40: Chapter 40 Integration

The signing took place at a law firm in Jongno District. The conference room was small, with the curtains half-drawn, and the sky outside was gray. Lawyers from both sides sat on opposite sides of the long table, flipping through the final version of the agreement. Park Chan-hyeok sat by the window, wearing the same dark gray suit, but he looked like he had shrunk; no matter how neatly his tie was knotted, it couldn't hide the wrinkles on his neck. His hand trembled as he signed, and his fountain pen left an extra ink mark on the paper.

Chairman Wang Shunyi sat across from him, signed the last page, capped his pen, and placed it on the table.

No one said, "Happy cooperation." This kind of acquisition could hardly be called happy.

Park Chan-hyeok stood up and glanced at Chairman Wang Shunyi. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing and turned to walk out. His lawyer and financial advisor packed up their files and trotted after him. The sound of footsteps in the corridor quickly faded toward the elevators.

Chairman Wang Shunyi remained seated. Zhang Junhao whispered something to the lawyer, then walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go, President."

"Yeah."

Outside the law firm, it was still raining. Zhang Junhao went to the underground garage to get the car, while Chairman Wang Shunyi waited at the entrance. The slanting rain drifted in, hitting his face, feeling cool. He looked up at the sky; it was gray-white, without clouds or sun—just the kind of overcast day that made one feel listless.

The car arrived, and he opened the door and got in. Zhang Junhao started the engine, and the windshield wipers swung back and forth, making a rhythmic creaking sound.

"Jun-ho, the real battle starts now."

"I know. 120 people, an 80 billion won business—integrating that into our small company of 30 people won't be easy."

"First, stabilize the morale." Chairman Wang Shunyi leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes. "If people leave, all that's left will be a mess."

Three days after the acquisition was completed, Chairman Wang Shunyi held an all-staff meeting at the Park Chan-hyeok Foods headquarters. The building was in the Guro District and was much larger than the Shunyi Foods office; the first floor alone was over 200 square meters. The conference room could seat 200 people. Chairman Wang Shunyi stood at the front, a microphone placed before him, its cord dragging on the floor, taped down.

The room was packed. On the left were the 30 people from Shunyi Foods, and on the right were the 120 from Park Chan-hyeok Foods. An aisle separated the two sides, like a boundary line.

Chairman Wang Shunyi bowed first.

"Hello everyone, I am Chairman Wang Shunyi, the President of Shunyi Foods. Starting today, Park Chan-hyeok Foods is officially merged into the Shunyi Foods Group. Each and every one of you here is a member of the new company."

The room was quiet. On the right, some people were expressionless, some were looking down at their phones, and others were staring at him with their arms crossed.

"I know what you are thinking—the company has been acquired, so will there be layoffs? Will benefits change? Is my original position still here?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the unfamiliar faces on the right.

"First, no layoffs. As long as you are willing to stay, your positions and salaries will remain unchanged. Second, the management structure will be adjusted; some departments will be merged, and some processes will be optimized. This is not to drive people away, but to ensure the company survives longer. Third, Park Chan-hyeok Foods previously had some issues—unstable product quality, chaotic supply chains, and poor financial status. I will solve these one by one."

Some people on the right began to look up at him.

"If anyone does not want to stay, you can choose to resign. The compensation due will be paid in full, not a penny less. But if you choose to stay—" his voice deepened, "—you must follow the new rules. You can ask your colleagues on the left how Shunyi Foods makes its products. Quality, efficiency, and respect for consumers—these cannot be compromised."

After the meeting ended, the crowd slowly dispersed. A few veteran employees from Park Chan-hyeok Foods came over to shake his hand and said things like, "Thank you for your hard work, President." Others left directly, looking displeased.

Chairman Wang Shunyi asked Zhang Junhao to arrange the upcoming visitation schedule. Production, sales, R&D, finance—every department had to be visited, and everyone had to be met.

The production department had the biggest problems.

Park Chan-hyeok Foods had two contract factories, one in Incheon and one in Pyeongtaek. Chairman Wang Shunyi went to the one in Incheon first. The factory area was small, with two old machines running. The products on the conveyor belt were crooked, and the sealing machine occasionally misaligned. The workshop director, surnamed Jiang, was in his forties and had been in the industry for twenty years; when he spoke, he didn't look at people, but stared at the machines.

"Director Jiang, how long has this machine been in use?" Chairman Wang Shunyi patted the casing of the sealing machine, which had a thin layer of grime on it.

"Seven years. If maintained well, it can still hold up."

"The seal sometimes goes off-center, right?"

Director Jiang didn't answer.

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't press him. He walked to the end of the production line, picked up a freshly sealed product, and examined it thoroughly. The seal was indeed crooked, and there was a slight wrinkle at the corner. He handed it to Zhang Junhao, who took a look and frowned.

"Director Jiang, this line will no longer be used." Chairman Wang Shunyi placed the product back on the conveyor belt. "The orders for the Incheon and Pyeongtaek factories will all be transferred to our own factory. Equipment will be updated, processes optimized, and quality unified."

Director Jiang looked up and finally met his eyes. "What about the workers at these two factories?"

"Those who are willing to come can work at our factory. There will be shuttle buses for those who live far away. Those who don't want to come can take their compensation and leave."

Director Jiang was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

Park Min-ji was overseeing the sales channels. She went to the GS25 headquarters and spent an entire afternoon talking with the supervisor of the purchasing department, Manager Kim. When she returned, she brought a stack of documents and placed them on Chairman Wang Shunyi's desk.

"Manager Kim said that Park Chan-hyeok had been constantly squeezing prices, and the channel margins were too thin; they hadn't wanted to promote them for a long time. Now that we've acquired them, they're actually relieved."

"So how do we get our products on the shelves?"

"We'll start by replacing them. Products under the Park Chan-hyeok brand will be gradually taken off the shelves and replaced with Shunyi Foods products. Manager Kim gave us end-cap display positions. Starting next month, all GS25 stores nationwide will promote our fire chicken noodles and Jeonju bibimbap series."

Chairman Wang Shunyi nodded. "We need to be fast. While the Park Chan-hyeok brand hasn't been completely forgotten yet, we need to quickly squeeze our products in."

As for the product lines, Cha In-pyo and Song Hye-kyo spent two whole weeks going through all of Park Chan-hyeok Foods' products. Instant noodles, instant porridge, self-heating rice, frozen foods—it added up to over twenty individual items. In-pyo organized the sales data, cost structure, and consumer reviews for each product into a large chart and posted it on the whiteboard in the conference room.

Chairman Wang Shunyi stood in front of the whiteboard with a red pen, marking them off one by one.

"Instant porridge, discontinued. Frozen foods, discontinued. Self-heating rice, keep, but the recipe needs to be changed and the quality improved. Instant noodles—get rid of the spicy chicken noodles; they overlap with our fire chicken noodles. As for the others, keep the ones with unique characteristics and cut the ones that don't."

In-pyo took notes on the side, the tip of his pen scratching against the paper.

"Also, the rice used in Park Chan-hyeok's previous self-heating rice wasn't good; the texture was sticky. Go find Jun-ho and source a batch of good rice from Gyeongnam Ingredients to reformulate the recipe."

"Understood."

July in Seoul was as hot as a steamer. Chairman Wang Shunyi arrived at the company after six every day and didn't leave until eleven at night. Sometimes he couldn't even find time to eat lunch. Park Min-ji would bring food to his office, and he would shovel a few bites while reading documents, not even noticing when it got cold.

One afternoon, he spent four hours at the factory watching the new equipment being tested. Park Jung-hoon stood next to the machine, drenched in sweat, holding a walkie-talkie and shouting, "Adjust it 0.5 seconds faster!" Chairman Wang Shunyi stood by watching, the back of his shirt soaked through and sticking to his body.

When he returned to the office, Park Min-ji was already waiting for him. On the desk sat a bowl of cold noodles and an iced Americano.

"Eat first." She pushed the cold noodles toward him.

He sat down and picked up his chopsticks to stir the cold noodles. The shredded cucumber and pear were tangled together, and the broth was sweet and sour. He took a bite and felt like he had come back to life.

"Today, the feedback from GS is that the replacement progress is faster than expected. We can complete 80% of the stores by next month." Park Min-ji scrolled through the emails on her phone.

"Good. What about Jun-ho?"

"The equipment upgrade budget of 4.8 billion won was approved, which is 200 million less than originally planned. In-pyo is negotiating delivery dates with the equipment manufacturers, striving to have everything in place by the end of September."

"What about the employees?"

"About twenty people left. Most of them were Park Chan-hyeok's old subordinates who didn't want to stay. The rest have all signed new contracts."

Chairman Wang Shunyi drank the cold noodle broth, put down the bowl, and wiped his mouth.

"Twenty people left; that's fine. Those who stayed are the ones who really want to get things done."

By the end of August, the integration work was basically finished.

The Park Chan-hyeok Foods brand had completely exited the market. Two-thirds of the original product lines were cut, and the remaining few—self-heating rice and two types of specialty instant noodles—were integrated into the Shunyi Foods product matrix, with new packaging and reformulated recipes.

As for the factories, the contract factories in Incheon and Pyeongtaek were shut down, and all orders were transferred to Shunyi Foods' own factory. Park Jung-hoon and his team refurbished the two old production lines, increasing production capacity by 30% and reducing the sealing defect rate from 5% to less than 1%.

Regarding channels, GS25, CU, Lotte Mart, and Homeplus all completed the brand replacement. Shunyi Foods' products were stocked in over 10,000 stores nationwide, and the shelf placement was more than a notch better than before.

On September 1st, Chairman Wang Shunyi held the first all-staff meeting after the integration in the large conference room of the building in Guro District.

130 people filled the conference room. This time there was no boundary line; people were mixed on the left and right, with Shunyi's old employees and Park Chan-hyeok's old subordinates sitting next to each other. Although they didn't talk much, at least they weren't separated by an aisle anymore.

Chairman Wang Shunyi stood on the stage without notes or a microphone—this time the microphone cord was new, and the tape was applied neatly.

"You've all worked hard over the past two months," he said, bowing first. "The integration work is basically complete. Those who were meant to leave have left, and those who were meant to stay have stayed. From today on, those who remain are one family."

The audience listened quietly.

"Next, we are going to do one thing—make the Shunyi Foods Group bigger. Not just a little bigger, but much bigger."

He turned and wrote a few numbers on the whiteboard.

"In three years, enter the top ten of the Korean food industry. In five years, enter the top five. In ten years—become the largest food group in Korea."

Someone in the audience gasped. That was too bold.

"I know you think this goal is crazy," he turned around and looked at everyone. "But two years ago, when I was running a stall at the night market, no one thought Shunyi Foods could make it to where it is today."

No one laughed.

"If you set your goals high, you can go further. From now on, every department and every person has their own burden to carry. Jun-ho is in charge of production and supply chain; Minji is in charge of channels and marketing; In-pyo is in charge of R&D. For everyone else—your department supervisors will tell you exactly what to do."

He paused, his voice lowering slightly.

"One last thing. As the company grows and there are more people, rules will increase, and processes will lengthen. But one thing will never change—whoever makes the product well and whoever serves the consumers well, that person is a hero of Shunyi Foods."

The conference room was quiet for two seconds. Then someone started to clap. The applause started from the back row and slowly moved forward, until finally, even the veteran employees from Park Chan-hyeok's side in the front row started clapping.

After the meeting, Chairman Wang Shunyi stood alone by the conference room window. The sky over Guro District was gray, and in the distance, a few high-rise buildings were under construction, the arms of tower cranes slowly rotating against the gray-white sky. Below, a row of trucks was parked, and workers were loading goods onto them, box by box, stacked very neatly.

Park Min-ji pushed the door open and walked over to his side.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Thinking about what's next."

"What's next?"

"There's still a long way to go." He turned around and looked at her. "Today's step is just the beginning."

She nodded, said nothing, reached out, and took his hand. His hand was a bit cold, and hers was warm. Outside the window, the row of trucks started up, the rumbling sound carrying up, muffled, like distant thunder. He squeezed her hand, stood there for a moment, then let go, picked up the file folder on the table, and opened the first page. It read— "Third Quarter Goal: Sales of 7 billion, Net Profit of 1.4 billion."

He picked up a pen, drew a line under the numbers, closed the folder, and walked out of the conference room. The motion-sensor lights in the corridor turned on, then went out again. The sound of his footsteps echoed in the empty hallway, one by one, very steady.