Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho didn’t play golf well of course, as expected.

“You need to practice more, Mr. Class Manager. You will have to come to the country club more often.”

“Haha, I’m sorry, sir.”

The minister’s wife seemed to be curious about Gun-Ho Goo maybe because Gun-Ho was the youngest man in the group. He was in his 30s while others were all in their 50s.

“I feel younger by playing with a young man.”

Even though they were in their 50s, they were all energetic. Gun-Ho was the only one who felt tired quickly.

‘What do these people eat at home? Are they eating wild ginseng every day or something? They don’t look tired at all even after we made a round of 27 holes.’

Gun-Ho lost the game as expected.

“Well, I guess Mr. Class President will buy lunch for us today.”

“Sure. Let’s go to my area.”

“Where exactly is your area?”

“Let’s go to Cheonan City.”

“Oh, by the way, you brought a different car today. Since your chauffeur is not here with you, this is probably your personal vehicle, huh?”

“Yes, it is. I didn’t have a chance to wash it. It’s a bit dirty today. Well, please follow me.”

Gun-Ho told the minister’s chauffeur how to get to the Korean restaurant in Cheonan City—Seungjiwon. Mr. CEO Park said he had been to that restaurant before.

Before food started coming out, everyone wiped their hands with wet tissues. At the moment, Gun-Ho gave his business card to the minister’s wife and A Electronics’ CEO Park. While the minister’s spouse put the business card into her purse quickly, the A Electronics’ CEO took his time looking at it closely.

Minister Jin-Wook Lee said, “So, your factory is around here?”

“Yes, it is. It’s about 15 minutes away from here. It’s not a big factory though.”

CEO Park asked, “How large is it?”

“Its land is around 5,000 pyung large.”

The minister said after taking a sip of his beer, “A 5,000 pyung large land is not small.”

“Mr. Minister, do you go to Emerson Country Club pretty often?”

“Not as often as I want to. I go there when I have a meeting in Sejong city or when I need to visit our family gravesite.”

“I like the food here. It’s delicious and neat.”

The minister’s wife seemed satisfied with the food there, and Gun-Ho also was happy that she enjoyed the food that he chose for them. After lunch, when Gun-Ho was about to pay for it, CEO Park stopped Gun-Ho and said, “It’s already paid.”

“Huh? I was supposed to pay for it.”

Minister Jin-Woo Park who was standing behind them laughed and said, “You can buy us lunch next time, Mr. Class Manager.”

“Would you like to visit my factory on the way back to Seoul, sir?”

“Well, we will have to do that next time too.”

They said good-bye in front of the restaurant—Seungjiwon—in Baekseok Town.

Before taking off, A Electronics’ CEO Park gave his business card to Gun-Ho and said, “I will see you around.”

It was already mid-July, and hot summer days continued.

When Gun-Ho was receiving a report from GH Mobile’s executive officers in his office, President Jae-Sik Moon visited him.

“Huh? President Moon?”

“I came here to talk with the general affairs director. I wanted to see you before leaving.”

“Our general affairs director?”

“Yeah, I discussed with him about hiring my two workers.”

“What did he say?”

“After reviewing their resumes, he said that he could give an office job in the production site to my bookkeeper.”

“An office work in the production site?”

“She will work with recording mostly, like product inventory, shipping, and storage on a daily basis.”

“There was no one doing those tasks here?”

“There was one, but it seems that that person is moving to another department soon.”

“Hmm, really? That’s great.”

“Haha. Yeah, I think she will like the job here better.”

“What about that male worker? Your office manager?”

“With his certificates, he would be given a team lead position right away.”

“Oh, he has multiple certificates in addition to a certificate on vehicle maintenance?”

“He actually has a certificate on waste management as well, and the general affairs director wanted to hire him right away when he saw that certificate.”

“That’s good for them. Did you negotiate their salaries as well?”

“They will get paid more here like 100,000 won more per month.”

“I think your workers will have no problem working for GH Mobile then.”

“I told them about the changes last week while having dinner together after work. I told them that once we sell GH Logistics’ land, I will talk with GH Mobile if they could get a job for them, and they told me to plant them into it right away.”

“Planting them?”

“Yeah, like planting them into GH Mobile.”

“Haha. They used the word ‘plant’ when they meant to place them in a job.”

“Did you put the real property on the market?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You haven’t heard anything yet, have you?”

“Nothing yet, but when I visited a website where real estate buyers post their inquiries, there were several people who were looking for large land over 5,000 pyung for factory use.”

“Really?”

“I made a call to three of them. Two were real estate agents, and one was a factory’s director. I asked that director to visit our factory.”

“That’s nice.”

“He is coming at 11 am today. It seems that his factory is in Hwaseong City, and they want to expand their location.”

“What are they manufacturing?”

“Cosmetics, he said.”

“Cosmetics? I think the location is good for a cosmetic factory. They just need to build a pretty factory on it.”

“I will let you know after meeting with him.”

“Sounds good. The parcel of land that was flattened is still good, right? I was worried when it heavily rained last week.”

“It’s fine. They did a great job kneading the ground with the combination roller.”

“How much do you think would be adequate to ask for that land, considering the current fair market value?”

“According to the Seonghwan Civil Engineering Firm that did the flattening work on our land, we will be able to sell it for 1.5 million won per pyung.”

“1.5 million won per pyung? Then, it will be 7.5 billion won.”

“I think we should price it for 7.5 billion won, and adjust the price later.”

“Well, I don’t know if there would be anyone who would pay that much.”

“When we bought the land with the auto repair shop, we paid 2 million won per pyung. I think 1.5 million won per pyung is reasonable.”

“Well, that was a small parcel of land. Now, we have a large land with access to the public road on one side.”

“Let’s see. I will try to convince potential buyers who visit the land.”

“You should discuss it with real estate agents in the area. They should know better. And tell them that we will pay them a good commission once the land is sold for a good price.”

“Okay, I will do that.”

“And also, don’t forget to watch the Onbid thing.”

“Don’t worry about it. I keep an eye on it every day. We don’t want any competitor for the same land. There is none who shows interest in that property so far. That land is not appealing to everyone including farmers; it’s too expensive to use the land for farming. It has to be someone like us doing business in this specific field.”