Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 24
Has this man lost his mind...
Who dares to slam the table like that?
Had the executive shown even the slightest sign of surprise, I would have slammed the table too.
But the executive, despite not understanding Spanish, maintained his composure and simply turned to Director Jinsung Cheol to ask for a trans lation of the conversation that had just taken place between me and the farm owners.
After hearing the overall content, the executive, still with his arms crossed in front of his chest, now crossed his legs more arrogantly.
“Señor Yoon. The words you just spoke. Can you stand by them?”
Don Adrike stepped forward to mediate the suddenly hostile atmosphere.
Don Pedro, the most vehement of the three elders.
His face was a mix of red and white, as if about to burst at any moment.
“What are you talking about?”
“3.3 euros. That’s the amount for the renewal. If not, there’s no deal.”
Soon after, Director Jin Sung-chul trans lated Don Adrike’s question to the executive, asking if he could take responsibility for what he had just said. Upon hearing the trans lation, the executive couldn’t help but let out a snicker, almost mocking the other party.
It was, indeed, a laughable question to anyone who heard it.
Why should we worry about them? Are they really concerned about us now?
I was just as incredulous.
So, I managed to suppress a smile that was about to show and replied,
“Señor Adrike.”
First, I diverted the attention of the farm owners, who were focused on the executive’s laughter, back to me.
“The olive business. For Daeyoung Merchandise and Daeyoung Group, this is not a project that requires the total responsibility of the chief executive.”
Director Jin Sung-chul, forgetting his role for a moment, was busy trans lating the rapid exchange of words across the negotiation table to the executive.
I made it clear that the importance of the olive business was not just tied to the Madrid branch but extended to the entire Daeyoung Merchandise and Daeyoung Group. From Daeyoung’s perspective, it was just one of countless projects.
“The olive business. Let me be frank. For Daeyoung Merchandise, it has not been a satisfactory business in terms of operating profit over the past four years. The investment in olive branding equipment, large warehouse rentals, maintenance costs, labor costs for our own staff, and marketing expenses to promote the brand. For two of the past four years, it has been a business that operated at a loss compared to its revenue.”
This was a fact.
The project was never solely focused on the olive oil business from the start.
For the headquarters’ Spanish team, the olive business was a foundation that could support the establishment of the Madrid branch.
In a way, it was a business that was sufficient if it only fulfilled that role.
And to add one more thing, it was about creating our own brand.
But the Madrid branch was already complete.
Where else could there be such a business? For us at Daeyoung Merchandise, the olive business was just beginning to recoup the initial investment and was poised to start generating real operating profits.
“But now, the farm side, whom we considered our partners, unilaterally wants to raise the margin by more than 30 percent. The responsibility I should bear, isn’t it rather something I should take on when being dragged around by a partner and agreeing to that margin?”
We had to consider the possibility that there was a company that approached these greedy farm owners with an offer starting in the 4 euro range.
Or perhaps someone had influenced them.
Otherwise, there’s no way the figure of 4.5 euros would have come up.
But they hinted at a renewal for 4 euros.
That means, if there was a company that approached these farm owners, the margin they proposed would be just over 4 euros at best.
4.1 or maybe 4.2.
If not, and there was a force that had influenced these farm owners, we had to investigate the credibility of that force.
If it weren’t for that, they wouldn’t dare to notify us of a 30 percent increase in margin so fearlessly.
There’s been a history of dealings.
How comfortably they must have sucked the honey, so to speak, by working with us.
To gamble with the readiness to give up that honey?
At that age?
But here’s something to think about.
If there was a company that approached us with a margin in the 4 euro range, could they really offer a minimum order quantity guarantee like our Daeyoung Mulsan?
We’ve been providing a 700-ton guarantee every year.
In the past four years, we’ve only exceeded that guaranteed volume once.
In the end, we didn’t pay 3.3 euros per liter, but at least 3.5 euros or more, excluding the year we exceeded the guaranteed volume, for the remaining three years.
It was possible to have such a contract with them because we are Daeyoung Mulsan.
Our real goal wasn’t limited to olive oil; it was to establish a Madrid branch to bring in more business items more easily.
If there is a company that has blinded these greedy farm owners, where could it be?
I’ve given it a lot of thought.
It can’t possibly be a Korean company.
There can’t be a company that would intentionally be at odds with us, Daeyoung.
Then China? Or Japan?
The nationality of the company isn’t important.
What matters is whether they can satisfy all the conditions and benefits we, Daeyoung, have provided to these greedy farm owners over the past four years.
It’s impossible.
A 700-ton guarantee?
That’s not easy.
Apart from securing that volume, digesting it is only possible because we are Daeyoung Mulsan; it’s impossible for a regular company.
No matter how much I think about it, I can’t come up with a company that would go against us, Daeyoung Mulsan, to take over the contract.
Unless it’s a business item critical to the company’s survival, an item like olives isn’t attractive enough for a company of a similar size to Daeyoung Group to pick a fight first.
After all, olives are not semiconductors.
Nor are they renewable energy, batteries, or automobiles.
Then we must expand our suspicion towards the force that has swayed these greedy yet simple farm owners.
Who, and why?
There was only one face that came to mind.
Park Je-dong, former head of the European Division.
There’s a possibility he told the greedy farm owners to raise their margin base.
Being the top decision-maker, he assured them that he would okay it without question, so they should just trust him and raise the margin base.
And while doing so, he might have asked for a kickback to be slipped into his own pocket.
With such assurances, he spoke to the farm owners.
“Five years ago, when I went around personally asking each of you esteemed elders to become partners with Daeyoung Corporation, the average price per liter for Andalusian olives was between 2.7 and 2.8 euros.”
Don Pedro’s eyes were gradually becoming kinder.