Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The president of Egnopak called for the sales director.

“Why don’t you show President Amiel of Japan where Lymondell Dyeon is located around our factory, including our research center and production line before they leave?”

“Of course, I will do that.”

Gun-Ho’s party visited Egnopak’s research center. The chief research officer came out and greeted Gun-Ho’s party; he was wearing a white lab coat.

“Our research center has more than 100 researchers with a Ph.D. in Engineering.”

Gun-Ho was astonished by the company’s high-end research equipment and its great number of highly educated employees.

“What I have is nothing compared to this company. I have only a few OneRoomTels and some stocks.”

Gun-Ho felt a bit depressed. The face of the Egnopak’s president who looked like a toad and who had a company with sales revenue of over a trillion won kept popping up in his head.

As Attorney Young-Jin Kim suggested, Gun-Ho and Amiel decided to go to the golf field altogether.

“Since this is your first time in the field, we will accompany you to the field, and in return, you need to buy us a drink.”

“I will do that with pleasure!”

“By the way, are you okay with playing golf during your work hours? It’s a weekday.”

“I’m working right now. This is part of my job.”

“I see. Something related to Lymondell Dyeon?”

“Right. Once the multinational corporation—Lymondell Dyeon successfully starts a joint venture with a Korean firm, our law firm will get paid.”

“Oh, I see. Okay, then I will join your business today.”

“And you go to the field for the first time with us today.”

Attorney Kim insisted that they would have to have an 18 hole round of golf instead of 36 hole round because 36 hole round would be too much for a beginner like Gun-Ho. So they headed to Pine Creek Country Club that was located in Anseong City because it had an 18-hole public golf course. The weather was sunny and bright that day.

“This is so nice.”

Gun-Ho felt good being in a large green golf course.

“Wonderful.”

Amiel seemed to like it too.

“Okay, Gun-Ho. Hit the ball!”

Gun-Ho felt nervous. He grabbed a 1-wood and postured to address the ball, and he hit the ball. Gun-Ho’s ball became unplayable. Gun-Ho felt sorry and embarrassed. He even blushed in embarrassment.

“I have no idea why I play golf. This is too difficult. Sh*t, I want to throw my driver and go home.”

Gun-Ho was a mess in playing golf.

“At impact, do not lift your head. Put your weight on your left foot!”

Gun-Ho was getting better after the round’s first half.

“You are doing good.”

People around Gun-Ho clapped, and he felt encouraged.

“This might be fun.”

Gun-Ho gradually gained confidence and had fun playing golf. He made less and less double bogey or triple bogey.

“Hmm, now I see why people play golf!”

Gun-Ho played golf that day following Attorney Kim’s instruction all the time, but he felt good.

“Congratulations, Gun-Ho. You are no longer a beginner in the field.”

“I feel like I didn’t play golf today, but you did for me.”

After playing golf, Gun-Ho took Attorney Kim and Amiel to a restaurant in Pyeongtaek, which specialized in Galbi*. The name of the restaurant was Nonsense and they were using only Korean beef ribs.

“This is a very famous beef rib restaurant. Enjoy it.”

Amiel loved the dish, and raised his thumb and kept saying “tastes good.”

It was the day when Amiel was leaving Korea. Gun-Ho went to the Palace Hotel to say goodbye to him. Attorney Kim was already there when Gun-Ho arrived at the hotel. Gun-Ho quietly asked Attorney Kim,

“Do you think they will start a joint venture with Egnopak?”

“Negative. They both are sophisticated business experts. It seems that it won’t be easy to reach an agreement with satisfying terms to both parties.”

“Hmm, really?”

Amiel came to the lobby while dragging his luggage.

“I will see you soon.”

Gun-Ho extended his hand to Amiel for a handshake.

“You know what? I am more interested in you, Gun-Ho, rather than the president of Egnopak.”

“Me? Why? I don’t have money or technology to do a joint venture.”

“Well, I just like you a lot, like a friend.”

“Haha. Thank you for saying that.”

“Why don’t you visit me in Japan with Attorney Kim. I know a good golf course there.”

“Do Japanese people play golf a lot as well?”

“I often go to Yonehara Golf Club close to Tokyo where my company is located.”

“I see.”

“It takes about 50 minutes in a vehicle from Haneda Airport in Tokyo to get there. It’s in Ichihara City, Chiba Prefecture. You don’t even need a car to go there; you can use a shuttle bus. Come to Japan in the near future. I will show you around.”

“Really? Okay, I will do that. You’d better go now. You don’t want to miss your flight. Let’s go.”

Gun-Ho came back to his office after seeing Amiel leaving the country. He felt so sleepy. When he had a cup of coffee to try to stay awake, he received a call from Suk-Ho Lee who was running a bar in Gyeongridan Street.

“Hey, Suk-Ho. What’s up?”

“Are you busy? Can we talk?”

“Sure, I’m good. How’s your bar?”

“It’s doing okay. I’m calling to let you know that I’m getting married next month.”

“Wow, really? Congratulations, man. Where will you hold your wedding?”

“At the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan Town.”

“War Memorial of Korea? Do they have a wedding hall there?”

“Yes, it’s big. So many couples are having their weddings in that location these days. It was hard to reserve an available date for ours.”

“I will certainly be there. Congratulations again. I am envious of you, man. What’s your bride doing for a living by the way?”

“She has her own business, a clothing store.”

“That’s nice. I’m so envious. I will tell Min-Hyeok in China about your wedding.”

“Thanks. Oh, give me your home address. I want to send you my wedding invitation.”

“You don’t have to mail the wedding invitation. You can just text me.”

“No, I want to do it in the right way. Give me your address, man.”

Gun-Ho couldn’t remember his home address so he pulled out his resident registration card to see his own address.

“TowerPalace, Eonju-ro 30-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul…”

Gun-Ho gave his address to Suk-Ho.

After getting off the phone with Suk-Ho, Gun-Ho called Min-Hyeok who was in China right away.

“Hey, Suk-Ho is getting married. He just called me.”

“Really? So he is getting married before us. Jackas*.

“What’s wrong? Something happened between you and him?”

“Do you know what he told me when I was studying for the government job exam during the gathering with our friends?”

“What did he say?”

“He said why it took so long for me to pass the exam. He was tapping my head while saying it, and he laughed at me. I so wanted to hit him.”

“Haha, forget about it.”

“He was so mean when we were in high school too. He used to tap my head whenever he felt like it in those days.”

Gun-Ho wanted to tell Min-Hyeok about the incident when Suk-Ho took his umbrella in high school, but he didn’t.

“Yeah, he can sometimes be mean. But, he is getting married now. Let’s congratulate him. His wedding will be held on the 6th of next month at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan Town.”

“Can you give him 50,000 won under my name? I will send the money to Ms. Jin-Young Jeong. I don’t think I can attend his wedding.”

“Haha. I will send congratulatory money as a business expense, so don’t worry about sending me the money. I will take care of it.”

“Thank you so much.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m letting you go now then. Talk to you soon.”

Note *

Galbi — Korean grilled beef ribs.