I’d Rather Live as a Villain - I’d Rather Live as a Villain chapter 51

51 So, Yoon Tae-sik has returned?

“Are we really going to sparkle just once and then call it quits?”

In the Paris branch, the Branch Manager’s office.

Inside, Chief Choi Jang-ho, with a sense of frustration, pleaded or rather implored Branch Manager Ko Jin-hwan to consider the reason why there are several overseas branches of the company.

It also meant that he fully understood the reason why I had planned this overseas branch tour.

And apart from that, the phrase “Are we really going to sparkle just once and then call it quits?” brought me an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.

It was something my great-aunt had said to me at the general meeting related to my wife’s inauguration as the president of Daeyoung Distribution.

Do not become a person who merely sparkles; strive to be someone who shines brilliantly. These words strangely echoed in my ears.

The meaning of those words, not immediately understood at that moment.

Since then, I had forgotten them, but little by little, I began to feel the significance of what my great-aunt meant that day.

The atmosphere in the director’s office turned to thin ice in an instant, all because of Deputy Director Son Jae-gyu’s dissatisfaction with the Paris branch.

It all started like this.

“About the business proposal you submitted from the Paris branch to the headquarters. Montvain. If it’s causing our side’s distribution of DongSang Confectionery’s products, which we requested to proceed with first, to be blocked, then there’s a problem, Director.”

DongSang Confectionery chose our Daeyoung MulSan as their export partner for pioneering the European market.

Each product had brand recognition, but DongSang Confectionery, a company that grew by copying Japanese snacks, was still a domestic company without the size to break into the European market on its own.

However, I too grew up eating snacks from DongSang Confectionery, a company with a long history, and now, rather than copying Japanese snacks, they have developed their own products, owning several big hits like Honey Potato Chips and Honey Peanuts.

From our MulSan headquarters’ perspective, the priority should be to continuously sell competitive Korean products, raw materials, or ingredients overseas, but at some point, it seemed like the roles had reversed at the Paris branch, a sharp observation made by Deputy Director Son, which was immediately followed up by Chief Choi.

After questioning whether this was going to be just a fleeting success, Chief Choi spoke again to Director Ko Jin-hwan, who was unable to come up with a proper response while gauging my reaction.

“The predecessor of Daeyoung MulSan was Daeyoung International. And before that, it was Daeyoung Industries.”

Overseas branch directors, corporate heads.

They are ultimately responsible for overseeing the organizations they’ve expanded abroad, which means they are more specialized in financial, personnel, or legal organizational operations.

It’s not for no reason that branch directors are chosen not from field-experienced personnel but from those in HR, legal teams, or operational support teams, who are ambiguous for direct executive promotion but are desired to be promoted through branch director experience.

For this reason, in terms of business details, they can’t even follow the heels of the European division players at headquarters.

“Daeyoung Industries grew by selling rice, toothpicks, matches, and fabric to Japan. Daeyoung International laid the foundation for today’s Daeyoung MulSan by selling steel to the Middle East. That’s when the saying first circulated among the traders: traders can sell anything, even dung. From missiles to ramen. That’s how Daeyoung International, a comprehensive trading company, integrated Daeyoung Construction to become the Daeyoung MulSan we know today.”

“That’s right. There’s no Daeyoung MulSan man who doesn’t know that, Chief Choi.”

“I’m saying this because it seems you don’t know, Director. MulSan isn’t focused on bringing in foreign company products to sell in Korea, but rather, it’s a company that exports refined raw materials with Korean technology and products to the international market.”

“……”

“Where in the world are there companies with the concept of MulSan, trading companies? Only our country and Japan have such a concept. A country that lives off exports, that lays its foundation on exports. Even our overseas construction department is selling domestic technology abroad. So why does the Paris branch keep trying to sell to headquarters under the same conditions, instead of distributing the products sent by headquarters?”

It was an accurate point.

Before I returned to MulSan, and after three years, MulSan had changed too much in that regard.

We are not people who buy things from abroad to sell in the Korean market, but people who take goods from Korea to the global market, skimming margins to sell on behalf of others.

Of course, I don’t think the entire lifestyle of the European division of MulSan has changed because of just one person, Park Je-dong.

But there’s no doubt that his role was significant.

It would have been too risky to fill the pockets with a hundred percent margin dealing with Korean companies.

“The role of an overseas branch in MulSan should be market development, not a buyer, Director. If headquarters only thinks of overseas branches as buyers, then why bother having a branch in every place like Italy, France, Germany, Spain…? We could just have one European branch to cover it all.”

It was about time for me to step in and cool down the heated atmosphere.

“Wait a moment, Chief Choi.”

First, to alleviate Director Choi’s frustration, a smile was shown to Director Ko Jin-hwan.

“Now, our Paris branch here is also doing its best in the role of the Paris branch. Isn’t that right, Director?”

“Yes, of course, Head Director. We are indeed doing our best.”

This time, after showing a smile to Director Choi, it was said,

“Let’s acknowledge each other in that regard. Listening to the three of you talk, it seems the method is wrong, not the intention. The method can always be changed. Anyway, the Paris branch is also trying to keep inserting billings that can catch a turnover towards the headquarters, and we are doing our best for that.”

Director Choi and Deputy Director Son know.

That I am giving a smiling warning to the Paris branch.

It’s obvious.

After becoming the Head Director, the question I asked Director Choi the most was why there are so many brands and products that the overseas branches want to sell to the headquarters.

Why can’t we keep pushing business out, but instead, bring everything into this cramped Korean market of 50 million?

“But, Director, do you know the history of the Paris branch? If you go back to the days of Daeyoung Industries, it’s over 30 years. The Madrid branch, which has just entered its third year, should have a different level of internal strength.”

“…Yes.”

“Anyway, the Madrid branch needs to continue to create its own performance for the time being. What other methods could there be for a place that has only been established for three years? They need to keep handling the products and raw materials of that country to create billing turnovers.”

I’m really trying to soften my words as much as possible.

The sharpness has already been shown by Director Choi and Deputy Director Son, and if I add my sharpness to it, the overseas tour might turn into a mere planning mess.

Of course, that’s what I was hoping for.

“Yes, I understand, Head Director. I will rearrange the current projects we are holding once again.”

My role in this overseas tour is to step back while Director Choi and Deputy Director Son tear into the branch directors, and to mediate just before their biting turns into an emotional fight.

People who are branch directors should know my intentions.

“The Paris branch seems to be in a great location. The window looks like a picture frame. The scenery outside doesn’t seem real, it looks like a painting.”

Director Choi, who had expressed his frustration, and Deputy Director Son, who had been filled with venom, were somewhat softened.

“It seems we’re done here, so let’s all go have a meal together.”

* * *

The next day, in the afternoon.

Our Mulsan headquarters group boarded two vans and embarked on a seven-and-a-half-hour journey to Munich.

In the car were a local employee from the Paris branch who had provided support, holding the steering wheel, myself, and only Director Choi and Deputy Director Son.

Director Choi and Deputy Director Son sat side by side in the single seats facing away from the driver’s seat, and I sat in the last line of single seats in the van, facing the two of them.

“Director.”

I became curious about Director Choi Jang-ho.

In fact, this curiosity had started yesterday in the Paris branch, in the director’s office.

“Yes, Director.”

“Didn’t you say that to the Paris branch manager yesterday?”

“What…”

“That it’s just a flash in the pan.”

After a moment of recollection, he remembered saying those words and began to form an embarrassed smile at the corner of his mouth.

“I’ve thought about it, and it was a bit harsh. But for branches like Paris, shock therapy is necessary, otherwise…”

“No, no. Both of you did well yesterday. I’m not talking about what happened in the branch manager’s office yesterday, but I’m confused about the meaning of those words.”

At my words, even Assistant Manager Sohn, who had been quietly listening to my conversation with Chief Choi, began to look puzzled.

“A flash and sparkling are clearly different, right?”

“…Yes, they’re quite different.”

From noble mtl dot nete

I felt the same way.

When I first heard those words from my great-aunt, I couldn’t grasp what she was trying to say.

“What exactly does it mean to flash?”

Do I not know that?

It obviously means to shine momentarily, just for that instant.

In business terms, it means focusing only on short-term performance and growth.

But that flashiness can’t be seen only in a negative light.

Businesses definitely need short-term goals and achievements.

And I am in the position of having to continuously create such short-term achievements to make my wife the queen of Great Britain.

That’s why I still have a question mark hanging over the words my great-aunt said to me that day.

“Someone told me not to be a person who flashes, but to be someone who sparkles.”

“…”

“That’s what’s really confusing. I think I get the nuance. But it’s vague. It lacks something sharp that hits the heart, you know?”

And he added this.

“The person who told me that, they didn’t just say it without meaning.”

I asked Chief Choi, but the answer came from Assistant Manager Sohn’s mouth.

“Don’t be a person who just flashes; be someone who sparkles?”

Assistant Manager Sohn pondered the meaning of the words with me, tilting his head this way and that with a thoughtful expression before sharing his thoughts.

“A person who only flashes ultimately has no follow-through, right?”

“That must be it. I understood it that way too.”

“Doesn’t having no ‘next’ mean that, although there are reasons and motivations to create that sparkle, it signifies not knowing what to do with that sparkle in the future?”

“……?”

“It’s always hardest the first time. Doing it a second or third time is easier than when you’ve done it once.”

“……Right?”

“I’ve sparkled once. But there’s no ‘next’ after that. In other words, I have the ability to sparkle, but since there’s no concrete picture of what to do next with that sparkle, I can’t keep sparkling two or three times… like you just mentioned, right?”

It felt like lightning struck in my mind.

Kang Moon-jung.

That’s what she’s doing now.

Not just Kang Moon-jung, but also Vice President Kang Young-jin.

Both have their own reasons, justifications, and motivations to become the successor of Daeyoung.

And both are preparing their own methods, plans, and support troops to become the successor of Daeyoung.

But actually…

After becoming the successor, and even more so after climbing to the very top of the Daeyoung pyramid, they are failing to create a clear vision of how they would run Daeyoung in the future.

Sparkle and sparkling.

They both just have greed and ambition for the succession.

That’s why they’re only taking care of what’s necessary to become the successor, but when they actually do become the real successor, when they climb to the top of the Daeyoung pyramid, neither Kang Moon-jung nor Kang Young-jin have a concrete picture of how to lead Daeyoung, which I’ve only now realized.

After a grueling schedule of 3 nights and 5 days touring overseas branches, I returned to Korea.

11 PM.

Having landed in Korea at 9 PM, and after going through various procedures, I arrived home to find it was almost 11 PM.

As I opened the front door, my wife, who seemed to have been waiting for me on purpose, came out to the entrance with a bright smile.

“Oh… Yoon Tae-sik.”

“What? Yoon Tae-sik?”

“Yoon Tae-sik has returned?”

“Hahaha.”

At first, I didn’t understand.

Before I knew it, my wife was comfortably making fun of me, playfully imitating a scene from a movie right in front of me.