36: Chapter 36 Undercurrents

It was a morning in early March, and Seoul had not yet fully awakened. On the streets of Hongdae, there were only cleaners and early-rising motorcyclists delivering newspapers. When Chairman Wang Shunyi arrived at the office, Kim Tae-min was brewing coffee. Seeing him enter, he nodded without speaking. Chairman Wang Shunyi walked to his workstation and sat down. Just as he opened his computer, the door was pushed open.

When Zhang Junhao came in, his expression was off. Usually, he would shout "President, good morning" upon entering, but today he said nothing, walking straight to Chairman Wang Shunyi's desk and placing the folder in his hand onto the table.

"Sunyi, something has happened."

Chairman Wang Shunyi opened the folder. Inside, there was only one sheet of paper, handwritten and scrawled, but legible. "Park Chan-hyeok is planning to raise capital. He has been in contact with several investment institutions, and the scale is significant." Zhang Junhao's voice was very low, as if afraid of eavesdroppers.

"Where did you hear this?"

"I was having dinner with an old friend yesterday; he works in finance at Park Chan-hyeok's company." Zhang Junhao pulled up a chair and sat down. "He didn't go into too much detail, but the meaning was clear—Park Chan-hyeok is serious this time. He intends to take a large sum of money and expand on a large scale in the food industry. He might also acquire some small and medium-sized brands."

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't reply. He stared at the sheet of paper for a few seconds, then leaned back in his chair, taking the cap off his pen and putting it back on. Zhang Junhao had known him for nearly two years and knew this was what he did when he was thinking.

At ten in the morning, he called Park Min-ji over as well. The three of them sat in the small conference room, the door shut tight and the blinds drawn.

"You both know the news that Jun-ho brought." Chairman Wang Shunyi pushed the handwritten paper to the center of the table. "Park Chan-hyeok is planning to raise capital, and the amount could be over ten billion. If he gets the money, what will happen next?"

Park Min-ji spoke first: "A price war. He already has spicy chicken noodles and self-heating rice, and his prices are lower than ours. If he gets a large amount of capital, he can lower prices even further, or even sell at a loss, to drag us down first."

"Not just that." Zhang Junhao continued, "He might acquire our suppliers. Our konjac flour supplier also works with him. If he offers better terms, the supplier might prioritize him, and we'll have to wait."

Chairman Wang Shunyi was silent for a moment. "And distribution channels. His relationship with GS and CU is already decent. If he throws money at promotional resources, our shelf space might be squeezed out."

The conference room was quiet for a few seconds. Outside the window, pigeons were cooing; someone was feeding them on the roof of the adjacent building.

"So we can't just sit and wait to be beaten." Chairman Wang Shunyi stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker. "Three things. First, supply chain diversification. Jun-ho, go find backup konjac flour suppliers, sign at least two more. We can't rely on a single source for raw materials."

Zhang Junhao nodded.

"Second, strengthen distribution channel relationships. Minji, interact more with the procurement teams at GS and CU. Let them know we are serious about making products, not just relying on low prices for volume. Once the relationships are solid, it won't be that easy for Park Chan-hyeok to squeeze us out."

"Understood."

"Third, brand." Chairman Wang Shunyi wrote the word "Brand" on the whiteboard and drew a circle around it. "In case Park Chan-hyeok stirs up trouble in the media and smears us, we must have the ability to respond quickly. Minji needs to keep a close eye on social media; negative public opinion must be discovered and handled immediately."

Park Min-ji took notes in her notebook.

There was still a large empty space on the whiteboard. Chairman Wang Shunyi held the marker for a few seconds, then wrote another line below— "Proactive Attack". He turned around and looked at Zhang Junhao and Park Min-ji.

"I have an idea. Instead of waiting for him to attack, why don't we strike first?"

"How do we strike?" Zhang Junhao asked.

"Acquisitions. Park Chan-hyeok wants to buy others, we can too. Brands smaller than his with more potential, or suppliers and OEMs that have cooperative relationships with him." Chairman Wang Shunyi's voice was not loud, but every word was articulated clearly. "Think bigger. If we do well enough, can we turn the tables and buy Park Chan-hyeok's company?"

The conference room went quiet. Zhang Junhao and Park Min-ji exchanged glances, neither speaking.

"Of course we can't afford it now." Chairman Wang Shunyi put down the pen. "But if his financing fails, or if he runs into operational issues, the opportunity will come. I don't want a draw; I want him completely out of the game."

He sat down and looked at the two of them. "This idea might be a bit crazy. But think about it, is it completely impossible?"

Zhang Junhao was silent for a long while, then said: "It's not impossible. But there's too much to prepare."

"Then let's start preparing now."

After the meeting, Chairman Wang Shunyi called Li Dongxu into his office.

"Dongxu, help me look into the details of Park Chan-hyeok's company. Equity structure, financial status, major clients, supplier relationships, employee situation—find out as much as you can. Although he is not a listed company, there is always some public information—industry reports, recruitment ads, public data from partners. Piece these together."

Li Dongxu listened, didn't ask further questions, and only said: "Understood, President."

Over the next few days, Li Dongxu went through almost every piece of information he could find. He checked patent databases, corporate credit information websites, job posting records on recruitment platforms, and even found the resumes of several of Park Chan-hyeok's employees on LinkedIn, piecing together their organizational structure. By Friday, he took a report of over a dozen pages and knocked on Chairman Wang Shunyi's door.

"President, everything I could find is here. Some data is estimated and might not be perfectly accurate, but the general direction should be correct."

Chairman Wang Shunyi opened the report. Park Chan-hyeok Foods was established in 2018, with a registered capital of five billion and about 120 employees. Last year's sales were approximately 80 billion, with a net profit of just over 3 billion and a debt ratio of 60%. The equity structure was highly concentrated—Park Chan-hyeok himself held 65%, family members held 20%, and external investors only held 15%.

The main products were spicy chicken noodles, instant porridge, self-heating rice, and frozen foods. The distribution channels were similar to Shunyi Foods—GS, CU, Lotte Mart, and Homeplus. In terms of suppliers, there was one main supplier each for konjac flour, flour, and packaging materials, with the konjac flour supplier accounting for over 50% of their procurement volume.

Chairman Wang Shunyi closed the report and stared at the numbers on the cover for a long time. 80 billion versus 6 billion, 120 people versus 30—Shunyi Foods was far behind in terms of scale. But he noticed a few details—the debt ratio of 60% was not low; the main supplier accounted for over half of the procurement volume, creating concentrated risk; 40% of production capacity relied on OEMs, and they only had one and a half production lines of their own.

"Dongxu, dig deeper into the supplier section. Especially that konjac flour company. What are their terms with Park Chan-hyeok? When does the contract expire? Is there a possibility they could switch to working with us?"

"Understood."

In the afternoon, Park Min-ji walked in with a stack of materials.

"President, I have organized the government support fund projects. There are four we can apply for—Small and Medium Enterprise Innovation Support Fund, up to 1 billion; Export Enterprise Support Loan, up to 2 billion, with an annualized interest rate of 2.5%; Food Industry Upgrade Subsidy, up to 500 million; Youth Entrepreneurship Support Fund, up to 300 million. We meet the requirements for the first three."

Chairman Wang Shunyi flipped through the materials. Export Enterprise Support Loan—2 billion, with interest less than half the market rate, and no need to give up equity. He picked up his pen and put a checkmark next to the first item.

"Apply for the export loan first. Prepare the other two as well, take as much as we can get."

"Okay."

After Park Min-ji left, the office quieted down. Chairman Wang Shunyi leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His mind was a mess; Park Chan-hyeok's face, the numbers in the report, the "Proactive Attack" written on the whiteboard—they were all jumbled together like burnt porridge. He opened his eyes, picked up his phone, and sent a message to Zhang Junhao.

"Jun-ho, there must be progress on the konjac flour supplier matter by next week."

"Understood."

He had just put the phone down when the screen lit up again. The caller ID showed—Lee Seung-hwan, Shinhan Investment.

"President Wang, hello." The voice on the other end was still unhurried. "There is something I would like to discuss with you."

"Please go ahead."

"Park Chan-hyeok has recently contacted several investment institutions, including us at Shinhan Investment. He has proposed a financing requirement, the amount being 10 billion." Lee Seung-hwan paused. "As a shareholder of Shunyi Foods, I believe Shinhan Investment has an obligation to inform you of this situation."

Chairman Wang Shunyi's fingers tightened slightly around the phone, but his voice remained unchanged. "Thank you for the reminder, Manager Lee. May I ask, what stage has his financing reached?"

"It's still in the contact stage. He is contacting more than just us; there are several large venture capital firms and banks as well."

"Will Shinhan Investment invest in him?"

The other end of the line was silent for two seconds. "As an investment institution, we will independently evaluate each project. But considering that we are already a shareholder of Shunyi Foods, if there is a conflict of interest, we will handle it cautiously."

"I understand. Thank you again."

After hanging up, Chairman Wang Shunyi placed the phone on the desk and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. 10 billion. Park Chan-hyeok's appetite was even bigger than he had imagined. If he got this money, he could buy equipment, expand capacity, throw money at channels, and fight a price war. The advantage Shunyi Foods had built up over the past two years could be wiped out in a few months.

He stood up and walked to the window. Outside was the gray, hazy sky of Seongdong-gu. In the distance, there were a few residential buildings with colorful quilts hanging on the balconies. Downstairs, a delivery person was tying goods onto a motorcycle, one after another, moving quickly, as if competing with someone.

He stood there for a while, then returned to the desk, opened his notebook, and wrote a few words on a new page— "Supply Chain, Distribution Channels, Brand, Capital". Then he drew lines under each word and began to list the specific things to be done.

The sky outside gradually darkened. He didn't turn on the lights, just wrote by the light from outside until the handwriting became too blurred to see. Then he stopped, closed the notebook, and leaned back into his chair.

The office was very quiet, with only the sound of water flowing in the heating pipes, gurgling like someone talking underwater. He closed his eyes for a while, then stood up, picked up his coat, turned off the lights, and walked out of the office.

The motion-sensor lights in the hallway turned on and then off again. Footsteps echoed in the empty corridor, one after another, rhythmic, as if telling him—don't rush, take it one step at a time.