Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

GH Media’s President Jeong-Soon Shin stopped by Gun-Ho’s office before leaving for the airport for her trip to Japan. She was with a man who looked like he was about three or four years older than Gun-Ho. His hairstyle was too liberal to be an office worker; he had a ponytail.

“I’m leaving for Japan today, sir. I came with our new chief editor of GH Media to introduce him to you.”

“Oh, really?”

Gun-Ho stood up from his seat and offered his hand to the man for a handshake.

“He joined our team after Chief Editor Jae-Sik Moon left our company. He had been working as a chief editor in a magazine publishing company for a long time. He is also an award-winning author. He has published several published books of his own.”

“I’m Cheon-Young Pi. It’s a pleasure meeting you, sir.”

The man introduced himself to Gun-Ho.

His last name—Pi was not a very common name in Korea. His last name reminded Gun-Ho of the famous essayist—Chun-Deuk Pi. Gun-Ho had a silly thought for a second that maybe people with the last name of Pi were all good writers.

“Please have a seat.”

“Thank you, sir, but we have to leave now. I just wanted to tell you that you don’t have to worry about GH Media during my absence. The team leads—Ms. Min-Sook Oh and our new chief editor—Mr. Pi will take care of the business just fine.”

“Oh, you have to leave now? Maybe we should have some tea or something together next time.”

“I believe Ms. Jeong-Soon Choi and Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda will be waiting for me at Gimpo International Airport. After finishing her art exhibition in Japan, Jeong-Soon Choi wants to invite you to her house in Yangpyeong County. She will cook cold noodles in soybean soup for you.”

“Haha. It will be very nice.”

Gun-Ho headed to his factory in Jiksan Town with his secretary—Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh who could speak English fluently. The Dyeon Korea’s board meeting was scheduled in the afternoon that day, so he wanted to stop by GH Mobile in Jiksan Town before heading to Dyeon Korea.

When Gun-Ho’s Bentley arrived at the front gate of GH Mobile, the security guard opened the gate right away after raising his hand for a salute.

When Gun-Ho and the secretary got off the car at the building’s entrance, several workers who were passing by the area greeted Gun-Ho. They also glanced at the young lady who got off the car with their president. They didn’t know that she was his secretary in one of his companies.

Gun-Ho took Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh to his office. GH Mobile’s secretary—Ms. Hee-Jeong Park prepared some tea right away and brought them to the office.

“Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh, this is GH Mobile’s secretary.”

“Hi. I’m Yeon-Soo Oh. Nice to meet you.”

“Ms. Park, Ms. Oh is GH Development’s secretary. She came with me from Seoul because we will have a board meeting in Dyeon Korea this afternoon.”

“Oh, I see. It’s very nice meeting you. Please let me know if you need anything.”

President Jang-Hwan Song came into Gun-Ho’s office. He glanced at Yeon-Soo Oh and asked, “Who is this lady, sir?”

“She came with me to interpret for me. We have a board meeting in Dyeon Korea this afternoon.”

“Oh, that’s right. It’s the first board meeting since Dyeon Korean opened the business, is it? You must be very busy, sir. I guess this lady speaks English very well.”

The secretary Yeon-Soo Oh looked uncomfortable since President Song kept referring her as a lady. She wanted to be treated as a part of the team since she was one of the employees of Gun-Ho’s companies after all, just like any other workers there. President Song sat next to Gun-Ho and said, “I heard that Mandong Company gave up on their plan to expand their market to Chennai, India. If we could get into that market, that will be really nice.”

“Chennai in India?”

“Hyundai Motor Company has its factory no. 2 in Chennai. Many of Hyundai Motor’s first and second vendor companies have their branches in Chennai too.”

“Where exactly is Chennai located?”

“It’s in the southern part of India. Hyundai Motor has its first factory in Delhi and the second factory in Chennai.”

“Doesn’t Mandong Company have their factory in Delhi?”

“Even though they have one in Delhi, Delhi is extremely far from Chennai. You can’t just assume that the distance between Delhi and Chennai is about the same distance between Seoul and Busan. It should be about the distance between Dongbei in China and the southern part of China.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s usually not recommended to form a subsidiary company right before applying for a preliminary examination of the KOSDAQ registration, but we need to check out the market in India.”

“India…”

“If you have a chance, I do recommend you to visit India. Once you get into the China market, the next one should be India. Hyundai Accent is selling extremely well in India, which were manufactured in their factory in Chennai. They call it Verna in India. I think it is wise that you should focus on the India market rather than the China market.”

“So, Accent is called Verna in India and they are the same model.”

“That’s right. India can be our production base not only for the India market but for other countries like Africa, Central, and South America.”

Gun-Ho nodded his head to show that he understood President Song’s point.

Director Jong-Suk Park came to Gun-Ho’s office. It had been a while since he visited his office. Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh who was in the office with Gun-Ho quickly greeted Jong-Suk when he saw him coming in the office even before Gun-Ho had a chance to do so.

“Hello, Mr. Director Park.”

“Oh, oh. You are the Ms. Secretary in Seoul. I guess you came here because of the board meeting.”

Gun-Ho said while smiling, “You two know each other very well?”

“Of course. When Vice President Adam Castler came to join Dyeon Korea for the first time, I met her in Dyeon Korea.”

“How are you doing these days?”

“I’m doing fine.”

“How’s your wife doing? Is she happy with her work?”

“She will take a leave from her work soon. She is having a baby.”

“What? Is she pregnant? Wow. Congratulations. I hope your baby would look after your wife, not you. It has to be.”

Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh laughed.

“I’ve heard that you are close with Manager Seo. Is it true?”

Manager Seo worked as an assistant manager in the general affairs team and he was then promoted to the sales team’s manager. He used to work with Director Kim, but since Director Kim moved to Dyeon Korea, now he was working with President Song.

“Yeah. His position is lower than mine, but since he is the same as age you, bro, I call him big brother just like I do to you. He likes that a lot. When he was promoted to a manager position, he bought me a drink. He thinks that I contributed to his promotion for some reason. I actually haven’t said a word to you, that would affect his promotion.”