Hyunwoo went back to the suppliers.

The presidents slipped away whenever they saw his face, but they nodded their heads when presented with a new option by Hyunwoo.

“Thank you. Then, let me obtain the official certificate and submit the application for the Unipass membership.”

“Sure, go ahead. By the way, may I ask you one question?”

“Yes, please.”

“What is this certificate on material supplies? I have no problem with issuing it because it is free, but I need to know what the heck that is.”

The exact meaning of the supplies certificate is the transfer of the right to the refund of the customs tax. In other words, it means that the suppliers are transferring their right to the refund to Aurum.

If Hyunwoo answered like that, the suppliers would obviously feel greedy about it and say ‘Give us our share of the refund, or half the refund, etc.’

If there was any room for negotiation, Hyunwoo would gladly help them out. However, It looked like Aurum wouldn’t give a greenlight to it. That kind of answer would create useless conflict between Aurum and the suppliers. Also, the suppliers have a right to the refund anyway because they’re eligible only when certain items are exported.

Of course, Aurum couldn’t exercise the full right even if it handed over the refund correctly. If it received a refund worth one million won, it can get only 50,000 won when 5% of that amount is exported. As long as the remaining 950,000 won is not used on exporting items, it’s no more than a waste paper. Except for this explanation, Hyunwoo gave him the least possible information about it.

“Plainly speaking, this is a document that helps Aurum get the refund when it exports items. If you issue the certificate, we can receive a little more refund.”

‘I’ve never heard about it. There is no possibility that my company will have to pay or incur any damages later, right?”

In fact, it couldn’t be ruled out that the supplier might incur some damage.

If any company receives too much refund because of the wrong certificates, the responsibility goes not to the relevant company but to the suppliers that issued such certificates.

But there was nothing to worry about.

“No, sir. If you’re worried, you can ask the customs office. Can I give you the customs officer’s number?”

Hyunwoo recalled Kwak’s number and gave it to him.

Only then did the president express satisfaction.

The president might be able to call the number for verification, but he didn’t. It didn’t matter because Hyunwoo might have something he didn’t mention, but nothing he had said was a lie.

Hyunwoo kept working on Unipass, downloading the supplier’s official certificate and saving it on his computer, and he made sure that the president verified it. If something happened later, it would save him from any trouble.

“I’ve downloaded your company’s official certificate on my laptop. Do you see this?”

Hyunwoo kept visiting the suppliers. Initially, it took some time for him to persuade the presidents, download their certificates, and join the Unipass membership, but as he got used to it, he saved more and more time.

It was not one day’s job because there were many suppliers for Aurum, so he had to go out on a business trip every day.

As it turned out, the more challenging job for him was not to persuade the presidents of the suppliers but Yonggu’s hysterical attitude. Whenever the team manager was away from his desk, he found fault with each and every one of Hyunwoo’s actions.

“Business trip again?”

“Today I have an appointment with the president of Yongshin factory. Now I have a couple of more companies to visit.”

“Why does it take so long to get their certificates? You are not going to the sauna, right?”

“How could I? If you’re in doubt, you can go with me.”

“Do you think I’m such an idle man? Anyway the office atmosphere really sucks whenever we hire a damned new person.”

Hyunwoo pretended not to have heard him. Hyunwoo didn’t feel bad about it because he knew that he hadn’t done anything wrong and that Yonggu was narrow-minded.

Also, the team manager was also aware of Yonggu’s attitude. He gave him a warning in Hyunwoo’s presence.

“Hey, Yonggu, why are you taking issue with Hyunwoo’s business trip? Are you the manager?”

The manager’s warning came as a huge shock to Yonggu, for he was the manager’s strongest supporter. Though the team manager was there as a constant presence at the purchasing team, its core member was none other than Yonggu. Because the manager realized this, he made things work out in accordance with Yonggu’s intentions. In other words, he was the perfect patron.

But the manager was rebuking Yonggu, and in front of the new hires at that.

This was a clear message that the manager would not favor Yonggu any more. Hearing the manager, Yonggu had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“I’m sorry. I’ll be more prudent, sir.”

When the day was ending, the manager approached Yonggu and said,

“Do you have an appointment in the evening?”

“No, sir.”

“Let’s have dinner together.”

“Yes, sir.”

Yonggu and the manager left the office together. Yonggu never took issue with Hyunwoo’s business trip since then. It looked like their relationship was also recovered like before.

Thanks to the manager’s intervention, Hyunwoo could continue to go on business trips, and he finally collected all the necessary certificates. After one week of toiling, he managed to complete the estimated calculated statement on the refunds.

Hyunwoo reported the paper to the manager, in which he indicated that he would return the simplified refund voluntarily and apply for the individual refunds instead.

The amount of the projected refund was not different from that he had already reported recently.

Waiting urgently for it, the manager was very satisified.

“Very good. Let’s go and see the president. Do you want to come with us, Yonggu?”

Yonggu made a stunned expression at the manager’s suggestion, for it was certain that he would be treated like a fish out of water if he joined them like before.

“No, sir. I’ve got a lot to do now.”

“Okay, then. Let’s go, Hyunwoo.”

Both of them headed to the president’s office together. The president was as satisfied as the manager, and he signed his name more firmly than ever.

The refund collection was 24 million won before, but the refund this time was 56 million won. Though the increased refund was 36 million won, the president recognized 56 million won as Hyunwoo’s credit, with the explanation that he had tried to the end without succumbing to the difficulties.

Thanks to this, Hyungoo was give two steps in promotion instantly, plus 10 million won as an award and 3 million won as the subsidy for the purchasing team.

However, there was one condition.

“Our company is going to increase capital by issuing new stocks soon. Let me give you the award money in new stocks,” the president said.

Hearing that, Hyunwoo didn’t feel bad. However, a rumor was spreading that although the face value of one stock was only 5,000 won, because Aurum was underrated, the stocks would bring about great returns later if they bought them now.

“Got it, sir.”

Hyunwoo became a star at Aurum immediately. On the other hand, Yonggu’s image was ruined instantly. A rumor spread widely that the simplified refund was actually made available by Hyunwoo’s efforts.

“I hear assistant manager Kim took away his credit.”

“So, when the refund was destined to be returned, Kim shifted responsibility on Hyunwoo. I didn’t think Kim was such a low guy. He’s so bad!”

“Even though he is capable, so what? He should be a person first.”

The team members whispered and gossiped when Yonggu was away, but obviously he got to hear all the gossip about him. However, he could not refute the gossip because he realized that the rumors originated from the executives of the company.

The only thing Yonggu could do was clench his fist.

‘Jang Hyunwoo, why do I make an ill-fated relationship with you like this whenever I see you?’

However nicely he wanted to treat Hyunwoo, he couldn’t because Hyunwoo always stood in the way of his advancement in life.

That was true when he was young.

Both of them went to the same elementary school, and their houses were located close to each other until Hyunwoo moved to another place.

The problem was Hyunwoo was ahead of Yonggu in everything, such as school grades and dating.

Younggu was called a prodigy even as a child. Naturally, he excelled at school.

However, he was always second in class, while Hyunwoo always was the top.

Naturally, they were compared. Whenever Yonggu’s parents didn’t like him, they always cited Hyunwoo.

“Just take cue from Hyunwoo!”

“Just try to catch up with half of Hyunwoo’s performance.”

“Hyunwoo is so good in school. What’s the matter with you?”

Whenever Yonggu had a girl that he liked, Hyunwoo also liked that girl.

Because Yonggu and Hyunwoo went around together, he had no other choice but to meet that girl with Hyunwoo. On such occasions, she was Hyunwoo’s girl all the time. To the girl, Yonggu was only a tool to meet Hyunwoo.

“Do you know Hyunwoo’s phone number?”

“Can you give this gift to Hyunwoo?”

So, Hyunwoo was always Yonggu’s rival. It became Yonggu’s goal in life to surpass Hyunwoo. But he never did so. Their rivalry turned into jealousy. He wanted to trample him if he could not surpass him.

But the situation began to change since their middle school days. Hyunwoo’s family was ruined all of a sudden. Yonggu felt happy about it and began to take revenge on him. He trampled on him by using all means at his disposal.

But something strange happened. Since he trampled on Hyunwoo, everything worked out well with him. His grades went up, and things went well with his parents, too.

And that trend seemed to be continuing. Before Hyunwoo got hired by Aurum, Yonggu was one of the top two promising employees. Soon after, he was promoted to assistant manager, and he was already one of those who had the potential to be a manager.

But everything began to go awry when Hyunwoo got hired. He lost the limelight in the office. To make matters worse, not only the rank and file but also the executives were pointing their fingers at him. Because of that, he was preoccupied with one thing these days.

‘How can I ruin Hyunwoo?’

“Knowledge is power, as the saying goes.”

Hyunwoo searched for new items with glittering eyes. He focused on customs and trading in particular.

Come to think of it, Aurum had lots of trading activities, but it had scant knowledge of customs because it relied on the customs broker completely.

Hyunwoo was no exception. Now, he had only tasted the beginning of it. Still, he did succeed in cutting costs by 56 million won. There must be something bigger than this, he thought.

Reading books and surfing the internet, Hyunwoo suddenly thought about the video material Kwak presented, and his last comment in the video.

<The Customs Assistance Section will hold a briefing on the use of FTA next month. If you make good use of it, you’ll get much bigger help than the refund. So, take your time on purpose and attend the briefing.”

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened widely at that.

Bigger help than the refund?