‘This is seriously uncomfortable.’
Every time I move, Scott scans the surroundings.
It seems like he’s trying to protect me.
But if anything, that makes me even more uncomfortable.
He might be good at fighting, but this isn’t security work.
I can say that as an ace who once worked for a security company.
As I left the hospital room, I sent a message through a messenger app to Kevin, a drug dealer in the Philippines.
[Kevin. Can I get some drugs too?]
- If you’ve got the money, I can sell to anyone. Besides, your identity’s already solid. No reason I can’t sell to you. But can I ask where you’re planning to sell it?
[Probably Korea?]
- Korea? You picked a place with excellent margins. Where in Korea?
[I don’t want to sell it for now, but if I do, somewhere around Gunsan?]
- Gunsan’s a city I’ve never heard of. Guess you can crack that place? Korea isn’t an easy place to get drugs into. Impressive, as expected. If it’s Gunsan, then it won’t matter how much you sell.
I could almost hear Kevin’s hearty laughter.
The reason I was buying drugs was simple.
To catch the Geumho-pa.
To lure the Geumho-pa out of their house.
In Gunsan, the Geumho-pa’s home ground,
if Daehun went up against them in distribution, construction, gambling, or private loans—the fields the Geumho-pa had firmly in their grip—he had no chance of winning.
On top of that, it seemed like all the public authorities were on the Geumho-pa’s side too.
Continuing to charge in like that was just throwing eggs at a rock.
So we had to change the event, or change the board.
A field the Geumho-pa was interested in but had no experience with.
A field unrelated to region.
That was drugs.
Fortunately, from talking with Daehun, it seemed the Geumho-pa had a great deal of interest in drugs.
There was a recording saying they were preparing something while traveling between Hong Kong and the Philippines and such.
That was one hundred percent drugs.
It wasn’t as if they’d be smuggling in rice cookers like in the old days.
Listening to the recording, they said they were going around the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, and so on.
It seemed like they were traveling around to secure drugs, but weren’t managing to do it.
If they’d opened a drug route, they probably would have focused on one place.
Because they hadn’t managed to crack it, they were poking around here and there.
But it probably wouldn’t be easy.
Anyone can buy drugs, but they can’t buy them easily.
Especially buying wholesale by the kilogram is absolutely not easy.
First of all, it’s hard just to find the people selling drugs.
And even if you find them, they don’t sell drugs to just anyone.
If things go wrong, they could face the risk of being exposed, so they’re extremely cautious with new customers.
How would they know if these people were detectives or Interpol?
They only sell drugs when there is strong trust.
Second.
They also have to consider their existing sales channels.
For example, suppose there’s a dealer distributing to Korea, and then they sell again to another dealer in the same place?
That violates business ethics.
Even chicken franchises guarantee a minimum distance when opening chain stores.
Of course, they can’t help it if a different chicken place opens next door, but a chicken place of the same brand won’t come in.
Drug dealers are the same.
They can’t control what another factory sells,
but they generally want to give exclusivity to that region.
Call it a minimum promise.
It might be a little different in a big city.
In my case, thanks to Rafei, I was able to contact them easily,
and it was possible because we had built up trust with each other over a long period of making deliveries.
They don’t sell just because someone suddenly asks, Want to sell me some drugs?
It seemed Kevin wanted to confirm that too.
[Then I’ll take just 1 kg.]
- That little? Buy more. You’ve got plenty of money.
[How much is 1 kg?]
- I’d have to charge 400,000 pesos, ten million won, but for you, I’ll give it to you special for 300,000 pesos, seven and a half million won.
Huh?
Were drugs this cheap?
In truth, I had never bought drugs before.
I had never done them either.
I had only ever delivered them.
I’d heard they were cheap if bought locally, but I never imagined they’d be this cheap.
Seeing tiny paper envelopes go for ten million won each, I’d only thought they must be extremely expensive.
I thought even if they were cheap, they’d be around fifty or sixty million won.
At this rate, I could buy a little more.
It wasn’t as if they spoiled.
[Then I’ll buy 3 kg.]
- Okay. Order received. You really won’t regret it. Our stuff is genuinely good.
[Really?]
- You ordered without knowing? I’m hurt. I thought Rafei had at least recommended us to you. Our stuff is the best in this field. Once you get a taste, you can’t get out. Hehehehe.
[If it’s something you’re selling, Kevin, I figured it’d naturally be good.]
- I appreciate you saying that. I’ll get the goods ready, so come pick them up, and if you’re short, contact me anytime.
******
I came to Seoul.
For once, I wanted to stop by the Seoul office.
Of course, it was running fine even without me, but I still wanted to see it.
The days I actually go to the office are extremely rare, but I’m still the president.
The office I entered after such a long time was very different from the office I remembered.
Back then, it had felt so empty that I wondered if we’d rented too large a space,
but now, that same office looked cramped.
The desks were packed in,
and people filled the spaces between them.
I had simply said I understood when I heard they had hired employees,
but it seemed it hadn’t been just one person.
Then again, judging by the volume of work being handled every day now, it was definitely not something one or two people could manage.
All the employees were busily doing their jobs.
Answering calls, writing things up, holding meetings.
I quietly watched the scene.
“Assistant Manager Kim. The team departing on the 14th. You confirmed everyone’s departure, right?”
“Yes. I confirmed them all.”
“I’m not too worried since you’re experienced, Assistant Manager Kim, but we’re a luxury tour company, so we’re a little different from ordinary tours. You have to take care of them delicately. If they nitpick over something minor, it becomes difficult.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“Just keep one thing in mind. Our customer is eight years old.”
“Pardon? Eight years old?”
“Our customer is eight years old. Which means they can be fickle, complain about side dishes, or get lost.”
“Ahhh.”
Assistant Manager Kim seemed to understand immediately.
“And on the other hand, could you leave an eight-year-old alone?”
“No, you couldn’t.”
“Exactly. So you have to take care of them carefully.”
“Putting it that way, I understand it instantly.”
“Good. Then let’s do our best.”
“Yes, sir.”
I was watching their conversation in a daze when—
“Oh my? Who is this? Mr. President???”
Department Head Jang Yunmi welcomed me.
We speak several times a day and keep in touch constantly through messenger,
but actually seeing her face felt different.
It was nice.
“What brings you here? You didn’t say you were coming.”
“I had something to do in Seoul, so I stopped by for a bit.”
“Goodness, when I kept telling you to come in, you never did. Hmph. Did you come to see a girlfriend or something?”
“I came to visit a friend in the hospital.”
Department Head Jang Yunmi looked flustered.
“What happened to your friend? Are they badly hurt?”
“No. They’re fine now. They’re recovering.”
“That’s a relief. Then would you like to receive a work report first? Or greet the employees?”
“No. Before that, let’s talk for a moment.”
I took Department Head Jang Yunmi into the conference room.
“First, what I’d like to tell you is that I’m thinking of raising you to CEO.”
“Pardon?”
“At first, I intended to go back and forth between the Philippines and here, so I offered you the department head position, but now the situation has changed, so I thought there should be some adjustments accordingly.”
“Still, this is a bit sudden.”
Department Head Jang Yunmi truly seemed flustered.
“Nothing changes anyway. You just need to keep doing as well as you have been. The only thing changing is probably the title. Ah! And the salary.”
“Mr. President!”
“You can do it, right?”
“I have to. And I’ll do it splendidly.”
“Ah—and the office looked a bit cramped…”
“I was going to mention that a little later, but it does seem we’ll need to expand soon.”
“Do you happen to have a place in mind? We can probably go with that.”
“Rather than that, the third floor here has been empty this whole time. It’s vacant now, and I have thought about whether we could use it.”
“That’s a good idea too. I’ll meet the building owner.”
“I can do it.”
“Department Head. No, should I call you CEO now? Ms. CEO, you’re busy, so I should handle things like this. Just leave it to me.”
“Hahahaha.”
I called the building owner and asked if we could use the third floor, and he welcomed it greatly.
If it had been vacant for a while, that made sense.
When I asked if I could take a look at the third floor, the building owner came right over and showed it to me.
It was the same size as the second floor.
But the atmosphere was completely different.
It was nothing like the second floor’s clean, wood-toned interior.
The cement was exposed as it was.
It contrasted too strongly with the second floor.
For now, I told the building owner we’d use it.
He asked for a deposit of twenty million won and monthly rent of eight hundred thousand won.
Since the second floor was a twenty million won deposit and one million won monthly rent, it wasn’t expensive.
But this time, we bundled the second and third floors together and signed a new contract.
The deposit was thirty million won, and the monthly rent was 1.7 million won.
Then it was time to do the interior.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Gang Jaeho?”
“Yes, that’s me. Who is this?”
“Hello. Last time, when I rented the office in Yugang-dong, the fixtures you were using…”
“Ahhh—you’re the person who rented the office we used?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Yes. What is it? If this is about refunding the fixtures, you know that’s not happening, right?”
“Hahaha. It’s not that. I wanted to ask about interior design.”
“Interior design?”
“You designed the second-floor office we’re using now, right?”
“I did.”
“I’d like to do the third floor in that same concept. Would that be possible?”
“Ha… Let me think about it.”
At the time, Gang Jaeho’s interior design office had gone under, so he had quit designing and was working as a laborer on-site.
So he seemed a bit troubled when asked to design again.
After thinking about it for quite a while, Gang Jaeho said,
“You want it done in the same concept as the second floor, right?”
“Yes. If you could do that.”
“Let’s give it a try.”
********
I returned to the Philippines.
To pick up the drugs I had asked Kevin for.
“Boss. We found the person you mentioned last time.”
“Who?”
“The one you asked us to find to make an online gambling site…”
“Ah. Right. Where is he?”
“For now, we set him up with a small office and told him to get started.”
“Good job. Let’s see him in a bit.”
.
.
.
“My name is Nam Yongu.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Alex. But are you Korean?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“How did you end up doing this here?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I see. What meaning would that have? We can find out gradually. Can you make an online gambling site?”
“That’s my specialty. It’s the reason I came over here.”
“How long will it take?”
“I already have the source and everything, so I can make it in about a week.”
“Good. If you need anything, tell Patrick here and he’ll take care of it. Please make it well.”
“Then, boss, what should we set the odds at?”
“The odds?”
“The probability that the customer wins. Basically, all online gambling sites manipulate the odds. Honestly, it’s impossible for anyone to come in here, win money, and leave with it. A casino actually gives you a much better chance. And even if they get lucky and win money, they probably won’t be able to withdraw it. Then the site gets blown up, and it reopens as another site.”
“Does everyone do it that way?”
“Everyone does.”
“Then please raise the odds a bit.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
“I’m asking you to let the customers win some money. Not too much. At least enough so they stay on the site for a long time. Can you design it that way?”
“So you’re saying you want them to keep winning at least small amounts, so in the end they feel satisfied and stay on the site longer?”
“Exactly. There aren’t many gamblers who can win and stand up, are there? They just sit there until the money in front of them disappears.”
“Ohhh, that’s right. In the end, they’re all going to get cleaned out. The only question is how long it takes.”
“So I’m asking you to design it so people can stay longer. Not like it’s the site’s problem, but like it’s their own problem. Like it feels as if they just didn’t have enough money.”
“I’ve been in this field a long time, but this is the first time I’ve met a boss like you. But will you be all right with that? If you do that, it may not make as much money as you expect.”
“Can’t we just scale it up? Then wouldn’t the operating costs come out just from commissions? Let’s exclude illegal elements as much as possible, and don’t think of it as only targeting Koreans. Let’s look at it globally.”
“A global gambling site… I’m suddenly brimming with motivation.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“I’ll show you an incredible site.”
.
.
.
After returning to Gunsan, I showed the online gambling site to Daehun.
A gambling site with a flashy design was glittering on the screen.
“You’re really giving this to us?”
“Who said I’m giving it to you? It’s outsourced management.”
“Still.”
“This is where it starts. You’ll have to market it. It’s not like people will come here if you just sit still.”
“We should start by spreading it through PC bangs. So people can approach it naturally.”
“It’s a site with no tricks, for real. Withdrawals are guaranteed.”
“Seriously?”
“It’s a site meant to last long-term. So do a good job.”
“I really will.”
“Here’s the contact info for the person in charge. If there’s a problem with the site, contact him and take care of it.”
That was how I handed the well-made gambling site over to Daehun.
Now it was time to go sell drugs to Chairman Yun Gihwan of the Geumho-pa.