Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The vast tract of land without any construction on gave a fresh feeling to Gun-Ho. While looking at the land together, Jae-Sik Moon said to Gun-Ho, “This land looks large enough for us to build a junior high and even a high school altogether.”

“You begrudge this land, don’t you?”

“I certainly do.”

“I know that you have made a lot of effort while participating in every process from purchasing it to converting it for another use and also to flatten the land. You’ve indeed done an incredible job here.”

“Thank you.”

Jae-Sik tried not to show it, but he felt so proud of himself in combining three parcels of land and making one huge land for factory use. The only person to whom he showed off what he had done so openly was his wife.

He had said to his wife, “I purchased a landlocked property and combined it with to an adjacent land. Since they are farmlands, I went through the conversion process to make them a land for a non-agricultural purpose, and I finally received the approval.”

“What is a landlocked property?”

“It’s a land without direct access to a public road. In order to get out of the land, you have to go through another land to reach a public road. That sort of land is called a landlocked property. I’m currently working on flattening those farmlands and also registering them for non-agricultural land.”

When he was bragging about what he had done with the land, he looked so excited and proud.

“Once the registration is complete, I will combine them and transfer the ownership of land to GH Logistics. And then, I will put it on the market for sale.”

Jae-Sik Moon was using all sorts of terminologies that he picked up during the process while explaining the process to his wife.

Jae-Sik Moon’s wife admired her husband.

“You seem to be doing very important work. I’m sure that President Goo is satisfied with what you have done.”

“Of course. Once the land is sold and he makes huge profits from it, he will do something with it.”

“So, he is planning to make an investment in China with those sales proceeds, isn’t he?”

“That’s right. Now you know how things work around here. The sales proceeds will be invested in China for the terminal project and running the intercity bus service business.”

Recently, Jae-Sik Moon was full of self-confidence, and his wife admitted that her husband was an able and competent man.

“You must be an essential person to President Goo. He definitely needs you in doing his business.”

Jae-Sik Moon wanted to start the new business in China as soon as possible. He came close to Gun-Ho who was checking the land that was just flattened, and he asked Gun-Ho, “You haven’t heard anything from China yet?”

“No, nothing yet. They must be waiting for our response.”

“They will wait for us before starting the terminal project, right? They wouldn’t find a new partner just because we take some time to give them a firm answer, would they? I’ve heard when we were in China that they once tried to work with a company in Hong Kong.”

“We already signed the letter of intent. I’m sure that they won’t look for a new business partner.”

Gun-Ho continued to talk while tapping Jae-Sik Moon’s back, “Well, I’d better get going now. Keep up the good work. Don’t forget to verify the registration once you receive it, and check if they have all the information right in the document.”

“Okay, I will do that.”

It was July. President Jeong-Sook Shin came up to Gun-Ho’s office on the 18th floor with Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda.

“Our costume play magazine is here now.”

“Oh, really?”

“Half of its contents are from Japanese magazines, and the other half are made with what Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda worked in covering the event and stuff. You can say that Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda is the one who finished this costume play magazine.”

“Nicely done.”

Gun-Ho looked at the magazine. It was heavy even though there were not that many pages. That was probably because they used expensive papers to print the magazine.

“So, how do our children readers like it?”

“Well, the magazine just came out, and I brought it to you right away. So, we don’t know how people will like it yet. But, we have kept receiving inquiries from students from all sorts of age groups about when the magazine would come out. Considering their explosive interest in it, I’m pretty sure that at least two thousand of the magazines will be sold without any problem.”

“This magazine looks more like an art book.”

“People these days don’t want to read a long paragraph when they see a magazine. They would easily feel bored with all the words that they have to read. So, it’s better to have more pictures than words for a magazine. That’s a trend now. Since Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda used to work as a reporter and journalist, his pictures do look like artworks.”

“I guess you picked the right person for the job.”

“Mr. Sakata Ikuzo’s wood carving exhibition with our art gallery has been scheduled in the middle of this month.”

“Oh, it’s almost mid-July already.”

“A joint art exhibition with six different national artists is in progress in our art gallery right now. They are all young artists.”

“I see. I will visit the gallery at lunchtime today.”

After President Shin and Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda left the office, Gun-Ho looked at the costume play magazine more closely.

“These people’s hairs are so colorful like red and yellow. It gives me a headache.”

Gun-Ho called for the secretary—Ms. Yeong-Soo Oh.

“Please take this magazine with you. President Shin will publish this soon.”

“Oh, the magazine is so pretty.”

Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh embraced the magazine and smiled broadly. She then left Gun-Ho’s office quickly and happily.

Director Kang came to Gun-Ho’s office.

“I think we should have our rental price reflect the current inflation rate. It’s 3%, sir.”

“It won’t cause any resistance from our tenants, will it?”

“I’ve already sent out the announcement about it. It’s posted in the elevator as well.”

“3 % …”

“It’s too low, right? Our country’s inflation rate can’t closely follow our land price fluctuation rate.”

“Hmm, that’s not good. If the rising rate of land price is higher, the gap between the people who own real property and who don’t will get bigger. That’s not how it has to be.”

“Well, the price of real properties will keep rising no matter what. If the government imposes a higher property tax on real property owners, they will resist severely. They will argue that the country is going in the direction to become a communist state.”

Gun-Ho thought further about it once Director Kang left the office.

‘This building doesn’t generate enough profits right now, but if the price of this building increases from the purchasing price of 210 billion won to 250 billion won or even 300 billion won after five years, would it be the right phenomenon?’

Gun-Ho thought of the decision-makers who were managing the country like the ministers of the government.

‘Do those ministers and congressmen, who I met at the Advanced Center for Administrative Development at Seoul National University, understand the Korean citizens’ economic plights?’

Gun-Ho stood up from his seat and walked toward the window. When he looked down the street, he could see all the real estates in the Gangnam District. He was lost in thought when his smartphone started ringing. It was from his brother-in-law. Gun-Ho couldn’t remember when was the last time he received a call from his brother-in-law. It was certainly one of the rare occasions.

“I’m calling to let you know that a space to rent came out on the market at Onbid.”