Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

When Gun-Ho said that he would buy fire insurance from Seung-Hee sister for his new factory, her eyes glittered with excitement.

Gun-Ho asked her, “Don’t you need to visit the factory in order to produce a price quote?”

“Not necessarily. I just need the company’s registration document, the lease agreement of the factory, and several photos of the interior and exterior of the factory. If we need more documents, we can make a request to the appropriate government office that could issue them.”

“Hmm, really? Okay, then.”

At that moment, the wrinkles around Seung-Hee sister’s eyes came into his view. Gun-Ho felt sorry for her knowing the hard life that she had had. He wanted to help her if there was anything he could do for her.

“My new factory is not a large one. The fire insurance will cost around several million won only, and I know that most of that amount would go to the insurance company, not you. I’m sure that you—as their agent—wouldn’t make much money from this transaction.”

“What can I do about it? If I can make money, I’ll do the job. At my age, I can’t find a decent full-time office job with which I can make good money.”

“I will make a monthly payment of 300,000 won to you for this stock account that I’m borrowing from you.”

“300,000 won? You don’t have to do this.”

“It’s okay. Please accept it. That’s the least I can do for you who let me use the account. And, I don’t intend to use the account heavily. I probably make one or two transactions per year, and I will return it to you. I won’t do day trading on a daily basis at all.”

“Okay. I will text you later with my bank account number then. I have no problem letting you use my stock account for free, but since you insist and since I haven’t made as many insurance sales as I want these days, I will gladly and thankfully accept your offer. I need money anyway. Thank you.”

“Thank you. This way is better for both of us.”

After Seung-Hee sister left the office, Gun-Ho received a call from Jong-Suk Park. He sounded urgent.

“Bro, you were right!”

“I was right on what?”

“I went to the stock brokerage firm to ask them about the number shown in my stock account. They confirmed that I have 816 million won in my account, and I can withdraw them after two days!”

“Keep your voice down. My ear hurts.”

“I just can’t believe this is happening to me.”

“So, you don’t believe what I said, but you totally believe what the staff at the stock brokerage firm said, huh? Anyway, congratulations. You made a lot of money.”

“Bro, thank you.”

Jong-Suk’s throat seemed to be choked with emotion. He couldn’t say anything further.

“Jong-Suk! Are you there? Hello?”

“I’m still here.”

“You sometimes make a lot of money unexpectedly in life, and you also sometimes lose money unexpectedly. That’s life. Try not to lose the money that you made though.”

“Thank you, brother.”

“What’s wrong with you? You are a tough guy. It doesn’t suit you being choked with emotion. Once we make GH Machines go public in the future, you will even make a larger amount of money.”

“Do you really think we can make GH Machines go public someday? And its share price could strikingly go up just like Dyeon Korea’s?”

“Of course. We just need to diligently grow the company.”

“Okay, bro.”

“I’m going to work in Jiksan Town tomorrow. I will stop by your office in Baeseok Agricultural and Industrial Complex.”

“Sounds good. Here is the direction to the factory. Once you enter the complex, go straight until you see the business sign saying Dooyoung Tech. Go further inside the complex, then you will see a sign—Joyang Industry. That’s our factory. I haven’t changed the business sign yet.”

“Got it.”

“Bro, once I take out my money from my stock account, I will first pay off the loan of 160 million won that I took out from Kukmin Bank using my condo as collateral, and then I will send 100 million won to you for my 20% ownership interest of GH Machines.”

“Sounds good.”

In the afternoon, GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook Shin visited Gun-Ho’s office on the 18th floor.

“Since Dyeon Korea became a public company, your information appears on the internet if I search your name. Your photo is there too.”

“But, I haven’t provided anyone with my photo.”

“I can see your photo, your educational background, work experience, and etc. Your occupation indicates that you are a business person.”

“Really?”

Gun-Ho walked to his desk and entered his name in a search engine on the internet with his desktop computer. President Jeong-Soo Shin was right. His photo popped up. It said that he graduated from Zhejiang University majoring in accounting and that he was the president of Dyeon Korea and GH Mobile.

“See that?”

“Yes, you are right. I didn’t know I could search someone’s name and see their information. By the way, the photo here is an old one. I look younger in this photo.”

“You are still young. Haha.”

Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh brought tea to the office even though Gun-Ho didn’t ask her for it. President Shin was one of Yeon-Soo’s favorite persons. President Shin was highly knowledgeable of arts and culture in general, and she had a discerning eye on art pieces. And Yeon-Soo admired her for it. Yeon-Soo Oh actually preferred to spend time in GH Media downstairs where many of the workers were young ladies like her, rather than staying at her workplace—GH Development. Whenever she had spare time, she often went down to GH Media’s office on the 17th floor and stayed there. She was eventually reprimanded for it by Director Kang several times already.

GH Development had a different atmosphere from GH Media. Because of its nature of business—managing the building—they often had a visit from the cleaning crew, security officers, and sometimes the tenants who came to argue with Director Kang for their rent problems. Yeon-Soo didn’t like it.

When President Shin visited GH Development, Yeon-Soo Oh prepared green tea quickly and brought it to President Song in Gun-Ho’s office with a broad smile.

Noticing Yeon-Soo Oh being in a good mood, Gun-Ho said, “Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh, you look happy whenever you see President Shin here.”

President Shin said, “Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh and I are getting along very well. She speaks English very well, and she is pretty, and she is also very good at handling things. I get help from her very often too.”

“Really?”

Yeon-Soo Oh blushed in embarrassment when she heard President Shin speaking highly of her in her presence. She quickly left the office.

“Oh, umm, I actually came to ask you about this. Did you establish a new company called GH Machines, sir?”

“Yes, I did.”

“A man, who introduced himself as Mr. Jong-Suk Park, called our office requesting to design his company’s business sign and business card. He talked with our design team lead.”

“Please do as he requested.”

“What’s the nature of that company’s business? By its name, I can tell it has something to do with machines.”

“That’s right. That company is manufacturing large extruder machines using twin screws and also some machine tools.”

“What is a twin screw?”

“It’s just a part that goes into the extruder machine.”

“Oh, I see. So, the Jong-Suk Park person is the president of that company?”

“Yes, he is.”

“I think it’s about time that you take a chairman position, probably at the end of this year, and make a group with all GH companies. There are a lot of them now. The job title—President— doesn’t suit you any longer. I’m a president as well. Haha.”

“Well, I’m not sure. I am too young to take a chairman position…”

“That’s not true. You will soon turn 40 years old, right? You have now 6 GH companies—GH Mobile, Dyeon Korea, GH Machines, GH Development, GH Media, and GH Logistics. In addition, you have two additional companies in China in Suzhou City and Antang City in Guiyang Province. If we include those two companies in China, you have 8 companies already. I guess you should take the chairman position for all of these companies.”

“It’s true that there are 8 companies, but they are all small companies… I wish I had one large company rather than having 8 small companies. People say these days that you’d better own one good condo in Gangnam District rather than having several not so good condos.”

“In my eyes, GH Mobile and Dyeon Korea are large companies.”

“Haha, you think so?”