Corporate Villain
Copyright© 2025 by K.W
Chapter 26
A call came through to Min Byung-jin, the president of Daeyoung Corporation.
It was from Director Yoon Tae-sik.
“Can you talk for a moment?”
“Of course. I’ve been waiting for your call.”
On the morning commute, a single email checked in the car.
It wasn’t in the form of a report, but it was an email from Director Yoon Tae-sik, summarizing the renegotiation situation with the farm owners at a glance.
3.3 euros. The content mentioned reducing the guaranteed minimum volume from 700 tons to 500 tons.
An impossible negotiation result had emerged.
A renegotiation success for Daeyoung Corporation, more favorable than the terms from five years ago, not for the farm owners.
Cortone, the olive oil brand produced by Daeyoung Corporation, which made the current Madrid branch possible.
The consumer price of that oil had been raised twice over the past four years, by 0.4 euros and 0.7 euros respectively for each 250ML bottle.
Of course, there were various factors behind the price increase.
International shipping costs, rising labor costs, and price positioning for brand premiumization.
However, the cost of the olives themselves was not included in those factors.
A five-year exclusive contract.
There had been no change in the raw material cost.
Typically, in such exclusive contracts, especially since the consumer price of the final product had been raised twice, the farm owners providing the raw materials would certainly be aware of this, and at the time of renegotiation, margin negotiation was a must. And this margin negotiation inevitably had to conclude with even a slight increase in the margin cost.
However, the initial 4.5 euros proposed by the farm owners was indeed too high.
President Min Byung-jin, who had been expecting to enter into renegotiation around 4 euros or thereabouts after receiving reports that the Madrid branch had drawn a positive stance from the farm owners at 4 euros.
But 3.3 euros?
Moreover, it was said that the Madrid branch had significantly reduced the guaranteed volume from 700 tons to 500 tons.
This meant that they had really matched the cost of olives to 3.3 euros.
Due to the handicap of the minimum volume guarantee, the contract was specified at 3.3 euros per liter, but since most cases failed to produce up to 700 tons, the actual cost was between 3.4 and 3.5 euros.
If it’s 500 tons, unless there’s a major fire at the farm, or unless there’s severe drought due to weather problems or damage to crops due to heavy rain, it’s a volume that must be met.
President Min Byung-jin, through and through a Daeyoung Corporation man, a trading company man, with every fiber of his being.
He knew that this result was not just because of the global company’s brand power.
How meticulously and perfectly had Director Yoon Tae-sik prepared to achieve this result before heading to Spain?
President Min Byung-jin had now realized that this was not just a simple appointment to create a presence as a new member of the Daeyoung owner family.
“What kind of magic are you working over there?”
“It was good luck.”
Luck?
Is this really luck?
Absolutely.
Even if luck poured down like a hundred trucks, it’s a result that could never come out, never be created.
“Boss, there’s something urgent I need to request.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’d like to request a targeted audit of the executives to the group’s headquarters.”
A targeted audit of the executives?
An executive audit is something we do every year, but a targeted audit is entirely different.
It’s an audit conducted by the group’s headquarters when significant losses have occurred to the company, or when there’s evidence of intentional misconduct or embezzlement.
Naturally, it’s extremely rare for a subsidiary to request such an audit from the group’s headquarters.
It’s like the subsidiary is confessing its own shame to the headquarters.
“The guys who were calling for 4.5 euros signed off at 3.3 euros, with a minimum volume guarantee minus 200 tons.”
“...”
“I came to Spain with all possibilities open. Was there a force that approached these farm owners with an early 4 euro margin offer? If so, which force could it be?”
“I’m listening, don’t hang up, keep talking.”
“If there really was such a force, 4.5 euros. It would have been a margin worth bluffing. Even if we refused, they could have presented a basis for offering 4.5 euros.”
“Hmm...”
“But when I called for 3.3 euros, they couldn’t present any bluffing basis. Someone had already proposed such a margin, and even if it wasn’t a full purchase by Daeyoung, if Daeyoung kept insisting on 3.3 euros, we’d have no choice but to go with them ... At least some action should have been taken to be normal, but there was none.”
President Min Byung-jin felt a chill run up his forearm.
“Does that mean these farm owners have no sense of reality? No, they’re the brightest in this matter. It’s not for nothing that the Netherlands and Spain are called the countries of merchants. Especially these gentlemen who have maintained these large farms for generations.”
“That’s right. In that regard, they’re a step above our Mulsan men.”
“The bluff of 4.5 euros, the confidence that Daeyoung Mulsan wouldn’t cut them off. The confidence that they could succeed in renegotiating at around 4 euros, as if they were being generous. Who could give such confidence to these farm owners?”
From the farm owners’ perspective, it could only be the Madrid branch manager, or ... the division head managing that branch from the headquarters.
“Are you talking about Branch Manager Jinsung Cheol?”
“Until I instructed to check on the renegotiation, there had been individual meetings as a courtesy, but no direct encounters with all three farm owners at the same time.”
“...”
“From what I’ve seen, it seems to be the case. Moreover, the branch manager here has been involved in many projects since his appointment. He’s been producing good results.”
“Then it must be the former division head?”
“It might not be. But it’s definitely something we need to check and move on.”
Park Je-dong is already exiled to the most idle position in Daeyoung, called Jeon-gi.
Return to the conglomerate, or a transfer to another affiliate, the possibility of executive contract renewal is zero.
Having already drunk the poison, how can one endure the energy of the poison, writhing and roaming in the hot ondol room of a position called ‘electricity’—and now an executive target audit?
But the entity making that request is a member of the owner’s family.
President Min Byung-jin had neither the justification nor the power to refuse that request.
“That’s right. The barn. It needs fixing. Better fix it early, before we lose even bigger things.”
-Thank you.
“And speaking of which, you went on a honeymoon, but aren’t you working too much? Executive Kang Moon-jung must feel neglected. I’m so grateful for the good news, and I’m embarrassed to have been pointed out something I missed.”
-Not at all.
“Understood. I’ll contact headquarters about that matter right away.”
After hanging up the phone, President Min Byung-jin leaned deeply back into the sofa.
Yoon Tae-sik.
Sharp, as I’ve always known, but not just sharp—there’s a weight to it.
The succession structure.
Maybe ... just maybe, the game could be turned upside down.
With that thought, President Min Byung-jin picked up the internal phone.
-Audit Office of the Group Headquarters.
“Ah, this is Min Byung-jin from the conglomerate.”
-Yes, President. What can I do for you?
“Director. I have a delicate matter to request of you.”
The winery Kinzone, nestled between Jerez and El Puerto de Santa Maria.
Not only is the brand of wine produced here called Kinzone, but it was also the name of the Argentine farm owner who first established the winery here.
94 hectares in name, but in reality, an unbelievable scale of a winery, equivalent to 280,000 pyeong, or 130 soccer fields attached together.
I walked that place with Executive Kang Moon-jung and Branch Manager Jin Seong-cheol.
Two employees from the Madrid branch followed us, keeping a certain distance.
Had we walked for about 10 minutes?
I wondered if there was any point in walking this.
Vineyards as far as the eye can see.
Nothing but vineyards.
In a place where there’s nothing but grapevines, yet the end is nowhere in sight.
After about a ten-minute walk, boredom aside, I grew tired of the grapevines.
Soon, Branch Manager Jinsung Cheol had the Madrid staff arrange for a cart used by the vineyard workers.
Climbing onto a cart that you’d find at a large Southeast Asian resort or a golf course, the branch employees stayed behind while only I and Branch Manager Jinsung Cheol set off to check the full scale of the farm.
“Isn’t there an olive farm around here?”
The vineyard tour was sufficient.
What I wanted to see with my own eyes wasn’t this vineyard, but rather how positively the branch was communicating with the vineyard after Deputy Chief Oh Ji-won’s visit.
The farm people were very proactive in showing their goodwill, even lending us their work cart.
The vineyard tour was enough, and I gave instructions to the branch manager about the olive farm and the farm owners.
“Yes.”
“Arrange a meeting with the farm owners soon to resolve any hard feelings.”
“ ... Yes.”
“I’ll approve it from headquarters, so prepare a gift worth ten thousand euros per person.”
“Ten thousand euros?”
“Art would be good. Don Adrike, Don Pedro. They both like paintings. Especially Don Pedro, he’s a huge fan of Dalí.”
“I’m aware that during the first contract, we prepared a painting as a business gift for each during the negotiation process.”
That’s right.
“It was when I came for an inspection, intending to meet the farm owners after creating and confirming the olive project. Don Pedro invited me to his house. ‘Let’s have dinner together,’ he said. Although the serial numbers weren’t great, he had several Dalí sculptures displayed all around his house.”
At my words, the branch manager just nodded.
He didn’t know that it was my idea to win over the farm owners’ hearts with the gift of paintings.
“There might be a lot of hard feelings towards me and Daeyoung Corporation because of this contract. Please arrange a meeting to smooth things over.”
“Yes, I will do that.”
“And try to probe.”
“If I may probe...”
“The reason for the 4.5 euros. Was it possibly because of the existence of someone named Bak Jedong?”
At my words, not only the branch manager but also the executive began to frown.
“They’ve always been greedy, but they’re not the type to be so unreasonable.”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.