Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho entered his home in Dogok Town. He felt exhausted.

“Young-Eun must be home since it’s Friday.”

Young-Eun was looking at her smartphone while lying on the sofa in the living room when Gun-Ho opened the front door. She quickly got up when she saw him coming in.

“You came back.”

“How have you been?”

“You look tired. Did you eat?”

“I don’t have an appetite, but strangely, I think I want to have a bowl of Sujebi (a soup with flour dough).”

“Sujebi? I will cook for you. Why don’t you take a shower while I’m cooking?”

Gun-Ho went to his room and changed clothes, and came back to the kitchen.

“Hahaha. You are living in Gangnam District— one of the most expensive areas to live in this country. Even if you could have all sorts of expensive food, you want Sujebi, huh?”

“I think I ate too much oily Chinese food during the trip there.”

“You can find lots of semi-prepared convenience foods including Sujebi at a market. It’s easy to cook. You just need to boil water and put all the ingredients found in the package.”

“I will be back after taking a shower. You haven’t had dinner yet, right? Let’s eat together.”

When Gun-Ho came back after taking a shower, dinner was ready. It seemed like Young-Eun didn’t cook Sujebi from scratch, but she cooked with the semi-prepared Sujebi that she bought from a market. She placed a side dish of Yeolmu-Kimchi (kimchi made with young summer radish).

“You are not having this with me just because I wanted to have Sujebi, are you?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not picky about food. When I worked in Africa, I used to eat Sujebi pretty often.”

“Hmm, really?”

“But I had another food in mind for today’s dinner. I wanted to have grilled pork belly.”

“You did? Then, let’s have a small bowl of Sujebi and go out to have grilled pork belly.”

“We don’t have to go out to eat. I can go to the supermarket and buy 600 grams of pork belly. We can have them at home. Let’s have it around 10 pm for our late-night meal.”

“Sounds good.”

After having Sujebi, Gun-Ho fell asleep. Gun-Ho woke up to the smell of grilled pork belly. He was not sure how long he had slept. On the way to the bathroom, he saw Young-Eun cooking pork belly in the kitchen.

“You woke up.”

“Yeah, the smell of pork belly woke me up.”

“Have a seat. Let’s eat.”

“Oh, you didn’t forget to buy lettuce. Grilled pork belly goes great with lettuce.”

Gun-Ho sat at the dining table.

There was a glass of coke in front of Young-Eun while Gun-Ho had a bottle of beer in front of him.

They sat at the dining table facing each other.

“You didn’t have good food in China?”

“I did. But it’s not easy to have Chinese food all the time for two or three days in a row. It’s too greasy for me. Now, I became a greasy man because of all those greasy foods I had for the past few days.”

“A greasy man? Hahaha.”

Young-Eun laughed out loud.

“So, you decided to invest in China?”

“I signed the letter of intent with the transportation company in Antang City, Guizhou Province in China. Antang City’s deputy mayor and their department of transportation’s director attended the signing event. The transportation company is a government-owned company.”

“So, you are going to build a terminal there?”

“I will do both building a terminal and also running the bus service business. I don’t have to invest all at once in the project, but just need to invest one step at a time.”

“Did your friend, who accompanied you on that trip, decide to go to China to oversee the business?”

“Yes, he did. Once he settles there, his wife will join him.”

“Doesn’t his wife have a job here?”

“There is a book café in the building where my office is in Sinsa Town. She is working there.”

“A book café? Then you will probably sell the book café, huh?”

“No. That book café is a part of the business that GH Media is running, where President Shin manages. She is an employee of GH Media.”

Young-Eun ate a lot of grilled pork belly. Gun-Ho commented when he noticed it, “You are eating like someone who hasn’t eaten anything for a while.”

“My husband is a big player from Gangnam. I’m not supposed to feel starving. Eat more, oppa.”

Young-Eun filled Gun-Ho’s empty glass with beer.

“Oppa, I have a favor to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Can you spare a small office space in your building for me? A 10 pyung large office will do.”

“10 pyung? I need to check with Director Kang. I’m not sure if we have a small office like that available. It seems like we split a 30 pyung large office space into tiny offices to rent them out.”

“I prefer a 10 pyung large office.”

Gun-Ho was wondering what she wanted to do with a small office.

“What are you up to? Are you going to use it for a research lab?”

“Hahaha. You can’t have a research lab in that small space considering all the equipment and all that.”

“Then what are you going to do with the space?”

“I want to use it as a medical volunteer work center for KOAF.”

“Don’t they have an office?”

“They do in Mapo Town. They are paying a high rent there, in addition to the salaries to their employees.”

“How many employees do they have?”

“They have two full-time employees— the head of center and one lady staff.”

“So, the office is being run with the funds that they receive from people’s donation. But once they pay for the rent and salaries for two people, they are not left with much to use for the actual medical support.”

“That’s right.”

“Oh, I actually applied for the membership with a membership fee of 100,000 won.”

“Oh, that was you. The head of the center told me the other day that someone joined the organization and is willing to pay 100,000 won membership fee.”

“Is the head of the center also a medical doctor?”

“No. He is more like in the administrative work side. He used to work for an NGO that supports medical volunteer work. The center’s chairman and the vice-chairman are medical doctors, but they work part-time.”

“Did you say that you are a non-executive director there?”

“Yeah, I’m a director and also a vice-chairman of the center.”

“The chairman must be someone you know from your medical school who used to be senior to you.”

“How much do you charge for an office in your building?”

“The building is being managed by Director Kang. I remember that he told me the other day that we charge 120,000 won per pyung. The price varies, though depending on the location.”

“The monthly rent for a 10-pyung large office should be 1.2 million won then. I think it’s too expensive for the center. I guess we will have to find another office space.”

“I thought you were asking me to lease the office to the center for free.”

“I can’t do that to you.”

“It’s okay. I can do that for you, Mrs. Goo.”

“Never mind.”

“Just let me know when you need it.”