At the Center of Controversy (1)
Morning sunlight filtered faintly into the reception sofa in the president’s office at Haesol Textile, where Seung-hyun and Lieutenant Colonel Mok Jae-gyun sat facing each other.
Lieutenant Colonel Mok Jae-gyun wore an awkward smile, plainly uncomfortable at having come to ask for a difficult favor.
Haesol Textile had already turned down an earlier request to supply Army uniforms on the grounds of insufficient capacity, so he had come prepared for another refusal. It was, from the start, an extremely hard conversation to win.
“President Jung.”
Mok Jae-gyun spoke first.
In his gray suit, he carried a more urban air than before, but the voice underneath still had the firm, disciplined edge of a soldier.
“The Ministry of National Defense feels the same. There is nothing better than combat uniforms for presenting an improved image of the military to the outside world, so we would like Haesol Textile to take on the Air Force and Navy as well.”
Seung-hyun looked for a moment at the teacup on the table.
It would certainly help Haesol Textile grow, but he still shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant Colonel. Our Lesser Factory production lines are already running at full capacity, and the domestic launch of GyeolBit bedding is just ahead of us. We’re already supplying Army combat uniforms too, and if the Air Force and Navy are added on top of that, the factory won’t be able to handle it. It’s not that I don’t want to make money. We just don’t have the room.”
Mok Jae-gyun drew in a breath, looking disappointed.
“I truly think this is a tremendous opportunity. The Ministry values Haesol Textile highly, and we sincerely hope you’ll work with us this time.”
“Hmm... I remember something my father used to tell me when he was still running the factory. He said a small textile factory had no choice but to survive by clinging to subcontract work from large companies. That’s the fate of a factory that can’t create its own brand.
If we ended up supplying combat uniforms for all three branches, the factories currently handling military uniforms would take a serious hit. From their perspective, it would be a bolt from the blue.”
“My, you’ve even been thinking that far ahead?”
“I’m not some bodhisattva. I’m just a businessman running a factory, so if I were really living hand to mouth, I wouldn’t have the luxury of saying this. But when we’re finally in a position where we can get by comfortably, I do wonder whether it’s right to take food out of some other company’s mouth.”
That was Seung-hyun’s honest feeling.
He remembered all too clearly how his father had suffered because there was no work coming in.
Why had he clung so fiercely to Dual-Tex?
Because if Haesol Textile had no weapon of its own, it could be pushed aside at any time.
Seung-hyun continued with a sympathetic expression.
“If a small factory loses even one order, it can be pushed to the brink of shutting its doors. If we take everything as though we’re monopolizing it, they’ll have nowhere left to go.”
“Then perhaps... if you acquired additional factories the way you acquired Hwain Commercial, would that be possible? The Ministry of National Defense could issue the same guarantee as before. If you financed the acquisition at the lowest possible interest rate...”
It was a promising suggestion, but Seung-hyun cut him off before he could finish.
“No. We’re already at our limit just from acquiring Hwain Commercial. This would be our third factory now. One is in Chungmuro, one in Guro District, and another in Busan. When the factories are scattered like that, they become harder to manage, and the strain on the people is enormous. It’s only natural the quality would drop.”
“Haa, this isn’t easy.”
The situation was clearly difficult, but Lieutenant Colonel Mok Jae-gyun could not give up so easily.
At first, he had merely followed orders, but there was another reason too.
His promotion review was coming up soon.
In the military, a promotion was as good as life itself.
He had already been passed over more than once, and this was his last chance. If he failed here, promotion to colonel would become impossible forever.
He had in fact already given up on being promoted, but the dramatic improvements in Army combat uniforms had worked so well that he had started to wonder whether a promotion to colonel might now be possible. If the Air Force and Navy were improved as well, then perhaps it would really happen.
So if there was any way at all, he wanted to make it happen.
“Is there really no method? It would be fine even if it took until the end of the year. If you tell us outright that it can’t be done... right now the Ministry is issuing the order for the sake of fairness, but if soldiers or the Air Force and Navy start submitting requests too, there will be more and more talk. Then the arrows will just come flying back at us again...”
He was already facing his final promotion review, and if public criticism piled on top of that, a failure would be inevitable.
“Haa...”
“Please.”
Seung-hyun closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again and sank into thought.
There was a way, but could they actually accept it?
“What if we provide the technology and you pay royalties?”
Even now, royalties were trickling in bit by bit through Roche Bobois.
So far, the profits earned from royalties on the Versailles line had already blown past one billion won.
Because no costs came out of it, it was pure company profit, sweet as could be.
Even if the earnings were smaller than making and supplying the product directly, a steady stream of royalties would give the company enormous value.
Getting royalties on every set of uniforms supplied each year?
Was there any more effortless way to make money than that?
The question was whether the uniform contractors would accept it.
“Royalties, you mean? Even if Haesol Textile doesn’t produce them directly, another factory would use the technology to make the uniforms... The patent’s already registered, right?”
“Of course. The fabric used for the uniforms is just the fabric from Lesser Factory’s Classic line with flame-retardant and waterproof functions added. We registered the patent for that too when we acquired Hwain Commercial.”
“Then there shouldn’t be any legal problem.”
“Honestly, this method is easier for us too. If we acquired everything ourselves or handled it all directly, the other companies would lose their work. We give the technology, they do the production, and we take the royalty income. I think that’s a fair balance.”
Lieutenant Colonel Mok Jae-gyun agreed at once.
“Very well. I’ll meet with the representatives immediately.”
He was satisfied that he could at least return having found some point of compromise.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A week later, at a restaurant near the Ministry of National Defense.
Lieutenant Colonel Mok called in the heads of the two companies that had been handling the existing uniform contracts: Choi Min-sung of Pacific Industries and Park Jong-woo of Blue Sky.
After the three of them finished eating at a well-known eel stew restaurant, he finally came to the point.
“I asked to meet you because I needed to tell you something difficult.”
At the phrase “something difficult,” both Park and Choi felt their hearts drop.
They had already heard from Kim Tae-young of Daeyang Trading, with the message drilled into them more times than they could count, that the Ministry was trying to change its combat uniform supplier.
Still, they had kept quiet, thinking that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down, and there was no point causing a fuss over something that hadn’t happened yet.
“Wait... there’s already been a lot of talk about the Army changing combat uniforms. Is the Air Force changing too?”
Park Jong-woo asked in anxiety, and Lieutenant Colonel Mok nodded with a grim face.
“That is how things are proceeding.”
At the news, both men’s faces went pale.
It felt as if the delicious eel stew they had just eaten might come right back up.
That was the mood of the two company presidents.
“So the supplier change is confirmed?” Choi Min-sung asked, his eyes trembling.
“To be precise, what I’m saying is not that the supplier will change, but that the combat uniforms will change.”
“Isn’t that the same thing!”
Park Jong-woo burst out before he could stop himself.
But Lieutenant Colonel Mok did not look flustered or offended at all.
It was a natural reaction.
“Not exactly. At first, the higher-ups had the same thought as you, so they requested that the company supplying the Army’s new combat uniforms also supply the Air Force and Navy uniforms. But that company refused, citing insufficient factory capacity.”
For a moment, both company heads brightened.
But as Mok Jae-gyun continued, their faces darkened again.
“However, the Ministry’s order to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration was to secure improved combat uniforms, and right now there is only one company that meets all of our requirements. So we requested a method from that company and, in the end, received a response. The uniforms would be produced and supplied using that company’s technology, while a certain percentage of sales would be paid as royalties.”
“How much are the royalties?”
“Five percent. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?”
For Mok Jae-gyun, Haesol Textile’s proposal was both grateful and fortunate.
They could have demanded much more, and yet they were satisfied with only a 5 percent royalty.
So naturally, he assumed the two companies would accept as well.
“Five percent of sales? Not five percent of net profit?”
“That wouldn’t be possible. Five percent of sales. Of course, the technology may only be used to produce authorized combat uniforms, and it absolutely cannot be used anywhere else. Under these terms, I believe it should be acceptable...”
At that moment, Choi Min-sung cut him off in a hard voice.
“No!”
Park Jong-woo was startled and turned to look at Choi Min-sung.
As expected, it was an unexpected reaction, and Lieutenant Colonel Mok’s brow furrowed.
“No?”
“Yes. Five percent of sales is too much.”
“As far as I know, that is not an excessive royalty condition. For fabric with even functional patents, royalties are usually somewhere between 5.5 and 7 percent. The technology owner has already been generous. To make them under worse terms than that...”
“If it goes that far, then our company has no reason to supply uniforms. What’s the point of working ourselves to death to produce them if we’re just making other people rich?”
“If I’m not mistaken, the profit margin on combat uniforms isn’t that tight.”
“I’d accept ten percent of net profit instead. But five percent of sales? Absolutely not!”
Lieutenant Colonel Mok was left stunned by the other man’s hard line.
What on earth was he relying on to dig in like this...?
And then it happened.
Choi Min-sung, who had been acting as though he were facing a mortal enemy, pulled a yellow envelope from his chest and slid it across the floor.
“What is this?”
“I prepared it to help with the country’s business. And I’d appreciate it if you would go back and think over this matter again. We’ll make sure you never lack support from us in the future, Lieutenant Colonel.”
Only then did Mok Jae-gyun understand why Choi Min-sung had been so fiercely opposed.
He had decided that slipping money into the right hands through a few rounds of lobbying would be far cheaper than paying 5 percent of sales in royalties.
Shocked by the absurdity of it all, Lieutenant Colonel Mok was left speechless.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Lesser Factory’s new commercial finally began airing on television and online at the same time.
The twenty-second spot featuring Han Saet-byeol highlighted her charm and the “Essential Moments” line from Lesser Factory.
It opened with Han Saet-byeol strolling through everyday life in a comfortable sweatshirt and slacks, then shifted to scenes of her walking through a park in a bright T-shirt paired with a skirt, capturing a range of moods and styles.
“Your Everyday, Elevated.”
As the slogan appeared on screen, Han Saet-byeol’s bright smile came into sharp focus alongside the Lesser Factory logo.
Like a living advertisement, she was proving the strengths of the clothes with her own body.
The result was explosive. Within hours of the commercial going public, social media was in uproar.
Comments and hashtags like those spread rapidly.
And on Lesser Factory’s official online store, visitor traffic surged so sharply that the servers slowed for a while.
The offline stores were also enjoying the full effect of the commercial, packed with customers who had come flooding in.
Not only the Lesser Factory promotions staff, but designer Lee A-young as well, moved through the stores and checked the situation firsthand.
On the official online platform, several product lines were selling out quickly, and the customer service center’s phones would not stop ringing with size questions and restock requests.
While the company was letting out a happy scream, Lieutenant Colonel Mok Jae-gyun’s message arrived on Seung-hyun’s phone.
Seung-hyun let out a sigh.
Since he had done all he could and it still had not worked, he concluded there was nothing more to be done and sent back a reply.