Goblin Library - Chapter 222

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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 222.

Lee Gang-hun took his seat with a bowed head, surrounded by residents of considerable power and wealth—the most influential among them.
“Thank you for your cooperation on this matter.”
Wang Ju-myung nodded at Lee Gang-hun’s words before speaking.
“Land values will definitely rise once the school is built, correct?”
“In China as well, property values increase in areas with prestigious schools, do they not?”
“They do.”
“The same will happen here.”
“But prestigious schools typically have a long history behind them… Will a hastily constructed place truly become a prestigious institution?”
“Prestige depends on the quality of the system in place.”
“So you’re bringing that system here? How?”
“We’ve invited a retired principal who served at a prestigious school in Korea. There may be some cultural differences requiring adjustment, but surely the love for children transcends East and West.”
“That’s true enough.”
“From what I can see, whether that educator will improve university admission rates remains uncertain… but he appears to be the kind of mentor who will help raise children with proper values.”
“Doesn’t prestige require high university admission rates?”
“We’ve invited him primarily to manage students and teachers, while the actual instruction will fall to the educators themselves. With excellent teachers assembled, we should see good results.”
As the meal concluded, trucks began rolling onto the grounds.
A massive crane lifted building blocks from the trucks and began placing them in their designated positions.
Village residents gathered nearby to watch the spectacle.

“The local workforce has become quite skilled now.”
Lee Gang-hun murmured to himself while watching the technicians deftly assemble the building, then glanced around at the people nearby.
They gazed at the school with fascination. They had seen prefabricated structures plenty of times when building this village, but witnessing multiple blocks merge together on such a massive scale was something entirely new.
While Lee Gang-hun was absorbed in contentment, Mahmoud tapped him on the shoulder.
“Li.”
As Lee Gang-hun turned at the call, Mahmoud tilted his head toward one direction.
Lee Gang-hun smiled upon seeing where Mahmoud was pointing.
He then retrieved a beverage can from the cooler and walked toward that spot.
“Welcome.”
Speaking, Lee Gang-hun extended the beverage can. Standing before him was Kim Ki-chun.
Kim Ki-chun ignored the beverage can Lee Gang-hun offered and kept his gaze fixed only on the school being assembled.
“Did you obtain the permits?”
“Among our residents, there are those who work at the Ministry of Education.”
Kim Ki-chun remained silent for a moment, then sighed and looked at him.
“Come back to the company.”
At the sudden words, Lee Gang-hun’s brow furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
“Come back to the company. I’ll give you the position of head of the overseas business division.”
Kim Ki-chun was well aware that Lee Gang-hun was a capable and competent talent.
But now that he had worked with him directly, he realized he was even more exceptional than he had thought.
Though he had sent him away due to their poor relationship, keeping such a talented person under him was far more advantageous than having him as an adversary.
Lee Gang-hun laughed at Kim Ki-chun’s words.
“How could a tiger work under a dog?”
“That was my final offer.”
“My suggestion is… just drink the beverage and go.”
As Lee Gang-hun held up the beverage, Kim Ki-chun looked at him and spoke.
“Open it for me.”
Recalling memories from before, Lee Gang-hun laughed at Kim Ki-chun’s words and said:
“Would I do anything strange on such a fine day?”
Lee Gang-hun opened the beverage and handed it over. Noticing that no foam sprayed out, Kim Ki-chun clicked his tongue softly and accepted the can.
Then he gazed at the school being constructed and sighed.
It was clearly his defeat.
Kim Ki-chun turned his body away with a bitter smile.
He was well aware of the difference in land values between areas with schools and those without.

***

When Lee Gang-hun returned to Korea and entered the Il-un Trading Company office, Park Young-il raised his hand with a smile.
“Welcome back.”
“When I first returned, you came all the way to the airport to pick me up… I suppose people’s hearts are as fickle as reeds, aren’t they?”
Park Young-il laughed at Lee Gang-hun’s remark.
“That’s because you’ve been so busy creating all these ventures.”
“Being busy is a good thing. It means more money flowing in.”
“Ha ha ha! That’s certainly true.”
Lee Gang-hun nodded at Park Young-il’s words and surveyed the office. Only Park Young-il was there—the other employees were absent.
The office was in disarray, as though thieves had ransacked it. Even the cabinets that were normally locked stood wide open.
“Why is the office like this?”
“Ah! We need to relocate.”
“Relocate? What do you mean?”
Lee Gang-hun squinted.
“You’re not moving to a fancier office just because we’ve made some money, are you?”
“Not fancier, but larger. We’re moving to a bigger space.”
As he spoke, Park Young-il pointed upward with his hand.
“About three floors up. There’s a much larger office there.”
“True, this place is a bit cramped.”
“Moving to an expensive area can wait until the company grows more. For now, we’re just going somewhere with more square footage.”
Park Young-il handed over a business card holder.
“Since the address has changed, I had new cards printed. These are the new ones.”
Lee Gang-hun took the business cards and asked.
“When are we moving?”
“The furniture goes tomorrow, but we’re moving the documents today.”
“So you’ve kept me here to put me to work?”
“We can entrust the general items to the moving company, but our confidential documents—we have to move those ourselves. The others are moving documents right now too.”
“What about the Company President?”
“I need to stay and watch the office. You should head home and rest.”
After Park Young-il spoke, Lee Gang-hun looked at him and said.
“Three floors up, you said?”
Lee Gang-hun grabbed a plastic box and began packing his belongings into it.
“That’s right. It’s best when you pack and move your own things.”
As Lee Gang-hun packed, he spoke.
“How’s the company atmosphere?”
“Ours is great. Ah! Our profits are tremendous.”
“As they should be. You know how hard I’ve worked.”
“Ha ha ha! I know, I know.”
Park Young-il nodded with a smile, then suddenly remembered something and asked.
“Kim Ki-chun is also doing a real estate subdivision project there, right? How’s that going?”
“That’s selling well too.”
“Is that so?”
“Director Kim may be an odd person, but he gets the job done well… In any case, it looks like we’ll make some profit.”
“Then didn’t your plan fail?”
Lee Gang-hun shook his head as he watched Park Young-il speak of making Director Kim eat dirt.
“It would be ideal if we went negative… but even this much is sufficient.”
“Why is that?”
“There’s a significant difference between us. Moreover, since the Director personally went to the site and ran this business, if the profit is only this much, it’s practically a failure. The profit margin is so low that there’s no real point in venturing into the real estate sales business.”
Lee Gang-hun smiled and picked up the box.
“If he digs into it, his standing will diminish.”
“That would be nice… but anyway, we made good profits, so it doesn’t matter to us.”
Lee Gang-hun nodded and left the office with the box.

The next day, movers came and transported furniture and fixtures to the new office.
As Il-un Trading Company employees busily arranged desks and new fixtures, a middle-aged man carrying a potted plant entered.
“The new office looks nice.”
The man who entered was Director Oh.
“Welcome.”
Lee Gang-hun greeted him with a smile, and Director Oh looked around the office and spoke.
“Where is Manager Park?”
“He’s out on business.”
“The manager goes out on business too… Yes, that’s how it should be.”
Director Oh, speaking as if a manager shouldn’t just stay in the office, placed the potted plant on the table and said.
“So should I call you the overall director?”
“You can call me whatever you like.”
“How can that be? You’re the head of the overall division at a different company, not even the same one. Anyway, let’s talk for a moment.”
At Director Oh’s words, Lee Gang-hun led him into a room on one side of the office.
Previously, there hadn’t been a separate space that could be called a conference room.
But this place was spacious enough that they could build a partition wall on one side and use it as a conference room.
Of course, right now… it was piled high with boxes and looked more like a warehouse.
“We haven’t finished organizing yet, so it’s a bit cluttered.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Director Oh nodded and sat in an empty chair, then spoke.
“Director Kim’s business didn’t fail, did it?”
“It wasn’t a success either.”
“The profit relative to investment isn’t small. We made almost 150% profit.”
“That’s more than I expected.”
“Right. How can we make Director Kim lose face with this?”
At Director Oh’s words, Lee Gang-hun handed him the document file he had brought.
“This is a profit rate analysis table of those who made profits from this real estate sales business.”
“A profit rate analysis table? Is it okay to show me something like this?”
“It’s not our company’s data, but the profit rates of investors who gained profits along with us, so it’s fine.”
At Lee Gang-hun’s words, Director Oh took the document file and unfolded it. His eyes widened.
『1,259%?』
Director Oh exclaimed in astonishment, and Lee Gang-hun continued.
『That’s the profit margin even without the shopping district opening yet. Once the shopping district comes in, we’ll sell the surrounding land as well, and with property values rising, the profit margin should reach 2,000%.』
『2,000%… That’s an extraordinary profit margin.』
『Moreover, as you can see, this venture has only been running for six months. A 1,259% profit margin in just six months… At this rate, I suspect the company people looking at Director Kim won’t have very favorable views.』
『That’s true. If the investors’ returns are at this level….』
Director Oh looked at Lee Gang-hun.
『Your company’s profit margin must be higher than this, wouldn’t it?』
At Director Oh’s words, Lee Gang-hun smiled and spoke.
『Business profit margins are confidential, as you know.』
『Won’t you give me even a rough estimate? That way I’d have more to say at the board meeting.』
『A rough estimate… It’s somewhat higher than this.』
『The first digit, the second digit?』
『The first digit, I’d say.』
『Phew! That’s impressive.』
『We only invested a relatively small amount, so the absolute figures aren’t that large.』
『Still, achieving that kind of profit margin is difficult. It’s not like cryptocurrency or anything….』
Director Oh shook his head and, while reviewing the documents, raised questions about the figures he found difficult to understand. Lee Gang-hun provided explanations for each.
Director Oh needed to thoroughly understand the contents of these materials so he could attack Kim Ki-chun with them at the board meeting.

***

Lee Gang-hun was also keeping busy back in Korea. He was securing goods to send to Unnamed Country and continuously reviewing reports about the village he had created.

Late in the evening, when the sun was rising in Unnamed Country, Lee Gang-hun was on a call with Mahmoud.
『The village is running smoothly, yes?』
[The Management Office staff are doing well.]
『The Convenience Store?』
[That’s going well too. Now that we have sales statistics, we’ve decided which items to stock more of and which to reduce.]
『Good to hear. Ah, how’s the Food Restaurant doing?』
[The Food Restaurant is underperforming somewhat. Probably because the population is small, not many people come out to eat.]
『That’s unavoidable. At least our staff can get their meals there, so don’t stress too much about the profits.』
[Understood.]
『And….』
After issuing various work instructions, Lee Gang-hun sighed, wiped his face with his hand, and then smiled as he looked at his phone.

“Director Kim has been appointed as the branch manager of the Bucheon logistics warehouse. hehe”

Lee Gang-hun let out a snort of laughter at Director Oh’s text, which even included a comment about how it was unbecoming for his age.
The Bucheon Logistics Warehouse was where people were sent to see out their final days before retirement. It was a place with no real power, no authority—just a warehouse security post.
In other words, he had been demoted.
The Chairman could no longer shield himself against Director Oh’s accusation that if they had pursued the business venture Lee Gang-jin had proposed, they would have generated profits exceeding 2,000 percent instead of a mere 150 percent.
After all, he had kicked away a profitable business opportunity for the Company out of personal spite.
Lee Gang-hun gazed at the message quietly, then smiled and leaned back in his chair.
Justice prevails.

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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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