Goblin Library - Chapter 207

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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 207.

“Then let’s go.”
Lee Gang-hun emerged from the Break Room and gestured toward the Conference Room. Seeing this through the glass window, Oh Myeong-seok hurriedly stepped out.
“Let’s go.”
“Aren’t you going to meet with Director Kim?”
“He’s the one telling us to leave. What leverage do we have? Director Kim is the one who should be disappointed. Let’s go.”
Lee Gang-hun turned and began walking alongside Oh Myeong-seok, then glanced back at Choi Manager.
“You’re the one who told me to go. Tell Director Kim that.”
“Hey, wait… hold on!”
Choi Manager hurried over and grabbed him. Lee Gang-hun looked at him.
“What? You said to go.”
“You have an appointment with Director Kim.”
“But you just told me to leave.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Choi Manager looked at him for a moment before speaking.
“If you have an appointment with Director Kim, you should meet with him before leaving.”
“So I should go back in?”
“Yes.”
“What about the coffee?”
Choi Manager glared at him, then turned and called out to a passing Factory Employee.
“You.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring coffee and some snacks to Conference Room 3.”
“Me, sir?”
“Or should I do it?”
“No, sir.”
The Factory Employee hurried into the Break Room. Choi Manager watched Lee Gang-hun for a moment before speaking.
“Come find me after you’re done with the Director.”
“Will do.”
Lee Gang-hun replied lightly, then quietly observed the Factory Employee brewing coffee at the Break Room entrance.
At this, Choi Manager’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t spit in the coffee.”
“What do you take me for…”
“I’m not saying that about you. You spit in Jang Manager’s coffee plenty of times.”
“You bastard, when did I ever…”
“When? Back when you and I first joined the company.”
As they spoke, the Factory Employee finished brewing the coffee and poured it into cups. Lee Gang-hun reached out, took both cups, and handed them to Oh Myeong-seok.
“Let’s go.”
“What about the cookies?”
“The cookies are wrapped in bags, so no one can spit on them. We’re fine.”
As Lee Gang-hun entered the conference room, Choi Manager hurriedly abandoned his seat with a contorted expression.
Watching Choi Manager’s retreating figure, Lee Gang-hun chuckled softly.
“With such an impatient temperament… it’s no wonder the team members suffer with a guy like that sitting in a manager’s position.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Oh Myeong-seok spoke.
“When you think about it, sir, your failure to get promoted must be a tremendous loss for the company.”
“Me?”
“Of course. If you had been promoted to a manager position, that department’s revenue would have doubled.”
“Doubling might be a stretch, but… I do think it would be better than it is now.”
Lee Gang-hun smiled and spoke.
“Anyway… seeing Choi Manager angry like that makes me feel like I’m back at the company.”
“You were classmates but don’t get along?”
“We’ve never gotten along since the beginning.”
Having answered thus, Lee Gang-hun took a sip of coffee and nodded.
“The coffee here is definitely delicious.”
“We import the beans directly.”
“That’s right.”
One Line Trading’s employee benefits were excellent. Especially regarding food, they spared no expense, and for coffee—which employees consumed frequently—they prepared several varieties of beans.
Different floors had different countries’ beans placed beside the coffee machines, allowing employees to choose and brew whichever suited their preference.
Catching the fragrant aroma of coffee, Lee Gang-hun tore open a bag of cookies and began eating them one by one while placing his document case on the glass table.
Then he retrieved a product catalog from the case and began reviewing it.
“If you have work to do, go ahead. We’ll need to wait a bit anyway.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Oh Myeong-seok nodded, took out his phone and set it up, then extracted a long, rectangular object from his formal jacket and unfolded it.
It transformed into a compact but fully functional keyboard.
“You carry that around?”
“It’s convenient when I need to work outside occasionally.”
Oh Myeong-seok activated Bluetooth and began typing while watching his phone screen.
Observing this for a moment, Lee Gang-hun also took out a pen and began making notes on the catalog, focusing on his own work.

As Director Kim stepped out of the elevator on the 13th floor, he was on a call with someone.
“What are you doing? A catalog? What catalog? Paint? What’s the atmosphere like? I see… understood.”
Director Kim ended the call with the Factory Employee he’d assigned to monitor the conference room and tilted his head in confusion.
“Paint, huh… What on earth is this bastard thinking?”
Director Kim muttered suspiciously as he made his way toward the conference room.
“Director.”
“Director.”
As the employees greeted him, Director Kim casually raised his hand to acknowledge them.
Then several employees approached him carrying documents.

Through the glass window, Lee Gang-hun watched Director Kim review documents and write something with a ballpoint pen.
“He seems quite busy.”
At Oh Myeong-seok’s remark, Lee Gang-hun let out a quiet laugh and spoke.
“If he were that busy, he’d have gone to the director’s office with those documents.”
Then Lee Gang-hun gestured toward the employee holding the documents.
“That guy has been standing in the corridor with those documents for the past five minutes.”
“You mean… he’s doing that for us to see?”
“Exactly. He’s trying to show how busy and important he is. People can be so petty.”
As Lee Gang-hun shook his head and looked out through the glass window, Director Kim lightly raised his hand in a gesture to wait a moment, then returned his attention to the documents, moving his pen across them.
Only after a considerable time had passed did Director Kim enter the conference room.
“Your sudden visit caught me off guard, so I’m a bit late.”
“It’s fine.”
“So, what brings you here? At the airport, I thought I’d never see you again.”
As he spoke, Director Kim leaned back in his chair with a leisurely expression. Watching him, Lee Gang-hun pulled a document folder from his bag.
Then he slid it across to Director Kim.
“Let’s do a business venture together.”
“A business venture?”
“You know we’ve been doing quite well in business lately, don’t you?”
“Even so, you’re still just small-time traders.”
“That’s true. So we want to expand the operation significantly, and we’d like One Line Trading to join us.”
“Hah!”
Director Kim spun his chair around slowly.
Then, looking directly at Lee Gang-hun, he asked in a mocking tone.
“You actually think I’d accept that?”
“I understand it may not appeal to you personally, but you should consider what’s best for the company.”
“Best for the company? Ha! How much money do you think we’d make dealing with small-time operators like you? A hundred million? A billion? I have no interest in such pittance.”
At Director Kim’s words, Lee Gang-hun looked at him before speaking.
“Then what interests you?”
“Destroying anyone who dares to defy me. And crushing them underfoot.”
Director Kim pushed the documents back across to Lee Gang-hun.
“You’re not even going to look at it?”
“No need. I can already tell what it is.”
At Director Kim’s words, Lee Gang-hun glanced at him, then shook his head. Without another word, he opened his document bag and inserted the folder inside.
Director Kim’s eyes followed Lee Gang-hun’s movements, fixing on the bag. A paint-related catalog peeked out from inside.
Director Kim’s eyes narrowed as he read the characters on the catalog.
Chinese characters—specifically simplified Chinese script.
What could he possibly want with Chinese paint?
Director Kim had his personal flaws, but he wasn’t a man without ability.
He rapidly recalled information about China’s paint market, imports, and exports, considering what kind of business could generate profit from Chinese paint, before shaking his head slightly.
China exported low-cost paint. In return, it depended on imports for specialized paints used in aircraft, vehicles, and construction.
He couldn’t sense where among these categories the profit lay. Or rather, he had an intuition, but those were already firmly established markets with established distributors—entering them would only lead to margin competition with no real profit.
While he remained lost in thought, Lee Gang-hun picked up his document bag and left the conference room, glancing back at him.
“Then I wish you good health and longevity.”
“You just focus on staying healthy.”
At Director Kim’s response, Lee Gang-hun chuckled and exited the conference room.
Once outside, Lee Gang-hun got into his car in the parking lot and made a phone call.
“Director Oh.”
[I never expected you to call me.]
“I had a good proposal to discuss with you.”
[A proposal? For me?]
“You know I respect you as a person, don’t you?”
[Hmm… well, I suppose. Let me hear it then. Should I come down?]
“Did you know I came to the company?”
[Word travels fast when a celebrity shows up. They said you came to discuss business with Director Kim. Ah! Sounds like things didn’t go well with Director Kim, so you’re calling me instead. Am I your second choice?]
Hearing Director Oh invoke the old saying about settling for second best, Lee Gang-hun laughed.
“Director Kim wouldn’t even glance at the proposal I brought. Even if I told him I could turn one hundred million into one billion, he wouldn’t spare it a look.”
[Then why did you go to Director Kim first instead of me?]
“It’s a trap.”
[A trap?]
“I want to see Director Kim fail, and I suspect you feel the same way. Several of your junior colleagues left the company because of him, and promotions have been overlooked because of his interference.”
[That’s… true.]
“And you love this company.”
[You’re talking too much. Just get to the point.]
At Director Oh’s words, Lee Gang-hun spoke.
“Everyone already knows I came to Director Kim today with a business proposal. And Director Kim refused to even look at my business plan because of personal feelings. I believe a true trader should be able to conduct business even with an enemy.”
[So?]
“My business will revive our company.”
[Are you bragging?]
“Of course not. In a few months, word will reach the company that my business is thriving. Report that to the chairman. Tell him that the business Lee Gang-hun proposed to Director Kim has become this successful.”
Director Oh fell silent for a moment at Lee Gang-hun’s words before speaking.
[I thought he was calling to propose a business deal… but was he actually suggesting we scheme together?]
『It wouldn’t be easy to do business with me. Director Kim would be monitoring everything from payments onward. No matter how much Director Oh wants to work with me, it won’t be possible.』
[That’s true… but you know the Chairman favors Director Kim, right? The Chairman….’]
As Director Oh trailed off, Lee Gang-hun spoke instead.
『Director Kim manages the slush funds.』
[How did you… did Young-il tell you?]
『I heard it.』
[That bastard Young-il….]
As Lee Gang-hun heard Director Oh’s growl, he spoke.
『Slush funds are something all chairmen create to some degree, so I’m not interested in that.』
[…Fine, okay. Anyway, that’s why it’s nearly impossible to take down Director Kim. Managing slush funds means he also holds the Chairman’s leash. The two of them are bound by fate.]
『I understand.』
[But for you to be able to take down Director Kim, your company would have to become incredibly successful, wouldn’t it?]
『It will succeed.』
[You’re that confident?]
Lee Gang-hun smiled at Director Oh’s question and spoke.
『I’m going to build a village.』
[…A village?]
『I’ll construct fine homes with quality materials on good land.』
[Where?]
『You know where.』
[Ha! That country hasn’t developed economically to that degree. How many people would even buy such homes?]
『While the economy hasn’t developed, there are plenty of corrupt high-ranking officials and nouveau riche in that place.』
[Interesting!]
As Director Oh let out an exclamation of intrigue, Lee Gang-hun continued.
『In any case, this should be enough to outmaneuver Director Kim.』
[What if I intercept this?]
『I’ve already been stabbed by Chinese operatives for doing business there. Does One Line Trading currently have anyone working while wounded from a knife attack?』
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Director Oh smacked his lips.
[Let’s talk once results come in. I’ll prepare myself in advance as well.]
Having secured a positive response from Director Oh, Lee Gang-hun exchanged farewells and ended the call.

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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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