Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho received an email from Jae-Sik Moon who was working at GH Media as a chief editor. He sent to Gun-Ho the translated manuscript of Professor Jien Wang’s book— Economy Trend in China for the 21st Century. It was the final version with all necessary editing work and ready to be published. The book became even thicker after being translated into Korean and it was 400 pages.

Jae-Sik Moon changed the book title from ‘Economy Trend in China for the 21st Century’ to ‘Economy Prospect in China for the 21st Century.’ He modified some parts of the translated version to make it smoother while giving more flavor to it.

“Is this really done by Jae-Sik? Wow. I knew he was good, but I didn’t know he was this good.”

Gun-Ho started reading the translated manuscript of Jien Wang’s book. He thought he should read it before giving Jae-Sik any comment or response. However, it was too much.

“Whew. It will take forever to finish this book. It hurts my eyes too.”

Gun-Ho replied to Jae-Sik’s email after finishing only the first ten pages.

“I received the manuscript. It looks good. I think it is ready to be published.”

Gun-Ho received a phone call from Min-Hyeok Kim who was working at Suzhou City, China. He said he found a good storage building.

“The building is 300 pyung, but the land is huge. It’s 1,000 pyung. With the yard this big, it would be easy for vehicles to make turns.”

“I guess we can build an additional building there in the future if necessary.”

“Of course, there is plenty of space for an additional building.”

“So, is the owner selling the land?”

“He said he would. He said the land is not Hua fa land, but it is Zhuanrang land, so it is transferable.”

Gun-Ho was somewhat knowledgeable about real estate in China.

“Zhuanrang?”

“Correct. Zhuanrang land is transferable and can be used as collateral for a loan while Hua fa land is not since it was leased by the government for free. It cannot be transferred, leased, or used as collateral.”

“Sometimes they said it is Zhuanrang land, but later we might find out it is not. Many Korean companies fell into that trap when they did business in China. Is the seller an individual?”

“No, it’s a clothing manufacturing company.”

“What about the location?”

“Its location is not bad at all. It’s close to our factory and Suzhou Industrial Park.”

Suzhou Industrial Park is an industrial park located in Suzhou City, which was jointly developed by China and Singapore. Many large Korean companies are located in this industrial park including Samsung Group.

“Even though we might later find out it is not Zhuanrang land, it is still attractive since it is located close to the industrial park.”

“Why don’t you come and visit the storage building to make sure you like it?”

“Well, Suzhou City is a good location anyway. Not just Suzhou Industrial Park, but Hyundai and Posco are there too. Volvo, Mazda, Nissan, and other global companies are there as well. Let’s get the storage building in that area. It would be even better if that land is really Zhuanrang.”

“You know what? I took a position as a general manager in our elementary school alumni association here in China.”

“Oh, for the classmates from elementary school who are in China right now?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know there were so many of us here. We did once gather in Shanghai. 20 people came, which is a lot. Most of them are employees in a branch office of a company in Korea. They are team leaders or assistant managers in their companies. That is the usual position in a company at our age.”

“Really? I guess it will help your sales, huh?”

“Yeah. They actually helped me a lot already.”

“When you meet with them, you can use our company credit card to have liquor or food with them.”

“I’m not going to use the company credit card for everyone from that association, but I will if I meet some of them who are working for a company which could possibly make a contract with us.”

“How’s it going with the girl who you have been dating? You said she is teaching English in Shanghai International School.”

“I think I will marry her next spring. I guess I will have to have a wedding twice.”

“Why?”

“Since she is a Korean Chinese, we will have to do the wedding once in China and once in Korea.”

“Oh, hahaha. So you get married two times, huh?”

“My mom asked a fortune teller about my fate, and she said I am destined to marry twice.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Hahaha.”

“As to the storage building, I will come to China sometime next week. I will talk to you later then.”

Gun-Ho went to the bank in Gangnam to meet with the branch manager.

“There is a real property that I am interested in. It is located at the entrance of G Garosugil Road in Sinsa Town. It’s a 19-floor building with a 370 pyung land, and its total floor space is 4,200 pyung.”

“It must be very expensive.”

“I was told that its current fair market price is 200 billion won.”

“Wow. It is expensive.”

“If I purchase this building, how much can you support me?”

“I will lend the money as much as you want; however, if you buy the building personally, not with the company’s name, DTI (Debt to Income) will apply. Moreover, Sinsa Town is a restricted area for speculation, so we might not be allowed to lend you a significant amount.”

“What if I buy it with my real estate development company’s name?”

“If you buy it for business purposes, it would be a different story; however, since the building is very expensive, I will still have to discuss it with our head office.”

“How much cash do you think I have to bring in at a minimum?”

“I would say that you would need at least 40% of the price. Well, it might work with less than 40% of the price since we can use the security deposit. How much cash are you thinking of investing in?”

“I intend to use 20%.”

“Even 20% of the price will be 40 billion won. Do you have that much cash?”

“I came here to discuss with you because I have it.”

“Really? You have 40 billion won in cash. Wow. You are indeed a big player in the field.”

The branch manager was astonished, and the assistant manager of the bank who was sitting outside the office turned his head to the office when he heard the sound of the branch manager.

“Either you buy that building or not, why don’t you store your 40 billion won in our bank?”

“I have it stored in my stock account.”

“We do stock trading too. Why don’t you move to our bank? We are very good at stock trading.”

Gun-Ho didn’t respond to the branch manager’s suggestion, and the branch manager started thoroughly looking at the documents that Gun-Ho brought. He might have felt embarrassed.

“The building owner has a lot of debt, and some of them are from our bank. You can take it over once you buy the building.”

“Maybe I should contact the owner.”

“The owner with this expensive building must be rich. Why does he want to sell the building?”

“He has children who have different mothers and that gives him a headache.”

The branch manager grinned.

“That makes sense. Once the building owner dies, the children from the current wife will inherit more than the children from prior spouse. And those children won’t stay quiet.”

“What if the first wife is still alive?”

“Well, in that case, we will have to see who is recorded as his legal spouse.”

“Mr. Branch Manager, you probably want to be very careful with women too.”

“Haha. I am not capable of doing anything complicated like that. The only asset I have is a condo that I am living in. President Goo, you haven’t been in any complicated situation like that?”

“I don’t do that.”

Well, Gun-Ho had a beautiful woman already—Mori Aikko. He had no reason to look for another woman.

“President Goo, why don’t you leave the documents with me, which you brought? I will examine and analyze it. I am anticipating having another good business with you, sir.”