"A… a large sum of money, you say?"
"Let me explain."
I took out the paper and pen I had prepared and began my explanation.
"You can already earn 2 million won just by giving me the school's discarded computers. Correct?"
"W-well, yes."
I drew a circle and said,
"This is you. And…"
I drew five more lines radiating from the circle, each ending with another circle.
"You must have ways to contact other schools, right? Let's say five schools for now. You persuade the heads of the administrative offices at these five schools. Tell them that if they hand over their discarded computers to me under the same conditions as Seongwon High School, I'll give them 1 million won each. But you, as the first person to do business with me, deserve more, don't you? Excluding the 1 million won consultation fee, of course."
I wrote "1 million won" in each of the five circles and continued,
"And if the deal is successful with these five schools, I'll give you an additional 700,000 won per school."
"700,000 won… That's 3.5 million won for five schools…"
His monthly salary was just around that amount, and he could earn it just by persuading a few school administrators. The headmaster's eyes started turning bloodshot.
"And tell these five headmasters to do the same. If they persuade other school headmasters to do business with me…"
I drew five more lines and circles from each of the five circles.
"They'll receive 1 million won for each successful deal, and the five headmasters who introduced them will get 700,000 won each. So how much will you get, Headmaster Kim?"
I wrote "500,000 won" and added an asterisk.
"I'll give you 500,000 won for each headmaster who joins the network through referrals. Let's see… Five people persuaded five people each, so that's 25 people. Multiplied by 500,000 won, that's 12.5 million won."
I could feel his breathing getting heavier as I continued drawing lines and circles. I could have just given him a simple example, but I deliberately filled the paper with 25 circles and five more lines and circles from each of them to add pressure. After five minutes of drawing, I explained,
"The same goes for these 25 people. If they persuade five more people each, that's 125 people. Then 1 million won each for the 125 new people, 700,000 won each for the 25 headmasters who referred them, 500,000 won each for the five who referred those 25, and 300,000 won for you. And since it's 125 people…"
I paused to catch my breath and said,
"That's 37.5 million won."
"Th-thirty-seven…point five million won…"
"And it doesn't end there. There are over 1,000 schools in the country."
I started drawing lines again. Five from each circle, one by one. The rows grew longer, and after 15 minutes of drawing, I said,
"If these 125 people persuade five more each, that's 625 people. Then 700,000 won for the 125, 500,000 won for the 25, 300,000 won for the five, and 100,000 won for you. With 625 people, that's 62.5 million won."
I clapped excitedly and said enviously,
"Congratulations. That's over 100 million won in total."
"100 million won."
"Yes, 100 million won. You earned 100 million won just by referring five people."
Headmaster Kim stared at the paper with bloodshot eyes. He probably needed time to process everything. But I had to push further before he could regain his composure.
"But do you think this is the end?"
"You're saying it's not over?"
"Schools might be the end, but are administrative offices only found in schools?"
I leaned closer to him and whispered,
"Don't you have colleagues in other government offices? The next level is 20,000 won per person. With five referrals each, that's 3,125 people, five times the 625. At 20,000 won each, that's 62.5 million won. The next level is 4,000 won. Another fivefold increase, another 62.5 million won. You've surpassed 200 million won."
Was he overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the operation? Headmaster Kim's voice trembled.
This was on a completely different level from the petty cash he received for meddling with school supply purchases.
"W-what if… what if we get caught?"
"That's why you need to handle it discreetly. They're just discarded computers, after all. You're saving on disposal costs and having them collected for free. That's how you report it."
"Hmm… But…"
He was still hesitant, so I added,
"And is there a rule that says computers have to be replaced every few years?"
"What?"
"Technology is advancing rapidly these days. Maybe not every year, but think about two or three years down the line."
My words swayed him further.
"But… what if we get caught for bribery? The amount is quite significant."
"Huh?"
I smirked, lowered my sunglasses slightly, and looked him in the eye.
"I'm disappointed in you, Headmaster Kim."
"What?"
"If one person or ten people receive it, it's bribery. But do you know what happens when 1,000 people receive it?"
I took off my sunglasses and smiled brightly.
"It becomes common practice."
I used the same method to persuade one person in Chungcheong-do, one in Jeolla-do, and one in Gyeongsang-do. The results were immediate.
"Yes, yes, Osung Elementary School in Osung-dong, Cheonan. Are you the headmaster? Ah, yes, nice to meet you. It's about… the one at Bukil High School… Ah, that's right. Thank you for confirming. You said 25 computers? Then you know it's 75 vouchers, right? Yes, yes, I understand. I'll send them as soon as we set a date."
I had initially offered 1 million won for 30 computers at Seongwon High School, which meant a commission of 30,000 won per computer.
But the headmasters who referred others received their full agreed-upon amount. Osung Elementary School had 25 computers and was three levels down the referral chain, so I had to pay 700,000 won and 500,000 won to the two headmasters above. Including the headmaster of Osung Elementary School, the total amount I had to pay was 1.95 million won.
But it didn't matter. They might have been called discarded computers, but with a little work, they could be reborn as perfectly functional secondhand computers.
I could revive over 80% of them, so 20 main units alone would fetch 5 million won.
Moreover, almost 90% of the monitors that were discarded as broken were actually working. I could potentially earn 6.5 million won from Osung Elementary School, a hefty profit even after paying the commissions.
"Come on, everyone, let's get to work."
Computers started pouring in from schools across the country. In many cases, I went to collect them myself, but some headmasters, tired of waiting, hired their own trucks and sent them over.
The daily intake exceeded several hundred units. It had only been two weeks.
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume, I hastily bought a 1,320-square-meter site next to the secondhand computer assembly factory, paying a premium, and hired a large number of day laborers to keep up with the work.
"This is like shooting fish in a barrel."
The collection of discarded computers was going incredibly smoothly. CEO Wu even asked me to slow down because he was overwhelmed by the volume. My warehouse was filling up rapidly.
"Hyung, at this rate, we're going to dominate the entire country's computer market."
"I doubt it. There must be some honest people out there, right? Hahaha."
I felt content just sitting still. I had already delivered over 2,000 repaired computers to CEO Wu. After paying the headmasters their commissions, my profit in just two weeks had exceeded 400 million won.
CEO Wu even asked me to stop supplying him for a while because he was running low on cash. I had nearly 1,500 computers piled up in my warehouse, a sight that made me feel rich just by looking at it.
There were over 1,000 schools in the country, and each school had an average of 30 computers, so theoretically, I could acquire over 30,000 discarded computers if I collected them all.
Even if I couldn't get them all, if I managed to get 20,000, it would be worth tens of billions of won.
"Wahahaha! Maru, you see? You earn as much as you know. Ignorance is a sin in modern society! A sin!"
"Hyung, I finally understand what you mean."
"What did I tell you? Trust me. And keep this between us."
I leaned closer to Maru and whispered,
"If this goes well, I'm going to establish a proper corporation and become the CEO. A company specializing in discarded computers. Let's acquire all the discarded computers in the country. Vice president is a bit much for a small company, so you'll start as a director. I'll give you a decent share of the company too."
Maru said, touched,
"Hyung, no, CEO, thank you. I'll follow you wherever you go."
"I'm not the CEO yet. Just call me hyung."
We joked about being CEO and director when my cell phone rang again.
"Hello? You're calling from Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do? I see. Yes, yes."
Two months had passed, but the computers were still pouring in. Every day, nearly 400 sets of main units and monitors were neatly stacked in my warehouse.
I had shipped over 13,000 repaired computers to CEO Wu, and my current inventory was around 3,000 units.
Even though CEO Wu was focusing solely on selling the computers I supplied, the inventory kept growing slowly.
In the past two months, CEO Wu had treated me to drinks at least six times, and I had declined three times.
'I'm sorry I can't process them faster.'
'I'm happy with the volume, but I have limited funds. So please hold onto the inventory and don't sell it elsewhere.'
CEO Wu must have benefited greatly from our partnership. I even negotiated a 20,000 won increase in the unit price in exchange for holding onto the inventory.
"Which bank should I go to?"
I had nearly 1 billion won in cash, so I bought two more safes, but they were already full. It was time to visit the bank, something I had been putting off.
"Maru, help me carry some stuff."
Maru and I grabbed sacks and started filling them with bundles of 1 million won. We filled one sack, loaded it into the trunk of the Grandeur, and repeated the process.
We loaded for a while, but there was still a lot of money left. I took Maru with me and visited the nearby Doona Bank Ansan branch.
Since I had so much cash, I parked the car in front of the bank, told Maru to keep watch, and entered the bank with a sack slung over my shoulder.
People stared at me strangely as I walked in with a shabby sack, but I ignored them, took a number ticket, and waited. When it was my turn, I approached the counter.
"Welcome. How can I help you?"
"I'd like to make a deposit. I don't have an account, so I need to open one."
"Yes, I understand. Can I see your ID?"
After a brief identity verification, I opened an account. I opened the sack and said,
"Please deposit all of this."
The bank employees were surprised. They exclaimed, "Oh my, oh my," as they quickly counted the money with a machine and deposited it. I went back to the car, brought in another sack, and repeated the process. The total deposit amount was 640 million won.
I offered the employees who worked hard counting the money drinks and said,
"I think I'll need to come back two more times. I'll be back soon."
I made two more trips, and my bank account balance reached 2.123 billion won. I was admiring my bankbook when Maru said,
"Hyung, how much money is left?"
"About 1 billion won in the safe."
"Wow, I'm so envious."
"I'll make sure you have this much someday. This is just the beginning."
Maru chuckled and said,
"I heard that the branch manager would come running out barefoot if you deposited this much money, but I guess that's not true."
"Yeah, I was hoping to see the branch manager. I guess this isn't enough. Do I need 10 billion won or something?"
"If he didn't come out for 2 billion won, it means there are a lot of people depositing that much money."
"That's possible. This area is an industrial complex. There must be many successful CEOs. We need to work harder."
We were disappointed that we didn't get to see the branch manager, but we were satisfied when we received a call that evening from the Ansan branch manager, apologizing for not being able to greet us in person because he was away on business.