Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Once the young ladies with a guitar left the room, Chairman Lee finally talked about the building.

“President Park, why don’t you just sell your building to the person who really wants to buy it? You never know if you will find another person who would want your building. Let’s make it 200 billion won.”

“If I sell it for that price, nothing much would be left in my hand. Once I sell the building, I want to share the sales proceeds with my children. Moreover, I am not losing money by keeping that building even though I’m not making much money from it, either.”

“Then you’d better keep that building.”

“I want to sell that building because of my children. They try to financially rely on me just because I have that big building. I want them to become more independent.”

“What about your second daughter? She is doing well, right? Her husband is running a hospital.”

“Same thing. Even though you have enough money, you want more. That’s money.”

“How much do you want to sell that building for then?”

“210 billion won.”

“What about you, President Goo? How much are you willing to pay for that building?”

“My offer is 200 billion won, sir.”

“Hmm. Let’s do this then. What about you both meet halfway like 205 billion won? Let’s close the deal with that price. Don’t say anything more. Attorney Kim! Pull out the contract.”

“Yes, sir.”

“No, no, that’s… Well… Okay! Let’s do it!”

“Good. My friend, let’s sell that building and have fun traveling to Goesan Town to see Master Park.”

Gun-Ho acquired the building in Sinsa Town, Gangnam District for 205 billion won.

It seemed that President Park wanted to let his children and others find out that his building was sold because he leaked the sale of his building to the press. Not just the economic newspaper but even a daily newspaper talked about President Park’s building’s sale.

[RiverStar Building in Sinsa Town, Gangnam District has sold for 205 billion won. The building is located at the entrance of Garosugil Road on the main street. It has been a landmark in the area. The building is also a popular place to meet someone since they have a huge coffee shop. The buyer of the building is Mr. Gun-Ho Goo (35) who is known as a big player of Gangnam. Mr. Gun-Ho Goo is known as a successful and wealthy businessman in the area of OneRoomTel rental property business and also auto parts manufacturing.]

Once the news article was published, people who knew Gun-Ho Goo were astonished.

“I knew he had some money, but I didn’t know he is that rich.”

People seemed to assume that Gun-Ho had 205 billion won in cash. Gun-Ho’s high school friends couldn’t even give a call to Gun-Ho to congratulate him on acquiring the building because Gun-Ho didn’t seem to be living in the same world as they were.

The president of Egnopak read the news article as well.

“Hmm. This young man is doing very well. Maybe he has someone behind him, someone who is really rich. According to my investigation, he has no connection with any politician, but he is doing too well. I think I will have to step on him before he grows too big.”

Egnopak’s president called for his son who was in the US and also the in-house attorney in the company, in order to discuss what they were going to do about Gun-Ho.

Gun-Ho went to Seongil Polymer with GH Mobile’s purchasing team’s manager to Suwon.

The president of Seongil Polymer looked nervous when he saw Gun-Ho.

“Our company is so small that you might not feel very comfortable. Please sit at the middle of the table, sir.”

“It’s not small. The building is new. Do you have storage in a separate building?”

“Our storage is located in the building next door. This building is being used for just office work.”

“Forgive me if I am too blunt. Why did you do that?”

“We are currently experiencing great financial difficulty. We have 30 employees, and it’s really hard to pay them all the time these days. We can’t lower the product cost that we supply to your company—GH Mobile. I couldn’t think of any other way to sustain my company.”

“You could have come and talked to me about the situation. You could have asked us to raise the product cost. You shouldn’t have just filed a lawsuit without trying to work it out with us first.”

“That was… umm…”

“We filed our objection to the court for now. I guess we will have a trial soon.”

“Is there any way that you could just pay off the debt?”

“You mean the entire 300 million won all at once?”

“Well… umm…”

“Let’s be honest. What was the deal with the president of Egnopak?”

“Egnopak’s president? What are you talking about?”

“I already figured out the situation. What did he promise you?”

“I think you misunderstood me, President Goo. This has nothing to do with Egnopak’s president.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Seongil Polymer has been a good business partner even when GH Mobile was still Mulpasaneop; you have provided us with raw materials for more than ten years. You are very well aware of our company’s situation, and additionally, you agreed on our installment payment plan. We were so overwhelmed when we found out that you filed a lawsuit against us.”

“I am so sorry.”

“I am very disappointed with Seongil Polymer. The way how Seongil Polymer handled the situation was really disappointing. Don’t blame us later for any consequences regarding your lawsuit against us.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

“I will keep an eye on your business with Egnopak and see if they’re buying more products from your company.”

“You keep saying Egnopak, but this has nothing to do with them.”

“Well, it is pointless to talk with you any further since you refuse to be honest with me. Mr. Purchasing Manager, let’s go back to our company.”

On the way to GH Mobile in Jiksan Town, Gun-Ho said to the manager, “Stop the business with Seongil Polymer starting tomorrow. We can find another company for the raw materials we are buying from Seongil Polymer, right?”

“Yes, but we will have to let our customer companies know that we are changing the supplier who provides the raw materials for our products.”

“Then tell them that we changed our raw material supplier—Seongil Polymer—to another company because we found some foreign substances from their raw materials.”

“Yes, sir. I have a question, sir. What do we have to do with Egnopak?”

“They were the competitor for the joint venture project that I am trying to build in Asan City.”

Gun-Ho went to Seoul to pay President Park for the building he was buying. He used his cash, a loan from a bank, and a loan from Capital.”

Gun-Ho then sent Manager Kang and Ji-Young to the building to grasp the current state of tenants in the building. Manager Kim, the lady who was the secretary and also the person in charge of the accounting, handed a chart over to Manager Kang. The chart was very well organized with information about the entire tenants of the building.

“I guess the tenants will all stay, and we just need to vacate this office.”

Gun-Ho was thinking of sending Director Yoon, Manager Jong-Suk Park and the general affairs manager to the building in Sinsa town. He wanted them to retrieve the building’s design drawings and the information about the current workers, and he also wanted them to check the facility.

Gun-Ho made a call to Manager Kang of GH Development.

“Manager Kang, I am sending GH Mobile’s director who is in charge of construction, technical manager, and general affairs manager to the building. They are the experts in the building construction and system. Let them use President Park’s office for now. And once the acquisition process is complete, discuss with Director Yoon who is in charge of construction and do the interior work. I will need my office there. Let go of some of the tenants whose lease contract expires soon and who are occupying 19th or 18th floor and use that space to make my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

Manager Kang was so worried when Gun-Ho first told him that he would acquire the building in Sinsa Town. It was enormous in size, and he was overwhelmed about the work he might have to handle. There were security guards, a cleaning crew, boiler technician, automatic parking system handlers, and so on, and Manager Kang couldn’t decide where he should start his work. When Gun-Ho told him that he would send the experts in the field, he felt a sense of relief. He let out a deep sigh of relief.