Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

It was Wednesday.

Chan-Ho Eom was waiting for Gun-Ho at Gun-Ho’s condo complex with his Bentley in the morning.

“Let’s go to Jiksan Town today,” Gun-Ho said.

“Huh? Today is Wednesday, sir. We are not going to the GH Building in Sinsa Town today?”

“I want to see the progress in GH Mobile’s second factory. I wonder if they already installed all the necessary machines there.”

“You are going to stop by Dyeon Korea in Asan City as well, right?”

“Of course, I will go to Dyeon Korea in Asan City too. Three of their executive officers are on a business trip to China and India. I’d better stay in Dyeon Korea in case they need my help.”

“Umm, sir.”

“Yeah?”

“Mrs. Goo asked me yesterday about how much she could ask for her SM5 on the used car market. She said she wanted to sell her SM5.”

“Sang-Min’s mom?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yeah, she’s going to sell her car.”

“I did some research on the used car market yesterday. An SM5 with her mileage is being traded for about 5 million won these days. I wonder if it’s okay for me to take the car.”

“You need a car?”

“Not for me, but Tae-Young bro is looking for a car now.”

“Tae-Young Im?”

“Yes, sir. Tae-Young bro has several little brothers who are working for him. One of them seems to be in need of a car.”

“Sure, take it.”

“Tae-Young bro was asking if he could take it for 4 million won, sir. I can tell him that the price is firm, and it is 5 million won.”

“It’s okay. Tell him that 4 million won is good.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“In return, he has to make sure that the car title is clearly transferred to whoever takes the car.”

“No problem, sir.”

Gun-Ho arrived at GH Mobile’s second factory.

The workers were installing hydraulic press machines. Director Jong-Suk Park was supervising the workers of the maintenance team.

“Bro, you are here.”

“The storage is completed, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s done. You want to see it?”

The storage was finished, and it was already in use. A lot of products from various vendor companies were piled up there, and a small forklift truck was busily moving around inside the storage. A storage manager was reviewing paperwork at a desk placed inside the storage.

“No one has access to this storage except the storage manager over there.”

“Hmm, is that right?”

Jong-Suk Park led Gun-Ho back to the area where the hydraulic press machines were being installed.

“It seems that they are in place already.”

“We need to connect them to the power and stuff.”

“When will they be ready to work?”

“They will be ready by tomorrow. We can skip the testing stage at this production site. The products that we are going to manufacture here are relatively simple and easy work.”

“Hmm, really?”

“Bro, I took out a loan from a bank as you told me to.”

“How much did you borrow?”

“It’s 150 million won.”

“Was it a simple process getting a loan?”

“Yeah. According to the staff in the bank, I have a level-2 credit rating.”

“I guess that’s because you have no debt at all.”

“Haha. Yeah, I admit that I haven’t been an exactly exemplary citizen since I have often been involved in a physical altercation. However, I haven’t borrowed any money from anyone until now. I actually didn’t have to since I’ve been working for a company by receiving a monthly salary. It’s not like I ran my own business or something.”

“Yeah, also, you were not interested in making money either.”

“I talked to President Song and let him know that I want to buy all of the forfeited shares.”

“How much were they?”

“I asked the general affairs director about it, and he told me that about 12% has been left out.”

“How much do you need to acquire the 12%?”

“He said I will need to bring 175 million won.”

“You are short of money to get all 12% then. You borrowed 150 million won from the bank, right?”

“I terminated my savings in the bank. So, I got it covered.”

“You did?”

“I will tie my money to Dyeon Korea’s shares for a year or so, and see what happens.”

“Did President Song said anything else?”

“When I told him that I wanted to acquire all of the forfeited shares, he smiled and said ‘you must have a lot of money.’ That man always says something that’s not necessary nor helpful.”

“Haha, I see.”

“So, I told him that I took out a loan from a bank.”

“You did?”

“He then said that the price of the company shares will certainly go up. And that’s about all that he said to me.”

“Hmm, I see. When you have time in the afternoon, stop by Dyeon Korea for a short period of time.”

“What for?”

“Just come.”

“Okay.”

Gun-Ho went to Dyeon Korea in the afternoon, and he took a walk around the production site. He visited the research center as well. Everything looked normal.

Gun-Ho was walking up to his office on the second floor when he saw the interpreter—Mr. Myeong-Joon Chae—and Secretary Seon-Hye Yee. They were talking in a low voice in the corner.

“What are you two doing there?” Gun-Ho asked.

Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae and Secretary Seo-Hye Yee were startled and quickly greeted Gun-Ho.

“Sir, you are here.”

“Mr. Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae, you must have some spare time since Mr. Vice President Adam Castler is not here because he is away for a trip to India.”

“Yes, a little bit, sir.”

“You are working with the trading team, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are things going well with our exporting volume to India and China?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It seems that you two look close to each other.”

Mr. Myeong-Joon Chae replied, “Huh? Not really, sir. I just came to see Ms. Seon-Hye Yee for A4 copy papers. Our office is out of papers now.”

Gun-Ho turned his gaze to Secretary Seon-Hye Yee. She was keeping her head low, but Gun-Ho could see her blushing.

Gun-Ho thought, ‘I wonder if these two are dating each other. Well, they look good together.’

When Gun-Ho sat at his desk in his office, Secretary Seon-Hye Yee brought a cup of jujube tea along with an economic newspaper.

When it was a little bit after 2 o’clock in the afternoon, Director Jong-Suk Park came to Dyeon Korea’s president’s office.

“Take a seat. Let’s have a cup of jujube tea together.”

Gun-Ho called for Secretary Seon-Hye Yee and asked her to bring one more cup of jujube tea for Jong-Suk.

“It has been a while since the last time you were here, right?”

“Right. I haven’t been here lately. I see some changes here already. I see you have now more workers here, and things look more systematic.”

“You think so?”

“But how come I don’t see any executive officers today?”

“Three of them went on a trip to China and India.”

“A business trip to China and India? For what?”

At the moment, Secretary Seon-Hye Yee brought a cup of jujube tea.

“This is a special tea that you can only have in Dyeon Korea. Enjoy it.”

Director Jong-Suk Park said as he took a sip of the tea, “What are they doing in India and China?”

“We are going to build a factory in those two countries. One will be in Chennai, India, and the other one will be in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, China. I want to have a factory the same size as the one here in those two new locations.”

“Is that right?”

“That’s why I sent Mr. Vice President Adam Castler and Director Yoon to India, and Director Kim is visiting China.”

“It must cost you a lot to do that, doesn’t it?”

“I’m expecting approximately 10 billion won for opening a factory in those two locations.”

“Did you say 10 billion won? Wow. It is indeed an enormous amount of money.”

“Since you are here, let’s take a walk to the production site.”

“Sounds good to me.”