Chapter 345: Matchmaking (3) – Part 2
After laying down on the bed in his hotel room, Gun-Ho sent a text to Seol-Bing.
[I have a great time today. Sweet dream.]
Seol-Bing replied to him right away.
[Likewise. You have a sweet dream as well, President Goo.]
Seol-Bing added an emoticon with a sleeping face. Gun-Ho sent a text message back to her while smiling,
[Don’t call me President Goo. Instead, please call me oppa.]
Seol-Bing’s next message arrived.
[Oppa, sweet dream.]
Gun-Ho screamed in joy in his hotel room. Things seemed to be going well with Seol-Bing.
Well, Gun-Ho felt a bit sorry to Mori Aikko though.
After having a great time in Tokyo, Gun-Ho came back to Korea.
GH Gallery finally opened its doors for the first time for the art exhibition with the Chinese young avant-garde artists’ artworks. President Jeong-Sook Shin had indeed a wide social network. Tons of congratulatory flower wreaths arrived from people in the art field and even from the people in the media field. A university president sent a flower wreath as well. Many visitors to the art exhibition found it unusual to see the flower wreaths in Chinese from Professor Jien Wang of Zhejiang University and Director Seukang Li of Shanghai City’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs and Art.
Several ladies from Gangnam District, who came to look at the arts, took pictures of the Chinese wordings that were written on the congratulatory flower wreaths from China while giggling.
Hosting the art exhibition helped the rooftop book café’s business as well.
“Ten of the paintings here are already sold. Many people think these artworks of the young avant-garde artists are worth investing in.”
Gun-Ho was surprised when President Jeong-Sook Shin told him that ten paintings were sold already.
“Didn’t you say the paintings here are priced for at least 100 million won per piece?”
“There are some ladies from Gangnam District, who invest in artworks. If they decide to collect some artworks, tens of billions of won are usually and easily spent.”
“Really?”
Gun-Ho had hundreds of billions of won in his account, but he wouldn’t have been able to easily spend 100 million won for a painting. Gun-Ho was astonished by those lady buyers’ spending scale.
“A condo in Incheon City or in Asan City can be bought with 100 million won…”
Gun-Ho’s parents and his friend, Min-Hyeok Kim’s parents couldn’t afford a condo that was worth 100 million won when Gun-Ho grew up. They had never lived in a condo at that price until their children started making money and bought one for them recently. 100 million won was a huge amount of money for them. In Korea, wealth was unequally distributed. It seemed severe. Well, it was probably one of the common phenomena that were found globally.
President Shin continued to talk to Gun-Ho,
“President Goo, you said the monthly rent for this art gallery is 5 million won, right? I think I don’t have to worry about the rent for at least the next six months. Hahaha.”
People continued to pour into the art gallery. It almost seemed that Korean people felt some sort of pressure to visit this art exhibition in order to be considered as a sophisticated person who had this elegant hobby of enjoying artworks. The secretary of GH Development—Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh was in the support team that was organized as part of a team effort for this art exhibition. She was distributing the pamphlet to the visitors at the entrance. This pamphlet was not given for free. It was 5,000 won, but most visitors were still willing to pay for it.
Gun-Ho received a phone call from Min-Hyeon Kim in China.
“President Goo? Did you receive the congratulatory flower wreaths from Seukang Li and Jien Wang?”
“Yeah, I did. How did they send them here?”
“They actually sent me money and asked me to arrange it for them. So, I contacted Jae-Sik Moon for it.”
“Oh, I see. Seukang Li’s flower wreath is very popular among the visitors.”
“Why is that so? Is it a special flower wreath that is different from others?”
“People just didn’t expect to see one sent from China. They think it is interesting to see the wording in Chinese from Shanghai City’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs and Art.”
“Oh, I see. Maybe I should have changed the Chinese wording a little bit so Korean people can understand better.”
“No, this is good. It’s very Chinese. I like that.”
“I heard you are getting lots of people there.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s really good to know. When I learned that the art exhibition was about the avant-garde arts which I’m not familiar with, I thought not many people would come. I guess President Jeong-Sook Shin definitely has some sense in that field.”
“She has been in this art and in the cultural affairs field for a long time. Her way of thinking is different from people like us.”
Min-Hyeok continued to talk,
“I heard that Dyeon Korea is vigorously producing raw materials now. Aren’t you going to send some to us to China?”
“Give me some more time.”
“The storage here that we purchased has been empty for a long time. I only see rats occupying the place.”
“We have six machines right now. Let’s see when we receive machine no. 8.”
When it was lunchtime, Gun-Ho asked Director Kang to come down to the art gallery.
“President Shin, let’s go have lunch together. I asked Director Kang to join us.”
“I’m good, sir.”
“You need to eat. Maybe we can ask Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh to come with us as well.”
“We need someone to stay here. Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh and I can take turns to have lunch.”
Director Kang came down to the art gallery. He suggested going to a Korean restaurant that specialized in Budae Jjigae*. He said he knew a good place for it. Gun-Ho was tempted. President Shin though suggested having crispy pork cutlets instead. She explained,
“Budae Jjigae is delicious, but after we have that dish, our clothes will smell like that food. We can’t receive our guests smelling like Budae Jjigae.”
That made sense.
While having lunch, Gun-Ho suggested President Shin moving her GH Media’s office to GH Building.
“You will have to operate the art gallery from now on. It would be a lot more convenient if your office is in the same building as the gallery. Otherwise, you will have to continuously drive back and forth between here in Sinsa Town and your office in Mapo Town.”
“GH Media can’t afford to pay the rent for an office in Gangnam District. We don’t generate enough revenue just yet by only publishing books. The art exhibition with Chinese young avant-garde artists’ artworks seems to be a success, but there is no guarantee that our next and the following exhibition would result in the same outcome. I will think about moving the office to the GH Building once the next art exhibition succeeds.”
“I intend to grow GH Media to a multimedia company.”
“A multimedia company, sir?”
“Seukang Li keeps asking me to acquire a Chinese soap opera production company.”
“A soap opera?”
President Jeong-Sook Shin seemed to have a lot to think about. While having lunch, Gun-Ho received a text message.
[I will stop by briefly at your art gallery tomorrow. It will be around the time when the gallery closes for the day. I won’t be able to see you though since I will just take a quick look around. From Seol-Bing.]
“Do we open the gallery until 7 pm, don’t we?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Around 7 pm tomorrow, the actress—Seol-Bing will visit our gallery.”
“Huh? Really? How do you know Seol-Bing, sir? Do you know someone in her agency?”
“Yes, I do. Seol-Bing is very careful with being exposed to the public. She will be wearing dark sunglasses. You don’t have to greet her.”
“Understood, sir.”
Note*
Budae Jjigae– A spicy stew with all sorts of vegetables, sausage, and spam ham.
