Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The chief officer of the research center entered Gun-Ho’s office with a resume in his hand.

“Sir, I brought the resume of the person whom I recommended as my successor, earlier.”

Gun-Ho reviewed the resume of the person who might be the next chief officer of Gun-Ho’s company research center. His picture was attached to the resume. According to his resume, he graduated from Yonsei University majoring in Mechanics before he went to Germany to obtain his graduate degree and Ph.D.

“His hometown is Incheon City.”

“Haha. Sir, you are from Incheon City too.”

Gun-Ho closely looked at the resume.

“So he joined BMW research center right after he received his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany. Additionally, he used to work for G Auto in Korea. His resume looks great.”

“Sir, if you look at the bottom of the resume, he listed the development projects he participated in during his employment with BMW.”

“Hmm.”

“Most of all, he is still young so he will be able to assist you, sir, for a long time.”

“I heard you, Mr. Chief Officer. Please tell him to come and visit us here when he has time. I need to see him in person first, don’t I?”

“Of course, sir. I will let him know.”

Gun-Ho usually read a book by himself in his office after he signed reports in the morning. He usually enjoyed reading books that were about business management; however, he also read books on various subjects to expand his knowledge, such as history, politics, society, philosophy, etc. Many people found themselves too busy in life to read a book, but Gun-Ho had time for book reading because he was the boss in the company. As he read more and more books during his spare time, he became clever and gained insight. He also expanded his knowledge simultaneously.

“I will travel overseas more and more often. Speaking English will come in very handy. Even though I speak Chinese as a second language, I will have to learn English too. I am able to at least communicate with Mori Aikko because I know English a bit.”

Gun-Ho installed a TV in his office and frequently watched American soap opera and other TV programs in English, in an effort to improve his English.

Gun-Ho asked for the general affairs manager.

“Can you find an English instructor? I am thinking of beginning an English conversation class every morning for the management of our company. Once we start the joint venture with Dyeon, we will have to be able to speak English.”

“I was actually going to make a suggestion about learning English. I will look for an English tutor right away.”

Gun-Ho then asked for the accounting manager.

“Please get me a report on education and training expenses that we have spent for this year.”

The accounting manager printed out the report from the accounting software and brought it to Gun-Ho as soon as possible.

“This is it? The only education and training expense is for the compulsory education? I only see the fire safety education, quality control education, sexual misconduct prevention education, Four Major Public Insurance education, and electrical safety education… These are the minimum that we have to provide for employees’ training.”

“That’s right, sir.”

“We will increase our education and training expenses by adding English training to it. If you find any necessary training in the accounting department on tax or anything else, make a request to the general affairs manager.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

The general affairs manager came back to Gun-Ho’s office around lunchtime.

“Umm, sir, I found an English tutor.”

“Really? That’s good.”

“He is a native English speaker who is currently teaching English at Hoseo University. He will come to our company every morning for a one-hour English class.”

“We will compensate him more than reasonable for his English teaching to our employees. Please place a posting right away, saying that we will start a daily English class in the morning. Also, send an official announcement to each department to let them know that the company will provide our employees with tuition assistance for work-related education from Polytechnics College or any other educational institution.”

“Will do, sir.”

Gun-Ho thought that he would attend the English class in the morning too himself.

After having lunch at the company cafeteria, Gun-Ho started dozing off in his office. After taking a brief nap, he watched a soap opera in English. While watching American TV drama, Gun-Ho thought of Jong-Suk Park.

Gun-Ho picked up the interphone and asked for Manager Jong-Suk Park.

When Manager Jong-Suk Park entered Gun-Ho’s office, he was carrying safety work gloves in his hands. He probably took them off before he entered the office.

“Were you in the middle of work?”

“No. I just completed the work that I was working on.”

“Please have a seat.”

Jong-Suk Park sat at the conference table.

“You want some tea? Let’s have a cup of coffee.”

Gun-Ho asked his secretary via the interphone to bring two cups of coffee to his office.

Manager Jong-Suk Park seemed to be wondering why Gun-Ho wanted to talk with him.

The secretary brought coffee.

“Let’s have coffee.”

“Do you… have something that you want to tell me?”

“I heard rumors about you, Jong-Suk. A good one.”

“What did you hear?”

Jong-Suk Park’s eyes widened while holding his cup.

“You are dating a girl, aren’t you?”

Jong-Suk put his cup back to the table and scratched the back of his head as he laughed awkwardly.

“Who told you that?”

“Hey. I, as the president of this company, have to know everything that is going on here. If you have good news like that, you should have told me first.”

“I thought it was too early to tell.”

“I heard she is working at a company around here in Cheonan City. Is that right?”

“Yeah. She is working at an electronics company. She is working in their research center.”

“If she is working in a research center, she must have a bachelor’s degree. Why is she taking classes at Polytechnics College?”

“Right. She graduated from Hanseo University in Dangjin City. She didn’t major in Engineering in college so her company let her take some engineering classes at Polytechnics College. Her company supports her educational tuition just like myself.”

“I guess you will marry before I do.”

“You have to marry before me, bro.”

“I was born before you, but you don’t have to wait for me to marry before you. If you found a decent girl, you marry first.”

“We are not that serious yet. I haven’t really talked about marriage with her.”

“Does the girl like you too?”

“I think so.”

“Then marry her, man. What are you waiting for?”

“I’m trying.”

“How about her parents? Are they from here?”

“Yeah. Her father is a real estate agent, and her mom runs a hair shop. She is living in Jugong condo in Baekseok Town in Cheonan City.”

“I’m so happy for you, Jong-Suk. When you have a chance, set up a meeting with her. I want to see her.”

“Haha. Okay, bro.”

Manager Jong-Suk Park smiled naively.

Lymondell Dyeon sent a message to GH Mobile that they would soon send their personnel to GH Mobile to conduct their due diligence. Gun-Ho immediately contacted Attorney Young-Jin Kim.

“Attorney Kim? It’s me, Gun-Ho Goo. We just received a message from Lymondell Dyeon, they are sending their people here soon.”

“When did they say they would arrive?”

“It’s the 20th of this month. They will send three people including Vice President Brandon Burke.”

“So, Mr. Brandon Burke is coming too, right? That’s really nice. Moreover, they are coming to your factory in Jiksan Town, not the factory in Asan City. Since it is a new advanced factory, I’m sure that they will be impressed.”

“Why don’t you come here too?”

“I will go to Incheon International Airport on the first day to greet them and I will come to your factory in Jiksan Town on the last day of their visit.”

“Why? Can’t you come here every day during their visit?”

“I have other work to do. My presence during their investigation won’t help anything since I have no knowledge about the field. Did you find an interpreter?”

“Not yet. I will find one.”