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CH30 | VOC
🕑 Added 2025-02-04 03:05:00 +0000 UTC"Hmm, so this is Japan. It's subtly different from Korea."
The scent of a foreign land filled my senses, lifting my spirits.
I had booked my flight to coincide with the arrival of the goods we shipped by sea. The containers should be on a truck heading to the Japanese smelter by now.
"It's Naoshima Smelter, right? The one we signed the contract with?"
"Yes, that's right."
I lowered my voice and asked Park Jong-bum,
"Team Leader Park, how far up the chain have you gotten with the smelter?"
In other words, how much bribery was involved?
"I've talked to the managing director."
"Managing director? That smelter must be a huge company. Isn't a managing director too low-ranking to control overseas operations?"
"That's what makes it possible. This is the third largest smelter in Japan, so new departments like gold refining are handled at the managing director level. Sasaki, the managing director we're dealing with, is in charge of East and Southeast Asia."
"I see. So we'll get to meet Managing Director Sasaki this time?"
Park Jong-bum scratched his head.
"To be honest, I've only met him once. They'll probably send someone from the working level."
"Well, he wouldn't have time to meet every single CEO of their subcontracted suppliers."
My position was still insignificant. I might be considered wealthy among ordinary people, but in the vast world of business, my presence was barely noticeable.
"We'll just have to keep growing. One day, even the chairman will come running out to greet us. A man needs that kind of ambition."
"You're right."
"So let's go to the smelter, confirm the arrival of the goods, greet the staff, and then find a place to stay. The sample testing will take at least a day, right?"
"That's what they said."
"Then let's do that. Is the interpreter ready?"
"Of course."
I walked with a spring in my step.
We confirmed the arrival of the goods at Naoshima Smelter and briefly greeted Manager Natsuki.
I suggested having dinner with him that evening through the interpreter, but he declined, saying he had a prior engagement. We had no choice but to head to the hotel we had booked in advance.
"Since we'll get the sample results tomorrow, should we relax and take a break today?"
"Of course. I hope the results are good."
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. By the way, I've never had Japanese sake before. Is it good?"
Park Jong-bum shook his head.
"I had it a few times during business dinners, but it tasted like Korean rice wine, which I don't really like. I wouldn't recommend it."
"Really? Then you stay in the room and rest. I'm going to the hotel bar and try some Japanese sake. I have to try the local alcohol now that I'm in Japan."
"Can I stay behind?"
I grinned.
"Don't worry. I've always wanted to try that scene from the dramas, where the main character has a drink alone at a fancy hotel bar."
I forced Team Leader Park to stay in the room and headed to the hotel bar.
"It's not as atmospheric as I imagined."
Naoshima, where the smelter was located, was an island.
The hotel was by the beach, so the view wasn't bad, but it wasn't a luxurious hotel, so it lacked the sophisticated ambiance of the dramas.
Still, the exotic atmosphere, the music, and the night view outside reminded me that I was abroad.
"One Japanese beer, please."
I sat at the bar counter, ordered a Japanese beer in English, which I had practiced beforehand, and lost myself in thought.
The future direction of my business, the anticipation for the sample results, how much of the company shares I should give to Team Leader Park Jong-bum…
I took a sip of the Japanese beer to set the mood.
"Cough, cough. What is this? It tastes exactly like the rice wine we drink during ancestral rites."
Park Jong-bum was right.
"Wow, how can it be this tasteless? This isn't for me. It doesn't suit my palate."
There was no way they would have soju in Japan, so I ordered whiskey and tried to recreate the dramatic scene in my head.
Just then, a woman entered the bar.
She was wearing a suit and heels and wasn't very tall.
'She's not bad.'
She had a surprisingly curvy figure and a cute face. I wouldn't say no.
I glanced at her briefly and then focused on my drink. She sat down at the counter near me.
"Japanese beer, please."
The bartender poured her the same Japanese sake I had just tried.
Remembering the taste of rice wine, I instinctively frowned and turned away. Suddenly, the woman said,
"Ugh, what is this taste?"
She muttered something under her breath and subtly pushed the glass of Japanese sake aside.
She reminded me of myself just a moment ago, and I chuckled and said,
"Hello, are you Korean? I think I heard you speaking Korean."
The woman looked at me in surprise.
"Oh, you're Korean? It's nice to meet another Korean in a foreign country. Hello."
"Yes, I just tried some Japanese sake, and it wasn't very good. How about having some whiskey instead?"
"No, I don't really like whiskey. I'll just have beer."
She called the bartender.
Meeting a Korean in a foreign country filled me with a sense of camaraderie I had never felt before.
"It's fate that we met here. I'll buy you a beer."
I realized it sounded like I was hitting on her, so I quickly added,
"Oh, I don't mean anything by it. I just want to buy you a drink because I'm happy to meet another Korean."
The woman firmly replied,
"No, thank you. I have money."
She paid for her beer and continued drinking, and we didn't speak again.
***
"So that's what happened. It's rare to meet Koreans here. Are you interested in her?"
Park Jong-bum asked teasingly after I told him about meeting a Korean woman at the bar.
"Interested? What interest? She wasn't bad, but she's not my type."
I preferred a more voluptuous figure, and the woman I met yesterday wasn't my ideal type.
"But you said she wasn't bad, which means she wasn't unattractive."
"I just meant she was okay. Come on, let's stop talking about this and go to the smelter. We're here for business, not romance."
We were having lunch when we received a call from Manager Natsuki, informing us that the sample testing was complete. We headed to the smelter with the interpreter.
The security guard led us to the meeting room where Manager Natsuki was waiting.
"Welcome, CEO Park."
I shook hands with Manager Natsuki and took a seat.
"Is your foreign currency account ready?"
"Of course."
After the chaos of sending cash to Japan, we had immediately opened foreign currency accounts in both Japan and Korea.
We were also in the process of registering a local subsidiary in Japan, but we hadn't received the business registration certificate yet.
"Here are the sample results. The quality of the goods was excellent. I think you'll be satisfied."
Park Jong-bum and I received the results with excitement, encouraged by Manager Natsuki's positive response.
The first result was for the motherboards with CPUs.
"You'll find the composition analysis and the final weight. The raw material prices at the end are calculated based on the average prices from last month, as stated in the contract."
I pointed at an unfamiliar term on the result sheet and asked,
"Pd. What's Pd?"
"It's palladium, similar to platinum."
"0.05 grams of platinum, 5 grams of silver, 150 grams of copper, and… 1.5 grams of gold per kilogram?"
I looked at Team Leader Park Jong-bum urgently.
He had said 1 gram, but the actual yield was 1.5 times higher.
Team Leader Park's eyes widened in surprise, and Manager Natsuki said,
"We got a higher yield than expected, probably because most of them are older models."
"Do older models yield more gold?"
I didn't want to appear ignorant, but my curiosity got the better of me. Manager Natsuki explained,
"Older models usually contain more precious metals. Manufacturers try to use as little as possible because the raw materials are expensive, so as technology advances, the precious metal content decreases. What I told Team Leader Park was based on the current CPU models."
I grinned and looked at the final price.
"18,174 yen."
"The final weight is 4,987 kg, so that's 8.17 million yen, excluding the smelting fee."
"Team Leader Park, how much is that in Korean won?"
"It's over 80 million won."
I clenched my fist under the table and eagerly took the next result sheet.
"400,000 yen for 2 tons of network cards. About 2,000 won per kg."
I was disappointed with the network cards, but everything else, except for the miscellaneous boards, was a jackpot.
"15.3 million yen for 1 ton of IC chips, 11.23 million yen for 5 tons of high-grade boards… Wait, the high-grade boards are more valuable than the motherboards? 9.84 million yen for 10 tons of low-grade boards, and 510,000 yen for 10 tons of miscellaneous boards."
And finally, the item we had the highest expectations for: semiconductor integrated circuits, wafers.
"72.7 million yen for 100 kg of wafers."
My heart swelled with pride. My choice, my intuition, had been right.
Team Leader Park, who was calculating next to me, said in a trembling voice,
"117.75 million yen. 1.1775 billion won."
"Holy…"
The material cost was 3 million won, and even with all the additional expenses, it was less than 10 million won.
The profit margin was over 100 times the cost. It was mind-boggling.
And all of this was possible because of a lack of information.
If the wholesaler had known the true value of the wafers, would they have sold them to us at that price?
If the companies that discarded the wafers had known about the technology to extract gold, would they have just paid for disposal and thrown them away?
I had stumbled upon the greatest opportunity of my life.
We had earned more than double the 500 million won we spent on bribes from just two weeks' worth of electronic scrap.
"…Team Leader Park, I don't think I can afford to relax in Japan for three days. Let's go back to Korea right now."
"I agree."
I clutched the result sheets tightly and smiled.
"Let's sweep up all the easy money in Korea."
