Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The Japanese engineer—Mr. Sakata Ikuzo—trained the skilled workers at YS Tech for the next two days in attaching the aluminum ring to the new product. Mr. Sakata Ikuzo initially planned to train them for three days, but two days was enough for the workers to be familiarized with the task; it was a simple task after all.

Subsequently, YS Tech sent 50,000 pieces of aluminum rings that were ready to be attached, to GH Mobile. Gun-Ho then went to see President Young-Sik Park of YS Tech.

“President Park, according to your estimated product cost of the rings, the cost per unit is 640 won. We will have to adjust the price. I am personally close to you like a brother, but business is business, right?”

“Haha. Don’t be too harsh on it. We need to make our livings too.”

“I reviewed the product cost that you sent to us. The labor cost and manufacturing expenses were estimated way too high.”

“To be honest with you, yes, that’s true. I exaggerated a bit those expenses because I want to repay the money I borrowed from you. Can we just leave it like that?”

“I am not the only one who reviews the product cost. Our sales department will be reviewing it as well, and they will find out.”

“I understand that. I just want to repay you the money I borrowed as soon as possible. Whew.”

“How were you going to repay it?”

“If we sell you those 50,000 pieces of rings, we get 32 million won per month. I was going to send you 10 million won out of that 32 million won. Is there any way you could just approve our estimated product cost?”

“Let’s do this then. I will need some sort of justification for my approval, which I can tell to the sales department. Let’s make it 600 won instead of 640 won. That way, I can tell my sales department to take the price as it is since I already negotiated with you. With 600 won per unit, you can still make 30 million won on a monthly basis. That way, you can still send me 10 million every month.”

“Well, it’s going to be tight for us, but okay, let’s do it. I really want to repay you as soon as I can.”

“It will take only 20 months. You will be off the debt then.”

“Thank you, President Goo. You are indeed my savior.”

President Young-Sik Park held Gun-Ho’s hand with his thick hand. Gun-Ho would soon collect the money that he lent to President Park. Nothing was free in Gun-Ho’s world. If Gun-Ho helped a person to survive, then he would collect what he spent in saving that person.

GH Mobile’s new product—AM803 Assembly—had been sent to the big company—S Group—with a ring that was manufactured by YS Tech, attached to it. S Group highly evaluated the quality of Gun-Ho’s factory product. The consumer reviews on the S Group’s products that used AM803 Assembly were really good. Accordingly, S Group increased its order from 50,000 to 100,000 units on a monthly basis.

“The unit price is 4800 won, so it’s going to be 480 million won for 100,000 pieces. Our annual sales revenue will increase by 5,760 million won.”

Jong-Suk came to Gun-Ho’s office to talk.

“Bro, we need one more extruding machine from Germany.”

“Are we experiencing a shortage of capacity in the factory?”

“Even with overtime work at night, we can’t produce enough products to satisfy S Group’s order.”

“Okay. We will have to order the machine as soon as possible then. It will take time for them to ship the machine. I will request it to our International Business Development team.”

“It’s going to cost a lot, right?”

“Don’t worry about the cost. I will place an order for two extruding machines.”

“Two of them? It’s going to cost you really a lot.”

Jong-Suk was leaving the office with his head tilted when Gun-Ho called him.

“Hey, Manager Park!”

Jong-Suk turned around.

“How is the Polytechnics College?”

“It’s going okay. I have time to go to college for a night class since I just do the chemical mixing at work. The other workers in the production field do the rest of the task.”

“Keep it up. Once you get your associate degree from there, you will have to transfer to a 4-year college.”

“Do I really have to do that?”

“You will be managing more and more workers soon. You have to finish your studies when you are still young. Look at the plant manager. He graduated from Inha University, College of Engineering.”

“Well, I actually learn new things in college.”

“You sh*tty man. I knew you would be good in college.”

Gun-Ho tapped Jong-Suk’s back.

Once Jong-Suk left the office, Gun-Ho called for the team leader of the International Business Development Team. The team didn’t actually involve themselves with work, such as developing a market overseas or doing import or export goods. Many consumers of GH Mobile were big companies that had a factory abroad, and GH Mobile’s International Business Development Team undertook the task of sending GH Mobile’s products directly to those factories. It was a small team with simple work. They didn’t even have a worker who could speak English fluently in that team.

“Sir, did you ask for me?”

“We are currently using extruding machines made in Germany, right?”

“That… that’s correct.”

“We need two more extruding machines. Place an order for the exact same machine from Germany.”

“Can I have the address of the German company where we should place an order from?”

“The plant manager probably has the German company’s pamphlet. You will find their address there.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We have a customs agent that we have been working with, right?”

“Yes, there is one.”

“They do the customs compliance service as well as receiving our products on behalf of us. Is it correct?”

“Yes, sir. They do.”

“Make a call to H Capital and tell them that we are getting two extruding machines from Germany and ask them if they can make those machines as a lease.”

“Huh? A lease?”

“That way, H Capital owns the extruding machines, and our company leases the machines from them. We don’t have to pay for the machines in a lump sum, right? We already have too much debt that we haven’t paid yet.”

“Yes, sir.”

“After using the machines by lease for a while and once the machines’ value depreciates, we can acquire them by paying the remaining balance of their price.”

“Huh?”

The International Business Development Team’s leader seemed to have a hard time understanding the monetary side of the business.

“We will deal with the acquisition of the machines later. Talk with Capital H and find out if they can work it out, leasing the machines to us, for now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho didn’t want to make an unnecessary expenditure even though he had enough money.

When Gun-Ho checked his cell phone, there was a missed call from President Jeong-Sook Shin of GH Media.

“Why did she call me?”

Gun-Ho called President Shin.

“It’s Gun-Ho Goo. I think I missed your call.”

“Yes, I called you earlier to talk about Professor Jien Wang’s book—Economy Trend in China for the 21st Century.”

“The translation hasn’t started yet for the book?”

“We have to make a contract for publishing the book, and I was not sure if we need to make it with Zhejiang University Publisher or the individual Professor Jien Wang.”

“Hmm. I don’t know about those things. Which one is better?”

“If we make a contract with the publisher, they will charge their fees. However, if we do it with Professor Jien Wang personally, there will be no fee, and it’s better for him.”

“Well, let’s do that then.”