Chapter 29. Something Is Strange About the Commercial District Analysis Team (1)
The next morning.
The moment I arrived at work, I was summoned to the director’s office and heard unexpected news.
“Starting tomorrow, come to the president’s office instead.”
It was the first thing Director Baek said the moment I sat down.
He had taken the vacant president position at Seongun Development.
Considering he was known as one of the founding contributors of the group, the news itself wasn’t strange.
But...
Why was he telling me?
Surely he didn’t only want congratulations.
Was he planning to give me his division director position?
A terrible feeling attacked me.
If that was what he wanted, I would reject it before even hearing the details.
During the remaining year, my only goals were to build a team that could operate without me and prepare for independence.
Hiding my anxiety, I congratulated him first.
“Congratulations, President.”
“Congratulations for what? It’s only a temporary position. I’m already far past retirement age.”
No. You look far past it too.
I tightened my throat and forced the thought back down.
But why was Future Strategy Office Head Choi Taesik sitting here?
I understood immediately.
And my embarrassing misunderstanding disappeared.
“The division director position will be taken by Head Choi Taesik here. Seongun Development is finally returning to a normal structure.”
An unpleasant feeling of fullness.
My stomach churned with the kimchi soup I had drunk too early.
Moving from Future Strategy Office Head at headquarters to Integrated Development Division Director at Seongun Development.
It wasn’t a massive drop.
But it could still be called a demotion.
Not really my problem, I suppose.
Director Baek had been supporting me for a while.
Choi Taesik had started looking at me similarly.
My remaining year in the company might be completely peaceful.
“And the chairman gave you one direct assignment.”
Damn.
Apparently those two weren’t the only people above me.
“The chairman himself?”
President Baek Kangjin’s explanation was surprising.
“Future Strategy Office Head... no, Director Choi Taesik will oversee the completion and execution of the Creative Village project. You only need to assist when requested.”
Up to there, everything sounded wonderful.
Then...
They wanted me to find the future gateway location in the 4-ga metalworking district?
The chairman had personally ordered it.
The exact thing already shown by my upgraded diary app.
“Why? Is it difficult?”
“No. Not exactly...”
“Hmm. It won’t be easy. There are many variables in that area. But don’t feel too pressured. You only need to identify the best location. The Store Development Team will handle price negotiations. What do you think? Is one month enough?”
This was awkward.
They were giving me an entire month for something I could point out right now.
No reason to shorten the deadline.
They were willing to pay me a salary even if I did nothing.
How could that be bad?
Even free pocket change was welcome.
“Is there anything else you want me to handle?”
“Hmm. If you have time, why not develop a few new business concepts?”
“What kind of new businesses do you mean?”
“Shops to fill the empty parts of Creative Village. Existing franchises will enter too, but I think it would be good to create new concepts that specifically fit Creative Village.”
He really was impressive.
Had he somehow read my intention to waste an entire month?
This was actually an excellent proposal for me.
Something I had wanted to try for years.
And something I would soon need to do personally.
Now I could practice using company money.
When walking around for commercial district analysis, sometimes the problem wasn’t the commercial district.
Sometimes the business category itself was the problem.
Stores built around short-lived trends disappeared the moment the trend ended.
Tanghulu wasn’t the only example.
Taiwanese sandwich stores selling sweet condensed-milk cream with ham and egg.
The recipe was easy.
High margin.
But the advantage of being easy to make quickly became the weakness.
Similar products flooded the market.
Even convenience-store bread produced by large corporate factories could reach similar quality.
Fat macarons filled with mountains of cream were the opposite.
Their production process was so labor-intensive that owners gave up before customers did.
Like those recent chewy cookies that had almost nothing to do with Dubai despite being called Dubai cookies.
There were countless examples.
Cheap hotdog businesses that conquered the market with one-thousand-won menus eventually couldn’t handle high rent compared to customer turnover.
But what if we did the opposite?
Choose and analyze the commercial district first.
Then launch a brand designed perfectly for that district.
I had wanted to try it for a long time.
Success wasn’t guaranteed.
Everyone had areas they were good at.
I had confidence in commercial district analysis.
But planning an entirely new business, something I had never done before, wouldn’t be easy.
That work had originally belonged to the New Business Planning Team beneath the headquarters Future Strategy Office.
And now the man who used to lead that office had become my division director.
And I had just been given the opportunity to design new businesses for Creative Village.
Good.
Every business carried risk.
Most risk was concentrated at the beginning.
This was an ideal opportunity.
The company would receive the profits because it was taking the risk.
But if my project worked, I would gain experience that could help me create an even better idea later.
“Understood, President. I’ll report both assignments in one month. By the way, are my team members’ promotions confirmed?”
“Yes. Yesterday’s briefing gave more than enough justification. The announcement will probably be made tomorrow.”
“Thank you, President.”
“No need to thank me. The Commercial District Analysis Team earned it. Here. Take this.”
“What is it?”
“A company card. Take the team out for dinner. You’ll be busy again starting tomorrow, won’t you?”
If playing counted as work, maybe we would be busy...
Well, I had never received a company card before.
No reason to refuse.
“Thank you, Presideeeent?”
Slide.
Choi Taesik, or rather the new division director, held out another card.
“...Use this instead. It’s my personal card.”
“What? Why?”
“Company cards always make people nervous, don’t they? There’s no spending limit you need to worry about. Use it freely. Consider it a small reward for this project. It helped me greatly. I hope we work well together from now on.”
What was this?
This man was surprisingly aggressive.
I already had a card in my wallet without any meaningful limit...
