Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho called for Director Dong-Chan Kim.

“Mr. Adam Castler is coming the day after tomorrow.”

“Oh, really?”

“Is the villa with two rooms that you told me about earlier still available?”

“Yes, it is still available.”

“We will have him stay in a hotel for the first few days. Do you know any good hotels around here? Onyang Hot Spring Hotel is a bit far from here.”

“There is a hotel called Central Hotel. It’s in Seongjeong town. It’s not bad.”

“Okay. Let him stay there and tell him that since this is a small town, there are no large hotel chains.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Once Dyeon Korea’s factory starts working, we will need to hire workers by placing an official job posting. Until then, why don’t you find one or two people for now who can take care of trivial work? I’m not comfortable asking you to do the work like reserving a hotel room, Director Kim.”

“I’m totally okay with it, sir. If we hire a person now for no specific job to assign, we could just waste our money.”

“Once Mr. Adam Castler arrives, discuss with him the company’s organizational structure and hiring workers and things like that.”

“Yes, sir. I will do that.”

“The three workers who went to the U.S. for training are coming back next week, including Jong-Suk Park. Also, we will have three engineers from Dyeon soon once we receive their equipment, and they will stay here for three months. We will need to find a place for them to stay too.”

“In that case, I strongly suggest the villa I told you about. The building has various sizes of units. Some have one room and some have two rooms. Mr. Castler can take the villa unit with two rooms and three engineers can stay in the unit with one room.”

Gun-Ho wire-transferred 100 million won from his personal bank account to Min-Hyeok’s account. Right after lunchtime that day, Gun-Ho received a call from Min-Hyeok.

“I received the 100 million won you sent. Thank you very much. I know it’s a significant amount of money and thank you for lending it to me. I told my mom that I borrowed it from the company and asked her to place the townhome on the market. Well, thank you again.”

“The townhome will easily be sold, right?”

“I was worried about that too, but I was told that it is moving season, so they will be able to find someone quickly who would want to take it.”

“You will have to find a condo for sale in the Hyundai HomeTown too, right?”

“I already talked with a real estate agent, and he said there are a few available on the market. So I asked my mom to check it out.”

“That’s nice.”

“And I attended a meeting for Korean businessmen here this morning. There was a person who was involved in Dandong Economic Development Zone in the border region between North Korea and China. He suggested that we should export our products to North Korea.”

“Dandong? Isn’t that the area around Amrok River?”

“That’s right. It’s facing Sinuiju City in North Korea across the international border of Amrok River.”

“Who was the person?”

“He is an executive officer of China Merchants Holdings International. He invited us to visit them in Dandong City.”

“Dandong…”

“So, I told him that I will need to talk with our board of directors first.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“How is GH Mobile?”

“Oh, a new co-president will join us soon at GH Mobile.”

“Really? Who is it?”

“It’s Mr. Jang-Hwan Song who used to work for S Group as a vice president.”

“S Group has tons of branch offices everywhere. There is one in Tianjin and another one is here in Suzhou City. I don’t know the exact locations, but there are several more in China.”

“How is their factory in Suzhou City? Is it big?”

“It is big. I believe they have more than 1,000 workers. I hope we can get a business with one of S Group’s branch offices here once the new co-president joins us. He can visit our factory here in China.”

“I will talk to him about it when he starts working with us.”

“I can’t wait to work with him. All of our equipment and machines are fully working right now. Thanks to the former GH Mobile’s plant manager who is working with us now here in GH Parts Company. He helped us fix all the equipment. We are ready to work more. I hope we can get some work from S Group.”

“How is he doing? Is he doing okay there in China?”

“He is doing great. He loves Chinese food here, and he often goes to Karaoke to enjoy his spare time.”

“Haha. Isn’t he a bit old to spend time in Karaoke?”

“That means he is still young, doesn’t it? I am thinking of hiring him as a part-time employee once his one-year work as an advisory position expires.”

“Well, that’s your call.”

“He is getting along very well with Chinese workers here.”

“That’s good to know. I think you need to consider hiring a Korean worker who can stay in the office while you are out for sales.”

“Well, then we will have to pay that person…”

“That way, you can focus on sales and generating more revenue.”

“Actually, there is one person who would fit right in.”

“Then hire that person.”

“He worked for a Korean company here, which closed its business and moved back to Korea. He worked as an assistant manager there. He is three years younger than us, but he has an extensive work experience at a factory. Moreover, he speaks Chinese fluently. Well, I will take care of it.”

“Sounds good.”

Mr. Adam Castler arrived at Incheon International Airport. Director Kang and Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh were there to greet him.

“Oh, Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh, it’s very nice meeting you finally in person.”

“Sir, this is our Director.”

“Oh, hi Mr. Director.”

“How do you do!”

“What?”

“How do you do?”

When Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh repeated what Director Kang said in English with better pronunciation, Mr. Adam Castler grabbed Director Kang’s hand and shook it.

Director Kang was wondering:

‘I said ‘how do you do’ exactly the same way as Ms. Yeong-Soo Oh did. How come he doesn’t understand what I said while perfectly understanding what Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh said? What’s wrong? This is going to be very stressful.’

Director Kang drove the car heading to Jiksan Town while Mr. Adam Castler and Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh were having a good time in conversing with each other. Director Kang couldn’t understand their conversation because they seemed to talk too fast. Director Kang didn’t like the feeling of being excluded from the conversation and being just a chauffeur.

It was the second time when Gun-Ho and Mr. Adam Castler met each other since the dinner party in Seattle.

“Oh, Mr. Goo!”

“Adam Castler!”

The two men hugged each other.

“Thank you for coming to join us all the way from the U.S.”

Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh was interpreting simultaneously while they were talking to each other in their own native tongue.

Gun-Ho called for the executives and introduced them to Mr. Adam Castler; especially, Gun-Ho introduced Director Dong-Chan Kim as he would be the one who would be working closely with him at Dyeon Korea. Since Director Kim used to speak English during his military service with KATUSA, he could somewhat communicate with Mr. Adam Castler, and Mr. Castler was a very patient man.

“Why don’t you take a good rest in the hotel today and start working tomorrow. You can come to this place tomorrow. Director Dong-Chan Kim will give you a ride to your hotel.”

Mr. Adam Castler wanted to take a quick tour of the factory before he went to the hotel.

“Director Kim, why don’t you give him a tour?”

Director Kim showed Mr. Adam Castler around the factory, and Ms. Yeon-Soo followed them to interpret.

When they entered the production field where a loud machine noise filled the air, the workers glanced at Director Kim and Mr. Adam Castler. They were wondering who the foreigner was.

“Is he a new buyer?”

The workers whispered to each other.

It was Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh’s first time to visit a production field at a factory. Heavy machines were laid out in an organized way, and the workers in the same uniform were moving quickly while manufacturing the products. It was interesting. While interpreting for Director Kang and for Mr. Adam Castler, Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh sometimes had a hard time coming up with the right word for a technical term about machines and factory matters.