Gun-Ho made a call to GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook Shin.
“We had received 17 billion won from Huanle Shiji Production Company the other day as our investment return. Do we currently have 11 billion won left?”
“That’s correct, sir. After paying you back your personal fund of 6 billion won out of it, we have now 11 billion won in our bank account, sir.”
“I want you to send 8.35 billion won out of 11 billion won to Director Woon-Hak Sim in China. He is opening a new movie investment company. He will produce a historical movie.”
“A historical movie, sir? Alright, sir, I will do that.”
Gun-Ho then called for Director Kang.
“How did it go with the meeting with President Song last week?”
“It went well, sir. I gave him all of the necessary documents already. I believe they are proceeding with the building acquisition right now.”
“Did you have a chance to meet with all of GH Mobile’s executive officers while you were there?”
“Yes, sir. They all seemed to be very nice people. President Song showed me around the company and introduced the executive officers there to me himself.”
“Well, that’s good. Well done, Mr. Director Kang. Let me buy you lunch today. Ask Chan-Ho Eom to get ready to leave for lunch.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Gun-Ho, Director Kang, and Chan-Ho Eom headed to a restaurant called MoMoKo located in Seocho Town, nearby Seoul Arts Center. Gun-Ho ordered Teriyaki chopped steak.
“Enjoy it.”
“Mr. Chairman, do you remember the old days when we were using an office-tel as our office around Gangnam Station? We sometimes grilled meat ourselves in the park in Cheonggye Mountain with the entire staff of the company. For some reason, this lunch reminds me of those days.”
“Haha, really?”
After lunch, on the way back to the office, Gun-Ho asked Chan-Ho Eom to drive in the direction of Bangbae Town. When they were close to the clinic where Young-Eun was working, Gun-Ho said, “Chan-Ho, drive slowly. I want to see something here.”
Gun-Ho then pointed to the building across the street from the clinic and said to Director Kang, “Mr. Director Kang, do you see the 4-story building over there?”
“Yes, sir. It looks like an office building.”
“Can you get that building’s address and get me its real estate register?”
“Sure, sir. Well, I need to get closer to see the building number.”
In that afternoon, Gun-Ho was dozing off sitting on the sofa in his office when he heard someone knocking on the door. It was Director Kang.
“Sir, I brought the real estate register for the building that you mentioned earlier.”
“Who owned that building?”
“It is owned by a company—Style Apparel Corporation. It’s probably some clothing company that owns that building, sir.”
“Hmm.”
“Its land is 220 pyung large, and its total floor space is 620 pyung large. There is a lien attached to it by Kukmin Bank for the amount of 4 billion won. But, given the current market value of that building, it’s not much.”
“I want you to find the contact number of the owner of that apparel company, and ask him if he is willing to sell that building.”
“That building, sir? It looks like an office building, and I don’t think it can be used for any other purposes.”
“Well, just ask the owner and see what he or she would say. I understand that you would look silly and weird if you ask him to sell his building out of nowhere when the building is not even on the market for sale. But, just try it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Later in that afternoon, Gun-Ho received a call from GH Mobile’s President Song.
“GH Mobile has applied for an additional loan with GH Building for the amount of 120 billion won. The bank staff might visit the building in the near future for their investigation, sir.”
“Hmm, that’s fine.”
“They will evaluate our loan application after they see the building themselves. We got their verbal approval for the loan already though. With this additional loan of 120 billion won, GH Mobile’s total debt would become 150 billion won since we currently have a debt of 30 billion won. The branch manager of the bank said that they would apply the loan interest rate of 6.5% for this particular loan. So, our monthly payment for the interest will be a bit over 800 million won. GH Mobile is more than able to handle it, sir.”
“If GH Mobile was a public company, this kind of thing can’t easily happen like this right?”
“Of course, sir. All the little investors would have opposed it. They would have clamored their complaints about it. For things like this, keeping a company private is much better. Oh, and I had to take our current business registration to the bank. And, I’ve noticed that Mr. Beom-Sik Lee who used to own 15% of the ownership interest in GH Mobile has been removed. Your ownership interest in GH Mobile is now 97%, sir, as it was before.”
“I’m aware of it.”
It was the end of March.
Young-Eun decided to hire a helper lady who would live in the house with them. It seemed that Young-Eun was still feeling scared staying in the huge house by herself with her child. She was thinking about hiring a Korean Chinese lady at first, but considering the cultural difference and all that, she decided to hire a Korean helper lady who was in her 60s. She was an old lady who was living by herself after her son married and moved out of her home.
Gun-Ho felt a bit uncomfortable living with a stranger old lady. He couldn’t walk around his home without his shirt on. So, Gun-Ho usually stayed on the second floor in his study, and he came down to the first floor only when he had to.
Gun-Ho asked Young-Eun who came to the second floor.
“When did you say the clinic that you are working for move to Suwon City?”
“They planned to move in April. But, the thing is that it seems to be hard to find a tenant for the space that they are using right now. The director of the clinic is worried a lot these days.”
“I saw you talking a lot with the helper lady. You two seem to heat it off.”
“Yeah. We mostly talk bad behind other people’s backs. The helper lady mostly talked about her daughter-in-law. It’s fun to listen to all those episodes with her daughter-in-law.”
“You don’t talk about me with her, do you?”
“Why are you asking? Do you think you have done something that I might talk bad about behind your back? If you are concerned, you’d better start behaving yourself, honey.”
“I can open a clinic for you if you want, so you can have your own practice.”
“I don’t know. Watching the director in the clinic running his own clinic, I know it’s not easy to run my own practice.”
The following day, Director Kang came to Gun-Ho to give him a report about the meeting with the apparel company’s president who owns the building in Bangbae Town.
“I met with the building owner yesterday, sir. It was a female president of an apparel company. She said that the building is not for sale, and she has no intention to sell it.”
“Hmm, of course, she would say that.”
“And then, she later said that she might sell if we pay her 30 billion won. I was almost snapped out by her unreasonable offer. It was hard for me to suppress it. That building has no commercial stores, and she is asking for 30 billion won for that no-so-very-useful building. That’s ridiculous.”
