TL: Skye
Koreans consume an extraordinary amount of seafood.
How much? According to UN data, Korea ranked fourth in the world for per capita seafood consumption.
'If you exclude tourist destinations, we're basically first.'
When I thought about it, that made sense. We slice live fish into sashimi and dip it in chili paste, salt dead fish and grill it as salted mackerel, and eat every kind of shellfish, crustacean, and cephalopod imaginable.
And that's not all. We ferment tiny shrimp that other countries won't touch into jeotgal, harvest and dry seaweed, and farm everything from fish to mussels, oysters, abalone, and shrimp.
At this point, you could call it the kingdom of seafood.
And among all those seafood options, there was one that divided people into extreme camps of love or hate: skate.
Back in my college days, one of my professors once said this:
'If you can force yourself to eat fermented skate three times, you'll have made a lifelong friend.'
He meant that if you could endure the smell and eat it three times, you'd have a drinking snack for life. But the moment fermented skate hit the table, I bolted.
There was simply no way that smell was edible.
After that, I graduated, got my MBA at Duke, worked for a while, and then ended up here in San Marcos, so I never had the chance to eat skate three more times. But as a Korean, I knew one thing for certain.
Skate is fundamentally very expensive. And that wasn't just true for domestic Heuksando skate or Korean-caught true skate; it applied to imported frozen skate as well.
Chilean fermented skate averaged around 40,000 won per kilogram at retail. Given the size of the fish and the yield rate, this was a guaranteed profit if we could just get it exported.
And if we were producing it in San Marcos, where labor costs were less than half of Chile's?
That was enough competitive advantage to beat even the Korea-Chile FTA.
When I explained this, Isabella looked genuinely surprised.
"Really? That smelly skate sells for that much?"
"And people can't get enough of it."
"N-No way."
"I'm telling you, it's true. Want me to show you?"
I connected to the Wi-Fi that cost me 70 dollars a month and pulled up YouTube on my smartphone, showing her mukbang YouTubers eating skate. Isabella watched intently.
"Is this actually good...?"
"I've never found it tasty myself, but people who love it really love it."
"Does drinking milk with it help with the smell?"
"Milk?"
Isabella pointed at the white liquid in the glass on screen.
"This."
"Oh, that's not milk. It's called makgeolli. It's a traditional fermented rice wine. Sweet with a slightly fizzy kick."
"Hmm..."
Her eyes lit up as she nodded.
"Seeing them drink alcohol with it, there's definitely a market."
"What do you think? Would this work as Tortilha Corporation's first venture?"
"If we can secure distribution channels, it looks promising. Plus, we'll need to build a processing plant for primary preparation, which should have a significant effect on employment."
"Exactly what I was thinking."
Isabella had hit the nail on the head.
"However, since this would be our first trade with Korea, I'm not sure what the tariffs would look like."
"You don't need to worry about that."
"You have a solution?"
"The tariff is only 10%."
"...That's it? For food exports?"
"As an advanced nation, Korea grants Most Favored Nation tariff status to developing countries."
"Ah..."
Isabella nodded in understanding.
"That's fortunate, but it's also a bit embarrassing."
"What's there to be embarrassed about? Right now, what matters is making this work. Who knows? Maybe someday we'll be the advanced country accepting exports from developing nations."
Honestly, the chances of that were probably less than 0.1%, but there's nothing wrong with dreaming.
'Just gotta keep fighting.'
Isabella seemed energized by that fighting spirit and nodded vigorously.
"Yes...!"
*
With the business item selected, the ball was now in Isabella's court.
She mobilized SIA's intelligence network to recruit executives while simultaneously looking into used fishing vessel listings from Mexico.
Truthfully, I wanted to be hands-on with the operation, but both Isabella and I had far too much on our plates.
Still, what gave me hope was that the country had a surprisingly large pool of talented people who had worked in neighboring countries and picked up advanced skills because there were so few opportunities at home.
'Recruiting them is another matter entirely, though.'
Once we secured the talent, the first venture, Tortilha Seafood, would run semi-automatically aside from accounting audits.
Let's be honest, what did Isabella and I know about the fishing industry?
'Better to just trust the experts and let them handle it.'
A month later, after considerable effort from many people, the Tortilha Seafood sign went up at Port Cortos, south of Libertad, where seafood was traded.
"Great work."
"Not at all."
The MVP was obviously Isabella. She'd not only sourced six 100-ton class mid-to-large fishing vessels at reasonable prices but had also recruited captains and crew for each vessel, plus staff to handle import-export operations.
'She really knows how to get things done.'
The fact that she'd laid the company's foundation in just one month showed just how capable she was.
And though overshadowed by Isabella, there was a second contributor to this success...
"You did great work too, Lucio."
"I'm honored, Your Excellency."
It was Lucio Carvalho, the SIA's Financial Team Leader.
He'd made a name for himself during the budget review by thoroughly auditing the Ministry of Defense. At Isabella's request, he'd taken charge of acquiring Tortilha Seafood's processing plant and cold storage facility, completing the task admirably. He was also set to handle the accounting audits going forward.
"I heard getting the cold storage up and running wasn't easy."
"No, sir. We rushed an order to an equipment company in Miami, but they said it would take at least three months."
"Is that so? Then how did you manage it in one month?"
"I asked my cousin who lives in Miami to explain our situation and persuade them. Thanks to that, we received the equipment right away."
"Your cousin?"
"Yes, he runs several businesses there."
"Oh, no wonder you're so good with the books. It runs in the family. So what kind of businesses does your cousin run in Miami?"
"He operates a few strip clubs and casinos. He's also in the wholesale firearms business, though I don't know the details."
"...I-I see. Quite the businessman."
I moved past Lucio as quickly as possible to greet the next person.
"Nice to meet you."
"Carlos Homeira, at your service! Your Excellency!"
"He's a veteran with over 20 years of experience captaining vessels in Venezuela. He'll be serving as the CEO of Tortilha Seafood."
I nodded at Isabella's explanation and shook hands with Carlos.
"The government has high hopes for this venture. I'm counting on you to lead it well."
"I'll do my very best."
After that, I met and encouraged all the captains who would helm each vessel and the team leaders handling import-export operations, concluding my inspection of Tortilha Seafood.
'Everyone's got that fire in their eyes.'
The feeling was very good indeed.
***
The day after Yu-jin's inspection, at dawn.
The sun hadn't even risen yet, but Carlos, CEO of Tortilha Seafood, had gathered the captains.
Every face was tense.
"You've all heard the rumors about the mines, right? There's no law saying we can't end up the same way, so put your lives on the line."
The murmuring died down.
"Surely it won't come to that..."
At someone's mumble, Carlos cut him off sharply.
"A thousand people got dragged off because of 'surely'. Don't believe me? Then half-ass it and see. Already forget who's handling our company's audits?"
"......"
Everyone pictured Lucio's face and fell silent.
With the SIA team leader who had sent countless government officials to the mines firmly planted in their company, no one had the guts to slack off.
"That said, there's no need to be scared. The pay's generous, isn't it?"
Everyone nodded, thinking of the amount that was double what other boats paid.
"But... will that smelly skate actually sell?"
"That's not our concern. His Excellency ordered us to catch it, so we catch it."
Carlos looked around at everyone.
"So keep your heads on straight and get to work. Don't get dragged off to the mines. Understood?"
"Yes!"
After the dawn briefing, Tortilha Seafood's fleet completed preparations for fishing with military precision.
Sardine bait pulled from the thawing tanks glinted everywhere, and branch lines were neatly arranged at 5-meter intervals along the mainlines.
[Setting sail!]
At Carlos's radio call, the engines rumbled low.
Before the sun broke through the sea fog, Carlos alternated between checking the GPS and depth finder, mapping the course in his head.
'Depth one-fifty. Current southwest. Water temp seventeen degrees.'
It had been a while since he'd been on a boat, but he could picture exactly where the target species would be.
Form is temporary, but class is permanent. A few years off hadn't erased twenty years of experience.
Moreover, the waters off Venezuela where he'd fished his whole life were the same waters off San Marcos.
'I can haul up all the skate nobody wants.'
Before long, they reached the target point.
[Start setting the line!]
Carlos's voice crackled over the radio.
Whoosh!
The mainline fed out from the stern, sliding across the water. Two crew members worked in sync, attaching branch lines as the circle hooks, baited, sank into the sea.
The crew began throwing buoys at regular intervals, and soon the mainline was fully deployed as the final buoy was tossed.
[We keep going until the wind shifts.]
After that, the six vessels combed the sea until no one could count how many times they'd set the lines.
[Prepare to haul.]
Now it was time to retrieve the mainline. The moment they pulled up the first buoy, the line hauler growled to life.
Grrrr... Grrrrr!
Each time the mainline rolled over the drum, a heavy thud vibrated up through the deck.
And then their target appeared: skate.
[Stay sharp, everyone!]
At Carlos's shout, the crew swung their gaffs, hooking under the skates' bellies like levers.
"Open the hold!"
Being an old used 100-ton class vessel, there was no brine flash-freezing system.
For freshness, they needed to bleed the fish quickly and get them into the ice-filled hold.
"Keep your spacing!" "Watch the hooks!" "Don't step on the mainline!"
Short commands mixed with the sea breeze, falling into rhythm.
Rubber boots moved across the deck in unison, and the thermometer on the hold system dropped another degree.
When a swell came through and tangled some branch lines, the deck boss shouted.
"Stop!"
Everyone's hands froze at once. After a brief silence.
"Line clear!"
At the call that the knot was undone, the machinery roared back to life.
As they retrieved the third and final buoy, the crew called out one by one.
"First hold full!"
"Second's full too!"
"Third is packed!"
Full boat. Carlos called over the radio, satisfaction in his voice.
[Good work, everyone. We'll pay out the daily wages as soon as we get back, so hang in there a little longer.]
The boat turned toward the Port Cortos breakwater.
And that day, approximately 110 tons of skate were unloaded at Port Cortos harbor.