Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

After the internal auditor left the office, Gun-Ho made a call to Min-Hyeok Kim.

“Min-Hyeok, it’s me. Can we talk?”

“Yes.”

“How’s the joint venture company doing?”

“Oh, Dingding’s joint venture? She hired a bookkeeper and got the K3 manufactured in China by Qiya (Kia Motors). She is driving it around in doing her sales activities while carrying her business card that says she is the president of the company.”

“The workers here said the sales company in China is doing very well. I guess your wife has a talent in the sales field.”

“Well, it’s too early to tell. I was actually the one who introduced my client to her. Oh, we now call the joint venture Dingding Joint Venture Company. It’s easy to call that way, and it sounds musical. Don’t you think?”

“Haha. Okay. She seems to be doing great work.”

“She received only 20 tons of raw materials so far. It will be sold out quickly.”

“Really?”

“I talked to Director Kim to send us more of them, but he said we will have to wait until they get machine no. 11 and no. 12. Dingding is currently working on procuring a product order from an auto manufacturing company. Its owner president’s son and his wife are Dingding’s classmates when she studied in the U.S. Well, we will see.”

“How much is 20 ton worth?”

“It’s 90 million won. Even though they are on credit sales, we will soon collect the payments since Chinese people love cash. I will transfer the money to Korea next month.”

“Machines no. 11 and no. 12 are on their way here. So, you will receive more soon.”

“Sounds good.”

“Dingding is… I feel weird calling your wife’s name like that.”

“It’s okay. We do that in China. There is no problem at all.”

“Do you think your wife is satisfied with the position as the president of the joint venture company?”

“When she received the business card with her name and GH logo on, she was so excited. Considering that she is living in a luxurious house and driving a Kia, she is deemed to be a middle-class person in China. Moreover, she studied in the U.S, so she speaks English. And, her father is a famous painter and he has accumulated some wealth which will pass on to Dingding later since she is the only child. She has no worry about her present or future life.”

“Oh, you know what? I’m getting married this March, March 18th to be exact.”

“What? How come I haven’t heard anything about you seeing someone?”

“Somebody introduced me to my bride. Things developed quickly.”

“What does she do for a living?”

“She is a medical doctor.”

“A doctor? Wow. You are so lucky, man. Hahaha. A once factory worker became really successful.”

“You too. You married the girl who is the daughter of a famous artist and who studied in the U.S.”

“No. My case is different. I just married a foreigner.”

“Well, anyway, when you get the joint venture’s financial statement, send me a copy of it.”

“Of course, I will. I will translate it into Korean and attach it to the original one.”

“Sounds good. Keep up the good work.”

“I will have to attend your wedding ceremony. Not sure about others, but I must be there.”

“You don’t have to.”

When Gun-Ho went to work at his office in the building in Sinsa Town, he called for Assistant Manager Ji-Young Jeong from the general affairs team.

“You have the contact information for the flower shop where we usually place orders occasionally, right?”

“Yes, I have, sir.”

“Please send out two congratulatory flower wreaths: one will be from our company as ‘President Gun-Ho Goo of GH Mobile’, and make the other one with ‘class at Advanced Center for Administrative Development in Seoul National University’. Here is the recipient’s address.”

Gun-Ho handed the wedding invitation that he got from the class to her.

“We are sending them to the bride.”

“The wedding venue is strange. It’s an auditorium at an operational command’s building.”

“The bride’s father is in the military. That’s why.”

Gun-Ho prepared an envelope for gift money and wrote on the cover “From Class Manager Gun-Ho Goo at Advanced Center for Administrative Development in Seoul National University.”

On the way home that evening, Gun-Ho let Chan-Ho know.

“Tomorrow is Saturday, but I guess you will have to work. I need to go to the wedding.”

“No problem, sir.”

The next day, Gun-Ho’s Bentley headed to the operational command’s building. Chan-Ho Eum who was driving asked, “So, the wedding will be held here?”

“Yeah. That’s the address shown on the wedding invitation.”

At the military entrance gate, barricades were in place with only limited open space which was large enough for only one car to pass. When Gun-Ho’s Bentley arrived at the gate, soldiers blocked the way and gave a military salute before asking, “Where are you heading to, sir?”

Gun-Ho rolled down the rear window of the car and showed the soldier the wedding invitation.

“I’ve been invited for this wedding.”

After checking the wedding invitation, the soldiers gave a military salute again and showed the way to the destination.

“Go straight up and make a right turn.”

Once the car made a right turn, they arrived at a large military training ground. Several soldiers were helping the guests with parking. There were tons of cars already. Gun-Ho noticed that all the congratulatory flower wreaths were placed outside the building. He saw the two flower wreaths that he sent earlier. There were about thirty flower wreaths standing in one place outside.

“They probably have some sort of policy directing not to let the flower wreaths in the building.”

There was a long line to the wedding reception desk where the guests were supposed to give their gift money and sign the guestbook.

“Wow. There are so many people here. Are they all military families?”

Once he dropped off his gift money with the person at the reception desk, Gun-Ho went inside the building. Gun-Ho saw several generals who were wearing epaulettes which showed their ranks like one-star generals or two-star generals. The military police unit that was probably called for the wedding ceremony, lined up at one place holding the swords upright.

Gun-Ho had to wait in line again in order to meet with the bride’s father.

“Congratulations.”

“Oh, Mr. Class Manager. Thank you for coming. I just saw Mr. Minister Lee. He just arrived as well.”

Gun-Ho looked around to find the class president—Minister Lee, but he couldn’t find him because there were just so many people there. There was nothing special about the wedding at the military base in overall, except for the ceremony performed by the military police unit. A pastor officiated the wedding.

After watching the wedding ceremony, Gun-Ho came back to the parking lot. Chan-Ho was listening to the music in the car.

“Is the wedding already over?”

“It’s so crowded and busy. Let’s have lunch outside.”

“I saw tons of people here. I guess it’s good to live a life as a general of the army. So many people came to congratulate him, and the wedding is so extravagant.”

“It’s not important to have a fancy wedding itself. You should make the after-wedding life fancy.”

“Well, still it will be nice to be a general. I spotted many celebrities in the crowd, and also field-grade officers seemed to be considered low-ranking officers at this event.”

“There is a very good restaurant around here. Let’s go and have Galbi*.

“Galbi? I always love Galbi.”

Chan-Ho who was a meat lover seemed to be happy.

Note*

Galbi – Korean grilled beef ribs.