Chapter 1509 Taking Place (4)

“Okay, so...”

A hint of dismay, maybe a dash of discontent, could be seen on Lee Hyeon-Su’s face.

“The reason why you’ve summoned me here was...”

Kang Jin-Ho casually shrugged. “Well, you’re a specialist in this area, aren’t you?”

Lee Hyeon-Ju chimed in as if she had finally gotten her chance. “Yes, sir. There are plenty of people in this world, but no one, and I do mean absolutely no one, can rival our Chief Lee when it comes to this kind of thing. You could say he was born for it, really.”

“...”

New emotions that mere words couldn’t possibly describe now filled Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression.

“Okay. So, to summarize...” Lee Hyeon-Su turned his head ever so slightly and stared at the monitor busy playing the CCTV footage. “Someone is trying to cause trouble for us, but...”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded along with her boss. “Mhm.”

“But, you guys are unsure of what they are playing at here, so...”

“Yes, that’s it.”

“Mhm.”

What the! Please stop with unnecessary sound effects! Lee Hyeon-Su’s expression crumpled. “So, you summoned me here because I’m a pro at causing trouble, coming up with dastardly schemes, and driving people to the edges of their sanity, etc, etc?”

“Correct.”

“Yes, Chief Lee.”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s cheeks twitched ominously. What was the meaning of this?! Just what did these people take him for?!

“Why?! What makes you think I’m a professional at such things?!”

“You were not?”

“But I thought you were?”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s face flushed red. What?! This... Hang on, they are right, aren’t they? It’s the undeniable truth!

Rage on Lee Hyeon-Su’s face instantly disappeared, only to be replaced by depression.

A man being acknowledged for his abilities should be a good thing. However, to be acknowledged for things like this? That was definitely not good, no?!

“Well, sir? I’m not quite sure what to feel right now.”

Kang Jin-Ho tutted. “Then, be happy. Being useful in something should be celebrated, after all.”

Yes, sir. Sure, sir! By the way, since when did you become so eloquent, sir?! I mean, seriously! You even know how to rile up another person now!

What a stunning sea change this was, considering what Kang Jin-Ho was like in the past!

“Urgh... Very well. Please tell me what happened. I’ll take a look at the footage afterward.”

***

At the end of the briefing, Lee Hyeon-Su spewed the coffee out of his mouth.

“Wait, what? That bastard wanted boiling-hot Iced Americano? Really, sir?”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded. “It sounds like it.”

“Seriously? And this idiot let a bastard like that go?” Lee Hyeon-Su pointed at Jang Yeong-Cheol still present in the conference room. “Hey, you! You should’ve wasted that bastard!”

Kang Jin-Ho chuckled. “He did waste the bastard, although not right away.”

“Oh, I see. That’s good to hear, then.”

Lee Hyeon-Su chuckled, then began watching the CCTV footage. He even watched it several times in a row. And then, reclined comfortably against the couch’s cushions.

“Hmm... Sir, do you mind if I smoke?”

Kang Jin-Ho shrugged. “Go ahead. You are the lead in this case, after all.”

“Eii~, please don’t say that. Hearing you say that makes me feel pretty good about myself, you know?”

“...”

For sure, this man was not right in the head, was he!

Click!

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Su lit their cigarettes up simultaneously.

Lee Hyeon-Su half-closed his eyes and smoked away, prompting Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Ju to remain silent and not bother him.

It was always better to let Lee Hyeon-Su handle strategic matters like this. That was one of the unspoken rules in Korean martial society since the days of the Yeongnam Group.

“Mm... Yes, this whole thing definitely has been staged,” said Lee Hyeon-Su.

Kang Jin-Ho furrowed his brow. “You think so?”

“Yes, sir. This is not something that would happen naturally. Especially considering that those bastards didn’t hesitate to upload those photos, even though this situation doesn’t look good for them on paper. After all, the release of the CCTV footage would have made them look like idiots.”

Lee Hyeon-Ju nodded. “Yes, I agree. Fixing the situation would still have been tricky, but the footage would’ve gone a long way in building our case.”

“Yes. They should know that, yet still did all this? That could mean... Hmm?” Lee Hyeon-Su pointed at the two men by the table near the counter who were holding their phones to record the events. “If we release our footage, those bastards will also release their own footage, except theirs will be edited in such a way to make us look as bad as possible.”

Lee Hyeon-Ju tilted her head. “Really? But... Would that even help them?”

“Yes. Yes, it would. Our footage was shot from above at an angle, no?”

Kang Jin-Ho cocked an eyebrow while looking at the monitor. “Yeah, it was.”

“Things recorded from close by usually look more dynamic, you see? If they edit the footage so that it now looks like the franchisee dynamically smacked that guy around with his massive fist... People will start saying, Yeah, that guy was in the wrong, but did he deserve to get beaten up like that? No question about it.”

All three people’s heads slowly shifted over to Jang Yeong-Cheol sitting wordlessly on one of the couches.

He got down on his knees and started apologizing again. “I’m sorry...”

Kang Jin-Ho tried to stop him. “No, you don’t have to...”

“You stupid f*ck! Plant your head on the floor, now!”

However, Lee Hyeon-Su was merciless in his execution. Jang Yeong-Cheol promptly slammed his forehead on the conference room floor.

“What the f*ck, you fool?! I told you over and over again never to lay hands on civilians, didn’t I?! But you couldn’t last a month before wasting someone?! What kinda idiot are you!”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s murderous aura was so intense that even Kang Jin-Ho clamped his mouth shut. Then again, he knew he shouldn’t butt in right now. After all, all he did was create a rough outline of a guideline for others to follow. And it was Kang Yu-Hwan and Lee Hyeon-Su who trained and educated the franchisees and employees, after all.

“Wait a minute? Now I remember! Didn’t you go through the re-education program recently?!” Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes grew utterly bloodshot just then. “What the f*ck?! Just days after going through re-education, you punch a customer?! Why don’t you try punching me, too?! You f*ck!”

Lee Hyeon-Su suddenly lunged at Jang Yeong-Cheol, prompting Kang Jin-Ho to finally intervene and pull Lee Hyeon-Su back.

“Awoooo! You f*cking...!”

Lee Hyeon-Su kicked and kicked some more, but his foot missed the head-planting Jang Yeong-Cheol by a mere hair’s breadth.

Kang Jin-Ho’s expression cramped up. “Calm down!”

“How can I calm down, sir! After all, that bastard...!”

Jang Yeong-Cheol tried to offer his excuses with a loud voice. “My apologies, Chief Lee! But that bastard dumped Americano on my face and even began hitting me. I got so pissed off that I...”

“Say what?! Pissed off? You?! I’m the one who’s pissed off right now, you fool!”

Kang Jin-Ho grinned wryly while pulling Lee Hyeon-Su back. “Okay, that’s enough. Calm down. It makes sense that he lost his cool.”

“I’m sorry, sir?! It makes sense?!”

Lee Hyeon-Su’s head snapped toward Kang Jin-Ho. Such was the intensity of the flames burning in Lee Hyeon-Su’s eyes that even the one and only Kang Jin-Ho flinched reflexively.

“Sir! Are you going to punch someone just because they splashed you with lukewarm water?”

“It wasn’t lukewarm, though. That coffee was still boiling-hot.”

“But would that be boiling-hot to this guy, sir?! That’s what I’m asking you!”

“...Eh?”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly realized something at that precise moment. Such temperature should be enough to burn normal people, but Jang Yeong-Cheol was a martial artist. And to him, that coffee would’ve been only moderately warm.

“B-but, he got punched in the face, didn’t he?”

“Assembly Master! Are you going to smack a child around just because they tickled your face? Do you honestly think a powerless civilian could hurt this idiot here?!”

“...”

That sounded perfectly logical, no?

“Sir, this fool beat up a customer even though he didn’t get hurt or scalded! In that case, why should we let him be!”

Kang Jin-Ho suddenly smiled brightly and sneakily released Lee Hyeon-Su. “He’s all yours.”

“Uwaaaaah! You f*cking idiot!”

Lee Hyeon-Su ran straight into Jang Yeong-Cheol and performed a splendid body slam. Jang Yeong-Cheol flew up in the air before crash-landing on the floor.

“Die! Die! You f*ck, die already!”

“Ouch?! Ouch, ouch! Chief Lee! I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please! Spare me!”

While watching this beatdown, a weird expression floated up on Kang Jin-Ho’s face. Huh. So it doesn’t hurt.

Lee Hyeon-Su was kicking Jang Yeong-Cheol with everything he had, but the victim himself... didn’t seem to be in any sort of pain whatsoever! However, he still didn’t forget to pretend to be in pain, perhaps in an attempt to hopefully appease Lee Hyeon-Su.

This scene finally drove home the point for Kang Jin-Ho, however. No matter how many times that so-called customer had struck Jang Yeong-Cheol, none of the blows should have hurt him.

Lee Hyeon-Su kept kicking and hitting Jang Yeong-Cheol for a long time before finally realizing that he was merely tiring himself here. While panting and huffing away, he walked over to where Kang Jin-Ho was.

“Assembly Master, can’t you punch him in the face for me, just once?”

“He’ll die if I do that, though.”

“I’d prefer if he was dead, sir! Uh-whew...”

Lee Hyeon-Su roughly scratched his head.

He knew it was only a matter of time before a crisis of this nature unfolded. However, it happened too quickly, and its severity was graver than he had anticipated.

He glared at Jang Yeong-Cheol again. “Are you proud of yourself?! Ah? Are you?! After all, you did everything those bastards were asking for!”

“I’m... sorry, sir.”

“I don’t care anymore! You’re on your own now. I don’t care, okay? But your peers? I’m not sure if they will be as forgiving as me!”

Jang Yeong-Cheol’s face grew pale at the mention of his peers.

“Uh-whew! Gimme a break!”

Lee Hyeon-Su shook his head before plopping down on the couch and mouthing a cigarette. Kang Jin-Ho instinctively lit that cigarette up for Lee Hyeon-Su.

“Okay, so!” Lee Hyeon-Su groaned loudly while deeply puffing away at the unhealthy smoke. “I’m convinced now, sir. Someone is trying to screw with us.”

Kang Jin-Ho grimaced. “Mm...!”

“The problem now is figuring out their intentions. Because I don’t think they were angling for a payday here.”

“I agree, sir,” Lee Hyeon-Ju chimed in. “If these people were aiming for an out-of-court settlement, they would have contacted us before going public with their story. Of course, it’s possible that they wanted to make us look bad first before attempting to extort us. But we have had no contact from the so-called victim until now.”

“That means they want something else...” Lee Hyeon-Su muttered, his brows furrowing.

He couldn’t immediately think of a plausible reason. These people were trying to harm the reputation of the Assembly’s cafe franchise, but that would only benefit the...

Lee Hyeon-Su’s brows slowly rose higher. “Hang on? Could it be that our competitor was trying to screw with us?”

Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Ju blinked their eyes.

“Ng?”

“Excuse me? But that’s absurd.”

Lee Hyeon-Su shook his head. “No, it’s... It’s completely plausible, actually.”

The disbelieving eyes of Kang Jin-Ho and Lee Hyeon-Ju locked on Lee Hyeon-Su. Even if their franchise had a successful launch, why would their competition go so far against a new kid on the block?

“Sir, we’re swimming in the red ocean.”[1]

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Mm?”

“The cafe franchises have already sliced and diced up pretty much every part of the existing pie, sir. That’s the situation in the Korean cafe market. Which leaves us with the question of who takes how much of the pie. Sir, where do you think our revenues come from?”

“...? Are you saying we’re eating into the existing franchises’ pie slices?”

“Yes, sir. And they obviously wouldn’t be happy about that. Things must be hellish for them, as a matter of fact. After all, the government has been coming down pretty hard on the franchises for one-sidedly shoving unfair revenue-share rates down the throats of the franchisees recently. But our terms excessively favors the franchisees, don’t they?”

“...”

That wasn’t what Kang Jin-Ho originally intended, but sure.

“Imagine what would happen if the government used us as the benchmark share rate for other franchises to follow. They are definitely not going to be happy about that. No, sir. Because their franchisees will start complaining that their head offices have been taking too much of the profits. Worse still, some franchisees will attempt to jump ship, too.”

Kang Jin-Ho grew a little stupefied just then. He had never considered such things until now.

“From our competition’s point of view, our company must be a threat that must be snuffed out, sir. No, let me rephrase that. Our company shouldn’t even exist in the first place. But look at how successful our launch was.”

“Uh... Yeah, that’s true.”

Lee Hyeon-Su grimaced. “If it were me, I’d have done everything in my power to ruin the competition. I wouldn’t have resorted to a sloppy attempt like this, though, but maybe gone with something like dumping cockroaches in the stores run by the competition. Not just any cockroaches either, but half-severed ones.”

“...!”

Kang Jin-Ho freaked out and stared at Lee Hyeon-Su. Only human trash would do something like that, no?

“Excuse me, but don’t you think your leap in logic was a bit too much?” Lee Hyeon-Ju asked, as if to voice her disagreement.

Lee Hyeon-Su cocked an eyebrow. “Really? How so?”

“I mean, it happened in only one store, after all. And we have the CCTV footage to prove our innocence, too. Even if they had recorded the assault, there should be a limit to how much damage they can cause us with their footage.”

“...! Hold on? What did you just say?”

“Sorry? You mean, the CCTV foo...”

“No, before that!”

“It, uh, it happened in only one store?”

Lee Hyeon-Su shot up to his feet. “Miss Lee! Call every store and tell our people, do not fight with the customers, no matter what happens! Because some bastards will definitely try to pick a fight!”

“Ah...!”

Lee Hyeon-Ju’s eyes powerfully quaked just then.

“One incident in a store can be treated as an isolated incident, okay? However, if something similar happens in several stores, that will become our fault! Hurry up! And tell them to pay closer attention to the state of their ingredients and products! Because someone will try to mess with those, too!”

“Understood! I’ll contact them right away!” Lee Hyeon-Ju replied, then rushed outside the conference room.

Lee Hyeon-Su loudly gritted his teeth.

I don’t know who you are, but I’m gonna grind your bones and make delicious soup out of them!

Some people in this world should never be messed with, and he planned to prove it.

1. The term “red ocean” in business means existing industries with demand and cutthroat competition. “Blue ocean” is the opposite, and denotes industries not in existence yet. ☜