Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho changed the topic.

“Our former plant manager is actively working in China right now. The work contract with him expires at the end of this year, but Mr. President Min-Hyeok Kim there said that he is thinking of extending the contract with him. Since he is very knowledgeable about the machines and maintains them stably, the Chinese workers respect him a lot and heavily rely on him at work.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Oh, how’s our former research center’s chief officer doing at Dyeon Korea?”

“Mr. Chief Officer Bang comes to work sporadically. His one-year work contract will expire at the end of this year as well. He already explicitly informed Dyeon Korea that he no longer wants to work there.”

“That’s a shame. He had worked so hard for Mulpasaneop even though he was not one of the founding members; he joined the company later on.”

“They have different jobs and work environments. Considering the nature of his work, the former plant manager can easily adapt to the new work environment since he doesn’t need a lot of equipment to repair a machine. He can easily fix machines with one screwdriver. On the other hand, the former research center’s chief officer needs proper equipment and enough space for his research work. Since his new work environment can’t provide them, it seems that he doesn’t feel comfortable working there.”

President Song who was sitting next to him said, “It was still a generous offer of Mr. President Goo for the old workers who already reached their retirement age, even if it was only for one or two years. I’ve met with them in person separately, and they both appreciated the opportunity.”

“They both are over 60 years old. I hope they stay healthy.”

“It is natural to see a shift in generations even in a company. Younger people will be leading our company soon like Director Jong-Suk Park here. Don’t you think, Mr. Director Park?”

President Song said as he clinked his glass of liquor to Director Jong-Suk Park’s.

The executive officers at the table toasted the success of the company. After taking a sip of his beer, Gun-Ho said, “Since Mr. President Song joined our company, we have developed the new product— AM083 Assembly, and also we successfully procured our major client company— S Group, and we are currently supplying five different products to them. It was successfully done because of President Song’s connection with them. So, we were originally aiming at making more than 90 billion won for our annual sales revenue by the end of this year. However, we unexpectedly received a product order from A Electronics recently. So, now, we are expecting to make more than 100 billion won per year. I understand that we became busier than before, and we are feeling more responsible at work than before. But, let’s work hard, and let’s grow our company while we can.”

Gun-Ho lifted his glass of beer and said, “Thank you.”

“Thank you.” The executive officers said simultaneously holding their glass of beer.

After finishing lunch, the general affairs director paid for it at the counter with the company’s business credit card. He would probably record this expense as a fringe benefit.

Gun-Ho walked out of the restaurant with the other executive officers. The accounting director, who came out to the parking lot before them, was smelling the flowers in the restaurant’s garden again. Two black sedans stopped in front of the restaurant’s front door. They were probably the customers who came to have lunch at the restaurant. Several sturdy men, who looked like they were in their 50s, got out of the cars. Some of them were wearing police uniforms; they were probably high ranking police officers. One man who was wearing a black suit without a tie approached Gun-Ho, and said, “Oh, Mr. President Goo?”

“Oh, Mr. Chief Police Officer? You are here for lunch?”

“Yes. I guess you just had your lunch here.”

“Yes. We were about to leave.”

Once the group of men with the chief police officer vanished into the restaurant, the GH Mobile’s executive officers asked Gun-Ho, “Is he the chief police officer? I guess you two know each other very well, sir.”

“He came and attended Dyeon Korea’s building dedication ceremony.”

“Oh, he did?”

In the afternoon, Gun-Ho went to Dyeon Korea.

The secretary— Ms. Seon-Hye Yee— brought a cup of jujube tea and said, “Mr. Director Kim is out of his office now, sir. He said he was leaving to target A Electronics’ vendor companies.”

“Targeting A Electronics’ vendor companies?”

“Yes, sir. That’s what I heard for sure.”

“How did he get the list of A Electronics’ vendor companies?”

Gun-Ho almost made a call to Director Kim, and then he decided against it. If Director Kim was meeting with a potential client company, Gun-Ho’s call for him wouldn’t do any good.

“Who would know about our current sales status? Oh, that’s right! Please have Mr. Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong at the sales department come to my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong entered Gun-Ho’s office.

“Did you want to see me, sir?”

“Please have a seat.”

Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong used to work at the GH Mobile’s research center. He was also one of those who received the special training from Lymondell Dyeon in the U.S. He was later assigned to work at Dyeon Korea’s compound room. And, when Director Kim needed someone in the sales department, who would be highly knowledgeable about the technology and products to make effective sales work, the assistant manager— Il Gi Seong— was reassigned to the sales department.

As he was sitting on the sofa facing the owner president of the company that he was working for, Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong behaved very carefully.

Gun-Ho said, “It has been two months since you were assigned to the sales department, hasn’t it? How do you like the new work?”

“It is actually more fun than the work in the compound room. I’m doing my best, sir.”

“Hmm, that’s very good to know. I believe that one of the most important things at work is being able to have fun. Regardless of how much you get paid, you should feel interested in your work. What is our sales status these days?”

“We are observing an acute increase in the sales revenue in GH Mobile. According to GH Mobile’s Manager Chang-Hwan Seo at the sales department, they started supplying a high volume of products to A Electronics, and they will use our raw materials in manufacturing those products.”

“How much more raw materials are we sending to GH Mobile then?”

“The raw materials that we provide to GH Mobile have increased by more than 150 tons.”

“How much more are we making per month then?”

When Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong took out a pen and a paper to do his math, Gun-Ho said, “We are selling our raw materials to them for 4.8 million won per ton, so it would be 720 million won. So, we will be making 8.64 billion won more per year.”

“That… that sounds right, sir.”

“The number has to be accurate. There is no such thing like ‘it sounds right,’ but you have to be sure about the number.”

“Yes, sir.”

Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong was amazed by Gun-Ho’s ability to do a mental calculation. He recalled that Mr. Director Kim and Ms. Accounting Manager Myeong-Sook Jo told him once that he had to be careful when talking about numbers with Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho smiled and said, “The last time when I talked with Mr. Director Kim about our sales revenue last month, we were selling 600 tons per month. It seems like now we are selling 750 tons, right?”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“I was told that Mr. Director Kim is now trying to procure A Electronics’ vendor companies. How did he get the list of their vendor companies?”

“I gave him the list. A Electronics’ assistant manager in the quality control department is a friend of mine from college.”

“Oh, really?”

“I didn’t get the full list of their vendor companies, but the list has a few large vendor companies.”

“Oh, I see. You did a very good job, Mr. Assistant Manager Seong.”

Assistant Manager Seong seemed to be excited when he was praised by Gun-Ho for the work. He said with excitement, “The list that I gave to Mr. Director Kim includes all of those companies’ addresses and the person’s name who is in charge.”

“Really? Why didn’t you go with Director Kim?”