“So, who thought of such a ridiculous thing?”
“Probably just one of the marketing team employees. There was a news story recently about a butcher shop faking their origin labels. They’re just using that to appeal to people that we’re clean.”
Kim Jin-soo sneered, slowly provoking the man.
“But hey, do you have a guilty conscience? Why are you getting so excited?”
“A guilty conscience? Our shop has been around for thirty years— “
“Ugh, I get it, I get it. Thirty years? You’re from the butcher shop right in front of us.”
Kim Jin-soo looked at his wristwatch.
“I’m a busy man. If you have a complaint, call the headquarters’ customer service center. They’ll just give you a manual response anyway.”
He started to turn away.
“Wait.”
I grabbed his arm. Kim Jin-soo scowled like a bulldog.
“What are you doing? Let go of me.”
“I’ll just make one thing clear before you go.”
“What?”
“No matter how competitive the market is, there’s such a thing as business ethics. There’s a line that people working in the same industry should keep.”
“Ethics? Pfft!”
Kim Jin-soo laughed outright.
“Look, business is war. We’re not peddlers from the Joseon Dynasty. What ethics?”
He roughly brushed my hand away.
“And what did our company do wrong? What’s wrong with saying we don’t lie about our origin? Is it wrong to apologize on behalf of the industry for the problems of surrounding butcher shops?”
“Owner Choi’s business was over a month ago, and his shop already closed down. It has nothing to do with us— “
“That it has nothing to do with you is just your opinion.”
Kim Jin-soo shrugged.
“How the customers take it is another matter. Anyway, I’m busy. Could you move aside so my employees can work?”
He shouted to the staff at the meat counter.
“What are you doing! Get to work! Reorganize the display cases!”
The employees began to move hurriedly. A few customers whispered while looking at us.
“Brother, let’s go now.”
Min-jae pulled my arm.
“Nothing good will come of staying here longer.”
I glared at Kim Jin-soo once more before turning around. As I left the store, I heard Kim Jin-soo’s voice.
“Good grief, there are all sorts of people. Just because he runs a tiny butcher shop, he thinks he’s a CEO like the rest of us… so ignorant.”
***
As soon as I returned to Hidden Gem Meats and sat at my desk, I clutched my hair.
“What should we do?”
Min-jae sat next to me, worried.
“Since Mega Meat is coming out like that… we should do something impactful too.”
“Impactful? But what…?”
I thought for a moment and then said, “Min-jae, there’s something I need to check first.”
“What is it?”
“I need to see for myself what kind of meat those guys are selling. Go to the Mega Meat in the next neighborhood and buy some pork belly.”
Min-jae looked at me with an absurd expression.
“Brother, why go all the way to the next neighborhood? We can just go to the Mega Meat across the street.”
“They know our faces there.”
“So? I can just buy it confidently. It’s not like I’m going there to steal.”
Min-jae jumped up. Looking at him now, he was just as shameless as I was.
“I’ll be right back! Should I buy about two packs? We need to compare them.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”
Five minutes later, Min-jae returned with a Mega Meat bag.
“Brother, I’m back. The look on that Kim Jin-soo guy’s face when he saw me was priceless.”
“What did he say?”
“He couldn’t say anything. What can he say when I’m paying for it?”
Min-jae placed two packages of pork belly on the table.
“I picked them from the same display, but the packaging dates were different. One is from today, and one is from yesterday.”
**[Domestic Pork Belly 500g]**
**[Fresh Meat – Packaged on the Same Day]**
‘It looks the same at first glance…’
The moment I opened the first package and touched the pork belly:
**[Pork – General White Pig Pork Belly]**
Time Since Slaughter: 72 hours
Current Freshness: 68/100
Meat Color: Light pink
Fat Color: White
Position: Abdomen
Intramuscular Fat: ★★★☆☆
Water-Holding Capacity: ★★☆☆☆
Tenderness: ★★★☆☆
Flavor: ★★☆☆☆
pH Measurement: 6.2
PSE Meat Possibility: Low
Note: Grade 2 low-cost pork belly
‘I expected this much. Grade 2 low-quality meat.’
The moment I opened the second package and touched it, a shock washed over me.
**[Pork – Sow Pork Belly]**
Time Since Slaughter: 168 hours
Current Freshness: 42/100
Meat Color: Dark red
Fat Color: Yellow
Position: Abdomen
Intramuscular Fat: ★★☆☆☆
Water-Holding Capacity: ★☆☆☆☆
Tenderness: ★☆☆☆☆
Flavor: ★☆☆☆☆
pH Measurement: 6.8
PSE Meat Possibility: High
Notes:
Sow with 5+ births
Repackaged twice
Strong fishy smell
Tough texture
‘What?? A sow?’
I tried to hide my expression, but it wasn’t easy.
“Brother, what’s wrong? Is something weird?”
“Ah… no. I’m just checking the condition of the meat.”
A sow. An old female pig that has been culled after birthing piglets. Usually, these are pigs slaughtered after giving birth five to six times over two to three years.
‘They’re selling this as regular pork belly?’
“Min-jae, get the scale. And some paper towels too.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Just… I want to see if the weight is correct.”
Puzzled, Min-jae brought the items. I wiped the liquid coming out of each piece of meat.
“Brother, there’s a lot of liquid coming out, isn’t there?”
“Yeah…”
I put them on the scale.
First meat: 480g
Second meat: 430g
“Huh? We bought 500g of both, so why is there such a big difference?”
“Well… that’s strange.”
I pretended not to know. Unlike beef, pork is not aged for a long time. The appropriate shelf life is five to seven days after slaughter. Beyond that, the freshness drops and the taste deteriorates rapidly.
This meat was in a dangerous state, right on the limit of its sell-by date. Moreover, sows have poor water-holding capacity, so they lose a lot of moisture. If it’s a week-old sow, the juices are bound to be dripping out.
The fact that it was repackaged twice was also a problem. They package it once, and if it doesn’t sell, they repackage it. If it still doesn’t sell, they repackage it again. They keep selling it while only changing the date.
“Brother, didn’t Mega Meat cheat on the weight?”
“I don’t know yet. I have to check more.”
I looked closely at the meat. The colors were subtly different. The sow meat was darker and duller. The muscle grain was also coarse. However, to an average person, it would just look like meat.
“Min-jae.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s do what we have to do first. Look for a banner company.”
“A banner? What are you going to write?”
“I’ll think about the wording and let you know.”
“Okay.”
“And isn’t there a lawyer around you?”
“Why a lawyer?”
I said while looking at the Mega Meat store.
“Since those guys started the dirty game first, let’s be properly petty too.”
Min-jae started making calls excitedly. In the meantime, I looked at the two pieces of pork belly again.
They were mixing in sow meat and selling it randomly. It was a cunning method. Some customers would buy general low-grade meat, while others would buy sow meat. If all the meat were sow meat, they would be caught, but selling it mixed like this created a perfect alibi.
Selling sow meat isn’t illegal. A sow is still technically pork.
However, it is worlds apart from the regular fresh pork belly that consumers expect. General pork belly comes from young pigs around six months old. It is characterized by soft and savory fat layers.
On the other hand, a sow is an old female pig that has repeatedly given birth. The meat is tough, and it has a characteristic fishy smell due to hormonal influences. The fat layers are also coarse and tasteless.
The most important thing is that there is a huge price difference. Sow meat is thirty to forty percent of the price of regular pork. So normally, it is only used as a raw material for processed meat that is ground and seasoned— things like ham, sausages, and dumpling fillings.
Yet, Mega Meat sells this sow meat at the same price as regular pork belly. Consumers naturally think they are buying regular pork belly. It is the worst choice for pork belly. It’s not meat worth eating for that price.
Knowing that no one would buy it if it were labeled as a sow, they cleverly hide it. Selling tough and fishy sow meat at the price of regular pork belly is clearly immoral customer deception.
‘This won’t be the end of it.’
There’s no way a big company like Mega Meat is simply mixing in sow meat. Surely, there are bigger problems hidden. Origin? Expiration dates? Or something even more shocking?
I have to uncover them one by one. I need to gather more evidence. If I expose it now, who would believe me? I’d be lucky if I didn’t get buried by Park Jung-nam’s fan club.
I thought as I put the Mega Meat pork belly in the refrigerator. First, let’s throw the first punch, and then slowly strip away those guys’ masks.
***
The next morning.
“Father!”
I headed toward Jun-ho’s Butcher Shop with a banner. Min-jae followed behind me.
“Oh? You already made it.”
Father turned around while organizing the meat.
“Yes, I asked them to print it in one day.”
I unfurled the banner and showed it to Father proudly with a determined expression.
**[Giving 100g of pork belly to anyone who brings a receipt from Mega Meat for a purchase made today!!]**
“You little… are you out of your mind?”
It was a large sign with bright red letters on a white background. Father looked at the banner again in shock.
“You’re giving our meat for free to people who bought meat at Mega Meat?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Oh boy, you really…”
Father went from being dumbfounded to bursting out in laughter.
“Jun-ho, this is no joke. Have you thought about how much of a loss this will be?”
“I’ve thought about it.”
I replied calmly, suppressing my emotions as much as possible.
“Father, how many people do you think will come in a day? Ten, twenty at most. Of course, it’s a lot of money for us, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the money those guys are throwing around. We can handle this much.”
Min-jae chimed in from the side.
“That’s right. Father, once people taste it, they’ll definitely come back. We proved it online.”
Father sighed as he looked at the banner again.
“Still, this is too much…”
“Father, how angry were you when you saw that banner yesterday? Can you just stay still while they denounce you like that, when you’ve been doing business honestly for thirty years?”
“…”
“We have to show them that we’re not easy targets. This is a declaration of war!”
Father stared at the banner for a long time and said, “You’re going to do it even if I tell you not to, right?”
“Yes.”
“You won’t regret it even if you lose money?”
“I’ll never regret it.”
Father took a deep breath and nodded.
“Fine, try it. They’re the ones who picked a fight first anyway.”
I turned to Min-jae.
“By the way, Min-jae, did you ask that lawyer friend of yours yesterday?”
“Ah, yes! I asked him.”
Min-jae nodded.
“What did he say?”
“First of all, he said that the banner Mega Meat put up is problematic.”
“Oh, really?”
Father was intrigued.
“Yes, and there’s a possibility of defamation, and what else did he say? The Labeling and Advertising Act? He said there’s a possibility of violating that too.”
“Then, does that mean we can sue them?” Father asked.
“Yes, my lawyer friend suggested we just sue them. I asked him to come over because it’s hard for me to explain. He’s my childhood friend.”
“When is he coming?”
“He said he’d come during his lunch break. His office isn’t far.”
I nodded.
“Good. Let’s get a consultation first.”
“Then are we suing them?”
“We will sue. But we can’t just rely on the law.”
“Why?”
“Suing, hiring a lawyer, filing the case, going to court… it might take years for a judgment to come out. What about our shop in the meantime?”
Father agreed with me.
“Jun-ho is right. The shop might close before the judgment comes out.”
I looked at the Mega Meat building and said, “Even if we win by law, it’ll be after we’ve been hit every which way. For those who are far from the law but close to their fists, it’s right to show them the taste of a punch.”
“Then?”
“Let’s start too. Right now.”
I said as I unfurled the banner again.
“This is my way.”
“What if they make a legal issue out of it?”
“If they make it an issue, we can fight according to the law too.”
“…”
“A banner for a banner, and the law for the law.”
I decided to borrow the ancient wisdom of King Hammurabi.
***
Lunchtime.
“Min-jae! Is this where you work?”
With a lively voice, a tall, handsome young man entered. Carrying a backpack, he looked exactly like a student.
“Yeah, Tae-hoon! You’re here?”
Min-jae welcomed him warmly.
“Brother, this is my friend from kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school, Kim Tae-hoon. He’s a lawyer.”
“A lawyer… is this handsome? I thought he was an idol…”
When I was surprised, Tae-hoon laughed.
“I passed the bar exam last year. I’m still a rookie. I work at a small law firm.”
“Welcome. Min-jae told me a lot about you.”
“Min-jae, hasn’t it been since we had a drink two months ago? We’ve only talked on the phone… I came here partly because I wanted to see your face.”
Tae-hoon tapped Min-jae’s shoulder.
“Hey, did you lose some weight?”
“I’ve been busy working. Sit, sit.”
We sat around a temporary dining table.
“Gosh, you haven’t had lunch yet, have you?” Father asked.
“Ah… yes, not yet.”
“Then, should we order some black bean noodles for you? We were just about to order some ourselves.”
“Ah, that’d be great! Is it that Chinese restaurant Min-jae always brags about on the phone?”
Tae-hoon took out a worn-out laptop from his backpack.
“Should we talk first before the food arrives? Min-jae explained it roughly.”
I explained everything again from the beginning, step by step. Owner Choi’s incident, the opening of Mega Meat, and even the banner they put up yesterday.
“Lawyer, look at this.”
Father showed a picture of the Mega Meat banner.
**[Mega Meat does not deceive about the origin of its products]**
**[We apologize on behalf of the butcher industry for the unfortunate situation with the surrounding butcher shops]**
Tae-hoon’s expression stiffened.