Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The entertainment agency manager was wondering about Gun-Ho when Director Seukang Li came to the waiting area.

“Oh, Gun-Ho Goo!”

“Hey, Seukang Li.”

The two men hugged each other; they were so glad to see each other. The dandy man was just watching them hugging.

“Did you wait for long? I am so sorry. Party secretary was in the meeting, so it took longer than usual.”

“No problem. I hope I am not interrupting your day at work.”

“I’m good. I am not busy anymore.”

“I brought Professor Jien Wang’s book for you. It’s a Korean version.”

“I didn’t know he published his book in Korea. Wow. It’s written in Korean; I can’t read it.”

“Don’t try to read it. You just keep it as a souvenir.”

“Haha. I will keep it. Hey, why don’t we go to my office?”

When Seukang Li grabbed Gun-Ho’s hand and tried to leave the waiting area, the entertainment agency manager came to him.

“Sir, could you reconsider our request for the performance?”

“Oh, that? I already told you that we can’t allow it. We already sent you our decision. Why are you still here?”

“Please reconsider the decision. If you allow it once this time, I will never ask for it again.”

“That’s not possible. It will cause heavy traffic and raise a safety issue; we can’t allow it.”

Seukant Li acted cold to the entertainment company manager.

Seukang Li looked at Gun-Ho and smiled.

“Let’s go to my office!”

Gun-Ho followed Seukang Li to his office, and the dandy manager looked devastated.

“Sir! Sir!”

The entertainment agency manager kept calling Seukang Li, but Seukang Li didn’t respond to him.

Gun-Ho and Seukang Li entered his office. It was a large office with the Red Flag with Five Stars. There was a big wooden desk with a nameplate; it said ‘Director Seukang Li.’ The room certainly looked like a high ranked government officer’s room.

“What is that entertainment agency manager asking for?”

“He wanted to rent a gym and do a massive entertainment performance there. He planned to bring popular Korean group singers. Their Chinese business partner came this morning to request our approval again, and I had to send him away.”

“That will cause some traffic problem?”

“Well, yes, kind of. We actually have other important reason. We have to protect our own entertainment business here in China. K-pop is way too popular in China among young people. Chinese entertainment needs an opportunity to grow too. You would have done the same thing if you were in my shoes.”

“Hmm.”

Gun-Ho nodded his head; he thought Seukang Li made sense.

“Oh, how is your auto parts factory business in Suzhou City?”

“We are doing good. I know you have been helping us a lot. I was told that you introduced the president of a window manufacturing company to Min-Hyeok.”

“Did it help the business? I just told him that there is a company like that.”

“Min-Hyeok often told me that our sales revenue increased because of you.”

“President Min-Hyeok Kim is working so hard, and he is enthusiastic. I wish the company presidents in China work like him. There are a few government-owned companies that our bureau manages, and I wish those companies’ president work as hard as President Min-Hyeok Kim.”

“Thank you for saying that. Oh, you know what? I brought you something. Since you love smoking, I brought you a carton of cigarettes.”

“Haha. Thank you. I quit smoking, but it’s not easy. During the meeting earlier, the party secretary told me that he could smell smoke from me. I guess I will have to quit smoking in order to succeed in my career.”

Gun-Ho initially wanted to have dinner with Seukang Li, but he didn’t ask him for it. Seukang Li looked so busy and exhausted already.

Gun-Ho came back to Korea and presided over a meeting. The meeting with directors and managers was held once a week on Mondays in the morning. Another meeting, with everyone above an assistant manager, was held once a month in an auditorium.

“How are the 30 new workers doing?”

“They are good. Most of them are experienced workers, and I think they would do a really good job even if they were placed in an office. They are working in a production field, but many of them have very good qualifications.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“They are exceptionally good at producing more products in a short period of time. Our seasoned workers work faster than before; I think they are sensing that they might lose their job to younger workers.”

The sales director made a report.

“The major customers of our new products—S Group—will likely experience some changes in their company structure.”

“Did you hear anything specific?”

“People say that the vice president of S Group will resign soon.”

“He is still too young to retire, isn’t he?”

“His colleague who is younger than him is joining the company as a president. So he submitted his letter of resignation voluntarily.”

“Really? He was good to us and our business. That’s a shame.”

The plant manager and the chief officer of the research center who were both older than the vice president of S Group looked depressed.

After the meeting, Gun-Ho was sitting at his office by himself when the chief officer of the research center entered the office.

“Please have a seat.”

Gun-Ho showed a seat to him.

“As you decided to close the research center, 24 research center workers out of 30 have been reallocated to other departments.”

“Are they happy there? Or are they complaining?”

“They seemed to be doing fine. To be honest with you, sir, those workers in our research center were not really researchers.”

“Then why did you hire those people to work in the research center?”

“When we were filling in the positions in the research center, the previous president of Mulpasaneop instructed to find necessary workers from other departments within the company, rather than hire new people. Some of them now went back to their old positions, and they might be happier there.”

“So, there are only 6 people in the research center right now?”

“Yes. We still need them to keep the research center’s equipment working.”

“Did you say, those six workers left in the research center are superior to other workers who previously worked at the research center?”

“That’s right. These six workers are really smart.”

“Once we start a joint venture with Lymondell Dyeon in the U.S., we will need skilled workers. We will have to send them to U.S. for training. I was previously told that we would need about three skilled workers to send to U.S, so they can receive training from Lymondell Dyeon.”

“I will select three young workers if you need them.”

“I will let you know once things become clear.”

“I’d like to talk about my job, sir.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Even after I retire at the end of this year, the research center has to be here. A company this large requires a research center. I understand you want to make a change; however, getting rid of the research center won’t do any good for the company.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I suggest to bring a new chief officer for the research center and keep at least 15 workers there.”

“We used to have 30 workers there.”

“We essentially need 15 workers; that should be enough.”

“Hmm…”

“I have someone I’d like to recommend for the chief officer position.”

“Who is that?”

“I have a friend who also received a Ph.D. from Germany. He is young. He just became 51.”