Someone Else's Rice Cake (2)
As expected, it had come to this.
Managing Director Kim I-su let out a breath of relief that they at least hadn’t shown up and made a scene, then said, “I’ll contact them right away.”
“Do whatever it takes to get us some time and an appointment.”
“Understood.”
At this point, Kim I-su had no choice but to grab at their trouser legs if that was what it took and beg for just one meeting with their president.
That was when Han Se-gyeol, the Executive Director of the Strategy Office, who had been watching quietly, asked, “They laid claim first. Are you really going to share?”
“Even so, it was a side dish that was sitting on our table. Just because a guest picked up the chopsticks first doesn’t mean they get to eat the whole meal.”
“That guest happens to be rather strong, though.”
The reason Han Se-gyeol could keep talking back to President Jeong Man-sik so consistently was that the two of them were actually classmates.
Everyone knew he was the sort who never crossed the line, even in official settings, but still said exactly what needed to be said, so no one found it strange.
“That’s why I’m saying we go meet them and try to soothe them. I’m saying we should ask for a bite too. If they weren’t so strong, why would I be trying to soothe them? I’d have beaten them half to death already.”
“Tsk... They’re the type who play on a national scale...”
“We’ve got our own standing in our neighborhood. Why are you so scared?”
“Because I’m worried we’ll be humiliated. Humiliated... If the boss goes and gets publicly embarrassed, how are the others supposed to hold their heads up?”
“Hey! If you’d shoved it into your mouth sooner instead of dragging your feet, do you think I’d be the one going to soothe them? Because you kept showing off your useless decency with it right in front of you and let it slip away, now I’m the one going in with my face hardened like steel!”
When Kim I-su suddenly realized the arrows had turned toward him, he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Why don’t you just go straight to the president of Haesol Textile and work something out? Two men beating each other bloody over a beauty is the stupidest thing there is. You need to win the beauty’s heart first.”
“Hah! You didn’t hear? The materials management team called and flung every curse they knew at them, minus the ones about their mothers. You really think that beauty’s going to give us her heart?”
“Ha, this is why you shouldn’t talk about arranged marriages and women.”
Han Se-gyeol shook his head.
“What, you punk?”
“You’re standing there pushing a gift under their nose and still saying that? How is anyone supposed to hand over their heart without something tempting them first?”
At Han Se-gyeol’s words, President Jeong Man-sik’s expression turned serious again. After a long moment of thought, he finally spoke.
“A gift... I can do that, but honestly, to use the kids’ language these days, it pisses me off a little. We already went out with them first, and now some other bastard wants to marry them, and I’m supposed to sweet-talk them with a gift too?”
“They’re that pretty?”
“That’s not the point! What if some foreign bastard fell head over heels for them? Then all this is just us rushing in because we’re wondering if they’re really that beautiful, isn’t it?”
In the end, Han Se-gyeol realized there was no chance Jeong Man-sik would be the first to extend a hand, so he clicked his tongue and nodded.
“Understood. Is there anything you need me to help with for the meeting with the foreigner?”
“No. This is just to feel out their intent, so there’s nothing fancy we need to prepare. You just set up the appointment.”
“I’ll get it arranged.”
Kim I-su felt his mouth go dry.
That next morning, in the Park Hyatt Hotel in Gangnam, Seoul.
The lounge looked out over the city through floor-to-ceiling windows, while a soft jazz melody drifted through the air.
The interior design blended classical and modern elements with tasteful ease, giving every visitor a sense of refined comfort.
At the center of it all sat a man with a relaxed expression.
Gabriel Moreau.
As the head of public relations for LVMH Group’s East Asia branch, he was a familiar face in the industry, often seen at events for various luxury brands.
President Jeong Man-sik of Hanil Global entered the lounge to meet him.
“Oh! President Jeong Man-sik, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise. I didn’t keep you waiting too long, did I?”
“Not at all.”
Gabriel smiled warmly and rose, offering a handshake that was close to a brief hug.
Jeong Man-sik dipped his upper body slightly in return.
A lounge attendant set a menu in front of them, but Jeong Man-sik ordered only the cheapest bottled water.
In a place this expensive, he had chosen nothing more than water.
Gabriel didn’t know exactly what it meant to order nothing but bottled water, but he could tell it wasn’t done lightly.
“Do you usually drink only water at meetings?”
“I don’t usually, but today I wanted to clear my head.”
“Clear your head?”
“It’s not really a proverb, but in Korea we have a saying like this: ‘Drink cold water and come to your senses.’ It’s something people say when you’ve been ignoring what you should be doing, getting lost in other thoughts, and missing something important.”
“Ah, I see. Then are you perhaps giving me advice?”
“Haha, of course not. I’m saying it to myself. I’ve been blaming myself lately for having, well, ‘lost my wits.’”
Realizing there had been meaning behind the bottled water after all, Gabriel gave a wry smile.
“Then I suppose I’ll understand the meaning of that self-reproach.”
After a brief pause to wet his throat with the water, Jeong Man-sik looked toward the fair-skinned man wearing an easy smile.
“I heard you were considering investing in Haesol Textile.”
Gabriel took a sip of lemon tea with a deep smile, then set the cup down on the table.
“We are considering it.”
It was a phrase open to several interpretations, but at the very least it confirmed that Kim I-su had not been hallucinating.
Jeong Man-sik barely restrained the urge to ask, Why?
He carefully arranged his words instead.
“To be honest, we’ve been keeping a close eye on Haesol Textile as well.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“As you may or may not know, the Aero Coolbreeze fabric we are currently producing with Hanil Global is already planned for export to more than twenty countries, including the United States and China.”
In other words, it was planned for export. Which also meant nothing had actually happened yet.
“I see.”
“Given that situation, we have to let you know that a sudden investment in our partner company is bound to surprise us.”
“Haha, my apologies. It seems we have surprised you.”
Gabriel Moreau was the kind of man who carried European courtesy and a blunt, sharp edge at the same time.
Leaning slightly forward, he brushed his lips with his fingers.
“President Jeong Man-sik, I appreciate candor. Do you want to join hands? Or do you want a fight?”
“Goodness, a fight? We have no intention of fighting LVMH. We simply came to tell you that this is rather unexpected from our point of view.”
“Unexpected? And?”
“Since we’ve come this far, I can’t help but ask. I’ve heard that your group has been highly impressed by something called Art Fabric that was made there recently. Is that true?”
Jeong Man-sik’s tone was neutral, a careful blend of firmness and courtesy.
But Gabriel had been through this kind of meeting countless times, and he wasn’t about to be taken in by a question pretending to be neutral.
“I wasn’t the one who handled the investment review or the decision, so I’m afraid I have nothing to say.”
“Hmm... Then let me be more direct. We want smooth production of Aero Coolbreeze. For that, would Hanil Global consider a joint investment structure toward Haesol Textile as well?”
Jeong Man-sik had thought he might get a somewhat candid answer by now, but after hearing Gabriel’s reply his face stiffened.
“Why would we?”
He had expected honesty, but this was too direct, too one-dimensional.
Gabriel’s indifferent expression made it clear this meeting was not going to be an easy one.
“Pardon?”
“You mean Aero Coolbreeze... the fabric Motion-X unveiled at the trade show, right? I saw it myself, but... hmm...”
As the East Asia PR chief of LVMH, Gabriel did not finish the sentence. He simply shook his head slowly from side to side.
He never said it aloud, but Jeong Man-sik was not foolish enough not to understand what that meant.
That material was nothing special.
Even if the other side was LVMH, it was impossible not to get angry at this situation.
“So you’re saying Aero Coolbreeze isn’t even worth looking at?”
“You’ve misunderstood. The reason we noticed Haesol Textile isn’t because it has advanced materials technology. And Aero Coolbreeze isn’t even Haesol Textile’s own technology, is it? Isn’t it effectively Hanil Global’s technology?”
“...”
“That isn’t an asset Haesol Textile possesses. Of course, there is the positive aspect of a stable revenue source, but that is a secondary matter. On top of that, there’s also a negative factor. If you focus too much on producing Aero Coolbreeze, you may fail to achieve the truly important development you need. So...”
He didn’t finish the thought. Instead, he tilted his head again and lifted the lemon tea to his mouth.
In plain terms, he was saying that a joint investment would actually become a negative factor for Haesol Textile.
But Jeong Man-sik wasn’t about to give up.
“A well-developed advanced material can generate hundreds of billions of won in sales.”
“I know. But that’s not what we expect from Haesol Textile.”
“Then what is it?”
Gabriel let a smile return to the corners of his mouth.
“I can’t tell you that.”
In truth, Jeong Man-sik had not come to Gabriel to extract every last piece of information about Haesol Textile.
He had simply come to feel out how they were looking at the company.
That was enough for him to reach one conclusion.
These bastards really are planning to invest. And they want to swallow it whole by themselves?
If they were still carrying this attitude after the factory inspection, then the investment decision had already been made.
There was no sign they were even considering reducing risk through a joint investment.
Jeong Man-sik felt anger rise in him like a child having a toy snatched away, but he forced himself not to show it.
“Understood. Thank you for making time for me today.”
“Not at all. We always welcome progressive discussions for the development of both companies.”
That kind of diplomatic phrasing only made him more irritated.
Hah. Talk, yes. Cooperation, no. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it?
“Then... good day.”
At last, Jeong Man-sik’s face hardened, and he left the lounge in a chill of cold air.
Left alone, Gabriel Moreau sipped his refreshing lemon tea and sank back into thought once more.
“Then, please work hard.”
“Yes. Thank you for your efforts.”
With the office staff who weren’t on shift already gone home, Seung-hyun was the only one left in the president’s office. He focused on the monitor while the soft hum of machinery drifted in from outside.
Research materials were spread across his desk.
Study, repeated day after day.
Seung-hyun never went a single day without keeping up his study of textiles.
Unfortunately, while information on fabrics appeared neatly in an information window, he couldn’t get any help when it came to developing the materials needed to make those fabrics.
So he had no choice but to learn everything one piece at a time.
That didn’t bother him.
On the contrary, the more he learned, the more interesting it became, and even though he studied late every night, he never grew bored or tired of it.
After confirming that LVMH held his company in high regard, a bigger greed, a bigger vision, began to stir in a corner of Seung-hyun’s heart.
The design blueprints on the computer monitor flipped rapidly.
A great many notes were written into the blueprint called Dualtex, left behind by his father.
- If the outer and inner layers create condensation due to temperature differences, the bonded sections will warp and the double-weave structure will quickly collapse.
He had seen that same line dozens, even hundreds of times.
Seung-hyun clicked on the cross-section diagram of Aero Coolbreeze displayed on the monitor and examined it closely.
But in the case of Aero Coolbreeze, they used partial heat bonding, so instead of bonding the entire surface, they left channels for air circulation. Thanks to that, sweat and moisture could be released naturally, and the whole fabric could stay flexibly bonded “separately, yet together,” without warping.
He stared at the monitor for a long time.
!!!
Suddenly, it felt as though the scattered pieces of an idea that had been tangled in his head were clicking into place.
“If, in this Dualtex structure, we don’t bond everything and instead apply adhesion only at the necessary points, the air layer stays intact, and the rest can move flexibly without tearing, so condensation won’t be a problem.”
Seung-hyun recalled a design he had seen somewhere before.
It was from research papers on textiles.
He quickly dug through the papers and found one section.
At first glance, it was a cross-section that looked somewhat like a volcanic crater, with spiral air layers connected through it.
What if this were combined with the partial heat-bonding technique used to make Aero Coolbreeze fabric?
“Could this work?”
As if possessed, Seung-hyun began drafting the fabric design on the computer.
He didn’t know what the result would be, but one thing was clear: he had definitely taken another step forward.