Goblin Library - Chapter 169

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 169

As I ate ramen, I asked the drivers about various logistics trends they would know about.
And I learned quite a bit—which sites received heavy shipments and which received lighter ones, and so on.
Listening to their talk, I mentally mapped out where I should sell the goods.
There was no need to draw a complicated picture. The site with the heaviest logistics flow would naturally have the most defects, so selling there would be the obvious choice.

Once the drivers left the Warehouse Grounds in their vehicles, Mahmoud began organizing the goods with a forklift.
As I had him move the items that needed to go out first to the front and the ones to sell later to the back, Salim approached me.
“Boss.”
I turned to look at him. He then subtly pointed somewhere.
Beyond the barbed wire fence separating the Warehouse Grounds from outside, there were East Asian men. Recognizing their faces, I nearly sprinted toward them.
“Boss Peng Ying, please come inside.”
Then Peng Ying, beyond the barbed wire fence, replied.
“There’s no reason to look friendly with you.”
I laughed and then looked at the Chinese man named Chang standing behind him.
“It’s been several times since we’ve met, and here we are again.”
As I bowed in greeting, Chang squinted slightly.
“Don’t provoke unnecessarily.”
And Peng Ying, taking that as provocation, said something and then laughed as he looked at the Warehouse.
“For someone called a peddler, you’ve brought in quite a lot of goods.”
“Bringing in goods isn’t easy, so I brought everything at once. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to move it all.”
“So those goods fell from the sky?”
“Most of them did.”
“Most of them, you say…”
As Peng Ying continued inspecting the Warehouse, I asked him.
“Did you come knowing our goods were arriving? Or did you just happen to come by?”
“I’m a busy man.”
He meant he’d made time to come see it after learning the goods had arrived.
“You have excellent information sources.”
At my words, Peng Ying shook his head.
“It’s not good information sources—it’s just diligence.”
“Diligence?”
“A few phone calls and you can find out. It’s stranger not to know.”
Peng Ying looked at me.
“Anyway, if you’ve brought in that much volume, even idiots would know about you. I came to tell you to be careful.”
“I’m truly grateful for such kindness.”
“Kindness…”
Peng Ying tilted his head and spoke.
“By the way, you really seem to like the word ‘goodwill,’ don’t you?”
“I do.”
Lee Gang-hun said with a smile.
“The more I use the word ‘goodwill,’ the more I notice something like intimacy develops between the other person and me.”
“Is that so?”
“Goodwill… good intentions, sincerity… no matter how you look at it, they’re all positive meanings. Especially in the East, this works remarkably well. I suppose it’s because we share the same culture.”
“Goodwill, huh…”
Peng Ying murmured for a moment before speaking.
“In any case, make sure you stay alive. I’ll have a use for you later.”
Peng Ying made a writing gesture with his finger, then disappeared in a car with his subordinates.
Watching Peng Ying leave, I turned my steps toward the warehouse.
“Well then, let’s go make our deliveries.”

***

After that, I moved the goods quickly. Previously, the incoming inventory had been limited, so I couldn’t move much product.
I had only distributed small quantities as a way of introducing our goods. But now the stockpiling inventory was growing steadily.
Moreover, local companies were increasingly placing orders with me.
There were company presidents like Sayed who didn’t care about Chinese pressure, but more of them were cautious.
Even when they made purchases, they only bought small quantities and sourced the rest from Chinese suppliers—but as time passed, I noticed that companies buying from me faced no financial pressure from the Chinese side.
Wang Ju-myung, whom I had asked for help, had prevented them from delaying payment.

-We came to this country as friends. We haven’t bought large quantities of outside goods, so it wouldn’t look good to apply financial pressure over such a small volume.

With those words, he prevented them from delaying payment.
And truthfully, it was the right approach. Heavy equipment components are incredibly numerous. Among them, the items I sold were only a handful.
So if a company purchased a hundred components, they’d buy only about one from me, with the remaining ninety-nine still sourced from Chinese manufacturers.
And I deliberately didn’t supply large quantities to most places. When a site needed ten components, I’d intentionally withhold more than half.
This forced them to buy five from me and the rest from Chinese suppliers.
Partly it was because I didn’t have enough stock, but it was also deliberate.
This way, they had no choice but to compare Chinese products with Korean ones. Of course, Chinese goods didn’t break down immediately—it took a few months—but after that time, the comparison would become unmistakable.
While Chinese products failed three times, mine would fail perhaps once.
Even now with the warehouse full of goods, I continued distributing to my existing clients as before.
So they could compare Chinese products with ours.
And… I began opening new sales channels.

Lee Gang-hun rode in a truck driven by Mahmoud toward Site 8.
This country had ten major sites spread across the nation, starting from Site 1 near the Capital.
Until now, Lee Gang-hun had conducted business with the Site 1 companies, which were the easiest to deal with.
Then he heard from the Helpful Drivers that Site 8 was where the most goods were being supplied.
Site 1 could absorb all the goods, but to sell more later, he would need more sales outlets.
“This country really is vast.”
In Korea, no matter how far you traveled, six hours would get you from one end to the other with time to spare.
But here, even though they had departed at this time yesterday, they still had five more hours to go.
“The land is wide, but terribly barren.”
Lee Gang-hun answered Mahmoud’s remark.
“Still, there’s gas coming out of it.”
“It comes out, but… that’s the exclusive domain of the wealthy.”
Mahmoud sighed and shook his head. Even with valuable resources, they belonged to the rich and powerful—the ordinary people saw no benefit from them.
Mahmoud spoke while shaking his head.
“People say China helps develop our country just to plunder our resources.”
“That’s not entirely wrong.”
“Exactly.”
“To repay such enormous debt, they have to sell something, and the only thing in this country worth that much is resources.”
As Mahmoud sighed with frustration, Lee Gang-hun laughed and spoke.
“Still, it’s not entirely bad.”
“Not bad? It’s plunder.”
“For the country’s economy to develop, money has to circulate somehow. In ten years, you might say it was an unfavorable contract, that we were swindled, but right now the money is flowing through the country and there’s vitality.”
Mahmoud smacked his lips at Lee Gang-hun’s words.
“That’s a fair point.”
Ten years ago, civil war had reduced the country’s infrastructure to ruins.
Then money began flowing in. With that money, life returned to people’s faces, and they began eating out.
“Will they regret it in ten years?”
“They will regret it in ten years. By then they’ll understand the true value of resources… and how cheaply China is taking them.”
“I really don’t know.”
It was good right now, but something to regret in ten years….
Watching Mahmoud’s complicated expression, Lee Gang-hun spoke.
“It could be different if there were proper politicians and leadership.”
“Why would that matter?”
“The faster they repay the debt to China, the sooner they can escape the unreasonable contract. But if they’re focused on lining their own pockets instead of repaying the debt, it’ll be difficult.”
Mahmoud nodded at Lee Gang-hun’s words. It would indeed be difficult as he said.
After all, the ones most excited about Chinese Capital flowing in right now were the politicians and entrepreneurs.
“Anyway… the distances here are really something.”
“Exactly. Since you and I take turns driving, the fatigue is manageable, but alone you’d have to rest for a day in the middle.”
Mahmoud looked at Lee Gang-hun.
“Won’t this be too much for us to handle delivery-wise?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You and I have too much to do.”
“Then what should we do? Will you leave it to a shipping company?”
“I’ve always said this.”
As Lee Gang-hun watched, Mahmoud smacked his lips.
“No money?”
“Correct.”
“Then what are you planning to do? Should we handle the shipping ourselves, even if it’s difficult?”
“That won’t work. We’re not that idle either.”
“Then what?”
Lee Gang-hun spoke with a smile.
“If the order volume is large, we fill an entire truck and send it. But if the volume is small… there must be goods being shipped from the Capital to various regions. We’ll have to slip our cargo onto those transport trucks.”
“That won’t be easy.”
Transport trucks are packed to the brim with cargo. As a figure of speech, they’re loaded so tightly that even a needle couldn’t fit through.
What would be unthinkable as overloading in Korea was standard practice in this country.
Loading their cargo onto such a truck? It was truly no simple matter. Unless they tied it with rope and hoisted it onto the roof?
“Don’t think it’s impossible. If you think it’s possible, then it will be. And this is when an excellent information broker like Mahmoud needs to show his abilities.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Mahmoud sighed.
“Don’t you think I have too much work lately? Information broker, driver, office assistant, and bodyguard on top of that?”
At Mahmoud’s complaint, Lee Gang-hun stared at him intently. When Mahmoud, who had been driving, turned to look at him without a word and squinted his eyes.
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’ve always been someone who repays kindness with kindness. Always.”
“Sigh!”
Mahmoud shook his head slightly and spoke.
“It looks like we’ll arrive at the meeting place in about an hour. It would be better to contact the business partners in advance.”
At Mahmoud’s words, Lee Gang-hun nodded and reached for his phone.
Lee Gang-hun wasn’t the type to work blindly. He had been introduced to business partners worth dealing with by the Heavy Equipment Company presidents and Sayed.
That’s why he had arranged to meet with those presidents.

As they approached Site 8, bustling cargo trucks came into view, moving back and forth in constant motion.
“Let me see… turn right here.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s direction, Mahmoud steered the truck to the right. Within moments, the truck pulled up to a massive warehouse building.
“This must be the place.”
Inside the warehouse, stripped-down heavy equipment sat parked in neat rows, and technicians were actively repairing the machinery.
Lee Gang-hun murmured to himself as he observed the bustling workshop filled with the cacophony of repair work.
“What’s remarkable is that equipment so heavily corroded with rust is still operational.”
True to his observation, the heavy machinery was covered in thick layers of rust—equipment that would have been dismantled and sold for scrap metal long ago in Korea.
“As long as the engine starts, we make it work somehow. That’s how our country operates.”
Mahmoud continued with a laugh.
“Give us the equipment and spare parts, and our craftsmen could build anything from a Porsche to a tank.”
“I have to admit, the technicians in this country are genuinely skilled.”
The saying “make it work with what you have” was born for technicians like these—when parts were unavailable, they would machine steel and weld it together, fashioning substitutes that kept everything running regardless.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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