Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho’s face hardened for a second and then he smiled.

“Min-Hyeok, it just happened that way.”

“No, you are different from us, Gun-Ho. You are becoming a legend among our friends.”

“Let’s take a picture together. There is a student riding a bike over there. Let’s ask him to take a picture of us.”

Gun-Ho and Min-Hyeok posed for a picture while putting arms around each other’s shoulders. The Yangcheng Lake appeared in the background of the picture.

Gun-Ho was going to return to Korea right after the board meeting, but then he decided to meet Professor Jien Wang before leaving China. He wanted to see his friend and have a drink with him. He made a call to Professor Wang.

“Gun-Ho? Are you in China? Where are you? Are you in Kunshan City?”

“Yeah, I came to Kunshan City to attend the board meeting. I just wanted to see you before going back to Korea. I’m thinking of going to Zhejiang University in Hangzhou City to see you.”

“Really? Come! I want to see you, friend.”

Gun-Ho headed to the express bus terminal in Shanghai to take a bus to Hangzhou City. Min-Hyeok came along with Gun-Ho to see him off.

“I’m sorry, Min-Hyeok. I really wanted to get the approval to raise your salary at the board meeting.”

“Don’t worry about it. 5,000 Yuan I’m receiving now here is enough for me. I can’t get a raise without other employees getting their raise too.”

“Take this. You probably need this. As you work in a position as a president, you will face an unexpected situation where you need to spend extra money.”

Gun-Ho slipped an envelope with 1,000 cash in into Min-Hyeok’s pants pocket.

“Don’t do this. I can’t take it, Gun-Ho.”

Min-Hyeok pulled out the envelope from his pocket and gave it back to Gun-Ho, and Gun-Ho tossed it back to Min-Hyeok after he got on the bus.

“Bye, Min-Hyeok! I will see you later!”

“Gun-Ho, this is not… hmm…”

The bus that Gun-Ho was on slowly left the express bus terminal and headed to Hangzhou City when Min-Hyeok picked up the envelope from the ground, that Gun-Ho tossed towards him. Gun-Ho could see Min-Hyeok through the window; he was standing still while looking into a blank space.

“Min-Hyeok seemed to lose a lot of weight. Just hang in there, my friend. You will have good days soon.”

Once he arrived at Hangzhou City, Gun-Ho made a call to Professor Jien Wang. However, the phone kept ringing without being answered.

“He is probably in a lecture.”

Gun-Ho had stopped trying to call him, and he started walking around West Lake instead when he received a call from Professor Wang.

“You are already here? I have to give a special lecture to MBA students right now. Can we meet at the lobby of Mangho Hotel after an hour?”

Gun-Ho decided to stay around the West Lake area for a while before heading to Mangho Hotel since he had one-hour spare time before meeting Professor Wang. When he continued to walk along the West Lake, he saw a farmer who was wearing a triangle straw hat; he was selling lotus seed. It was not something he could easily find in Korea.

“How much is it?”

“It’s two Yuan per bag.”

Gun-Ho walked toward Mangho Hotel while eating the lotus seed piece by piece.

Professor Wang arrived at the lobby of Mangho Hotel with a huge briefcase; he probably came straight from his lecture.

“Hey, Gun-Ho! Good to see you, my friend.”

“Hey, Jien. Let’s have a drink.”

“Of course. Having a drink with a good friend always makes me happy.”

The two men headed to a restaurant called Punghaechancheong which Professor Wang recently marked as a good restaurant while putting arms around each other’s shoulders.

“Give us one bottle of Jian Nan Chun, please!”

The two friends drank while having a lot of fun talking to each other.

“How’s Attorney Young-Jin Kim doing? He is really a good friend. I heard he is busy these days in working on the joint venture case for Lymondell Dyeon.”

“Yeah. I’ve met the president of Lymondell Dyeon’s Japan branch as well. They haven’t yet made a contract or anything official.”

“When two parties try to have a joint venture together, they shouldn’t keep on insisting on their own terms. Having a joint venture together is like having a marriage; the two parties should understand each other’s position and interest, and try to work it out. Don’t you think?”

“Well, it’s easier said than done. It’s all about money.”

“I actually recommended President Amiel of Lymondell Dyeon’s Japan branch to have a joint venture with China. But he said no. He said that China doesn’t have advanced enough compound mixing technologies and he couldn’t rely on the quality of China’s chemicals and molding techniques.”

“China has many global companies.”

“However, after giving some thought to it, I sort of agree with President Amiel’s view now.”

“Why is that so?”

“The problem that China has is not about the technologies or resources, but it’s more about the ethics of people who are running the companies.”

“I believe there are a lot of well-respected businessmen in China.”

“Of course there are many. However, there are way more unethical businessmen in China than in Japan or Korea. That is a big problem. I am embarrassed to tell you this but some Chinese people even make a fake egg and sell it. What would happen if they use pigments for their compounds, which were sold by an unethical seller? They would have to export those products too.”

“Hmm.”

“I could see it in a different angle because of Amiel. I think a person like you should do a manufacturing business rather than a rental property business. Manufacturing business can create a lot of jobs, so it could serve well for the welfare of the country.”

“Jien, I am not that smart and I don’t have that much money to start a manufacturing business. I’d better cut my coat according to my cloth.”

Professor Jien Wang ordered one more bottle of Jian Nan Chun.

“President Goo, why don’t you start a manufacturing business? It is not necessarily a doomed business. I know that everyone these days wants to get into an IT business, entertainment business or game industry. However, the basic industry which supports a country’s economy strongly is a manufacturing business.”

“I see what you mean, Professor Wang. I will think about it when I see an opportunity.”

“Oh, by the way, Seukang Li will more likely move back to Shanghai soon. His industrial park project is highly recognized as a success.”

“If he moves back to Shanghai, which position he would take?”

“He is a deputy mayor of a small city right now. If he could move to Shanghai, I believe he will probably take the position of a director of the bureau. That’s a high ranked position because Shanghai is a big city.”

“Of course. Shanghai is a big city with probably more than 10,000,000 populations.”

That day, Gun-Ho and Jien Wang drank a lot and went to karaoke to continue their fun night.

The karaoke was surprisingly crowded by a lot of pretty girls.

“How come there are tons of pretty girls here today?”

They asked the owner of the karaoke.

“Oh, there was a model contest sponsored by a cosmetic company in the area. These girls are participants of the model contest from other regions, and they are here to make some extra money.

“Are you saying that these model contest participants came to the karaoke to make money?”

“That’s right. Our karaoke is an expensive high-end karaoke with a lot of foreign customers. So these girls all came here expecting to make good money by working here tonight. There are many students among them. Choose any girl you want to have fun with.”

“Hmm.”

Professor Wang clicked his tongue.

“President Goo, let’s get out of here.”

“Why? I like here. It’s getting fun.”

“There are too many people here who could see us. Let’s go somewhere quiet.”

Professor Wang walked out of the karaoke while carrying his big briefcase. Gun-Ho thought it was a shame to miss the fun opportunity and followed Professor Wang out of the karaoke.