Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho thanked Office Manager Se-Gil Lee and told him that he wanted to buy him lunch.

“I can’t. I need to prepare the application for the court receivership. The paperwork is like several hundreds of pages because I need to document the company’s entire assets. This company is not a big company with only 50 employees, but the number of its creditors is over 150.

“That many?”

“Yes, because we need to include even a supermarket owner where the company bought a bottle of soy sauce on credit that hasn’t been paid yet.”

“I see.”

Gun-Ho, instead of buying him lunch, put 20 dollars in a white envelope and gave it to him so he could use it for his meal later.

“You don’t have to do this.”

As the office manager said it, he took the envelope quickly with a smile.

“If you happen to have any further questions, just come and see me here. We, an office manager of a law firm, know better the practical side of the court receivership than a lawyer. If you go to a certified legal consultant’s office to apply for court receivership, that consultant wouldn’t actually work on the case, but his assistant would do all the work. That’s how it works.”

“Oh, really? Well, that kind of makes sense since the actual work of collecting necessary information, filling in the forms, filing the application, etc. would be done by a worker like you.”

“Since I have to complete this application as soon as possible, I sometimes work here all night. The application for the court receivership needs to be filed before we could apply for a receivership stay order.”

“A receivership stay order?”

“We can file the court receivership and a receivership stay order simultaneously. Once a court’s receivership stay order becomes effective, creditors can no longer bother the company to get paid for the debt. The court protects the company from being bothered by creditors temporarily. This needs to be done as soon as possible.”

“Oh, I see. Well, I guess I shouldn’t take too much of your time. I will leave now.”

“According to your business card, your office seems to be around Gangnam station; so, it’s close to our office. Let’s have lunch or dinner together in the near future.”

“Sounds good. Thank you.”

When Gun-Ho came back to Seoul, he was again lost in thought.

“What am I going to do with Mulpasaneop?”

While he was thinking about Mulpasaneop, he received an unexpected call from Chairman Lee.

“I know you have been busy, but do you not go fishing anymore?”

“Oh, no, sir. I will go fishing whenever you come to the fishing site.”

“I’ve seen Mr. Jong-Suk Lee come to the fishing site and do fishing by himself. He looked lonely.”

“I will come fishing this Sunday, sir.”

After getting off the phone with Chairman Lee, it occurred to Gun-Ho that he had been so distant from Jong-Suk even though he didn’t intend to.

“He had been a friend to me when I worked at a factory and when I needed a friend. However, I guess I left him alone for too long. I haven’t really talked to him lately.”

Gun-Ho made a call to Jong-Suk right away.

“Huh? Bro! I feel like it is the first time in years that I heard your voice.”

“How have you been?”

“I am doing fine. I’ve heard you went to Japan to play golf recently.”

“I went there once. It was sort of for business.”

“I thought you forgot about me completely.”

“How can I possibly forget you, man? I’m going fishing this Sunday. Why don’t you come with me if you don’t have any prior engagement?”

“Even though I have a schedule set up already, I will go fishing with you.”

“Chairman Lee will come fishing as well.”

“Okay. Just bring me a roasted chicken and soju.”

Sunday came around.

Gun-Ho loaded his Land Rover with his fishing gears and headed to Pocheon City. Gun-Ho was going to Pocheon because he wanted to see Chairman Lee; he didn’t really care much about fishing.

“He is a surprisingly wise man. With his extensive life experience and natural wit, he has a remarkable insight about business and even about life in general.”

When Gun-Ho arrived at Pocheon City, he stopped by a restaurant to pick up two roasted chickens, Gimbab and soju before heading to the fishing site.

Gun-Ho then arrived at the fishing site that he used to come very often.

It was May. Trees started budding under the sun.

Chairman Lee, Manager Gweon and Jong-Suk were already at the fishing site.

“Bro! Long-time no see. You seem to have gained some weight.”

“Hey, I brought roasted chickens and soju that you ordered, man. They are in my trunk.”

Chairman Lee who was fishing turned around and laughed.

“Hello, Chairman Lee. How have you been? Hi, Manager Gweon. It has been a while.”

“Good to see you. You must have driven a long way from Seoul to here.”

“I took the Dongbu Expressway. It didn’t take long to get here from Seoul. The traffic was light since it is Sunday. There should be very heavy traffic on Saturday.”

“Let’s see how many fish you could catch today. Manager Jong-Suk Park seemed to be excited since President Gun-Ho Goo is here today. You look happy.”

“Wasn’t I happy before?”

Jong-Suk responded sulkily.

“You are always happy, of course. You just look happier today with President Goo’s presence.”

“We will be on the other side of the lake for our lure fishing as always.”

“Sounds good.”

“Manager Gweon, we will come here after an hour. I brought roasted chickens.”

“Oh, you did? That’s nice.”

Manager Gweon smiled broadly.

Once Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk sat on the other side of the lake, they just did fishing without saying a word for a while.

“Are you getting any bite? I don’t get anything today.”

“Me too. Just keep trying. You will catch a big fish today. Huh? I got a bite!”

Jong-Suk pulled in a fish. It was a bass the size of a soju bottle. It was vigorously flapping.

“This fish came out from the water to say hello to you, bro.”

An hour passed by. Gun-Ho still hadn’t caught any fish. Jong-Suk, on the other hand, caught two fish already.

“I guess you have practiced fishing a lot during my absence.”

“It’s just luck. Luck helps make money too.”

“You are right. Luck is one of the critical ingredients for a lot of things. I guess I was lucky too in making money.”

“Bro, how come that luck thing doesn’t come to me?”

“Haha. A person will get a very important opportunity three times in his lifetime. Just hang in there; you will have the opportunity to make money.”

“That opportunity thing worked very well with you. It was an excellent decision that you gave up taking the government job exam.”

“I didn’t choose to give up on it. I was just not smart enough to keep trying.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to buy a condo if you worked as a government employee; it would take you forever to buy one with a government employee’s salary unless you take some bribe or commit embezzlement. Your condo in TowerPalace, that’s not going to happen to a government employee.”

“Let’s not talk about condos anymore. Let’s just focus on fishing.”

“Bro, didn’t you tell Manager Gweon that you would come to their side after an hour?”

“It has been an hour already? Let’s go then.”

Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk went to the side where Chairman Lee and Manager Gweon were fishing, and they placed roasted chickens and Gimbab on the grass.

“Chairman Lee, please try this chicken.”

“I am not a big fan of roasted chicken. I will just have some Gimbab.”

The three men except Chairman Lee started devouring the roasted chicken with soju.

“Please take only one glass of soju since we all have to drive when we go home. One glass of soju will go away after two hours of fishing, so it should be okay.”