The Contract Is Signed
At any rate, Kim Sehee set aside the memory of her right hand launching into an attack and turned to Danaka.
"You wish to purchase Starlight Rice?"
It was rice she had barely been able to find a buyer for. If someone now stepped forward wanting to buy it, this was news to welcome with both arms thrown wide.
"I happened to taste Starlight Rice, and it was so delicious that comparing it to any other rice would feel like an insult!"
At such blatant praise, Kim Sehee felt a flush of embarrassment all on her own. In truth, Hana had laid the entire table; she herself had only set a spoon upon it. No—Hana might have set the spoon down as well. She was merely the person who sat in the chair.
Still, she composed her expression and answered.
"Thank you for the compliment. You truly are fond of Starlight Rice."
Then she eased a step back. If she took the stance of someone openly desperate to sell, the negotiation might tilt the wrong way. Nothing good ever came of looking hurried while the other party stayed perfectly at ease.
"Well... we are expanding our farmland, but our rice output still isn't all that large. I know of Kara Sushi, if not in exact detail, and when I consider how much rice Kara Sushi consumes in a single month, a full-scale supply would be difficult."
In reality, expanding the fields would solve the problem, but Kim Sehee was not the one in a hurry. Danaka, whose appetite had been set ablaze by Starlight Rice, was far more desperate. If he withdrew with nothing to show for it, wouldn't rival sushi companies learn of Starlight Rice sooner or later? And if those companies locked in an exclusive contract first, Kara Sushi would be left the dog that chased the chicken and came home empty-handed. It was only a matter of time. They said the rice had not even been properly on the market for a month.
By Danaka's own reckoning, he could be certain that within half a year other sushi houses would discover Starlight Rice as well.
In his mind he was already working a scale. He would have to prepare a counterweight heavy enough to match whatever Kim Sehee wanted.
"As you know, President Kim, Kara Sushi is Japan's largest sushi franchise."
"Yes, I'm well aware. I've eaten there once myself, and it was excellent."
"Indeed. In the cities and in the countryside alike, a Kara Sushi sign is easy to find."
"It surprised me too. Go to any city, or even a quiet stretch of country, and there's a Kara Sushi sign waiting for you. Just like that famous hamburger chain in Korea."
Kim Sehee was no great lover of hamburgers, but she had seen that famous Korean burger brand wherever she went. Of course, it was the place rumored to have the best french fries of all.
Watching her, Danaka set his face with resolve and spoke.
"You are well aware that the volume of rice Kara Sushi consumes is enormous, are you not?"
"I don't know the exact figures, but I've heard they're impressive."
"Please grant Kara Sushi exclusive distribution rights in Japan."
"Exclusive distribution rights?"
"Yes."
Then Danaka laid his plan out in a smooth, unbroken stream. He could speak this way because he already knew the potential he had seen in Starlight Rice was boundless.
"I will do everything in my power to persuade headquarters, and within one year I will convert every grain of rice Kara Sushi uses over to Starlight Rice."
Kara Sushi could not simply cast aside its existing suppliers like a pair of worn-out sandals. There was Japan's particular business culture to consider. And yet Danaka was boldly declaring that within a year they would sever ties with partners they had used for decades. Anyone else hearing it would have been astonished. Japanese companies that resisted innovation—could they really do such a thing?
"You would go that far?"
Kim Sehee was startled as well. She had assumed the rice Kara Sushi used would be shifted over to Starlight Rice slowly, across ten years at the very least, and here Danaka was saying he would put Starlight Rice into every franchise within a single year.
"Yes. At first I intend to supply Starlight Rice mainly in the cities. Once word of mouth begins to spread, I will step forward myself, persuade the executives, and see that we adopt it as quickly as possible."
Having spoken at such length, Danaka paused to catch his breath, then went on.
"All you would need to do, President, is expand your rice-growing land as much as you can over the next year. And if you have other products you wish to sell in Japan, please use our company for those complicated Japanese distribution channels. We will not charge you a single thing in distribution fees. Provided, of course, that you grant us exclusivity."
"Other products as well?"
Starlight Food had several goods that would catch on if they were taken to Japan. Cherry tomatoes, green tea, coffee, and more... Come to think of it, every last one of them was something Hana had made.
"That is how seriously Kara Sushi hopes to continue a business relationship with Starlight Food. Please take it in that spirit."
With that, Danaka flicked a glance at his secretary, and a tablet was brought over. On it was one of their trade secrets: Kara Sushi's rice consumption. Through the interpreter, Kim Sehee could see how much rice the chain consumed in a year. There were surely other secrets buried in the document as well, but to Kim Sehee, who spoke no Japanese, the black was writing and the white was background.
When she saw the annual figure, her eyes went wide. She had known it was a thriving Japanese sushi franchise, but the volume was far more staggering than she had imagined. It dwarfed both the numbers reported in the press and anything she herself had expected. Seeing the exact figure, she could never have guessed they consumed so much. Japan's largest sushi franchise indeed.
Kim Sehee decided to sign without a moment's hesitation. Danaka's side succeeded in closing the contract on terms as favorable to Starlight Food as they could make them, and at a price higher than what Starlight Rice fetched in Korea.
"Thank you for your company's generous proposal. I look forward to working with you."
"The gratitude is mine. I hope this good relationship continues."
And so Starlight Food and Kara Sushi signed a contract to sell Starlight Rice in Japan. The exclusive rights Danaka had wanted were written into the agreement as well.
For Kim Sehee, it felt like an aching tooth finally pulled clean. Measured by population alone, the Japanese market was more than twice the size of Korea's. Rice consumption did not map perfectly onto headcount, but it was still true that more people meant more rice eaten.
That they had contracted at a higher price than what they charged in Korea delighted her all the more. She was already thinking of using Kara Sushi to sell Starlight Rice to the Japanese public. The Japanese government would of course move aggressively to block them in order to protect domestic rice, but Kim Sehee had absolute confidence in the flavor of Starlight Rice. She could boast that no matter how anti-Korean a Japanese diner might be, the moment that rice touched their tongue, the tongue itself would defect to the Korea-friendly camp.
However much Japan boasted that its own rice was the finest under heaven, before Starlight Rice it was a candle held up to the sun. With her mind at ease, Kim Sehee resolved to recruit staff for a department that would handle Japan exclusively. They were already hiring in plenty, but the workload was about to swell beyond all reason, and she would need millstones ready to be ground smooth.
She told Human Resources to look chiefly at graduate schools. Graduate students, after all, were easy to recruit. Call in people who had been living as spare parts for their professors and offer them full-time positions at Starlight Food, and they would come without a backward glance.
I was watching anime when I saw the boss come in, and I went scampering over in a flurry.
President Kim Sehee hadn't visited often at first, but lately she came by all the time. Every visit she brought a whole heap of delicious things, so I was all for it.
I dove into her arms and nestled my head against that warm embrace. There in her hold I caught a faint smell of alcohol, and I looked up at her.
"Boss, did you drink?"
"Mm... mhm. I was in such a good mood today, I had a little glass."
Her cheeks were a bit pink, but she didn't seem drunk. If she had been, she probably couldn't have made it here at all. Still, the smell of liquor sent the drinking urge that had been asleep inside me surging up. Maybe it was because I'd been scolded so badly the last time I had beer—reason was shouting at me not to drink, while instinct was telling me to go ahead.
"Boss, can't I have a drink too?"
If I went out with her now, there might be a chance to sneak one. The boss didn't know about my drunken antics. But Bora must have overheard me from behind, because she appeared out of nowhere and shouted.
"No!"
"Hnnngh..."
I wanted to grow up fast and become a towering woman of five foot eleven. Right now, at a stubby four foot five, I was treated like a little kid wherever I went. I wanted to grow up and be an adult already. Surely this build isn't going to stay like this forever, right? A faint unease stirred in me.