Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

After the bank branch manager left, Gun-Ho was sitting in his office by himself.

He looked at his company’s organizational chart that was placed on the table.

“Should I restructure the company?”

He thought for a second and then put the chart back to the table.

“Let’s do it after Amiel from Lymondell Dyeon visits the company.”

Gun-Ho then made a call to Attorney Young-Jin Kim at Kim&Jeong.

“How are you doing these days? Are you still busy?”

“I’m doing well, and I am not that busy now.”

“Amiel from Lymondell Dyeon told me that he would visit my factory soon, and I haven’t heard from him yet.”

“Really?”

“I told him to come and see my factory and have a round of golf together.”

“Right. I heard that too. You also said we should go to that bar in Hannam Town and listen to that Gayageum again.”

“Do you think he forgot about it?”

“I will call and ask him.”

“Thank you. Please do so. I would do it myself if I could speak English.”

Gun-Ho received a call that Amiel was arriving at Gimpo International Airport.

“It’s good that he didn’t come to Incheon International Airport.”

Gun-Ho looked for an interpreter for the occasion since he didn’t want to ask Attorney Young-Jin Kim every time he needed an interpreter. He called for the general affairs manager.

“Do you speak English?”

“No, sir, but Assistant Manager Park from the research center speaks English very well.”

Gun-Ho called for Assistant Manager Park, and after a while, he knocked on Gun-Ho’s office. He was about the same age as Gun-Ho, and he was slim and was wearing glasses.

“Do you speak English well?”

“Not fluently, but I can speak English at a conversational level.”

“I was told that you majored in engineering so you work at the research center. Where did you learn English?”

“I served my military service in Korean Augmentation To the United States Army (KATUSA), and I also spent a year in the U.S. as an exchange student.”

“Hmm. We are expecting to have a visitor today. He is an American and the president of Lymondell Dyeon’s Japan office. Can you interpret for me?”

“Of course, sir.”

Assistant Manager Park was flushed with nervousness. He seemed to think that this was his opportunity to get closer to the president of the company that he was working for. However, it also could go the other way if he screwed up. He felt anxious.

Gun-Ho drove himself heading to Gimpo International Airport, accompanied by Assistant Manager Park from the research center.

The two men didn’t talk much on the way to the airport. Gun-Ho had nothing to ask him about, and Assistant Manager Park felt difficult to talk to the president. He wanted to ask Gun-Ho how he could have possibly acquired this company at his young age, but he didn’t dare ask Gun-Ho.

“The weather is really nice today.”

“That’s right, sir. According to the weather forecast, it will be sunny until this weekend.”

They simply talked about the weather until they arrived at the airport.

Amiel was walking out of the exit at the airport, and Gun-Ho could easily recognize him. The flight from Tokyo mostly had Asian passengers, especially Japanese, so the American man—Amiel—was standing out.

“Amiel!”

“Hey, President Goo.”

Before he could talk further, Gun-Ho introduced the interpreter—Assistant Manager Park—to Amiel.

“This is Assistant Manager Park; he is working at my company. He is here to interpret for us.”

“Really? How do you do?”

Amiel extended his hand to Assistant Manager Park for a handshake.

“This is the president of Lymondell Dyeon’s Japan branch.”

“Oh, really?”

“Since we have plenty of time, let’s take a brief tour of our factory in Asan City first before we go to his hotel—Palace Hotel in Gangnam. Please interpret for me.”

Assistant Manager said in English what Gun-Ho just said. He didn’t seem to be doing a very good job in interpreting though. Amiel seemed to try hard to understand what Assistant Manager Park said; maybe his pronunciation wasn’t easy to understand to native English speakers. Attorney Young-Jin Kim was more natural and relaxed when he talked with Amiel in English. However, Gun-Ho was okay with it as long as he could communicate with Amiel.

Amiel looked around the factory in Asan City.

“Hmm.”

Amiel nodded his head.

The chief officer of the research center came out and greeted Amiel. He had a Ph.D. from Germany, and he could speak English. However, it was about the same level as Assistant Manager Park. Gun-Ho thought he would have to hire three more people who could each speak English, Japanese, and Chinese.

When talking about work and technology, fluent English wasn’t necessary because they mostly used technical terms and jargon. The chief officer of the research center and Amiel were communicating fine. When the chief officer was explaining things, Amiel kept nodding his head. When Amiel asked something, the chief officer quickly understood what Amiel wanted to know. Amiel closely looked at the products and sometimes took a picture with his smartphone.

“Good.”

“Wonderful.”

Amiel seemed to be satisfied mostly.

Gun-Ho drove to Seoul with Amiel and Assistant Manager Park in his car. He reserved the Palace Hotel for Amiel, which was located close to Gangnam Express Bus Terminal.

“Please tell Amiel to leave his luggage in his room and come down to the lobby. Attorney Young-Jin Kim will be here soon.”

Assistant Manager Park interpreted for Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho was waiting for Amiel at the hotel lobby when Attorney Young-Jin Kim arrived.

“Gun-Ho Goo!”

“It has been a while. I heard you were so busy because of a patent infringement lawsuit.”

“You must be very busy yourself in acquiring the company. I wanted to visit your factory, but I just couldn’t make time for it.”

“No problem. Take your time. Our company is always open to you.”

Gun-Ho introduced Assistant Manager Park to Attorney Young-Jin Park.

“This is Young-Jin Park. He is an attorney at Kim&Jeong. He is a friend of mine.”

Assistant Manager Park gave a deep bow to Attorney Kim.

“Who is this?”

Attorney Kim looked at Gun-Ho with a question mark on his face.

“Oh, he is our employee. He came here with me to interpret for me.”

“Oh, I see.”

Attorney Kim offered his hand to Assistant Manager Park for a handshake.

Amiel came down to the lobby. He dressed casually.

“Hey, Young-Jin Kim!”

“Amiel!”

They hugged each other with a smile.

Young-Jin Kim and Amiel spent some time catching up at the lobby, and Young-Jin told Gun-Ho in Korean from time to time what he just talked with Amiel.

Assistant Manager Park seemed to be lost in admiration of Attorney Kim’s fluent English, and he was just staring at Attorney Kim. Attorney Kim looked like a native English speaker in Assistant Manager Park’s eyes; his pronunciation and gestures when he talked were so natural and so American. Assistant Manager Park shouldn’t have said that he could speak English well.

Gun-Ho said to Assistant Manager Park,

“Since Attorney Kim is here, you don’t have to interpret for me anymore. You did a good job today. You can take a bus to Asan City at the express bus station across the street.”

“Yes, sir. I will get going then.”

Assistant Manager Park gave a bow to Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho took out an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket.

“I do appreciate your work today. Here, use that to pay for the express bus to Asan City and for your dinner today.”

Assistant Manager Park took the envelope politely that Gun-Ho handed to him with his two hands.