Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho and Mr. Adam Castler had several pieces of rice cakes and fruits with a glass of soju before leaving the funeral.

Mr. Castler said with a smile, “Visiting a Korean funeral is doable. It was not difficult at all.”

“Really? Dyeon Korea has a lot of employees now. You will encounter an occasion like this from time to time in the future. You can do the same thing then as you did today.”

“Thank you, sir,” Mr. Adam Castler said in Korean.

“You are learning the Korean language, huh? I guess you can live in Korea forever and start your family here.”

“Haha, Thank you, sir.”

Gun-Ho said as he extended his hand to Mr. Adam Castler for a bye-bye handshake, “I guess I’m leaving for today. I’m heading home to Seoul now.”

“I will make a report to the head office about the 600,000 shares that we will offer to the public as we register with KOSDAQ.”

“Sounds good.”

“I have one question for you before you go, sir. Once we issue the 600,000 additional shares, the price per share will be determined then?”

“That’s correct. We are going to give a presentation to institutional investors about our business and plan. We are currently preparing for the presentation. You are aware of it, aren’t you?”

“Do I have to attend the presentation?”

“You don’t have to, but it’s preferable that you would be there. I actually want you to be there, so it’s clear for the investors that Dyeon Korea is a joint venture company with an American company.”

“No problem, sir.”

It was Tuesday. Gun-Ho went to work in GH Building, Sinsa Town. Gun-Ho turned on his computer and checked his email. There was a new email from President Baogang Chen of Huanle Shiji Production Company in China.

“I almost deleted his email. I thought it was a spam email. Let me see what he wants from me this time.”

Gun-Ho clicked on his name to open the email.

[The TV drama— Shiguang Ru Meng— ended last month. The revenue coming from the broadcasting station for the drama is paid one month after the drama is aired, so I’m giving you the report to you now.]

The email contained a document showing the revenue made through the TV drama production, including the revenue from the broadcasting station, VOD, and other media distribution systems such as Internet TV. Since they were still working on selling it in the international market, the potential revenue wasn’t included yet.

[Mr. President Goo, you have invested 1 billion won in our TV drama production. Your investment fund had been treated as an advanced payment from GH Media, rather than being added to increase our company’s capital in sharing the company’s ownership interest. As a result, you will be receiving 1.5 Korean won as we share the profit from this TV drama. And, this amount is being reinvested to our subsequent movie production, and it is recorded as our company’s short-term loan from you. Once the movie— Menghuan Yinghua— is completed, I will get back to you with the amount of profits that you will be receiving.

Please note that we’ve already discussed and agreed about the portion of your profit from our previous TV drama production being used for our subsequent movie production.]

“Ha! So, I’m not getting anything in my hand for the investment money that I put for their drama production even though the drama ended already. Well, since he said he would get back to me again about my profit combined with TV drama production and movie production, I believe he intends to share the profit. He’s not going to try to erase my first investment fund for the TV drama.”

Gun-Ho replied to President Baogang Chen’s email with a brief sentence saying he acknowledged what he said.

Gun-Ho went up to GH Building’s rooftop to get some fresh air for the first time in a long time. The book café seemed to be still doing okay, and young workers from the companies that were occupying offices in the building were seen there smoking as usual. When Gun-Ho was enjoying the view of Sinsa Town and Apgujeong Town from the rooftop, he received a call from China. It was Director Woon-Hak Sim.

“The movie production of Menghuan Yinghua is doing good, sir. I believe we will finish shooting early next month.”

“Is Mori Aikko doing okay? Did her acting improve?”

“It was a bit awkward in the beginning, but she is doing fine now.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Mori Aikko’s dancing scenes are so good though. One of the scenes depicts a geisha dancing in front of Japanese high-ranking military officials during the Second Sino-Japanese War. When we shot that scene, everyone couldn’t even breathe watching Mori Aikko dancing.”

“Hmm, really? Please make sure again that she stays there safely.”

“Don’t worry about it, sir. Huanle Shiji Production Company hired a female bodyguard for her already. She is excellent at martial arts.”

“Hmm, is that right?”

“And, I wanted to thank you, sir.”

“For what?”

“I received my monthly wage of 1.5 million won. Thank you for the raise.”

“Oh, that.”

“As soon as I verified that my monthly wage came into my bank account, I made the payment of 850,000 won to the court first.”

“That’s good.”

“Aren’t you visiting Shanghai anytime soon, sir?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Mori Aikko sometimes asks me when you are coming to Shanghai, sir.”

“Hmm, I see. I will try to make the time for the trip.”

After talking on the phone with Director Woon-Hak Sim at the rooftop, Gun-Ho came down back to his office. As soon as he entered his office, his phone started ringing again. It was from Mr. Adam Castler.

“Oh, Mr. Vice President Adam Castler.”

“I will let Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae talk to you, sir.”

Assistant Manager Chae said, “Lymondell Dyeon agreed to increase the company shares by 30% to offer them to the public, as you suggested, sir.”

“Hmm, really? Okay. Please tell Mr. Adam Castler that I said okay.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho made a call to Dyeon Korea’s internal auditor.

“It’s Gun-Ho Goo.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You have the company’s registered stamp with you, don’t you?”

“Yes, I have it right with me.”

“Please fill out the report form on the marketable securities to file with the Financial Supervisory Service. Lymondell Dyeon agreed to the amount that we talked about yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s good, sir.”

“You don’t have to attach this year’s semiannual financial statements to the submitting documents, but take the last year’s financial statements.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The total amount of our initial public offering shares is 6 billion won.”

“Yes, sir. I’m aware of it.”

“Put your name where you put the name of the person who is in charge of the form submission, Mr. Internal Auditor.”

“Oh, my name, sir? Oh, okay.”

“Have we completed the documents for the IR presentation?”

“Yes, sir. We are ready to give the IR presentation for institutional investors. Accounting Manager Myeong-Sook Jo and Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong did a great job.”

“Please praise them for their effort and work, and buy them dinner or something.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, make sure that Ms. Accounting Manager Myeong-Sook Jo and Mr. Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong attend the presentation. Also, have Mr. Vice President Adam Castler be there too.”

“Yes, sir, I will do that. I have one thing that I want to make sure with you, sir. When we offer our shares to the public for the first time, we don’t offer any shares that we already have, do we?”

“It’s a joint venture company. I don’t think either partner wants to sell their shares at this moment. If I don’t sell my portion, Lymodell Dyeon won’t sell theirs either.”

“Understood, sir. Then, we will offer only 600,000 new shares to the public for now. What if they request to split the share into two, so the price per share is 5,000 won instead of 10,000 won?”

“Well, they might ask for it given the available stocks to trade in the market. But, we will firmly proceed as we planned for now.”

“Understood, sir.”