Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

It was Monday, and Gun-Ho went to work in GH Mobile in Jiksan Town.

When he arrived there, numerous freight trucks were coming and going out and into GH Mobile’s first factory and second factory buildings. Its 650 workers were busily working systematically. Gun-Ho had always emphasized the importance of their production site to his employees, since they were in the manufacturing industry. He had started his career at the production site of a factory after all. The first thing that Gun-Ho did when he arrived at GH Mobile that morning was to check the production site.

“Where are all the managers here?”

Whenever Gun-Ho had visited the production site, Director Jong-Suk Park or the plant managers came to Gun-Ho quickly to greet him. But, that day, he couldn’t see any managers nor Director Park. When Gun-Ho spotted a worker who appeared to be one of the team leads in the production department, he asked him, “Where are the managers in the production site?”

“They are having a meeting at Director Park’s office, sir.”

When Gun-Ho arrived at Director Park’s office, the meeting seemed to just end. The managers and supervisor were coming out of the office; they were all carrying a notebook under their arms. When they saw Gun-Ho, they greeted him simultaneously.

“It seems that you just had a meeting.”

“Yes, sir. It’s actually our regular meeting. We meet here every Monday morning. Today’s meeting lasted longer than usual though.”

“Hmm, I see. Well, enjoy your work today.”

Gun-Ho went into the room, and he saw a sign on the door on the way in; it said “Director’s office.” Director Park was sitting at his office; he was writing down something. When he saw Gun-Ho in his office, he quickly stood up.

“Bro, you are here.”

“You had a meeting, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s our regular meeting. We had a lot to discuss today.”

“I guess you all had a cup of coffee while having the meeting. I see the coffee marks on the table.”

“Do you want a cup of coffee, bro?”

“Sure. Starting my day by having my morning coffee in your office will be great.”

Director Jong-Suk Park opened his office door and called for someone.

“Mr. Team Lead Lee! Mr. Team Lead Lee!”

A lady worker in a uniform quickly came to Jong-Suk.

“I have our president in my office. Would you bring a cup of coffee for him, please?”

“Sure, sir.”

The lady worker looked younger than other lady workers in the production site, and she was pretty. It seemed that she was the one who took care of serving coffee around the production site.

Jong-Suk said, “That lady worker is a team lead in our assembly line A-1. She is smart and meticulous.”

“Really? She does look like a hard worker. She seems to be very young though.”

“Yes, she is. She is actually younger than my wife, but she has a fourth-grader son.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“I guess she had her son when she was only 21 years old. Her husband is working in a rubber manufacturing company in Seonggeo Town.”

When Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk were having a conversation in Jong-Suk’s office, the team lead lady came back. She was holding a tray that could be found in a store like Daiso. A cup of coffee in a paper cup was on the tray. She smiled as she handed the coffee to Gun-Ho.

“Thank you.”

Gun-Ho said while having his coffee, “How’s your baby? She must have grown a lot.”

“She speaks now; I mean in a way I can understand, even though it’s just a few words like ‘mom’ and ‘dad.’ And, she put everything that she can grab with her hand into her mouth too. She needs close attention for 24 hours. How’s your boy, bro?”

“He can hold his head up by himself.”

“My parents told me that a child grows so fast, and I don’t have to worry about a thing about my baby girl. But, I keep wondering whenever I see my daughter about when she would grow old enough so that I don’t have to worry about her all the time. I can’t imagine my daughter being a fourth grader like that lady team lead’s child, who was here.”

“How are your parents doing? They are well, right?”

“Yeah, they are doing fine. My parents-in-law are doing very well too.”

“Hey, this paper cup reminds me of our old days. I actually like having a coffee in a paper cup. We used to have our coffee in a paper cup all the time because we had to get our coffee from a vending machine, which was convenient and cheap.”

Jong-Suk giggled and said, “I know why you like a paper cup. It has an additional use for you. When we worked at a factory in Yangju City and Pocheon City, after finishing your coffee in a paper cup, you used the paper cup as an ashtray while smoking. And then, you spit on it at the end as if you are telling the cup ‘goodbye.’”

“Haha. That’s right. I did that.”

“You no longer smoke, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t. It has been a while actually. Well, I occasionally smoke though when I drink, but not regularly. You still smoke, don’t you?”

“I smoke an electronic cigarette. I started smoking an e-cigarette because my wife nagged at me a lot. She is still nagging at me though; she says that she can still smell cigarette smoke from me. I know that our company is promoting to quit smoking. I will have to quit smoking eventually.”

“How many Dyeon Korea’s machines have you built so far?”

“We have built four of them, and then we had to halt. We placed an additional order to West Moulding Corp., and we are still waiting for the crews to arrive. We can’t build a machine without it. Will you give me one second? I want to check on something.”

Jong-Suk then made a call to someone.

“Mr. Assistant Manager Ji-Woong Kim? It’s me, Director Park. When did you say we are expecting to receive those twin screws? Oh, we will have them either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Are they coming through the customs office in Cheonan City? Maybe it will? Is it yes or no? There is no maybe. If you were here with me right now, I would have kicked your shin already!”

Gun-Ho remembered Assistant Manager Ji-Woong Kim. He accompanied Jong-Suk Park and President Song as an interpreter during their trip to America to purchase the twin screws.

Jong-Suk Park was still talking to him on the phone, “Okay, okay. When you receive a call from the customs office for our items, you need to let me know immediately, okay? Who is handling the customs procedure? Is that you who is handling it? Oh, okay. Yeah, I know. You are the only one who I can rely on in this company. That’s why I like you. You know that, right? Okay, I let you go!”

“Who was it? Is that the man who went on the trip to America with you last time? The one who speaks English very well?”

“Yeah, that’s him. He is handling import matters around here. He said that he is expecting to be heard from them by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“How many twin screws did you order this time?”

“Four. Once we receive them, we will build the machines and send them to India too.”

“Did you say that you sent all of those four machines that you built to China?”

“Since the factory in China needed the machines immediately, we sent Dyeon Korea’s machine no. 1 and no. 2 to them. And, later once we finished building four machines, we shipped two new machines to China, and we sent the other two machines to Dyeon Korea. I was informed by Dyeon Korea that they successfully installed the two new machines in the places where they had their machine no. 1 and no. 2.”

“I see. So, you didn’t install those machines for them?”

“Our maintenance manager went to Dyeon Korea and installed the machines for them. I can’t take care of every work, but I have to share the work with other workers here. That way, everyone feels more comfortable. So, I sent our maintenance manager to Dyeon Korea, and once he successfully finished the work, I just praised him by tapping his shoulder. Haha. This is the beauty to be a director, huh?”

“That’s right. Your job as a director in the production department is not working directly with machines with your hands. You are supposed to manage those who do the work.”