Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho and Attorney Young-Jin Kim followed Ms. Angelina Rein to a small meeting room. Gun-Ho sat at the table facing the vice president—Mr. Brandon Burke while Attorney Kim was sitting at the opposite side of Ms. Angelina Rein facing her.

Mr. Brandon Burke talked first while looking at Gun-Ho.

“We came this far Mr. Gun-Ho Goo. We are so pleased to have a good business partner.”

“I am very delighted as well to have a chance to work with a global company like Lymondell Dyeon.”

“We have constantly talked about the terms of the joint venture, so I guess we have only a few things left to discuss. We already prepared the necessary paperwork here. Here is the gist of its content for you to read.”

The vice president— Mr. Brandon Burke showed the contract along with a summary of the contract content to Gun-Ho.

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1. The joint venture’s authorized capital will be 20 million dollars and the paid-in capital will be 10 million dollars. Investment in kind is allowed.

2. The initial investment fund is 1 million dollars. Once the contract is signed by both parties, each party will contribute 50,000 dollars in cash within a week from the date of the contract.

3. The duration of the joint venture is 20 years. If both parties agree, a patent license agreement can be made after the duration of the joint venture expires, by a written agreement.

4. A director’s term is 2 years. The president of the joint venture can be appointed by either party.

5. Material matters must be determined by the board of directors.

Gun-Ho requested to name the joint venture as GH Chemical so they could effectively appeal to the Asia markets such as China and Southeast Asia, but, Lymondell Dyeon didn’t accept it. They were adamant about naming the joint venture differently. Accordingly, they wanted to make an addendum to the contract stating that the joint venture’s name would be Dyeon Korea. It would also state that they could change the name of the company when they would make a patent license agreement.

Gun-Ho was also having second thoughts about the name of the joint venture.

‘Dyeon Korea is okay. Maybe it is better that way. Dyeon is a highly known name in the world, so maybe that would help our sales. Okay, Dyeon Korea, as it is.’

“So, do you agree to name the joint venture as Dyeon Korea?”

“I agree. However, I want to add a statement saying that during the joint venture period, Dyeon will not make another joint venture in the East Asia area.”

“What about this? We say, there will not be another joint venture in the East Asia area unless two parties agree to it, rather than saying it is impossible at all.”

Gun-Ho smiled and said,

“Sounds good.”

At that very moment, Attorney Young-Jin Kim who was sitting next to Gun-Ho kicked Gun-Ho’s shin under the table and said in Korean,

“Hey, Gun-Ho Goo. Are you sure is it what we want?”

“Don’t worry about it. If we determine later that an additional joint venture is necessary, Dyeon and GH Mobile can do it together.”

“Oh, I see… Well, you are indeed a businessman. A businessman has indeed had a different mindset from people like me. You are unbelievable.”

Gun-Ho continued to read the addendum, and then he said,

“According to the addendum, GH Mobile needs to select three workers and send them for one-month training within 10 days from the date of the contract.”

“Right. It is impossible for a worker to learn the know-how of our chemical compounds within a month. Therefore, after one month of training, Dyeon will send our engineers to the joint venture for a three-month period.”

“Okay.”

Mr. Brandon Burke nominated Ms. Angelina Rein and himself as the directors of the joint venture for the Dyeon side. Gun-Ho gave his name and GH Mobile’s sales director’s name as the directors representing the GH Mobile side. He hadn’t talked about this to the sales director though.

‘The joint venture is a start-up company. The technology and know-how about products are important; however, sales are very important as well. So, I think I’d better place our sales director in the joint venture.’

The signing ceremony was held while Dyeon’s foreign investment committee and other directors attended. Gun-Ho and Mr. Brandon Burke sat at a table where the national flag of South Korea and the star-spangled banner were placed on, and they signed on the contract. Attorney Young-Jin Kim was standing behind Gun-Ho and Mr. Brandon Burke, along with Ms. Angelina Rein and three directors from the factory. Attorney Young-Jin Kim asked the photographer to transfer the pictures that he just took of the signing ceremony to him. Attorney Kim then sent those pictures to his Kim & Jeong Law Firm before calling them.

“This is Attorney Young-Jin Kim from the U.S. Our client, GH Mobile just signed the contract with Lymondell Dyeon in Seattle for the joint venture. I just sent the pictures to the office. Please send them out to the press.”

Gun-Ho and Attorney Young-Jin Kim attended a dinner party that was hosted by Mr. Brandon Burke in that evening. Mr. Brandon Burke introduced a man to Gun-Ho; the man looked like he was in his late 30s and he had thick eyebrows.

“This is Adam Castler. He is the vice president of Dyeon’s joint venture in Mexico. Once Dyeon Korea is established, he will work there as the vice president.”

“Oh, really? Nice to meet you.”

Gun-Ho offered his hand to this Adam Castler person for a handshake. Attorney Young-Jin Kim also had a handshake with him. Gun-Ho now could speak English well for a simple conversation or greeting. He had been learning English from the morning English class in GH Mobile by the instructor who was also teaching at Hoseo University. Gun-Ho’s English was improving as time went on.

Gun-Ho and Mr. Castler exchanged their business cards.

After the big event of the signing ceremony, people from Dyeon and Gun-Ho’s party celebrated it at the dinner party, and everyone drank a lot that evening. Ms. Angelina Rein even sang a song after a few glasses of liquor. She had a beautiful soprano voice.

Gun-Ho and Attorney Young-Jin Kim came back to the hotel on foot. The place where a dinner party was held was not far from their hotel, so they decided to walk, so they could get some fresh air on the way. They thought walking to the hotel would sober them up as well.

“How are you doing? Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah. It is nice walking in the evening.”

“Would you like to have a cup of tea before we go up to our rooms?”

“Sure. I want to hear your getting-beat-up story.”

Gun-Ho and Young-Jin went to a café inside the hotel and ordered a black tea.

After Gun-Ho told the entire story about him being beaten up by a gangster, Young-Jin nodded his head and said,

“Yeah. It seems like there has to be someone behind it. If we don’t find out who sent those people to you, another attack could ensue.”

“I agree with you. I told the police that I don’t want to press charges because I had other urgent things I had to take care of. But, once I go back to Korea, I want to request a reinvestigation.”

“Hmm.”

“I didn’t want to press charges at that time because I had to come to Seattle for the contract signing. I didn’t want to make unnecessary noises by filing a complaint, and also by being sued by those people. The police would have asked me to come to the police station all the time for their investigation. Moreover, the guy who got beat up by Manager Jong-Suk Park was injured more than me or Jong-Suk. Once we make it a big deal, it would have become more troublesome to us. Of course, we would be able to prove that they were the ones who attacked us first since there is CCTV in the hotel.”

“It’s surprising.”

“What is?”

“You. You are so calm and patient even in this situation.”

“Don’t be silly!”

“No, I’m serious. There are several clients in our law firm, who are really rich. Do you know what they have in common? It’s self-control just like you do. They don’t burst with anger. They even talk slowly.”

“Cut it out, man. Just focus on the incident that I just told you.”

“You don’t even need an attorney for this case. An attorney is required when there is a dispute, but in your case, there is nothing to dispute. It is an obvious criminal case. Congratulations. You will make a lot of money in exchange for a few stitches on your forehead. Well, you do have special luck in your life to make money.”

“I don’t care about being beaten up by small fish. I want to know who sent them to me.”

“So, you want to let them lower their guard thinking that it was a successful attack without being accused, and then you want to surprise them by attacking.”