“I’m fine.”
“You look tired.”
Young-Eun closed her eyes as if she was in pain.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I have a minor stomach ache with some burning feeling in my chest.”
“Just stay lying down. You need a rest.”
“I’m sorry. I think you should have your dinner tonight by yourself.”
“You have to eat too.”
“I have no appetite. I couldn’t sleep enough last night. I think I’d better go to bed now.”
Gun-Ho went to the master bedroom and made the bed for Young-Eun.
“Oppa, I need to go to a wedding hall tomorrow.”
“I don’t think so. You should stay home and rest.”
“I’m okay. I can leave home early, and take enough time to take the subway and walk slowly. I will be careful.”
“Taking the subway? No way. I will give you a ride.”
“No, it’s okay. Taking a car will give us more hassle given the heavy traffic in the area and the parking problem. The wedding hall is right next to the subway station. I will be okay.”
“Where is the wedding hall?”
“It’s in Marriot Hotel next to Seoul Express Bus Terminal.”
“Hmm, okay. Is the wedding for your college friend?”
“Yeah. He is working as a deputy director of a small hospital in Bundang District. He came to our wedding. I should go there to congratulate him.”
“I see that you are a very good friend, but you should take care of yourself.”
“It’s fine. I will show off to everyone that I’m expecting a baby soon.”
It was mid-December.
Gun-Ho received a call from Jae-Sik Moon. His wife delivered a baby girl.
“Early this morning, her water broke, and we rushed to the hospital. We didn’t even bring the Audi that was assigned to me by the company, but we took a taxi. It was not her due date yet, so I went to work, leaving her at the hospital. And later, I received a call from the hospital that she gave birth to our baby girl at 10 am.”
“Congratulations. You are officially a father.”
“Haha. I still can’t believe that I’m a father now.”
“Your wife must have been through a lot. Take good care of her.”
“The Chinese workers here sent a flower to the hospital to congratulate us. I didn’t expect it, and I feel embarrassed.”
“You should be grateful for having those people who care for you and your family.”
“I already gave a call to my parents in Incheon City and also to my parents-in-law.”
“Good. Your wife is well, right?”
“Yeah, she is fine. When I went into her hospital room after receiving a call from the hospital, she already finished a canned pineapple by herself.”
“Congratulations again. I really mean it.”
“Thank you. You should be good to your wife too. You are next.”
Gun-Ho relayed the news to Director Jong-Suk Park.
“Jae-Sik Moon’s wife gave birth to a child this morning. I just received a call from him.”
“Really? Now he is a father. Hahaha. You two can ask me any question about being a father since I became a father before you two.”
“That’s true.”
“You might not be able to say how cute your baby is when you meet your baby for the first time because they look simply weird. But later, once they gain some weight a little bit, they become extremely adorable.”
“I see that you have the experience.”
“Once your baby turns six months old, they smile. That would drive you crazy.”
“Haha. Okay. Time to go back to work.”
“Bro, you are not coming here today?”
“I will go to work there tomorrow.”
“Did President Song mention anything about the candidate for promotion?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything yet.”
“Don’t forget the thing that I asked you earlier.”
“What did you ask me about?”
“I knew it. You don’t even remember what I asked before.”
“Just tell me what it was.”
“I want to divide the production team into team 1 and team 2. Also, I want the supervisor in the production site A to be promoted to a manager.”
“Oh, I remember that. No problem.”
“I’m counting on you, bro. I love you!”
Gun-Ho hung up the phone.
After a while, Gun-Ho received a call from President Song.
“We finally received the five-star quality certificate from H Group. We barely passed their test with a score of 88.”
“Oh, really? Congratulations.”
“This certificate will open our door wider to the market, especially to the international market. Chrysler will recognize our quality product even better than before.”
“You did a very good job, Mr. President Song.”
“Obtaining the five-star quality certificate is just a start. We will have to maintain our status. They will evaluate our facility every year. If we can’t pass their test next year, our certificate will simply be revoked.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“We will have the signboard-hanging ceremony for this five-star certificate at 2 pm today.”
“Didn’t you just say that we just received the certificate? And we already have the signboard ready for it?”
“I thought that it would be better to finish the signboard-hanging ceremony as soon as possible, so I had the signboard made in advance.”
“Haha, really”
“And, I have several things that I want to discuss with you once you come to your office here tomorrow, including the promotion matter.”
“If that’s not for an executive officer, please just proceed.”
“Well, I still want to talk to you about it first tomorrow.”
The next day, Gun-Ho went to work at GH Mobile in Jiksan Town.
As usual, the secretary—Ms. Hee-Jeong Park—brought a cup of tea and a newspaper to Gun-Ho’s office.
Gun-Ho asked her, “Is Mr. President Song in his office?”
“He went down to the production site, sir. It looks like they are having a special meeting between the executive officers at the production site. I can ask him to come to your office, sir.”
“That’s okay.”
“The morning paper covered our signboard-hanging ceremony for the five-star quality certificate. I marked it red.”
“Hmm, okay.”
After a moment, President Song came to Gun-Ho’s office. He was carrying some documents.
“You are here, sir.”
“You did a great job in getting the five-star certificate.”
“Did you see the signboard on the way to the office?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Well, here is the certificate. You might want to see this first.”
President Song handed the certificate to Gun-Ho. After taking a look at the certificate, Gun-Ho stood up from his seat.
“Well, let’s go downstairs to see the signboard.”
Gun-Ho went down to the front entrance where the signboard was hanging. He touched the signboard to feel the texture. He then turned around and extended his hand to President Song for a handshake.
At that moment, several employees were entering the building, and they clapped when they saw Gun-Ho and President Song having a handshake in front of the five-star certificate signboard.
“Let’s go back to my office, Mr. President Song.”
Gun-Ho started walking first and President Song followed him while carrying documents. When they entered Gun-Ho’s office, Gun-Ho asked President Song to have a seat.
“Please take a seat.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You told me yesterday over the phone that you wanted to discuss something with me. What is it?”
