Byung-Tae Hwang who graduated from KAIST came to Suk-Ho’s wedding as well. He was ranked number one in the class in high school, and he was known as a genius at that time.
“I heard you are working in Pangyo. Which research facility are you working for?”
Byung-Tae who was wearing thick glasses handed his business card to Gun-Ho instead of answering Gun-Ho’s question. His business card said he was a senior researcher in some research center and he had a Ph.D. in engineering.
“You must be living in Pangyo as well then.”
“No, I live in Suji.”
“You haven’t married yet, have you?”
“I will next year. I have a fiancée.”
“Really? I will be at your wedding.”
“Thank you. I will let you know once I know the exact date and place for my wedding.”
“Hello? Bro? I’m here too.”
Gun-Ho turned his head around to see a person who just talked. It was Jong-Suk.
“Hey, Jong-Suk. How come you are here? Oh, that’s right. You are close to Suk-Ho as well.”
“I used to be way closer to you than Suk-Ho bro. You just became distant lately.”
“No, I didn’t. Hey, you look great in a suit. You look even handsome. You can marry too.”
“We need to marry in order of age. You have to get married first.”
Gun-Ho was thinking.
‘If I still worked in a factory in Pocheon or Yangju, would I have come here for Suk-Ho’s wedding and talked with old friends with confidence?’
It had been a week since Suk-Ho’s wedding and Gun-Ho received a call from Suk-Ho.
“Hey, Gun-Ho. I’m just calling to thank you. You have been very helpful at my wedding.”
“I haven’t done much. How’s your honeymoon trip?”
“It was good.”
“Where are you settling in?”
“I purchased an 18 pyung townhouse in Bogwang Town. My parents helped me to buy it.”
“Really? Bogwang Town is close to Gyeongridan Street where your bar is, which is nice.”
“Oh, I talked with several friends from high school and we decided to have some gathering.”
“Really?”
“I will let you know once the date is fixed. Won-Chul actually suggested having a gathering at my wedding day.”
“Sounds good. Just let me know.”
The board meeting of the joint venture came close. At the board meeting, board members and management officers discuss important policies and matters of the company and also appoint executive officers including CEO.
Gun-Ho left for China to attend the board meeting of his joint venture.
The president of the joint venture—Min-Hyeok Kim was at the airport to pick up Gun-Ho. He came in his Audi with his chauffeur. The joint venture insisted that Min-Hyeok must have a chauffeur because he was a foreigner.
“At the board meeting, the president of Jinxi Construction Company—Chinkkweo Seon and the vice president of the joint venture— Kkangsin Kkao will be there.”
“In addition to those two, there will be a secretary who will take board meeting minutes during the meeting.”
“I see. There will be five people then, including us.”
“Oh, there will be another person—an interpreter. So, six people will attend the meeting.”
“Oh, Suk-Ho from Gyeongridan Street called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He wanted to thank me for sending him the flower wreath and gift money.”
“Really? He could sometimes be mean but he will probably pay you back if you do good to him.”
Gun-Ho was amazed when he saw the Jinxi Industrial Park.
“Wow, it looks majestic!”
“They are not done yet. They are still building more factories. Seven companies stopped by the industrial park when they noticed the park from the road and made a contract with us. They are all Korean companies.”
“That’s right. I read it from the weekly report you had sent to me.”
“They are building factories so fast, right?’
“Yes, they indeed are, and they are very skillful too.”
“Yeah, of course, they are. They are the ones who built the Great Wall of China, several thousand years ago.”
The president of Jinxi Construction Company—Chinkkweo Seon conducted the board meeting as the chairman of the board for the joint venture. He started the meeting.
“We are now starting our first boarding meeting of the Korean Chinese joint venture—Jinxi Industrial Park.”
Everyone at the meeting looked at the chairman.
“The Korean co-venturer, President Gun-Ho Goo from GH Development is here with us today. And this is President Min-Hyeok Kim of our joint venture.”
Gun-Ho and Min-Hyeok stood up from their seats and bowed respectively.
“For the Chinese co-venturer, I, myself, Chinkkweo Seon and Kkangsin Kkao are present.”
Chinkkweo Seon and Kkangsin Kkao bowed.
In front of each board member and officer, a ceramic cup of tea, that was decorated with a dragon figure, was placed. The secretary walked around the table with a pot and filled up each cup with hot tea.
“Next, the vice president of the joint venture— Kkangsin Kkao will present the report.”
Kkangsin Kkao started his presentation with a report that he prepared.
“Since we opened our joint venture, we have made 5,200,000 Yuan from deposits that were received by the companies who decided to move into our industrial park. We incurred 8,400,000 Yuan to construct factories so far, and additional 1,200,000 Yuan was spent for other expenses.”
Listening to the report was a bit boring.
Gun-Ho asked a question.
“So, how much is left after spending all the expenses so far?”
“We have currently 3,500,000 Yuan.”
The president of Jinxi Construction Company— Chinkkweo Seon added to Kkangsin Kkao’s response.
“Umm, we started receiving rents from seven companies that already settled in the industrial park since last month. From that time, we haven’t used our joint venture’s fund any longer.”
Gun-Ho anticipated that once the industrial park was fully filled with companies, the joint venture’s fund would increase substantially.
“Since this is a rental business as well, as Professor Jien Wang stated, it is a Cash Cow business (Cash Cow: a profitable business that generates a steady flow of income as if milking a cow.)”
Kkangsin Kkao continued his presentation of the report.
“We will continuously put our untiring effort to be productive and efficient.”
There was nothing special or important after Kkangsin Kkao’s report, but it took unexpectedly a lot of time because of the process of interpreting. The meeting started at 10 am and it was still on, even at noon.
At the end of the meeting, Gun-Ho made a proposal to raise Min-Hyeok’s salary to 6,000 Yuan.
The Chinese co-venturer opposed.
“I object.”
“What is your reason to oppose?”
The Chinese co-venturer stated that once they raised the president’s salary, they would have to raise all other employee’s salary as well.
“If we raise everyone’s salary, then the payability will be weakened.”
Min-Hyeok talked to Gun-Ho in a low voice,
“You don’t have to do this. I am okay. Let’s try this later after we observe how the company develops.”
Gun-Ho then suggested raising the president’s salary according to the business performance.
“We consent to it.”
The Chinese co-venturer stated they all agreed with Gun-Ho’s last suggestion.
Gun-Ho thought those Chinese people who previously had worked for Jinxi Construction Company were not quick but practical.
“They are somewhat reasonable, maybe because they used to work for a government-owned company.”
The board meeting was over after 12:30 pm.
“Good work everyone. Let’s have lunch somewhere really nice.”
The board members and officers went to a restaurant called Jujangchangwan.
The president of Jinxi Construction Company— Chinkkweo Seon had Gun-Ho sit at the head of the table in the restaurant.
“You are the chairman of the board, so you are the one who has to sit here.”
“Don’t say that. You will be the next chairman of the board, and you came all the way here from Korea. You are our special guest.”
After spending some time in suggesting each other sitting at the head of the table, Gun-Ho finally sits there.
They ordered a lot of food and Chinese liquor, Baiju.
“Let’s drink for the company.”
When they clinked their first glasses of Baiju to each other’s, the president of Jinxi Construction Company received a call.
“President Goo, Deputy Mayor Seukang Li is on his way here. Let’s eat slowly.”
“Really? Deputy Mayor is coming?”
When they finished about half of the food they ordered, Deputy Mayor Seukang Li arrived at the restaurant with his chauffeur.
“Hey, President Goo. Good to see you!”
“Good to see you, Seukang Li. You didn’t have to come; we understand that you must be very busy in the city hall.”
“I intended to join you earlier, but the meeting took more time than I expected. I came here as soon as the meeting was over.”
“Have a seat here.”
“Nah. You should stay at the head of the table.”
When Gun-Ho and Seukang Li asked each other to sit at the head of the table, the president of Jinxi Construction Company yielded his seat to them.
