The next day, Assistant Manager Lee visited the company with a rice cooker.
"Welcome, CEO Lee. By the way, what's your name again?"
"It's Lee Jin-soo. Nice to meet you."
Lee Jin-soo placed the rice cooker on the table and said,
"This is the rice cooker I mentioned."
As he said, the rice cooker was in excellent condition.
"I can offer you up to 8,000 won per unit for this quality."
Lee Jin-soo's face fell.
"8,000 won? That's too low, isn't it? Regular secondhand rice cookers go for 5,000 won, and this is practically new. You should offer at least 15,000 won."
"It's not that simple. I'm taking on the risk of holding onto the inventory. There's no point in doing this if there's no reward."
After much back and forth, we finally settled on 10,000 won per unit.
And then we moved on to the main topic.
"So about the scrap metal you mentioned yesterday. Why does it need to be handled discreetly?"
Lee Jin-soo looked around and said,
"I can't tell you the details, but it's a large quantity. Can you handle it quietly?"
"Can you tell me how much it is?"
"100 tons for now. And there's much more to come, at least 10,000 tons."
"100 tons? At least 10,000 tons…"
I sent Lee Jin-soo away and called Maru and Park Jong-bum for a meeting.
"If he's asking for discretion, there must be something shady about it."
Maru said after hearing my explanation, and Park Jong-bum replied,
"It's definitely shady, but it's too good an opportunity to pass up. The scrap metal price at POSCO is currently 200 won per kg. You said he offered to sell it to us for 100 won per kg in exchange for discreet handling, right? We can make a good profit if we buy it and deliver it."
A profit of 100 won per kg meant we could earn 1 billion won from processing 10,000 tons.
Lee Jin-soo had said that the scrap metal was in excellent condition and could be delivered directly to POSCO.
Maru objected to Park Jong-bum's suggestion.
"I think we should avoid such suspicious deals. 1 billion won is a large sum, but our company's monthly sales are much higher than that."
Our monthly sales had exceeded 10 billion won since we started handling the assets of bankrupt companies.
As long as the current crisis continued, our sales would only increase, so Maru's point was valid.
"And he said 10,000 tons? Just scrap metal? What company would have that much scrap metal in stock? It's definitely a scam."
Maru's confident tone convinced even Park Jong-bum.
"He's right. Even large wholesalers don't keep that much scrap metal in stock."
"Hmm."
We concluded that it was a scam, but I felt a tinge of regret.
Scrap metal was the most traditional and fundamental part of the junkyard business, but Chunha Trading had grown through other channels.
It was unlikely that we would make a fortune from scrap metal like we did with our other businesses, but it was a very stable business if we had a solid foundation.
I had always been considering expanding into scrap metal, so I felt it was worth looking into.
"Let's at least investigate. Who knows? It might be a new opportunity."
The more we investigated, the more questions we had.
Regular companies didn't keep that much scrap metal in stock because they would call a junkyard to dispose of it once they had a certain amount.
The only places that could possibly hold 10,000 tons of scrap metal were wholesalers specializing in scrap metal. But even their average inventory was around 5,000 tons.
"Hanbo Steel…"
"It must be Hanbo Steel's scrap metal."
There were several steel mills in Korea that received scrap metal, but the largest one was POSCO.
And Hanbo Group had built the Hanbo Dangjin Steel Mill, risking the entire group's future, to compete with POSCO.
Hanbo Steel, which had aimed for an annual production capacity of millions of tons, had gone bankrupt shortly after it became operational. They must have had at least 100,000 tons of scrap metal in stock.
As the pieces of the puzzle came together, I felt a cold sweat running down my back.
"This could have been a disaster."
Maru replied,
"It definitely could have. This is on a completely different level from handling the inventory of a regular bankrupt company."
Stealing and selling scrap metal from Hanbo Steel, a company under intense scrutiny from the government and the public?
It would be suicide.
Moreover, for a steel mill, scrap metal was a raw material purchased for production, so it was treated differently from waste.
"Maybe some Hanbo Steel employees are trying to steal and sell it?"
"They must be crazy. It'll all be recorded in the books when the company goes into receivership. How can they steal it? This is embezzlement. Plain and simple."
Maru sighed in relief.
"I'm glad we found out in advance. Ah, so that's why they wanted to sell it to us."
Maru exclaimed, as if he had a realization.
"Scrap metal wholesalers are subcontractors for steel mills, right? Low-level employees can't just secretly sell it to a subcontractor. They need someone higher up."
Maru's words made everything clear.
The employees, facing an uncertain future after the company's bankruptcy, must have conspired to steal and sell the scrap metal. But most of the potential buyers were connected to the steel mill, so they couldn't risk selling it to them.
Then they found Chunha Trading, a company with plenty of money and no connections to the scrap metal industry, through Lee Jin-soo.
I gritted my teeth.
If we had bought it without knowing, we would have been implicated in theft and embezzlement.
"Those bastards… They were trying to set us up and run away with the money, weren't they?"
"I'm glad we found out. Don't contact that guy anymore."
I said with a glare,
"Let them get away with this? After trying to set me up? I have my pride, I can't let that happen."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to bite back. First, we need to pretend to be interested in buying the scrap metal."
Maru was horrified.
"Are you even listening to what I'm saying? If we buy scrap metal from a steel mill, we'll get caught for sure!"
"We're just pretending. We need to meet the Hanbo Steel employees behind Lee Jin-soo. We'll pretend to help them and then backstab them."
"They'll never agree to meet us."
I said in a voice filled with anger,
"Let's go to Three Brothers Resources. We're putting a tail on them."
***
"We believe this man is the target's cousin and confirmed that he enters Hanbo Steel. We can find out his name and position with further investigation."
The private investigator, specializing in infidelity cases, whom we were introduced to through the CEO of Three Brothers Resources, came back with photos after just two days.
"Thank you for your hard work. Please investigate the Hanbo Steel employees who frequently associate with this man."
"Yes, sir."
The private investigator left, and I said, grinding my teeth,
"It's definitely Hanbo Steel."
My suspicion had turned into certainty.
"What are you going to do now?"
Maru looked at me, hoping I would give up.
"First, we need to meet the cousin. We need to find out what their plan is, how they're going to steal the scrap metal. And then…"
I smiled sinisterly.
"We record everything and expose them. The company is already struggling, and now they have employees stealing scrap metal? It's a perfect news story."
"Hyung, those people might be desperate. You don't have to go that far."
"You're too soft. Do you think I'm doing this just because I'm angry? Do you have any idea how small the junkyard world is? I need to teach them a lesson so this never happens again."
Maru sighed.
"I understand your point, but it's dangerous. What if we get caught in the crossfire?"
"Maru, listen carefully. If you show weakness, you'll get eaten alive. It's not just in the junkyard world, it's the same everywhere."
I glared at him and said,
"I'd rather bite than be bitten. This is an example."
***
Lee Kang-soo was a production worker at Hanbo Steel.
Until recently, he had been proud to work for a major corporation, ranked 14th in the business world. But now, he felt like he was walking on thin ice.
"Sigh, is this really the right thing to do?"
The unexpected bankruptcy of Hanbo Steel had left everyone in the company in despair, and Lee Kang-soo was no exception.
Even if someone acquired the bankrupt Hanbo Steel, there was no guarantee that he would keep his job.
He had a cunning wife and adorable children at home, relying solely on him. He couldn't let them down.
"Alright, let's make a big score and start a new life."
There were ten employees involved in the conspiracy.
Their target amount was 1 billion won, to be split equally among them.
As they were formulating their plan and looking for a buyer, they learned about Chunha Trading through Lee Kang-soo's cousin, Lee Jin-soo.
They were prepared to face charges of embezzlement and theft, but Lee Jin-soo came up with a brilliant idea.
They would secretly sell the scrap metal to Chunha Trading and, if caught, blame everything on the CEO, claiming that the employees had only received bribes.
They researched the law and found that the penalty for embezzlement was imprisonment for up to ten years or a fine of up to 30 million won, while the penalty for breach of trust, which applied to bribery in private companies, was imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 10 million won.
Lee Kang-soo felt guilty about using an unsuspecting company, but Lee Jin-soo assured him that Chunha Trading was a bad company that exploited people, so he agreed.
Of course, the best scenario would be to get away with it, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.
"Alright, let's do this."
He motivated himself and got ready for work.
Even though the company was paralyzed after the bankruptcy and there was nothing to do, he needed to finalize the plan with the other employees.
As he was getting dressed, he noticed a man in a black suit smiling at him.
The man had a stocky build and a strong face, giving off an intimidating aura.
Lee Kang-soo, feeling uncomfortable, looked away and headed towards his car. But the man approached him.
Lee Kang-soo frowned and asked,
"Who are you? What do you want?"
The man smiled brightly and introduced himself, and Lee Kang-soo's face turned pale.
"Hello, I'm Park Sol, CEO of Chunha Trading."