Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho, Amiel and Attorney Young-Jin Kim went to a Korean restaurant in Seocho Town for dinner. They ordered Bulgogi* hot pot.

“Amiel, what do you think of my company?”

“It was good. It was larger than I expected.”

“Really? Thank you.”

“How much did you say your annual sales revenue was?”

Attorney Young-Jin Kim was carefully listening to the conversation; he seemed to be curious about Gun-Ho’s company’s annual sales revenue.

“It was 70 billion won when I acquired that company, and it will soon be 80 billion won. My goal is to make it 100 billion won by next year.”

“Wow! 100 billion won!?”

Attorney Young-Jin Kim was astonished while Amiel was just nodding his head.

“The land itself should be twice larger than Dyeon Japan’s factory land in Yokohama.”

“I’m actually thinking of moving the factory to somewhere else.”

“Why?”

“I need to restructure the company, and also I have another reason.”

“What are you up to?”

“I’m thinking of using that factory for a joint venture with Dyeon.”

“What?”

Amiel and Attorney Young-Jin Kim looked at each other in surprise.

Gun-Ho pushed himself closer to the two men and said,

“What do you think, Amiel? We can start a joint venture in that factory that you visited today. I have enough workers; there are 250 of them. We can select several tens of workers from them to work for the joint venture.”

“Hmm.”

Amiel didn’t give any response to it. He was just sitting there with his arms crossed.

It was Attorney Young-Jin Kim who broke the silence.

“Hey, I think it is a good idea.”

As Amiel unwrapped his arms, he said,

“There are a lot of things we need to get through before we can decide to do a joint venture. We need to analyze the potential co-venturer’s financial status, technology, and skilled workers. We also take into consideration the president’s personality and strong will to participate in the joint venture.”

“Hmm.”

“The headquarters from the U.S. has a list of requirements to evaluate the potential co-venturer, and you need to pass it.”

Attorney Young-Jin Kim said while pouring a beer to Amiel’s glass.

“We have you, Amiel. Can you do something about it?”

“Haha. No way. It’s not just a checklist he needs to pass, but they will make an actual visit to his company.”

“Hmm.”

“The land that I saw today is big enough; however, the company’s debt ratio should be low too.”

“Hmm.”

The three men ate the food without saying a word for a while.

“I will restructure the company as soon as possible and will lower the debt ratio.”

“The credit rating is important too. They will issue the company’s credit rating from the credit bureau.”

“Hmm.”

“Once your company passed all the requirements, you will need to send some skilled workers to the U.S. and get them trained before you receive the necessary equipment by ship.”

“Do I have to purchase machines? Or can I lease them?”

“As long as you satisfy all the requirements, you can lease the machines.”

“Hmm.”

“The joint venture in Korea will have to consider the market overseas such as China and Southeast Asia. The headquarters in the U.S. will probably want that.”

“Does the president have to speak English?”

“Haha, no, you don’t have to. They want you to run the business well; they don’t ask you to learn English. You can hire someone who speaks English.”

Gun-Ho scheduled to go play golf the next day with Amiel and Attorney Young-Jin Kim in Yongin City. After dinner, he decided to stay in Seoul since he needed to come to the area again the next day for golf anyway. So, he went to his TowerPalace condo.

“It has been a while since I slept at this condo.”

There were tons of mail piled up in the mailbox.

The large condo looked so quiet and lonely. Gun-Ho went into the master bedroom and lied down on his bed.

“I want to start a family. Should I ask Mori Aikko to come here and live with me?”

Gun-Ho grabbed a pillow and conceived it until he fell asleep.

The next day, the three men started an 18 hole round of golf in Asiana Country Club.

This time, Gun-Ho didn’t make many mistakes. He wasn’t a disturbance in playing golf for Amiel and Attorney Young-Jin Kim like the last time they played golf together. Attorney Young-Jin Kim made a joke.

“President Goo, did you play golf all day long in Asan City instead of working, huh?”

Amiel added with his eyes widened.

“Oh, President Goo, you improved a lot. I think you can go to Pebble Beach Golf Links in California now.”

“Pebble Beach?”

“Yeah, they have the most beautiful golf course in the world. PGA Tour Champions play annual events there.”

“Really?”

Once they walked out of the golf country club, they went to Miranda Hotel in Icheon City. They enjoyed the hot spring bath there.

“Wow, the water here is so nice.”

“Hot spring is not just famous in Japan. We have a good one in Asan City where I stay right now, and the hot spring here in Icheon City is very popular as well.”

Attorney Young-Jin Kim who was playing with water said,

“That’s right. The Onyang hot spring in Asan City has been around for a long time and very famous. According to the historical record, Sejong, the Great King came to Onyang to wash his eyes with the hot spring in Onyang when he had eye trouble.”

“Really?”

After taking the hot spring bath, they went to a steak restaurant inside the Miranda hotel. Their table was on the terrace that was connected to an outdoor water park. They enjoyed the steak with wine.

“Hey, Gun-Ho Goo! I will treat you guys here; instead, you pay for the Hannam bar. Let’s go there tonight, Ms. Jang’s bar.”

“The bar in Hannam Town? I was going to go there with you guys anyway. Amiel wanted to listen to Gayageum again.”

Gun-Ho made a call to the hostess—Mi-Hyang Jang.

“Oh, President Gun-Ho Goo, I thought you forgot about us.”

“I will bring one American and one more Korean today.”

“An American will join you? Sure. I will have a girl ready, who can speak English.”

“We will be there at 8 pm. We want to listen to Gayageum as well.”

“Of course, sir.”

At 8 pm that night, Gun-Ho’s party arrived at ‘Pine’—the bar in Hannam Town.

The bouncers who were wearing black suits came out and led them inside the bar. They treated Gun-Ho as if he was the boss of a Mafia or something.

“Is Ms. Jang here?”

“Please come in. She is expecting you.”

Ms. Mi-Hyang Jang greeted Gun-Ho’s party; she was wearing a Korean traditional dress.

“Welcome, President Goo. It has been several years already since you visited us?”

“What are you talking about? I feel like I came here a few months ago.”

“You often go to a bar in Japan. You should visit us more often here in Korea too.”

“I went there only once.”

“Well, I can’t compete with Segawa Joonkko.”

“I think you can beat her.”

Ms. Jang said while she was taking Gun-Ho’s jacket and hanging it on the wall.

“I heard something from Japan.”

“Like what?”

“I heard that you put the most famous geisha’s hair up.”

Attorney Young-Jin Kim and Amiel looked puzzled.

“Haha. Stop your nonsense, and bring us food. We will have Ballantine’s for liquor.”

“Chairman Lee always visited us at least twice per week when he was young.”

Note*

Bulgogi – Grilled beef which was marinated with all sorts of vegetables and soy sauce