Chapter 9: Chapter 9

“I’m really glad to see you. Actually, I felt that you might be a difficult guy because of your family background. However, I really appreciate it because you’re making me at home like this,” Hyunwoo said.

They exchanged warm greetings with each other and the sat down for the main purpose of their meeting.

Hyunwoo took out a notebook. Originally, he had been planning to ask some core points and end the session quickly. Given Jang’s character, however, he changed his mind and came forward frankly and said,

“To be honest, I’m a high school graduate. I don’t know anything about trade, but I was suddenly assigned to the purchase department. I think they’re going to give me a task sooner or later, but I don’t know anything.”

“Oh, I see. I heard a bit from Nami. However, the gist of your point is different.”

“Different?”

“I thought you were interested in simple trade terms. Well, learning trade terms is like touching the legs of elephants. What really matters is the flow.”

“Flow?”

“Let me explain it to you with an example about a car. The car takes a person or a bag to a distant place.”

“That’s right.”

“In fact, this is the most important when you understand a car. What is the point of knowing the function of the steering wheel, brake system, or emergency light when the learner doesn’t know what the function of a car is?”

“You mean I need to understand the business flow of the purchase department before understanding the trade terms, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Jang nodded his head.

“There is some difference, depending on the company. However,t the role of the purchase department is more or less the same. Negotiating the unit price, searching the material, placing orders, maintaining the transaction history, maintaining the materials costs, maintaining PSI, etc.”

Hyunwoo’s head was spinning suddenly. He felt as he had been knocked out by the difficult trade terms.However, he didn’t need to worry.

“Very difficult, right? It’s very simple, though. For example, imagine buying a T-shirt. You know what kind of T-shirt you want in terms of color, design, and material, right? You’re looking for a company that sells that kind of T-shirt. You also have to set the purchase price at a certain level. That price would be the level at which you wouldn’t incur losses when you have to sell back. Then you’re starting negotiations with various companies…”

Jang’s easy explanation was really easy for him to understand. Suddenly, Hyunwoo seemed to see his bright future. When he grasped the overall picture of the business flow of the purchase department, he could understand the trade term details, too.

“That why intercoms terms are necessary. Profit and loss calculation are only possible when a company can figure out the actual payment costs. It’s really difficult to get the cost of manufacture.”

“Of course. That’s why the applicants who know how to draw up a profit and loss statement are preferred.”

In Hyunwoos’ mind, the core function of the purchase department was the profit and loss statement. Because they could find out what price the bottom line was when purchasing raw materials, that was the only time when they could clearly figure out the profit and loss statement.

If they put the manufacturing cost lower than the actual cost by wrongly calculating the profit and loss statement, it could happen that the more products they make and sell, the more money they will lose.

“By the way, if you know the principle of the profit and loss statement, it’s not that difficult. Also, it will be a big plus if you know how to use Excel because all you have to do is put the data in the existing formula, assuming the date is more accurate.”

Hyunwoo suddenly felt a sense of explosive confidence.

Most of the factories Hyunwoo worked at didn’t have many employees, and he was always the youngest. So, wherever he went, it was his task to take care of the computer. Accordingly, he had many chances to use Excel and got to know how to use its many applications. So, when it came to Excel and Hangul, he was confident that his knowledge in the field was as good as that of professionals.

Hyunwoo’s eyes were glittering.

“Formula? How can I make it?”

“Well, it’s difficult for me to explain in words. Let me explain to you tomorrow with the same one our company uses.”

“Is it okay to do so?”

“No worries. I made the program by myself, and I can erase the business secrets before bringing it here.”

Hyunwoo grabbed his hands and said, “Thanks so much. Thanks.”

Yu Mina smiled with a satisfactory look on the side.

***

Hyunwoo was busy as usual in the office. When someone was trying to copy or fax some documents, he stood up quickly to help that person.

“Let me do it for you.”

Though there was a lot he should learn, he didn’t hurry up to do the work. Rather, he was slow. If someone saw him, they would most likely feel that he was doing his best to finish the work neatly.

However, he did that for a different reason.

“Oh, this is an invoice. This is also a packing list.”

Copying and faxing the documents on their behalf was another way to learn for Hyunwoo. He carefully checked what kind of documents his superiors at the purchase department were handling in the main, how the documents were sorted out, and how they were written.

Among the documents he was handed were the cost of manufacturing statements and the profit and loss statements. Usually, he would’ve skipped them after looking at the titles, but he was different now. He examined each of the details there.

After he was done, he went back to his desk and took notes. The notes were about the list of documents the purchase department handled in the main.

And in the evening, he met Jang Dukwoo and asked him about what he took notes of.

“How do you compose an invoice?’

“Brother, I’ll tell you.”

Whenever Jang met Hyunwoo, Yu Nami was always present.

Thanks to her presence, both Hyunwoo and Jang were never bored.

Hyunwoo held Jang and Yu until midnight, and he called for them even on weekends for intensive learning. Usually on weekends, Hyunwoo went mountain climbing with his parents and old men in his neighborhood, but as it happened to be the rainy season, he just concentrated on studying.

Thanks to hard work, Hyunwoo now reached the stage where he would only look up some unfamiliar words while browsing books.

Monday.

Team manager Yang Suchol, assistant managers Kim Yonggu, and Jo Daeyoung gathered at the conference room.

Yang was full of expectation.

“Finally, it’s about time we could confirm the new hires’ capabilities. What would be the right task for them? Mr. Kim, do you have a good idea?”

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When he asked, Kim Yonggu made a satisfactory smile.

In fact, Kim had been waiting for this day. Also, he found out the right task for the new hires, especially for Hyunwoo.

“I think we had better assign them difficult tasks,” Kim said.

Yonggu’s standing in the purchase department was secure. As soon as he got hired, he took care of all the work related to calculating the costs of manufacturing and profit and cost statements. In addition, he was tasked with the work related to import and export, becoming the central figure of the purchase department.

Though his title was assistant manager, he was more versatile in the field than the manager. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the purchase department was organized around Kim Yonggu.

As such, Yonggu’s opinion was positively accepted by the manager.

“I think you’re right,” Yang said.

“As you know, the core of the purchase department’s work is producing profit and cost statements. I think it would be good to assign them the task of producing the profit and cost statement on the raw materials from Taiwan.”

Manager Yang’s eyes opened wide at Kim’s suggestion. It was the kind of work to be handled not by new hires but by experienced employees. Actually, it was a tough job for not only section chiefs Han Sanghun and Jang Youngchol but also assistant manager Jo Daeyoung to produce such a profit and loss statement on their own.

“Don’t you think it’s too much for them?”

“It’s a test for them, anyway. It’s good for us to give them a sense of confidence by assigning some easy work, but I think it would be better for them to feel some sort of inadequacy in their abilities by tackling an assignment they couldn’t even think of.”

“Then, who would you want to assign that task?”

“Why don’t we assign it to the three new hires equally?”

“What? Three of them?”

Manager Yang’s mouth fell open. Among the three Yonggu pointed to was high-school graduate Hyunwoo, who didn’t know anything about accounting.

“Do you want to give the work to Jang Hyunwoo, too?”

“Yes, I don’t think we should discriminate against him because he’s a high school graduate. He should compete with his colleagues on equal footing. He should try harder if he is lacking in his capabilities.”

“What if he gives up along the way?”

“If that happens…”

Yang waited for his reply with his eyes open wide.

“Even though the president hired him specifically, we should have him leave the company at that point.”

Yang didn’t hide his surprised look, for he clearly remembered what the president had requested him when he decided to hire Hyunwoo. “Teach him well.”

His request meant Hyunwoo shouldn’t be fired just because he was lacking in capabilities. What the president meant was he should help Hyunwoo develop his capabilities.

Now, Kim was pushing for his voluntary resignation.

However, Kim was determined to push for his suggestion.

“I’m not saying we should force out Jang Hyunwoo. Far from it.”

“Far from it?”

“What I mean is just teach him clearly how the purchase department operates, and this would be an opportunity for him to awaken. I think the president would understand us if he gets weeded out because of his inability to overcome the challenge.”

“Um….”

The team leader was very much troubled by that. After all, he carried his weight behind Yonggu’s opinion.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

“Thanks. And as this task is kind of a mission, I think we have to give a penalty to the lowest performer.”

“Penalty?”

“A kind of stimulant.”

The team leader made an interesting expression.

“Do you have in mind any particular penalty?”

“Well, let’s assign the work of material control.”

At that moment, the team leader’s eyes became wide.

Originally, the purchase team was part of the production support team. As the company grew, however, it was divided into the purchase team and the production team.

It was impossible to divide the work between them clearly.

Material control belonged to that gray area. Because there was no clear line, the purchase team and the production team were handling material control together.

In short, it was a hot political potato to them.

Obviously, those assigned wanted to turn it over to the other team because they didn’t like any additional work.

In a way, assigning the job to the new hires meant that the production team was virtually taking over material control.

However, Yonggu’s explanation cleared the team leader’s misunderstanding.

“Material control needs lots of hands. If we let the lowest performer assist in Jo and Lee Kangho, we will have a more efficient workflow. Of course, the lowest performer has to carry out his own job.”

Only then did the team leader’s face light up. Actually, he was thinking of getting one of the new hires to take care of material control. He felt Hyunwoo was the most qualified for the job, and the lowest performer of this mission would be Hyunwoo without any question. Looked like things would work out as planned.

Assistant Jo Daeyoung was as busy as ever.

Material control was more like factory work than an office job. In other words, it was the most detested job within the purchase team.

So, the team leader had Hyunwoo in mind for it. Though he wasn’t good at office work, he would be the right fit for this manual job.

If Hyunwoo would have to help others as his penalty, he would be expected to take on all kinds of chores.

Suddenly, he imagined some strange things.

‘Either Min Suji or Oh Sangho wouldn’t be the lowest performer and come as a helper, surely?”