Chapter 49
Bongau-tang.
The article would appear next Wednesday.
The planned bankruptcy fraud I had learned about from the future message...
Was now right in front of us.
That meant the Monday Han Danghyun had promised payment...
Would come and go without a single won arriving.
Knowing that...
I could not simply sit and watch.
CEO Jeong and Manager Kwon discussed the delayed payment...
Yet somehow their conversation still ended with praise for Han Danghyun.
I could no longer stay quiet.
I approached them and shouted.
“CEO, we need to stop tomorrow's Bongau-tang broth shipments immediately!”
CEO Jeong tilted his head in surprise.
“What?”
Han Danghyun would flee overseas after converting the franchise deposits, fees, and WG Food's unpaid supply payments into dollars.
The future article said WG Food would fail to recover even a single won of hundreds of millions in receivables...
And would face chain bankruptcy.
That article kept flashing through my mind.
So I could not stop myself.
“We need to suspend tomorrow's shipments immediately.”
“Why?”
“CEO.”
“Manager.”
I looked at both of them.
“The fact that the second payment from headquarters has been delayed like this is too dangerous to dismiss as a simple system error.”
“That may be true, but these things do sometimes happen with large companies...”
Manager Kwon tried to answer.
But I continued.
“Our factory is producing for one hundred and thirty stores.”
“We've already maximized raw-material purchases on credit from livestock vendors.”
“Sales are growing, so obviously we need more ingredients if we're building inventory.”
“Exactly.”
“Which is why shipping another enormous weekend production volume based only on a verbal promise that everything will be paid Monday is far too risky.”
Manager Kwon and I were completely divided.
CEO Jeong and Manager Kwon trusted Han Danghyun.
More accurately...
They wanted to trust him.
At this point, they almost needed to.
But I continued warning them from the perspective of someone on the ground.
“Until Monday morning's payment is fully confirmed, we should temporarily hold every broth shipment scheduled to leave starting tomorrow.”
Manager Kwon frowned.
“Then what?”
“You want all one hundred and thirty stores to close?”
“No.”
“Han Danghyun won't allow that.”
“Then what are you suggesting?”
“We send headquarters a strong formal payment warning and pressure them in writing.”
“That protects our money.”
The stores had only been open for two days.
If WG Food threatened to stop broth shipments...
There was no chance Han Danghyun would simply accept it.
My real goal was to pressure them for payment and leave an official warning trail.
But...
“Come on, Assistant Manager Choi.”
Manager Kwon gently touched my shoulder while glancing at CEO Jeong.
“You've been working too hard lately.”
“I think you're becoming overly sensitive.”
“Manager...!”
“I know your warning is reasonable.”
“But you also know stopping shipments isn't realistic.”
WG Food had already been intoxicated by the glamorous launch ceremony...
And by the franchise network's sales figures worth tens of billions of won.
“DD Consulting owns buildings in Gangnam.”
“Bongau-tang commercials are appearing after national news broadcasts.”
“They're a major partner.”
CEO Jeong finally spoke.
“Exactly.”
“Customers are lining up at stores nationwide and the branches are raking in money.”
“Why would a company like that delay a few hundred million won?”
“CEO, but...”
“When you work with large companies, payments sometimes get delayed for several days because of fund execution procedures.”
“That's common in distribution.”
Manager Kwon backed him up.
“Assistant Manager Choi.”
“If we make a fuss about holding shipments and upset CEO Han...”
“What if they cancel the contract?”
“How would a small company like ours survive the damages?”
“...”
“He personally promised the full payment will come next week.”
“Let's wait.”
“We'll have to apologize to our suppliers for a few days, but...”
CEO Jeong wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
“We still can't destroy trust with a major partner.”
They had fallen completely into the scammer's glamorous fake bubble.
They could not see the approaching destruction at all.
“...Understood.”
“I'm sorry.”
There was nothing more I could do here.
I could not convince them.
Not unless I suddenly shouted that I knew the future.
There was no way to change their minds...
Or the minds of one hundred and thirty franchise owners.
So I had no choice but to keep moving independently behind the scenes.
If Han Danghyun intended to carry out his planned bankruptcy scam...
Then I had my own plan too.
Late at night in Seoul.
Between the towering office buildings...
One office remained brightly lit.
DD Franchise Consulting headquarters.
Inside...
A strange silence mixed with greedy excitement.
Han Danghyun tapped the diamond-covered luxury watch on his wrist while staring at one spot.
A twisted smile of victory hung on his thick lips.
Team Leader Oh, one of his closest accomplices and subordinates...
Bent forward in front of a laptop.
“CEO Han.”
“The first review of the fund-settlement route is complete.”
“Some of the corporate funds have already gone through a Hong Kong ghost exchange.”
“They've been converted into dollars and laundered through cryptocurrency.”
“Good.”
“Now all that's left is the money those franchise bastards are supposed to send by the weekend deadline.”
Han Danghyun twisted his lips.
“Why are these bastards taking so long to pay?”
“Give them a little time.”
“We told them that if the payment isn't confirmed by the weekend, no products will be delivered starting Monday.”
“You should've threatened them, not just told them.”
“They saw the first week's sales with their own eyes.”
“They'll find a way to make the fifty million won.”
Team Leader Oh carefully watched Han Danghyun's mood.
“Once all 6.5 billion won is confirmed Monday morning...”
“I'll run it through the laundering route immediately.”
“Good.”
“And check our LA flight again.”
“Yes.”
“Tuesday afternoon.”
Han Danghyun leaned his head back and laughed loudly.
“Ha ha!”
“So this miserable life of chasing money is finally almost over.”
“That's right.”
“This project is finally coming to an end.”
“Ah.”
“Tell the franchise owners about that fifty million again.”
“Make it sound like a threat.”
