Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho called for Director Kang to his office again, while President Jeong-Sook Shin was still in his office.

“I have something that I’d like to talk to you both.”

“Okay, sir.”

The two people prepared a pen and a paper to take notes as Gun-Ho continued to talk,

“Let’s start the renovation work in the basement. We will open an art gallery there. Even though we work with a general contractor for the overall basement renovation, you probably will need to work with other interior companies that specialize in specific fields, such as lighting. Some parts of the interior will require specific professional skills. To cover the cost of the renovation, we will use the reserve for depreciation of the building. We will replenish the reserve once the art gallery starts generating revenue.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Once the new interior is completed, GH Development will lease the space to GH Media, and GH Media will operate the art gallery.”

“Yes, sir.”

“We will make a formal lease contract for it. The security deposit will be 20 million won and the monthly rent will be 2 million won. The rent will be adjusted later as the gallery would gradually increase its revenue.”

“Yes, sir.”

“For the art gallery’s security deposit, I will lend it to GH Media as its owner.”

“Okay, sir.”

Gun-Ho rubbed his eyes before he continued to talk. He looked tired.

“Director Kang.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please submit the application to the Seoul city hall for our rooftop renovation. We will make it green.”

“Yes, sir.”

“50% of the renovation cost will be subsidized by the city hall, and we will use the building reserve for depreciation to pay the remaining 50%. Leave the space, about 30 pyung as we will make a small space for a business.”

“Oh, we are building a small space there? Okay, will do, sir.”

“The water tank is currently on the ninth floor, right?”

“Yes. It’s not on the rooftop, but on the ninth floor.”

“If so, we will make the business space a bit larger. Make it 40 pyung instead of 30 pyung then.”

“Okay, sir.”

“Do we need to get a permit for the construction even though it would be a temporary small building on the rooftop?”

“Yes, we have to. Unless we are building a tent, we need to get a permit.”

“Okay. Then please apply for the permit right after the rooftop garden is completed.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Once the small building is completed, we will then decide what we want to do with that space. We can either open a book café or a pub. We will discuss it later.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you have any questions?”

President Jeong-Sook Shin spoke while placing her pen and note on the table,

“I’ve already reserved a gallery for Mr. Ding Feng’s art exhibition. It would be really nice if we could host the exhibition in our new future gallery, but I guess we won’t be able to.”

“That’s okay. It will take time to finish the interior anyway. Which gallery did you pick for Mr. Ding Feng’s art exhibition?”

“We chose Sotdae Gallery in Insa Town. Once we receive the paintings from Mr. Ding Feng, I will then send out the information to the press.”

“What about the painting frames? Are we doing it here in Korea?”

“Yes. We found a frame service provider in the Samgakji area. The last time when Mr. Ding Feng visited here, I went to see that service provider with him.”

“I see.”

“The Sotdae Gallery is not a large gallery size-wise, but they have an excellent control system on humidity and lightning. Before we start the interior renovation of our art gallery, I do recommend Director Kang to visit the Sotdae Gallery. It can be a very good example.”

“Oh, me? Sure… I will do that.”

“What if we wouldn’t be able to sell all of Mr. Ding Feng’s paintings that we would display at the exhibition?”

“I strongly doubt it, but if that happens, we can do a traveling art exhibition in other cities like Gwangju City or Daegu City.”

“Hmm.”

“The translation work on the history book that we brought from China is completed. Chief Editor Jae-Sik Moon is currently editing and refining the translated version.”

“Oh, the book with the title of ‘Is Cao Cao a hero or a villain?’ or something?”

“That’s the book.”

Director Kang laughed, who was listening to the conversation while standing next to them.

“The book’s title is ‘Is Cao Cao a hero or a villain?’ It sounds like a very interesting book.”

“President Shin, once the book is published, please send one to Director Kang, too.”

“Sure, will do, sir. Hahaha.”

“It would be nice if I could have lunch with you today since President Shin came all the way to our office in Sinsa Town to visit us, but I feel so tired because of the trip to China.”

“Don’t mind us, sir. You do look exhausted and you need a good rest.”

Gun-Ho bought a bottle of Ssanghwa-Tang* before heading to his home—TowerPalace.

The next morning, Gun-Ho went to work at the factory in Jiksan Town, Cheonan City. The first thing that he did that morning was to preside over a meeting for the executives.

President Song, the internal auditor, the research chief officer, the general affairs director, and Director Jong-Suk Park attended the meeting.

The research center’s chief officer started his report.

“We have applied for a patent for those two items with GH Mobile’s name. The process will take some time until we get patent approval.”

President Song added with a smile,

“Getting a product patented usually affects the price of a KOSDAQ registered company’s stock. It would go up.”

The internal auditor started his report on the status of the company’s debt. Some of the debts were paid with the company’s recent sales profit.

“How much debt do we currently have in total?”

“It’s 65 billion won, sir.”

“Do you think we can reduce our debt ratio to the level above the industrial average?”

“It would be difficult to do so by the end of this year, but we can possibly achieve that goal by next year.”

It was the general affairs director’s turn to make a report.

“We have a meeting for the small and medium-sized business owners today. It’s for the business owners in the North Chungnam Province.”

“Mr. General Affairs Director, you attend the meeting for me. You can just tell them that the president is out on a business trip abroad. Director Jong-Suk Park, do you have anything to add before we end this meeting?”

“No, sir.”

“We are still doing the My Machine program in the production field, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Everyone did a good job. Our company is doing a lot better than before, but we still have lots of work we need to achieve. I hope that all of you will do your best in doing your job. Okay, this is all for today. Thank you all.”

GH Mobile had many mid-level management employees such as managers and assistant managers, and there was another regular meeting including those mid-level managers. But, Gun-Ho hadn’t attended the meeting. President Song usually presided that meeting.

Note.

*Ssanghwa-tang—A traditional Korean tea which is known to help recover from fatigue