Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho was walking up to the second floor heading to his office when he ran into the assistant manager from the general affairs team.

“Mr. Park, can you come to my office now?”

“Yes, sir.”

The assistant manager followed Gun-Ho to the president’s office.

“I saw you running around earlier to serve coffee to the workers. I think we need to hire a new worker for that sort of job. Since you have been working in the general affairs department, you probably handled Four Major Public Insurance before. Am I right?”

“Yes, sir. I was actually in charge of handling Four Major Public Insurance.”

“Great. Why don’t you then file Four Major Public Insurance for the workers here in Dyeon Korea?”

“We’ve already done it, sir, while we were still in the Jiksan location, right before we moved to Dyeon Korea.”

“Hmm. That’s good. Then, create an account with WorkNet with the name of Dyeon Korea and hire one female worker.”

“What position are we posting?”

“We need an office assistant for the general affairs team who can provide support to other workers in the team with word processing skills. We prefer someone who is from this area—

Asan City, and I want her to take care of the coffee vending machine as well.”

“Director Kim mentioned the other day that a government officer who attended our building dedication ceremony left a resume with him. He said it was for his sister-in-law who is looking for a job.”

“Really? Then bring me her resume; I will review it.”

While Gun-Ho was talking with the assistant manager, Mr. Adam Castler entered Gun-Ho’s office with three American engineers. The interpreter was following them to the office.

“These are the engineers from Dyeon America. They will work with us for the next three months.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Gun-Ho stood up from his seat and offered his hand to each engineer for a handshake.

“We look forward to working with you all. I’m hoping that you could teach our engineers your advanced technology during your stay with us, so we could produce the same quality of products here in this location as the ones from Dyeon America. Mr. Lee, please interpret this for me.”

The interpreter— Mr. Lee immediately interpreted what Gun-Ho just said to the three Dyeon American engineers.

“Okay.”

The engineers kept nodding their heads and saying “okay” as they were listening to the interpretation.

“I understand that you might encounter some difficulties during your stay in Korea due to the cultural difference, language barrier, different food, and weather. We are here to help you, so please do not hesitate to let us know if you need any help.”

The three American engineers were standing there with no facial expression on their faces while Gun-Ho was speaking in Korean, and once the interpreter started relaying the message in English, they nodded their heads and said “okay” several times.

Once the engineers from Dyeon American left the office, Director Kim and the assistant manager from the general affairs team came into the office. Director Kim was carrying a resume in his left hand.

“Sir, this is the resume that one of the government officers left with me on the day of our building dedication ceremony. I was going to show it to you after the shipment arrived safely.”

“Do you think she will be a good fit for our company?”

“She doesn’t have any work experience, but her qualification is not bad. She graduated from a decent college as well. She is good-looking too. I can tell by looking at her picture attached to her resume.”

“Which government officer asked you for it?”

Director Kim came close to Gun-Ho and whispered into his ear.

“She is xxx officer’s wife’s sister.”

“Hmm… Even though he asked for this, if she is not qualified, we don’t have to hire her, but as long as she has the right qualifications, we will employ her.”

“Understood, sir. I think we can establish a good connection with the local community through this government officer by doing him a favor. His sister-in-law is a decent candidate for the job. She studied English in the U.S. for a year and she retains a high TOEIC score.”

“Okay. Director Kim, why don’t you give her an interview? And hire her if you think she is the right person for the job.”

“Understood, sir.

“Okay. You can go back to work then.”

“I have one more thing to talk to you about, sir.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about the English class we are having every morning in GH Mobile.”

“Oh, the class held by the native English speaker from Hoseo University?”

“Yes, sir. When we started the class, we had about 50 workers who attended the class every morning since you strongly encouraged them to take the class.”

“That sounds right.”

“And the number of participants had gradually reduced as time went. It became 30 people, and then dropped to 20, and now we have about only two or three people attending the class. I think the workers don’t keep up with the English class because we don’t really feel a need to use English at work.”

“Hmm.”

“However, it’s different in Dyeon Korea. Since we are a joint venture company with an American company, we can’t avoid being exposed to the English language at work.”

“That’s why you—Director Kim joined Dyeon Korea. You served your military service in Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA).”

“Oh, that was thirty years ago, sir. Speaking of which, I was thinking that maybe it is a good idea to bring that native English speaking teacher to Dyeon Korea and teach the English class here.”

“Hmmm. I see your point. I will think about it.”

“It’s a waste to pay the teacher to teach only two or three people in GH Mobile. If that English native speaking teacher from Hoseo University teaches English here, I am willing to attend the class every morning myself.”

“I heard you, Director Kim. I will think about it.”

The next morning, after giving a cursory review of the reports in GH Mobile, Gun-Ho headed to Dyeon Korea.

“GH Mobile should be doing fine without me. President Song is a meticulous man and I’m sure he will take good care of it.”

When Gun-Ho entered the production worksite of Dyeon Korea, he saw Jong-Suk doing oxygen-acetylene welding. He was wearing black welding goggles. The welding was producing visible smoke and flames. Jong-Suk was surrounded by the three engineers from Dyeon America, the interpreter, and two researchers who joined from GH Mobile. They were watching Jong-Suk doing the welding. Jong-Suk was mumbling while working,

“Sh*t. I’m the only one working here!”

No one said a word in response to Jong-Suk’s mumble. When they saw Gun-Ho coming into the area, they all greeted him, except Jong-Suk. Jong-Suk didn’t notice Gun-Ho and continued to do the welding.

“Sh*t. Sh*t. Those men were sent here to do the engineering work, and I am the only one who was doing all the work here while they just watch me working. Something doesn’t feel right. I am the one who is supposed to watch them working. Sh*t.”

The interpreter—Mr. Lee who understood what Jong-Suk said laughed but he didn’t interpret what Jong-Suk said. Gun-Ho responded to Jong-Suk’s mumble instead,

“Hey, these engineers are the engineers in the chemical field for compound products. They are not mechanics like you.”

Jong-Suk took off the safety goggles when he heard Gun-Ho’s voice.

“Huh? Bro! Oh, I mean sir. You are here!”

“Why are you cutting it?”

“We are installing the machines here, and this part is too long, so we need to cut this part off.”

“I see. Well, keep up the good work. It seems you are the only one who could do the work.”