Jong-Suk filled up a cup with soju and gave it to Jae-Sik Moon.
“That’s too much.”
“Don’t be shy. I know you love soju. You don’t have to drive tonight since you are staying on the second floor in this building anyway. Enjoy it as much as you want, bro. Being able to drink a lot is one of the necessary traits to be a successful president of a transportation company.”
“Don’t get me started. I drank with the truck drivers last night. We finished ten bottles of soju.”
“By the way, bro. You seemed to be doing very well these days. You moved from the basement to the second floor, huh?”
“Man, stop talking about a basement. I’m so sick of hearing that word.”
Chan-Ho picked up a bottle of soju and said, “My little brother, let me fill up your cup with soju.”
“Chan-Ho, don’t let Jong-Suk drink it. He has to drive.”
“It’s okay. I will have just one cup of soju. I can stay sober with one small cup.”
“You have to be very careful. I saw the other day that the police was conducting a sobriety test on the road from Jiksan Town to Dujeong Town.”
“Shoot. It drives me crazy not to drink soju when it is right in front of me. If I knew it, I would have asked my wife to pick me up.”
“Your wife will scold you for coming home late tonight.”
Chan-Ho laughed out loud.
“You said that your parents placed their home in Incheon City on the market, right?”
“Yeah, but since it’s November, I think they will have to wait until the Lunar New Year’s Day for their home to be sold.”
“How are they doing? They must feel mixed feelings when they think about leaving the town where they have spent almost their entire life.”
“One of their good friends from church moved here, so it seems they want to move as soon as possible. Also, since my wife and I are expecting to have a baby this coming March, it would be very nice to have them around and closer. My wife’s parents are still working, so we can’t ask them to take care of our baby. By the way, Jae-Sik bro, how come you don’t have a child yet?”
“It just didn’t happen yet. But since we now live separately, we miss each other more. When I went home last Saturday, my wife prepared a nice meal with grilled yellow Corvina.”
“Ohhh, I guess you will have a baby soon. Yellow Corvina is certainly a big help for it.”
“Come here. Let me give you a nice hit with my knuckles.”
“I haven’t still figured out what was going on with Gun-Ho bro. It seems you might have a girl, or not. I heard a rumor that you are seeing an actress or someone.”
“Who told you that?”
“I keep my ears open, bro. Chan-Ho, you should know something.”
“I don’t know.”
“Since the company website is up, we get calls from potential clients. Today, we received a call asking us to transport a 40 feet container. The container is coming from Guangdong Province in China to Pyeongtaek Port. They want us to pick it up at Pyeongtaek Port and transport it to Pocheon City.”
“So, did you tell them that you don’t have a truck to do the work?”
“No, I told him that we don’t have any truck available at this moment. A container transportation job can pay good money like more than 1 million won per day if it is long-distance work. For the work that you introduced to me, Jong-Suk, with heavy equipment, we will have to temporarily stop it next month. The ground is frozen in winter. The contract with them is until next June. We will resume the work in February right after the Lunar New Year’s Day.
“Hmm, I see.”
“I talked with Min-Hyeok yesterday. He called me from China. He told me to keep an eye on the container transportation business in the west side of China.”
“West side of China?”
“Yeah, the east market in China is already saturated, like Tianjin City, Shanghai, and Qingdao City, and it is very competitive. He said we still have a chance to get into the west market like Sichuan Province, Tibet, Gansu Province, etc. Distribution business will become hot there soon, according to his observation.”
“Don’t you have to do some sales promotion there too?”
“Min-Hyeok recommended starting with Korean large companies, even though it won’t be easy.”
“Hmm.”
“In fact, the transportation field in Korea is very competitive as well. I am lucky that I have Dyeon Korea and other GH companies that give me some work and also connect me to other companies. I started the business without difficulties. Growing the business further is up to me. I will make it successful to buy the farmland next door as you asked, Gun-Ho. The landowner has been acting as a pain in the as*, but I think he is doing it on purpose hoping that we would buy his land.”
“Hmm.”
“Yesterday, I registered for my residency with this location. I was at first concerned that they might reject the registration because this is a factory, not a residential area. But they didn’t say anything about it. I already met with the head of the village, and I talked with the people from the senior citizen’s center when they came to collect some contribution to their heating cost of the center. I will make an offer to buy that farmland in Spring.”
Two weeks had passed. The weather got colder. People started wearing winter outfits.
Gun-Ho’s office in GH Building in Sinsa Town, Gangnam District was warm with a good heating system. Gun-Ho made a call to President Song in GH Mobile in Jiksan Town.
“It’s Gun-Ho Goo.”
“Yes, sir, this is Jang-Hwan Song.”
“I will capitalize on my 3 billion won.”
“Oh, thank… thank you so much, sir.”
“How much do you expect the year-end dividend would be?”
“We are anticipating the net income after taxes would be 3 billion won, and 2.5 billion won can be a dividend.”
“President Song, why don’t you take 5% of 2.5 billion won as your share and as I promised you? That would be 125 million won. Let’s record my dividend of 2,374 million won as earned surplus and use it to pay the debt.”
“I can’t take my dividend, sir. I haven’t been with the company even for a year yet. I’m not qualified to receive a dividend even if I want to. Let’s use all of 2.5 billion won to pay the debt.”
“President Song, just take your portion. It’s an order from the chairman of the board of directors.”
“I can’t do that, sir. You shouldn’t ask me to do it.”
“Hmm.”
“I will record the meeting minutes as you just said. We will use 2.5 billion won after deducting the legally required retention fund to pay the company debt. I will inform the external auditors accordingly. I do thank you for your decision, sir, on behalf of the entire employees of GH Mobile.”
After getting off the phone with President Song, Gun-Ho sent a text message to the lady doctor—Young-Eun Kim in Seoul National University Hospital.
[It has been two weeks since we had a walk together. I can’t stop thinking of the path we took at the Fortress Wall of Seoul. I will be waiting for you at the same Starbucks in front of Hansug University this Sunday at 10 am.]
Gun-Ho received a call from Min-Hyeok Kim.
“Dingding made her decision. She wants to give it a try in running the joint venture.”
Dingding was Min-Hyeok’s wife’s name.
“That’s really nice. Then register the company with the government. The name of the joint venture is GH Plastic and Chemical Compound Trade. The capital is 100,000 dollars. The president is Dingding, and the investment-capital ratio between the co-venturers will be that Gun-Ho takes 90% and Dingding takes 10%.”
“I have one condition though.”
“What is it?”
“Dingding wants a small office for herself. I told her to use an office in GH Parts Company, but she doesn’t want to be with me at work. She said that she doesn’t want to get interrupted by her husband at work.”
“The investment funds will be there and she will have access to it. Use it to lease an office and get necessary stuff for it.”
“Thank you.”
