Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

When Gun-Ho arrived at his home in TowerPalace Condo Complex in Dogok Town with the carp fish, Chan-Ho Eom asked him, “I can drop it to your home, sir.”

“Nah. I will do it. Stay here and wait for me. It will be quick.”

“Yes, sir.”

When Gun-Ho opened the door, Artist Choi was surprised to see Gun-Ho since it was the middle of the day.

“Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at work at this hour?”

“I brought a carp fish. I thought you want to start cooking while it’s still fresh.”

Artist Choi brought a large bowl, and Gun-Ho poured the carp fish into the bowl from the rice bag. The carp fish stayed quiet on the way home in the car, but once it was out of the bag, it started moving again.

“Oh, my. It’s still alive. I’m scared!”

Young-Eun screamed and went into the bedroom trying to stay away from the large and lively carp fish. Artist Choi took the carp fish to the sink in the kitchen and thanked Gun-Ho.

“Thank you. It looks good and large enough.”

Gun-Ho went back to work after dropping off the carp fish at home. He then called for Manager Hong.

“When do we expect to receive the external audit report?”

“We will have it next month, sir. We only have a few days left for the month, so we will have it soon.”

“Please send an official letter to each GH company, specifically to their accounting department.”

“Yes, sir. What am I supposed to tell them?”

“Tell them to send us their external audit report as soon as they receive it, to GH Development by express mail.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Once you receive the external audit report from each GH company, place them in the bookshelf behind my desk, so I can easily access them at any time.”

“Yes, sir. I will do that.”

Gun-Ho received a call from Jae-Sik Moon.

“We will have one more express bus.”

“Which route is that for?”

“It’s for Zunyi City. The city is about 250 kilometers away from here—Antang City.”

“Only one?”

“Yeah, they allowed us to have one for now.”

“Are we having eight buses in total now?”

“Yes, eight buses.”

“Can you pay the 100 workers on time by running eight express buses?”

“I wouldn’t be able to if the business was in Korea, but surprisingly, we made enough money to pay those 100 terminal workers here. In celebration of having one more bus to our business, I’m going to distribute new uniforms to the workers. The uniform would be for spring and fall. They worked so hard during China’s Spring Festival period. The new uniforms will be a nice gift for them.”

“That’s good.”

“We finally resolved all the complaints filed by the local residents and finished filling in the wetland as well. I think they will start the terminal construction next month.”

“Hmm, really?”

“I’m positive because I’ve noticed that they placed more flags on the construction site marking the area, and the people who are related to the construction come and visit the site more often lately.”

“The weather is getting warm. I guess it’s a good time to start the construction work.”

“I wanted to ask you about this. How’s your baby? Isn’t he crying a lot?”

“He is, especially at night. Sometimes, I can’t sleep because of him. There were some rashes that appeared on his face yesterday, and Young-Eun fanned him manually to cool his body temperature down.”

“Haha. You sound like you’re doing well.”

“Your baby must have grown a lot by now, isn’t she?”

“She smiles and mumbles a lot. I want to squeeze her whenever she does that. It’s so cute.”

“Is she 100 days old?”

“I will have to wait ten more days to celebrate her 100th day. I’m going to visit my parents in Korea briefly once she turns 100 days old. My parents and parents-in-law desperately want to see her.”

“Of course. They haven’t met their grandchild yet, right?”

“Right. I sent them a bunch of pictures of her, but that doesn’t seem to be enough.”

“That’s right. They will be so excited to see your child, especially because it’s their first time to meet her.”

“I think so.”

“Isn’t it hard for your wife to take care of the baby by herself?”

“She is not doing it alone. We have a helper at home now. She is a middle-aged lady. She is Korean Chinese. She doesn’t stay with us, but she commutes from her home. We pay her 150,000 won per month, which we could well afford to.”

“That’s very nice. 150,000 per month is nothing. It sounds almost free for the work.”

“My wife is getting along with that helper lady. They often go out together like good friends.”

“Haha, is that so?”

“My child’s name is Soon-Young, Moon. My father was the one who named her, and my wife liked it too. You haven’t given a name to your baby yet, have you?”

“Hmm, I will.”

When thinking about naming his child, Gun-Ho instantly thought of Master Park in Goesan Town. Master Park would make a great name for his child.

Gun-Ho asked Jae-Sik Moon, “Your wife’s Chinese must have improved even more by now.”

“Soon-Young’s mom? Yeah, she is good. She knows all sorts of words related to house chores, and I know none of them in Chinese.”

“Well, give me a call when the terminal construction begins.”

“Okay, I will. Stay healthy.”

Gun-Ho came home after work. Rice porridge with carp fish was waiting for him for his dinner that evening.

“You should have some too. It’s good for you as well,” Artist Choi placed a bowl of carp porridge in front of Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun started eating the porridge. When Young-Eun finished half of her bowl of the porridge, she pushed it away from her side. Her aunt looked at Young-Eun with questioning looks on her face.

Young-Eun said, “It smells like fish. I can’t have it any more.”

“Finish it, Young-Eun! You should eat it for your baby. You need to produce quality breast milk. You told me yourself before that a newborn should have their mother’s breastmilk.”

“I have half of the bowl. It’s enough for today. I still remember this carp when it was still alive.”

“Just finish it.”

“No.”

“What am I going to do with all that porridge over there? Gun-Ho, why don’t you have more? People say that a new mom and dad have to have carp porridge together.”

Gun-Ho didn’t like the taste and smell of the carp porridge either. Since it was porridge, the texture was mushy giving no fun to chew. He was trying to finish his bowl just because he was feeling the pressure to finish it.

That night, on the bed, Gun-Ho said to Young-Eun, “I talked with my friend—Jae-Sik Moon—in China today. His child will soon turn 100 days old after ten days.”

“Yeah, it’s about right.”

“According to him, we are having a hard time with our baby because a baby is crying a lot at his age. Once he hits 100 days, he will start smiling and mumbling, and it will make him look even more adorable.”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“They hired a helper.”

“Really? That will make his wife’s life a lot easier. It must cost them a lot though.”

“They are paying their helper lady 150,000 won per month.”

“What? Is it that cheap? It’s very affordable to have a helper in China. They can have several helpers.”

“Let’s have a helper for ourselves too. We can’t keep your aunt here forever. She has her life too, you know?”

“Aunt told me that she wants to stop by her home in Yangpyeong District this Saturday. It has been a while since she left her home, and she has things that she needs to take care of there.”

“Let’s find a helper as soon as possible. She can stay with us, or she can commute. It’s up to you, Young-Eun.”

“We will have to pay her at least 2 million won per month.”

“Don’t worry about money. Oh, didn’t I send you the living expenses yet? I will send the living expenses to your bank account, so don’t worry about the pay.”

“Well, then, I will find one who can commute.”