seung-hyun let out a dry laugh.
Only a month ago, he had been thinking that he’d take any order at all as long as it helped the company survive. But now, thanks to GyeolBit art fabric taking off, orders were pouring in at an unexpected pace.
"We’ve managed until now because the sample runs have been small, but if this goes on for several more months, the workers won’t be able to keep it up. This isn’t just a matter of adding another line. I think we’ve reached the point where we need to upgrade the equipment itself."
Seung-hyun tapped the desk with his fingertips.
The production speed, labor costs, and power consumption graph printed on the report were already cluttering his mind.
It was true that the existing equipment alone was straining under the load.
And then there was the 1.9 billion won Taesung had sent over recently as settlement money.
"What additional equipment do we need?"
"With the digital textile printer, the current process was still manageable. But we need a machine that can automatically control pressure and spray volume to create a variety of bleeding effects."
"I know. I was already thinking about a waterjet patterning unit."
Hearing that the young president had already been looking into what additional equipment they’d need, even without being told, Park Han-soo felt even more at ease.
"If we added just a spray dyeing machine on top of that..."
After thinking for a moment, Seung-hyun decided that if he was going to invest, he might as well be bold about it.
"I’ll add a steam finishing chamber too. That should bring it to roughly 600 million to 700 million won, right?"
"Ha ha, if you can do that, then... the workers won’t have to induce the dye bleeding by hand anymore. I think we’ll be able to automate the whole thing completely."
Originally, he had planned to use that 1.9 billion won to finish the dual tax his father had been developing, but for now he judged it better to lead the market with the art fabric right in front of him.
Seung-hyun immediately began looking for places where he could obtain the equipment.
*
At a barbecue restaurant in Jongno.
For an ordinary office worker, opportunities to eat one-plus Hanwoo sirloin over well-heated charcoal were rare.
And for a technician in his forties who had recently quit his company and still hadn’t found a new job, getting a look at beef was especially difficult.
That was why Shin Myeong-woo, who had left the company recently following Section Leader Jo Han-gyeol, was focusing hard on the meat despite how awkward the meeting felt.
"How exactly is this going to work? Do you know anything?"
Knowing that the meat tonight was not free, Shin Myeong-woo steadied his shaking nerves with a sip of soju, then opened his mouth in response to No Chae-sang’s sparkling gaze.
"I don’t know the details either. It feels like nobody’s really telling me properly... and he keeps saying ridiculous things, so I can’t tell whether I should believe it or not..."
"What on earth is he talking about?"
"Art fabric?"
"Huh?"
"First, let me get some meat... hehe."
Shin Myeong-woo hurriedly stuffed meat into his mouth and swallowed it with greedy enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, No Chae-sang tried to make sense of what art fabric might be, but it was hard to believe that Haesol Textile was making such a luxury fabric, one he had only seen a handful of times. He decided he must have heard wrong.
Only after Shin Myeong-woo had devoured a full two servings in an instant did a flush of fullness settle into his eyes, and the alcohol begin to rise in his head.
"All right, now talk. What are they saying they’re doing?"
"It’s not a problem to tell you, but where exactly are we supposed to work?"
No Chae-sang cursed under his breath, but when he thought of the man’s reality and the fact that he needed a job, his heart softened with pity.
"I’ll connect you soon. That Section Leader Jo wound up in that mess, and all the other clients had trusted his technical judgment when they made their agreements. Now that he’s gone, they’re hesitant."
"I’m really good, you know. I’m solid on the technical side."
"All right. I’ll look into it properly."
Only then did Shin Myeong-woo look slightly relieved.
"Thank you. Please, I’m asking you to help me."
"Fine, fine. Now hurry up and spill it. What’s Haesol Textile like?"
"They seem busy. I heard they’ve been running the machines in shifts nonstop."
"Really? Who are they contracted with?"
"Let’s see... Was it Daewon Sangsa? Daelim Sangsa? Anyway, it starts with a 'D'..."
"Hah, man..."
"So what kind of fabric are they making with C-grade yarn?"
Shin Myeong-woo tilted his head, filled another shot glass, tipped it back, and said with a face already flushed red,
"They’re doing something called art fabric or whatever... and apparently they use brushwork and all kinds of stuff when they make the cloth."
"Seriously? Haesol is really making art fabric? That’s insane."
"Why? What’s insane about it?"
Shin Myeong-woo, who knew nothing, asked with his eyes wide open, but No Chae-sang had no intention of explaining every detail. He just waved him off and told him to eat more meat.
Watching him eat with such focus, No Chae-sang asked again.
"Didn’t you hear any more details about the process?"
"No. That was all. Oh, they did say it was even better because it was made from C-grade yarn. Something like that, anyway."
"Better because it’s C-grade?"
It was nonsensical, but Shin Myeong-woo didn’t seem like the kind of man who would lie.
In any case, if what he said was true, then Haesol Textile was making art fabric, the kind of cloth that could command the highest price among C-grade fabrics.
It was absurd, and it was astonishing, but now there was one thing he most wanted to know.
"What’s the quality like?"
"Who says their own factory’s fabric is bad? Every person thinks their own kid is the prettiest."
No matter what the client had seen in Haesol Textile, if they had committed to at least a thousand yards, there had to be some strength there.
No Chae-sang grew even more anxious.
"Ah, then think harder. Daewon Sangsa? Daelim Sangsa? Which one is it?"
"Da... what was it? Ah! Daeryung Sangsa. Right, that’s it."
"Daeryung Sangsa... Got it. Auntie! Add another sirloin here. And soju too!"
After placing the order, No Chae-sang quickly paid and left.
There was no reason to keep sitting across from the man any longer now that he had learned everything he needed to know.
Besides, Shin Myeong-woo probably preferred eating alone to eating with him anyway.
Dammit, the vice president is going to be completely rattled by this.
If the company he had tried to trip up was instead gaining a reason to grow because of their own scheme, there could hardly have been worse news than that.
No Chae-sang suppressed his pounding heart and picked up his phone.
"Yes, Vice President. I’m calling because I have something to report."
[What is it?]
"Well..."
No Chae-sang closed his eyes tightly at the bleak situation and slowly continued his report.
*
The next day.
A luxury sedan pulled into the temporary showroom beside Daeryung Sangsa’s factory in Incheon.
Because it was only a makeshift showroom attached to the factory, it wasn’t nearly as upscale as the one in Gangnam. The furniture was packed close together, and the kind of vehicles that usually came by were older domestic cars. So the sight of a luxury car worth well over 100 million won stopping here was certainly unexpected.
The woman who got out of the sedan was beautiful in a way that was refined and elegant at a glance.
It was Yu Se-rin, the same woman who had generously let Seung-hyun browse freely at Roche Bobois.
She frowned at the low-rent exterior, the kind you might see at a furniture department store in the provinces, but she opened the door and went inside at once.
Compared to the somewhat worn-looking exterior, the inside was at least quite passable.
It looked decent because new furniture had been arranged throughout the space.
"Is there something you’re looking for, ma’am?"
When a middle-aged man who looked like a factory worker and wasn’t even properly dressed asked her that, she shook her head, then asked again.
"No... Ah, do you have an art fabric sofa?"
A strange look flashed in the man’s eyes, and he asked,
"How did you hear about it?"
At that reaction, Yu Se-rin became certain she had come to the right place.
"I heard about it from Brian. He said a pretty good art fabric piece was here."
"Ah..."
Only then did Section Chief Choi’s suspicion fade, and she gave an awkward smile.
She hesitated for a brief moment over whether to show it or not.
But realizing there was no helping it, she extended a hand toward the back.
"This way..."
Section Chief Choi led Yu Se-rin to the sofa placed deepest inside the showroom.
Just as Yu Se-rin was wondering why such a good item would need to be hidden away like this,
Oh...?
Her eyes landed on the sofa, rug, and cushions covered in an Eastern ink-wash pattern.
"We only put out one set because we don’t have enough stock to display it in the showroom. I’m surprised you found us."
Yu Se-rin brushed past Section Chief Choi’s words and stepped up to the sofa, touching it with her hand.
Seeing it in person, the sofa gave the impression that Lime Design’s brochure had not been able to capture even half of its beauty.
It was the kind of feeling you got when a photograph failed to capture the full loveliness of a beautiful woman.
At that moment,
"Could this be... Roche Bobois...?"
Was it because she had sensed something?
She guessed the identity at once and asked.
Yu Se-rin bit her lip lightly, then turned toward Section Chief Choi.
Then she smiled and held out her hand.
"Yes. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Yu Se-rin, MD and Creative Director at Roche Bobois Korea."
Section Chief Choi also took her hand, half in a daze.
"Nice to meet you too. But this place is..."
"I was curious. I wanted to see what the quality was like."
"Yes... did you take a good look?"
"Yes, I did. So I wanted to ask you one thing."
"What is it...?"
"Is this fabric under an exclusive contract with Haesol Textile?"