Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The daily temperature range became great. People started wearing long sleeve shirts.

GH Mobile’s employees were now wearing a new uniform that was made for spring and autumn. The refreshing uniform was newly designed by GH Media’s design team leader—Ms. Min-Sook Oh.

GH Mobile’s company culture was gradually changing. The change was not planned by anyone, but it was made by GH Mobile’s workers themselves. They were working in an environmentally friendly and newly constructed factory in a new uniform. More and more workers voluntarily attended the English class every morning. It was all part of the recent changes at the factory.

Korean Thanksgiving Day came around the corner.

The general affairs manager came to Gun-Ho’s office with pamphlets of shopping stores such as E-Mart and NH Market. These pamphlets were introducing various gift options for Korean Thanksgiving Day.

“It is time to decide our Thanksgiving Day gifts for our workers. When the company was Mulpasaneop, we always gave gifts to our employees every year, so I think we’d better keep the same practice this year too.”

“What was the budget of a gift per worker during the Mulpasaneop days?”

“We usually gave a gift worth 30,000 won.”

“What sorts of gifts did they select?”

“A gift was determined during the joint meeting of staff and team leaders from each department. They usually selected a box of tuna cans or a box of sesame oils or kitchen utensils.”

“Since our company is doing better and better, let’s select a gift with a value of 60,000 won, twice more than what they used to receive when they worked for Mulpasaneop. They can choose gifts during a joint meeting as they have done so far.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The general affairs manager smiled broadly before he left Gun-Ho’s office.

Gun-Ho asked for the internal auditor.

“The creditors have been quiet lately. I guess that’s because the order of priority to repay our debt to creditors became clear because of you, Mr. Internal Auditor.”

“We started with paying off small debt first. As for the creditors with a large amount of our debt, we convinced them to wait for full repayment as we still do business with them.”

“Good job, Mr. Internal Auditor.”

“There are no more unpaid wages. The creditors for their wages have already dropped the seizure against our company’s assets.”

“So we just need to focus on our work now.”

“Yes, sir. Some of our customers that are usually big companies sometimes request our trial balance that shows accounts receivable or accounts payable. Now, we can proudly show them our trial balance without hesitation.”

“I feel so confident by having you on my side.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Gun-Ho’s secretary—Ms. Hee-Jeong Park—passed on a message to Gun-Ho through the interphone,

“Sir, I have a call on hold for you. It’s from Egnopak’s secretary’s office. They want to talk to you, sir.”

“Egnopak? What do they want to talk to me about?”

Gun-Ho picked up the phone. A lady was on the other line. She then said with a nice voice, “Our president is on the phone. He’d like to talk with you, sir.”

Then, Gun-Ho heard a man’s deep voice.

“Are you President Gun-Ho Goo?”

“Yes, this is he.”

“You once came to my company, right? With President Richard Amiel—Dyeon Japan’s president.”

“That’s correct. I visited you once before.”

“So you came to spy on me that time, huh? So you are actually running an auto parts company called GH Mobile, huh? But you said you were doing rental property business, didn’t you? And you gave me your business card that said GH Development.”

“That’s correct.”

“So you made me put my guard down by telling me that you were just a rental property businessman, and you fooled me. You knew I was talking with Lymondell Dyeon to do a joint venture with them! You stole information from me and fooled me behind my back?!”

“Please lower your voice. That was before I acquired GH Mobile.”

“I don’t f*cking care! Shame on you. Don’t call yourself a businessman, you crook! GH Mobile must be a tiny company. I will see how much longer your GH Development would last. I can make it close its business. You arrogant jerk!”

The president of Egnopak was furious and yelled at Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho remembered his toad-like face.

“You are crossing the line, sir.”

“What line? Who do you think you are? How old are you?”

Gun-Ho knew the nature of the presidents or the business owners who were born into a wealthy family. Gun-Ho had met a lot of those people on various occasions like a meeting or a gathering after he became a business owner himself. They were condescending and arrogant, and they thought they were better than anyone. The ones who had inherited their company rather than building it themselves tend to have a horrible attitude. Workers tend to accept and endure the abuse toward them made by their employers whether it was verbal or even physical abuse. Many of them acted as if they were a king, and many of them were immature and far from decent.

Many business owners and company presidents were surprisingly bad people; they were mean but weak. They were susceptible to stress and vulnerable in general. They were arrogant and cruel with the weak, and they were nice and modest with the strong. The president of Egnopak was born into an affluent family, and he inherited his company from his father. Gun-Ho thought that he had to make sure that Egnopak’s president wouldn’t see him as a weak person, so he firmly said in a low voice.

“Sir, are you ill?”

“What? What did you say?”

“If you want to keep your company in the current size, you’d better maintain your calmness. You could lose your entire company with nothing left to pass on to your next generation.”

“What the he*l are you talking about?”

“I used to work at a factory as a factory worker, and I came this far without anyone’s help. I have lived a tough life, and you don’t want to mess with me. So, just be quiet and stay calm for your own good, and you’d better not provoke me.”

And then, Gun-Ho hung up the phone.

“Crazy son of a b*tch! He is on a serious power trip, and he thinks it will work on me.”

Gun-Ho smiled. He realized that he had changed a lot.

“I used to feel extremely envious of the workers of Egnopak when I saw the company’s job posting on Job Korea a few years back. I wondered what kind of people would get a position in that big company. The qualification that Egnopak required to get a job there was unbelievably high. Their competition rate was 100:1. It is a KOSDAQ registered company, and I just had a big fight with its owner president. Now, I am in that sort of level. Hahaha.”

It was Korean Thanksgiving Day.

Gun-Ho headed to his home where his parents were living in with his sister’s family while carrying Korean Ginseng Corporation’s ginseng and a bundle of dried yellow corvine. Gun-Ho’s niece—Jeong-Ah—grew tall while her parents seemed to shrink in height. Gun-Ho could see more wrinkles in their faces. They were having a comfortable life because of Gun-Ho’s help, but they couldn’t stop their aging process. After the memorial service, Gun-Ho’s family sat at a table altogether.