Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The deputy mayor seemed to be in a good mood. He said after taking a sip of his Baiju, “I will be working in Changsha City, Hunan Province.”

“Changsha City?” Gun-Ho asked.

“Changsha City is the capital of Hunan Province. It has a population of more than 1.2 million. I will be working for the city. If you have a chance to visit there, please come and see me as well.”

“We have a region in Korea called Hunan. China has a province with the same name.”

“There is a large lake there, called Dongting Lake. We call the province north side of the lake as Hubei, and the south side of the lake as Hunan. The area around Dongting Lake is the Jingzhou that is depicted in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”

“Oh, Dongting Lake and Jiangzhou are right there, I see. I guess I should go and visit the area someday.”

Gun-Ho drank alcohol more than usual that day. He wanted to. He felt somewhat relieved as he didn’t have to worry about what to do with the joint venture for the terminal project any longer. He felt like he could now fully focus on collecting Dyeon Korea’s stock. The only thing that bothered him a little bit was that the joint venture was no longer involved in the terminal project but only would be running the intercity bus business. The size of its business became smaller than he initially expected.

He asked Jae-Sik Moon, “President Moon, how are you feeling about giving up the terminal project?”

“I’m feeling alright.”

“You could have participated in running a large and advanced terminal here. That would have made you look really nice, wouldn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have some people here who I want to impress. As Xiang Yu from the Warring States Period said, it would have been like walking in a rain wearing an outfit made of silk. I think it’s better this way. It made our business simpler which is good, I think. If we can run 20 buses as President Runsheng Yan said, we can make good money even with only the bus business. In addition, since it’s a bus business, we don’t have to worry about losing money. The business will never go down.”

Jae-Sik Moon drank a lot that day as he always did on every occasion.

The Chinese partners enjoyed drinking that day as well. The deputy mayor had a lot of drinks celebrating his leaving for the new position in another city. The department’s director and Antang City’s transportation company’s President Runsheng Yan also drank a lot, feeling relieved that the terminal project was now going in the direction as they wanted.

The following day, Gun-Ho went sightseeing as Jae-Sik Moon insisted that he should. Gun-Ho was usually not interested in visiting tourist spots even when he was traveling abroad, but this time, Jae-Sik Moon strongly recommended that he should see Huangguoshu Waterfall, especially because it was located in the vicinity of the area.

“As a matter of fact, my parents and also my parents-in-law visited this waterfall when they were here. Soon-Young’s mom and I showed them around.”

“Hmm, really? That’s nice.”

“They are familiar with small waterfalls in Korea. When they saw this waterfall, they couldn’t close their mouths in amazement. This waterfall is 77.8 meters high and 101 meters wide.”

“Haha. Is that right?”

“That’s why I insisted that you should see it since you are in the area anyway.”

“Your parents and parents-in-law must have been very happy when they traveled around with you.”

“They were indeed. They were so impressed when they saw me driving a luxurious car and living in a luxurious condo. Moreover, I am running a company here, being my own boss, which impressed them as well.”

“Haha, really?”

“My mother-in-law and father-in-law didn’t 100% believe when her daughter bragged about her husband running a company in China and about us living in a luxurious condo. They were startled when they saw us living large in China.”

“I can imagine how happy they were.”

“I will focus on running the intercity bus business and also operating GH Food Company from now on.”

“Yeah. I feel so relieved knowing that you are handling the work here in China.”

“GH Logistics is taking care of my Four Major Public Insurance as they still pay my salary as one of their employees. I believe I will be able to receive a national pension once I reach the age of retirement.”

“You probably wouldn’t have to rely on your national pension later. As you are doing very well here, I think you will be stabilized here within 10 years.”

“Thank you.”

As he entered the area to see Huangguoshu Waterfall, Gun-Ho bought some souvenirs. There were many merchants selling souvenirs to tourists at the entrance. They were not very well made, but when Gun-Ho gave them to Young-Eun and Chan-Ho Eom later, they seemed to be excited.

It had been several days since Gun-Ho came back from his trip to China. It was November 10th.

Gun-Ho received a call from SH Investment Partners’ President Geun-Soo Son.

“The funds that you had sent to invest— 16.6 billion won— have been exhausted. What do you want me to do next, sir?”

“How many shares are we holding right now?”

“We have 2.87 million shares now, sir. Since the volume of the shares available to be traded in the stock market is very low now, I don’t see many selling request orders as many as before.”

“I will send you an additional amount of 1 billion won. I want you to buy more of them to make 3 million shares.”

“Understood, sir.”

Gun-Ho already spent all of the funds that he had in Seung-Hee sister’s stock account, in buying Dyeon Korea’s stock. Now, he was about to invest an additional 1 billion won for it as he sent the fund to President Son to buy more shares. Once he sent 1 billion won to him, Gun-Ho called him right away.

“I just sent 1 billion won. Once you make our total shares of 3 million, just take a break for a while. You don’t have to work. You can read books or do something else that pleases you in the office until I give further instruction.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho was watching the news online.

They were talking about the election day of Gongmyeong Party for their leader. As the election day came close, they said that the candidates for the leader position were competing each other fiercely. This political party’s leader would be elected by voting of representatives, hundreds of thousands of Gongmyeong Party’s members with rights, and ARS voting.

‘The candidate— Jin-Woo Lee— is known to be a strong candidate for the leader position in his political party— Gongmyeong Party. If he gets elected as expected, and if he implies his intention to run for President, A Electronics’ stock price will go up high. With him becoming the leader of Gongmyeong Party, A Electronics wouldn’t directly get benefitted, but people might think differently. However, A Electronics’ stock price is high for little investors to make their investment in it. For that reason, maybe other stocks will become popular if those are somewhat related to Jin-Woo Lee.

The former Minister Jin-Woo Lee might not actually run for President even after he implies his intention to do so. But he would show people the possibility that he might run for President, which is good enough to affect some stock prices. Which stocks would be deemed as ‘Jin-Woo Lee’s stocks?’ There were stocks attached to Ki-Moon Ban, Cheol-Soo Ahn, even Seung-Min Yoo, and also Se-Hoon Oh.’

Gun-Ho suddenly felt goosebumps on his skin.

‘Dyeon Korea ‘stock might become “Jin-Woo Lee’s stock.” Jin-Woo Lee presided over Dyeon Korea’s president’s wedding. If the public learns about it, that could be a good factor that would affect the price of Dyeon Korea’s stock. A Electronics’ market capitalization is very high now, and that would make little investors hesitate to buy its stock. However, Dyeon Korea is low in stock price. Maybe Dyeon Korea’s stock price will be skyrocketing. Who knows?’

Gun-Ho had been buying Dyeon Korea’s stock covertly. After December, Dyeon Korea would make a public announcement about its performance this year. Gun-Ho knew that its operating income would be as high as 20% and that it would distribute the dividends with the profits. That would definitely make the stock price jump high. Moreover, it would have to make a separate announcement about its sales increase by 30%, which would also affect its stock price positively and greatly. Dyeon Korea’s current stock price was around 5,600 won, and it would jump to 7,000 won or even to 8,000 won.