Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho said to the deputy mayor, “Since we signed the letter of intent, let’s conclude the actual contract within two months.”

“We will issue you the license to run the bus service right away once you bring in the initial investment funds; you don’t have to wait for two months. Since the road between Antang City and Guiyang City is paved now, the community is requesting to start the passenger transportation service with luxurious buses.”

“Hmm.”

“Why don’t you send the person who would take the president position of the joint venture company to China first? So, he could begin to run the business as soon as possible. We can sign the actual contract then.”

“Okay. I will send the joint venture’s president to China along with the first portion of the investment funds. Once the joint venture is established, the parcel of land must be transferred to the joint venture as well.”

“Well, umm… sure.”

Gun-Ho came back to Korea from the trip to China. When he arrived at Incheon International Airport, Chan-Ho Eum was waiting for him. On the way home in the car, Gun-Ho asked Jae-Sik Moon, “They will at first set up your office in the terminal. Since you will oversee the terminal business and the passenger transportation business, they will arrange your office close to the business site.”

“I feel nervous about going there to work, but I do like the city.”

“You do?”

“It is a good-sized city, not too big or too busy, and not too small either. It’s not the country, but it is still a city. I’ve seen nice luxurious condo complexes in Antang City earlier. I think living there can be convenient.”

“Oh, that’s right. You went to the traditional market there too, right?”

“Yeah. They have everything like all sorts of vegetables including radish, cabbage, peppers, bean sprouts, and tofu. Oh, tofu and rice look exactly the same as those in Korea.”

“They have a supermarket as well. You should be fine.”

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

“You didn’t stop by my place before returning to Korea, huh?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t make the time.”

“I talked to Ms. Eun-Hwa Jo. She rejected the offer to be relocated to Antang City.”

“Really?”

“And then, I offered to raise her salary by 1.2 times and that she would be sent there for 1 year. She said that she will go if we pay for her room there along with a 200% bonus on top of those.”

“How much would it be if we raise her salary by 1.2 times?”

“It would be 2,400 Yuan.”

“Okay then. Send her there.”

After getting off the phone with Min-Hyeok Kim, Jae-Sik, who was listening to the phone conversation, asked, “Is it Min-Hyeok? What did he say?”

“The interpreter lady doesn’t want to work in Antang City.”

“Really?”

Jae-Sik Moon looked so disappointed.

“But, if we pay for her room and raise her salary to 2,400 Yuan, she said she would come.”

“Really? I will contribute part of my salary to raising her salary.”

Jae-Sik Moon was serious.

“We will have to check with the joint venture’s policy. They probably will have some restrictions on the amount of their workers’ salaries. We will just let them determine each worker’s salary, and then you can add some to make hers 2,400 Yuan. For example, if the joint venture determines her salary as 2,000 Yuan, you can give her an additional 400 Yuan under the table.”

“We need to find her a room too.”

“Of course.”

“Well, I’m so glad and relieved that she would join us.”

Gun-Ho’s Bentley entered the riverside road after passing Incheon Bridge.

“Your home is in Mangwon Town, right?”

“Yes.”

“It would have been hard for your wife to commute from Mangwon Town to the building in Sinsa Town.”

“We are happy that we have a place to go to work.”

“Doesn’t she complain about the commute?”

“She does sometimes, but there is nothing much we can do about it. I do think that I’m a lucky man to have a wife like her. She married me knowing that I have nothing much to offer her. I appreciate her for that.”

“When you move to China, don’t go with your wife right away.”

“Why not?”

“You’d better spend some time there by yourself to settle first. It might take around three months, and you can then ask her to move to China.”

“Yeah, I thought about it too.”

Jae-Sik Moon was staring outside the window when Gun-Ho talked to him again.

“The joint venture is between GH Logistics and Antang City’s transportation company. Once you return to work in GH Logistics, collect the business license and a certified copy of business registration.”

“Okay.”

“Also, get the notarized translated versions of those documents into English.”

“You want to give those papers to the Chinese party?”

“Yeah. They will probably ask us to show them the financial statements as well, but since GH Logistics is a newly formed company, we don’t have them, so we don’t have to show them. They seem to recognize our company as GH companies with several business entities, so I don’t think they would insist on getting GH Logistics’ financial statements specifically.”

“What if they still insist?”

“Don’t worry about it. We have better bargaining power than them. They are the one who desperately wants us to join them for the project. If they unreasonably keep on requesting the financial statements, we can just tell them that we wouldn’t participate in the project at all.”

“Considering the size of the city, I guess they could find local investors to build the terminal. I wonder why they want a foreign investor and form a joint venture. Why do they choose a more complicated way to reach their goal?”

“If they use the city budget to build the terminal—they can since it’s for the public benefit—it will take a few years to launch the project. If they let the local investors participate in the project, those people will intervene in managing the project, and it will eventually create some conflicts. The local investors will fight over who’s going to take the best commercial store in the terminal.”

“That sounds very possible.”

“If they use foreign investment funds to build the terminal, it will be quick without touching their city budget. In addition, their work will be highly evaluated as they successfully improve the citizens’ daily life. Subsequently, the deputy mayor will be praised for the work, and he will have an opportunity to be promoted and relocated to a bigger city than Antang City, maybe after two or three years.”

“Man, you are very knowledgeable about everything. I learn a lot from you.”

“Nah, it’s just how things work in general.”

“Jae-Sik, once you go back to work in GH Logistics, just focus on converting the land use of the farmland. It’s a very important thing for us for now. I will send the 400 million won to your bank account for the conversion fees.”

“Hmm, okay.”

“After paying the taxes and relevant fees and completing the land use conversion, GH Logistics will buy the land from you.”

“We just need to make papers for the transfer, right?”

“When we bought those parcels of farmland, we spent 900 million won for the 1,500 pyung large land, and another 1 billion won for the 2,600 pyung large landlocked property, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did.”

“Then, we spent 1.9 billion won in total. We will then spend another 400 million won for taxes and fees in converting the land use. So, we would end up paying, in total, 2.3 billion won for the land.”

“That’s correct.”

“On top of that, we paid the agency and stuff. Let’s assume it cost us 2.4 billion then.”

“Right.”

“Then you sell the land to GH Logistics for 3 billion won.”

“Hmm, does it make GH Logistics increase its capital?”

“Not necessarily.”