Gun-Ho went to the condo in Guweol Town, Incheon City, where his parents were living.
There were already a lot of people in the condo when he arrived there. He could know that by looking at the significant number of shoes at the entrance.
“Gun-Ho is here!”
“Gun-Ho is here!”
The people who were sitting in the living room all stood up to see Gun-Ho.
“Hello.”
Gun-Ho gave a deep bow to the relatives. His parents were smiling at Gun-Ho; they were wearing a traditional Korean dress. Gun-Ho thought it was an outdated idea to wear traditional Korean dress at his own birthday party.
“The real head of the household is here!”
It was Gun-Ho’s aunt who said that in a loud voice. She looked older than the last time he saw her.
As the relatives guided, Gun-Ho poured liquor to his parents’ glasses and gave them a full bow.
“Gun-Ho has grown up so great. I am envious of them to have such a great son.”
“You should get married soon, Gun-Ho. You are making good money now. The only missing thing in your life is your wife and children.”
After Gun-Ho’s full bow to his parents, his sister and her husband and their daughter—Jeong-Ah, gave a full bow to the parents. Jeong-Ah looked prettier than the last he saw her. She seemed to be shy to say hello to her uncle.
“I heard that you won a piano contest, Jeong-Ah.”
“Yes, I did.”
Jeong-Ah was calmer than before.
They started having food. Gun-Ho’s uncles poured liquor to his glass.
“Are you dating anyone?”
“Yes.”
Gun-Ho answered without thinking carefully. Gun-Ho was thinking of Mori Aikko who was then doing a dance performance for Gion Matsuri in Kyoto.
“You are running a big business, right?”
“Yes, I have a parts manufacturing company in Asan City.”
“You remember your cousin—Jae-Choon, right?”
“Of course, I know Jae-Choon.”
“He is currently unemployed. Get him a job at your factory.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Gun-Ho’s aunt shouted when she heard the conversation.
“Big brother, you are not supposed to ask some favor to Gun-Ho today. Today, we are here to congratulate his father’s 70th birthday.”
“This is a good day to talk about it with Gun-Ho. You are saying that because your son has a stable job in the government, huh?”
“What are you talking about? Are you drunk, brother?”
Since the aunt’s voice was louder than the uncle’s, the uncle stopped saying anything back to her and kept drinking his liquor.
Gun-Ho asked his aunt in a quiet voice,
“Jae-Woong is doing good, with his work at the Department of Labor, right?”
“Yeah, he is doing great.”
As she talked about his son, for some reason, her lips were set in a pout of annoyance. Gun-Ho’s sister who was sitting next to him tapped his arms and said,
“The aunt is not getting along with her daughter-in-law.”
“Oh, with Jae-Woong’s wife?”
“Yeah, I heard she is arguing with her daughter-in-law all the time.”
Gun-Ho was not surprised. He thought that made sense considering her personality. His aunt had a strong character different from his mother.
“Gun-Ho, you didn’t come to your father’s 70th birthday party empty-handed, right?”
The aunt shouted again with her loud voice.
“Oh, sure. I brought a present for my parents.”
Gun-Ho pulled out an envelope with two tickets of cruise travel and handed it to his father.
“What is this, son?”
His parents opened the envelope.
“What is it? Is it a gift card for shoes or something?”
Gun-Ho’s aunt asked.
“No, they are tickets for my parents’ cruise travel.”
“Cruise travel?”
When one of the uncles who were drinking liquor asked out of curiosity, the aunt shouted again.
“Big brother, you don’t know what cruise travel is? It’s a trip by a huge ship. If you don’t know about it, just keep drinking your liquor. Don’t chip in.”
Gun-Ho’s aunt seemed to be very uncomfortable about something that day. She looked sulky.
“Wow, cruise travel? I am so envious.”
A young aunt said while clapping. The other people at the birthday party all laughed and clapped with that aunt.
“Thank you, son.”
Gun-Ho’s mother held Gun-Ho’s hand.
Gun-Ho headed to Japan to make the second payment of Mori Aikko’s condo. He went to the real estate office with Ji-Yeon Choi in her car and made the payment.
“I will get you the receipt.”
The sales agent gave the receipt to Gun-Ho. Gun-Ho was impressed by the agent’s handwriting. He was writing quickly from the top to bottom on a paper to complete the receipt form, but the writing was very straight without any single letter stuck out.
Ji-Yeon Choi also gave to Gun-Ho the promissory note that Gun-Ho had handed to her when she paid for the condo’s down payment on behalf of him. Gun-Ho smiled and tore it out—that promissory note of the amount of 10 million Japanese Yen.
“I wish Mori Aikko was here, but she is at the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto.”
“It’s fine. I like it better that she is honing her dancing skills and spends time there for her personal self-development.”
“Mama-san Segawa Joonkko told me that Mori Aikko is making rapid progress in her dancing every day. She said Mori Aikko could do so because she has a good sponsor now.”
“Haha. I think she makes it happen with her sheer effort.”
“Are you heading to the Nihonbashi area where President Amiel’s office is located?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Do you have an interpreter?”
“Yes, our sales director’s nephew is studying in Japan. He will do the interpretation for me. He will be waiting in front of the Nihonbashi office for me.”
Gun-Ho met the retired engineer—Mr. Sakata Ikuzo who used to work for Dyeon, at the Dyeon office in Nihonbashi. He was wearing thick glasses and he was skinny; he looked stubborn. Right, he looked like a stubborn engineer. He looked about 65 years old and he smelled like a metal powder. Amiel introduced Mr. Sakata Ikuzo to Gun-Ho.
“President Goo, this is Mr. Sakata Ikuzo who used to be the best engineer in Dyeon.”
“I’m Gun-Ho Goo. Very nice meeting you.”
“I’m Ikuzo.”
“Did you have a chance to look at the product drawing?”
“Yes, I did. Don’t build a mould for that product. I will make it manually.”
“With your hands? Moulds are all built by machines these days.”
“I always do it manually.”
“If you make a mould manually, would it be precise enough? Isn’t it an outdated way to make a mould?”
“The mould I made with my hands is still being used to manufacture products that are supplied to the world-known Boeing Company.”
Mr. Sakata Ikuzo closed his mouth after mentioning his mould for Boeing Company and didn’t say anything anymore.
Amiel tried to change the mood.
“Mr. Sakata Ikuzo is a very well-known engineer to Dyeon and Boeing as well. His younger brother is a world-renowned physicist who received the Nobel Prize.”
“Hmm.”
Gun-Ho understood that Mr. Sakata Ikuzo was a highly talented and respected engineer, but he seemed to cling to old ways.
“Do you think it is possible to develop the product shown on this product drawing?”
“Yes, it seems to be doable.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“When I make something, I Isshokenmei.”
“Isshokenmei?”
The interpreter explained the meaning of it.
“Isshokenmei means the person risks his life. In other words, he meant he put everything into developing a product, to the extent that he risks his life.”
“Risking his life?”
Gun-Ho was very impressed by the engineer’s attitude towards his work. Gun-Ho also risked his life when he invested in the stock market! Gun-Ho laughed out loud.
“Hahaha. You are indeed the world-renowned engineer. Okay. I am inviting you to Korea. I will provide you everything you need.”
