Chapter 13: Chapter 13

The team leader encouraged his team members.

“Mr. Kim, give it a good try. You’re like an idea bank, so this is the golden chance you can use to soundly beat your rival, Mr. Koh, from the sales department.”

“Yes, boss.”

As if he wanted to show strong determination, he clenched his fist.

Actually, he was ready to offer his own idea already.

The team leader mentioned the award idea in the morning, but Yonggu presented his own in the afternoon without any hesitation.

“Boss, I’ve got an idea about cutting costs.”

“Really? Just tell me about it.”

The team leader was delighted at that.

“We pay more than 4 million won per year for the commission fee for the customs broker, and I think we can cut down on it.”

“Oh, 4 million won!”

At that moment, Hyunwoo could see the team leader rejoicing at his idea. Then, he suddenly thought about the fee cost.

“The commission fee for the customs broker? How can we cut down on that? Do you think they can lower the fee?”

“We don’t have to ask for a lower fee. We can cut it entirely.”

“Entirely? How?”

“As far as I know, there are many companies that are handling imports and exports on their own without relying on customs brokers. Why don’t we try to deal with it without a customs broker?”

“Hummmmm, we would be doing it directly?”

With his chin on his hand, the team leader seemed to think it over.

Everybody in the office looked at the team leader and Yonggu with serious expressions, including Min Suji and Oh Sangho.

However, Hyunwoo showed no interest. Because he knew nothing about imports and exports, let alone how customs brokers worked, he wouldn’t understand it anyway.

After some hard thinking, the team leader nodded his head.

“Okay. Let’s give it a try. Then, somebody has to take care of the import and export assignment…”

The team leader looked around his team members, who had agonized expressions on their faces.

Suddenly, they all avoided his glance.

Yonggu volunteered to do it.

“Let me take care of that, sir.”

Only then did the other members let out a sigh of relief, but the team leader shook his head.

“You aren’t allowed. Don’t you know how important your current assignment is? It’s already hard for you to do it by yourself.”

“No, I can handle it with a little bit of support from other team members,” Yonggu said confidently.

Then, the team leader rekindled his interest in him.

“Support?”

“Please let two new hires help me. Then, I could show you in about two months how I can save 4 million won every year.”

“Two new hires. Do you have someone in mind?”

At this question, Min and Oh’s expressions were tense. They were well suited to take it on because they majored in trade.

However, Yonggu looked at Hyunwoo suddenly and pointed his finger at him.

“Mr Hyunwoo Jang…”

Stunned, Hyunwoo opened his eyes widely. How could he point at me, someone who knows nothing about trade? However, Yonggu was done with selecting him.

He then pointed at Min Suji and said, “Next is Min Suji.”

His choice was really something the team leader hadn’t expected at all.

Of course, the team leader thought Min could be selected because of her trade background, but his selection of Hyunwoo, not Oh Sangho, was beyond understanding.

“You want Hyunwoo?”

“Yes, I have a reason for that.”

“What is it?”

Of course, Yonggu wanted to assign him more than he could handle so that he would have no other choice than to quit. Maybe Hyunwoo could manage to do it, but this would be only the beginning of a much bigger challenge for him. Yonggu was determined to add even more work to Hyunwoo to the point that he would go crazy.

Then, Hyunwoo would be able to realize that this company wasn’t the kind of workplace for a high-school graduate.

Yonggu replied with a hopeful note, “Mr Hyunwoo Jang is ready for work, given his performance with the profit and loss statement. However, he needs to be familiar with trade-related work if he really wants to carry out his job at the purchasing department.”

“Of course he should.”

“If Mr. Jang takes on this job, he will learn about trade naturally.”

“Hummm.. You have such a plan on him. However, I wonder if he can manage his main job while taking care of material management.”

“I don’t think you should give up on him even without giving him an assignment. I think we can lessen his overburdened work if he says he really can’t stick it out anymore.”

The team leader nodded his head as if he felt that Yonggu’s idea was great.

“I have to admit that you’re very considerate.”

Hyunwoo also sympathized with Yonggu’s s explanation, but at the same time, he felt sort of uneasy because he knew that Yonggu didn’t like him.

I wonder if he has a wicked design for me.

While thinking it over, Yonggu looked at Min this time.

“Though Min know a lot about trade, she is lacking in accounting. So, I think they can make up for their weaknesses if they form a partnership.”

As soon as Yonggu said that, the team leader praised him with applause.

“Oh, that’s wonderful. You’re better than me. Just go ahead.”

“Thanks, boss. Can I see you guys at the conference room for a moment,” said Yonggu to Min and Hyunwoo.

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Yonggu walked ahead with Min and Hyunwoo following him with confused expressions.

“Just start studying about the customs-related topic, Hyunwoo. You don’t have to master every topic on customs. Just know about port of entry, customs processing, and how to compile the export and import declaration. You can manage that assignment while carrying out your main job, right?” Yonggu asked, speaking in a curt and business like manner.

“Yes, sir.”

“If you’re in doubt, ask Min, and if she can’t answer, you can then ask me. Let me give you some necessary files later for reference.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Also, try to visit the customs office often whenever you can find time to do so. There is nobody as good as a customs broker if you want to learn about customs clearance,” Yonggu said to Hyunwoo.

“Do you think the customs broker can give me any tips?”

“I don’t think so because he makes a living out of that. You have to try to learn something from him tactfully.”

“Let me try.”

“Don’t say ‘try.’ You have to get it. Why are you so unenthusiastic for a person who has experience at companies?”

Yonggu scolded him in front of others, which made him feel offended. It hurt even more because he was scolded in front of Min.

There was nothing he could do, though. Though he used to be his friend, Yonggu was neither his friend nor colleague at Aurum. He was his supervisor, to say the least.

“Okay, sir. Let me accomplish the mission by all means.”

“As I told you before, you should focus on studying accounting. Let me move your place next to my desk so that you can ask me anytime you have questions.”

“Thanks, sir.”

“There is a saying ‘time doesn’t wait for man.’ You’ve heard it before, right?”

“Yes.”

“What matters isn’t learning but putting it work. We don’t have much time, so let’s bring about a good outcome by learning it as soon as possible. Cheers, guys!”

From that moment on, Hyunwoo intensively studied customs clearance.

It wasn’t easy for him from the start. Even though he wanted to study, he couldn’t take the time to do so because he was overworked by material management.

“Are you busy, Hyunwoo? Can you double check the stock in warehouse number 3? I want you to do it now because I have to compile a report to the boss.”

As a matter of fact, material management was supposed to be taken care of by both Min and Hyunwoo, but it was Hyunwoo who got asked all the time.

It wasn’t because she avoided the work. Rather, she was anxious to help him whenever she could. On such occasions, however, Yonggu would have him run an errand and then call for her.

“Can you fax this, Min?”

Thanks to him, Min couldn’t even take a look at the warehouse, much less help Hyunwoo.

She always felt sorry about that, so she would place soft drinks or memos on his desk.

<I’m sorry, Hyunwoo. Let me treat you to a nice meal one of these days>

The more she acted like that, the more cute she became.

Also, he wasn’t that dissatisfied about taking care of material management by himself.

Without it, he would’ve spent a lot of his time running little errands anyway.

“Alright. Let me go and check the warehouse quickly,” Hyunwoo said.

There were seven warehouses for raw materials, each of which piled up with materials like a mountain. It was really challenging to check out and count the items one by one, given the wide variety of raw materials there. To make things worse, the uncooperative attitude of the production team gave him a big headache. Because there was some sort of competition between the purchasing and production teams over the boundary of material management, they were more obstructive than cooperative sometimes.

“Can you check them later because I have to unload them now.”

“Let me do my job without bothering you.”

“Why are you bothering me? I can’t drive my forklift freely because of a possible incident.”

The two members of the production team wouldn’t move out of the warehouse, with one driving the forklift and the other carrying boxes.

Hyunwoo was in a difficult position at the moment. He couldn’t afford to wait until they were done.

When Hyunwoo looked around, he found a forklift parked nearby.

He put down his files and drove the forklift to them.

At that moment, they opened their eyes wide because they hadn’t expected him to be able to drive a forklift.

“Let me chip in. Which material should I unload?”

“Oh, I can do it by myself…”

“We need to help each other. Just tell me the number of the material.”

“Okay, then. Two pallets of caster no. 13…”

Hyunwoo moved quickly, which astonished them even more. At the previous company, he was once called the forklift master, so it was only natural that they were stunned.

Maintaining a proper distance from them, Hyunwoo took out the raw material skillfully.

He quickly moved not only the pallets but also the boxes to one side.

The production team members there were aghast at his skills. It looked like Hyunwoo alone moved more pallets and boxes than both of them did.

Hyunwoo, who was done after moving the last pallet, approached them and asked,

“What else can I move now?”

“No, you’re done.”

“Really? Thanks so much. I think I have to do my work now. Ooops, I’m behind on my work. Let me do it quickly.”

Hyunwoo began counting the stocks of the warehouse in question.

They were looking at him and scratching their heads because they were done too quickly.

Actually, they estimated that it would take about one hour to do it, but they reported to the manager that it would take 20 minutes more than the estimated time.

Now, they had one hour of free time, but they couldn’t go back to their office.

If they did, the manager would certainly give them less time for their other tasks.

So, they would have to go back after idling away their free time.

They exchanged looks and walked to Hyunwoo after nodding their heads.

“Shall we help you?”