Chapter 31
I glanced through the meeting room door at Lee Sejun, who was sitting in the office.
One thing was certain.
That bastard's cheap little act would not last much longer.
Because I was going to expose every ugly truth behind it.
Even after Im Sanghyeon left the meeting room first, I remained there for quite a while.
The meeting room was empty.
The trend analysis and advertising copy I had written still covered the whiteboard.
But my eyes were fixed only on the performance grades displayed on the screen.
An [A] beside my name.
And what pulled my attention even more...
The [B] beside Lee Sejun's name.
“This makes no sense.”
Even after I produced results this enormous...
That bastard was still directly below me at B rank.
“Fake marts created through landlord connections...”
I quietly repeated Im Sanghyeon's theory.
At first, it sounded like the kind of extravagant trick a rich family might pull.
But my instincts, built through years of field sales, were telling me something completely different.
Distribution was a business of margins and logistics costs.
No matter how prideful some rich young master was...
Would he really maintain fake marts while accepting tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of won in negative margins every month?
With absolutely no practical benefit?
Would he destroy the company's pricing structure just for that?
Everything about it was suspicious.
This was not simple vanity.
To make something like this possible...
There had to be someone approving and protecting his actions.
Manager Jang Woojin.
I did not even need to think hard about it.
They were an obvious pair.
There had to be something large and cunning enough that even Manager Jang would willingly close his eyes to it.
Something that also guaranteed Lee Sejun a profit.
“There is something I don't know.”
“Something seriously rotten...”
I cleaned up the meeting room and opened the door.
When I returned to the office, the celebratory atmosphere was still going strong.
WG Food's sales were continuing to rise sharply because of the instant rice boom.
An employee from the marketing team was shouting while staring at real-time sales figures.
Other assistant managers were overwhelmed with congratulatory flower arrangements and calls from clients.
I stood at the center of all that attention.
But my mind was focused only on one dark corner.
Lee Sejun's desk.
He had his phone against his ear and was whispering urgently about something.
It was clearly not an instant rice order.
The moment I approached his area, Lee Sejun flinched and immediately ended the call.
Then he began typing as if nothing had happened.
Perhaps even he realized how suspicious that looked.
He spoke first.
“Oh, Assistant Manager Choi.”
“What?”
“Ah... congratulations.”
His congratulation had thorns all over it.
“You grabbed the major corporations by the hair and became quite the hero.”
His lips twisted nastily.
His words were full of sarcasm.
But more importantly...
His eyes were trembling slightly.
Anxiety.
Something the normally arrogant Lee Sejun would never have shown.
Because I saw that...
I immediately answered.
“Thanks.”
“You did pretty well too, Assistant Manager Lee.”
“You defended B rank after securing the Damyang account and all those other new clients.”
“You must've worked very hard.”
I deliberately smiled calmly.
His expression darkened instantly.
Lee Sejun clenched the fist resting beside his keyboard.
Then he looked into my eyes.
“Don't worry about me.”
“You should worry about protecting your own results.”
“People who row too hard when the tide comes in sometimes overturn their own boat.”
With that, he pushed himself away from the desk and headed toward the break room.
Watching his back...
I could not stop the corner of my mouth from rising.
It was a typical reaction from someone hiding something.
Avoidance.
He probably thought continuing the conversation would be dangerous.
I returned to my seat and looked at my computer.
Then I logged into WG Food's internal system.
CEO Jeong had given me full authority over matters related to WG Instant Rice.
Because of that authority, the range of company data I could access had expanded enormously.
Not only could I view logistics data for the entire sales department...
I could now access detailed account ledgers for other assistant managers.
This was my chance.
I grabbed the mouse and opened the list of new accounts Lee Sejun had created around Gwangju and nearby areas.
[Hansarang Mart]
[Kium Mart]
[Sunsu Mart]
[Duri Mart]
[Hantae Mart]
...
Detailed account information filled the screen.
Business registration numbers.
Owner names.
Opening dates.
And most importantly...
Supply prices and monthly order volume.
I arranged everything so I could compare it at a glance.
Then...
“...Holy shit.”
I could not believe my eyes.
“How is this even possible?”
Numbers did not lie.
But the numbers on my screen completely violated common sense in the distribution industry.
The first problem was the supply price.
WG Food had two long-running products that still ranked among our highest-selling items.
They were also some of the company's highest-margin products.
WG Spicy Seasoning Sauce.
WG Galbi Sauce.
They were true cash cows.
The official shipment price for one box of these large-volume sauces was around 45,000 won.
Even when supplying a huge retail network like Shinwoo Department Store...
We could never normally go below 40,000 won.
Occasionally, some accounts received them for 38,000 or 39,000 won.
But those were clients ordering enormous quantities.
Or people personally connected to CEO Jeong.
Or companies with some deep and long-standing relationship with WG Food.
Yet these unknown little marts around Gwangju...
Were receiving them for...
30,000 won.
