Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

It was almost mid-September.

Gun-Ho was getting back to his routine after coming back from his recent trip to China to meet Seukang Li. Huanle Shiji Production Company hadn’t sent their financial statements to Gun-Ho yet. Gun-Ho was still waiting for it, but there was no reason that he would lose his patience on it. Gun-Ho’s focus stayed on his two major companies—GH Mobile and Dyeon Korea. But, it was different for Director Woon-Hak Sim. He was running out of patience.

“Umm, is it Mr. President Goo?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Sir, this is Director Woon-Hak Sim. I was wondering if you have heard from Huanle Shiji Production Company in China.”

“No, I haven’t heard anything from them yet.”

“Given their current situation, I thought that they wanted to find their investor as soon as possible. It’s weird that they haven’t contacted you yet. You are their chance to revive their business.”

“Let’s see how things turn out. It doesn’t really matter to me whether I would get into the drama production industry or not.”

“Yes, sir. I will just wait and see what they have to say.”

For Director Woon-Hak Sim, who was suffering from his creditors’ harassment, Gun-Ho’s involvement with that production company in China was critical since it was seemingly the only hope for him.

Gun-Ho received a call from Jae-Sik Moon in Antang City, China.

“We picked up three express buses, and the bus drivers already finished their trial, driving the bus routes. We will have our business opening ceremony this Friday.

“Really? That’s nice.”

“In the meantime, we advertised the upcoming new bus service in the local newspaper twice, and we also placed advertising banners here and there. On the side of our buses, we wrote our joint venture’s name—’Antang GH Transportation.’ I’ve been asked a lot what GH stands for.”

“Haha, really?”

“The Chinese partners set a new waiting area that would be used by our bus passengers only at the corner of the current waiting room at the terminal. It’s neat and luxurious. They even placed a big screen TV there too.”

“I see. By the way, why does the opening ceremony have to be on Friday, not Monday?”

“We are expecting to have more passengers on Saturday and Sunday, so if we open the business on Friday, we can start serving customers the next day—Saturday.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“We are still waiting for the approval from the municipal government, on the bus fares. We can’t just determine our bus fare price, but we need their approval. The municipal government needs to do its negotiation with Guiyang City on it before approving the price. Then, we can finally print out our bus tickets.”

“Hmm, is that so? What do they do during the opening ceremony in China? Will they also place a pig head on a table and make a deep bow to it, just like we did when we opened GH Logistics?”

“Haha, no, man. They will have a tape cutting ceremony. Executive officers from the transportation department and the transportation company’s president will be there. Once they cut the tape, they will wish luck and safety to the bus driver, who will be driving our very first bus. I was told that they even invited journalists as well.”

“It’s good to have journalists at the opening ceremony. Even if they write only one sentence about our business, it will have a good marketing effect.”

“There are old buses connecting Antang City and Guiyang City right now. Once our new express buses start covering the same routes, the existing bus businesses will have a hard time continuing their services.”

“I guess small bus businesses will be suffering just like the ones in Korea.”

“In order to survive, they will have to either take a loan to buy new luxurious buses, or they will have to give up the bus route connecting to a big city like Guiyang City, but only drives locally.”

“I see. Once a large company gets into the industry, it will create new jobs, but small businesses will go broke.”

“By the way, I’ve been fighting against the Chinese partners these days.”

“For what?”

“They want to rehire 100 workers from their business, and I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“100 workers?”

“Yes, you know like workers at the ticket booths, ticket inspectors, workers at the cargo department, etc. If we hire 100 workers, we will have to spend a lot of money on a regular basis to pay for them. I currently keep on insisting that we have to lower the number by 30%.”

“I see.”

“Guess what they said. They said that we have to hire 100 workers per bus. The reason that they give us an operating right of bus service is because we will benefit the local community by hiring people.”

“Hmm, really?”

“They advised me that I shouldn’t run a business in China as if I do in Korea. Korean government tends to support one or a few specific bus companies or airlines while neglecting other businesses in the same industry. But, China is different. Because the Chinese government needs to feed their people as many as possible, they want to expand employment in any way they could, according to them.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“They initially gave me the number 120. When I jumped out of my chair in astonishment, they lowered it to 100. I’m still keeping my position by lowering the number by 30%.”

“If they can’t reduce the number of workers, ask them to give us more bus lines.”

“I’m requesting that too. We just received one more bus line to Yibin City.”

“You are doing great work.”

“Well, I actually prefer to work here rather than GH Logistics. At least I don’t have to do sales work.”

“Haha, that’s right.”

“Oh, you know what? We made a contract for the condo in Huaxi Huayuan.”

“Really? How much was it?”

“The condo complex doesn’t have 100 ㎡large condo available, so we had to take 120 ㎡ (about 36 pyung large) one. The rooms in the condo are relatively spacious. I thought it would cost at least 10,000 Yuan per ㎡, but it turned out that it was 7,000 Yuan per ㎡. There is nothing inside though.”

“So, it’s 840,000 Yuan in total.”

“Right. There is literally nothing in there. They said that it would cost around 150,000 Yuan to finish the interior.”

“It is normal to have nothing inside when you buy a brand new condo in China. The first owner is supposed to install everything like windows, bedroom doors, lightings, wallpapers, and all.”

“I went there with the office manager lady, and she took care of the purchase contract. She will also take care of the interior. Since the condo is owned by the company, it seems proper that someone from the company takes care of it.”

“That’s good. It’s better that way since we are foreigners there; we could easily get ripped off.”

“So, we can say that we bought the condo for 1 million Yuan including the cost for the interior. If I assume that 1 Yuan is 164 Korean won, this condo’s price would be 164 million won. It is an expensive condo considering its location in a small provincial city. I was told that the local people would consider that you are a very rich person if you live in a house that costs 1 million Yuan, in this city.”

“Is that right?”

“The office manager lady told me that. She also said that people like her wouldn’t even dream to live in a condo that expensive, in this life.”

“Really? How long do you think it will take to finish the interior?”

“It will be done within this week.”

“It’s going to be a busy week for you then. The opening ceremony will be held this Friday, and you will move to the new place too. You seem to be settling well.”

“Now, I am riding an Audi, and I have my own chauffeur as well. I will be living in the luxurious condo in Huaxi Huayuan while working as the president of an intercity bus service company. Hahaha. I used to live in a basement. I guess Mr. Basement’s life turned out very nice, huh?”

“Haha, that’s right. Oh, I have a favor to ask you. This is a personal one.”