Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Manager Gweon and Jong-Suk didn’t understand why Manager Gweon shouldn’t sell his Asiana stock. They were just looking at Chairman Lee and Gun-Ho one after the other.

“President Goo, why don’t you explain to them? You seemed to know the reason.”

Manager Gweon and Jong-Suk looked at Gun-Ho.

“Okay, this is what I think. When two brothers are fighting over a company, each of them would try to gather the company’s shares as many as he could so he could gain more power. More shares he retains, more power he could gain in controlling the company. If that happens, that company’s stock would be in high demand, and the price will increase.”

“Hmm.”

Manager Gweon nodded his head while Jong-Suk had a puzzled look on his face.

Once Manager Gweon digested Gun-Ho’s explanation, he asked Chairman Lee.

“Sir, I heard that Kumho Asiana Group is divided into two for operating-wise, and the older brother manages Kumho Construction and Asiana Air, and the younger brother manages Kumho Chemical. In this case, I’d better buy the older brother’s company stock, don’t I? Because the older brother should have more shares now.”

“You think so?”

“The stock I have is Asiana Air. I have 20 million won worth of Asiana Air’s stock. Do you think I should buy more of the same stock?”

“That was just a theory. We never know what would actually happen in the stock market.”

“I think you are right and it makes sense to me.”

Instead of answering Manager Gweon’s question, Chairman Lee asked the question to Gun-Ho.

“What do you think, President Goo? Would you bet on the older brother? Or the younger brother?”

“Well, I would also bet on the older brother. What do you think?”

“Hmm, really?”

Chairman Lee drank water instead of soju in a paper cup.

“As I said, we just don’t know what would happen in the stock market. The brothers might reconcile tomorrow, or there could be another group of interest who would try to influence the stock’s price or the power competition. However, when I was little, the elders in my town used to say this.”

Everyone looked at Chairman Lee with all ears.

“Inherently, an older brother has greed and a younger brother has ambition. Whom you would bet on is up to you. However, stay away from the stock market if you could. Hahaha.”

Chairman Lee laughed loudly while looking at the lake.

Gun-Ho’s eyes widened and looked at Chairman Lee.

‘He is truly a wise man.’

Jong-Suk chuckled while pouring soju in each person’s paper cup.

“Well, I don’t do stocks anyway! I don’t have to worry about any of these. Having no stock gives me a better life! Let’s just drink.”

Chairman Lee smiled at what Jong-Suk said.

Gun-Ho opened the stock trading website when he came to work in the morning.

“I will bet on the younger brother. I will invest 3 billion won in Kumho Chemical today.”

Gun-Ho had always been quick in making a decision. He was quicker than others. If he determined something that he was certain about, he just went for it without hesitation or without giving a second thought. That differentiated him from others. Jong-Suk didn’t pay attention when Chairman Lee was talking in the fishing site, but Gun-Ho was different. He picked up what he needed to hear, used it during his decision-making process, and quickly put his decision into action.

“I have certainty.”

Gun-Ho thought it was okay to invest a substantial amount of money in a large-cap stock like Kumho Chemical as long as there was a certainty. It was a lot safer than putting money in penny stocks or garbage stocks.

Gun-Ho had invested 7 billion won in Kumho Chemical over the one week period. Whenever he saw a red candlestick, he purchased the stock some now and some later at a different price. Gun-Ho quickly decided and made it happen.

“I have the Samsung Electronics stock that I put 3 billion won in it. Should I sell it and invest the proceeds in the Kumho Chemical stock?”

Gun-Ho pondered over whether he should keep the Samsung Electronics stock or sell it to invest more in Kumho Chemical.

“I know I shouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket. I could lose everything.”

Gun-Ho felt suffocated.

“A human being still feels anxious and nervous even though he has a lot of money.”

Gun-Ho walked out of his office and went to a sauna. He closed his eyes with a towel on his head and got lost in thought.

“Should I sell the Samsung Electronics stock?”

Gun-Ho stayed there for quite a while and then suddenly jumped to his feet. The steam came out through his body.

“I will sell the Samsung Electronics stock and put the proceeds in Kumho Chemical!”

Gun-Ho sold all his shares of Samsung Electronics and purchased more shares of Kumho Chemical. The total amount of money he invested in Kumho Chemical was 10 billion won.

“I will leave it there for a year.”

Gun-Ho went to Yeoksam Town with Manager Kang to see the OneRoomTel that was on the market for sale. The OneRoomTel had 45 furnished rooms with a shower facility. The room was being rented out for 450,000 won per room. According to the current residential manager, its vacancy rate was less than 10%. The rent that was being paid to the building owner was high but other than that, it looked good.

“I will take it.”

“Okay, sir.”

Manager Kang handled the sales and purchase agreement and paid the premium to the previous OneRoomTel owner.

When the residential manager was packing his belongings, Manager Kang said to him.

“Where do you think you’re going? Aren’t you going to continue working here?”

The residential manager dropped his bag right away; he looked delighted.

“I will work hard, sir.”

“This OneRoomTel will be operated by a company, not by an individual, so we will need your resume and resident registration. Can you send them to us by tomorrow?”

“Sure. I will prepare the paperwork right away.”

Manager Kang became busy in managing four OneRoomTels in Gangnam because he was the point of contact for the residential managers from four different OneRoomTels for any requests, concerns, and questions.

“Manager Kang? We have three bulbs that were burned out. We need to replace them with new bulbs.”

“Manager Kang? The credit card processing machine stopped working for some reason.”

“Manager Kang? The building owner wants to talk to you.”

“Manager Kang? I need to take a day off tomorrow. I have an exam tomorrow.”

Gun-Ho called for Manager Kang.

“Manager Kang. Let’s hire one more residential manager who could work whenever one of our residential managers has to take some time off and also assist your work.”

“Okay, sir. Umm, sir… Is it okay with you if I hire someone who’s a bit old rather than a young man for the new residential manager position?”

“Why?”

“I have a relative who has been living by herself since her husband passed away. She is 55 years old. She will of course work at one of our OneRoomTels whenever necessary, and also I want her to clean the OneRoomTels regularly.”

“Don’t our current residential managers do the cleaning job?”

“They do, but they are not doing a very good job. They don’t sort waste in the right way and their floor cleaning work is not satisfying. Young people, these days are not very good at those works.”

“Shouldn’t we pay her a lot? She will sometimes have to work at night. If she is a homemaker, do you think she can handle the work?”

“She has one son who is in the military right now. I believe she can do it. And you can pay her the same amount you pay to our current residential managers.”

“Hmm, you do so then. You will have to manage her as well.”

“Okay, sir. Oh, one more thing. The third auction day for the vacant lot in Gangdong District is the day after tomorrow.”

It was the third auction day for the vacant lot in Gangdong District.

Gun-Ho went to the Seoul Eastern District Court accompanied by Manager Kang. The court parking lot was full, maybe because a lot of people were participating in auctions today.

Some people were handing out informational flyers at the court entrance, and some people were distributing advertisement flyers that said ‘Loan for auction.’

“You said, the starting price is 2.88 billion won, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“For the bid deposit, I prepared a check of 28.8 million won, which is 10% of the starting price. Also, I brought two of 10 million and ten of 1 million won.”

“That’s good.”

“I guess we are the only one bidding on this land. We can then offer 2.985 billion won. What do you think?”

“If there is no competitor at all, I think we can go with 2.981 billion won.”

“Hmm.”

“I will go and see if there is anyone who is putting a hand on that vacant lot.”

“Okay.”