The Famous Millionaire

“I hear your business is thriving. Congrats!” said Hyunwoo as soon as he met Hyongsun.

He expressed modesty that was unusual in himself.

“Man, I don’t make that much money with food. In fact, I’m making lots of money from something else.”

“What is that?” asked Hyunwoo with interest.

Actually, Hyunwoo got a strong impression that Hyongsun was making a fortune when he visited Sangwon Food Factory. Hearing Hyongsun’s explanation, Hyunwoo felt he seemed to run another profitable business.

Hyongsun paused for a moment over the beer as if he wanted to arouse Hyunwoo’s curiosity as much as possible.

“You heard about Dream Korea, didn’t you? I’m one of its major shareholders.”

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide at that because it was news to him that Hyongsun was affiliated with Dream Korea.

Grinning at him, Hyongsun said, “Well, I was not a major shareholder from the beginning. I came to know recently that the representative of Dream Korea was someone that I knew very well, so I invested.”

Hyunwoo could now understand his explanation. And he wished Dream Korea every success.

“Can I ask you a favor,” said Hyongsun.

“What favor?”

“Well, I’m going to build a bonded warehouse for Dream Korea like KOVE DREAM and create an internet homepage. Just give me some knowhow of KOVE DREAM on that, man.”

Hyunwoo was gladly willing to do him a favor like that because he wished from the bottom of his heart that Dream Korea would succeed.

But Hyongsun’s request didn’t stop there.

“By the way, just invest in Dream Korea, too.”

“I have no problem with giving information, but I’m not interested in investment,” said Hyunwoo, rejecting his suggestion lightly.

But he tried to force him to do so.

“You should invest even if you’re not interested, man. It’s your obligation as a human being.”

Hyunwoo’s eyes popped up because Hyongsun now gave the impression that he would be sinning if he didn’t invest in Dream Korea.

“What the heck are you talking about?”

“Do you think Dream Korea is the enemy of KOVE DREAM?” asked Hyongsun as if he was picking a fight with him.

“That’s nonsense! Who is the enemy of whom?”

“If that’s the case, why is KOVE so hostile toward Dream Korea?”

Hyunwoo couldn’t understand at all.

Hyongsun continued as if he wanted to help Hyunwoo understand the situation.

“Aside from their technical skills, KOVE DREAM is creating a wall against those companies that don’t belong to it. Based on that wall, you are discriminating against non-KOVE companies.”

“Nope. That’s different from the concept of an enemy,” said Hyunwoo, refuting his argument.

But Hyongsun cut in, raising his voice, “It is not important to know what kind of motivation was behind KOVE’s creating the wall. The thing is how non-KOVE companies think about it. Don’t you think so?”

Hyunwoo could not agree.

But Hyongsun continued to accuse him.

“I hear that KOVE DREAM keeps trying to bring non-KOVE companies over to its side. Is that true?”

In fact, all the local Korean companies in Vietnam were anxious to join KOVE DREAM, but many of them couldn’t because of their insufficient technical skills. This was clearly different from Hyongsun’s description of the situation.

“Don’t live like that, dude. I don’t think it’s good to separate local companies into factional groups like that.”

His ridiculous argument was driving Hyunwoo nuts. In fact, Dream Korea also knew well that KOVE’s setting a high bar for technical standards was not designed to separate the local Korean companies.

Obviously, Hyongsun was aware of that, but he was making such a far-fetched claim.

Hyunwoo furtively asked, “So, what do you want from me?”

“I told you already. Invest in Dream Korea. I’m not asking you to invest big. Just invest at a symbolic level. It’s kind of symbolic expression that Dream Korea and KOVE DREAM are one.”

It seemed Hyunwoo’s educated guess was right. The proposed investment was not a matter of money but that of a common cause. The problem was such a proposal was made by none other than the dubious character Hyongsun.

“How much do you want me to invest?”

“How about one billion won? Given the huge sales of KOVE DREAM, I don’t think you can feel burdened. If you feel the burden, you can just invest 100 million won. As I told you, the amount of money is not important.”

“If that’s the case, I think Dream Korea should also invest in KOVE DREAM. That’s fair, isn’t it?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Of course. I’m going to invest in KOVE DREAM,” said Hyongsu, yelling for delight.

In fact, what Hyongsun aimed for was something else. It was the credibility of the name of ‘KOVE DREAM.’

If Hyunwoo’s KOVE DREAM invested in Dream Korea Fund, Hyongsun would immediately distribute the press release about it. Then, lots of investors would be confident of the success of Dream Korea Fund.

On the other hand, Hyongsun took into account the possibility that Dream Korea Fund would fall out.

Hyongsun, along with Jaewoo, the representative of Dream Korea, would have washed their hands off the fund, taking what really matters. In that case, innocent investors would suffer a big loss.

Naturally, the investors’ anger would reach a boiling point. Hyongsun should point his finger at somebody to avoid their anger.

In that respect, Hyunwoo’s KOVE DREAM would be the ideal protector. As KOVE’s funding power is strong, the investors would go after it.

Hyunwoo seemed to agonize over Hyongsun’s proposal. It looked as if he could attract Hyunwoo’s investment by 500 million won more if he pulled him with sweet talk.

“Why are you thinking so hard? Don’t take it so seriously. Think of it as tearing down the wall of KOVE DREAM. You can show that you are willing to embrace non-KOVE companies.”

At that moment, Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide.

“Yeah, you’re right. I think I was narrow-minded.”

Hyongsun’s face brightened, and he quickly held his hands.

“Good decision! Are you investing then?”

But Hyunwoo shook his head and said, “No, I’m not going to invest in Dream Korea. Instead, let me tear down the wall differently.”

“What the heck are you talking about?” asked Hyongsun with an embarrassed look.

“I’m going to make the minor league of KOVE DREAM.”

“Minor league of KOVE DREAM?”

Hyongsun seemed to be spaced out momentarily.

“Thanks. I hit upon a good idea thanks to you,” said Hyunwoo.

In fact, Hyunwoo felt sorry for the non-KOVE companies while he was running KOVE DREAM. Though they were lacking in technical skills, he wanted to strongly recommend them to join it. Hearing Hyunwoo’s reply, Hyongsun strongly balked.

“What’s the difference between the minor league of KOVE DREAM and Dream Korea? Don’t make things complicated. Just invest in Dream Korea.”

Hyunwoo shook his head.

“No, I disagree. I think a couple of bad companies can make the water muddy. We need some strict standards to weed out such companies.”

Hyongsun again tried hard to persuade him, but Hyunwoo made up his mind.

He had no intention at all to share the same boat with Hyongsun.

“I’ve got an appointment in the evening. Let me take my leave now.”

Hyongsun held him to the end, but Hyunwoo left without any regret.

“I wish Dream Korea every success from the bottom of my heart,” said Hyunwoo.

He left the bar. With a dejected expression, Hyongsu looked at the seat that Hyunwoo took a moment ago.

The next day Hyunwoo spent the morning in Haenim School and had lunch with the staff of KOVE DREAM.

Yonggu asked him about his meeting with Hyongsun yesterday.

“So, how did your meeting go? Why did he want to see you?”

He had no reason to hide what Hyongsun had told him.

As soon as Yonggu heard it, he immediately suspected Hyongsun’s intention.

“I know he is conspiring to deceive you…”

Hyunwoo was also aware of the danger of his proposal.

“By the way, I’ve got a good idea thanks to him.”

“What kind of idea?”

Hyunwoo told him about his idea about creating the minor league of KOVE DREAM, explaining his plan to expand KOVE DREAM further.

Hearing it, Juhwan welcomed, clapping his hands, “Wow, that’s a really good idea!”

“I’m going to flesh out the idea in detail and discuss it with president Sungjin Na of N&C in Vietnam.”

“Our warehouse here might not be spacious enough if the KOVE minor league is created. Haha,” said Juhwan, thrilled.

Hyunwoo felt the same way. As time went by, the companies joining KOVE DREAM would increase, which in turn would see explosive growth in the items and supplies that KOVE had to deal with.

“I think we have to find a new lot and hire more people in the future,” said Hyunwoo.

“Anyway, don’t deal with that Hyongsun. You really can’t trust that guy,” said Yonggu.

Hyunwoo nodded at that, but he was confused a bit because he was quite impressed with the profits of Hyongsun’s company Sangwon Food when he visited it in the past.

Suddenly, he felt advisor Hwasik Kang, a long-time customs official, might know something about Sangwon Food that he might have missed.

As soon as he heard about Sangwon Food, Hwasik giggled and said, “I know what you mean. By the way, did he tell you that Sangwon Food was so profitable?”

“Yeah. He said he was literally raking up money. Actually, I felt the same.”

“Of course, it might be profitable, but not as much as you think,” said Hwasik definitely.

Hyunwoo could not understand what Hwasik said. How was Sangwon Food not profitable when it enjoyed 270% tax exemption?

But Hwasik would not have said that without any reason.

Obviously, he must know something about Sangwon Food that Hyunwoo was not aware of.