Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, accompanied by the sales director.

The interpreter whom the sales director asked for was waiting for Gun-Ho’s party at the airport. He seemed to be in his late 20s and he was wearing thick glasses and shabby clothes, and his hair was disheveled.

“This is actually my nephew. He is an international student here in Japan. He is currently taking some time off from school and working part-time.”

“Oh, really?”

Gun-Ho extended his hand to the sales director’s nephew for a handshake.

Gun-Ho now looked like the president of a company. Anyone who saw Gun-Ho these days would guess that he would be a rich businessman. He had a nice skin tone that had been well maintained by a skincare shop. He was always wearing expensive high-end clothes. There was no one who would ignore or disrespect him as he had been treated in the past when he was a factory worker.

The interpreter respectfully gave Gun-Ho a 90-degree bow.

When they were greeting each other, Gun-Ho heard a familiar voice.

“Ohisasi Burideseu! (Long time no see)”

Gun-Ho turned his head around and saw the chauffeur from Lymondell Dyeon.

“Oh, hi. How are you?”

Gun-Ho extended his hand to the chauffeur, and the chauffeur bowed to Gun-Ho very politely in a Japanese style.

Gun-Ho introduced the chauffeur to the sales director.

“Director Kim, this is the chauffeur sent by President Amiel from Lymondell Dyeon. He sent him and a car to pick us up.”

“What? Lymondell Dyeon sent a car to the airport for us?”

The sales director was astonished because the last time when he had come to Japan with the previous president—Se-Young Oh of Mulpasaneop to meet the president of Lymondell Dyeon’s Japan branch (“Dyeon Japan”), they simply ignored them. He couldn’t believe that the same Dyeon Japan’s president sent a car to Gun-Ho at the airport to pick him up.

“Let’s go to Nihonbashi first.”

Gun-Ho asked the chauffeur from Dyeon Japan to go to Nihonbashi before going to the hotel, where Amiel’s office was located. Dyeon Japan’s office was situated in Nihonbashi while its factory was in Yokohama.

When Gun-Ho entered Amiel’s office, Amiel was looking at some kind of product drawing. Amiel, who was overweight, was wearing overall pants.

“Mr. Amiel!”

“Oh, Gun-Ho Goo!”

Gun-Ho and Amiel greeted each other by hugging.

The sales director was looking at these two men in amazement.

Once Gun-Ho’s party sat at a table, a Japanese lady secretary—who looked neat—brought tea to them.

“Let’s have some tea. How have you been?”

“I have been doing good. Attorney Young-Jin Park said hello to you, Amiel.”

“I wish he was here with you.”

“Me too.”

“So you are here to play golf, President Goo? Or you came here to go to that bar again in Shinjuku City?”

“No, Amiel. I am here for business.”

“Business?”

“I acquired an auto parts manufacturing company recently.”

“A factory?”

“Yeah. It’s a plastic and rubber factory. The parts we manufacture are usually used for a chassis and engine.”

“Really? Where is the factory located at?”

“It’s in Asan City, Chungnam in Korea. We currently have 250 employees.”

“250? It’s a large company then. Is the company well established and old?”

“Yes, the company has been in the business for a long time. They were suffering from a financial crisis when I acquired it.”

“Oh, I see. Running a factory shouldn’t be an easy job. Well, you used to be a mechanic, right? I guess you should be fine then. You will succeed.”

“Oh, this is the sales director of our company, and this is our interpreter. Since you, Amiel speak Japanese fluently, I came with the interpreter who can speak Japanese.”

“I see.”

Amiel offered his hand to Director Kim and the interpreter for a handshake.

After the handshake, Gun-Ho and Amiel drank their tea without saying a word for a moment.

Gun-Ho talked to the sales director while wiping the tea off his mouth with a napkin.

“Director Kim, please take out the product drawing that we received from S Company. The one with their new product—AM083.”

The sales director took out the product drawing.

“This is a product drawing from one of the biggest companies in Korea—S Company—sent to us. They want us to make this product for them, and it requires raw materials made by Lymondell Dyeon.”

“Hmm.”

“Not just raw materials. We need you to mix some ingredients and make a customized compound for us. We have a specific color, durability, and hardness that we need.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s a special urethane-related product that we need, so it has to be a Dyeon product. Can you make the compound for us here? I want to make a sample. We already have the necessary mould for it.”

“Hmm. I think I remember this product drawing. A Korean company came and showed me this drawing before. I believe it was Egnopak.”

“Oh, really?”

“There is a problem though.”

“What is it?”

“In order to make this for you, we need to stop producing one of our products temporarily. As you know, President Goo, our factory in Yokohama is situated inside a city, so we can’t increase the factory’s capacity to produce more products. We can’t expand the factory because it is located in a residential area.”

“Hmm.”

Gun-Ho nodded his head. What Amiel said made sense to him.

“How is it going with your joint venture plan with Egnopak? If Egnopak will produce your products, maybe I can ask them to produce ours.”

“It’s not going anywhere. Egnopak demands too much, and that is stalling our joint venture plan.”

“You can find another company then.”

“You don’t understand, President Goo. It’s not that simple. We have certain requirements for selecting our co-venturer. We consider the potential co-venturer’s amount of capital, sales networks, and so on. We even take into account the company’s president’s strong will to participate in the joint venture and aptitude for it as well. Egnopak satisfied all of our requirements, but its president is just too greedy.”

“Hmm.”

Gun-Ho seemed to make up his mind and dragged his chair towards Amiel and said,

“What about me? I can participate in a joint venture.”

“You? President Goo? Hahaha. It’s not that simple.”

“I have money too.”

“It would take a substantial amount of money to start a joint venture with us. You will have to purchase extruder machines from the U.S. or Germany as well. You also need a large yard at your factory to allow a 40-foot container to rotate there.”

“If I have to, I will make it happen.”

“You recently purchased a company in Asan City; you must have exhausted your funds by doing so.”

“I’ve made things happen, that many people said it would be impossible, in my life. Let’s do it.”

“I like the fact that you are highly driven.”

At that moment, the interpreter excused himself to go to the bathroom, and the conversation between Gun-Ho and Amiel had to stop temporarily.

After quite a while, the interpreter came back to the office.

The sales director scolded his nephew—the interpreter—for causing an important business conversation stalled.

“Do you really have to go to the bathroom now that our president is having an important discussion with President Amiel?”

“I’m so sorry, but I had to go; believe me.”

Gun-Ho smiled and defended the interpreter.

“He couldn’t help it. We can’t ask him to hold it in, Director Kim. Okay, let’s continue.”

“Yes, sir.”

The interpreter placed his note and a pen in front of him to get ready for the interpretation.

Gun-Ho started talking.

“President Amiel, why don’t you come and visit our company in Asan City?”

“Your factory in Asan City?”

“Yes. You have to see it yourself before you determine whether our company is qualified to be Dyeon’s co-venturer or not, right?”

“Hmm.”

The sales director added,

“I’ve once come here with the president of Mulpasaneop to meet with you, President Amiel.”

“Mulpasaneop?”

“Yes, the company that President Gun-Ho Goo acquired is Mulpasaneop.”

“Oh, really?”

Gun-Ho gave a little push to Amiel again.

“Come visit us. You have to see it before you decide. I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything; just come and visit me at my company. We can have another good time at the bar in Hannam Town and enjoy the melody of Gayageum once again.”