Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

In the morning, Gun-Ho went to Cheongdam Town to see Chairman Lee for the breakfast appointment he made with him yesterday.

“I was waiting for you.”

Chairman Lee looked haggard, maybe because of the liquor he consumed last night.

“I know a good place for a blowfish hangover soup. They are really good.”

Chairman Lee brought Gun-Ho to a roadside restaurant in Cheongdam Town. The restaurant was already filled with a lot of people even though it was early morning time. It was a large and busy restaurant. The blowfish hangover soup that Chairman Lee ordered came out. Frankly, it looked unsavory, but once Gun-Ho tried it, he was surprised. The taste was actually very good.

“Do you come to this restaurant often, sir?”

“I do come here from time to time. How is it? Is it good?”

“Yes, it’s very good.”

“I always like their blowfish soup every time I come here.”

Manager Kang who came along with Chairman Lee seemed to enjoy the soup as well.

“So, you said you are interested in the building in Sinsa Town, right?”

“Well, yes. I am more likely curious about a building in that size for now.”

“The land is 240 pyung, and the total floor space of the building is 4,200 pyung. It’s a 19-floor building. It is a newly constructed building.”

“What about its location?”

“You want to visit that location? I will draw a map for you if you want to go there. It’s on the main road and hard to miss it. There are a bank and a large coffee shop chain occupied on its ground floor. The building brings good profit.”

“There must be a garage too.”

“Of course. The building has up to basement 4.”

“How much money would be required to acquire a building like that?”

“It depends on how much money you can borrow from a bank. The building is worth 200 billion won, so if you can get a loan 80% of its value, you would need 40 billion won.”

Before Gun-Ho responded to the amount of money that Chairman Lee suggested, Manager Kang who was having his blowfish soup next to Gun-Ho was frightened.

“Huh? 40 billion won?”

“It’s hard to find an individual who has 40 billion won in cash. A large company probably has that much fund; however, a company has to be careful in purchasing a building. It will draw the media’s and the government tax office’s attention; they would want to know whether the building would be used for business.”

“I just want to take a look at the building.”

“You have 40 billion won? I guess you do have 40 billion won. You made a lot of money so far.”

Manager Kang’s jaw dropped and he looked at Gun-Ho.

“I don’t have that much cash. If I gather everything from here and there, I might though.”

“I can introduce the building owner— President Park to you. He is a Scrooge though.”

“No, no, sir. I don’t have that much money now. I hope I could save that kind of fund in the near future.”

“Okay, here is the map I just drew. It’s really easy to find the building. There are two elevators in the building. You can have your own little tour by yourself from the first floor to the 18th floor. There are more than 50 businesses currently running in that building.”

“I will stop by the building before I drive down to Jiksan Town, Cheonan today. I have to get back to work.”

“Of course. You built a new factory and you have to work harder in the new building.”

Gun-Ho arrived at the building in Sinsa Town.

“Hmmm. The curb appeal is magnificent. They must renovate the building not long ago.”

Gun-Ho entered the building. A security guard was sitting at the entrance. There is a building directory board that was listing every current business occupied in the building.

“All kinds of businesses are here. There is a construction company and a travel agency. Oh, an entertainment company is here too. There is an accountant’s office…”

Gun-Ho took a cursory look at the inside building from the basement garage to the 18th floor.

Gun-Ho came back to his office in Jiksan Town after his brief trip to the building in Sinsa Town.

“Seoul is too busy for me.”

Gun-Ho stretched himself while sitting at a large president’s office on the second floor of the new factory.

The general affairs manager entered Gun-Ho’s office.

“We have completed the hiring process to fill the vacancies in the production field. All of the new employees are in their 20s or 30s. We didn’t place an age limit for the positions during the hiring process, but most of the applicants were young people.”

“Hmm. Really?”

“We also tried to hire people who live close to our factory. Since our factory is located nearby the Jiksan subway station, many people from the area such as Pyeongtaek City, Osan City, and Suwon City applied for the job.”

“The placement has been completed as well?”

“Yes. We are done with the placement, and they will all be here today for orientation. We will distribute uniforms to the new workers and will give them safety instructions and other necessary information regarding the production field today.”

“Hmm.”

“Why don’t we schedule your meeting with them tomorrow morning around 9 am? Since today is their first day, I expect it to be disorderly and they will be mentally busy too. We can have a welcoming ceremony tomorrow and you can meet with them there, sir. I will arrange for our directors and manager to be there too. It will be the new workers’ official first day of work.”

“That sounds good.”

“I heard our previous lady workers who decided to quit the job because of the distance to commute after we moved to the new location, they are regretting their decision.”

“Why?”

“First, it’s hard to find another job, and also once they saw our new factory, they loved our advanced factory. And they figured that the distance to our new location wasn’t that bad as they initially thought since we have a subway station nearby and we provide a commuter shuttle service.”

“Well, they made their decision and they left our company. They can’t come back now. The company shouldn’t allow them to take back their old jobs just because they changed their mind.”

“Right. I told them they can’t revoke their resignation now. Moreover, we already hired new workers.”

“What is the retirement age for the workers in the production field?”

“It’s the same age as office workers. It’s the age of 58.”

“You have to make sure we comply with the policy. There is a reason why those policies were implemented in the first place.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s try not to lay our workers off just because our company needs to go through the restructuring process in the future until they reach their retirement age. That’s how we give them the feeling of job security and it will boost their loyalty to the company and strongly devote to our company.”

“You are absolutely right, sir.”

After the general affairs manager left the office, Gun-Ho took out his electronic calculator and started calculating something.