Sa-seong (Samsung) Electronics Headquarters, Taepyeong-ro, Seoul.
An Byeong-seok, president of Digital Wave, and Deputy General Manager Yoon Nam-ho entered the spacious lobby, lined with artificial marble.
Although they had visited several times before, the sheer presence of the conglomerate, which was vying with Hyunwoo (Hyundai) Group for the top spot in the business world, made them feel somewhat overwhelmed and intimidated just by stepping into the lobby.
As the two men approached the reception desk, a female staff member in a crisp uniform greeted them with a friendly smile.
"Welcome. How may I help you?"
"We're here to see Deputy Manager Park In-bae from the Sales Department."
"Do you have an appointment?"
"Yes. He should recognize us if you mention Digital Wave."
"Please wait just a moment."
Smiling, the receptionist picked up the internal phone and called the Sales Department.
"Someone from Digital Wave is here to see Deputy Manager Park In-bae. Ah, yes, understood."
After quickly hanging up, the receptionist gestured toward the elevator on the left.
"You can head up to the 5th floor."
"Thank you."
Deputy General Manager Yoon Nam-ho bowed slightly and walked with President An toward the elevators, passing the security guard stationed beside the reception desk.
"It'd be so much easier if we could just go straight up to the office. Having to check in at the front desk every time is such a hassle. Don't you think?"
"They said it's for security reasons."
Deputy General Manager Yoon shrugged in response.
"The research lab isn't even in this building. Why make us go through all this?"
"If you're that unhappy about it, you could always ask Deputy Manager Park to change the procedure."
"Tsk. I'm just saying."
Grumbling, President An quickly backed down, muttering under his breath.
"Phew."
Seeing this, Yoon Nam-ho, who was also a university junior to An, shook his head with a small sigh.
The two took the elevator up to the 5th floor and entered the Sales Department office, where Deputy Manager Park In-bae, wearing a white dress shirt and a blue tie, was already waiting. He stepped forward with an outstretched hand.
"Welcome!"
After exchanging handshakes with the two, Park In-bae immediately led them deeper into the office.
"Let's head straight to the meeting room."
As he did, he casually called out to a young woman sitting near the entrance.
"Miss Ko, could you please bring three cups of coffee to the meeting room?"
"Sure thing."
"Alright, this way, please."
Park In-bae opened the door to a separate meeting room located to one side.
Though it was called a meeting room, it wasn't anything fancy—just a roughly 13-square-meter space with a long table and chairs arranged so people could talk quietly.
Deputy Manager Park In-bae, who had opened a Sa-seong Electronics-branded diary in front of him, looked at President An Byeong-seok and Deputy General Manager Yoon Nam-ho, who were seated side by side, and spoke in a businesslike tone.
"You said you're looking to purchase 64-megabit flash memory chips, correct?"
"That's right."
At An Byeong-seok's answer, Park In-bae pulled out a small calculator and began punching in numbers.
"Let's see… Today's exchange rate is 880 won to the dollar, so at $55 per unit, that comes to 48,400 won each."
After finishing the calculation, Park looked up and continued.
"If you order 50,000 units, the total comes to 2.42 billion won. Of course, as this is our first transaction, I trust you're aware that payment needs to be made in cash."
Just then, a knock came at the door, and the female staff member entered with a tray, momentarily pausing the conversation.
After she set down the coffee and left, Deputy General Manager Yoon spoke up to resume the discussion.
"Could you perhaps lower the price a bit from 48,400 won per unit?"
"No, I can't."
Leaning back against his chair, Park In-bae firmly refused.
"With the official release of Intel's Pentium II computers, memory prices are dropping sharply, aren't they?"
"That's exactly why we set the price at $55. If you consider that it was $120 per unit just in the second half of last year, this is already half the price."
"Even so, with prices falling so rapidly, we're just asking for a little flexibility on the unit price."
As Yoon Nam-ho persisted, Park's expression hardened slightly, his brows furrowing.
"Prices might drop further, but they could also rebound just as sharply. If $55 doesn't suit you, you're free to look elsewhere."
With that, he closed his diary right in front of them, showing he wasn't particularly bothered.
Although rival firms like Hyunwoo and TG Electronics were also producing 64-megabit memory chips, Sa-seong's units were still superior in performance, durability, and even price.
Knowing this full well, Park could afford to be this confident, even while selling.
On top of that, the order volume wasn't large enough to justify cutting the unit price, which only reinforced his stance.
"Come on now, please just give us a little discount."
Deputy General Manager Yoon pleaded humbly, but Park lifted his chin and shook his head.
"Look, I said it's not possible."
Bluntly put, unless Digital Wave was a steady, ongoing client, Sa-seong Electronics saw them as barely above a corner shop.
And if he gave them a discount now and other clients found out, they would all demand price cuts, which would be a problem. That made it even harder for Park to accommodate the request.
"So, what's it going to be?"
Park asked coldly, as if to say take it or leave it, prompting President An Byeong-seok to snap in frustration.
"At that price, we can't proceed with the deal."
"President..."
Deputy General Manager Yoon Nam-ho, seated beside him, turned to An Byeong-seok in surprise.
But An, already offended, sat back with his arms crossed and a stubborn look on his face.
Seeing this, Park In-bae casually gathered up the diary in front of him and replied indifferently.
"That's unfortunate, but it can't be helped. Hopefully, there will be a better opportunity for business in the future."
Thinking to himself that this meeting had been a waste of time, Park was about to stand when An Byeong-seok casually threw out a remark.
"We were planning to purchase 300,000 memory chips at once, but since you're unwilling to negotiate, I suppose we'll have to check with Hyunwoo or TG instead."
Park, who had just paused mid-motion, turned to An and asked, startled.
"Did you just say 300,000 units?"
At that moment, realizing Park had taken the bait, An Byeong-seok quietly rejoiced inside.
But outwardly, he maintained a calm, unaffected demeanor as he replied.
"Yes, that's correct."
"But last time, didn't you say you wanted to order 50,000 flash memory units?"
Leaning back in his chair with a hint of swagger, An responded.
"Ah, we did say that at first. But with a new collaboration with Mido Department Store and some incoming orders from the U.S., our initial batch has grown just a bit."
He deliberately stressed the word initial and threw a sideways glance at Yoon Nam-ho, who quickly caught on and chimed in.
"We were really hoping to establish a partnership with Sa-seong, the market leader, and continue sourcing our memory chips from you. It's truly unfortunate."
Hearing this, Park, who had been standing, slowly sat back down, his eyes narrowing slightly with suspicion.
"Is what you just said really true?"
An, faking offense, furrowed his brows and snapped back.
"Are you suggesting we're lying?"
"Ah, no, that's not what I meant. It's just that the sudden jump in volume caught me off guard. As far as I know, Digital Wave is a small company with fewer than forty employees. To hear that you're now partnering with Mido Department Store and exporting to the U.S.—it struck me as a bit unusual. If I offended you, I apologize."
Though Park apologized, his skeptical gaze lingered as he looked between the two men.
It was only natural—after all, it was hard to believe that a tiny company with barely fifty employees would suddenly place an order worth 14.4 billion won.
What's more, 300,000 units amounted to nearly one-third of Sa-seong's total monthly production capacity for 64-megabit memory chips.
Straightening his posture, An cleared his throat.
"Ahem. I suppose I haven't mentioned it yet, but the investor backing this project is Daehung Venture Capital."
"Daehung Venture? As in, the venture capital arm of Daehung Group..."
"That's right."
An Byeong-seok nodded confidently, squaring his shoulders.
"They've been supporting us since the development of our new product, and we just secured an additional 10 billion won in funding."
"Hmm, I see."
Only then did Park In-bae show a look of understanding.
If Daehung Venture Capital, a subsidiary of Daehung Group, was backing Digital Wave financially, it would explain how such a small company could afford to purchase an expensive batch of 300,000 64MB flash memory chips in one go.
Even if there was some exaggeration in their claims, it didn't matter much to Sa-seong Electronics, as they would be paid in cash, not on credit — meaning no risk on their end.
In fact, with Japanese semiconductor giants like NEC flooding the market to undercut prices and suppress Korean and Taiwanese competitors, landing a client who could consistently order hundreds of thousands of chips would be a huge win for Sa-seong.
Having done the mental math in a flash, Park adjusted his posture, now adopting a much more polite and proactive tone than before.
"So, what kind of discount are you hoping for?"
An Byeong-seok resisted the urge to answer right away, deliberately putting on a nonchalant face.
"Didn't you just say discounts weren't possible?"
"Haha, well, that was before I knew you were planning to order this kind of volume. If you'd mentioned it earlier, I would have answered differently."
Park chuckled, his tone slick and salesman-smooth as his attitude flipped completely.
An couldn't help but smirk inwardly at how quickly Park had changed his tune — but he understood; he'd probably do the same in Park's shoes. After a brief pause, he boldly named his price.
"If you can bring it down to 45 dollars per unit, we can sign the contract right now."
At that number, Park's face immediately tensed, his eyebrows knitting together.
"Even for a large order, a 10-dollar cut per unit is a bit much."
Sitting beside An, Deputy General Manager Yoon Nam-ho, who thought the ask was too aggressive, subtly tapped An's thigh under the table, signaling him to ease up.
But An pretended not to notice and doubled down.
"The initial order is 300,000 units. And we're ready to place similar-sized orders going forward. You should at least offer us that much benefit, don't you think?"
Yoon, listening in, managed to keep a straight face, but inside, he was breaking out in a cold sweat.
"Why is this guy acting like this today? He's usually not like this…"
He had thought An was just grumbling earlier, but now it felt like he was really about to blow the deal.
Anxiously, Yoon kept an eye on Park, hoping things wouldn't collapse entirely.
Park, wearing a thoughtful look, finally spoke up.
"This seems like a deal beyond what I can approve on my own."
Yoon's heart sank, and he hurriedly opened his mouth to lower their ask before things went south — but Park beat him to it.
"Let me bring in my manager. Please wait here for a moment."
Seeing Park stand, Yoon swallowed the words that had been on the tip of his tongue.
"Of course, please go ahead."
"I'll be right back, then."
Park excused himself and left the meeting room.
As soon as the door closed, An, who had been faking composure, let out a big sigh of relief.
Yoon immediately leaned in, lowering his voice as much as possible in case someone outside overheard, and scolded An.
"Forty-five dollars? Boss — no, hyung, are you out of your mind?"
"Don't ask me. I don't know — it just slipped out."
"Ugh, seriously!"
Yoon Nam-ho sighed, pressing one hand to his forehead.
An Byeong-seok, his throat dry, drained the now lukewarm coffee in one gulp and spoke up.
"Still, judging by his reaction, don't you think there's a chance they might actually go for it if we push a little?"
Yoon glanced toward the closed door and replied in a slightly calmer tone.
"Maybe not the full 10 dollars, but I think they could go down by 5."
"Right? Good. If we want to stick to President Park's plan of pricing the product under 200,000 won, we've got to bring down the memory cost somehow. Let's keep pushing."
"Even shaving off 5 dollars would cut our costs significantly."
Yoon nodded in agreement.
"And you know what? After all this time tiptoeing around Sa-seong Electronics, it actually feels kinda good to finally push back a little."
"Heh, yeah, same here."
If it weren't for Seok-won, this kind of bold move wouldn't have even been an option.
They'd probably be groveling right now, swallowing their pride just to shave off a few cents from the price with Deputy Manager Park.
"All thanks to President Park."
"Yeah."
Just seeing how quickly Park dropped his suspicion the moment they mentioned Daehung Venture Capital was proof enough.
The two men, once again reminded of Seok-won's clout, quietly sipped their coffee side by side as they waited for Park In-bae to return