The Wise Cleaning Life Of A Returning Genius Hunter [EN]: Chapter 85

084

Hanoi Operations Headquarters, Headquarters Planning Office.

“The method was a bit extreme, but… it was effective,” Kim Min-joo said, her voice filled with relief after everyone was safely released.

Han Yu-bin, however, had a slightly different reaction.

“A bit? Judging by the reactions from the surrounding associations, this isn’t going to calm down easily… We’re the ones who have to clean up this mess in the end.”

“Don’t worry. Things will quiet down once Viet is dismissed.”

“Dismissed?”

“Well, since everyone believes Viet orchestrated this, the most effective way to prevent it from escalating into a diplomatic issue is to cut off the person responsible.”

“Hmm.”

Han Yu-bin groaned, arms crossed.

“Showing zero tolerance by severely punishing Viet, who holds a high-ranking position, should appease the surrounding associations to some extent, right?”

“Certainly… that makes sense.”

From the Party’s perspective, Viet had become a liability they couldn’t afford.

Whether it’s dismissal or removal, they’ll take action.

And after that, it’s our duty to smooth things over.

We’re planning to go around, apologizing for this incident and proceeding with renegotiations.

It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible.

Of course, that also depends on the severity of the punishment Viet receives.

“Well, we have to hope the Party makes a reasonable decision.”

I stretched while sitting.

“Alright, we have a lot of work to do. Please continue to work hard.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“Understood.”

The three employees responded in unison.

After that, we stayed in Hanoi for a week, accelerating the cleanup process.

As expected, Viet was dishonorably dismissed.

Various corruption charges were levied, but the most shocking was, of course, the embezzlement of all subsidies through a ghost association [a fake organization created for illicit purposes] for a year.

Thanks to that, Viet was immediately handed over for trial following his dismissal.

In the process, he came to Huin and knelt, begging for a petition… but, well, that wasn’t going to happen.

Anyway, as soon as Viet was gone, I immediately convened a council, summoning the branch managers of the surrounding associations.

It was to renegotiate the herb distribution.

By now, the overheated atmosphere should have cooled down a bit.

If we proceed with the renegotiation in a direction that is slightly more favorable to the surrounding associations as a sign of apology, they would have no reason to refuse.

…Or so I thought.

Incredibly, not a single one agreed to the renegotiation.

“Why does nothing go as planned?”

The branch managers rejected the proposal without hesitation, as if they had planned it from the start, and left, saying they would discuss it among themselves and contact us again.

And the condition that came back immediately was.

“They proposed a one-year exemption from all distribution fees and a freeze on distribution fees for the next 10 years.”

“Damn it….”

After the council, immediately after returning to Hanoi, I heard the news and buried my head in my hands.

Huin put down the official document and continued.

“And… if the negotiation fails, all Southeast Asian branches will not use the herb.”

“What? Does that mean they won’t supply byproducts to the international association? I don’t think the headquarters would allow that.”

“They say it’s a directive from the headquarters from the start. If the negotiation fails, they will give up supplying to the Southeast Asian branches altogether….”

“Huh.”

Even the headquarters is stepping up and making demands?

They’re trying to extract as much as they can from this opportunity.

I shifted my gaze to the air.

Ten years.

Considering the economic growth rate that the herb business would bring, freezing costs for 10 years is too painful.

‘Damn bastards… they should have accepted it nicely when we were willing to compromise.’

Was it a problem that we gave them an excuse in the first place?

Just as I was biting my lip, Huin cautiously opened his mouth.

“They might just be bluffing. How many branches are there in Southeast Asia? The headquarters can’t exempt them from supplies forever.”

“That’s true… but the problem is that considering the costs involved in the herb business, even a few months without distribution would be a huge loss for us.”

Whether we accept the conditions or not, both are poison to us.

Tsk, I didn’t expect them to be this troublesome.

I was trying to solve it on my own somehow….

“It seems like this isn’t a problem we can solve among ourselves.”

As I shook my head, Huin gave me a puzzled look.

His face seemed to say, ‘Then what are you going to do?’

Honestly, I didn’t want to go this far, but there’s no other way.

I immediately took out my cell phone.

“Yes, Chairman. This is Kim Jun-woo.”

“Yes, is everything going well?”

“We’ve run into some problems.”

“You only contact me when there’s a problem? Can’t you give me some good news?”

“I wish I could, but it’s not working out as I’d like.”

The chairman chuckled.

“So, what is it this time?”

“Actually…”

I briefly explained the current situation.

“…Anyway, because of that, the surrounding associations are responding quite strongly. They say they will give up supplying altogether unless we agree to not raise the herb distribution fee for 10 years.”

“Hmm, either way you choose, it’s a loss. Is there any room for negotiation?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you think? Are you going to fight back?”

“Shouldn’t we? It’s not something we caused, and the current conditions are too excessive.”

“…? Isn’t it something you caused?”

“Chairman, other people don’t think so.”

“….”

I faintly heard a muttering sound, ‘Is he crazy?’

“I understand what you mean. Alright, I’ll do something about it.”

“Thank you.”

I hung up the phone and took a sigh of relief.

“Well, it seems like it will work out somehow.”

“Th-That, did you really talk to the chairman…? The chairman of the Korean Association…?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“No… Is it okay to unilaterally ask such a high-ranking person for a favor?”

“…? Why wouldn’t it be?”

Huin had a look of incomprehension.

Well, it might be because the culture is different.

***

International Association Direct Management, Thailand Branch

“The Korean Association contacted us?” Prasert, the branch manager, who was working in his office, received very unexpected news.

“Why would they contact us all of a sudden?”

“Well, the Korean Association has officially acquired the Vietnam Association, so they will be handling it directly from now on….”

“…What?”

Prasert’s eyes widened.

Korea acquired the Vietnam Association? What nonsense is this?

“I heard that this cost increase issue was a problem that occurred when Viet intervened in the middle of the merger and acquisition process. After checking, it was officially acquired.”

“What does that mean….”

It wasn’t strange that he didn’t know because there was no official announcement, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

The reason why the Vietnam Association rejected the renegotiation this time was, of course, to find an excuse and demand something bigger.

It was an association that was dying a month ago, so if we pushed a little harder, we thought we could exert influence over Vietnam this time.

But it turns out it was already merged with the Korean Association?

“So… are you saying we touched the Korean Association?”

Prasert swallowed hard and asked.

Then, the secretary handed over a statement from Korea instead of answering.

“First of all, this association clarifies in advance that it has nothing to do with Viet, the Director-General of Political Affairs, who led the cost increase.”

Prasert slowly read the statement.

It was roughly about how they had nothing to do with this incident and that it was all Viet’s unilateral action.

However, the important thing was what came next.

“Of course, regardless of the relationship, we believe that we have a certain obligation to take responsibility for what happened at the branch.”

“However, the association has determined that the conditions proposed by the authorities are too excessive, and therefore, if the authorities enforce the current conditions, the Korean Association will have no choice but to firmly state that it will withdraw all support for subjugation and cleaning that it has been conducting with the authorities in order to minimize losses.”

Prasert’s hand tightened.

“…Did this only come to us?”

“No. All the surrounding branches received it.”

“Shit….”

He crumpled the statement and bit his teeth.

If the conditions are not lowered, the Korean Association will cut off all Southeast Asian branches.

He put those words in without even softening them.

This isn’t a statement….

‘Are they warning us now…?’

And then, his phone started ringing loudly.

“Branch Manager Prasert! Did you see the statement? What is this?!”

“You didn’t say the Korean Association was involved! If I had known this would happen, I would have agreed to the conditions back then!”

“Does the headquarters say anything?!”

“If we hold out any longer, we’ll be the only ones screwed! We’ll just agree!”

The surrounding associations seemed to be in an uproar, and calls were pouring in from all the surrounding branches.

That’s because, except for the Thailand branch, which is directly managed by the International Association, the remaining branches are almost independently operated.

Therefore, they occasionally request support from other independent associations, but in fact, the only association that granted those requests was Korea.

However, now that the Korean Association has expressed its intention not to accept any more requests, they have no choice but to be quite embarrassed.

“Shit, I thought Viet was out and it was an empty house… since when…!”

“What are you going to do? It’s not a good situation for us to be on bad terms with the Korean Association….”

“…What are the conditions they proposed?”

“They only proposed freezing distribution costs for one year, and there were no additional conditions.”

“Tsk, there’s nothing we can do. We can’t be greedy anymore. Proceed as is….”

Then the phone in the office rang again.

It seemed to be another protest call from another branch.

He picked up the receiver with a disgruntled voice.

“Ah, please stop calling! We’re still figuring out the situation…!”

“How have you been, Branch Manager Prasert.”

A completely unexpected voice came.

“T-Team Leader Marc…?”

“Oh, you remember me.”

He swallowed hard.

Team Leader Marc of PB Corporation’s Balance Adjustment Team.

He called directly.

“I’ve heard about the situation. The Korean Association has retaliated.”

“Yes, yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

“W-Well, we had no idea that the Vietnam Association was acquired by the Korean Association… I think it’s better to meet the conditions….”

“Branch Manager Prasert.”

Team Leader Marc interrupted him and opened his mouth.

“The headquarters is very unhappy with the herb that the Vietnam Association has. Now that the headquarters has implemented a byproduct exemption policy, should we show weakness now?”

“But… you know. If we don’t have the support of the Korean Association, it will be quite difficult to operate.”

“That’s the branch’s position.”

Team Leader Marc continued as if he was frustrated.

“In fact, whether we freeze the distribution fee for 10 years or 100 years, it’s just an unnecessary cost from the headquarters’ point of view. More than anything, we could be threatened with all sorts of things using distribution fee increases as a weapon, like this time. Either way, it’s not a pleasant story for us.”

“…I, is that so.”

“The headquarters has no intention of backing down on this negotiation. Accordingly, our PB Corporation is planning to respond more strongly, and we need the help of the Southeast Asian branches.”

“W-What can we do….”

“From now on, just do as I say.”

Soon, Branch Manager Prasert’s face stiffened as he listened to his instructions.