NOVEL NEXT 50
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
Thud. Choi Yeo-hae set down her empty wine glass on the table. It contrasted with my untouched glass.
“May I ask why?”
“CEO Song. What’s the rush?”
Choi Yeo-hae countered, leaning back deeply in her chair.
“Why are you acting like you’re being chased? If you run looking only ahead, you’ll get hurt. A business needs a solid foundation, you know.”
I knew that better than anyone.
“Too much greed leads to trouble. From my perspective, it’s time to strengthen your core rather than grow further.”
“……”
“Don’t open too many branches. Nurture them one by one with care. The headquarters’ revenue structure is fundamentally based on shared franchise sales, right? If the franchises falter, the headquarters will inevitably struggle.”
Choi Yeo-hae’s words were theoretically correct.
Risk management is essential from a corporate perspective. As Choi Yeo-hae said, expanding franchises one by one in order would be a winning strategy to reduce the risk of failure and increase the chances of success.
But that formula doesn’t always apply to the franchise business.
Consider how each franchise sign is essentially an advertisement board,
And even more so given that I’m running
“CEO.”
I leaned forward and said,
“I’m not acting like I’m being chased. I am being chased.”
“What?”
“Do you know why Han Do Construction is stuck at 15th place in the industry instead of being number one?”
Choi Yeo-hae flinched, seemingly annoyed by my statement. She glanced at me and smirked before speaking.
“You’d better watch what you say. That happens to be my Achilles’ heel, you know.”
“You must have seen countless reports. You’ve heard analyses filled with all sorts of numbers. But in my opinion, there’s only one reason why Han Do Construction hasn’t risen to the top of the industry.”
“Oh? And what’s that?”
Choi Yeo-hae shrugged as if to say, “Go on, let’s hear it.” Like watching a puppy fearlessly confronting a tiger.
She probably thinks it’s just youthful bravado.
“Let’s say these two wine glasses represent Han Do Construction and the top company in the industry. The industry leader was an early starter, while Han Do Construction was a late entrant that began running much later, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then we can view the scale of the businesses like this.”
Glug.
I filled my glass to the brim with wine. In contrast, Choi Yeo-hae’s glass was already half-empty from her drinking.
The full glass represents the top company, and Choi Yeo-hae’s glass represents Han Do Construction.
“How should this wine glass catch up to the other one?”
“Well. Should I keep filling it and drink until I’m plastered?”
“You’re right.”
Glug, I poured more wine once again.
Now the levels in the two wine glasses were quite similar.
“But you see.”
However, it couldn’t be this easy to catch up.
“While Han Do Construction is growing, do you think the top company is just sitting idle?”
“……”
“Won’t the top company continue to grow in its own way?”
I poured more wine into the top company’s glass.
“Then we’ll just grow more too.”
Glug.
“When we do, the top company will grow as well.”
Glug.
“Will they just grow? They’ll devour smaller companies, invest in new fields, and use their enormous funds to become even bigger.”
Glug glug glug.
Before we knew it, the gap between the two wine glasses had widened. The glass symbolizing the top company was now filled to the brim, wine sloshing near the rim.
“…What are you getting at?”
Choi Yeo-hae glared at me with fierce eyes.
“Are you mocking me? Saying we’ll never catch up so we should give up, is that it?”
“Not at all.”
You seem quite irritated. That look would have made anyone else’s knees wobble.
Fortunately, I had some immunity to it, so I could at least manage a grin.
“It means we can never close this gap with ordinary methods. When I’m running in sneakers, the opponent is driving a car.”
That’s why it’s hard to beat the top company.
“Your words are correct, CEO. If the goal was to make
“You….”
“But I’m aiming for this.”
I tapped the full wine glass as I spoke.
“To beat a car with sneakers, don’t we need to run like mad? Full speed ahead, looking only forward.”
Choi Yeo-hae stared at me for a moment before blurting out,
“Hyeonmu.”
That name, always etched in a corner of my mind, rang out.
“The number one in this industry would be Hyeonmu, right? CEO Song, you’re targeting Hyeonmu?”
“That’s right.”
“Now this is interesting.”
Choi Yeo-hae smirked as she brushed back her hair.
“You’re a more intriguing character than I thought.”
A chuckle escaped through her teeth. Choi Yeo-hae looked back and forth between me and the wine glasses as if measuring something.
I know that look. It’s the face of someone calculating profits and losses.
Before, it was investing in a startup just getting off the ground. Naturally, the investment amount wasn’t large, and even if lost, it wouldn’t have mattered much.
But the investment I’m asking for now is on a different scale.
She’ll need to scrutinize everything much more meticulously. Starting from points she previously considered trivial, step by step.
“CEO Song.”
Choi Yeo-hae tapped the report lying on the table as she spoke.
“Shared franchise revenue alone isn’t enough. You know you need other revenue structures, right?”
“Of course.”
“I can cover the amount you need right now. But if you want more than that.”
If you’re aiming for number one, for Hyeonmu.
“Next time, you’ll need to bring me an even more interesting report than this.”
“As much as you’d like.”
I was confident.
Confident that I could eventually extract a ‘yes’ from Choi Yeo-hae’s lips.
“You’ll need to prepare a hefty sum of cash by then.”
“I like this kind of audacity.”
Choi Yeo-hae laughed heartily as she raised her full wine glass.
“Come on, drink up. We’re going to devour all these bastards someday, aren’t we?”
“Haha. Don’t mind if I do.”
I picked up my wine glass, carefully avoiding spilling its contents, and managed to clink glasses with a “Cheers.”
Gulp. After emptying the glass, I started to wrap up the meeting.
“Thank you for your valuable time today, CEO.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. There are two things I find entertaining these days—one is CEO Song, and the other is my husband’s bank account. You know?”
Why Lee In-cheol’s bank account?
“It used to be full of negative balances that I always had to cover, but now he’s earning money on his own, and it’s so endearing.”
Just your typical doting wife. Choi Yeo-hae chuckled softly and sought my agreement.
“Isn’t it cute? He’s trying to do something on his own, opening a shop and all~ I hear he’s even expanded and relocated because business is going well. Right?”
“I’ll be taking my leave now.”
There’s no reason to listen any further. Who’s cute? Choi Yeo-hae must be the only person in the world who finds the gray-haired In-cheol cute.
They truly are a perfect match.
“Let’s meet as a trio next time.”
“Yes.”
I bowed once more to Choi Yeo-hae and turned to leave.
‘Another revenue structure.’
I mulled over the condition Choi Yeo-hae had mentioned.
‘Is it time to take the next step?’
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Click!
“Wow~ Look at this?”
Kang Yu-ha whistled as she checked the photo captured on her camera. It showed Song Woo-yeon coming out of a 5-star hotel.
It didn’t seem like she was enjoying a hotel staycation or anything like that. Judging by how she went in with a bundle of documents and came out empty-handed, it was likely a business meeting.
“Something smells fishy here.”
The more she dug, the more intriguing this person became.
From
“Song Woo-yeon….”
A rising star that appeared like a comet.
They say she’s barely twenty. How on earth did she have the money to accomplish all this?
“At first, I thought she might be from a chaebol family. But there’s no ‘Song’ family that fits the bill. Could she be using her mother’s surname?”
It’s not uncommon for children born out of wedlock to do so, so the possibility couldn’t be completely ruled out.
But when Kang Yu-ha followed Song Woo-yeon, she entered a shabby villa that seemed too modest for a chaebol’s illegitimate child.
‘Hm. Maybe not a chaebol family after all?’
Feeling sheepish about possibly barking up the wrong tree, Kang Yu-ha scratched the back of her head.
But no matter how much she crunched the numbers, the scale of the franchise business seemed too large to have been expanded solely through profits from
And then there was today. A fledgling company having a business meeting at a 5-star hotel?
Moreover, when she checked the elevator floor, it was the top floor.
‘There’s something here. There’s definitely something….’
Kang Yu-ha licked her lips and stared at the villa Song Woo-yeon had entered through the car window.
“I’ll uncover what it is.”
Whether she’s receiving slush funds from somewhere or if she’s just a figurehead CEO. Kang Yu-ha vowed to thoroughly expose the secrets.
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“Huh?!”
Oh no. I dozed off.
Kang Yu-ha straightened up hurriedly. It was still before dawn, the sun yet to rise. There was plenty of time before work hours, so it should have been fine to catch a few winks.
Yaaaawn.
Just as she was about to close her eyes again after a long, stretching yawn,
“?!”
She saw Song Woo-yeon heading out!
The current time was 5:30 AM.
With plenty of time left before work hours, where on earth could she be going?
Kang Yu-ha reflexively picked up her camera. She zoomed in to capture Song Woo-yeon’s upper body through the lens.
Her attire was quite casual.
It made sense, given that summer was in full swing. A short-sleeved shirt and shorts. It didn’t look like work attire.
‘I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll follow her!’
After tailing Song Woo-yeon for a good 5 hours.
When she entered the train station, Kang Yu-ha hastily booked a ticket for the same train to keep up…!
“W-what.”
Kang Yu-ha found herself muttering under her breath.
“Why on earth is she here…?!”
It was a place she never expected.