God-Given Business Genius - Chapter 123

-Look at this. The color is interesting, isn't it? The visual is unique, and I think this would be really delicious with ice cream! I highly recommend it to Oreo lovers too.......

Gulp.

Hyun Ye-won unconsciously swallowed. The screen was filled with the appetizing Oreo churros.

Ah, it looks delicious!

Regular churros are one thing, but how delicious would that be? It's not just Oreo flavor, but Oreo transformed into churros. Her imagination was stimulated, and she couldn't help but salivate.

'Ah, I really want to try just one bite....'

"Ye-won-ssi."

"Yes, yes?!"

Hyun Ye-won suddenly stood up and shouted. Realizing she had made such a blunder, she felt embarrassed.

"I-I'm sorry."

Noticing the stares from around her, Hyun Ye-won bowed her head to everyone who made eye contact.

Then, turning around, she saw the man who had just called her name—her direct superior.

A man with a slightly irritable expression, pushing up his thin-framed glasses. It was Jo I-ruk.

Jo I-ruk glanced at Hyun Ye-won's phone, which hadn't yet been turned off.

Oh no.

Hyun Ye-won hurriedly hid her phone behind her back, but it was too late. The screen filled with Song Woo-yeon and Sim Chae-yoon had been clearly visible for a while.

"Ah, I see you were watching this."

"Y-yes. For monitoring purposes."

Hyun Ye-won blurted out a feeble excuse.

'Oh, I'm doomed. It hasn't even been a week since I started working here. Am I already going to be labeled as someone who slacks off during work hours?'

She involuntarily bowed her head deeply, clasping her hands together and fidgeting. Her demeanor was unmistakably that of a guilty person, which made Jo I-ruk smile unconsciously.

"I heard the view count was quite high. I don't really watch YouTube. Do young people your age watch a lot?"

"Y-yes, that's right. I don't have any friends who don't watch it. The response is really great!"

Hyun Ye-won found herself chattering away without realizing it.

"It's innovative enough that you can taste churros outside of amusement parks, but churros with different flavors? Everyone says they want to try it."

Me too, if possible. Hyun Ye-won swallowed the last part.

"Hmm."

Jo I-ruk seemed to be thinking about something in response to Hyun Ye-won's words. He crossed his arms and tapped his elbow with his fingertips.

Then he suddenly smiled.

"She was right again."

"Pardon?"

"It's nothing. Have you finished organizing what I asked you to?"

"Yes! Here it is."

Hyun Ye-won handed over the documents she had prepared earlier to Jo I-ruk.

"As you instructed, I compared the sales figures with the prices of the ingredients we supplied. Most are similar, but some numbers stand out."

"I see."

Rustle, rustle.

Jo I-ruk spoke as he flipped through the report Hyun Ye-won had handed him. The graph made some unusual stores even more noticeable.

"As I mentioned... Ye-won-ssi, you'll be largely responsible for managing existing franchises."

"Yes!"

"While short-term part-timers or dispatched workers from agencies will conduct the actual secret inspections, you still need to be fully aware of what these inspections entail. You'll occasionally conduct field investigations yourself."

"Yes. I understand."

Hyun Ye-won had already been informed of this when she joined the company.

"So you'll be going on a secret inspection together, but......."

"?"

Jo I-ruk hesitated slightly, his words trailing off. As Hyun Ye-won tilted her head in confusion, Jo I-ruk cleared his throat and continued.

"I was originally planning to teach you about this inspection, but unexpectedly, one more person has been added."

"Oh, is that so? Someone from another department?"

"Well. Something like that."

Jo I-ruk averted his gaze slightly and added in a low voice.

"CEO Song Woo-yeon will be joining us."

"......Excuse me?"

Hyun Ye-won doubted her ears. She must be feeling weak these days. She's hearing strange things.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I think I misheard. Could you please repeat that?"

"I said CEO Song Woo-yeon will be joining us."

"......."

But repeating it didn't change what she had just heard.

CEO Song Woo-yeon.

There wouldn't be another 'CEO Song Woo-yeon' that Jo I-ruk was referring to. Then, could it really be the owner of The Song...?

"C-C-CEO Song Woo-yeon?!"

"That's how it turned out."

'That's not something you can just say 'that's how it turned out' about, Team Leader Jo!'

Hyun Ye-won closed her mouth to swallow the words that were about to burst out. Jo I-ruk also looked somewhat embarrassed.

Well, suddenly making a new employee who's been with the company for about a week work with the CEO. He couldn't say anything even if he received resentful glances.

"W-w-why?!"

"This report itself was created on the CEO's orders. Originally, we conducted secret inspections on all branches, but as the scale grew, we started randomly selecting franchises for inspection every three months. But this time, after reviewing the sales reports, the CEO suddenly ordered the creation of this report."

Jo I-ruk looked down at the report Hyun Ye-won had prepared.

"And she instructed us to dispatch secret inspectors to locations where the cost of supplied ingredients is significantly low compared to sales. ......Then today, she suddenly said she would go herself."

"Ah......! I see. If sales are high, that means a lot of food was sold, but if the supplied ingredients are low, it means there might be a problem."

"That's right. They might be violating the contract and sourcing ingredients from elsewhere, or they might be inflating their sales figures."

Indeed. Hyun Ye-won nodded.

"Wow, how does the CEO know all this? I couldn't have imagined it."

"It's better not to be surprised already."

Jo I-ruk smiled.

"Because there will be many more surprising things to come."

"I-is that so?! Actually, I've been a fan of the CEO since the early days of 'Cold Cooking'......"

Hyun Ye-won shyly confessed her fandom.

"That was a big reason why I decided to join The Song! The excellent skills and bouncy ideas she showed on 'Cold Cooking'! They gave me a lot of inspiration! I've watched all the shows the CEO appeared on without missing a single one."

"Ah. Is that why you were watching YouTube earlier?"

"T-that...!"

As Hyun Ye-won looked flustered, Jo I-ruk let out a low laugh.

"I'm not scolding you. It's not completely unrelated to the company either. Right. The Oreo churros showcased there."

"Yes! This is also a really amazing idea! Truly, it seems like there's nothing the CEO can't do, and how can she be so brilliant and capable in so many different fields. I can't help but admire... Oops, I'm sorry! It's a habit."

She had gotten excited and started talking as if she were speaking to her friends. Hyun Ye-won covered her mouth tightly with both hands and just rolled her eyes.

'Oh no. I messed up! My friends always hated it when I did this. What if he thinks I'm weird?'

As she was carefully observing the situation, Jo I-ruk smiled instead of scolding Hyun Ye-won.

"No. It's understandable."

"......?"

Huh.

Hyun Ye-won slowly raised her head. Jo I-ruk seemed rather proud.

'How should I put it. It's like a child bragging about a toy their parents bought... Oh my. What am I thinking.'

It's a needless thought. He's probably just pleased that a new employee has such loyalty to the company.

Surely he's not thinking something like 'Your company doesn't have a Song Woo-yeon, does it?' Of course not. Hyun Ye-won dismissed it all as her own misconception.

"CEO Song's achievements are not just one or two. Take those Oreo churros for example. One day she suddenly brought in some kid, and at first, I wondered what was going on."

"Gasp."

A kid? Surely they didn't bring in a real child for child labor. Could it be... nepotism?!

Hyun Ye-won's face hardened.

'I hate this kind of thing. I deliberately chose a company that seemed unlikely to have internal corruption.'

At that moment, someone cast a shadow behind Jo I-ruk. Before she could react, that someone rested their face on Jo I-ruk's shoulder.

"Mister, isn't that a bit harsh? What do you mean 'some kid'?"

Hyun Ye-won blushed slightly at the grinning face. He had such a dazzling face that she couldn't help but wonder if he was a celebrity.

His hair was bleached blonde, and he had a unique fashion sense that looked like it belonged on a college campus. It all suited him so well that he looked just like a model.

'Is this person... the kid Team Leader Jo was talking about?'

He doesn't look young at all!

Of course, there are still traces of youth, but it would be more accurate to say he looks young rather than childish.

Jo I-ruk's face contorted, and he quickly stepped aside to distance himself from the young man.

"You looked like a kid when you were first brought in. You just grew like a beansprout after that."

He had somehow grown even taller than Jo I-ruk. They say men grow even in the military, but he didn't know a twenty-year-old could grow so late.

Baek Jae-ha had grown rapidly, as if catching up on all the growth he hadn't done before. To the point of suffering from growing pains at that age.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Baek Jae-ha. I'm part of the new menu development team."

"Ah! H-hello. I'm Hyun Ye-won!"

Hyun Ye-won bowed deeply first. Jo I-ruk shook his head and muttered.

"But to think this guy would create such a hit product."

"Ah! You created it?"

The creator of the Oreo churros idea! Hyun Ye-won's eyes sparkled.

"Yes, that's right. Of course, the detailed recipe checking, or selecting usable ideas from among the useless ones, was all done by the CEO."

"This is why I have nothing more to say. I'm the only weird one for doubting."

"......Is that so?"

Hyun Ye-won tilted her head.

'He says it's a complaint, but why is his face smiling?'

Jo I-ruk looked like someone who had been waiting for this to happen. As if he had hoped to be wrong and for Song Woo-yeon to be right.

It was right at that moment.

Baek Jae-ha's eyes suddenly lit up, and he smiled as brightly as ever.

"CEO!"

"!"

There was only one person Baek Jae-ha would call 'CEO'. Hyun Ye-won took a deep breath, clenching her trembling fists tightly.

'Finally, finally seeing her in person!'

Hyun Ye-won barely suppressed her dizziness that made her feel like fainting and slowly turned around.

"Oh? Everyone's gathered here?"

A young woman in a neat white shirt and slacks was walking towards them.

Song Woo-yeon.

The owner of The Song, the protagonist of all myths.

She was standing right in front of them.