New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 74
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 74. The Poisoned Chalice (4)
Hanyang Dairy Food Service Division.
It was late at night when everyone would normally have gone home.
But General Manager Han Dong-su and Department Manager Shin Hong-jin were still in the office.
“Why is it taking so long? How can even something like this take this much time?”
“Please wait just a moment. We received word that the operation started 10 minutes ago.”
“What’s so difficult about stealing one unmanned payment machine? Just load it in a car and bring it over.”
Han Dong-su, third-generation chaebol of Hanyang Group.
He had lived his entire life getting everything he wanted.
Even as an adult, his personality hadn’t changed at all, and he wanted to have everything that MaxCoffee possessed.
“We got a call!”
“Answer it quickly. Tell them to bring it to headquarters immediately.”
Department Manager Shin hurriedly answered the phone, and soon an unexpected report came in.
“Th-they say it failed.”
“What? I didn’t mishear, did I? They failed at even something like this? I told you to use reliable people!”
“They say security personnel were guarding the store. They’re monitoring 24 hours a day, and they’ve even installed new CCTV.”
A service provider with only two small stores.
A place like that hired professional security guards?
“Where would a place like that get the money to hire security guards?”
“We’ll need to look into that more.”
“Never mind that, move on to the next operation immediately. If they hired security guards, they won’t have money for lawyers.”
“We’ll switch to legal response right away. And starting next week, we’ll rush to launch a low-cost coffee store across the street from MaxCoffee Yeouido Branch.”
The easiest way to crush small stores was the mirror store strategy.
A method of copying a specific store’s menu and system exactly, opening nearby, and absorbing their sales.
It was a tactic frequently used in the franchise industry to kill off small brands.
“They sell coffee for 1,000 won? Then we’ll sell it for 500 won.”
“We’ll lose money on every glass we sell.”
“So what? We only need to lose money for two or three months. Can’t you handle even that much?”
“It’s possible. However, it would be problematic to do it under the Hanyang Dairy name, so we’ll proceed using external personnel.”
“People naturally flock to cheaper places. Make sure they pay the proper price for messing with us.”
Han Dong-su even ordered a chicken game.
In a price war, it was ultimately a game where the side with more funds would win.
Small and medium-sized companies rarely survived price wars against large corporations.
“And we’ll proceed with kiosk replication soon as well.”
“Is that possible?”
“We couldn’t steal the kiosk, but if we hire IT specialists, replication is possible.”
“It’ll take a bit more time though. But it’s possible before the store opens, right?”
“It’ll cost a lot of money, but it’s possible.”
“Don’t worry about money. Would a father ignore his son’s first business venture?”
“I’ll hurry as much as possible.”
Han Dong-su had never worried about money even once in his entire life.
His parents who would buy him anything he wanted, no matter how expensive.
In fact, he didn’t even need to ask his parents. If he told his personal secretary, they would obtain any item for him.
So he didn’t care at all about how much kiosk development would cost, or what losses would occur from a price war.
“Just bring me Max Coffee no matter what. That’s all we need.”
“Won’t they surrender if they receive the indictment? And if competing stores start a price war, they won’t be able to hold out.”
“I feel a bit sorry. They should have listened from the beginning. But since we’ve already started, crush them completely. That way other places will be scared too.”
“I’ll crush them completely!”
Crushing opponents with money.
It was a strategy possible because they believed they had an overwhelming advantage in financial power.
It would be hard to expect that there could be a coffee shop with more money than a large corporation.
***
I headed to Yeouido Station after receiving a call from my parents.
As I heard over the phone, people were lined up in a long queue in front of the new large discount coffee shop that opened across from our store.
[Giant Coffee]
[Americano 500 Won]
The large banner immediately caught the eye.
Father was looking at that banner with a face full of worry.
“They say that place sells coffee for 500 won per cup. Shouldn’t we lower our prices too?”
“Is there any profit selling at 500 won?”
“Even if there’s no profit, at least we won’t lose money.”
“What about Father and Mother’s labor costs? That’s all expenses too.”
“Then we’d be losing money equivalent to our labor costs.”
Giant Coffee appeared to have no connection to Hanyang Dairy on the surface.
But where else could push in with this kind of method?
It was exactly Hanyang Dairy’s style.
“If we lower the price to 500 won, Max Coffee’s image will collapse along with it. We need to maintain the current price. Actually, even the current price is too low.”
“Then are you saying we should just take it? If there’s a two-fold difference in coffee prices, who’s going to drink our coffee?”
“It’ll be a bit tough at first, but they’ll eventually come back. And I’ll find a way to handle the price issue.”
Lowering prices at the store level was absolutely not an option.
Max Coffee was ‘affordable coffee,’ not ‘cheap coffee.’
“Alright… I understand. I’ll think of today as a day off and run the business leisurely.”
“I’ll find a solution and let you know by this morning. Don’t worry too much.”
After greeting my parents, I walked over to the store across the street.
And I soon discovered something.
A kiosk almost identical to our store’s was installed there.
I waited in line and tried using the kiosk myself, and fortunately felt somewhat relieved.
It only looked similar on the outside; the functions and performance were completely lacking—it was a poor imitation.
“Why isn’t this working? I definitely pressed it!”
“How long ago did I place my order and why isn’t it ready yet? I’m going to be late!”
The coffee came out much slower too.
They were using a semi-automatic espresso machine.
Compared to our store’s fully automatic machine, it was taking more than twice as long.
‘No need to worry too much.’
After seeing it with my own eyes, I felt at ease.
But since the price issue needed to be resolved quickly,
I took a glass of coffee and headed straight to the Rollbook Office.
“We need to start a new event. Please launch a Max Coffee collaboration event today.”
“What kind of event are you referring to?”
“Distribute 50% discount coupons for Max Coffee to Rollbook users. I’ll cover all the costs myself.”
“We just need to distribute them to the Yeouido and Sinchon communities. After all, those are the only two store locations.”
Should I consider this fortunate?
Max Coffee wasn’t a nationwide chain but only had stores in two locations in Seoul, so they could run coupon events without spending big money.
“This event will continue until the competing stores disappear.”
“How about doing other events together? We also have delivery coupon events. Additional support is possible.”
“You mean those events where you get 1 free drink after buying 5?”
“Yes, it would also help somewhat with promoting Rollbook’s delivery service.”
Loyalty coupon events were the perfect way to gather loyal customers.
Because you had to consistently buy coffee from our store to receive coupons.
Actually, the more events the better. As long as we could handle the costs.
“If we do both events simultaneously, how much would it cost?”
“It won’t cost that much. We just need to distribute 600 discount coupons per day around the store, and including loyalty coupons, about 400,000 won per day would be sufficient.”
“400,000 won per day means about 12 million won per month.”
This amount was completely manageable.
While other small stores would give up after a month with this amount, from my perspective it was close to pocket change.
And considering it would promote not just Max Coffee but also Rollbook, it was definitely a worthwhile investment.
“Won’t there be any legal issues?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any particular problem. Rollbook isn’t even a listed company, and we just need approval from the CEO and General Manager.”
“We’re not even a large corporation, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.”
“If we just set a limit of one per person, it won’t violate fair trade laws either. We’ll just get a final review from the Legal Team and implement it right away.”
Rollbook was receiving support from Tiger Fund’s Legal Team.
Since Tiger Fund was also the major shareholder, it was a natural structure.
“Please hurry to get it implemented by morning. I’m going to the Nexpin Office to solve other problems.”
“I’ll handle it for sure. They messed with our CEO, so we can’t just sit still!”
The Rollbook employees had determined expressions.
They were angry as if it were their own problem, and moved faster than any other task.
Nexpin was the same.
When I explained the situation that occurred in Yeouido, angry voices erupted from everywhere.
“Are they crazy?”
“Even if they have nothing else to do, how could they copy that?”
“They copied our kiosk exactly? That’s really ridiculous.”
Among them, the most furious was the President.
Because he managed not only Max Coffee’s patents but also all the kiosk-related patents.
“How dare they pull that crap when I’m the one who filed the application!”
“The kiosk patent registration isn’t complete yet?”
“I filed the application ages ago. Registration takes some time, but since we filed first, there’s nothing they can do to beat us.”
“They probably did this without knowing we had filed a patent, right?”
“Most likely. I’ll go to the Patent Office myself to assess the situation.”
There was nothing to worry about regarding the patent issue.
Nexpin was a company that had been dealing with patents almost daily.
In fact, they had more related knowledge than even large corporation patent departments.
“We need to verify that Giant Coffee used our technology without authorization.”
“Of course we have to make an issue of that. I’ll go out there myself with Legal Team staff to confirm it.”
Department Manager, who was a patent attorney, decided to personally go on a business trip to Giant Coffee.
Since he was going with Legal Team employees, securing evidence didn’t seem difficult.
Meanwhile, another colleague continued to pour out their anger.
“If they messed with our Youngest Employee, they have to pay the price! Isn’t there anything we can help with?”
“I’m planning to use my money in the Employee Joint Account for this matter.”
The money in the employee account was my money.
But looking at the account as a whole, it was also everyone’s money, so notification was necessary.
“It’s your money, so of course you should use it as you please. If you need it, use my money too.”
“You might suffer losses.”
“Would you really suffer losses doing something? And even if you do lose money, you’ll recover it quickly, right?”
My colleagues’ trust exceeded my imagination.
I never expected them to practically force me to use over 23.5 billion won per person.
“It’s fine. I think I can somehow resolve it with my own money.”
“Are we strangers? It’s okay to lose about 30%. Use my money if you need it. But can this matter also generate profits?”
“If everything goes according to plan, we’ll make quite a profit. But if it fails, we could suffer major losses.”
“Then we have to go for it! We agreed to invest together.”
“The risk is high. And it’s also an investment driven by personal emotions.”
I tried to dissuade them until the end.
But everyone instead treated me like a strange person and pushed forward.
“What, are you trying to have all the fun by yourself?”
“We absolutely have to do this together. We need to get our share too.”
“I’m definitely participating! Is there anyone who opposes this?”
From the President down to Manager Kim.
Regardless of my opinion, they all agreed to invest in this matter.
“Then I’ll make sure to use it only when absolutely necessary.”
“What do you mean by that? We must all invest at the same ratio. That way we can all receive dividends at the same rate.”
“Thank you. Then I’ll use all the funds in the employees’ accounts together.”
“You should have said that from the start. Crush them completely!”
Thanks to the employees, I was able to secure additional funds.
470 billion won that I could use freely, not Tiger Fund’s money.
There was a reason why I deliberately involved my colleagues’ money.
I heard discord from Hanyang Dairy’s gear structure, and I noticed a crack in one part of the mechanism.
It looked fine on the outside, but there was a crack inside.
I was confident that just a slight touch to the weak link would make everything collapse.
With that confidence, I was able to accept my colleagues’ money as well.
New Employee with 1 Trillion Won Annual Salary Chapter 74
E-book Publication Date | 2025.11.27
Author | Seo Oh
Publishers | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Publishing House | Poten
Address | [04783] 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585
ISBN | 9791175305892
Price | 100 won
ⓒ Seo Oh 2025
This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law.
This e-book is published under the author’s contract, so unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, and sharing are prohibited without written consent from both parties.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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