Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

“We will need to decide the name of our regular gathering then. Give me your ideas. What about ‘Class 00 of Advanced Center for Administrative Development at Seoul National University’?”

One congressman objected.

“That name is too long to call. Moreover, it doesn’t look good if we keep mentioning the name of Seoul National University even though it is our nation’s top university. I actually graduated from Korea University. I don’t want others to think that I’m trying to pretend that I went to Seoul National University, after taking a one-year course.”

“Then what name would be appropriate?”

“Since it’s located close to Gwanak Mountain, let’s call it Gwanak Forum.”

“Gwanak Forum? That sounds nice. Do we have any other suggestions?”

“I like the name—Gwanak Forum.”

Many people seemed to like the name—Gwanak Forum—and they started clapping to show that they wanted that name.

“Umm, Okay. We will call our gathering as Gwanak Forum then. Who do we want to be its president and manager?”

“We don’t need to conduct another election for it. We can simply keep our current class president and class manager for our gathering.”

“Of course. Once he is a president, he will always be our president. And once he is a class manager, he will always be our class manager.”

“Let’s give them a round of applause.”

That way, Gun-Ho became the manager of Gwanak Forum.

It was Friday. Young-Eun came home at the condo in TowerPalace. It seemed that Young-Eun was indeed pregnant. She started showing symptoms of pregnancy. Gun-Ho could see some freckles on her face. She couldn’t eat much. She sometimes felt nausea.

“Don’t you feel hot here? Maybe I should turn on our air conditioner.”

“Don’t. I can’t risk catching a cold now. The air conditioner is not good for our health anyway.”

“Well, then let’s have a watermelon in the living room while enjoying a breeze from an electric fan. You can eat watermelon, right?”

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun sat on a sofa in the living room and had a watermelon while watching TV. Gun-Ho rubbed Young-Eun’s belly.

“Did it get bigger?”

“I don’t know yet. Don’t touch it.”

“You don’t feel it getting bigger? Let me rub your calf.”

Gun-Ho gave a massage to Young-Eun by rubbing her calf while Young-Eun enjoyed the watermelon and Gun-Ho’s massage.

“Honey!”

“Did you just call me honey? That gives me goosebumps!”

“Young-Eun, once you give birth, you won’t be able to stay in the condo in Myeongryoon Town even during the weekdays. You will have to move into this home completely.”

“I know that.”

“I think that you will need someone to take care of you and our baby. If your mother could, that would have been great, but since she is not here, maybe I should ask my mom to come and stay with us for a while. What do you think?”

“I won’t feel completely comfortable staying with your mother. I was thinking of asking my aunt in Yangpyeong County or my dad to stay with us.”

“Did you already tell your dad in Sillim Town and your aunt in Yangpyeong County?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“They were happy to hear that, weren’t they?”

“Did you tell your parents in Guweol Town as well?”

“Yeah, I did too.”

“What did they say?”

“My parents were so happy that they would soon have their grandchild. They even danced in joy. Also, I received a call from my sister. She wanted to congratulate us.”

“Really? By the way, oppa, I feel so sleepy.”

“Sure. Let me make the bed for you. Give me one second.”

After Gun-Ho made the bed for Young-Eun in the master bedroom, Young-Eun lied down on the bed wearing her pajamas. Gun-Ho quickly changed to his pajamas and joined her on the bed. When Gun-Ho held Young-Eun and gave her a kiss and tried to undress her, Young-Eun quickly stopped him.

“No! I’m pregnant. You’d better sleep in another room!”

“It’s okay. You are in early pregnancy. You don’t have to be sensitive about it just yet.”

“My answer is still no. We’d better be extra careful. Let’s sleep separately.”

“Well, what can I say?!”

Gun-Ho picked up his pillow and came to another room while mumbling. While lying down on the bed by himself, he couldn’t easily fall asleep. He couldn’t dispel the thought of Young-Eun’s tender skin.

‘Hmm, this is why, in the old days, many men had their concubines. What am I going to do during her entire pregnancy? I will have to wait for several months. Maybe I should go to see Mori Aikko. Or, should I contact Seol-Bing? Will it be okay for me to see another woman while my wife is pregnant?’

Gun-Ho finally fell asleep while thinking of what he could do during Young-Eun’s pregnancy.

It was Monday, and Gun-Ho went to work at GH Building in Sinsa Town. Chan-Ho Eum asked him, “I thought that today was the day when you go to work in Jiksan Town, isn’t it?”

“We can go there in the afternoon. I have something that I need to take care of here.”

Gun-Ho went up to his office on the 18th floor. He then asked for Assistant Manager Hong who was doing accounting work there.

“Please have a seat.”

Assistant Manager Hong sat in front of Gun-Ho holding a pen and a paper.

“I recently sold a piece of real estate. I think I should file for capital gain tax.”

“Is it sold by a company or an individual?”

“My company sold that real estate.”

“Then you should have your tax accountant office that you’ve been working with for that company’s matters. Since that office must know well about your company, I think it’s better to do that tax filing with that office.”

“The thing is that the tax account office moved to somewhere far. My company is a transportation company called GH Logistics. It’s a small company. It used to be in Seonghwan City, and now it moved to Siheung City. Since you have a tax accountant license, I wanted to hear your opinion on this.”

“When did you buy it and sell it?”

“It started with a 1,000 pyung land for GH Logistics. And then later, the company purchased two additional adjacent farmlands. One is 1,500 pyung large, and the other one is 2,600 pyung large. Those two lands were farmlands, and when the company purchased them, they were already converted to a non-agricultural use, so they could be used for a factory.”

While Gun-Ho explained the situation, Assistant Manager Hong was busy taking a note.

“And recently, the company sold the entire land completely, including the initial real estate and two additional lands that were converted for factory use.”

“So, you sold a 5,100 pyung large land.”

“That’s correct. I sold it for 6.5 billion won.”

“Whoa! 6.5 billion won! Did the purchase and sales transactions happen in the same year?”

“That’s correct. I purchased and sold them in the same year.”

“Then you won’t be eligible for the long-term holders’ benefits.”

“I think so. I’m not asking you to file it yourself, but you probably know someone good at this kind of filing for capital gains. I want you to find someone very good and let him or her take care of it. My pay for the work will be very generous.”

“I do have someone popping up in my mind. She passed the exam for a tax accountant license in the same year as me. She is working at a tax accountant office now. I can ask her for it.”

“Did you say that she passed the exam in the same year as you? Then maybe she might not have enough experience to handle it well.”

“Haha, it’s not just my friend who will work on your case. The office where she is working for has tax accountants with extensive work experience in the field. They will work together.”

“I see. Well, then please talk with her, and let me know.”

Gun-Ho then handed over a large and heavy envelope to Assistant Manager Hong.

“They will find all relevant documents here for past transactions. Please review them well, and if necessary, get the most recent land registration for each real estate involved. You will find their addresses in there as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

Assistant Manager Hong quietly left Gun-Ho’s office, holding the large envelope that Gun-Ho gave to him.