Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho was reading a newspaper sitting on the sofa in his office in Sinsa Town. He felt suddenly wondering what was going on with Dyeon Korea’s stock. He walked to his desk and turned on his computer and opened the stock trading application to check the status of Dyeon Korea’s stock.

“It is true. Once someone put some shares to sell in the stock market, someone else took them right away. I’m happy since the stock price goes up, but I wonder who keeps buying any available Dyeon Korea’s stock these days. Is it a stock investing club? Or a big player in the stock market? Or an institutional investor?”

When Gun-Ho was lost in thought about Dyeon Korea’s stock, GH Media’s Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui entered Gun-Ho’s office that was located on the 18th floor.

“Come on in, Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui.”

“Isehara Machines contacted me. When I visited Isehara Machines with you and President Jong-Suk Park in Japan last time, I gave my business card to their executive officer in the purchasing department. He gave me a call today.”

“Oh, is that right? What was it about?”

“They want to visit GH Machines.”

“Oh, really? I will have to let President Jong-Suk Park know about it then. So, the purchasing department’s executive officer will visit here by himself?”

“No, sir. Actually, its president wants to come and visit GH Machines.”

“Its president? He is the president of the large company— Isehara Machines— that has more than 3,000 workers. And, he wants to visit one of his small vendor companies in Korea himself?”

“That’s right, sir. There seems to be an event for Korean and Japanese businessmen held in Korea soon, and its president is planning to attend it. He is coming with the congressmen of the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. So, since he will be here anyway, he would like to visit GH Machines as well.”

“I see.”

“And, he wants to meet with the GH Machines’ major shareholder as well, sir.”

“Oh, he wants to meet with me too, huh? Umm, sure.”

“He will be arriving in Korea tomorrow to attend the event. The next day, he will have lunch with those congressmen on Yeouido Island. After lunch, he said he would have no schedule, so he is asking if you will be available to meet with him in the afternoon the day after tomorrow.”

“Umm, sure. I will be available tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay, sir. I will let them know then.”

Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui left the office, and Gun-Ho made a call to Jong-Suk Park.

“President Park? It’s me.”

“Oh, bro.”

“Isehara Machines’ president will come and visit GH Machines the day after tomorrow in the afternoon.”

“Isehara Machines’ president? Not its executive officer in the purchasing department? He is coming here himself?”

“It seems like it.”

“Hmm, really? I don’t understand. Why would the president of a large company in Japan want to visit their small vendor company in Korea? They must have tons of vendor companies that they are dealing with, haven’t they?”

“He is not actually coming to Korea to visit GH Machines, but he has an event to attend in Korea anyway. It’s an event for Korean and Japanese businessmen. He will be accompanied by Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party’s congressmen. So, since he will be in Korea anyway, he wants to visit GH Machines as well.”

“Hmm. I see. If you remember Isehara Machines’ president’s name, give me his name. I will hang a banner welcoming him or something at the company’s entrance.”

“A banner to welcome him?”

“Yeah, like a banner saying ‘we welcome Isehara Machines’ President someone.'”

“I don’t think that would be necessary. Do you think that’s necessary?”

“People do that, bro. I saw the pharmaceutical company next door having placed a banner welcoming a visitor before. That looked actually nice.”

“Haha, okay then. I will ask Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui to send you Isehara Machines’ president’s full name.”

After getting off the phone with Jong-Suk Park, Gun-Ho gave a call to Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui.

“What is the name of Isehara president’s full name, who will be visiting us soon?”

“His name is Nishimura, Shinichi, sir.”

“How do we write his name in Chinese characters?”

“I will text you with it, sir.”

“Sounds good. Thank you.”

“Sir, I received a call from them again. They asked if we can send a car to the national assembly building in Yeouido Island for Isehara Machines’ president the day after tomorrow, probably around 1:30 pm.”

“I will send my car there for him. You are going to interpret for us that day, aren’t you?”

“Of course, sir. I will do that.”

After getting off the phone with Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui, Gun-Ho continued to gaze at his computer monitor.

“I guess that whoever is buying Dyeon Korea’s stock must be loaded with a lot of money. They are not even trying to buy the stock at a lower price.”

Dyeon Korea’s stock trading volume had not been high at all from the beginning. In addition, as Gun-Ho gathered 3 million of them recently, the trading volume even decreased more lately. That was why they didn’t even try to buy the stock at a low price, but they actually let the price go up first to make more stock available in the stock market, and then they bought it at a high price. They didn’t start the trade this way from the beginning. They at first tried to scare the little investors, who were holding Dyeon Korea’s stock, by decreasing the price by 10%. However, the little investors didn’t sell their stock as they expected, and the volume of Dyeon Korea’s stock became very low. So, they decided to raise the price first to induce more stock available in the stock market and then bought them as they saw them.

“Dyeon Korea’s business is doing great now, but even so, I wonder if they would be able to make profits by purchasing the stock at this high price and selling them later.”

The following day, Dyeon Korea’s stock price continued to increase. It kept increasing on the following days in a low— Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The price is inevitably increasing since someone wants the stock so desperately like this.”

Gun-Ho did his math to figure out how much his stock that he purchased via his private equity fund company increased in price considering the price that he originally had paid for.

“The price increased by 15% at least. Should I tell President Geun-Soo Son to get ready to sell our stock? Hmmm, probably not. I will probably keep them for a while. I’d better wait until Dyeon Korea makes its public announcement on its end-year performance. By then, the price will probably increase by 30%. I will wait and see until then.”

It was Thursday. It was the day when Gun-Ho was supposed to pick up Isehara Machines’ president on Yeouido Island to bring him to GH Machines.

Gun-Ho at first planned to send his car and Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui only to Yeouido Island to pick him up, but he decided to go with them himself.

When Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui came into Gun-Ho’s office that morning before leaving for Yeouido Island, Gun-Ho told him, “I will go with you.”

“Oh, you want to come with me to Yeouido Island yourself, sir?”

“I think I should be there to welcome him. He is an important figure for my business anyway. For an important guest, even the President goes to an airport to welcome his guest, doesn’t he?”

Gun-Ho and Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui headed to Yeouido Island in Gun-Ho’s Bentley. When they arrived at the national assembly building, they met Isehara Machines’ President Shinichi Nishimura. Gun-Ho walked toward him and gave him a deep bow.

“I’m Gun-Ho Goo, sir.”

“Oh, you are the Mr. President Goo. I’m Nishimura, Shinichi.”

Isehara Machines’ president also gave a deep bow to Gun-Ho. He was wearing a sleek business suit with a blue-colored tie. He looked neat. There were several signs that were telling that he was in his 70s. Gun-Ho could see some age spots on his face, and he had grey hair. But, he still looked nice.

“You didn’t have to come to pick me up yourself, Mr. President Goo. I was expecting only a car for me to take.”

“Of course, I should, sir.”

“You look a lot younger than I expected. I can see that you are at that age to run your business vibrantly.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Gun-Ho and Isehara’s president exchanged their business cards. At that moment, a man, who was standing next to the Isehara’s president, also gave his business card to Gun-Ho. He was a tall man.

He introduced himself to Gun-Ho as he handed his business card to him, “I’m the president of the Korean-Japanese businessmen association.”

“Oh, I see. I’m Gun-Ho Goo.”

“My association is supposed to take care of President Shinichi Nishimura during his stay in Korea, and now I should let him go with you, Mr. President Goo. Thank you for taking care of him.”

“Don’t mention it. President Nishimura is the president of our major client company.”