12 Chain Reaction
"Urghh…" Min-soo clutched his head in pain. He had drunk too much the previous night, he had been too excited about Nam-joon's acceptance and had lost track of how much they drank. Before he knew it, he could hear the chirping of birds and he opened his eyes groggily.
There was something heavy across his chest and he could not help but push it away. It was then that he realised it was someone else's arm. Shocked he looked over and saw none other than the drunk face of Nam-joon, snoring away blissfully.
They actually owned the entire building and on the upper floors were rooms where they could stay should they need it. Of course, there were many rooms, but it so happened that Nam-joon and Min-soo in their drunken state had collapsed on the closest mattress, together.
Min-soo shook his head before getting up and headed over to the bathroom. He cleaned himself and walked out of the bathroom half naked, he immediately heard a wolf-whistle. Min-soo grabbed the closest pillow and threw it at the half-awake Nam-joon.
"Come on, hurry up, let's get breakfast."
They both quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to a café across the road. They continued to chat about their plans, mainly as to how Nam-joon was going to convince his parents to allow him to do this. But Min-soo had a plan, "You should just frame it as doing the country a service. Your Father is rather patriotic, since it is the directive of the Prime Minister, then he should be fine with it. Just say crap like that. Surely, I did not have to tell you this? Mr top 1%?"
Nam-joon only laughed in embarrassment as they dug into their breakfast. After eating, they went their separate ways, Nam-joon to convince his father and Min-soo his own.
Min-soo had called his Father earlier in the morning and asked to see him. Having expected his call, he had set aside some time to deal with his matters.
Arriving outside the Antares Group headquarters, Min-soo looked up at the majestic display of architectural prowess. A treat for the eyes indeed, living up to its name of a star in the night sky.
Min-soo entered the busy lobby and was greeted by all the staff and security guards that he walked past. Everyone knew him, after all he would eventually be their boss, if things went as planned. He was very familiar with this building, having spent many days here.
He made his way over to the executive lift and entered the pass code granting him direct access to his Father's office. Normally, people would only be allowed to access the floor just below his Father's office and then walk up the stairs into his office.
In fact, the two floors were actually one and the same, it was just a power move, to split it into two 'floors'. But that was the world of business.
He stepped out of the lift and was greeted by one of his Father's secretaries, he had two, a male and a female. This had been the arrangement since the founding of the company, apparently it had to do with his Great Grandfather being unwilling to hire only one of the candidates that had come in for an interview. The arrangement had worked well and so it had been continued.
The male secretary that greeted him was named Cho Jun-young and was in his mid-thirties, slightly handsome, but not comparable to his own good looks.
"Mr Lee, the CEO will see you now."
Cho Jun-young had never seemed to particularly like him, in fact he always felt the man was judging him every time he looked at him. However, Min-soo had always remained friendly with him, after all he was not petty like that.
Min-soo walked into the office, it was nothing too special, it was rather utilitarian and mirrored his Grandfather's aesthetics. Simple but elegant. When one had money, they did not need to show it, was the message it sent. But in saying that everything inside the room was worth thousands of dollars US.
His Father was reading a report and looked rather irritated, it seemed something had gone wrong somewhere.
"Father." He greeted.
"Ah, Min-soo come over here, take a seat, have a look at this and tell me your thoughts."
Min-soo took a seat and opened the report his Father handed over. His brows furrowed as he read it. This was indeed an annoying problem, it was not big, but if it was left alone, it could end up being a massive headache.
"Say, what do you think? How should we fix this?" his Father asked expectantly.
Min-soo could tell his Father was testing him, his expression clearly said, "If you want my help, earn it."
The report was about an incident with one of their suppliers. One of Antares big projects for the year revolved around re-developing one of the suburbs outside Daegu. It was part of the local government's push for affordable housing and also revitalise the country side.
The supplier had been constantly delaying the provision of tiles and had led to delays in the construction timeline. They would keep coming up with excuses despite being paid, it would be that they were having problems sourcing or that they just needed to hire some more people. Essentially saying, give us a little more time.
So, Antares had done so, a one-month extension turned to three months and now five months later, they still seemed to be unwilling to deliver the goods. The only reason they had not torn up the contract yet and found another supplier was because they had a long history together. His
Grandfather and the supplier were old army buddies.
Normally for such large quantities and projects they would not have chosen such a small company, but they were repaying old favours and so had given it over to them, after they had reassured them many times, they could do it. But hindsight was twenty-twenty.
There was clearly only one solution to this problem. Terminate the contract and find another supplier. Min-soo was sure this was what his Father wanted him to say. It was a test of his will and whether he was willing to go against his Grandfather when necessary and to not be affected when making decisions by sentiment and emotions. Business was business, you cannot feed your family on emotions alone.
It would not be worth it to drag it out any longer and find alternate solutions with the supplier. After all, they had so many others counting on them to complete the project on time and on budget, which was currently still possible but only just.
"Father, I think we should terminate the contract and find a new supplier. I am sure the Hwang's in Daegu will be more than happy to take up the contract. We should have gone with them in the first place."
His Father merely nodded once, before taking back the report.
"Very well, we shall do as you say." He then called his secretary. "Secretary Cho inform the head of procurement that we will be terminating the contract with the Song's and have him send someone to meet the Hwang's and get a contract signed, immediately,"
He then turned back to Min-soo.
"How was your talk with your Grandfather? Anything interesting happen?" he asked in an amused tone.
"Same old, he wants you to go visit him and Grandma. But he did say he might move back to Seoul." At the mention of moving back to Seoul, his Father's eyes widened, and he asked warily.
"The old man wants to come back? What for?"
"Well he said Grandma is feeling better now but she seems a little lonely and so wants to bring her back here."
"Sure, Mum can come back, why does he need to come too?" he asked in an annoyed tone.
"I don't know, you can ask him yourself, I think he is coming over next week actually."
"What! I better get things in order here. So, why are you here today? I am very busy you know, don't waste my time." he warned.
"Dad do you know about the Prime Minister's intentions to revive the Hallyu Wave Project?"
"Yeah, your Grandfather talked about it three nights ago. Oh, I am guessing he wants you to put your mark on it? Come on tell me what you want." He responded perfunctorily.
"Well I want to start a company, an entertainment company. It will start off by making idols and eventually it will go into acting as well. What I need from you is just some money and putting me in touch with some people who know what they're doing." Min-soo answered sheepishly.
"How much?"
"Uh, 10 million US?" Min-soo had no idea how much money it would cost to create a boy group and the company to support the endeavours of the group. He had just pulled a random number out of the air.
However, his Father's eyes lit up, he had been expecting a far larger sum and was happy to oblige.
"Okay, I will give you 25 million US. Don't squander it okay. You can fail, but it must be in spite of your efforts, if I find out you failed because you were negligent, you can forget about coming home. Now go, it's all up to you now."
