Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho’s brother-in-law asked Gun-Ho.

“I read it from a newspaper not long ago that GH Mobile and an American company will start a joint venture soon, and they will build a new chemical factory. So are you building the factory now?”

“We just signed a letter of intent, and we haven’t made an actual contract yet.”

“Doesn’t that company need a transportation service for their products?”

“We haven’t gone that far yet.”

“If they need the service, I can do it.”

Gun-Ho’s sister who was sitting next to her husband told her husband, “We have received so much help from Gun-Ho already. Don’t ask him more.”

“I was just reminding him that he has an option to give that job to me since I am in that business. I didn’t say that he had to give me the job.”

“Gun-Ho doesn’t involve the family in his business. We might not be very helpful for his business, but we shouldn’t at least be an obstruction to him when he runs his business.”

“That… that’s true.”

Gun-Ho’s mother asked Gun-Ho while she was having a soup, “What did you say GH stands for?”

“It’s my name initials in English. I told you that last time, mom.”

“Why don’t you name it like Gun-Ho Business or Gun-Ho Industry or something like that? It’s easier to remember the company name that way. GH is hard to remember.”

Gun-Ho’s sister explained to her mother.

“It’s a trend, mom. A company should have an English name, especially if they do business with other countries like exporting or trading goods. If we name a company like Gun-Ho Business or Gun-Ho Industry, people from other countries wouldn’t remember the name of his company. It’s outdated too.”

Gun-Ho’s father filled Gun-Ho’s glass with liquor.

“Have a glass of liquor, son. You, my son-in-law, drink liquor too.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho and his brother-in-law responded simultaneously.

Gun-Ho drank a glass of Cheongju*.

“How come my aunt didn’t come today? We would have more fun together if she was here.”

Gun-Ho’s sister answered Gun-Ho’s wondering.

“She is not in a situation where she can visit us to spend Korean Thanksgiving Day together. She is having a serious problem with her daughter-in-law. I heard she even got into a physical altercation with her daughter-in-law last time. Her son—Jae-Woong—must have had a hard time being squeezed between those two women.”

“Jae-Woong is doing well at his work, right?”

“He was born to be a government worker, I guess. He is so indecisive on everything. He should pick a side either his mom’s side or his wife’s side and be firm. Those two women kept fighting all the time because Jae-Woong doesn’t do anything.”

Gun-Ho’s father talked quietly.

“Your aunt and her daughter-in-law are tough and stubborn. Well, your mom is too.”

“What did you just say?”

When Gun-Ho’s mother raised her voice, his father went into his room quietly.

A few days after the Korean Thanksgiving Day, the chief officer of the research center brought a man, who looked like he was in his early 50s, to the company.

The man was wearing a gold metal frame glasses, and he looked pale. He looked like a typical intellectual.

The research center’s chief officer asked Gun-Ho’s secretary, “Is President Goo in the office?”

“Yes, he is. He is watching an American soap opera.”

The chief officer of the research center entered Gun-Ho’s office and introduced the man to him.

“Sir, this is the person whom I talked to you about. He is the man with a Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in Germany.”

“A pleasure to meet you, sir. I am Won-Il Lee.”

Gun-Ho stood up and offered his hand to the man for a handshake.

“Very nice to meet you. I am Gun-Ho Goo. I’ve heard a lot about you from our research center’s chief officer.”

“Thank you.”

“Our research chief officer strongly recommended you as his successor for our research center. I’ve looked at your resume.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“I just had to see you in person before I decide to hire you, so I asked our research chief officer to bring you to our company.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Please have a seat.”

Gun-Ho asked a few questions to this Won-Il Lee person, just to verify if he understood things correctly that were written on his resume.

“As we move to this new location, we reallocated some of the research center workers to other departments.”

“I am aware of that.”

“If you join our company, you will have to hire new workers for the research center.”

“Yes, sir.”

“As you can see, we are not a big company. Our research equipment might not be enough.”

“I’ve looked around the research center earlier. It actually looks better than when the company was still Mulpasaneop. I’ve already verified that some of the equipments are still here. Also, I’ve noticed that the workers in the research center handle the research equipment better than before.”

“We still have time until our current chief officer of the research center retires; he will retire at the end of this year. We will review your file and will let you know our decision.”

“Yes, sir.”

The interviewee and the chief officer of the research center left the office, and after a while, the research chief officer came back to Gun-Ho’s office.

“What do you think of him, sir?”

“He looks decent, and he looks honest too.”

“I am not saying this because I recommended him to you, but he is a really smart man, and he is the right person for our research center. He is really passionate about his research, and I highly evaluate his performance in the research center. He is different from people like me who is old.”

“What sort of performance are you talking about?”

“He has several patents from BMW, G Auto, and the research center in Pangyo City where he is currently working at.”

“Are those patents commercialized?”

“He has one or two patents that were commercialized. He also made a presentation about his research outcome at the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology. He is a promising researcher, but the research center he is currently working for can’t fully support him.”

“I heard what you said, Mr. Chief Officer. I will review his file favorably since you recommended him.”

“If he joins our company, he won’t come by himself, but he probably will come with two or three other researchers. Research is a teamwork, so he probably has his own team.”

“Hmm.”

“So, if they come, I think we need to provide them a OneRoomTel or something.”

“I will take that into account.”

Gun-Ho received an email from President Jeong-Sook Shin of GH Media.

It was an annual sales report. The books that GH Media published so far were Professor Jien Wang’s book—Economy Prospect in China for the 21st Century, and three Japanese books about self-development, and one American business management book.

[The first edition of Professor Jien Wang’s book is sold out; there were 1,500 of them. We will print more of them. However, given the current sales speed, we won’t print more than its second edition.

Two of the three Japanese books haven’t sold much, so we won’t print more, but one Japanese book—The person who wakes up in the morning’s first and second edition—is sold out. We are printing its third edition. It could possibly be our best-selling book. Our current balance in the company account is 190 million won.]

“Hmmm. So she is saying that Professor Jien Wang’s book and the American business management book didn’t generate profits, but we didn’t lose money by publishing those books either. Two Japanese books incurred a loss, and one Japanese book is making profits. The publishing business is indeed a risky business. It is a business venture.”

Note*

Cheongju – a clear and refined rice wine.