Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho made a call to Jae-Sik Moon.

“I just received a call from Antang City, China.”

“The ones who suggested doing a joint venture together?”

“Right. They are asking us to come and visit them next week. What do you think?”

“Next week? What are we supposed to do if we go there next week? Are we negotiating on terms or something?”

“You don’t know anything about a letter of intent and an actual contract for a joint venture deal, do you?”

“I don’t know.”

“We sign a letter of intent first, demonstrating our intent to commit to the deal. That way, other people won’t intervene in our ongoing business deal. We sign the actual contract afterwards.”

“Does that mean a letter of intent is not legally binding since we will sign an actual contract later?”

“You can say that.”

“Hmm, then maybe I should go there with you. I guess there should be a lot for me to learn.”

“Okay then. Let’s schedule our trip for Tuesday. Be prepared accordingly.”

“Okay, I will do that. We have one female worker and one male worker in GH Logistics, so the business will be doing fine during my absence.”

“You haven’t heard anything about land use change yet, have you?”

“Oh, I was going to tell you about it. They asked us to submit documents about a discharge facility, so we supplemented our application with it.”

“A discharge facility?”

“Yeah. We are changing the land use from farmland to factory use.”

“That’s right.”

“So we need to let them know how we are going to handle all types of possible discharges as we use the land for a factory, such as waste water, noise, air pollution, vibration, etc. We make our plans on how to handle them, document the plan, and submit it to them.”

“Hmm, I see. You sound like an expert in that field now.”

“I learned a lot as I go through the process step by step.”

“By the way, the agency asked us to prepare the fees for the conversion of farmland into non-farming uses.”

“How much should we expect?”

“It’s not nominal at all. They charge 30% of the appraised value of the land. They said that it would be around 400 million won in our case.”

“400 million won!?”

“We started with buying the old auto repair shop which is 980 pyung, and we added the 1,500 pyung large farmland adjacent to it. We spent 900 million won at that time. And then, we acquired the 2,600 pyung large landlocked property at 1 billion won.”

“That’s correct.”

“We spent 1.9 billion won in purchasing those two farmlands, but their appraisal would be 1.33 billion won if we assume their appraisal value would be 70% of our purchasing price. And, 30% of that appraised value would be approximately 400 million won.”

“That sounds right.”

“In addition to that, we have to prepare the deposit for the construction cost, bond cost for the local community development, the license fee, etc., according to the agency.”

“We are getting back the deposit for the construction fee, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we will. The contractor for the construction said that the shape of our land is so pretty, so once we get the permission to use it as a factory, the land price will go up dramatically.”

“I guess we will know the result once we come back from our trip to China.”

“I think so. The agency and the contractor will do their best to make it work since they have to get paid as well.”

“Okay. Let’s enjoy our trip to China without being dragged too much into this matter.”

“Oh, you know what? I told my wife about the possibility of moving to China for a while. She seems to be interested.”

“Really?”

“She keeps asking me which area would it be if we decide to move there?”

“Why is she interested in moving to China?”

“She said that working at the book café makes her feel embarrassed sometimes.”

“Why is that so?”

“I guess that she feels uncomfortable working at a café which is owned by her husband’s friend. She said she doesn’t know what to say when she runs into you in an elevator or somewhere in the building.”

“Well, she doesn’t have to. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Since she has worked at a book café here, she said she wants to run her own book café in China.”

“Really?”

Gun-Ho went mountain climbing with Young-Eun on the weekend. They went to Cheonggye Mountain which was close to their home— TowerPalace. They chose a path to Yetgol where not many people took. They wanted to have some privacy while mountain climbing.

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun were climbing all the way to Yisoo Pike while gasping for air.

“Are you okay? Not too tired yet?”

“I’m exhausted. Can we go home now?”

“It’s only 500 meter away until we reach Yisoo Pike according to the sign.”

“500 meter feels like it takes forever. I’m so tired.”

“If mountain climbing is too exhausting for you, why don’t you play golf instead? I will pay for your golf lesson.”

“I don’t have time, and there is no place to take golf lessons in Myeongryoon Town.”

“Even though this is an exhausting activity, once you are done, it feels really good. I feel more energetic during the following weekdays at work.”

“That’s very true.”

The two slowly and gradually climbed to Yisoo Pike. When they finally arrived at the pike, Gun-Ho and Young-Eun took a picture together as proof that they made it that far.

“There is a history about this pike. During the era of Yeongsan-gun, one of the Confucian scholars— Mr. Yeo-Chang Jeong— hid himself here to avoid the Mooho Massacre of Scholars.”

“That’s why this pike is named as Yisoo Pike?”

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun climbed down the mountain and had a meal in a Korean barbecue restaurant called Yetgol-Toseong.

“Since we did an intensive exercise in the morning, let’s take a shower and take a nap once we get home.”

“I have some work to do. I need to prepare a presentation.”

“Oh, you do? Okay, you do what you need to do. I will take a nap.”

“You had your sleep last night. Why do you have to take a nap during the day?”

“I’m going to China on Tuesday.”

“Again?”

“I am a businessman. I need to go on a trip everywhere if necessary. The founder of Daewoo Group— Chairman Woo-Choong Kim— said that ‘the world is still wide and there are so many things to do.’”

“He went to the prison. You know that, right?”

“I will play smart without creating too much debt. Don’t worry about it.”

“When are you coming back from China?”

“I will return on Friday. Friday is an important day. It’s the day I meet you every week.”

Young-Eun smiled.

“I will go to the same city as last time— Antang City, Guizhou Province. I will sign a letter of intent for the joint venture business with them. It’s about a bus terminal project.”

“A letter of intent?”

“Yeah, it’s sort of a promise before making an actual contract. I need to prepare 25 billion won of investment funds.”

“25 billion won?”

“Both parties— Korea and China— are supposed to come up with 25 billion won, so it’s a 50 billion won worth project.”

Young-Eun stared at Gun-Ho for a while with her widened eyes.