Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho pictured a vacation home where Chairman Lee was drinking a glass of champagne while looking at his beautifully landscaped garden. He must have a custodian who stayed in his vacation home 24/7 to handle all the work there since it was a huge vacation home that was 1,000 pyung large.

“I envy you, Chairman Lee. I’m sure that not many people have an opportunity to own a large vacation home like that, especially in this area with clean air.”

“You think so? Hahaha. I don’t have anything much to do at my age. I do like to have fun in my vacation home.

Chairman Lee said he brought Gimbab that was enough for two people, and he wanted to share it with Gun-Ho.

“Oh, I brought my own Gimbab too. Let’s eat together.”

Gun-Ho went to his Land Rover and took out a picnic mat from the trunk. After a moment, three people were sitting on the picnic mat, and they were having Gimbab with a beverage.

“President Goo, do you like this?”

“Do you mean here, this place?”

“Yes. I feel so calm and peaceful whenever I come to this place.”

“Right. It is a very serene and nice place.”

“Whenever I get a headache at work, I come here and I get inspired. I do often visit this place not just because my vacation home is nearby, but I come here to give a deep thought on my business. Sometimes, I get a brilliant idea for my business while I’m trying to catch some fish here.”

“Oh, I see.”

“President Goo, why don’t you catch an enormous idea while you are aiming to catch a bass today? Well, maybe it would be difficult since you do lure fishing. You might not be able to focus on your thoughts while walking around to do lure fishing.”

While having Gimbab, Gun-Ho and Chairman Lee talked about things going on in their lives. Gun-Ho told him that he was planning to open an art gallery in his building in Sinsa Town, and Chairman Lee seemed to find it very interesting.

“Sir, I will take a walk for my lure fishing. I hope you catch a huge fish today. I mean a fish for your business.”

Chairman Lee grinned.

“I will try.”

At the end of the day, Gun-Ho caught a bass, and Chairman Lee caught four carps.

“Let’s call it a day. My hip and waist start hurting.”

Chairman Lee began to retrieve his fishing gear. Since he had only four carps, Gun-Ho thought he would just let them go, but Chairman Lee put those carps in a plastic container that he brought.

“Are you going to make a spicy fish soup with those carps tonight? Why don’t you take my bass and add to it?”

As Gun-Ho said it, he put his bass in Chairman Lee’s plastic container.

“I am actually going to have carp porridge tonight. A carp has lots of fishbones, but if you let them simmer for a long time, their fishbones melt. That makes a very good porridge.”

Gun-Ho thought Chairman Lee was so cheap. Even though he was so rich, he caught fish himself and made porridge with them.

‘Chairman Lee probably has bad teeth now, given his age. That’s why he enjoys porridge.’

Gun-Ho started retrieving his fishing tools as well.

“Sir, are you going straight back to Cheongdam Town?”

“No, I will have to stop by my vacation home here, so I can release these fish into my pond.”

“Oh, you have a pond in your vacation home?”

“Of course. It’s about 300 to 400 pyung large. I landscaped around the pond with water plants. It looks really nice.”

Gun-Ho thought,

‘Wow. It would be really nice to have a drink in a vacation home which is 1,000 pyung large while looking out at a beautifully landscaped pond. That’s a really great life.’

“If you are heading to your vacation home, I’d like to take a look at it too. The land is 1,000 pyung, and the house is 200 pyung, with a pond that is 300 to 400 pyung large. I really want to see them. I’m sure the beauty of your vacation home will refresh my mind.”

“Sure. Come with me. I don’t really invite people over my vacation home, but you are like my family now. Of course, you are more than welcome to come with me.”

Gun-Ho drove while following Chairman Lee’s Genesis. After going through some narrow concrete roads, his Genesis stopped in front of a majestic house in a forest. Gun-Ho could see the yard through the gaps between the front door panels. There were several trees like pine trees and maple trees. They looked really nice.

“It is indeed a huge vacation home.”

Gun-Ho followed Chairman Lee and Manager Gweon to the front yard.

Once he was inside the vacation home, a lot of children started pouring out into the yard.

“Grandpa is here!”

“Hello, my children!”

Gun-Ho was dumbfounded by the unexpected scene.

Many of those children were kids with some disabilities, either physically or intellectually.

“Oh, my gosh. I totally misunderstood Chairman Lee.”

It was obviously not his personal vacation home. It was a home for children with special needs.

“This place… Are you running this, sir?”

“Of course. I am personally operating this. It has been about twenty years.”

“How many children are there?”

“About thirty. The maximum number of kids I had was fifty. Do you remember that GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook Shin recognized me as the father of Professor Hye-Sook Lee at Sejong University?”

“Yes, I remember that.”

Professor Hye-Sook Lee grew up here too. She was an orphan. She was a very smart kid. When Hye-Sook was growing up here, the kids used to call me father, but now these kids call me grandfather. Hahaha.”

Gun-Ho didn’t know what to say. He was extremely impressed and became emotional.

‘Oh, my… Chairman Lee is more than a person who I can just admire for his business success. He is such a great person that I can’t even stand next to him.’

Gun-Ho remembered what Master Park, who was in Goesan Town, said the other day.

He said, “If you see chairman Lee, please say hi to him for me. He is a very good friend than he looks.”

“Grandpa, this is smaller than the ones you caught last time.”

“I will get a bigger one next time; I promise, like this big!”

As Chairman Lee talked with one of the children, he gave a kiss to the child’s cheek. The child talked weird. He probably had a speaking disability.

“What is that fish? It looks funny.”

“Oh, that one is called a bass. Do you see the mister standing over there? He caught it.”

“This one is huge.”

The children seemed to be having a lot of fun looking at the fish.

“Let’s release these fish into the pond until our cooking lady comes back from the supermarket. She will make a nice carp porridge for us.”

“I like pizza better than carp porridge.”

“If you want to grow taller, you need to eat carp porridge. You can’t have pizza all the time.”

“Do you promise?”

“Has your grandpa ever lied to you?”

While watching Chairman Lee and the children and listing to their conversation, Gun-Ho’s eyes started welling with tears for some reason.