Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho called President Jeong-Sook Shin.

“I’m confirming that I’ve just received 300 million won.”

“Thank you for letting me know, sir.”

“Did you say that GH Media now has 900 million won in its bank account?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“President Shin, why don’t you buy a new car with GH Media’s name?”

“My SM5 is running very well. It’s only four years old. It has very low mileage as well. It has only 60,000 kilometers on it.”

“Your SM5 is your personal vehicle, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is my personal car under my name.”

“Give your SM5 to President Jae-Sik Moon, and you buy a new car under GH Media’s name. You can choose a mid-size car.”

“Then… Can I have a Hyundai Kona? It’s less than 2000 cc.”

“You can have one that is larger than that. Do you like Kona?”

“Yes. I do like it. Its design is very popular among female drivers.”

“Okay then. Take Hyundai Kona.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“President Jae-Sik Moon needs a car as soon as possible. He travels a lot these days. If you are okay, why don’t you get the car tomorrow and give your car to President Moon?”

“No problem, sir.”

Gun-Ho received a call from Min-Hyeok Kim in China.

“President Min-Hyeok Kim, it has been a while since I heard your voice.”

“I received five tons of raw materials from Dyeon Korea.”

“Its price per ton in the national market is 4.8 million won not including VAT, but we sell it for 4.5 million won when we export it abroad. We sent you five tons this time. Your payment for us is 24.75 million won including VAT.”

“We are currently supplying some auto parts to an auto manufacturing company here in China, and they have complained about our product quality. So, we now produce our products using Dyeon Korea’s raw materials, and the quality has highly improved. Once I get confirmation from our client that they are satisfied with our new product quality, we will use Dyeon Korea’s raw materials from now on.”

“But their volume of product orders is not high, isn’t it?”

“The fact that we are the direct supplier of an auto manufacturing company itself is marketing. I don’t need to travel around to sell our products.”

“Really?”

“I asked Director Yoon to send me a product catalog if he has an English version.”

“You seem to be doing great. Your goal of a monthly sales revenue is 500 million won, right?”

“Yes, thank you. Oh, how’s Jae-Sik Moon doing?”

“He is very busy and working so hard these days. I met him last Sunday. He lost a lot of weight.”

“Hahaha. I guess he is paying an expensive tuition for the lesson.”

“I felt so bad when I saw him last Sunday.”

“Don’t worry about him. After three months, he will gain weight again. He will look better then.”

“You think so?”

“He is so naïve and soft-hearted. He just needs time to be hardened. All he had done so far is reading books, right? When we were in school, he was beaten up by Won-Chul Jo all the time. Suk-Ho Lee teased him a lot too. He was an easy target for them. You were okay because you were tall.”

“Hmm, I remember that.”

“They called him Mr. Basement. He was a timid and shy kid.”

“I hope he lives a better life now.”

“I feel good that you are helping him, President Goo.”

“I haven’t done much for him yet. He is actually helping me with my business.”

“You are helping him by letting him work with you. Well, I think he feels great with his position as a president.”

“Okay, keep up the good work. Please keep me posted about how the auto manufacturing company reacts with your product that was produced using Dyeon Korea’s materials.”

Since he opened an art gallery, Gun-Ho started showing interest in art. He enjoyed watching artworks. President Shin’s next art exhibition was with Korean young artists. It was not a sensational or popular art exhibition, but it still sold one or two artworks. It seemed that the artists’ relatives or friends came to buy their artworks to help them.

After looking around the artworks, Gun-Ho came back to his office and started reading an economic newspaper. The secretary—Ms. Yeon-Soon Oh—brought a cup of coffee for him. As he continued to read the newspaper while having his coffee, Gun-Ho felt sleepy. Director Kang entered Gun-Ho’s office and quietly left the office when he saw Gun-Ho taking a nap on his sofa.

When he woke up from his afternoon nap, Gun-Ho received a call from Jae-Sik Moon.

“Did you assign a car for me? President Jeong-Sook Shin just left her car to me saying you told her to do so.”

“Yeah. President Shin got a new car with her company’s name.”

“Thank you. I’m speechless. This car looks like a new car. It has very low mileage.”

“I hope it helps you to do your sales activity. Use the company credit card to pay for gas and other maintenance expenses related to the car.”

“I’m in a daze. I never expected to have a car.”

“Don’t forget to send the second payment tomorrow for the auto repair shop. Send 920 million won to the bank account that I gave to you the other day.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not sure if you can transfer that amount online. You might have to go to the bank in person if the transaction doesn’t go through because of the high amount.”

“Okay.”

Gun-Ho received a call from Attorney Young-Jin Kim from Kim & Jeong Law Firm.

“Hey, how come you don’t call me anymore these days? Any news?”

“No news is good news, man.”

“Aren’t you going to play golf with me?”

“I prefer to take a nap.”

“Hey, are you interested in taking a course from Advanced Center for Administrative Development at Seoul National University?”

“Advanced Center for Administrative Development?”

“Yes, it’s a one-year course. It’s not a degree course, but they will issue a certificate for you. You just need to go to class twice a week at night.”

“Can you learn anything with the schedule?”

“People take the course in order to make a social network and discuss policies rather than learning something new. You need to qualify to be admitted to that course.”

“What’s the qualification?”

“You have to be a judge, prosecutor, attorney, high-level government official, or a professional like a medical doctor and CPA, or a businessman who has a KOSDAQ registered company or a company with more than 100 billion won of sales revenue.”

“I am none of the above. I guess I’m not qualified. Even though I am qualified, I’m not interested.”

“You are qualified.”

“GH Mobile’s sales revenue is a little bit over 70 billion won.”

“You have other companies, too. If you add up all of their sales revenue, it should exceed 100 billion won. You can include the company in China too.”

“I don’t want to try hard to get in there.”

“Let’s take it together. I have a friend there; he is a professor. He asked me to find good people who would take the course, so I recommended you to him.”

“Nah. I will rather take a nap instead of taking classes.”

“Come on, man. Just take the course with me. I owe you one, okay? I will send you the application by mail.”