A New Path (3)
The air in the president’s office had gone cold enough to sting.
Even Lee Sang-moo looked thrown off by the young president’s response, which he had clearly never expected.
There was being green, and then there was having the nerve to pressure the prime contractor as a subcontractor.
And yet the man himself seemed not to know what he had done wrong. He closed his folder and leaned back in his chair as if nothing in particular were happening.
Lee Sang-moo had long taken it for granted that subcontracting factories would bend to his will.
“Haesol Textile never used to act like this. What on earth is going on?”
“We’re going to handle quality control properly from now on.”
Seung-hyun’s voice was low, but it carried a quiet force.
“And if the result of that work isn’t properly acknowledged, then we’re the only ones who lose. If the standards for a defect rejection aren’t even clear, then we’re the ones who have to keep sacrificing ourselves every time.”
“Ah, so that’s it. You’re saying you won’t produce unless quality standards are put in writing? Do you actually think that makes sense?” Lee Sang-moo’s face twisted into something close to a sneer.
“Yes.”
Seung-hyun met his eyes and answered without hesitation, then added, “I think it’s a perfectly reasonable demand. If there are no quality standards, then all we’ll get again is, ‘It’s defective this time too.’ That’s not acceptable.”
Lee Sang-moo almost laughed at the absurdity of it all.
He made up his mind then and there.
He would make that insolent brat beg for his life.
Behind him, Factory Manager Park Han-soo’s lips trembled slightly.
Taesung Apparel, and especially Lee Sang-moo, had been a company Haesol Textile had practically groveled before for years.
And now the president was standing up to them like this. Han-soo could feel his heart hammering.
Lee Sang-moo let out a short sigh and scanned the room.
“Fine. Then this matter of putting things in writing... I’ll have to take it up with headquarters. But the delivery deadline stays at two weeks. And if defects are found, termination of the contract still stands.”
“Two weeks for delivery... we’ll have to review whether that’s possible. But...”
Seung-hyun took out a sheet of paper.
“Even if we work overtime and break our backs to meet that deadline, what happens if you still reject the shipment as defective without clear standards? Like last time, we’re the only ones taking the loss. So a signed, written standard comes first. If that isn’t secured, we can’t run the factory either.”
“Ha... I see. Then let me ask you one thing.”
Lee Sang-moo gave a dry laugh and tapped the desk with his fingers.
“You won’t produce unless it’s put in writing? Then what are you going to do about your sales? Taesung Apparel still makes up a pretty significant chunk of your business, doesn’t it?”
At that, Park Han-soo showed a flicker of agitation, but Seung-hyun cut in immediately.
“That’s a risk we have to bear. But we’re not going to keep being trampled the way we were before.”
In that instant, Lee Sang-moo’s nostrils twitched.
This crazy bastard... Does he even know what he’s saying?
He was incredulous, but he didn’t let it show.
“Fine. I’ll report this to headquarters and get back to you. Don’t regret it later.”
Bang!
The moment the door shut, Factory Manager Park Han-soo let out a long sigh.
“President, that... wasn’t a little too strong? To be honest, more than half our sales are still from Taesung.”
Seung-hyun idly fiddled with the draft contract on the desk.
“Factory Manager, how long has Taesung been looking down on us? Whether it’s a defect or anything else, all they had to do was casually call it defective and we were the ones who’d have our unit price cut and risk not getting paid.”
“That’s true, but...”
“The urgent cash problem’s been solved with the Daeryung Commerce deal, and there’s a real chance of slowly expanding into the interior market from here. So why should we keep being subordinate to Taesung? If we don’t change the board now, I think we’ll lose even more later.”
Park Han-soo could feel it clearly.
The young president was different from the old one, even though there was something similar in the steadiness of his gaze, and now he had added a kind of youthful audacity on top of it.
The only reason this factory had managed to hold on at all until now was because it had secured steady subcontract work from a giant like Taesung Apparel, and the fact that the young president was willing to kick that away was something he had never even imagined.
But when he thought it through, Seung-hyun was right on every point, which made it hard to oppose him outright.
In the end, there was nothing for it but to accept it for the time being...
“Understood.”
Having persuaded the factory manager to his way of thinking, Seung-hyun took off his factory jacket and left the company.
He headed to a CCTV specialist in Yongsan.
“Is there a CCTV system I can install by myself? I’d like one with very good image quality. It should zoom in well too.”
“Of course. This is the best image quality we have.”
After buying the equipment and returning home, Seung-hyun immediately changed into comfortable clothes and went back out.
Since his father had passed away, he had lived with a constant pressure on his shoulders, a heaviness that made it hard to straighten his back. But he had finally gotten through one difficult stretch, and he even had a visible result to show for it.
On top of that, he had contacted the Small and Medium Business Promotion Association and finished applying to participate in the exhibition. So even if he had a bit of a staring contest with Taesung Apparel today, there was no reason not to have a drink on a day like this.
Seung-hyun called Min-woo, the teaching assistant senior, to a makgeolli place the students around Seoul Fashion Arts University frequented.
“What on earth are you planning to do? Are you really not coming to school at all?”
As soon as Kim Min-woo sat down across from Seung-hyun, he asked the question outright.
While pouring the pre-ordered makgeolli into Min-woo’s glass, Seung-hyun said, “I’m thinking of taking a short break.”
“Aren’t you wasting your tuition? I know your father’s death was a huge shock, but...”
Seung-hyun clinked glasses with his senior and knocked back a mouthful before answering.
“There’s something I haven’t been able to tell you, senior...”
“What is it?”
“My family runs a small textile factory.”
“A textile factory? Ah... so that’s why you came into fashion?”
“Well, partly. Anyway, now that my father has passed away, I’m the one who has to run the factory. So even if tuition feels like a waste, it’s just the situation I’m in.”
“I see. Then that makes sense.”
Just then, a noisy group came in and piled themselves into a large shared table.
That sort of thing was ordinary for a place right in front of a university, so Seung-hyun tried to go back to the conversation.
“Oh? Jung Seung-hyun?”
He turned his head and saw a tall, handsome man just settling into the middle of the group.
Kim In-hyuk.
They were in the same class year, and the two of them had never gotten along all that well.
Their personalities had been at odds since freshman year, but the decisive incident had happened a year ago, when Seung-hyun’s girlfriend cheated on him with Kim In-hyuk.
After that, Seung-hyun’s girlfriend became Kim In-hyuk’s girlfriend, and from then on Seung-hyun and Kim In-hyuk didn’t even exchange a nod.
And now he was acting like they were on speaking terms?
Min-woo, who of course knew the whole story, gaped in surprise at In-hyuk making the first move.
“...”
Seung-hyun only turned his head and said nothing, and Kim In-hyuk gave a faint smile.
“Come on, let’s at least greet each other. It’s not like we’re never going to see each other again. I felt bad when I heard about what happened. I didn’t even get a chance to come by.”
“It’s fine if you didn’t come, so just drink.”
Seung-hyun turned away, but In-hyuk kept talking.
“I heard you’ve had it rough. Want me to help you out?”
Tilting his head, Seung-hyun asked, “With what?”
“Your factory’s struggling, isn’t it?”
How did he know that?
Even Min-woo, who was the closest thing he had to family among his seniors, had only learned about it today.
“How do you know that?”
“My uncle told me. He said Haesol Textile might be having a little... trouble. Oh, did I not mention it? My uncle’s an executive at Taesung Apparel.”
Maybe it was because he had been hit with a punch from a place he never expected?
His vision went dark, and it felt as if nothing in front of him could be seen.
No way... no, that can’t be it.
He couldn’t even hear what came after that.
All he could hope was that at some point Taesung Apparel’s harassment of Haesol Textile had not been because of him.
When he finally came to himself, he had already gone through more than three bottles of makgeolli.
“Stop drinking. If you keep this up, you’ll collapse in the street and die.”
At Min-woo’s warning, his hand reaching for the glass froze.
It was ridiculous, but he had stopped because he was afraid he really might die, just as Min-woo said.
If he died, he’d go without even understanding what Kim In-hyuk had been implying.
He’d die without even knowing whether his father’s death had somehow been his fault.
So Seung-hyun was abruptly frightened of dying here like this.
“Hyung, I’m heading out.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah.”
He was staggering, but he quickly found his balance and made his way out, only to hear that bastard’s voice again from behind him.
“Take care getting home. Haha, I wonder if that bastard will even make it home okay.”
Seung-hyun was about to keep walking as if he hadn’t heard it.
But then someone reached out and grabbed his arm.
He turned, and to his surprise, it was Jang So-hee.
“...”
“I’ll walk you as far as the taxi stand.”
“Why?”
“You looked like you might collapse.”
Seung-hyun tilted his head.
Had she misunderstood because he’d gotten her number earlier?
He had been about to refuse, but changed his mind and simply headed for the checkout counter instead.
Kim In-hyuk’s face, visible beyond So-hee’s shoulder, was twisted like that of a demon, and that was reason enough.
Maybe he hadn’t liked the fact that So-hee’s attention was on him?
The younger students around them were also looking between one another with shocked expressions at So-hee’s behavior, as if it were a sight none of them had ever imagined.
After calling a taxi on an app, Seung-hyun stood quietly by the roadside, and Min-woo, who had been watching the mood, said, “I’m heading off first.”
“Yes, sure. I’ll call you, hyung.”
“All right, all right. Get home safe.”
Once the senior had gone, So-hee asked Seung-hyun, who was leaning against the traffic light, “What happened with In-hyuk oppa?”
“...Nothing.”
“It seemed like something happened.”
“...”
“Does it make you uncomfortable if I ask?”
“A little?”
She nodded, and after another stretch of silence, asked, “Why did you take my number then?”
“Ah, that... I run a small textile factory, and I thought I might need a model someday. So I got your number in case I could hire you cheaply.”
“Oh...”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to slash your rate too hard. I’ll pay market price. No, a little under market price. That much, I’m sure fellow alumni can understand, right?”
“That depends on how much you try to lowball me.”
“Lowball? Your choice of words is pretty violent.”
“Heh...”
She looked down at the pavement and smiled softly.
“But why did you come out after me? In-hyuk is insanely jealous.”
So-hee’s eyes went round as she looked at him.
“I’m not In-hyuk oppa’s girlfriend.”
“He might have thought you were something like that.”
“It’s not even a thing. Today we just gathered because he said he had something to talk about with the freshmen.”
“You don’t need to explain it to me.”
“Huh? You asked me to explain, and now you’re saying that?”
She was more bold than he’d expected.
But Seung-hyun didn’t trust women who showed him interest after what had happened before.
“I get it, so go back inside now. There’s no benefit in making him dislike you for no reason.”
“By that logic, haven’t you made yourself dislikable, like, a whole lot?”
“I’m not a student anymore.”
“But you haven’t graduated.”
“That’s how it is. And adults... people in society... don’t fall for that kind of provocation.”
“Ooh, that sounds kind of cool. Then what?”
“My father told me that once you’re out in the real world, you fight with results and paperwork.”
Just then, the taxi arrived.
Seung-hyun took one last look at the makgeolli place, where Kim In-hyuk was probably still lost in his drinking, and got into the taxi.
“Thanks. Take care.”
“Get home safe.”
He ignored the girl waving goodbye and closed his eyes.
Right now, just thinking about Kim In-hyuk and Taesung Apparel, and their relationship with Haesol Textile, made his head feel ready to split open.
Sohee, on the other hand, bit her lip with a strange expression.
That dismissive attitude should have irritated her, no question about it...
And yet, strangely enough, rather than anger, what she felt most was curiosity.
So even as she walked back toward the makgeolli place, she kept glancing over her shoulder at the taxi as it disappeared into the distance without meaning to.
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