Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband started going to work at GH Logistics in Seonghwan City in order to make a smooth transition of the work. Jae-Sik Moon would hand over all the work to them. According to Jae-Sik, he would stop coming to GH Logistics once the final payment of the sales proceeds for the GH Logistics’ property was received. They would better make good use of the time while Jae-Sik was still there.

Jae-Sik took Gun-Ho’s brother-in-law to the GH Logistics’ client companies to introduce him to them. The bookkeeper lady in GH Logistics showed Gun-Ho’s sister the overall bookkeeping work such as how to issue tax invoices, bringing expense slips to the tax accountant office, filing Four Major Public Insurance, and filing VAT.

Gun-Ho was reading a newspaper after receiving a brief report at his office in GH Mobile that day when Secretary Hee-Jeong Park came in and informed him that someone was here to see him.

“Sir, someone is at the security office to see you. She said she is your sister.”

“My sister? Let her through.”

A moment later, Gun-Ho’s office door was opened, and Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband walked in as Ms. Hee-Jeong Park stepped aside to let them in.

“Why are you guys here?”

Gun-Ho’s sister said, “GH Logistics’ bookkeeper lady said she hadn’t done any computerized accounting work before. So, I was thinking maybe you can show me how to do it. By the way, this company is way bigger than I expected. I thought it would be about the same size as GH Logistics.”

“Well, since you are here, why don’t we have tea?”

Gun-Ho asked his secretary to bring them tea.

“How many workers are working here?”

“There are 300 workers.”

“What? Did you say 300?!”

Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband were acting funny. They acted so carefully while having a cup of tea in Gun-Ho’s office.

“Do you outsource any work? Any contractors are working here?”

“No, we don’t. All of the workers here are our employees.”

“We’ve encountered several workers here on the way to your office. They all look very smart, and they are wearing a uniform with a name tag on their chest. You are the only person who is not wearing a uniform.”

“You won’t need to come often to this company. Since you came all the way here, why don’t you have a tour of our factory before you leave?”

Gun-Ho called for Director Jong-Suk Park via the interphone.

A moment later, Director Jong-Suk Park came into the office.

“Director Park! You remember my sister, right? These are my sister and my brother-in-law.”

“Gun-Sook sister?”

“Sister, don’t you remember Director Park? His mother used to run a Seolleongtang (an ox bone soup) restaurant in our hometown while we were growing up.”

“Oh, oh, that’s right. He looked familiar. Of course, I do remember him.”

Jong-Suk smiled and extended his hand to them for a handshake.

“Gun-Sook sister, I still remember the day when you beat me with a duster because I was talking too loud. You were studying for an exam that day.”

“Did I really do that?”

“Mr. Director Park, can you show them around the factory?”

Jong-Suk Park gave a tour of the company to Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband.

“Do you see the machines standing in a line? They are hydraulic press machines.”

“Oh, I see. They look great.”

“And this is an injection mold manufacturing site.”

Fresh and hot parts were being produced, and the machines were picking up the parts and placing them in another container. A line of lady workers in uniform was trimming the products with a small cutting device, in a sitting position.

“Hmm.”

It was not their first time in a factory. Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband used to work in a factory; however, the factory that they were standing on was way larger than any factory that they had been to before. They wouldn’t even be able to find a job in a factory this big on their own in Incheon City. They didn’t know anyone who was working in a large factory like this.

Being surprised by the size of the company, Gun-Ho’s sister was thinking, ‘It’s amazing that Gun-Ho is running a huge factory like this one. How did he manage to open a company like this? He used to ask me for money since he couldn’t make enough money while studying to prepare for the level-9 government job exam in Noryangjin Town. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I don’t feel like Gun-Ho is my little brother any longer.’

Gun-Ho’s brother-in-law asked Director Jong-Suk Park, “The building over there has a sign saying it’s a research center. What do they research?”

“Mostly, they develop new products. Whenever we receive a product development request from a client company with a product drawing, we make the product there and test it in our research center. Several doctors are working there. Our chief officer at the research center got his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany. Would you like to take a look at the research center as well?”

“No, it’s okay. It wouldn’t be necessary, but thank you.”

Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband were still acting carefully. They didn’t want to bother anyone there, and they didn’t want to do anything that could hurt Gun-Ho’s reputation in the company.

After having a tour, Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband came back to Gun-Ho’s office.

“How was it?”

“It was great. The factory is magnificent.”

Gun-Ho asked for the accounting director—Ms. Min-Hwa Kim. When she came to the office, Gun-Ho introduced his sister and her husband to her.

“These people will be working for GH Logistics. They want to see how to work with computerized accounting. Would you show them?”

“Is GH Logistics using computerized accounting software?”

“No, not yet, but they are planning to start using one soon. Just show them an overview of the work.”

“Yes, sir.”

The accounting director gave a bow to Gun-Ho in a respectful manner, but she showed an attitude of superiority to Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband. Well, maybe that was because she was obviously older than Gun-Ho’s sister. She was probably five years older than her.

“Ms. Assistant Manager Kim!”

Director Min-Hwa Kim called for an assistant manager as she was walking toward her desk. She asked the assistant manager to take care of Gun-Ho’s sister.

“These people are from GH Logistics. Show them how to use the computerized accounting software.”

The assistant manager frowned as she had to take care of Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband, which was extra work for her. She told Gun-Ho’s sister dryly to sit in front of a computer.

“You know how to do journalizing, right?”

“Huh? Journalizing?”

“Aren’t you the person who is in charge of bookkeeping in GH Logistics?”

“Umm… Yes… I am.”

Gun-Ho’s sister couldn’t understand a thing while the assistant manager was explaining. There was no way for her to understand the work with her shallow knowledge that she had gained by watching the bookkeeper at the nursing home working over her shoulder. Gun-Ho’s sister kept saying “okay,” “yes,” “I see” vacantly without understanding it, and she finally went back to Gun-Ho’s office. When she entered the president’s office, Gun-Ho was not there. He already left for Dyeon Korea for his afternoon work that day.

Gun-Ho’s sister and her husband headed to Seonghwan City back to GH Logistics, in their Sonata.

“Gun-Ho seems to be doing great. I still can’t believe he is the owner president who is running a company that big.”

“I know, right? I have no idea how he started it. He has another company like this one in Asan City, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s called Dyeon Korea. GH Logistics’ three freight trucks are currently working for that Dyeon Korea company in Asan City. They outsourced their transportation work to us.”

“That’s not it. He has a huge building in Gangnam District, right? And, he has a factory in China too. It’s unbelievable. When I got married to you, your little brother was studying for a government job exam in Noryangjin Town. He was skinny at that time. Now he looks totally different. He is in good shape, and he is radiating the vibes of a professional businessman. He built up all these in less than ten years. Is it even possible?”

“I don’t know. I have no idea how he came this far.”