Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho asked Jae-Sik Moon, “When you go on a trip to visit Guilin Daewoo Bus, are you taking your interpreter—Ms. Eun-Hwa Jo—with you?”

“I initially requested them that I would need her for the trip, but they said that it wouldn’t be necessary because Guilin Daewoo Bus has their interpreter who is a Korean Chinese, and also, they have several Korean people working there. So, they said that I don’t have to worry about communicating with them.”

“That’s nice. Well, have a safe trip.”

“Oh, and I told them that I picked a place where I want to live. When I told them that it is a condo in Huaxi Huayuan, the Chinese partners didn’t look very happy.”

“How come? Is that because it’s an expensive condo?”

“That’s all I can think of. But, they said they would accept my choice since the condo is less than 120 ㎡.”

“Hahaha. That’s good then.”

Gun-Ho made a call to his sister.

“Sister, it’s me. You still have the bank book with the sales proceeds from GH Logistics’ previous location, right?”

“Yeah. Is it time to transfer money to China?”

“I need you to send 3 million dollars to the same account in China that we previously sent 450,000 dollars to. It’s the account for Antang City’s transportation company.”

“Wow, 3 million dollars? That’s huge.”

“Don’t forget to keep the remittance receipt, and make sure that you file a report with the foreign exchange authority about the transfer. You have done this before. You still remember how to do this, right?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it. I will give you a call right after I make the remittance.”

“Sounds good. How’s business going there?”

“Two of our freight trucks are working for GH Mobile currently, and they gave us more work, and it would take an additional truck.”

“So, you will run a total of three freight trucks for GH Mobile’s work, huh?”

“Yeah. When we started taking over some of their transportation work, their logistics team didn’t seem to like it. But, since the routes that we are using are different from theirs, we just don’t have a chance to run into each other anyway.”

“I see.”

“My husband went to see GH Mobile’s general affairs assistant manager. He is probably talking with him right now. He will sign the work contract for the additional truck and adjust the labor cost. He said that he certainly feels less tired ever since he started driving the K7.”

“Is that right?”

“You know that my husband has been in this transportation field for a long time, and he is highly knowledgeable about it. He has been requested to take a director position from some sort of freight association.”

“Haha, really?”

“And, I hired a worker for the office. I believe I mentioned her to you before. She is living in Siheung City. I used to work with her at the paper cup factory. She worked as a bookkeeper there. It’s really nice to have someone in the office all the time. Now, I share my workload with her.”

“You will probably have to hire more workers later on once the company becomes busier and larger.”

“I like the work setting as it is now. I don’t want a larger company or a smaller company, but the current size is perfect for me. My husband, on the other hand, seems to want to expand the business.”

“The business needs to grow, so you can change your Sonata to a new and better vehicle.”

“I don’t need a new car. I do like my Sonata. Well, the new K7 that my husband is driving is really good though. It’s very quiet, maybe because it’s a brand new car. It gives a smooth ride as well. We went out for a drive last week in that K7. We went to Yeonan Pier.”

“Jeong-Ah must have had fun.”

“Of course. Our parents joined us too in their Grandeur. So, Jeong-Ah was surrounded by her parents and grandparents, and she seemed to have a great time.”

“Haha. That’s nice.”

“Jeong-Ah wanted to see Jakyak Island, so we all went there too that day.”

“I used to go to Jakyak Island pretty often when I was in school. I collected oysters and swam there too.”

“Dad caught a crab there and gave it to Jeong-Ah for fun. It would have been a perfect day if that didn’t happen.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a small sacrifice of our private life, I would say, because we are running a transportation company. When we were having fun that day, we received a phone call from one of our truck drivers. He was working in Eumseong Town, and he had a car accident on Sunday while working.”

“Oh, gosh! Is he okay? Was it a big accident?”

“No, it was not serious. He just called to ask us the name of our insurance company. We told him that before, but he forgot the insurance information. We receive calls for work sometimes even during weekends. Nothing much we can do about it. It’s just what happens if you run a transportation company.”

“Haha. I haven’t thought about it, but I see.”

“My husband is doing very well these days. He is carrying his business card that says that he is the president of a transportation company, and he is driving a new K7. His old colleagues—truck drivers—often visit him at the office, and they are very nice to him. Also, his belly is getting bigger.”

“Haha, I see. Well, I’d better go now. Call me once you make the fund transfer, okay?”

“Okay.”

After getting off the phone with his sister, Gun-Ho was reading a newspaper in his office when President Shin from downstairs visited Gun-Ho.

“Ms. President Shin, you look nice today. Am I going to hear good news?”

“I just signed the contract to publish an essay book with a writer. I’ve already received her manuscript.”

“Is it good?”

“Well, you might not like it, I mean, you might think that you wouldn’t see anything to learn from reading that book. But, this kind of book is selling very well these days. The reading population is young readers like Ms. Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh who just brought us this cup of tea.”

“Hmm.”

Gun-Ho thought that it kind of made sense.

“I came to see you to let you know about the essay book, and also about the exhibition at our art gallery.”

“What about it? I believe that we are hosting an art exhibition with the artworks of six young artists.”

“Right. Once that art exhibition ends, I’m planning to host another art exhibition with three Japanese contemporary artists.”

“Japanese artists?”

“Yes, sir. These three artists, who I’ve been contacting, are young artists. They received a lot of attention during the recent exhibition in Tokyo. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda introduced them to me.”

President Shin pulled out a pamphlet that was written in Japanese, and she unfolded it on the table so Gun-Ho could see the photos of art pieces. Most of them were paintings with intensely vibrant colors. They were those three Japanese young artists’ paintings.

President Shin added some explanation, “Japan’s contemporary arts have a wider spectrum than we expect.”

“I don’t know even after I looked at all of these photos of paintings.”

“One of the five Japanese national newspapers—Yomiuri Shimbun—once described these paintings as artworks that had distinctive characteristics in which we can take a peek of Japanese young people’s worry and their thought process. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda is now working on the press release about our next art exhibition with these three young artists’ paintings.”

“Did we already sign the contract with them?”

“Of course, sir. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda went to Japan and made a contract with the three artists. Since Yomiuri Shimbun made an issue of these young artists’ art exhibition earlier, our three major newspapers—Chosun, Joongang, and Donga Ilbo—will surely talk about them as well.”

“Hmm, you think so?”

Gun-Ho closely looked at the art pamphlet once again, which was written in Japanese and that President Shin brought for him.