We Do Business In Full Auto [EN]: Chapter 119

119

Water Group (1)

Around 퇴근 [Korean word for “leaving work” or “going home after work”].

I was busy today handling various tasks.

Among them, the one I’m focusing on most is the big deal.

Cheonwoo Trading wasn’t just involved in import and export, but also oversaw domestic distribution, making its scale considerable.

Many major domestic corporations were clients of Cheonwoo Trading, and it even handled direct logistics.

Acquiring a company of this size inevitably involves a significant process.

The feasibility study is almost complete now.

The corporate due diligence and analysis are nearly finished, and the negotiation date is slowly approaching.

Bang!

As I was putting on my clothes, Han Yuram bursts in, practically kicking the door open.

“President!”

“What’s all the fuss about?”

“GK has lowered the price of their goods again!”

“Huh?”

“They say they’re lowering it by a total of 15%! Starting tomorrow!”

“Are they serious?”

I expected something like this would happen.

Behind GK Retail is GK Group.

If the group starts providing financial support, they’ll naturally have the resources to endure.

They could come up with any method to provide support. But I don’t have any backing. So, they’re trying to starve me out like this.

If convenience stores lower the price of goods by 15%, the damage will be immense.

It’s cutting into their own profits, but if I collapse here, GK and Nine Convenience Store can divide up my market share.

Nine Convenience Store also has Nine Group behind it, so there was likely some kind of negotiation going on.

“We’ll lower ours too.”

“What!? Isn’t that already pushing it!?”

“The Beauty Corps is there, so we’ll be able to endure it.”

“But…”

“Just lower it as I say.”

“Sigh. Okay.”

I felt bad, but I was considering lowering it by as much as 20%.

At that level, we’d be selling goods cheaper than discount stores. It would be almost like the headquarters supplying goods with almost no margin.

But there’s no other choice.

Since they started it first, we have to see it through to the end.

If I support the store owners with my part-time job money, GK and Nine will soon start to see defections.

At that time, at H Group headquarters.

It was 퇴근 [Korean word for “leaving work” or “going home after work”] time, and Chairman Lee Kang-no and Chief Director Han Cheol-soo were also preparing to leave.

Lee Kang-no frowned slightly at the news he had just received.

“GK lowered the price of goods by 15%?”

“That’s what they say.”

“Hmph. Those guys are really going all out?”

“They mean to starve out CL, I suppose.”

“And they’ll take over the parts that are starved out?”

“If they each take over at least 10,000 stores, they can achieve 50% growth in terms of numbers.”

“Hahaha.”

“But it won’t be easy.”

“Why is that?”

“Haven’t you heard the news that the Beauty Corps has entered CL Convenience Store?”

“Beauty Corps?”

Han Cheol-soo handed Lee Kang-no some photos.

Beauties working at the convenience store.

For a moment, Lee Kang-no thought he was looking at a 화보 [Korean word for “photoshoot” or “glamour shots”]. H Group also ran an entertainment division. That meant Chairman Lee Kang-no was immune to most beauties.

But this was a 화보 [Korean word for “photoshoot” or “glamour shots”].

“Isn’t this a 화보 [Korean word for “photoshoot” or “glamour shots”]?”

“No. It’s a photo of part-time workers at the convenience store.”

“Hmph! These beauties aren’t in the entertainment industry or modeling, but working part-time at a convenience store?”

“That’s right.”

“What on earth is this?”

“It seems like the Androids have been released.”

“Hmm?”

Han Cheol-soo was expecting that.

If the Androids hadn’t been released, this wouldn’t make sense.

Why would these beauties be at a convenience store if they weren’t crazy?

Besides, the hourly wage is 10,000 won [approximately $7.50 USD].

If these beauties were working part-time, they should be getting more than 10,000 won [approximately $7.50 USD] an hour. Because it would lead to an increase in sales.

But if they’re Androids, it makes sense.

“It seems they’ve produced 10,000 Androids in practice. They’re rotating shifts to deceive people’s eyes.”

“Hahaha.”

“So, there won’t be a big problem.”

“They’ve already produced 10,000 units? Androids that are indistinguishable from humans, that is.”

“Yes. If this fact becomes known, the world will change once. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has occurred.”

They speak, think, and act like humans.

If that’s the case, they’ll use Androids instead of humans with clear limitations.

They don’t eat, drink, or go to the bathroom. They don’t look at their phones or watch movies or dramas.

This was an incredible thing.

“The world will change.”

Lee Kang-no said, clicking his tongue.

Lee Kang-no felt anew that he was getting old.

The world was changing too quickly.

“Hahaha. Don’t be too concerned. It’s not that the world is changing too quickly, but it’s because of the outstanding scientist, CEO Lee Yoosung. The parts he doesn’t touch will undergo the same changes as now.”

“Anyway, Androids. We should introduce them too.”

“That will happen soon.”

The next day, in the morning.

I came to work and was looking at documents when Lee Tae-jin came in with stacks of papers.

Looking closely, it wasn’t stacks of papers, but photos stacked on top of each other.

“What is this?”

“President. Look here.”

The photos showed Lee Jung-man, the president of GK Retail, entering the Nine Convenience Store headquarters with his executive secretaries.

What this meant was clear.

“Is this collusion?”

“In the past, they vaguely checked us together, but now they’re openly colluding to starve us out.”

“Oh ho.”

“Even with just this much, there’s more than enough evidence.”

“I understand. Good work. Keep a close eye on their movements.”

“Yes, President.”

Lee Tae-jin became busy with their collusion.

Now, the intelligence department will focus on figuring out how GK and Nine are moving, how they’re colluding, and what their next move is.

This was also a war, and in a way, it was a move to divide up the convenience store business.

If we lose here, we’ll be kicked out of the convenience store industry in the future and it will be difficult to gain a foothold again.

“This is a problem.”

Lee Seul-gi said, frowning.

Her concern was very valid.

If two companies colluded in a three-way battle, there was a very high possibility that one company would be starved out.

But I also had something to rely on.

“There’s no need to worry. Stick to the policy.”

“Hoo. GK Retail may not make much profit. I think they’re doing a good job of operating, but.”

“It’s still okay, right?”

“It is now. But if a little time passes, they may suffer considerable losses.”

“If we invest all the profits earned from operating the Androids?”

“Then they’ll be the ones who are starved out. But I don’t know how long it will take.”

“It’s okay. We can look at it in the long term.”

Androids, or rather, Dummies, continue to be made.

Even now, hundreds are being produced every day, and if black magic stones arrive from Darkmoon, we can greatly increase production.

If we deploy Dummies in all convenience stores and operate the business fully automatically, the company can last for years.

It was a job that didn’t require any labor costs, and in return, I could issue BW shares [Bonds with Warrants, a type of corporate bond] and hold them in my hands.

The stock will rise, and that will return as a big profit.

Anyway, GK was also a listed company and would pay dividends to shareholders.

“By the way, how’s the trade side going?”

“We’re doing corporate due diligence.”

“Is the feasibility certain?”

“There’s no problem. The trading company handles all import and export, and is intricately involved with large corporations. And since they’re also involved in domestic distribution, I think it’s the most necessary company for us.”

“What’s Cheonwoo Group’s intention?”

“Raw material prices are fluctuating these days, so they’re showing enough intention to sell.”

“Good. Then we should slowly start renaming the company.”

“Will it become Water Group?”

“It has to be.”

I pick up a pen and organize the affiliates.

[Water Food. Water Retail, Water Trade, Water Distribution, Water Science]

There were only five affiliates, and the scale wasn’t very large. But if you look at them one by one, you can see that the profit margin is quite high.

In particular, Dummies will be produced at Water Science and will be sold at a high price. Since they could be used as weapons of war in each country, they will be traded at a considerable price in the early days.

“Perhaps it would be good to promote Water Science in the military weapons sector.”

“It would be quite a dangerous thing, though.”

“That’s the problem.”

If Water Science is launched, considerable expenses will have to be spent on security.

But I wasn’t too worried.

If someone invades Water Science, the vampires will be dispatched and slaughter them all. Unless a declaration of war is made at the national level, a mere mercenary group will not be my opponent.

“Let’s launch it like this first. How is the Structure Headquarters coming along?”

“It’s almost finished.”

“Then all that’s left is to launch the Water Group?”

“That’s how it should be seen.”

“Let’s hold a launching ceremony at the appropriate time after acquiring the trading company.”

“To develop into a business group in just a few months.”

“It’s still a long way off.”

I dismissed it like that.

At that time.

While Lee Yoosung was planning a business group, Lee Jung-man, the president of GK Retail, was meeting with Oh Man-soo, the CEO of Nine Convenience Store.

They all had large corporations behind them.

They had solid financial resources, and in the worst case, they could receive considerable financial support from their parent companies.

If such companies colluded, it wouldn’t be difficult to suppress CL Retail.

President Lee Jung-man was discussing collusion.

“…At this rate, our convenience stores will disappear into the annals of history.”

“Hmm. I’ve heard the reports too. They’re using a very ugly method of attracting customers with beauties.”

“And they’re Western beauties.”

“Beauties at a convenience store. This isn’t some kind of entertainment facility, geez.”

CEO Lee Yoosung’s move was amazing.

They lowered the price of goods, but they were offsetting it with sales. They were also attracting customers by placing beauties in the stores.

The quality of the bait products was also high.

The quality of the convenience meals went up, and because beauties were watching the store, male customers flocked to CL Convenience Store.

This has to be seen as unavoidable.

Oh Man-soo frowned and said.

“In the worst case, we may have to lower the price of goods by 20%…”

“If that happens, we need to improve the profit margin by reducing costs.”

“We have to find a way somehow.”

In that respect, CEO Lee Yoosung’s acquisition of Cheonwoo Trading was a divine move. Because they could realize the cost reduction they were talking about.

Lee Jung-man looked at the photos of the beauties and tilted his head.

“It seems that we can’t use the orthodox method.”

“You can’t use the orthodox method?”

“Surely these beauties didn’t all enter the country legally?”