Chapter 389: Single House in Yangpyeong County (2) – Part 2
The warm noodle dishes came out. They were placed in a pretty ceramic bowl. In case someone didn’t like noodle soup, some noodles were placed dried on a plate. In addition to noodles, some side dishes came out as well such as a pumpkin pancake and a sesame pancake along with traditional Korean rice wine. Four people sat at the table.
“Young-Eun, come and have a seat.”
The lady doctor—Young-Eun Kim—took off the apron and sat next to her aunt. President Jeong-Sook Shin clapped after taking a sip of the rice wine.
“Oh, this tastes like a peach.”
“Yeah, I added peach to the wine.”
As President Shin commented about the home-made wine, Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda and Gun-Ho tried it.
“This is really good. What is it again?”
“It’s peach rice wine. Let’s drink together.”
They drank the home-made peach rice wine in a paper cup together. It tasted not bad.
“I’m not a professional chef, so these might not be the most delicious food, but I can tell you that these are very healthy food. I harvested ingredients like pumpkin and sesame from my farm. These are all organic. Please enjoy it. Haha.”
The noodle dish was not bad at all.
Gun-Ho was highly conscious of the lady doctor who was sitting in front of him.
“Young-Eun cooked this pumpkin pancake. We are very close to each other, especially because she doesn’t have a mom.”
“Doesn’t she have a mother?” Gun-Ho asked.
“Yes. Her mom died from an illness. I have hoped that she would marry someone as soon as she could and start her own family, but she is still single.”
Artist Choi looked at Young-Eun’s face as she talked about her, and she said to her, “Your father worries about you a lot. Find someone and get married. You don’t want to get old alone like me.”
Young-Eun was just smiling quietly. Gun-Ho thought her smile looked very elegant and classy.
The peach wine was sweet but probably strong too. People seemed to start getting drunk. Artist Choi and Jeong-Sook Shin became more talkative. They talked about everything from arts to religion to philosophy. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda, who was once a journalist, joined them. The three people were so busy conversing. Gun-Ho and the lady doctor—Young-Eun Kim—were more likely a listener without talking much. Artist Choi and President Shin were highly knowledgeable about everything, and they seemed to have a lot to talk about. Gun-Ho wondered if the fact that they knew too much would have hindered their marriage because the two ladies were both still single.
That day’s gathering, in fact, was planned by Artist Choi and President Shin in order to have Gun-Ho and Young-Eun get to know each other better. Artist Choi and President Shin thought that neither Gun-Ho nor Young-Eun would be able to marry without someone’s help. They purposefully didn’t say a word about the two people’s dating or marriage. They hoped that Gun-Ho and Young-Eun would become close without feeling pressured.
Artist Choi took out a game. It was an origami game, the old group against the young group. Artist Choi and President Shin were in the old group while Gun-Ho and Young-Eun was the young group’s team. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda umpired the game. Gun-Ho and Young-Eun seemed to enjoy the game as a team. The rule was that the losing party would contribute 10,000 won and it motivated everyone who was playing the game.
They had gathered at Artist Choi’s house at noon, and it was almost three o’clock when they finished their lunch and the origami game. It was time to part. They didn’t forget to look around Artist Choi’s atelier before calling it a day.
“I had a lot of fun today.”
Gun-Ho and Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda thanked Artist Choi for inviting them for the occasion.
“We can do this again on another day.”
The day he spent with others at Artist Choi’s home reminded Gun-Ho of the old days when he had played with his sister’s friends. Seung-Hee Park was a close friend of his sister. She was selling insurance now, and she looked like a mediocre mid-aged woman, but she was very pretty and sophisticated in the old days. She often came to Gun-Ho’s home to see his sister and Gun-Ho often played with her. When Gun-Ho was still running OneRoomTels, he once bought fire insurance from her.
It was Monday.
Gun-Ho’s Monday started with working at GH Mobile. Chan-Ho drove him there as always. A regular meeting for the executive officers was held. President Song, the internal auditor, the research center’s chief officer, the general affairs director and the production director attended the meeting.
President Song spoke first, “Korea International Trade Association placed an announcement that they started receiving applications from companies that want to participate in the motor show that will be held in Chicago. They will subsidize the cost of renting a booth there. They will pay half of it.”
“Is that right?”
“It’s not a bad idea at all to participate in the event as an auto parts manufacturing company.”
“Hmm.”
“This is actually a great opportunity for us to advertise our products to the American auto manufacturing companies or the trading companies that import auto parts to the U.S. I will get a small booth for us in the OEM section.”
“Sounds good.”
The general affairs director said, “The leader of the labor union is demanding to get an office for them, which they can use on a regular basis. He wants two people to occupy the office all the time.”
“Does that mean two workers from the production site will not work while they stay in the office for the labor union?”
“That’s correct.”
“What do you think, President Song?”
“We have only 260 employees. We can’t maintain a labor union office where two workers will stay without working in the production site. It’s premature given our company’s size. I think I can deal with the leader of the labor union; I will suggest having a leader and one more worker to go on a field trip to the motor show in Chicago. I will talk to them.”
“Okay.”
Gun-Ho then headed to Dyeon Korea in his Bentley. He had a meeting there as well. The vice president—Mr. Adam Castler, the interpreter, Director Kim, and Director Yoon came into the office.
“We have now eight machines as part of Lymondell Dyeon’s investment in kind. We requested to send us two more machines, no. 9 and 10. Did they ship them already?”
“Yes, sir. They said those machines have been shipped.”
“Are we still having an English class in the morning? How is it going?”
“It’s going pretty well, sir. Mr. Adam Castler highly spoke of the native English teacher that her pronunciation is just perfect.”
Gun-Ho made a joke.
“I guess our vice president doesn’t feel lonely at work because of the English teacher.”
The people at the meeting all laughed. Mr. Adam Castler laughed along with them feeling a bit embarrassed. Gun-Ho was told that Mr. Castler and the English teacher were seeing each other.
Director Yoon said, “Once we add two more machines, our production level will increase. We will probably need one more truck to transport our products.”
“Why don’t you let President Moon at GH Logistics know?”
“Speaking of which, this has nothing to do with our company, but I heard GH Logistics handles heavy machineries as well.”
“That’s correct.”
“I have a suggestion to make then.”
