Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Young-Eun’s father thought that Gun-Ho was just a businessman who was running a small company, and he made his money by investing in the stock market or trading some real properties. But, when he had met Gun-Ho in person, he looked like a decent man. He seemed to be a sensible man who would respect his in-laws as well. That was how Young-Eun’s father accepted Gun-Ho as part of his family and approved Young-Eun’s marriage with him.

Gun-Ho’s father-in-law often received questions about his son-in-law from his friends or others whenever he attended a social gathering with them. They asked what his son-in-law was doing for a living, expecting to hear that he was either a medical doctor or someone in the legal field with a law license. Whenever Young-Eun’s father told them that his son-in-law was running a small business, they looked disappointed; those people didn’t even try to hide their disappointment.

“Your daughter is a smart girl who graduated from a top university—Seoul National University—and she is a medical doctor. And, she is a pretty girl too. I’ve never thought that she would marry a businessman who is running a small company.”

Seeing that sort of reaction made by his friends certainly wasn’t pleasant to Young-Eun’s father. But, things became different once those people started learning that Young-Eun was living in a condo in TowerPalace Condo Complex driving a Genesis that her husband bought for her, also that Gun-Ho owned a large building in Gangnam District. They began to look at Gun-Ho’s father-in-law with a different look.

[You know the company called Dyeon Korea, that people talk about a lot lately because it is a theme stock. His son-in-law owns that company.]

[Is that right? Should we buy its stock now, so we can make money?]

Moreover, the company, that was receiving a lot of public attention recently because it was deemed to be a theme stock, was the company that his son-in-law was running. And, it was not the only company that his son-in-law owned, but he had several other businesses as well. Gun-Ho’s father-in-law’s friends and people around him were now jealous of him. Some of them asked him if it would be a good idea for them to buy his son-in-law’s company stock.

Gun-Ho’s father-in-law enjoyed buying a drink for his friends. He had worked as a teacher in a public elementary school before he retired, and he had a good pension with which he was receiving 3 million won per month. That was not the only source of money for him. His daughter often gave him money as well. Young-Eun was making good money by working as a medical doctor, and she also received a good amount of living expenses from Gun-Ho as well. So, she had enough money to share with her father. Since Young-Eun’s father seemed to be financially affluent, and he was willing to spend money for his friends, his friends forced him to lead their regular social gatherings.

After dinner, Gun-Ho, Young-Eun, and Young-Eun’s father were watching TV in the living room. At that moment, they could hear Sang-Min crying in the master bedroom; he probably woke up. Young-Eun quickly ran into the master bedroom and held Sang-Min and brought him to the living room.

“Look, your daddy is here.”

Gun-Ho held Sang-Min and gave a bunch of kisses on his cheek. Every parent loved their kids no matter what, and Gun-Ho was not an exception to it. The baby was laughing happily. Gun-Ho took Sang-Min to his bed and let him lie down comfortably. He could smell Young-Eun from the baby. For Gun-Ho, spending time with his baby boy was the happiest moment in his life. He soon fell asleep with his boy next to him.

Gun-Ho went to work in GH Building, Sinsa Town. He sat at his desk and turned on his computer. He then opened the stock trading application. Dyeon Korea’s stock price was still on the rise. There was not even a slight indication that it would turn downward.

“Hmm, this is too much. The price is going up way too high. If we keep going like this, I’m sure that we will hear small investors’ crying later.”

Gun-Ho felt worried about the possible and very plausible consequences that would ensue this unusual price increase of his company’s stock. He then started reading economic newspapers. There were several news articles about Dyeon Korea.

[Stock market experts are warning investors about investing in the stock market by purchasing theme stocks without having enough information about the companies. Dyeon Korea’s stock price was 5,600 per share a month ago, and the price increased substantially recently, and its unit share price is now exceeding 46,000 won. Stock market experts keep telling the public that they should be extra careful when they decide to buy theme stocks. Dyeon Korea is a financially stable company with a strong business; however, they stated that even so, its market capitalization does not exceed 1 trillion won.]

Gun-Ho stood up from his desk and walked to the sofa and sat there. The sofa was comfortable enough to make him sleepy. Gun-Ho dozed off on the sofa for a while and then he fell asleep. He didn’t have enough sleep last night because his son woke up and cried in the middle of the night.

He woke up to the sound of his smartphone. Someone was calling him, and he quickly answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Hi. We have an excellent promotion going on with our internet service. We provide up to 50% discount if you are a new customer…”

“Sh*t! It’s just a telemarketing call.”

At that moment, his smartphone started ringing again.

“How come am I receiving this many telemarketing calls?”

When he looked at the telephone number shown on his phone, it was from Mr. Adam Castler.

“Good morning, boss. I will let my interpreter talk to you, sir.”

Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae took the phone.

“It’s Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae, sir.”

“What is it about?”

“Mr. Vice President Adam Castler made a call to the head office last night right after he met with you at the Seoul Station. Since there was a time difference between here and the U.S., he could manage to call them at night.”

“Hmm, he did?”

“And, he received a response from the head office early this morning. They told him to go ahead selling the stock, the same number of shares that GH Mobile would sell. Try to sell 3%, and if that doesn’t stabilize the stock price, we can sell the stock up to 10%. But, we have to make sure that we keep the same portion of the ownership interest as GH Mobile.”

“I see. Well done.”

Gun-Ho made a call to the branch manager of Gangnam Stock Brokerage Company.

“Sir, to what do I owe the pleasure of the call?”

“I want to calm the stock price, and I want to sell some of Dyeon Korea’s shares owned by its major shareholders, in the stock market.”

“That is a good idea, sir.”

“I will let Gangnam Stock Brokerage Company handle the work.”

“Thank you, sir. I will work on it right away. Actually, I was going to make a recommendation for it, sir. If the stock price goes up irrationally high, a lot of small investors will get hurt at the end, and we don’t want that to happen.”

“Let’s start selling 100,000 shares, and later 200,000 shares, and up to 500,000 shares. But, you have to keep in mind that since we are a joint venture company we have to keep the same portion of company ownership interest with our partner. GH Mobile and Lymondell Dyeon must keep the same amount of ownership interest. So, we have to sell our stock with an equal amount of shares.”

“I understand what you mean, sir. Usually, when major shareholders start selling their shares, the stock price gets stabilized.”

“Let’s start it today.”

“Yes, sir.”