Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Hyunwoo’s surprise was now turning into emptiness in his heart. He was stressed out all day trying to find out how to save 4 million per year by cutting down the customs broker’s fee. Kwak’s mere mention of the annual tax refund guaranteed 20 million won suddenly. He also said that Aurum would get a tax refund every year, and that was 10 million won.

Hyunwoo was speechless, and Kwak kept talking.

“This is just based on my simple calculation. The refund could increase if each export item is reviewed individually. But in Aurum’s case, the ratio of import raw material is very low, so the simple calculation is much more advantageous to you.”

“What is individual and what is simple?”

“Oh, it will take me several hours to explain. In short, it’s called individual based on the customs duty you pay when you import, and it’s called simple based on just the amount of exports regardless of other factors.”

Still, Hyunwoo found his explanation hard to understand. Of course, he could understand the rough idea of it.

“Then what should I do if I want to claim the refund individually?”

“You have to do the research by yourself. Otherwise, just seek the customs broker’s help. That’s the way most companies handle this kind of matter.”

The more questions Hyunwoo asked, the more annoyed Kwak became.

“If I want to do research about the refund, what should I do? I would appreciate it very much if you can introduce a good book on that.”

“Well, there was one I prepared as a briefing material last year. Do you have an USB memory chip? I have a video clip on it too.”

“Sure, I have one. Here you are.”

When Hyunwoo offered it, Kwak downloaded the briefing material and the video clip onto the USB.

“Thanks so much. Can I ask you when I have questions while reviewing this material?”

After hesitating a moment, he took out his name card from his desk and gave it to him.

“Call me at this number.”

Receiving the card with both hands politely, Hyunwoo grinned at Kwak and said,

“Thanks. Don’t worry too much. Let me call you only when I badly need your help.”

Kwak didn’t say anything. Instead, he was kind of awkward because Hyunwoo had read his mind correctly, but Hyunwoo still smiled broadly. His laughing look seemed innocent, and his face showed that he was almost the same age as Hyunwoo. Maybe four or five years older or younger between them at most.

‘Looks like we have to get along just like brothers sooner or later. I think I have to make friends with Lee Yuri too.’

Vowing to come again, Hyunwoo left the customs office.

Hyunwoo didn’t rush to take care of the refund. Even if he reported it several days later, the refund would still be there. He was thinking about reporting it only after he figured out the accurate amount of the refund and the way it was calculated.

When Hyunwoo arrived at the office, Yonggu asked, “Did you find out something?”

“I met someone at the customs broker’s office and the customs officers. They say it would be very dangerous to tackle this without a correct understanding of the relevant field. I think I need to do more research on this.”

Hyunwoo said this with a negative tone. Yonggu’s face looked sullen when he said this. He felt that Hyunwoo was trying to find an excuse to avoid the job because he didn’t like it.

Yonggu raised his chin and demanded, “What’s so dangerous about?”

Hyunwoo didn’t flinch at all.

“I hear it’s not that easy to calculate the taxable customs duty amount. Factors such as addition and deduction, classification of items, identification of country of origin, etc”

As Hyunwoo talked more, Yonggu’s face became more and more getting distorted, but he didn’t retort. Though he was well versed in accounting, he knew nothing about customs clearance.

“What do you think, guys? Do you believe such factors are dangerous enough?” Yonggu asked to Min and Oh.

However, both of them didn’t reply as Yonggu wished. As if they saw eye to eye, both of them answered at the same time,

“Yes, very complicated matters.”

“Because the price is directly related to the tax, it could become a big headache later.”

Yonggu had nothing to say, just staring at Hyunwoo.

“So, what is your conclusion? You can’t take on this job?” Yonggu asked.

“Let me do some thorough research on this. If you give me two or three months for this, let me try to tackle the simple things first,” Hyunwoo said positively.

Yonggy nodded as if he had made a big concession to him.

“Ok, go ahead.”

Sitting on his desk, Hyunwoo put aside the refund and just focused on studying the customs clearance. Because he had taken out refund-related material, drawing other team members’ attention, he would have no other choice to reveal the whole fact to them. Actually, it was almost impossible for him to study customs clearance-related topics at the office because other team members, including the manager, had him run small errands constantly.

“Hey, can you pass this one over to assistant manager Koh of the sales department?”

“Can you check my computer? It gets so slow.”

“Can you copy this starting here? In an orderly manner, please”

Despite such chores, Hyunwoo didn’t complain at all. Rather, he gladly moved around to meet their requests. He did with all of his sincerity. When he was copying the material, he was trying to figure out what it was, and when he went to other departments on an errand, he tried to make friends with them. When he checked slow computers, he detected the factors that slowed down the computer’s speed and removed them. Thanks to his sincerity, they called for him more often, but he enjoyed it.

Today, Jang Dukwoo had an appointment, so Hyunwoo went home early for the first time in a long time.

He began studying about the refund topic immediately.

Turning on the computer, he inserted the USB stick Kwak gave him and checked its contents.

Prepared by Kwak himself, it was a 55-minute video where Kwak explained the customs tax refund system. Though he mentioned many difficult terms, Hyunwoo didn’t give up, repeatedly moving back and forth through the video clip. When he did so five times, he felt that he could completely understand the concepts of individual refund and simplified refund.

Unlike individual refund, simplified refund was very simple.

For example, if a company exported chairs, the refund rate was 30 won per 10,000 won. For example, the refund would be 300,000 won for the export of 100 million won.

Hyunwoo could easily calculate the estimated refund of his company, though he needed to know about its exact export statistics.

Hyunwoo always reported to work at the same time, and he sometimes bought soft drinks for the old security guards or cleaning women.

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“Please drink this”

“Oh, thanks!”

He didn’t mention anything about payback. He studied about customs clearance alone at the office very early in the morning. It was simple. All he had to do was get access to the computer website with Unipass and check the items related to import and export declaration papers one by one. He also studied the taxable amount price with which the officer manager at the customs broker bluffed him the other day. He looked up the terms of addition and deduction factors, too.

“Hummmmm…it’s pretty complicated.”

But that wasn’t a big deal because there weren’t many items that could be applied to his company. He felt that he could figure it out more clearly if he looked into his company’s imports.

“Yonggu, can I look at our company’s certificate on the import declaration paper?”

“Take this key and open cabinet #25”

He took out the certificate on the import declaration paper from the cabinet. At a glance, there were more than 100.

“Can I check out the volumes of our company’s imports and exports?”

“Are you talking about the statistics?”

“Yes, I need to know which items were imported and exported.”

Right after he said that, he instantly felt that he might have made a mistake, for he had no appropriate reply when Yonggu asked him why he needed it.

Fortunately, Yonggu didn’t ask him. Instead, he just said as if he was annoyed,

“Just go and ask the customs broker.”

“Okay, will do.”

Hyunwoo called the customs broker.

“Statistics on the imports and exports? Because it is the secret of the company involved, even we can’t take it out. You heard about Unipass, right? If you go into it, you can find almost all of the material you want.”

“Ah, Unipass. Thanks.”

After many attempts, he went back to Unipass at the end of the day.

When he looked it up, he could get access to his company’s exports and imports status on the Unipass website. To put it more accurately, Hyunwoo couldn’t because the team managers and superiors of the purchasing team didn’t give him any time to do so.

“Hyunwoo, can you sort out this file?”

“Yes, give it to me.”

“My computer has run into the same problem as before. Can you fix this?”

He spent most of his working hours at the office taking care of some small errands for them, so he had to study about the relevant Unipass topics after they left the office in the evening.

When he was left alone in the office, Min, who was cleaning her desk, approached him stealthily.

“Can I help you?”

“Nope, I’m just staying here because I have nothing to do even if I go back home. Just get off early so that you can date someone and have fun.”

“How can I date alone? See you tomorrow then. Go home early, Hyunwoo.”

Left alone, Hyunwoo focused on Unipass evenmore. Clicking each item on the export declaration paper of his company, he sorted out the materials to calculate the final refund amount on Excel.

There were only three items exported by Aurum: swivel office chair, office desk, and office cabinet. They were all codified in 10-digit HSK. For example, the swivel office chair had a unique code, which was 9401.30.3000. The desk’s was 9403.30-1000, and the cabinet’s was 9403.30-2000.

Each code had the set rate of the refund. For example, 30 won per 10,000 won for chairs and cabinets, and 40 won per 10,000 won for desks. So, the refund amount could be easily calculated by multiplying the export amount.

For the benefit of simplification and minimizing error, Hyunwoo used Excel. He could get a grasp of the total refund amount and the monthly refund at once.

Hyunwoo opened his eyes wide after he finished putting all the numbers in the program. He could see the final refund amount calculated already on the program.

His jaws dropped at that amount.

“Wow! 24 million won?”

As much as 19 millon won in refunds came from the biggest export volume of chairs, followed by 4 million won and one million won from chairs and cabinets, respectively. It was a little more than what Kwan had mentioned to him.

“Great. Let me report this tomorrow.”

The next morning.

“How much? 24 million won?”

The moment Hyunwoo mentioned the refund amount, he felt as if the team manager’s eyes were popping out, an indication of his sheer shock.

However, that wasn’t the end of Hyunwoo’s report.

“If we maintain our current exports, we can receive about 15 million won every year.”

“Oops! 15 million won every year!”

Hyunwoo smiled satisfactorily. The commission fee for the customs broker was nothing compared to the amount of the refund. He was confident that the refund would be the biggest contributing factor in cost cutting at the company.

This would justly lead to the manager’s praise.

Listening to Hyunwoo all along right next to him, Yonggu asked in a fighting tone,

“How did you get to know this, Hyunwoo?”

“What did you say?”

“I mean, how did you get to know that we were eligible for the refund?”

“Well, I visited the customs and sought their advice. Then, the customs officer tipped me off on this.”

Hyunwoo told the truth confidently. Regardless of how he got the tip on the refund, it was Hyunwoo who got to find it out.

Then, the team manager said something weird, “Looks like this isn’t your original idea.”