Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

“What do you think? We can throw out these things and clean the place.”

“Hmm. The office is very spacious. I think we should keep some of these desks; they still look good. We just need to clean the place. I see the potential. It can become a great factory. Also, the yard is so big that we can park tens of heavy machinery without any problem.”

“So, you like it? If you like it, I will sign the purchase contract.”

“You said, it is priced for more than 2 billion won, is it?”

“It’s 1.96 billion won to be exact.”

Jae-Sik sighed and said, “I’ve never and probably will never be able to touch that kind of amount of money in my life.”

“I have it.”

“Really?”

Jae-Sik looked at Gun-Ho with a respectful look.

“If you like it, I will sign the contract today. I will have the workers of GH Mobile clean the place. You just need to move in.”

Jae-Sik couldn’t say a word for a second in an overflowing excitement, and then he said, “Don’t throw out everything. I can still use some of the desks in the office.”

“I will get you new ones. I want you to start fresh. You don’t even have any office worker yet anyway. I will get you a nice desk. Also, I will get rid of the tent over there and will buy a PVC canopy for a replacement.”

“I don’t want you to spend too much money on this.”

“Don’t worry about money. How many vehicles do we currently have in GH Logistics?”

“We have seven. Two trucks are being used to transport books in Paju City. We have two reserved for Dyeon Korea’s work, and three are being used for the factory in Eumseong Town. Jong-Suk and the Tae-Yong Im person told me that they wanted to introduce customers for heavy equipment transportation work, but for now, we don’t have available trucks for the work.”

“Do you think we can store a few heavy machineries here?”

“Sure. It has more than enough space for it.”

“It’s nice that now you have a place to park the trucks after work. We can gradually increase the number of trucks, so the company can do more work. We will hire workers too.”

Jae-Sik Moon seemed to like the place a lot. He took several photos of the building and the land with his smartphone.

“Above all things, I like the location. It’s very close to GH Mobile. It only takes twenty minutes to get here from GH Mobile.”

“Yeah. I want to see Jong-Suk more often. Since he is good with machines, I think I will need his help.”

“Jong-Suk has been working with machines in the field for years now. He can handle almost anything that occurs in the field.”

“He is a very good person as well.”

“That’s why everyone likes him. Even though he became a director at his young age, the workers who are in their 40s and 50s and who are in the lower level position than him have no complaints about the fact that their director is younger than them. The last time when we had a Japanese engineer to develop our new product, he spoke highly of Jong-Suk. He said Jong-Suk’s welding skills are excellent too.”

“I see. I feel sorry that I don’t have any particular skills to be of help. You used to work in an accounting department, so you are highly knowledgeable about management and finance. Also, with your previous work experience in a factory, you are very comfortable with the production worksite. But me? I sometimes feel like maybe I’m a burden to you.”

“Don’t say that. I know you have talents somewhere inside you. They just haven’t manifested yet. Be hopeful.”

“Thank you.”

Gun-Ho and Jae-Sik got into Gun-Ho’s car. Gun-Ho headed to a restaurant that specialized in Galbi (Korean grilled beef ribs) in Pyeongtaek City.

“You want to have Galbi for lunch?”

“You need to get some good food with lots of nutrition. You lost too much weight. Let’s have Galbi.”

“It must be expensive.”

“After lunch, I need to stop by the realtor’s office. You go ahead and go back to Seoul. I will let you know once the place is ready for business.”

“Don’t you need me here in preparing the place?”

“I will have contractors to demolish some of the structure and clean the place. Your presence here won’t help much, and the place will be very dusty during the cleaning. You can come once everything is ready.”

While Galbi was being cooked in the portable stove on the table, Gun-Ho ordered a bottle of soju.

“Take a glass of soju. I can’t drink with you since I have to drive, but since you don’t have to drive, enjoy it.”

Jae-Sik seemed to enjoy lunch. He ate a lot. Gun-Ho had to order more Galbi. Jae-Sik was very slim, but he ate a lot. Jae-Sik lifted the bottle of soju and showed the name of it to Gun-Ho. It said ‘Like the First Time.’

“President Goo, do you know who wrote this ‘Like the First Time’?”

“I have no idea.”

“Professor of Sungkonghoe University—Young-Bok Shin—wrote this.”

“You mean the person who spent years in prison?”

“Yeah, that’s him. He spent twenty years in prison for violating the Anticommunist Law. He said he met a scholar of Chinese literature there and learned Chinese letters from him in prison.”

“Wow. He spent twenty years in prison? His youth was spent in prison.”

“Yeah, it’s a shame. He passed away recently.”

“Oh, he passed away? That’s a shame. Well, eat more. I heard that a ghost who ate good food while he was still alive gets a better complexion.”

After lunch, Gun-Ho dropped Jae-Sik off at the Seonghwan station.

“I will talk to you later.”

“Thank you for lunch. See you.”

Gun-Ho turned his car around and headed to the realtor’s office. He felt so sleepy while driving even though he only drank half a glass of soju with lunch. He parked his car somewhere safe and took a nap, and he started snoring.

There was once a gathering for local business owners of small and medium-sized companies in Asan City. At that time, a staff from an economy council committee came and took a survey from the business owners. Questions like how often they travel abroad, their hobbies, and how many books they read per month were asked.

Gun-Ho wrote that his hobby was taking a nap. He played golf sometimes, but he wouldn’t call it a hobby because he didn’t really enjoy it. He usually spent time with his friends and people at work. He didn’t really socialize with a politician or government official. He didn’t even hang out with other business owners either. He didn’t want to attend the gathering that day, but he came because he couldn’t think of any excuse to avoid it.

The local economy council committee’s staff presented the result of the survey at the end of the gathering.

“The most popular hobby among business owners is playing golf as expected. 70% of you answered playing golf is their hobby. Some of you do mountain climbing and fishing and also traveling abroad in your spare time. One person had a unique hobby though. It was taking a nap.”

“What? Taking a nap?”

The people in the gathering started laughing hard. Gun-Ho loved taking a nap, but it never lasted more than thirty minutes.