“Ah, it’s already out. Brother, there are a few ways reporters get this kind of information.”
“What kind of ways?”
“The courts. Civil lawsuits are public information. Reporters who cover the courts check the list of newly filed lawsuits every day. They especially pay attention to cases where large corporations are the defendants.”
“Ah… I see.”
“Or the prosecutor’s office or the police. Once a complaint is filed, the reporters stationed there can find out. Of course, they don’t know the full details since it’s under investigation, but they can at least find out which companies are involved.”
Tae-hun continued his explanation.
“It’s also possible it leaked from inside Mega Meat. Their legal team might have leaked it to reporters first as part of a media strategy while discussing how to respond.”
“Why would those guys release this on purpose?”
“They’re testing public opinion. Public sentiment is currently in favor of Mega Meat and Park Jung-nam. They know that if the news breaks, we’ll be the ones attacked by the public first.”
“Hmm… So, it’s all out in the open now?”
“You should assume so. Brother, more reporters will come looking for you from now on. You must never speak carelessly. Especially regarding the contents of the lawsuit or the evidence—don’t say a single word.”
“Got it. Then how should I handle the reporters?”
“For now, direct all interview requests to me. Tell them you’ll answer after consulting with your lawyer. One wrong word could put you at a disadvantage.”
Tae-hun’s voice turned serious.
“And Brother, this is the real beginning. Since it’s been reported in the media, Mega Meat is going to start fighting back in earnest.”
***
Once Manager Park joined and settled in, our all-out war began in earnest.
He didn’t just manage Store Two; he fundamentally transformed the efficiency of our packaging operations.
Before his arrival, we had been doing things the hard way, relying on brute force without any real technique. Since it was everyone’s first time doing this, we were focused solely on working hard and had no room to think about how to do it more efficiently. Whenever an order came in, everyone would scramble to handle it in a chaotic rush.
“Ji-eun, try arranging the packaging workstation like this. Place the vacuum sealer in the center, with the wrapping paper and labels on the left, and the dry ice and boxes on the right. It makes the movement path much shorter.”
Manager Park explained as he personally rearranged the workstation.
“And I’ve set a packaging order. Pack the chilled meat first, then the frozen meat. The dry ice should go in last so it doesn’t freeze the other meats.”
“Aha!”
“When you come in for work in the morning, pre-cut the wrapping paper according to the expected order volume for the day. Don’t waste time cutting it every time an order comes in.”
The labeling process became much faster as well.
Ji-eun, who was already quick with her hands, truly found her wings under Manager Park’s coaching. With the latest software now installed on the existing hardware, she reached the level of a literal machine.
“You can print the labels by cut in advance and organize them. Prepare frequently used sizes like ‘Pork Belly 500g’ or ‘Sirloin 1 kg’ ahead of time.”
“Yes, Manager. Just by following what you’ve taught me, I can do two in the time it used to take to do one.”
The efficiency of shipping preparations also improved significantly.
“Assemble the delivery boxes by size and stack them in advance. It’s more efficient to print the invoices in batches—once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If you print them one by one, you have to wait in front of the printer every time, but if you do them in bulk, you can handle other tasks at the same time.”
The most impressive part was the quality control system.
“Check the condition of the meat one more time before packaging. Check the color, smell, and even the state of the juices. Since online customers can’t see it for themselves, we have to be more meticulous.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Adjust the amount of dry ice based on the delivery distance. This much for the Seoul suburbs, and this much for places like Gwangju or Daegu. Putting in too much is a waste of money, and putting in too little will cause the meat to spoil.”
Thanks to Manager Park’s improvements, our daily packaging capacity increased.
“Now we can handle shipping even when orders pile up. This will definitely increase customer satisfaction.”
In fact, customer reviews began to improve noticeably. Reviews like “The packaging is great” and “The meat arrived fresh” started to increase.
***
Min-jae moved between the three stores and began creating his own computerized management system.
“Brother, can I buy a tablet?”
Min-jae made the suggestion first.
“A tablet? What for?”
“Recording the inventory of the three stores by hand every day is too inefficient. I think I could be much more systematic if I organized it with a program.”
“Can’t the POS system handle all of that?”
“Ah, well…”
Min-jae scratched his head.
“The POS system shows sales, but because this is a butcher shop, tracking inventory isn’t accurate.”
“How so?”
“We bring in whole cows or pigs and sell them by the cut, but the POS system can’t track that process properly. It’s hard to know exactly how much of each cut came from the raw product or how much of a specific cut is left right now.”
“That’s true.”
“And since meat is sold by weight, it’s even more complicated. Even if we call it 1 kg of pork belly, it might actually be 950g or 1.1 kg. These tiny differences add up, causing the POS inventory to differ from the actual stock.”
Min-jae continued his explanation.
“In order for me to replenish stock by seeing that Store One is low on sirloin and bringing it from Store Three, I need to know in real-time exactly how many kilograms of each cut are at each location. But it’s hard to see that level of detail at a glance on the POS.”
“Ah, I see. You’re right.”
“So, I plan to visit the three stores every day, accurately measure the inventory by cut, and organize it in Excel. That way, I can see at a glance what’s lacking in which store and where to get it from.”
Once I bought him a tablet, he carried it around by his side like a girlfriend. Min-jae visited the three stores every morning and evening to input the inventory.
“Store One: pork belly 15 kg, sirloin 8 kg, ribs 12 kg…”
“Store Two: pork belly 3 kg, sirloin 5 kg…”
“Store Three: aged sirloin 2 kg, aged ribs 1.5 kg…”
It started as simple inventory management, but it gradually evolved.
“Manager Park, the order volume for pork belly this week increased by 30% compared to last week. It moves especially fast on Thursdays and Fridays.”
“How did you know that?”
“I’ve been recording the daily sales volume. Looking at the patterns, orders definitely peak before the weekend.”
Min-jae even started analyzing customer order data.
“Sirloin is mostly ordered in 1 kg units, while pork belly is split between 500g and 1 kg. But for ribs, there are many large orders of 2 kg or more.”
“Oho, then…”
“We can prepare the packaging in advance during our downtime. We’ll prep plenty of large bags for ribs and a lot of 1 kg bags for sirloin.”
He even identified patterns by the day of the week and the hour.
“Orders are low on Mondays, and the peak is from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning.”
Manager Park was impressed.
“Min-jae, this is amazing. With this data, we can prepare to some extent in advance.”
Thanks to Min-jae’s digital management, the three stores began to operate as if they were one large shop.
“Store One is running low on sirloin, but Store Three has some. Shall I move it over?”
“Store Two is short on pork belly for online orders. I’ll bring 5 kg from Store One.”
Efficiency improved noticeably.
“Min-jae, this system you’ve created is truly incredible. It feels like we’re finally operating systematically.”
***
The effects of our all-out war appeared immediately.
The number of customers at the Mega Meat Gayoung-dong branch began to plummet day by day. Previously, the parking lot behind Mega Mart would have been full on a weekend afternoon, but now it wasn’t even half full—barely 30% was occupied.
My father reported his scouting findings again today.
“Jun-ho, I saw something new today.”
“What did you see?”
“Several people in black suits showed up. I thought some gangsters had arrived. They stayed for over an hour. They probably came from the headquarters.”
“From headquarters?”
“Yeah. They went around looking at various parts of the store and talked seriously with the employees. Their expressions weren’t good at all. I think the manager’s name is Kim Jin-su? That fellow looked incredibly stiff…”
Sending people directly from headquarters meant the situation was serious. It meant the corporate office was taking notice of the sharp decline in revenue at the Gayoung-dong branch.
The misfortune of the Mega Meat Gayoung-dong branch was directly tied to our increase in sales.
The withdrawal of Mega Meat’s Gayoung-dong branch.
That possibility was gradually becoming a reality.
***
A few days later.
As soon as I arrived at work, I received a call from Tae-hun.
“Brother, did you check the article?”
“Yeah, I just saw it.”
I looked down at my phone screen again. The headline of the article from the *Dae-guk Ilbo*, posted early this morning, caught my eye.
*Conflict at Gayoung-dong Butcher Shop: Controversy over Small Business Owner’s Excessive Lawsuit*
Reading the article, it was cleverly malicious. It was a biased piece disguised as fair reporting. I hadn’t expected justice, but experiencing it firsthand made my blood boil.
“A legal battle between a butcher shop that has operated in Gayoung-dong for thirty years and the large butcher chain Mega Meat is causing controversy.
Kim Jin-su, manager of the Mega Meat Gayoung-dong branch, expressed his frustration, saying, ‘We are simply engaging in legitimate business activities. It is baffling to be called unfair just because customers choose us.’
Manager Kim added, ‘We have made various efforts to coexist with the local community, but the branch employees and their families are suffering due to groundless accusations and lawsuits.’
A representative from Mega Meat’s headquarters stated, ‘Mega Meat always prioritizes the principle of coexistence with small business owners. However, we will respond firmly according to legal principles against such malicious and groundless attacks.’
In fact, Mega Meat is an enterprise evaluated to have provided convenience to consumers with reasonable prices while creating local jobs.
On the other hand, the butcher shop that sued Mega Meat continues to refuse repeated interview requests from this paper, insisting only that they will respond after consulting with their lawyer, raising suspicions that this may be a one-sided claim by a small business owner…”
“Wow… they’ve completely made us out to be the villains.”
“It was expected.”
“The comments are a mess, too. They’re treating us like we’re practically scammers.”
I scrolled through the comment section, and it was truly a sight to behold.
– I feel so bad for Park Jung-nam. He’s just working hard, and they’re picking a fight for no reason.
– What did Mega Meat even do wrong to get sued?
– People think all small business owners are innocent. This is just an underdog playing dirty.
– A David cosplay trying to take down Goliath.
– Small business owners? They’re even worse.
– Seeing how they refuse interviews, they must be hiding something.
“The online PR battle is part of the lawsuit. Don’t worry too much.”
“But how should we respond…”
Just then, the shop phone rang loudly.
“Hold on, Tae-hun. A call is coming into the shop.”
“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”
When I picked up, it was Min-jae’s voice.
“Brother! Why aren’t you answering your phone? I called you so many times…”
“I was on the phone with Tae-hun. What’s wrong?”
“Brother, I think you need to get to Store One right away!”
“Why? What happened?”
“Store One was egged!”
My hand gripped the phone tighter.
“What?!”
“It just happened. A few people came and threw several eggs at the shop window before leaving. They were shouting things like ‘scammers!'”
“Are you hurt? Is Dad okay?”
“Yeah, neither of us is hurt, but… Dad is really angry…”
“Got it. I’m coming right now.”
I hung up on Min-jae and spoke to Tae-hun again.
“Tae-hun, they say Store One was egged.”
“What?! When?”
“Just now. A few people threw eggs at the shop window, cursed, and left.”
Tae-hun thought for a moment and then gave me some instructions.
“Brother, first, report it to the police immediately. It could be property damage, contempt, or anything else.”
“But is this really a coincidence? This happens right after the article comes out…”
“It’s hard to judge that hastily. It could be the actions of Park Jung-nam’s fans whose emotions were stirred up online. The important thing is to record the facts accurately.”
“Right, okay.”
“And Brother, something like this could actually be an opportunity to turn public opinion. We are the ones who suffered a physical attack. Before you go to the scene, make the report first, and don’t clean up. Take photos first. We have to use them as evidence. I’m heading there now too.”
***
When I arrived at Store One, Dad and Min-jae were standing in front of the shop with flushed, agitated faces.
There were several yellow egg streaks on the window, and broken eggshells were scattered across the ground like shrapnel.
“Brother!”
Min-jae ran to me as soon as he saw me.
“I ran out and chased them as soon as they threw the eggs, but they were already running toward the main road. They must have had a car waiting on the street.”
“How many were there?”
“Three people. From the back, they looked like young men, but it was completely planned.”
Dad was standing there dazed, his face bright red.
“In all my years of doing business here, I’ve never had my heart race like this.”
“Dad, you must have been very shocked.”
“Still, how lucky is it?”
Dad said, letting out a breath of relief.
“At least it wasn’t rocks… if it had been rocks, the window would have broken, and what if someone had been hurt?”
“Yes, that’s a huge relief.”
Min-jae nodded in agreement. Dad took off his apron and let out a sigh.
“I never thought I’d experience something like this at my age… What did we do that was so wrong?”
“Dad, we didn’t do anything wrong. You know that…”
“Even so, having to go through this makes my heart heavy.”
I took out my phone and started taking photos.
“I’ll take photos for evidence first. Tae-hun said I must take them. Min-jae, did you call it in?”
“Not yet.”
“Then let’s call it in right now.”
I knew that neither public opinion nor the media was on our side. However, that didn’t mean we should just take it lying down.
Suddenly, I remembered what President Yoon had said.
He told me not to hold back on the means or methods used in this fight. That advice now felt very real.
If Mega Meat was going to use media play and organized public manipulation, I had to respond accordingly. To fight an opponent as famous as Park Jung-nam, I needed to get the world’s attention as well.
In a world where people’s interest becomes power.
I decided to try my hand at what people commonly call ‘drawing aggro.’