Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The opening ceremony of the international book exhibition in Shanghai would be held at 10 o’clock in the morning.

Gun-Ho and President Jeong-Sook Shin walked out of Hilton Hotel and took a taxi heading to Nanjing Lu where the book exhibition would be held. The opening ceremony was to be held in the exhibition hall. When they arrived at their destination, Gun-Ho could see the banner on the platform saying ‘Shanghai International Book Exhibition’.

Gun-Ho wrote his name on the guestbook in Korean before entering the exhibition; he wrote it as ‘the owner of GH Media in Korea—Gun-Ho Goo’. When the female staff at the registration desk saw Gun-Ho’s name on the guestbook, they laughed while looking at each other. Everyone wrote their names in Chinese, so maybe Gun-Ho’s name in Korean seemed interesting and fun to look at.

The opening ceremony started with Shanghai City’s deputy mayor’s congratulatory message. After the deputy mayor delivered the message, people applauded. Seukang Li was sitting on a chair at the platform. Gun-Ho was sitting in an area where all other participants were found.

Gun-Ho and President Jeong-Sook Shin slowly walked around the exhibition; they were wearing a flower on their chest, which were given by the staff. The book exhibition was carrying all types of books from children’s story books to cryptic philosophy books.

“Gun-Ho Goo.”

Someone called Gun-Ho’s name and Gun-Ho turned around. It was Seukang Li.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you.”

Gun-Ho introduced Seukang Li to President Jeong-Sook Shin.

“This is the director of the Shanghai’s Bureau of cultural affairs, radio broadcasting, film, television, media, and arts.”

President Jeong-Sook Shin extended her hand to Seukang Li for a handshake with a smile.

“Oh, you must be President Jeong-Sook Shin from GH Media. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“How did you know her name?”

Gun-Ho asked,

“I just saw it on the guestbook.”

Seukang Li introduced other Chinese publishing companies’ business owners to President Jeong-Sook Shin. China had a very stringent policy in approving the publishing business license, so most of the publishing companies in China were large companies. That contrasted with Korea’s environment where there were many small publishing companies with only one or two employees. President Shin received tens of business cards from the Chinese business owners of publishing companies.

Seukang Li said to Gun-Ho in a low voice,

“Thank you, Gun-Ho. I told the publishing companies’ owners that GH Media is a very popular publishing company in Korea. That’s why they are pouring their business cards into President Shin. They want to make a connection with President Shin hoping that they can publish their book in the Korean market.”

“I see.”

“Guess what I told them.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I told that the owner of that famous GH Media publishing company is my best friend.”

“Haha. You didn’t lie to them.”

“Thank you so much, Gun-Ho. You and President Shin’s presence means a lot to me and to this book exhibition.”

“You’re very welcome, Seukang Li. You must be very busy. You don’t have to stay with us. I will look more around the exhibition with President Shin before we leave.”

As Gun-Ho looked at the books displayed at the exhibition, he asked President Shin.

“There are tons of books here. Are you sure there is not even a single book you want to publish in Korea?”

“Well, there are several history books that are intriguing to me.”

Gun-Ho then said,

“If you think we can sell even only their first edition, let’s make a contract. If necessary, I will invest more funds in GH Media to give support.”

“That won’t be necessary, sir. GH Media has enough funds to handle those contracts now. I will make a contract for three history books then.”

“When you do that, please tell them that Director Seukang Li of the Bureau of cultural affairs and media recommended those books to you and that that’s why you decided to publish them in Korea.”

“Haha. Understood, sir.”

President Jeong-Sook Shin made a contract right away with the corresponding publishing company’s staff, and she didn’t forget to tell them that Seukang Li recommended the books.

“I am signing the contract because Shanghai City’s Director Seukang Li strongly recommended it. I didn’t even read the books yet.”

“Oh, Shi Ma (Is it)?”

President Shin gave them a small amount of deposit as she signed the book contract and promised them to wire-transfer the remaining balance once she returned to Korea. Since President Shin couldn’t speak Chinese, Gun-Ho interpreted for her during the contract signing. President Shin smiled and said,

“Hahaha. I feel like I am the owner of the business, and you are my employee since you are interpreting for me during my contract signing.”

“Haha.” Gun-Ho laughed.

Gun-Ho and President Shin were having a beverage while sitting on a chair when Min-Hyeok arrived at the book exhibition.

“Hey, Min-Hyeok!”

“I am sorry I am late.”

“You have already met GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook Shin, right?”

“Of course, I have. How are you, President Shin?”

As Min-Hyeok said hi to President Shin, President Shin gave him a slight nod of greeting with a smile.

“President Shin, you haven’t been to our GH factory in China, have you?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Why don’t you visit us then? We are located in Suzhou City.”

“Sure. I will.”

“Oh, how did your visit to Qingdao City go?”

“It went well. I went there because of a product claim we received.”

“A product claim?”

“Yes. One of our customer companies made a product claim. They said they received defective products from us, 10,000 of them. I was terrified, so I immediately visited their site to verify the defective products myself.”

“Really? How is that possible? I can’t believe that our factory manufactured 10,000 defective products. Our GH Mobile’s former plant manager is there working in the factory with an advisory position. He wouldn’t have let anything like that happen under his supervision.”

“Right. I went there and confirmed that those defective products were not ours. Those products look exactly the same as ours, but I could tell that those are not ours by looking at the product identification mark.”

“What a relief.”

“The president of that customer company apologized to me, and he promised to increase the number of products they will order from us after returning all those defective products.”

“That’s very good.”

“That’s why I came late today. I came straight from the customer company.”

“Really? Oh, I’m sorry, President Shin. We didn’t forget your presence here with us. We didn’t mean to exclude you from our conversation.”

“No, no. Please don’t mind me. It seems like you have a very important business to attend to.”

“Min-Hyeok, you haven’t looked around the book exhibition yet, right? Why don’t you make a quick tour of the exhibition? We will be waiting for you here.”

“Well… I’m not very interested in the book exhibition. I don’t need to see it. Let’s just go.”

“But since you are here, why don’t you just look at them quickly? It’s a bit early for lunch anyway so we still have time.”

“Nah. Maybe later. Let’s just go out for lunch.”

“Where is your father-in-law’s art exhibition being held?”

“It’s not far from here at all. It’s around People’s Park. I believe we can walk from here.”

Gun-Ho Goo, Min-Hyeok Kim, and Jeong-Sook Shin, the three people went to the art exhibition. Since it was still morning, there were not many people.

At the entrance of the art exhibition, there was a banner saying ‘Mr. Ding Feng’s Landscapes Art Exhibition.’

When the three people entered the exhibition, the person who was sitting at the entrance stood up quickly. He might be wondering who these people were since Gun-Ho’s party looked different from Chinese people. They dressed a bit more sophisticated and looked wealthy.