Yoo Seung-jae couldn’t understand at all.
Why on earth would they want to terminate the contract at this point? If there were issues with the delivered goods, it wouldn’t be completely incomprehensible, but until now, he had managed the quality and schedule of the items supplied to Changseong meticulously, even delaying other schedules.
Moreover, the results of today’s inspection were extremely good.
But why?
“…Director…! What on earth do you mean by this? Was there something lacking in our delivered goods…?”
“No, it wasn’t bad, Yoo Owner.”
Cutting off his request for an explanation with a frown on her face, the woman with cold eyes, Seo-ha, shook her head.
Yoo Seung-jae responded with an even more confused expression.
“But why?”
“It’s simple; it’s what the Chairman instructed directly.”
“Excuse me? The Chairman…?”
What on earth is this? The story was becoming increasingly confusing, and Yoo Seung-jae widened his eyes.
If she’s talking about the Chairman, that must be Chairman Ryu Tae-jin, the owner of Changseong Group. Given that she is the Chairman’s biological daughter, it wouldn’t be strange for her to have received instructions from him.
What puzzled Yoo Seung-jae was the content of that process.
A group chairman wouldn’t be idle enough to care about a small partner like this, to put it bluntly, just a subcontractor.
To put it bluntly, to them, this little subcontractor merely needed to deliver items on time, meaning they were as good as invisible.
However, for it to be instigated directly by none other than Chairman Ryu Tae-jin suggests there was an uncomfortable factor in their eyes.
What that is, Yoo Seung-jae could not guess at all.
“Mr. Yoo, didn’t your son graduate from Cheongseol Elementary School?”
“What? Yes…that’s right. But how do you know…?”
In the midst of thinking quickly, the sudden question made him feel as if his mind had stopped.
That question, entirely unrelated to the current situation, felt particularly chilly.
“I heard your son was revealed to be the ringleader of bullying back in elementary school, and it even called the school violence committee and the police?”
“…”
And through the subsequent confirmation, Yoo Seung-jae finally sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.
Indeed. His son Yoo Ji-hyuk had been, for lack of a better term, the neighborhood bully during his elementary school days.
This mischief continued not just in elementary school but also throughout middle and high school, causing all sorts of trouble, but Yoo Seung-jae would always defend and cover him simply because he was his son.
It was the same with the incident from when she mentioned elementary school.
“Moreover, I hear that during middle school, he extorted money and committed violence against classmates, and in high school, he did unspeakable things to a girl in the same class.”
“Ugh…”
As his son’s shame was starkly unveiled in front of everyone, Yoo Seung-jae felt an overwhelming mix of shame, humiliation, and anger, clenching his fists.
“What? The owner’s son is a total brat?!”
“Yeah, no surprise there. I mean, if the father is like that, the son must be the same.”
He could hear whispers around him, but he forced himself to suppress his anger and stared at her.
Seo-ha, receiving his gaze calmly, read through the documents in her hand with a blank expression.
“But even a hedgehog protects its young, right? To protect such a son, you spent a sizable amount of money on hiring a competent lawyer and even slipped hush money to the school teachers, right?”
“Ugh, the father is like this, so the son would be no different…”
Feeling completely stripped bare, Yoo Seung-jae silently trembled his fists. He bit his lip so hard that a vein burst, leaving a trace of blood.
“Is that the reason for terminating the contract?”
“That’s right. And the Chairman personally asked me to convey this.”
Clearing her throat exaggeratedly, she opened her mouth as if she were holding a real letter in her hand.
“He said, ‘How can someone who can’t even educate their child manage a company? Feel grateful that I’m giving you this year as a grace period, and you better live quietly within your means.’”
“…”
The words laden with insults pierced Yoo Seung-jae’s heart more than any cursing could, and he bowed his head in response.
“…Understood. I’ll keep that in mind.”
He made a mental note to take revenge on the woman who had insulted him in front of all these people someday.
*
After the inspection team left, Yoo Seung-jae sat alone in his office, fuming and grinding his teeth.
“That kid that hasn’t even dried the blood on her head…”
As he spilled all kinds of curses, he finally began to cool down a bit, releasing the tension in his fists and leaning back in his chair.
As a businessman at heart, he was skilled at assessing the situation. In that light, it was definitely a bitter result, but it wasn’t enough to collapse entirely; he decided to plan for the future.
If next year the items supplied to Changseong were gone, he figured the profit would be at least 30% lower, if not closer to a 50% drop.
After all, he had been pouring resources into expanding manpower and increasing production equipment, believing that the items supplied to Changseong would increase.
“Anyway, I can just lay off the employees. I’m worried about the operational costs, but it’s not insurmountable.”
Yet, since entering into the contract with Changseong, he had received many offers from various parties, and there were several more contracts scheduled to be signed this year. If he could keep those intact, it would be enough of a stepping stone to get back on his feet.
Knock.
“Come in.”
Just as he was trying to regain his calm, a sudden knock on the door made him frown and respond.
“Ah, Owner! I’m sorry to bother you, but we received an urgent call from Myung-jin and the high-tech department. I think you should take it.”
“A call? What could that be about?”
He was already mentally drained, but to hear that the two companies he was most closely linked with were contacting him urgently made him feel irritated.
“Connect them to me. I’m not in the mood to go out.”
“Ah, yes, understood.”
However, he couldn’t avoid it, so he told them to dial through on his office phone, waving his hand as if to shoo away a neighborhood dog.
Sensing his displeasure, the staff quickly exited his office, and soon after, the phone on his desk rang loudly.
“Yes, this is Semi.”
– Ah, Mr. Yoo! How have you been?
“…I’ve been doing alright. What’s up?”
Despite having just been hit with a rude shock, he tried his best to keep his tone calm. Then, the voice of Owner Park from Myung-jin came over the line.
– Actually, I have some bad news to lay on you.
“Bad news? What do you mean…?”
There was absolutely no hint of regret in his tone, and Yoo Seung-jae felt a chill. He straightened his back, instinctively sensing something was off.
Owner Park continued speaking.
– The new orders set to start in the fall, we’re going to have to cancel those. We plan to assign them to Intech instead.
“No, what are you talking about…!? You confirmed that before!”
They hadn’t just worked together for one or two years; it hadn’t been long, but it had been nearly ten years of partnerships.
The news that this cooperation was now being handed over to Intech, a competitor of Semi, felt like his house was on fire.
– It’s not like I’m fresh on the scene. Why is this happening? Did I write a contract or something?
“Well, that’s not…”.
Of course, it was not going to be anything formal. It was just a verbal agreement made during a casual dinner.
– I heard your side terminated the contract with Changseong today, right? Meanwhile, Intech is about to work with Changseong.
“Changseong… reached out to Intech?!”
– Yeah, did you not know? Thanks to that, the owner of Intech was grinning from ear to ear.
Shivering.
Yoo Seung-jae finally realized the situation was far more serious than he had thought, but there was nothing he could do.
He could only slump back in his chair after hearing the one-sided notice, staring at the ceiling.
Beep beep. Beep beep.
“Yes, this is Semi.”
As his thoughts barely held together, another call came through. He answered with a weary voice.
– Ah, Mr. Yoo! Sorry for the sudden contact! For the things your company supplies, I think we can only take them for next month!
“……”
Clunk.
Yet another notice came through, and Yoo Seung-jae hung up the phone like he was running away.
What in the world is going on?
Reality felt indistinguishable.
Forget about Changseong; if the contracts with the previously contacted companies were also cut, it was obvious his sales would crash.
It would be standard practice to recommend voluntary resignations to the employees, and the very foundation of the company might shake.
Still, couldn’t he somehow survive? Although the surplus capital built up wasn’t much, if he could just endure for a while, wouldn’t time fix everything?
Just as he clung to such a threadbare hope,
Beeep! Beep beep!
Once again, the phone rang.
Perhaps out of some angry instinct, it rang even louder than before, and Yoo Seung-jae couldn’t bring himself to reach for it.
He no longer wanted to know what kind of news awaited him on the other end or to face it.
He could only wish for this nightmare of a moment to pass.
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