Chapter 1500 Connected (5)

“President Hwang! We’ve hit the jackpot! We’ve done it!”

Hwang Min-Su replied enthusiastically. “You think so, too? I’m not imagining this, right? This really is our revenue, right?!”

“Of course it is, sir! There’s no doubt about it! We might be able to recoup our investment in less than a year if this keeps up!”

“W-wait. Calm down first,” Hwang Min-Su hurriedly stopped his subordinate and swallowed his saliva. “Look, it’s unrealistic to expect this momentum to continue for a full year. I’m sure this is more like the opening day mad rush of customers.”

“But, sir. We’ve already taken that into consideration. Our estimates are based on the assumption that the revenue will fall by half next month, and a further 20% the month after that, before stabilizing for the rest of the year.”

“...Really?”

An imaginary slot machine in Hwang Min-Su’s head exploded with gold coins while screaming, Jackpot!, just then.He quickly shook his head to sober himself up.

“Kuh-hum! I’m telling you guys, let’s calm down first!”

He couldn’t be quite sure if he was trying to scold himself or his subordinates, but Hwang Min-Su still felt the need to shout this out, anyway.

“Don’t get too excited, okay? It hasn’t even been a week since our launch, after all! Besides, we shouldn’t be celebrating just yet. Even now, various problems we haven’t anticipated must be cropping up everywhere! We should be focusing all our efforts into fixing those problems and stabilizing our earnings as soon as possible, so how could you let yourselves be distracted by this temporary windfall?!”

“...! Ah!”

The directors stopped raising a ruckus and began reflecting on their actions.

As expected of President Hwang Min-Su!

To think he’d stay calm even after achieving this kind of result! This is why a leader must have a big heart.

Makes sense, though. Think about how much money he used to handle back in Jaegyeong. This paltry amount should be nothing to him.

The directors gained a renewed admiration of the heart of a leader beating within Hwang Min-Su. But then, this happened.

“Good morning to you all,” said Kang Jin-Ho as he stepped into the conference room.

Hwang Min-Su suddenly shot up to his feet. “We’ve hit the jackpot, Chairman! Yes, sir! We’re rich!”

“...”

“...”

A big heart? What a joke that was.

***

“Let me begin my report, everyone,” said Lee Hyeon-Ju while smartly pushing her glasses up her nose. Subtle tension filled the conference room that had been swept up in a raucous storm of excitement only a few minutes ago. “Sirs, our revenue has surpassed our expectation by eight times over. Yes, we’ve achieved a 700% rise in our earnings!”

“Eight times. Goodness me... Eight times? Are we dreaming? Or is this happening for real?” Hwang Min-Su muttered in stupefaction.

He believed they would have a decent launch, and that they should be able to weather the storm that followed right afterward. They had a lot of funds to play with, after all.

Other franchises would have tried to jack up the joining fee while looking for ways to cut costs, like using slightly less premium interior furnishing, in their never-ending pursuit to maximize profits. But MK didn’t have to do that.

This company had so much money still rotting away in its war chest that Hwang Min-Su could almost do whatever he deemed was necessary for the success of the business venture.

Not only that, but he had even secured great-tasting coffee, too. As far as the franchise’s competitiveness was concerned, MK was right up there with the best in the industry.

However, variables completely outside of one’s expectations rearing their ugly heads was an inevitability in the world of commerce. The guaranteed-win business ideas falling flat on their faces happened way too often to be remembered in this neck of the woods, so Hwang Min-Su knew he couldn’t afford to let his guard down so soon.

Even then, to think it was eight times the expected earnings!

“The god of wealth has blessed us, it seems!” Hwang Min-Su chuckled happily away.

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded enthusiastically. “We couldn’t have asked for a more encouraging launch, everyone. In my opinion, it’s all thanks to the marketing stunt our Chairman and Director Choi have pulled off, and the ad itself seems to have left a sizable impression on the target market, as well.”

The directors chimed in. “Ah, right! Yes, that ad caused a huge stir online, sir.”

“Chairman, did you know that your name has popped up near the top of the trending search results?”

Kang Jin-Ho fake coughed to clear his throat. Becoming famous wasn’t exactly something to celebrate in his book, after all.

Lee Hyeon-Ju firmly stared at her boss. “Chairman, sir.”

“Mm...!”

“You must get used to this kind of attention, sir. Our goal is to become a legitimate company operating within the confines of the law. You know that the Assembly can’t stay in the shadows forever.”

“Yes... That I do.”

“It’s important to raise the public’s awareness of MK, but in my opinion, your increased fame is also important to us. Once your face frequently appears on TV screens, and once your name is frequently brought up in business discussions, the Assembly members will start to feel that they don’t have to hide in the shadows anymore, that they can finally live like normal human beings.”

“Yes, I know.” Kang Jin-Ho groaned. “It’s just that... I’m still not used to the idea.”

“But you must get used to it soon. Honestly, you’ve been too easy-going with your life, despite all the power you wield, sir. Please remember that with great power comes great responsibility.”

“Eh?” Gu Jeong-Beom blinked his eyes and thoughtlessly chimed in. “I think I heard that line in a movie somewhere?”

Noh Tae-Gwang gritted his teeth and chided his co-worker. “Hey, man! Control your outbursts better, okay? Stop embarrassing yourself in front of the Chairman!”

“I was... just saying I heard it somewhere, okay?”

Choi Byeong-Chan grinned toward his two fellow co-workers. “Director Gu?”

“Yes?”

“Shut the hell up.”

“Understood...”

Lee Hyeon-Ju had to fake cough a little at this mood-breaking exchange before resuming her report.

“Our launch can be described as a great success, but that doesn’t mean we are out of the woods yet, sir. First of all, we simply do not have enough coffee beans to distribute. Our stock of pre-roasted beans is rapidly running out.”

“Y-yes, that’s right,” said Hwang Min-Su while wiping away beads of sweat on his forehead.

They had prepared around 500% extra roasted beans to counter a potential boom in sales, but the actual boom had even surpassed their expectations. And that meant, rather obviously, the cafes were rapidly going through their stock of beans.

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded weightily. “We must increase our production volume as quickly as possible. If we don’t, we will run out of our stock within two weeks, and the cafes will be forced to shutter their doors temporarily.”

Kang Jin-Ho turned his attention to Hwang Min-Su. “What’s our plan?”

“We’ve been urging Mister Kang, who’s still in charge of the factory, to ramp up production, but the problem on his side is the shortage of manpower, sir. Urging him on won’t solve anything.”

“Hmm...”

Kang Jin-Ho contemplatively nodded. His father, Kang Yu-Hwan, was undoubtedly doing his absolute best right now, but willpower alone wasn’t enough to overcome the physical limitations like a shortage of workers.

He glanced at Lee Hyeon-Ju next. “What do you think, Miss Lee?”

“I’ll bring in additional workers. Those who didn’t make the cut during the last recruitment drive should still be willing to work in the factory, sir.”

“What about the time needed to train them?”

“It’s not really the issue of one’s technical skills, but whether they have the stamina to withstand the labor-intensive conditions or not, sir. They can be deployed in one day with minimum-necessary training.”

While listening to the report, the complexions of Hwang Min-Su and his co-workers grew paler and paler.

What the...? It’s so labor intensive that people can’t withstand it? Then we can’t deploy workers in such an environment, now can we?!

Hang on? What about the people already working there? Are they not human beings?

Since this quartet didn’t know about the existence of martial artists, their misunderstanding made sense.

Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly. “Even if we do that, we’ll still need several days to replenish our stock, right?”

Lee Hyeon-Ju replied forthrightly. “We can cut down on the workers’ sleep, sir. They currently work eight-hour shifts, but I’ll temporarily change that to twelve-hour shifts until this crisis has been resolved. If we promise them an overtime pay rise of 300%, plus additional commission as bonus, we shouldn’t have any dissatisfaction from the workers.”

“Mm... I see. Will that resolve this problem, then?”

“Well, if that’s still not enough, I can always join them at the factory,” said Lee Hyeon-Ju.

That didn’t sound like a joke, now did it? Kang Jin-Ho chuckled wryly. “In that case, I grant you full authority to handle this situation. You’ll get all the support you need. Use my name if you have to.”

“Thank you, sir. However, if I can use your name, I’d like to change the hours to sixteen instead of twelve.”

Kang Jin-Ho nearly fell out of his chair. “...You’re no longer allowed to use my name, Miss Lee.”

“Really? That’s unfortunate,” Lee Hyeon-Ju muttered while ruefully licking her lips.

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. She’s beginning to resemble Lee Hyeon-Su more and more every day, isn’t she?

Didn’t the wise old “they” once say that a husband and wife would eventually resemble each other? Even though these two weren’t married yet!

Rather than the similarities in personality between the two Lees being responsible for this situation, though, this outcome was more like the result of the Assembly members’ unique mindset of, “Martial artists aren’t humans,” combining with the mantra, “Anything is possible as long as you push yourself to the limit!”

If one didn’t let their emotions sway them while evaluating this problem, then one could say that the martial artists deployed to the coffee bean factory should be able to work for one week straight without breaking down. And they wouldn’t even need things like rest or sleep, either!

However, we shouldn’t do that.

As long as the Assembly wanted to hold on to the facade of a legitimate business entity, it must respect the labor laws as much as possible, and pay attention to the employee welfare. If this was about training, then Kang Jin-Ho wouldn’t have had second thoughts about pushing these people to their limits. But it wasn’t training, and he didn’t want to make money at the expense of the Assembly members’ well-being.

“Honestly, I’m also uncomfortable with a twelve-hour shift...”

Lee Hyeon-Ju resolutely cut Kang Jin-Ho off just then. “Chairman. Your thoughts on this matter are not necessarily correct.”

“Mm?”

“Guaranteeing the employees’ downtime and physical welfare as much as possible is only applicable when the compensation itself is questionable. Sir, trust me when I say this. If we offer a 300% pay rise, they will volunteer to work the twelve-hour shifts even before we say anything.”

“...”

“Of course, they won’t be able to do this long-term, but for around a week? I’m sure they will have no problem at all. As long as the compensation is fair, humans will never complain. Sir.”

“...Mm.”

Kang Jin-Ho dazedly nodded. Indeed, that was the Martial Assembly’s mindset, wasn’t it? Without a doubt, Lee Hyeon-Ju was still Lee Jung-Geol’s granddaughter, alright!

“I’ll let you handle it, but make sure we don’t break any labor laws,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“I’ll try my best, sir. But no promises.”

With that, a potential solution to one of the problems had been found.

Kang Jin-Ho asked Lee Hyeon-Ju again. “What’s the next problem?”

“It’s the shortage of workers in the cafes, sir. The number of customers had exceeded our estimates, making it harder for our franchisees to fulfill the orders on time. We will have to hire more part-timers, but the franchisees simply don’t have enough leeway to hire and train new employees.”

Hiring additional workers was trickier than most people bargained for. Because trying to train newbies while your store was mindlessly busy was like doubling the torture. Of course, the franchisees wouldn’t have a problem physically, but their time wasn’t infinite, either. Unless they had an extra body, there was only a finite number of things they could do at any given moment.

Kang Jin-Ho asked, “What’s our solution?”

“I believe setting up the system of training the part-timers in the head office has led to this situation. For now, we’ll tell the managers of each franchise to train the new employees in-store. Once things settle down, we’ll bring them back to the head office to complete their training.”

“Mm? But will the managers have enough time to do that?”

“They can train the newbies after the store closes for the day, sir. They only need a minimum level of training to operate the drink machines, after all.”

“...”

“The part-time employees will obviously have to retire for the day, but the managers can stay behind, sir. I’ve already delivered the training guidelines to each franchise. Our side is currently in the middle of sorting through the resumes.”

Huh... This solution is fundamentally the same as the solution for the factory supply issue, isn’t it?

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly realized that this company called MK didn’t rely on specialized skills to continue existing, but simply threw a whole lot of “specialized” people at the problem to ensure it kept chugging along.

That was why it immediately resorted to bringing more workers in order to increase productivity or improve its earnings.

Worse still, most of the employees in MK were martial artists. Which meant Lee Hyeon-Ju didn’t feel an ounce of guilt while dumping more work on their shoulders.

Kang Jin-Ho frowned deeply. “Mm... Sounds like the franchisees will have a tough time soon.”

Lee Hyeon-Ju tilted her head. “Sir? Do you want to search for an alternative instead?”

“No, I’m just saying it’s going to be tough for them. That’s all.”

“...”

Kang Jin-Ho stared weirdly at Lee Hyeon-Ju, his expression silently asking, Why should we look for an alternative?

Even though he slightly nagged Lee Hyeon-Ju about it, the actual progenitor of the mindset, “A martial artist will get tougher the more they suffer!” in the Martial Assembly was none other than Kang Jin-Ho.

During the Lee Jung-Geol era, the Assembly martial artists were forced to perform unsavory work, but in return, their lives were relatively relaxed. But Kang Jin-Ho becoming the new Assembly Master turned the organization into a figurative runaway train that blindly charged forward regardless of what.

Such a thing could never happen if the organization’s leader harbored even a sliver of guilt for making life incredibly difficult for his subordinates.

Kang Jin-Ho rubbed his chin. “However...?”

“Yes, sir?”

“This kind of management method is only possible because the franchisees and the factory workers are all martial artists. But you know as well as I do that MK can’t rely on martial artists as employees forever.”

“Yes, of course,” Lee Hyeon-Ju smartly nodded.

“I want you to find long-term management solutions that can also work with ordinary people.”

“Understood, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded, then glanced at Hwang Min-Su. “Any other problems I should be aware of?”

Hwang Min-Su nervously swallowed his saliva. “The marketing team told us to make hay while the sun still shines, sir. And to get that ball rolling, we need your approval on several additional things.”

“Mm? My approval?”

“Yes, sir. But they are all minor matters. Such as handing out freebies to customers.”

“Mm? Do I have to approve those things as well?”

“Hahaha! I also wondered about that myself, sir. Here are the documents, and... Please sign here, here, and here. Although minor, these matters still need your approval before we can access the necessary funds, you see?”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow, but signed the documents without paying too much attention. And when the signing was finished, Hwang Min-Su smoothly took the documents away before his boss could read the contents on the pages.

Hwang Min-Su inwardly cried out, Yes! I did it!

His co-workers also nodded enthusiastically. That was great, President Hwang! Well done!

Yes! With this, our sales will go up again! I can already see it!

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head in confusion after noticing the enthusiastically burning glares in the directors’ eyes. But his confusion was soon forgotten when Lee Hyeon-Ju continued with her report.

Soon, Kang Jin-Ho would learn a painful lesson. That he should never, ever sign documents without looking at what he was signing first!