New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 78

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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 78. Frog Hunting (3)

 

An unexpected customer visited the Rollbook Office.

 

It was General Manager Han Dong-su, the third-generation chaebol of Hanyang Dairy.

 

He came looking for me with an arrogant attitude, accompanied by security guards and employees.

 

“Excuse me, who is CEO Lee Jung-hoo of Rollbook here?”

 

“I’m Lee Jung-hoo.”

 

“Hello. I’m Han Dong-su. You know me, right?”

 

Was this the confidence of a third-generation chaebol?

 

He greeted me boldly, thinking I would naturally know who he was.

 

“I know that you’re the person who created Giant Coffee.”

 

“I’d like to have a quiet conversation if possible. There are too many watching eyes here.”

 

I led him to the conference room.

 

Since Rollbook and Nexfin exchanged opinions in the office without holding separate meetings, it was a conference room that had been used only a few times.

 

“You can tell it was made not too long ago. Startups are definitely nice because they’re clean.”

 

“I’m glad you like it. But why did you come looking for me? We’re not really on terms to meet face to face like this, are we?”

 

“There’s no reason we can’t meet. I just came to tell you to stop now. I didn’t know that Max Coffee place was a store run by your parents.”

 

A scene I had only seen during my school days was being played out.

 

It was similar to a scene where a school violence perpetrator sits on a desk, looks down at the victim, and gives a half-hearted apology.

 

Of course, since I wasn’t a powerless victim, Han Dong-su’s appearance seemed pathetic to me.

 

“Not knowing doesn’t end it.”

 

“That’s why I’m going to raise the price for you. Let’s acquire Max Coffee for 2 billion won. This should be a satisfactory amount. The original fair price was 1.5 billion, but I’ll give you an extra 500 million. Let’s just end this on good terms. What good could come from getting tangled up with a large corporation?”

 

Only 2 billion?

 

It wasn’t an apology, but mockery.

 

In that case, I had no choice but to respond with mockery as well.

 

“I also like ending things on good terms. Let me make a counter-proposal. Hand over Hanyang Dairy. I’ll acquire it for 200 billion won.”

 

“…What are you saying? There are things you should say and things you shouldn’t.”

 

“Did it sound like a joke? I’m being completely serious.”

 

“Where do you have 200 billion to say such things?”

 

Informal speech slipped out of Han Dong-su’s mouth.

 

In this situation, there was no need for only me to maintain courtesy.

 

“What if I do have it? Want to make a bet?”

 

“You’re saying you really have 200 billion?”

 

“I have enough money to buy something like Hanyang Dairy. Why, don’t you have that much?”

 

“If you have it, show me.”

 

A childish argument began.

 

It was embarrassing enough for others to watch, but I didn’t want to lose even in this petty war of nerves.

 

So I acted unlike myself.

 

I even opened up my Nexpin Employee Account to show him.

 

Even though I had separated the Short Selling funds, there was still over 200 billion remaining in the account.

 

“This is your money? Isn’t it fake? Since you’re a guy who works with computers, you can easily manipulate stuff like this!”

 

“Let’s write up a Contract then. That way we can tell if it’s manipulation or reality. Should we get it notarized at a Law Firm?”

 

“Stop fooling around. This is why you can’t communicate with someone who’s not on your level. Department Manager Kim, let’s just go.”

 

“You’re going to regret today. If you had sincerely apologized, the situation would have improved even a little.”

 

“Stop running your mouth. Keep that up and you might die without anyone knowing.”

 

Han Dong-su maintained his arrogant attitude to the end.

 

He roughly kicked the Conference Room door and went outside, while I opened the Window first to ventilate.

 

I didn’t want the air that had been inside that bastard’s body to remain in our company.

 

***

 

Han Dong-su left the Rollbook Office.

 

Even in the Elevator heading to the Parking Garage, he couldn’t calm his anger.

 

“Department Manager Kim, does that bastard have some kind of backing? How could he have 200 billion!”

 

“From what I’ve confirmed, he doesn’t have any particular Background. And even if they sold all of Rollbook, it would be difficult to get even 100 billion, let alone 200 billion.”

 

“A guy like that is running his mouth about acquiring Hanyang Dairy? What should we really do about him? Should we just take him down?”

 

The first humiliation and disgrace he’d ever received in his life.

 

He was furious that a startup CEO was trying to match him.

 

“Venture Company CEOs are originally like that. Nouveau riche think they own the world just because they made some money, don’t they?”

 

“This is why I don’t sit at the same table as nouveau riche. How dare they act up just because they had a brief moment of success.”

 

“Since things are noisy right now, let’s quietly handle it later when things calm down.”

 

Department Manager Kim felt nauseous inside.

 

He had no choice but to play along, but this was his limit.

 

Han Dong-su’s attitude of looking down on the startup CEO actually seemed ridiculous to him.

 

He was now utterly disgusted by having to put up with the tantrums of someone who had achieved nothing on their own and lived off their father’s name.

 

“I’m letting him live for now. But where’s our car?”

 

“It’s over there in the back.”

 

Arriving at the parking garage, they turned their heads to look for the car.

 

The first thing that caught Han Dong-su’s eye as he turned his head to look for the car was his own dream car.

 

“Why is that car here? Only five of those were imported to Korea… Don’t tell me it belongs to that nouveau riche bastard?”

 

“It seems he made money and poured it all into the car.”

 

“But why are there so many foreign cars here?”

 

The entire parking garage looked like a foreign car showroom.

 

Luxury brand logos were densely packed everywhere, and Han Dong-su unconsciously felt his pride crack.

 

Just then.

 

He saw someone dragging their slippers as they got into Han Dong-su’s dream car.

 

“Is that your car?”

 

“Of course it’s my car. I told you street vendors not to come in, but you came in anyway. There are CCTVs installed everywhere here. Just go.”

 

It was Manager Kim.

 

He treated Han Dong-su like a street vendor, started the engine, and left for a business trip.

 

“Argh! Why are all the people here like this! I’m going to sweep this whole place clean!”

 

“Please calm down. It seems they deliberately prepared this to provoke you, General Manager.”

 

“Right, that must be it? Good. I’ll crush them thoroughly!”

 

Han Dong-su was deluding himself.

 

But this was a building used by Rollbook and Nexpin.

 

In particular, most Nexpin staff members possessed assets worth over 25 billion won.

 

They had the financial power to easily buy the highest-grade foreign cars that even third-generation chaebols would find difficult to purchase.

 

***

 

When Han Dong-su went to find Rollbook,

 

His father, Chairman Han Tae-gwang, was also meeting with Chris, the representative of Griffin Fund.

 

“You must be having a hard time in Korea. Heh heh heh.”

 

“If I can increase shareholder value, I’m prepared to endure any hardship.”

 

Chairman Han Tae-gwang offered his greeting in reasonably fluent English.

 

In Korean etiquette, when a chairman and elder approached so respectfully, it was proper for the other party to bow their head.

 

But Chris wasn’t Korean, and instead came out even more boldly.

 

“I think the CEO’s sincerity has been sufficiently conveyed by now.”

 

“We’re still far from done. The stock price is falling again today. I can’t stop, if only to protect the value of my stocks.”

 

“I heard the CEO holds 1% of our Hanyang Dairy stocks. I’d like to personally buy those shares. Wouldn’t twice the peak price be a sufficiently satisfactory amount?”

 

Before this incident, Hanyang Dairy’s market capitalization had risen to around 400 billion won.

 

Though it had been cut in half now, twice the peak price meant offering 8 billion won for a 1% stake.

 

“I’m not alone anymore. Many minority shareholders have lent me their support, and if you buy all their shares at twice the price as well, I’ll consider the proposal.”

 

“How much do the minority shareholders hold?”

 

“8%.”

 

“Are you asking for 64 billion won right now? Ha, that’s too excessive.”

 

8 billion for 1% stake.

 

Including all the minority shareholders’ portions, it amounted to 64 billion won.

 

It was essentially asking them to hand over most of Hanyang Dairy’s cash reserves.

 

“Rather, I’d say it’s too modest a demand. 64 billion to quell this situation would actually be cheap.”

 

“Are you being serious?”

 

“I have never once been anything but serious.”

 

“Since you’ve only operated in the United States, you seem unfamiliar with Korean circumstances, but activist funds can do almost nothing in the Korean market.”

 

That had certainly been true until now.

 

Public opinion had gotten noisy and sales had dropped a little, but there hadn’t been enough impact to shake the Owner Family’s control.

 

“You’re really underestimating me. Do you truly think I’ll have no influence at all?”

 

“Right now the media is showing interest because a blonde foreigner is raising his voice, but how long will that last? It’ll die down in less than a month.”

 

“So you thought you could win me over with a mere 8 billion.”

 

Chris let out a scoff.

 

Trying to buy him off with an amount that wouldn’t even cover travel expenses.

 

Moreover, it was ridiculously low compared to what Tiger Fund had promised.

 

“Are you really going to see this through to the end?”

 

“When I start anything, I always aim to finish the race. And I’ve never given up halfway through. That’s Griffin Fund’s pride.”

 

“Then let me ask just one thing. Who’s behind you? Griffin Fund couldn’t have come all the way to Korea just for Hanyang Dairy alone – is some other distribution company backing you?”

 

Chairman Han’s question was a mistake.

 

Thanks to those words, Chris realized how poor Hanyang Dairy’s intelligence gathering was.

 

They still couldn’t even suspect Tiger Fund, and were suspecting other distribution companies as the mastermind.

 

“64 billion. That’s the only offer I can give you. If you’re not interested, let’s call it here.”

 

“Hey now, I haven’t finished speaking yet! What kind of manners are those!”

 

“In this business, money is manners. The amount you proposed, Chairman, was far too lacking in manners.”

 

It was a world where the amount of money was manners.

 

The very attempt to buy me off with a mere 8 billion was an insult.

 

There was no reason to continue talking with someone who had no intention of showing proper respect.

 

***

 

I went to find the General Manager to report on my meeting with Han Dong-su.

 

After hearing the story, the General Manager let out a sigh.

 

Both the General Manager and I could only feel disappointed by Han Dong-su’s attitude, which still failed to recognize the gravity of the situation.

 

“This is why they can’t even defend against short selling.”

 

“Their information network seemed much more lacking than I thought. They don’t understand how the world works either. They tried to silence me with a mere 2 billion.”

 

“It’s the result of staying in a well for too long. For their sake too, we need to break that well now.”

 

While we were discussing this, CEO Chris came to see us.

 

He informed us that he had just met with Chairman Han Tae-gwang.

 

It became clear that it wasn’t just Han Dong-su’s individual incompetence, but that there were problems with Hanyang Dairy’s entire information network.

 

“Is Hanyang Dairy really a large corporation? They seemed too sloppy.”

 

“Actually, it’s ambiguous to call them a large corporation. You could say they’re somewhere between a mid-sized company and a large corporation, and while they’re an industry leader, they’re not even in the top 30 of business rankings.”

 

“What are they relying on to act like this?”

 

“It seems like confidence from being number one in the industry. They couldn’t act like this unless they believe that no matter how bad public opinion gets, people will eventually come back to their products.”

 

Hanyang Dairy had monopolized the industry’s top position for a long time.

 

Knowing that towers built with effort don’t collapse easily, Hanyang Dairy could afford to be brazen.

 

“We need to shake up Hanyang Dairy a bit more, don’t we?”

 

“Didn’t you say you had a next operation?”

 

“I do, but it’s not the right timing to use it yet.”

 

“Then may I step forward?”

 

“Do you have some good plan?”

 

The foundation of Hanyang Dairy was ultimately its 1,800 franchises nationwide.

 

To shake the stable revenue structure that supported Hanyang Dairy, rapid franchise defection was necessary.

 

It was both an important part of Hanyang Dairy’s gear structure and a part that had cracks in it.

 

“We need to prepare a way for Hanyang Dairy franchise owners to defect. As one method, I plan to offer suffering store owners the opportunity to convert to Max Coffee franchises.”

 

“So you’re planning to turn Max Coffee into a nationwide chain. That must require quite a significant investment.”

 

“For Hanyang Dairy franchise owners only, we’re thinking of not charging franchise fees. And we’re also considering waiving commission fees for several months.”

 

The General Manager wore a complicated expression.

 

It was a good idea, but it wouldn’t be easy to execute.

 

“Business conversion has many factors to consider. And Hanyang Dairy franchises are closer to distribution businesses.”

 

“Franchises in areas with high foot traffic can convert their business type without much difficulty. For locations with poor positioning, we’re thinking of supporting them to start as delivery-type stores.”

 

“Still, it would be difficult for Max Coffee to accommodate all 1,800 franchise owners.”

 

“If we take the lead first, others will follow. It’s also an opportunity to create the image of a social enterprise, backed by public opinion.”

 

It would be enough for Max Coffee to play the role of the first penguin.

 

Once we made the first move, competing dairy companies would have no choice but to rush in as well.

 

If only to take Hanyang Dairy’s place as the industry leader.

 

New Employee with 1 Trillion Won Annual Salary Chapter 78

 

E-book Publication Date | 2025.11.27

 

Author | Seo Oh

 

Publishers | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won

 

Published by | 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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