A Short Trip (3)
Yuri spoke hurriedly.
“Mr. Minsu! I could have ordered the drinks myself. I’m sorry. I was… for the tea…”
Perhaps she had been so obsessed with the brown bears that she hadn’t noticed, and now she was only belatedly coming to her senses and feeling ashamed.
But Pyotr, upon hearing my words, had already spoken to the staff. That employee brought out a full bottle of vodka.
Yuri glanced at me slyly and said shyly.
“That’s… that’s vodka, right? Even so, we’re still on duty… huh?”
Suddenly her eyes changed.
“That label is…?”
I was momentarily puzzled. I didn’t drink alcohol, so I didn’t know much about vodka.
If Yuri had liked vodka back when she was at Eins Academy, she might have mastered every vodka in the world by now. But that wasn’t the case now.
Pyotr confirmed her reaction and spoke.
“You know your stuff. It’s the Snow Vodka that’s restricted for export from our Russian Federation. Moreover, this is a more special limited edition.”
For a moment, it seemed as if Yuri swallowed hard.
In the Russian Federation or the Slavonia Kingdom, both nations saw vodka as an everyday drink. Still, they considered the Russian Federation’s more refined.
‘Apparently their distillation technology is more advanced.’
The female staff member named Eun-hye, seeing Yuri’s reaction, quickly poured the vodka into glasses. She said,
“This is actually a vodka that we don’t serve to regular guests at the cafe. It’s a drink we offer only to special guests. Your friend is going to have some too, right?”
“Ah, I’m fine. Only for her.”
When she tried to pour for me as well, I refused.
“Oh? It’s a precious drink among enthusiasts. What a shame. Then only for the lady over there. Ah, it’s high-proof, so shall I make it into a cocktail?”
“No! Straight!”
Without thinking, Yuri answered that way. She checked my expression and her face flushed.
“W-well, this isn’t the place for that. Let’s move to a seat.”
Pyotr placed all the drinks on a tray. And the three of them moved to a quiet corner seat in the cafe.
“Russia or the Slavonia Kingdom, a drink of vodka as a refresher during work isn’t bad, is it? It’s no different from office workers drinking coffee or energy drinks.”
Even so, Pyotr had brought his own drink, which was a plain coffee like mine.
So Yuri looked at me again and felt even more embarrassed. I said it was fine.
“I’ll drive anyway, so it’s okay. Guild Master.”
“… Yes. Understood. If you brought such a rare drink… well, it must be about business. And for her too.”
Yuri hadn’t forgotten her duties. The two of them had come today to discuss the contract with Pyotr’s company.
Yuri drank one glass of vodka straight, and I sipped my coffee as Pyotr spoke.
“Anyway, welcome. Yuri Tarkovskaya. Thanks to Minsu, I get to discuss the contract with an S-rank hunter. And since it’s Flame, we’re not exactly unconnected with Solaris. I’m Pyotr Kim.”
“Pyotr of Solaris?”
“Yes, correct. I’m the Executive Director of Solaris. Well, even if it’s Solaris, it’s just a struggling small company in the Far East.”
Solaris. That was a famous monster-industry company in Europe. A distribution company that handled monster-related harvests and items needed by hunters.
Yuri was an S-rank hunter and the representative director of a company. It was only natural that I already knew her name.
‘When I casually asked the finance and operations teams, they said Flame had already discussed contracting with Solaris before.’
But not between the top executives. It was said that the contract negotiations had fallen through in the meeting between their subordinate staff.
It meant that both sides hadn’t been fully satisfied.
‘Not surprising. Pyotr is a thorough businessman. Before I arrived, Flame probably thought there was no need to force a contract.’
Although it was an S-rank guild like Flame, that was equivalent to the Hunter Association’s credit evaluation. Purely by revenue, there were many small guilds in Korea that earned more profit than Flame.
Yet Pyotr had come running like this for only one reason.
‘It’s because of me.’
The person in charge of today’s contract inquiry had entered my name there. To avoid any confusion, I was listed as Lee Minsu from Eins Academy, with an additional memo.
And with Pyotr’s words that he was a small company, Yuri replied.
“A small company? That’s ridiculous. The distribution companies in the Far East are just overly large. Solaris is still the mother company, a European giant, right?”
“Thank you for saying that. I heard there was once a contract negotiation that fell through with Flame. I’m glad you’re looking kindly upon us.”
As Yuri said, Solaris was only losing to Changsong Group and other Far East large distribution companies.
Solaris wasn’t a small company at all.
In the original novel, it had become Si-woo’s wonderful money line. And the Korean branch of Solaris that I had recently checked. Their financial statements and company situation were far better than in the original novel.
Forming ties with Solaris now could become a huge money line.
‘A good butterfly effect.’
Some routine greetings from executives passed, and then I explained why I had specifically come to find Pyotr Kim.
About the post-processing and distribution of dungeon harvests. The serious discussion began.
It was my turn to actively move. The seat beside me grew colder. Yuri seemed tense without realizing it.
***
The contract discussion went on for a long time. Pyotr’s face was bright red as he shouted at me.
“7:3! That’s really impossible! Minsu, you know it too. This commission ratio itself is a huge loss for our side.”
“8:2.”
“Damn it. 8:2? Too harsh, isn’t it?”
“8:2. It’s not negotiable except for that ratio.”
I said firmly to Pyotr. He showed a very flustered expression.
“Hey, Minsu. Even so, that’s too much. We have labor costs and material costs to consider. That would mean a loss for us…”
“Short-term, there would definitely be a loss.”
“Then why do you insist?”
I stubbornly held to 8:2. Of course, it was the condition that Flame would take an 80% commission on the dungeon harvest post-processing fee.
“Wait. You said short-term. Still, Minsu isn’t the type to say empty words… hmm.”
It seemed he was thinking hard as he scratched his head. It was time to drop the decisive blow.
“Would you like to hear more of my words?”
I told him about the plan I had already thought of beforehand. Pyotr Kim crossed his arms tightly. As he listened, his expression grew more serious.
When my words were finished, he suddenly stood up.
“I’ll step out for a smoke.”
Even for awakened users, indoor smoking was allowed with special tobacco. But Pyotr was smoking regular cigarettes. Probably he wanted to think more about my proposal.
While he was gone, Yuri spoke to me in an agitated voice.
“8:2 ratio? That’s impossible! The domestic distributors were 5:5 before. But you’re saying it’s actually possible?”
Her expression was extremely excited. As Yuri said, the distribution company they were working with at Flame was currently taking an absurdly large commission on the harvest.
Seo Duho, the team leader from Changsong, had spoken to me about it several times.
‘With Changsong, the distribution company is fully a group subsidiary. It’s basically free of commission.’
And for small guilds like Flame, they had no choice but to use the distribution companies of Changsong or other large guild subsidiaries, doing it while crying and eating mustard.
General guilds that were too busy with dungeon conquest and security dispatch couldn’t possibly make their own distribution company.
Moreover, even with such a large commission, it was better than giving up the harvest. No other choice.
I answered the excited Yuri.
“It seems fine. Guild Master. That man Pyotr Kim is a proper businessman. If something can’t be done, he’ll turn away immediately.”
“I heard that from the operations team too. A person who can’t fit even a thin piece of paper.”
Even so, Pyotr was thinking this much about it because he already knew me well.
In the Eins Academy days.
The dungeon I had personally explored and conquered was one that was undervalued or extremely difficult. And the harvest from that perfectly conquered dungeon was worth several times more than a normal one.
Through the ties I had at that time, at least Pyotr’s Solaris had been able to step into the Korean harvest distribution market.
Otherwise, Pyotr would have had trouble even contracting with small guilds back then.
Of course, in the original novel Si-woo had also formed a connection with Pyotr in a similar way.
The difference was that Si-woo had done it with a sense of duty to conquer dungeons, while I had done it to secure connections and grow faster.
And my way had brought Pyotr far more money. So in the current reality, Pyotr had no connection with Si-woo at all.
‘Whether a coincidence or not, by making Solaris’s Korean branch grow, it’s even better.’
It had been only about two years ago. Even under the unreasonable 8:2 condition like now, it was natural that Pyotr’s heart had moved.
Finally, he returned after smoking the whole cigarette. And he took out one more glass and offered it to me.
“If you want to shake hands, you have to have a drink. That’s the Russian way. How about it?”
It meant he had finally surrendered to my proposal. He would sign the contract with 8:2. I glanced at Yuri.
“I’ll drive anyway. It’s fine, Mr. Minsu.”
Then there would be no problem.
“Хорошо (Khorosho).”
He answered that. A Russian word meaning “good.” I didn’t drink, but I couldn’t leave it out.
‘When sharing such an important promise, it’s a must to drink vodka together in Russian Federation culture.’
So the three of them drank vodka together.
***
On the way back.
Yuri drove her own car. Lost in thought, before we knew it we were almost in Seoul.
She had drunk several straight vodkas, but for an A-rank awakened person like her, it was no issue. If she decided, she could immediately metabolize even weak alcohol.
To be sure, she had always carried a breathalyzer and checked in advance. The one given by the Association, so its performance was reliable. As expected, it read 0.
‘I wasn’t trying to get drunk.’
But even though she could instantly metabolize alcohol like this, the truth was that Yuri had been getting drunk more often lately.
Because she couldn’t find any way to ease the complicated feelings that had arisen since Minsu’s internship.
Of course, right now in front of Minsu, and at the moment he had done something extraordinary. She could never get drunk.
‘8:2? Really impossible.’
In the end Minsu had pulled off that ridiculous contract.
If Solaris really distributed the harvests at that ratio, Flame’s ongoing financial crisis since last year would disappear in one go.
Not only that, Minsu had a much larger plan. Thanks to that business plan, that not-so-merry Pyotr had ultimately lowered his tail.
‘Expanding Flame’s influence.’
In other words, it meant absorbing subordinate guilds under Flame.
Of course Yuri, as guild master, had no intention of not expanding her own business company Flame. But she had never thought of it in such concrete terms as Minsu.
‘She had only been rushing to maintain the S-rank guild license from the Association.’
But Minsu’s plan to persuade Pyotr was extremely concrete and had sufficient feasibility.
Rather than her as guild master, Minsu had more accurately grasped the current structure and flow of the Korean hunter community.
‘He really is amazing… Minsu.’
And Minsu had promised to show proof that this plan wasn’t an empty one. Right after the upcoming intern trip.
‘As per the conditions I told Pyotr, if Minsu gets the interns to do the work, we’ll sign a formal contract.’
Once a formal partnership with Solaris was established, in the upcoming S-rank dungeon cooperation missions, Flame would generate sales far beyond imagination.
‘And… if Minsu is by my side, I will definitely succeed in that mission.’
A soft snoring came from the side. After just one drink of vodka, Minsu had passed out. The moment I sat him in the passenger seat, he was asleep.
While driving quietly lost in thought, the time to drop him off came quickly.
Even though I couldn’t talk to him on the way back, being together like this brought a huge thrill to Yuri.
‘Already past quitting time. The time… it’s such a pity.’
So Yuri didn’t wake him. Still, there was no problem dropping him off.
When I checked the resume, it was the distance from Flame Headquarters to three subway stations. Dropping him near one of those subway stations would be good.
No, actually Yuri already knew that address for Minsu. She wanted to know and remember everything about him.
‘But… if I park right in front of his boarding house, he’ll think I’m some weird woman.’
Of course Minsu had never directly told Yuri his address.
So Yuri waited at a parked car in a back alley near the subway station, hoping he would wake up.
And although she self-diagnosed it as unconsciousness, she had cast a ward on the car door with completely clear mental state.