chapter3:< An Unexpected First Job (2) >
“So, you're a Monk?”
The man who was the President of this small company looked to be over fifty. Even ordinary people who didn't know Face Reading would likely see his thick belly, greasy face, and expensive clothes and assume he was a man who lived without a care for money.
“I'm not exactly a Monk, just someone who has trained at a temple for a long time.”
“Isn't that the same thing?”
“My Buddhist faith is lacking, so I can't call myself a Buddhist. To put it simply, you could think of me as someone who studied for the civil service exam at a temple for a long time.”
“Then what did you study?”
“I studied philosophy.”
Song Byeong-chang, the President of this company, Myeongil Financial, was utterly bewildered.
He had once mentioned in passing to an older female acquaintance that he was having a hard time lately because he couldn't find any employees.
But then, out of the blue, he got a call from a stranger saying he'd been referred by that woman and had come all the way from the countryside to Seoul, so he had agreed to meet him.
He had already taken into account that someone who struggled to find a job on their own and had to come here through a referral would likely be lacking in some way compared to others.
But there were limits. He had never imagined that someone who was practically half a monk, having spent his whole life in a temple studying philosophy or whatever, would show up.
“Ahem... I'm a bit taken aback.”
“Still, I've studied the entire middle and high school curriculum without fail.”
Watching him speak so shamelessly about something that was nothing to brag about, as if it were some great achievement, President Song felt his mind go blank.
He thought he had met countless people and been through hell and back, but this was the first time he'd encountered such a difficult opponent.
“Well, that's a relief. Do you know what kind of company this is?”
“I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it's a Lending Business that lends money to customers at high interest rates. However, if there's one thing I'd hope for...”
“And that is?”
“If this is an illegal company that profits by charging interest rates exceeding the legal limit, then I'm afraid I won't be able to work here. I'm sorry.”
President Song looked at the slightly older young man for a moment with a displeased expression.
“No need to be sorry. We're not an illegal Lending Business.”
“That's a relief.”
The young man's brightly smiling face was now starting to look annoying.
“Your employment hasn't been decided yet.”
“Of course. It's the company's right to evaluate a potential employee. I understand.”
“You have a real knack for being both straightforward and frustrating at the same time.”
“I apologize if I came across as frustrating. It's because I don't have much experience in the professional world yet.”
“No, it's fine. Anyway, as I said, our company is a Lending Business, but not a typical one.”
“How so?”
Getting the reaction he had expected for the first time, President Song replied with a satisfied look.
“When people hear Lending Business, they usually think of loan sharks who lend money to ordinary people at high interest rates, but we don't lend money to ordinary people.”
“If you don't lend money?”
“When people who've borrowed from second or third-tier financial institutions like savings banks can't pay it back on time, their debt becomes a non-performing loan. We buy those loans for a very low price and then collect on them. That's our job.”
“Ah, I've heard of that. I think I've seen it in a few news articles.”
“To put it more simply, for example, we buy a ten-million-won bad debt for one million won, and then we collect the principal, or the principal plus interest. In most cases, we give up on the interest and just collect the principal. If you try to collect the interest too, you end up with nothing.”
“I see. So, when you collect the money, do you do it in a very threatening or intimidating way?”
“We'd be in big trouble if we did that. People used to collect debts that way in the old days, but times have changed. If you act recklessly like that now, you're likely to end up in prison. We try to collect through legal means as much as possible, but it's not easy. Especially if the debtor files for personal rehabilitation or bankruptcy, then it's like a dog chasing a chicken only to watch it fly onto the roof. So we meet with the debtor and try to reach a reasonable agreement, and if that doesn't seem possible, we don't push it and just proceed with compulsory execution. For people who have money but pretend they don't by transferring assets to other names, we sometimes do background checks.”
Yeonghun didn't understand everything, but he got the general gist of it and nodded.
“I see.”
“To be honest, the employee we really need isn't an office worker to organize and manage the loans, but a collections agent who can recover the principal from these bad debts. These days, if you offer 1.5 million won a month for an office job, you'll be flooded with applicants.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. A college degree is a basic requirement, and even if you add a Word processing certificate and a minimum TOEIC score, people are dying for the job. But nobody wants to be a collections agent. It's strange, isn't it?”
“Why is it strange?”
“Because we give our sales staff a certain percentage of the principal they recover as a bonus. While others are taking home 1.5 million won, a skilled collections agent can make ten million won a month, or even more.”
“Wow...”
Yeonghun was genuinely surprised.
He had always thought that ten million won a month was an income reserved for the top 1%.
“It's nothing to be surprised about. It's true for any sales job, but the compensation structure has to be set up so that if you do well, you can earn more than a regular office worker. That's what motivates people to work hard.”
“I suppose so.”
President Song started to feel uneasy about this slightly older young man who said he'd lived in a temple.
A collections agent, first and foremost, had to be more suspicious than anyone. But the person in front of him had such an innocent expression, he looked like the type who wouldn't even know who cut off his nose if it happened right under his eyes.
However, this was a misunderstanding on President Song's part, because he didn't know Yeonghun at all.
As soon as Yeonghun had entered the office,he had examined President Song's Face Reading.
President Song had a smooth forehead, a prominent nose, and a virtuous lower face, indicating wealth, a generous disposition, and a straightforward personality. He was the type of leader whose subordinates would follow him willingly.
A person like this, even if he were to commit fraud, wouldn't do it for a mere few thousand.
He had judged that this was not a man who would lie to a penniless country bumpkin who had just come up to Seoul for the first time, which was why he was accepting his explanation as the truth.
And upon hearing that he could earn more than ten million won a month, Yeonghun realized that, on the contrary, he wouldn't be able to work here for long.
If the job didn't suit him, he wouldn't be able to stay long, and if it suited him too well, he was afraid he would become greedy for money.
However, he was curious about the work, so he decided to take the job, thinking of it as a new experience.
“Honestly, the job isn't easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it. Getting the door slammed in your face is a given, sometimes you'll get cursed at, and sometimes people will threaten you with a kitchen knife. If you're the type to be doing fine and then suddenly turn pale and say, 'I don't think I can do this,' then it's better not to start at all.”
It was his way of saying that if you didn't have considerable guts, you should just give up.
President Song naturally expected this innocent young man to be scared, but the young man just smiled as if it were nothing and said.
“That's fine. Ah, I don't think I've told you my name. I'm Choi Yeong-hun.”
With him saying that much, his employment was all but confirmed.
President Song licked his lips and then spoke.
“For now, I can only watch you for about three months. It's a notoriously difficult job to adapt to. I'll pay you a salary for those three months. But after three months, you'll have to earn a commission instead of a salary. If you don't like that, you can refuse now.”
Yeonghun was about to say he didn't need the money, but stopped, thinking that would seem too strange.
“I think that's reasonable. I look forward to working with you. Please speak comfortably with me.”
“Ahem... Alright. Let's do our best.”
After saying his goodbyes and leaving the company, Yeonghun returned to his Gosiwon.
He planned to study up on what debt collection was through the internet.
But when he arrived at the Gosiwon and sat down in front of the computer, a wave of hunger washed over him.
Planning to make some ramen in the kitchen before studying, he went to the small kitchen in the center of the Gosiwon and saw a young woman he'd never seen before, moving a large kimchi container.
He paused for a moment at the sight of her short shorts and a t-shirt so short that her lower back was completely exposed, when the Gosiwon's owner, an ajumma, came in and spoke to him.
“You're back, young man? You said you were looking for a job today? Did it go well?”
She had asked him where he was going that morning, and he had told her he was going to a job interview.
At the sound of the ajumma's voice, the woman moving the kimchi container hastily stood up and looked at Yeonghun with wary eyes.
“Yes. I'm starting work tomorrow.”
The ajumma, who had a cute face with chubby cheeks, clapped her hands and made a fuss.
“Aigoo~ That's wonderful! This Gosiwon has good energy. Good things always happen to people who move in. This is my daughter. My daughter works at a big corporation, you know. It's not a place just anyone can get into. She's my daughter, but she's really something.”
It turned out the woman carrying the kimchi container was the Gosiwon owner's daughter.
The owner ajumma's words were filled with pride for her daughter and a subtle desire to boast.
The ajumma's daughter snapped.
“Instead of just talking, please help me. It's not like I'm the one eating this kimchi, is it? The men here are.”
“Hey! Watch your tone. You might not know it, but she has such a kind heart. She brought all of this here because she was worried about her mom overworking.”
“Ah, yes...”
Yeonghun dazedly helped put a few of the large kimchi containers into the refrigerator.
“Thanks, young man. That's enough from you, you can go now.”
“I was about to leave anyway. Ugh, this place stinks every time I come here.”
She left the kitchen, pinching her nose in disgust, and the owner ajumma said with an apologetic look not to mind her.
“She wasn't talking to you, so don't worry about it. I made her run an errand today, so she's just being sensitive.”
“Ah, yes...”
The ajumma spoke as if it were nothing, but Yeonghun read the contempt in the daughter's eyes.
Was it because he was realizing this was the kind of look that people who struggled to get by received?
His heart grew heavy.
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