"What? What do you mean?"
The interpreter looked at me quizzically, but I stared at Cui Jian with a sharp gaze, lost in thought.
"He must have been sent by someone. Otherwise, he wouldn't refuse the bribe and insist on seeing the production lines. This is troublesome."
If he were an industrial spy pretending to be a government official, I could just kick him out. But he was a real inspector.
The employees in the production buildings were frantically cleaning up the work area, but I couldn't relax.
They were here to snoop on our IC chip restoration process. They wouldn't give up just because we cleaned up the place.
"Tell him to wait. I need to contact someone and ask for advice."
As Cui Jian continued to yell in Chinese, I called CEO Wu.
"I hope CEO Wu can come up with a solution…"
After a long ring, CEO Wu answered.
[Hello?]
"CEO Wu, it's Park Sol."
[CEO Park, what's up? You want to have a drink tonight?]
"That would be great, but there's a problem at my factory. I need your help."
[A problem? What happened?]
I explained the situation with Cui Jian and my suspicion that he had been sent by someone. CEO Wu's voice turned serious.
[This is bad. Someone must have gotten wind of our operation.]
"I think so too, but I don't know how to handle it. Do you know anyone at the Environmental Protection Agency? I need some help."
CEO Wu groaned softly.
[I don't have any connections at the Environmental Protection Agency… I'll look into it. Try to stall for time.]
"Thank you."
The interpreter said nervously after the call ended,
"He's saying he needs to inspect the production lines immediately. He's threatening to report us for obstruction of justice if we keep delaying him."
I looked at Cui Jian, who was still yelling in Chinese, and said,
"That son of a bitch. Let's slowly head towards the production buildings. We need to stall for time."
While we were leading Cui Jian and his entourage to the production buildings, I received a message from an employee that they had finished cleaning up the work area. But it wasn't reassuring.
My mind raced as we got closer to the production buildings.
'One month. Just one month.'
Three weeks remained until the Hong Kong handover.
Once the handover was complete and the restored IC chip cycle was running smoothly, it would be game over.
Restored IC chips were selling like hotcakes, but due to the limited supply, we didn't have enough data to stabilize the prices.
Once we started smuggling through Hong Kong and began mass production, we would accumulate sales data for thousands of different IC chips, which would allow us to manipulate the market with price lists in other countries.
'It's too early. We don't have enough data or production volume. Damn it, why now?'
I became more anxious as the entrance to the production building came into view.
"Ask him how much money he wants. Tell him we'll give him whatever he wants."
The interpreter looked at me in surprise.
"That directly?"
"It's already been direct since we offered him the first bribe. Just ask him."
The interpreter translated my words, but Cui Jian remained unfazed.
"He says if we mention money again, he'll add bribery charges."
"Damn it. This is so frustrating. What should we do?"
As I was racking my brains for a solution, we arrived at the entrance of the production building.
Cui Jian was urging us to open the door, but I hesitated.
'Should I just release the IC chip restoration technology now and open a store like Maru suggested, starting the secondhand components distribution business? No, it's still too early.'
"Sir, he's asking you to open the door."
As I hesitated, Cui Jian suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
I was already on edge, worried about my carefully planned business being jeopardized, and his physical contact was the last straw.
I shrugged off his hand and shouted,
"Damn it! I'm not doing this anymore! I'm not doing this business! I'm quitting! I'd rather quit than let someone else profit from my hard work! Do you think I have no other options?!"
Cui Jian, his entourage, and the interpreter were stunned by my sudden outburst. I said, fuming,
"What are you waiting for? Translate that! Tell him I'm quitting!"
"Sir, that's a bit…"
"Just translate it! Tell him I'm not doing this business anymore!"
The interpreter hesitated and then translated my words. Cui Jian and his entourage started talking among themselves urgently.
"Alright, since we're at this point, I'm going all in. Translate this carefully."
"Y-yes, sir!"
"Call the person who sent you and tell him to meet me. If he doesn't, and you keep pushing like this, I'll shut down the factory and take the consequences."
Cui Jian said angrily,
"He says there's no one who sent him, and you're disrespecting a Chinese government official. He says he's just doing his job and enforcing the law."
I scoffed.
"Enforcing the law? That's a joke. I've said what I needed to say. Tell him to contact the person who sent him and set up a meeting. Or else! No more deals, no more bribes, I'll just shut down this factory and build another one somewhere else. Tell him I don't care."
Cui Jian remained silent, seemingly conflicted.
"I, the CEO, will take responsibility for any violations and shut down the factory. Then you won't have to investigate. But if you still want to investigate past violations, come back later. I'll accept the obstruction of justice charges or whatever. Are we done now?"
Cui Jian's eyes wavered at the interpreter's words.
If I was willing to take the blame and shut down the factory, he had no choice but to leave.
We could just dispose of all the equipment and materials and move the employees to another location.
He must have been promised something by whoever sent him, but if this ended without any results for them, they wouldn't fulfill their promise.
As Cui Jian and his entourage were discussing, I ripped off my tie and said,
"Tell him to at least ask the person who sent him. Or he can decide and take the consequences himself."
After a long hesitation, Cui Jian took out his cell phone and made a call.
I scoffed.
"A government official with an expensive cell phone? That must be at least two years' worth of his salary. And he's refusing money? How noble."
The interpreter nodded.
"That's right."
Cui Jian walked away to a place where we couldn't hear him and talked on the phone for about ten minutes. He then returned with a resigned expression, handed the phone to the interpreter, and said something.
"He wants you to answer the phone."
I nodded at the interpreter.
"Take it. Tell him exactly what I said. Tell him to set up a meeting. Or I'll shut down the factory."
"Yes, sir."
The interpreter took the phone and started talking.
"I should learn Chinese. This is so frustrating."
Doing business in a foreign country with an interpreter was sometimes difficult due to miscommunication and interpretation errors.
And in this frustrating situation, I felt even more exasperated that I couldn't communicate directly.
"I need to start learning Chinese right now."
As I was realizing the importance of learning Chinese, the interpreter ended the call and said,
"He says he'll set up a meeting soon. He wants to have a 'productive conversation' over drinks… He'll send the inspectors away for now."
I gritted my teeth.
"A productive conversation, huh? Sending a government official as a spy and then talking about a productive conversation? Who is it?"
"He wouldn't tell me…"
"Alright, I'll know when I meet them."
***
"You didn't have to come here in person…"
I said to CEO Wu, who had accompanied me to the meeting place.
"I couldn't let you come alone. A Korean who doesn't know anything about the local customs is an easy target for Chinese businessmen. They won't underestimate you with me here."
I thanked CEO Wu once again.
"Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me, CEO Wu."
He laughed heartily.
"I feel the same way. More than half of my current wealth comes from doing business with you. Having a reliable business partner is invaluable. If I go to Korea, will you do the same for me?"
I waved my hands.
"Of course, I'll take care of you. I'll show you around and treat you like royalty."
"It's the same principle. Haha."
As we were exchanging pleasantries, CEO Wu said with a serious expression,
"So you don't know who it is?"
"No, they only told me the time and place."
CEO Wu stroked his chin.
"That's troublesome. If we knew who it was, we could have investigated them."
"That's right."
"Anyway, what's your plan?"
I glared and said,
"I'll try to find a way to stall for time through negotiations. Just one month. No one can stop the snowball once it starts rolling. And then…"
I clenched my fist.
"I'll crush them. I'm not that forgiving."
CEO Wu nodded.
"Of course. But you should also consider other possibilities."
"Other possibilities?"
"Government officials in China are very powerful. To put it bluntly, even if a police car makes an illegal U-turn and causes an accident with a civilian car, the civilian can't say anything. The police will yell at them instead. If they're using government officials as spies, they must be very influential. It won't be easy to make an enemy of them, especially since you're a foreigner."
"Hmm."
CEO Wu's words silenced me.
Money might seem like everything, but it wasn't.
I might look like a wealthy member of the upper class to ordinary people, but I was just a nouveau riche.
I had already started experiencing the limitations of my lack of connections and network while doing business in Korea.
If I had been part of the elite circle, connected through school ties and regional connections, sharing information and networks, I would have been able to expand my business much faster.
The bidding process for electronic scrap had also been influenced by behind-the-scenes dealings, and I could have extracted more from the bankrupt companies if I had connections with high-ranking executives instead of the unions.
But of course, they would never accept me.
"A junkyard owner is just a trash collector to them."
"What?"
"It's nothing. Just thinking out loud."
Chunha Trading had always been alone.
I was a high school dropout, Maru was an orphan, and Park Jong-bum was a lowlife who had been fired for bribery. But we had clawed our way to the top through sheer grit and determination.
We couldn't rely on anyone, and we didn't intend to.
I was forging my own path.
I pulled myself together and said,
"We'll figure something out. I'll keep that possibility in mind. Shall we go in now?"