Gun-Ho was asking Director Jong-Suk Park to build machines for Dyeon Korea.
“I need the drawing and the main screws.”
“President Song will ask you to go on a trip to America with him to purchase those screws.”
“To the U.S.?”
“Yeah. Once you get there, enjoy your trip and learn things as much as you could while you are there.”
“To what company are we going, and where to?”
“You will have to hear from President Song about the trip. I’d better get going now.”
Gun-Ho went to Dyeon Korea that afternoon.
Director Yoon entered Gun-Ho’s office.
“I will have to stay in Chennai for about a month after we make the final payment for the factory there.”
“Is it because of the repair that we are going to make on the factory?”
“Yes, sir. There are several areas that require repairs. I will first hire a Korean international student who can speak Tamil when I get there.”
“Hire one local person too. We need at least one local worker anyway in order to run the factory, either a production worker or for the management.”
“It will cost us more to have a management worker. So, for now, I will find a production worker who would run some errands for us during our preparation stage. I talked with the people from the association for Korean residents there. According to them, there are many Indians in the area, who used to work in Korea and came back to India. I think we can hire someone from that group.”
“Hmm, really?”
“Also, we filed a report with the foreign exchange authority for the funds that we sent to India to purchase the factory. Assistant Manager Myeong-Joon Chae took care of it.”
“Hmm, I see. If you stay in India, do we have to worry about things here during your absence?”
“It should be okay since the internal auditor will be here. The general affairs manager will handle the work in the department while I’m gone, and I made sure that he would contact Mr. Internal Auditor for anything out of ordinary and make a report to him.”
“That’s good.”
Gun-Ho received a call from Min-Hyeok Kim.
“We got a new client. It’s a Chinese auto manufacturing company.”
“That’s nice. It has been a while since the last time when you procured a new client, right? Did you make the deal yourself?”
“It’s hard to get a Chinese company as our new client. Dingding found this company by accident actually, while she was doing her sales activities. We were lucky.”
“Did you get their product drawing?”
“Yes, we did. We will try to make the mold ourselves here this time.”
“Are you sure? I can have GH Mobile’s research center help you with it.”
“Let me try it here first. If that doesn’t work, I will make a request for help.”
“How much do you expect to make per month with the new client company?”
“It will be about 100 million won per month.”
“That will add 1.2 billion won to the annual sales revenue, huh?”
“I suppose so.”
“Good job.”
“Dingding gave a notice to vacate her office in Pingqi Road.”
“It has already been one year since she occupied that office, huh?”
“It has been a little bit less than a year, but she is preparing to move her office to the new location— Dyeon China’s building in Suzhou Industrial Park. She will move there after the final payment for the building is made.”
“How much was she paying for the current office?”
“She paid the rent in a lump sum for the one-year period. It was 5.4 million won. It’s like paying about 450,000 won per month.”
“Since she is moving to a large factory building in Suzhou Industrial Park, I believe that she can have a large office. Director Kim took several pictures of the building when he went there last time, and their offices including the president’s office and the auditorium are huge and very well decorated.”
“Oh, they are? Dingding still worries about one thing. The machines will be installed in the factory, and since she doesn’t know much about machines, she will need to find someone who knows well about installing those machines. She is a bit scared of handling the process by herself since it’s a new area for her.”
“She doesn’t have a thing to worry about. Jong-Suk Park will be there and install the machines.”
“You are sending Jong-Suk here?”
“Yeah. You might not have noticed how much he grew professionally. He is an excellent engineer now. He received special training in the U.S., and he learned from the world-renowned engineer— Mr. Sakata Ikuzo— directly when he worked with us before. I believe that you won’t find anyone who knows better than Jong-Suk about that particular machine.”
“Really? I will have to be very nice with him when he comes here.”
“Yeah, you’d better.”
“I will buy him a lot of drinks, and I’m sure that will work.”
“Haha. Do what you think you should do.”
“Also, Dingding needs to change the name of the sales company to Dyeon China.”
“I believe that she already started the process to change the company’s name.”
“Once she moves her office there, and the factory starts running, she will soon have more than 100 workers there. Dingding, well your wife will be the boss of those workers as the president of Dyeon China.”
“Haha, yeah.”
“Dingding’s sales company is selling about 100 tons per month, right?”
“Yeah, it’s about right.”
“She won’t need to buy the products from Dyeon Korea any more. She can still provide the same products to her current client companies with the products that will be produced in Dyeon China. She can then gradually grow the amount of sales. I want her to hire several sales workers as well. They will definitely help to increase the sales. It’s better that way than she does the sales work by herself.”
“Thank you for your advice and concern.”
“I thank you and Dingding.”
Gun-Ho went home after work. Gun-Ho’s father-in-law from Silim Town was sitting in the living room holding the baby. Gun-Ho greeted him first, “Father, you are here.”
“Yeah, I had to come. I missed my grandchild so much.”
“You are always welcome here. You are going to have dinner with us today, right?”
“Yes. Young-Eun and I were waiting for you to come home to have dinner together.”
Young-Eun seemed to be in a good mood, probably because his father was there with her.
“My dad will stay here overnight and leave tomorrow morning.”
“Really? That’s nice. He can have his drink while having dinner then, since he doesn’t have to drive tonight.”
“Actually, he didn’t bring his car today. He took the subway instead. He didn’t want to risk having the nasty sticker on his windshield like the last time.”
“I see. Well, I guess you can give him a ride to his home tomorrow then.”
“Today was a weird day. I got a visit from all of my parents including yours from Incheon.”
“My mom and dad came here today?”
“Yeah. They came and had lunch with me. Do you see the mobile hanging over Sang-Min’s crib? Your father bought it for him.”
“Really?”
“Our helper lady is very good with seniors. Whenever your parents or my father visit our home, she makes a very pleasant conversation with them.”
“I guess we’d better give her a tip or something to appreciate her kindness to our parents.”
“Speaking of which, I already bought her nice cosmetics.”
“That’s good.”
“Now, you go and wash your hands. Dinner is almost ready.”
Gun-Ho sat at the dining table. The table was set with more dishes than usual. Gun-Ho thought that Young-Eun put every possible dish that she could find at home on the table for her father.
“Father, please join us.”
Young-Eun’s father placed Sang-Min in the crib and sat at the dining table.
Since Gun-Ho knew well how much Young-Eun’s father loved liquor, he opened a bottle of Chinese liquor that Jae-Sik Moon brought to him last time he visited Korea.
“This is Baiju from Guizhou Province, China.”
“Guizhou Province? Isn’t it an inland area?”
“I have a business there too, and this was the present from the person who is working there. Please let me fill up your glass with it.”
Gun-Ho also had a few glasses of Baiju with his father-in-law that evening. He fell asleep early that night after dinner; he didn’t even watch the TV. Gun-Ho usually felt tired on those days when he had to go to work in two places— GH Mobile in Jiksan Town and Dyeon Korea in Asan City.
