Franchise God - Chapter 4



Only Krnovel

Franchise God Episode 004

Chapter 2 Off-season Mushrooms (1)

Jeon Seong-ryeol worked in the agricultural product distribution industry.

He mainly purchases high-quality food ingredients from various places and supplies them on a regular basis to hotels, department stores, and high-end restaurants.

Common food ingredients such as rice or potatoes are not handled.

He woke up early that morning and headed to work in his newly purchased mid-sized car.

Although he has his own transport truck, he does not drive it himself; he employs employees.

I was just about to start the car.

“Are you by any chance the president of Seongryeol Distribution, Seongryeol Jeon?”

who?”

At the young voice, Jeon Seong-ryeol turned his back, feeling slightly nervous.

A young man who seemed to be about twenty years old, with a sad expression and who had just lost his boyishness, smiled brightly and held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Ha Su-young.”

“I think this is our first meeting…?”

“Yes, that’s right. I also found out about it step by step and came here. I heard you work in the supply of high-quality food ingredients?”

When the topic of work came up, Jeon Seong-ryeol’s expression brightened somewhat. His speech naturally became shorter.

“Who introduced you to me? Why, because you wanted to work under me?”

“I’d like to try that sometime in the future if I get the chance.”

“What a wonderful friend. If you have a business card… No, I guess you don’t have one at your age. Contact me later. I have to go to work right now. By the way, who introduced you to me?”

“I wasn’t introduced to you, but I have something to show you. Could you spare a moment? I have something to show you over there.”

When Ha Su-yeong pointed to a car parked on one side of the parking lot, Jeon Seong-ryeol felt a little uneasy.

Even though he was a young friend, I felt reluctant to blindly follow him when I first met him.

“I thought you might like that, so I brought you a sample here separately.”

“Sample?”

“Look.”

Ha Soo-young took off the cover of the box she was holding. When she took off the cover, what was revealed was a pure white Styrofoam box.

When he opened the lid and saw the contents, Jeon Seong-ryeol’s eyes widened in surprise.

“This, this is…!”

“As you can see, these are premium pine mushrooms.”

“Hey, you’re going to show me this?”

Jeon Seong-ryeol asked with a trembling voice in surprise, and Ha Su-yeong smiled brightly and pointed to the truck with her thumb.

“Do you feel like watching it now?”

Everything loaded onto the small truck was the same Styrofoam box.

They were boxes filled with neatly arranged pine mushrooms.

Seongryeol Jeon, who checked each of the boxes that were close to 1/3, muttered in a weary voice.

“…Everyone is a special product.”

“Do you like it?”

“I like it. These are really precious mushrooms. Where did you get these? It’s not the season for mushrooms these days……”

Ha Soo-young just smiled brightly and didn’t open her mouth. Jeon Seong-ryeol intuitively sensed that he didn’t want to reveal anything.

The surprise disappeared from his eyes, and he returned to being a distributor who had been through a lot.

“Do you want to sell me these mushrooms?”

“That’s why I brought it.”

Jeon Seong-ryeol looked through the pine mushrooms again.

Matsutake mushrooms are a premium food ingredient known in Korea, Japan, and China.

The texture is ordinary, but its unique, strong flavor that everyone likes drives gourmets crazy.

In particular, special products of this level are rarely consumed domestically.

It is profitable to supply limitedly to luxury hotels or high-end restaurants, or to export to foreign countries such as Japan or China.

“This is a top-notch song. It’s literally worth singing.”

“Is that so?”

Judging from the tone of his voice, it didn’t seem like he was asking because he didn’t know. It felt like he knew but was just trying to tease me out.

Jeon Seong-ryeol looked at the pine mushrooms with his eyes, and fell into doubt.

‘It’s not a Songi railroad, so where on earth did you get it from?’

It is not the season for harvesting pine mushrooms now. They don’t start harvesting until at least September.

Above all, you cannot pick mushrooms without a permit. Anyone who breaks the law is subject to imprisonment or a fine.

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t look like this young man had an official permit to pick mushrooms.

My intuition, having been in this business for a long time, warned me so.

“Do you have a permit to pick mushrooms? No, are these mushrooms actually picked legally?”

“It’s not illegal.”

“I can’t believe it. If you were me, would you believe it?”

“If you don’t want to buy it, I’ll go back now. I don’t want to waste time either.”

“for a moment!”

When Ha Soo-young seemed about to turn her back, Jeon Seong-ryeol quickly shouted. It was an action that came out almost instinctively.

“What if I don’t buy it?”

“I need to find someone else who wants to buy it. Fortunately, there are some candidates out there.”

Ha Soo-young waved a piece of paper as if she was looking at something. Jeon Seong-ryeol saw a name on the paper that looked familiar.

He was a friend and competitor in the same industry as himself.

His eyes sharpened.

‘Yeah, whether it was illegally mined or not, that doesn’t matter now.’

“How much is it all together?”

“It’s 50kg. When I measured it, it was exactly 50.32kg. There may be a slight error.”

“How much do you want to sell it for?”

“How much can you give me?”

“With this level of quality, you can easily get 400,000 won per kilo in Japan. Even if you sell it in the domestic market, 300,000 won per kilo is enough. Of course, I’m talking about the distribution price, not the final consumer price.”

“But it’s not the season for pine mushrooms in our country right now. There won’t be any on the market. Except for frozen ones.”

“Who freezes and distributes these top-quality mushrooms? They sell them right away.”

“Then you know well. How much should I give you?”

Jeon Seong-ryeol worked tirelessly on his calculator in his head. When he finally finished his thoughts, he looked straight into Ha Su-yeong’s eyes.

“I’m still suspicious of the source of these pine mushrooms. If I were to purchase them and distribute them, I’d have to figure out a way to purchase them. I’d have to rack my brain with a tax accountant. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.”

“I understand that.”

“And you want to do cash transactions? Can’t you give me a cash receipt or tax invoice?”

“I guess that’s a bit much this time.”

This time? Jeon Seong-ryeol did not miss the strange nuance contained in those words.

“How about 450,000 won per kilo? I need to have some leftovers, and there’s some risk involved in disposing of them.”

“great.”

Surprisingly, Ha Soo-young accepted it coolly. Jeon Seong-ryeol, who thought he would push and pull a few more times, felt empty instead.

‘Still, he’s not the type of guy who negotiates however he wants.’

In fact, the price of 450,000 won per kilo is a price that has been set at a level that does not particularly disadvantage either side, taking all circumstances into consideration.

If you understand and accept that, then I think it’s not an ordinary bet.

It’s about having a negotiation sense that goes beyond the basics.

“Then can I check the entire quantity? I think I’ll feel more at ease that way.”

“Of course. Feel free to check it out.”

After sending a text message to his employees, Jeon Seong-ryeol opened and checked all the remaining boxes that had not been checked yet.

I held it in my hand and examined its shape and scent.

‘They are all special products.’

Jeon Seong-ryeol carefully examined the amount of Songi and glanced at Ha Su-yeong.

He was playing a smartphone game, occasionally yawning, as if he was bored. He looked like an ordinary young man of his age, but where did he get all these pine mushrooms?

‘He doesn’t seem like a country boy, but rather a city person… … Did someone ask him to sell it for you?’

That doesn’t make sense either.

If it were me, I would never have left it to a young friend like Ha Su-young. These are such precious and expensive things.

“It’s 50kg, so I’ll give you 22.5 million won. Should I send it to your account or withdraw it in cash?”

“I would appreciate it if you could give me cash.”

“Wait here. I’ll pick it out soon.”

“But is it okay if I don’t measure the weight?”