Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

President Jeong-Sook Shin came up from the 18th floor to visit Gun-Ho’s office.

“We have sold 2,000 of our costume play magazines so far. I think we won’t have any problem selling 3,000 magazines by next month once the magazine for the next month comes out.”

“Are we then beyond the Break Even Point?”

“By the time when we sold 2,000 magazines, we already reached our Break Even Point. Now we are going smoothly.”

“Isn’t the effect of a new opening?”

“The effect of a new opening? Hahaha. You know that exists, huh?”

“I once ran a Vietnamese noodle soup restaurant in Noryangjin Town a long time ago. I received tons of customers in the beginning, but it turned out that it was just the effect of a new opening. I had to close the restaurant later on. I hope that doesn’t happen to our costume play magazine business.”

“Oh, you had a Vietnamese noodle soup restaurant?”

“Yes, I did. My restaurant was located right behind a gas station in an alley. It was a small restaurant around 10 pyung large. I used to help my cooking lady with boiling noodles in my tiny kitchen.”

“Wow. It seems that you’ve been through a lot and gained extensive and various experiences on the way. No wonder why you are so good at running a business.”

“Well, I’m not sure about that, but it is true that it was a very good experience.”

“As to the number of sales of our costume play magazine, I don’t believe that the beauty of a new opening played its role in enabling us to sell 2,000 of them. I anticipate selling even more once the good word of mouth started spreading.”

“Hmm, I really hope so. By the way, did you start getting new contents for the magazine next month?”

“We have more than 100 photos taken by Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda during the event at SETEC nearby Hangnyeoul Station last time. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda is a natural-born storyteller. He can tell a lot of things based on even one photo. He can write a three to four page story in an A4 paper by looking at just one piece of photo. His over twenty years of work experience in the media industry trained him really well, I guess.”

“Hmm, is that right?”

“After our magazine was published, we started getting inquiries from the stores that sell costumes. They want to place their stores’ advertisement on our magazine. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda is currently contacting several costume stores in Japan and see if there is a way to buy costumes and items from them directly.”

“If we can place some advertisements in our magazine, that could be good income for us too.”

“If we could make enough profits by placing advertisements to cover any expenses incurred in producing our magazine, that would be great.”

“You seem to truly enjoy your work, President Shin. I really like that.”

“I do actually, but the thing is that—that was one of the reasons why I am still single. But, I am happy with my life. Once I get old and possibly become ill, I guess Young-Eun will help me out. Hahaha.”

“Haha. Don’t be ill. You should take care of yourself while you can.”

“Oh, I was going to remind you of this. Mr. Sakata Ikuzo’s wood carving exhibition will be held this month.”

“Oh, that’s right. It’s already mid-July.”

“Two Japanese gentlemen— Our Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda and Mr. Sakata Ikuzo in Yokohama— are frequently talking over the phone these days. It’s really nice to have someone in GH Media, who speaks Japanese fluently. Whenever we have to talk with Mr. Sakata Ikuzo regarding his art exhibition, Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda calls him directly.”

“Hmm, that’s good.”

“We already started getting his artworks for the exhibition. We are working on organizing them.”

“Oh, that’s why the art gallery is closed.”

“His art exhibition will open next week, and we invited journalists over for the day after tomorrow.”

“Did we invite journalists before opening the exhibition?”

“Technically, Mr. Sakata Ikuzo is not an artist. Most people in the art industry don’t know of him and are unfamiliar with his artworks, so I wanted to invite the journalists in the field over a cocktail party to introduce his artworks and talk about him.”

“Do you think the journalists will accept the invitation?”

“The journalist in the culture and art field will be there. We will distribute the pamphlets and also provide them with lunch.”

“Hmm, I see.”

In the afternoon, Gun-Ho received a call from President Jae-Sik Moon.

“We got the rental property in Siheung City.”

“Oh, really? That’s nice. Well done, President Moon.”

“You have visited the place already, haven’t you?”

“I have.”

“So, you are good with the property, right? I will pay for the remaining rent then.”

“Sure, do it.”

“That f*cking Korea Asset Management Corporation is asking to pay for the entire rent within a week.”

“Yeah, I think I heard of that. Usually, the court gives one month to make the payment, but for the public auction done on Onbid, they give you only a week to pay for it.”

“We have to make a lease agreement with that daycare center too for our office use.”

“Yes, we should.”

“Since your brother-in-law will run the business, maybe he should sign the rental agreement. What do you think?”

“Umm… I think you should sign it. You are still GH Logistics’ president.”

“Okay. I will go to that daycare center tomorrow and sign the contract. Did your brother-in-law sell his wing body truck?”

“I heard that his colleague wanted to buy it from him.”

“I think he needs to take care of the weeds on the property first.”

“I will talk to him about it. And, did that person come to see the land? You said that someone from a cosmetic factory is interested in buying GH Logistics’ land.”

“Oh, yes, he came. He took several photos of the land.”

“Did you tell him about our price?”

“Yes, I told him that we want 1.5 million won per pyung. He shook his head side to side when he heard the price.”

“Do you think we are asking too much?”

“I think our price is high. I asked two real estate agents in this area about how much would be adequate for our land. One said 1.2 million won per pyung would sound reasonable, and the other said he would place it for 1.3 million won.”

“Hmm, the entire property is 5,000 pyung large. If 1.2 million won per pyung is our price, it would be 6 billion won. And, if we ask 1.3 million won, then it would be 6.5 billion won.”

“As some say, a real estate chooses its owner. A low price doesn’t guarantee its quick selling, and a high price doesn’t really mean that no one would buy it.”

“You are good, Jae-Sik.”

“Haha. Do you think I can cook lomein at least?”

“Not just lomein, man. You can now cook rice.”

“Speaking of which, those Chinese people are really bad. They want to bring in a 10,000 pyung large land in a small city to fulfill their part of investment, and they are saying it’s worth 25 billion won, huh? And we are supposed to bring in 25 billion won in cash.”

“That’s why they would issue us a business license to run an intercity bus service business.”

“But still, it doesn’t sound so fair. I will make sure they understand how unfair it is once I get there.”

“Haha. Sure. Keep up the good work.”

After getting off the phone with Jae-Sik Moon, Gun-Ho thought,

‘I guess Jae-Sik will deal with Chinese business partners just fine once he starts working in China. I guess the real property transactions for GH Logistics so far trained him really well in dealing with people.’