Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

On Monday, as soon as Gun-Ho arrived at work in Dyeon Korea, Mr. Adam Castler came into Gun-Ho’s office accompanied by the interpreter—Mr. Lee.

“You must have something you want to talk to me about. Please have a seat.”

Gun-Ho asked the secretary—Ms. Seon-Hye Yee to bring some tea for them.

“How do you like living in Korea so far?”

“It’s good. Everyone including you has been very kind to me.”

“What would you like to talk to me about today?”

“I’ve just received a call from Dyeon America that they will send an audit team here.”

“An audit?”

“Upon the completion of their investment-in-kind, Dyeon America sends its people to verify their investment. Their investment-in-kind will be completed when they send machine no. 7 and no.8 which will be shipped to Busan Port soon. They will check the machines from no. 1 to no. 6 and see if they are all in a good working condition.”

“Hmm. I think it is a good policy that they have.”

“In addition to checking the status of the machines, they will also look at the quality of the products that were being produced here. They will evaluate the adequacy of the current number of employees given the current sales revenue. Handling of the revenues and expenses will also be looked at. Oh, they will also check if taxes are properly being paid.”

“Hmm. How many people should we expect to see?”

“There will be two people.”

“How long will they stay?”

“Considering the size of the investment in Dyeon Korea, I suppose that the audit will take about two days.”

“Okay. I will talk to Director Yoon so we can take good care of the audit team with food and accommodation while they stay here in Korea.”

“Thank you.”

“Sure thing.”

“Dyeon America will bear the cost of the auditors’ flight, but they expect Dyeon Korea takes care of the cost of their stay here.”

“Of course. Will do.”

“Thank you.”

After Mr. Adam Castler left the office, Director Kim came in.

“I just saw Mr. Adam Castler walking out of your office. What was it about?”

“He said that the auditors will be here.”

“The auditors?”

“Lymondell Dyeon is sending their auditors here.”

“I guess they want to check how things go here since their portion of the investment is almost complete. I just received a fax from them that they shipped machine no. 7 and no. 8.”

“We will need to cooperate with them once they get here. They are our business partners. They are doing it because they want Dyeon Korea to succeed.”

“Yes, sir. Once the machine no. 7 and no. 8 arrive, Director Yoon will go to Busan Port with the production manager and the maintenance manager, just like last time.”

“Since Egnopak is buying more raw materials from us, our sales revenue must be going up by now.”

“Yes. Our sales revenue was about 2 billion won, and now it exceeded 2.5 billion won.”

“That will make our annual sales revenue 30 billion won.”

“As a matter of fact, Mr. Adam Castler was surprised by our sales revenue. According to him, we are the first joint venture with Dyeon America, which made 30,000,000 dollars in the first year. He was amazed by the power of the Korean market.”

“Really?”

“So, I told him that it’s not about the Korean market but it’s about our company’s sales tactics and ability. I told him the story about how you met with Egnopak’s president and negotiated with him to bring more business to our company. He said that this is again the first joint venture where its president does sales work himself. And he recorded all in his weekly report.”

“Haha, really? Actually, Director Kim, you did a great job. I didn’t actually do much…”

“Maybe Dyeon Korea will go public before GH Mobile does.”

“Maybe. That seems to be possible.”

“We hired twelve workers. The orientation will be held tomorrow. Since you are going to Seoul tomorrow, I guess the new hires won’t meet you at their orientation.”

“Let them start working. I can meet them on Thursday.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are we getting the company uniform from the same store where GH Mobile is getting theirs?”

“Yes, sir. We just change the company logo on it.”

“Do you think the cooking lady can handle the cafeteria by herself? We will have more workers joining us soon.”

“I think she will handle fine for now. But, I think we will need to hire one more security guard. We have tons of raw materials stored in the facility. Director Yoon will bring you the approval request for it.”

“Sounds good.”

Since Gun-Ho was commuting from Seoul, he got off work early, around 4 pm on the days when he worked in Dyeon Korea. If he left for his home in Seoul later than 4 pm, he would be stuck in heavy traffic around Yangjae Town even though he took a highway. When it was 4 pm, Gun-Ho walked out of his office carrying a newspaper with him, that he didn’t finish that day.

“I will read it in the car. It’s really nice that I can read a newspaper on the way home since Chan-Ho is now driving for me. Where is he by the way?”

Gun-Ho looked around. He couldn’t find Chan-Ho Eom. Gun-Ho asked the general affairs manager who was passing by Gun-Ho’s office.

“Have you seen Chan-Ho Eom? He doesn’t even pick up his phone.”

“I saw him at the production team.”

When Gun-Ho went to the production team, he saw Chan-Ho staring at a machine while crouching down on the floor.

“Chan-Ho, what are you doing there?”

“Oh, Mr. President!”

Chan-Ho stood up quickly from his crouching position and ran to the Bentley. He quickly brought the car in front of the building entrance.

When the car was passing by the seawalls in Asan City, Gun-Ho asked Chan-Ho,

“Chan-Ho Eom! Are you interested in working in the production worksite?”

“Oh, no, no. I was just watching it. It was interesting. I don’t think I can work at the production site. I will have to stay in one place all day long, right? I don’t think I can handle it. I love driving. While I drive, I can look at a lot of things like seawalls over there. And, when you don’t use your car, I can even take a nap.”

“Are you sure? I guess you like driving then. Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Nah, I don’t. Tae-Young bro doesn’t have one either.”

“Is Tae-Young’s security staffing company doing well?”

“He seems to have difficulty in running the company. People like me and Tae-Young bro don’t know anything much other than using our body since we have been exercising in our entire life. It’s really hard to change our career even if we want to.”

“Hmm, really? How much do you get paid by working at the bar in Hannam Town?”

“I don’t know. Tae-Young bro takes care of any monetary matter for us. Four of us work for that bar in Hannam Town. The work itself is easy and comfortable. We go to work at 6 pm and stay there showing customers the way to their room, and we get off work at 10 pm. We sometimes have to drive customers’ cars if they are too drunk to drive. But usually, we are off work at 10 pm. The bar provides us dinner too. You know the aunt is very nice.”

“Aunt? You mean Ms. Jang?”

“Yes, Ms. Jang. We call her aunt.”