We Do Business In Full Auto [EN]: Chapter 69

69

Knowing Hurts (1)

Around lunchtime.

I took a break from all external matters in the morning to delve into Juhaebon.

The meal was provided by H Group, which was in charge of the island’s development.

It came in a prefab [prefabricated] structure, which is common in construction sites.

H Construction and its subcontractors were present, numbering about 15 people. They were all skilled workers, and the laborers would begin deployment soon.

I needed to discuss this with the person in charge.

“Welcome, President! We’ve been waiting for you.”

“Thank you for coming all the way to this deserted island.”

“Don’t mention it. We’ll go to the African desert if it makes us money, let alone an island.”

His impression wasn’t bad.

Rather, it was good. He had a smile unique to someone who had spent a long time in corporate life, and his skin was moderately tanned, making him look healthy. He was a man in his late 40s.

At that age, it wouldn’t be strange for him to be in charge of the entire construction. It meant he had been in this field for at least 20 years.

He was sent by H Construction, and Branch Manager Han Cheol-soo had mentioned him directly, so I felt I could trust him with the construction.

If there were no major conflicts, the construction would go smoothly.

Swish!

I unfolded the blueprint.

“This is… the blueprint?”

“Yes. We’re only doing the facilities and foundation work now, but ultimately, we plan to go this way.”

“That’s quite grand.”

It was a large factory complex equipped with salt farms, fish farms, fermented seafood factories, kimchi factories, farms, and seaweed factories.

The products produced here included salt, fermented seafood, kimchi, agricultural products, seaweed, oysters, and abalone. And these were things that could come out with only half of the development completed.

“Are the remaining lands still undecided?”

“Yes. We’re only planning to develop about half of it for now. But we still need to do the infrastructure work for the entire island.”

“You’re building solar power plants on the adjacent island to power the entire island.”

“Yes.”

“You’re pumping up groundwater to create a reservoir and supplying water directly from there.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s going to cost a lot of money to do all this.”

“We can earn money as we go.”

“Well, they said you’re a promising businessman, so you should have enough for the construction costs.”

“It’s possible because I’m hiring all the laborers myself. They’re my company’s people.”

“I heard about that. The total number is… 100 people?”

“Yes. They’re very diligent people.”

So diligent that they can be used 24 hours a day.

They don’t eat or rest.

There might be some friction in this area, but I think we can resolve that through conversation.

“Is it impossible?”

“How could it be? It’s possible. The rough design is already finished. All that’s left is construction.”

“Then I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

“We’ll do our best.”

He stood up and bowed.

Come to think of it, we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet.

“I’m Lee Yoosung.”

“Oh, my. That was a mistake. I’m Ahn Taegyun.”

“You’re Director Ahn.”

The atmosphere was amicable.

Ahn Taegyun knew me only as a businessman, and since the chairman was keeping an eye on things, he would put in the effort to ensure the construction went well.

Construction began in earnest after lunch.

Until now, only skilled workers had been working, but as a large number of undead laborers were投入 [put in], the work seemed to be progressing faster.

I decided to examine the personnel here.

Ten were in the salt farm, and 20 were投入 [put in] into the agricultural zone.

Of the 10 undead in the salt farm, 5 were constantly producing salt, and 5 were continuously working on the salt farm construction.

Once the machine passes, the rest has to be done by hand in the salt farm. Above all, because they adhere to the traditional method, the undead were gathering stones from around and doing various installations. The chief of this place was, of course, an evil spirit who had studied salt farms for 40 years and was now being used like a slave. The rest of the undead were all composed of salt farm experts.

And in the agricultural zone, all the farmers were投入 [put in].

The work was progressing so neatly and quickly, such as cultivating fields, spreading fertilizer, and digging waterways, that it was impossible to believe humans had done it.

Up to this point, these were undead that Ahn Taegyun wouldn’t encounter much, and the rest were投入 [put in] as laborers.

Twenty were投入 [put in] into facilities, 20 into building construction, and 10 into road construction.

What about the remaining 10?

I was planning to send them to shrimp fishing.

In this way, all of my undead, Soojung’s undead, and Rin’s undead could be utilized.

The rest of my undead were投入 [put in] into the Yongsan district, and 10 of Soojung’s undead were stationed as troops guarding the house.

This could be seen as very appropriate.

As I was looking around the sites, Ahn Taegyun approached.

“President.”

“Ah, Director Ahn. Thank you for your hard work. How are my workers doing?”

“They’re all foreign friends, and they don’t talk. But they work really well. They do exactly as they’re told.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But those guys, they don’t rest?”

“I decided to pay them according to the amount they work.”

“I’ve never seen anyone work without resting. And they don’t drink water, and I don’t think I’ve seen them in the cafeteria.”

“Hmm.”

Was this suspicion?

Of course, he wasn’t suspecting that they were undead, but he was suspecting that I was overworking them.

But the undead can’t drink water. It would just leak out.

I should probably make them rest every two hours and pretend to drink water or go somewhere.

“They eat separately. They say it’s a waste of money to spend at the cafeteria, so they bring their own. They don’t rest because they’re losing money, but I’ll have to take action. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s just that there’s a lot of talk about human rights these days. In the past, it would have been right to work like that.”

He wasn’t suspecting anything yet.

I need to pay a little more attention.

Thump, thump, thump!

Five 5-ton fishing boats come in.

There are five people to send to shrimp fishing, so why ten?

That’s because of the characteristic of Jaha [small shrimp species].

Jaha was the smallest shrimp in the world and lived not in deep water but close to the surface.

When it’s Jaha season, they jump in the air, and they catch them by skimming the net over the surface of the water.

So, all you have to do is drag the boat around the sea all day.

The net is also pulled up by machine. However, one more worker was needed to store the Jaha and spread the net again and do odd jobs, so two were stationed.

There are 10 in total.

I had them board the ship in pairs.

I put in veteran fisherman evil spirits, so they’ll take care of it.

I’ve already talked about the oil supply. I told them to charge it if they come, because they are foreigners and can’t communicate.

However, there was a possibility of being caught by the Coast Guard, so they were zombies, not skeletons.

Even if they took off their masks, they only smelled, but they were similar to ordinary people, so they could do fishing with fake IDs.

“Whoa. Only one crew member is on board?”

“Um.”

Ahn Taegyun approached.

He seemed to have come out of curiosity because he was doing construction nearby and the boat came in.

It wasn’t a welcome thing for me.

“Director.”

“What kind of boat catches only one crew member?”

“There’s something called Jaha [small shrimp species]. Do you know it?”

“Oh, I know it. It’s a specialty of the West Sea. Isn’t it called Jaha because it turns red when you put it in salted fish?”

“You know it well.”

“However, the place of origin is not Incheon [city in South Korea].”

“So I have to go south.”

“If it’s a Jaha [small shrimp species] fishing boat, I understand that there’s only one crew member, but don’t you need one more?”

I tilted my head.

I looked at him as if to say, ‘What’s it to you?’

Ahn Taegyun smiled without noticing and kept talking.

“You have to have at least two people on board. If you accidentally report it, it’ll be a headache.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Haha! I think the president will take care of it.”

Well, it’s okay yet.

Sometimes there are people who are nosy.

If I thought of Ahn Taegyun as that kind of person, I could understand and move on.

It was just that he was nosy, and there was nothing I could do about it. That kind of personality couldn’t be fixed.

There will be many days to face in the future, and he was a person from H Construction, not NK Construction, so it would be better to just leave him alone for now.

Around evening.

It’s time to go home.

It only takes 10 minutes to get to Yeongjong Island [island near Incheon], so there’s no need to stay here.

If it was a rural area, it would be right to go down only on weekends, but it is a serious contradiction for me, who is going to live for my family, to choose a weekend couple [long-distance relationship].

I’ll go on business trips if I have to, but there’s no such thing as a weekend couple [long-distance relationship] in my dictionary.

Lynn was waiting with a displeased look.

She had to be here. Because she had to turn the undead all night while I was away.

Director Ahn Taegyun runs over without even being called.

“Are you leaving work now!?”

“Ah, Director Ahn. You’re leaving work too, right?”

“No. I can stay here in the temporary dormitory.”

“Then do that. See you tomorrow.”

“Ah, President. I have one question.”

“Tell me.”

“Are those guys working all night?”

“Yes. They’ll keep working in shifts. Don’t worry about it. If you give them instructions before you leave work, they’ll keep working.”

“Is that okay? I’m wondering if it’s against labor laws.”

Finally, my forehead twitched.

That was when Lynn’s forehead twitched too.