I made dinner plans with Lee In-yong and headed to the restaurant.
As I drove, I reconsidered, but I still didn't think it was right to bring a childhood friend, who wasn't a founding member and whom I hadn't seen in over ten years, into the company, unlike Maru.
"I'll talk to him and see."
The restaurant was a pork belly place near our old neighborhood, a place In-yong suggested so we could reminisce about our childhood. I agreed.
"I wonder if he's there already."
I opened the shabby door and saw In-yong sitting at a table inside.
"In-yong."
He spotted me, waved excitedly, and said,
"Sol, come on in! Is this table okay?"
"Yeah, it's good."
We sat down, ordered some meat, and then an awkward silence fell between us.
We had hugged and chatted excitedly when we first met, but now that we were sitting face to face, it was difficult to start a conversation.
The ten years that had passed felt like a chasm between us.
But that was only temporary. As the grilled meat sizzled on the hot plate and the soju flowed, we warmed up to each other, reminiscing about old times.
"Remember that time you got kicked out of the house after fighting with Jong-chan?"
"That happened more times than I can count."
The nostalgic atmosphere was pleasant, but the thought of having to tell him that he didn't get the job dampened my mood.
As the night wore on and the alcohol took effect, I finally broached the topic.
"In-yong."
"Yeah?"
"Why did you apply to our company?"
He smiled brightly.
"Why else? Like you said during the interview, to earn money. I majored in German, but there weren't many job opportunities. When I saw your ad for German speakers, I jumped at the chance."
"Really? I see."
I couldn't bring myself to tell him the bad news and just kept swirling my empty glass. In-yong seemed to sense something and just looked at me quietly.
"In-yong, don't misunderstand me, but I don't think you can join our company."
His eyes widened.
"W-why?"
"I don't want personal relationships interfering with company matters. If the employees knew you were my friend, they would treat you differently, which would disrupt the company's discipline. I'm sorry."
His lips trembled.
"Aren't we… friends?"
"I'm sorry. But if you have any other requests, I'll consider them."
He started trembling.
"Sol, we were such good friends when we were kids. Can't you let me join the company for old times' sake?"
I had considered helping him find a job at another company, but my connections were limited to the junkyard industry.
We were in a subordinate position to the companies we collected waste from, so I couldn't ask them for favors.
"I'm sorry."
Lee In-yong pleaded,
"Please, I'll be discreet and work hard. I won't tell anyone we're friends. Even large corporations are downsizing, where else can I find a job? I thought you would hire me since you're the CEO…"
Despite his pleas, I closed my eyes and said,
"I wish you had asked for something else. I can't hire you."
Lee In-yong's face contorted in anger, and he shouted,
"How can you be so heartless? You shouldn't be doing this to a childhood friend! I was so good to you! We're friends!"
His outburst felt strange. I had remembered him as a kind and gentle person.
He was always easygoing and had never gotten angry before. This was a side of him I had never seen.
"I feel bad about this too. So please, ask for something else…"
"Something else? Like what? Help me find a job somewhere else? Huh?"
"…"
When I didn't respond, he scoffed.
"You still have a conscience, I guess. You're not even pretending to offer me something. You're so high and mighty now that you don't even care about your old friend, huh?"
"That's not true! I'm trying to help…"
"Not true, my ass! Is it that difficult to hire me? I'm your friend!"
My face hardened as he continued his tirade.
"I'm sorry, but can you please calm down? Stop yelling and listen to me."
"Listen to what? Can you even imagine how I feel, betrayed by a childhood friend!"
I frowned at the word "betrayed."
"Betrayed? You think I betrayed you by not hiring you?"
"Isn't it betrayal? You keep telling me to ask for something else, but you won't hire me. What can you even do for me? Money! You're rich now, give me money! But you won't even do that, will you?"
"Enough."
He calmed down after a moment and forced a smile.
"Sorry, sorry. I got too excited. I'm stressed about finding a job. Sol, please just hire me. We're friends."
I suppressed my anger and said,
"I can't do that. But I'll grant you any other request."
He started yelling again.
"What do you mean you can't! What other request! This is too much!"
He was yelling at me as if I owed him something. This was a side of him I had never seen before.
I didn't know if he had always been like this or if the world had changed him.
All I knew was that this wasn't the In-yong I remembered.
I sighed and said,
"This isn't how I imagined it would be."
"What?"
"I wasn't planning on bragging about my success, but I came here hoping to catch up with an old friend and grant him a favor… But I can't take this anymore."
I looked at Lee In-yong with a cold expression.
"You're throwing away your own good fortune."
I took out five bundles of 1 million won from my briefcase and placed them on the table.
"5 million won. I was going to give this to you as a gift, no strings attached…"
Lee In-yong's eyes wavered slightly.
"But I can't take it back now that I've taken it out. Here you go, ma'am."
The restaurant owner approached us.
"Yes, can I get you anything else?"
I took out another bundle of 1 million won and handed it to her.
"This is for the food, and the rest is for you."
"S-Sol! What are you doing?!"
I took the remaining money and went to the other tables, giving 1 million won to each person.
"I'm in a bad mood today, so this is on me. Use it wisely."
"Hey!"
I looked at Lee In-yong and said,
"Thank you for the good memories. You were one of the few good things in my life."
I forced a smile.
"Goodbye. Let's not see each other again. Even if you come to the company, the security guards will stop you. Don't waste your energy and just live your life quietly."
"S-Sol!"
As I left the restaurant, Lee In-yong started yelling at the other customers and the owner, demanding they return my money.
I walked away, muttering under my breath,
"I was going to offer to set him up with a small business if he was struggling…"
That's how precious those few memories were to me.
I, Park Sol, had even considered offering support without expecting anything in return. Those happy memories from a more innocent time, when I still had hope and hadn't cut myself off from the world.
Those memories vanished into thin air.
A bitter taste lingered in my mouth.
"That was truly a bitter pill to swallow."
I cut ties with Lee In-yong and focused on my business.
I had to hire employees, acquire land for overseas branches, and countless other tasks.
I had initially planned to switch with Maru quickly, but I was busy with work in Korea, and a month passed.
With the Shenzhen factory almost ready for operation under Maru's supervision, I planned to export the punched-out boards with IC chips to China.
Since the profit margin was high, I preferred paying tariffs and exporting them legally instead of risking smuggling. But I hit a snag right from the start.
"What? China has banned the import of electronic waste?"
Our import/export staff member said nervously,
"Yes, I didn't know either, but electronic waste is on the list of prohibited items. They said it's harmful to the environment…"
I said with a dumbfounded expression,
"Environment? Since when did they care about the environment? And this is strange. We exported scrap metal and stainless steel from Hanbo and Sammi to China without any problems."
"It seems scrap metal and stainless steel are classified as raw materials, not waste."
"Damn it. Alright."
I frowned, dismissed the employee, and said,
"So we have to smuggle them from Hong Kong to Shenzhen."
I had wanted to follow the legal route to avoid any trouble, especially since we hadn't established ourselves in China yet. But this left me with no choice.
The Hong Kong handover was only a month away.
"For now, we'll use the boards we collect in China for the IC chip restoration factory and send the Korean ones to Hong Kong. We'll smuggle them in as soon as the handover is complete. Tsk, I can never do things by the book."
As I was focusing on my work, my phone rang.
"Hello, this is Park Sol from Chunha Trading."
[Hello, this is Kim In-soo from Sasung Semiconductor.]
"Ah, Assistant Manager Kim, what's up?"
Kim In-soo was in charge of waste disposal at Sasung Semiconductor, a major client, so I had been maintaining a good relationship with him, providing him with a generous monthly allowance.
[We need to dispose of some electronic waste. About three tons.]
I beamed.
"Really? I'll send my employees right away."
The electronic scrap from Sasung could only be used for gold extraction.
They were discarding unusable semiconductors, and the faulty ones, with only 80-90% of the performance of genuine products, were shredded to prevent misuse before being delivered to our company.
Even so, three tons were worth at least 1 billion won, so I was happy.
[Ah, but we received an order from our superiors.]
"An order?"
Kim In-soo hesitated and then said,
[They want us to handle waste disposal through bidding from now on.]
I was flustered.
"Bidding? Why suddenly?"
[The company is tightening its budget due to the economic downturn, so they're trying to plug every hole.]
"But there's the risk of technology leaks. You should entrust it to a reliable company. What other company is as reliable and stable as ours in the electronic waste business?"
[I don't know. Anyway, we'll be holding a bidding information session soon for qualified electronic waste companies. Please be prepared.]
I gritted my teeth after ending the call with Assistant Manager Kim.
"Damn it, everyone's going to jump in now."
I had been dominating the Korean electronic scrap market with restored IC chips, driving other competitors out of business. But now, those competitors, who had been watching from the sidelines, would be eager to join the fray.
They couldn't use restored IC chips, so they would have to compete solely on the price of gold. And since everyone delivered to smelters, the prices they could offer would be similar, leading to a cutthroat price war.
"If Sasung is doing this, other companies will follow suit."