“Are your parents still in Incheon City?”
“Yes, they are. My father became a person with a bad credit score as well. He hadn’t done well with his work either.”
“Hmm.”
When Gun-Ho was thinking for a moment, Jae-Sik started talking again.
“I’m sorry, Gun-Ho. I understand you can’t really say anything to me. I guess I asked you too much. All my other friends I called earlier, they just hung up on me as soon as they heard my voice. But you listened to me. I appreciate that. Thank you. I will let you go then.”
Jae-Sik was about to hang up the phone when Gun-Ho quickly said,
“Hold on!”
Gun-Ho didn’t let Jae-Sik hang up the phone.
“Come down to Asan City… I mean, to Jiksan Town, in Cheonan City.”
“Jiksan Town?”
“Yeah, Jiksan Town in Cheonan City.”
“Whew. I don’t even have money for bus fare. Why do you want me there?”
“Take a subway to Jiksan Town. You might find a place to work there.”
“Nah, I don’t think so. Since I have a bad credit score, no one would hire me. Even though someone hires me, my salary will be seized.”
“Just trust me on this, okay? Come to Jiksan Town.”
“You have something like OneRoomTel there?”
“Just come, okay? I will see you at the Jiksan station at noon tomorrow.”
“Okay… Thank you.”
The next morning, when he arrived at his office, Gun-Ho called for the accounting manager.
“If a person with a bad score got a job, will all of his salary be seized?”
“Not exactly. They will seize his wage after subtracting his basic living expenses.”
“How much would the basic living expenses?”
“It would be probably 1 million won or 1.2 million won. I don’t have the exact figures. It should be around that amount.”
“So, if a person with a bad credit score is being paid 2 million won per month, and if that person’s basic living expenses are 1.2 million won, then 800,000 won will be seized.”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm.”
“We used to have a lady worker here in the production department, whose salary is being seized.”
“Really?”
“She at first asked us to pay the salary with her mother’s name to her mother’s bank. However, we didn’t do it. That is illegal.”
“Hmm.”
“That worker eventually quit the job.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Gun-Ho did a cursory review of the report in the morning before he headed to Jiksan Town. When he entered into the construction site of his factory in Jiksan Town, Director Yoon who was wearing a safety helmet and boots ran to Gun-Ho.
“Sir.”
“They dug up deep.”
“Yes, they are going to put reinforcement steel there.”
“Are those workers over there on a salary?”
“Some of them are paid on a salary, but many of them are paid daily by the subcontracting company.”
“Hmm.”
“Do you have something you want to tell me, sir?”
“No, never mind.”
Gun-Ho met Jae-Sik Moon at the Jiksan Station.
Gun-Ho almost couldn’t recognize Jae-Sik and so did Jae-Sik.
Jae-Sik looked shabby and old; he looked like he was in his 40s. Moreover, he probably lost some weight; he looked small.
Jae-Sik couldn’t recognize Gun-Ho at a glance. In his memory, Gun-Ho was a poor and shy kid from a poor family. He couldn’t belong to any group in high school. However, Gun-Ho now looked totally different. He looked confident and did indeed look like a president of some company.
“It has been a really long time, Gun-Ho. I almost couldn’t recognize you.”
Jae-Sik smiled but he looked sad.
“So do I. You changed a lot, Jae-Sik.”
“How’s your business with OneRoomTels?”
“It’s going well. Jae-Sik, are you interested in working at a factory?”
“A factory? No one would hire me, and all of my salary will be seized.”
“I actually have a factory, so I can give you a position. Also, I think I can do something about your salary seizure problem.”
“Really?”
Jae-Sik seemed to be very interested now.
Gun-Ho took Jae-Sik in his car and went to an ox bone soup restaurant in Jiksan Town, close to Dong Seoul University.
“Let’s have lunch first before we go to the factory.”
Jae-Sik seemed to enjoy the ox bone soup a lot.
“Can I order one more bowl of cooked rice?”
“Of course. Eat as much as you want. I just need one bowl of cooked rice.”
Gun-Ho looked closely at Jae-Sik who was having the ox bone soup. His jacket and shoes were old and shabby. Gun-Ho could see Jae-Sik’s harsh life through his appearance.
‘I can’t believe this is that Jae-Sik Moon who was so talented and passionately participated in the literature club in high school. He was the best student in that club.’
After lunch, Gun-Ho headed to Asan City with Jae-Sik.
Jae-Sik didn’t say anything on the way, and Gun-Ho also didn’t say anything because he couldn’t think of anything to talk about. Gun-Ho was thinking about what he should do with Jae-Sik; he could be troubling.
When they arrived at Gun-Ho’s factory in Asan City, Jae-Sik was shocked. There were so many people working there with so many heavy equipments. He looked around the factory with his mouth open. Gun-Ho didn’t take Jae-Sik to his office, but instead, he took him to a small meeting room. He then asked for the production manager—Jong-Suk Park.
“Jong-Suk, do you remember Jae-Sik Moon? He used to live in a house with a blue-colored front door. This is him.”
“Well, I think I saw him once, but I don’t remember much about him.”
Jong-Suk couldn’t really remember Jae-Sik. Jong-Suk used to hang out with outgoing people like Suk-Ho Lee who was now running a bar in Gyeongridan Street. Jae-Sik used to spend a lot of time at home.
“Are you the son of the restaurant owner in Bupyeong District?”
Jae-Sik seemed to remember Jong-Suk.
Gun-Ho asked Jong-Suk,
“Is there any position that Jae-Sik could work in the production department?”
“There are plenty of positions available, but the question is whether this bro can handle the work.”
“Hmm.”
Gun-Ho asked for the general affairs manager.
“This is someone I know well, and he wants to work at our factory. Do you know any good position he could take?”
The general affairs manager asked Jae-Sik,
“Do you have any particular skills certificate?”
“No, I don’t.”
“You do have a driver’s license, right?”
“It’s suspended after I got involved in a car accident.”
The general affairs manager suggested Gun-Ho,
“We have one open position for a security guard for the night shift. I think he can handle that work.”
“Okay. Why don’t you give him a list of papers he needs to prepare? Jong-Suk, find a place to stay for Jae-Sik. A OneRoomTel is good as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
The general affairs manager and Jong-Suk answered at once.
Jae-Sik seemed to feel better when he heard Gun-Ho asking Jong-Suk to find a place to stay for him.
Jae-Sik walked out of the meeting room with the general affairs manager.
Once Gun-Ho sent Jae-Sik to the general affairs manager’s office, he came back to his office.
There was a missed call from Attorney Young-Jin Kim from Kim&Jeong Law Office on his cell phone.
Gun-Ho made a call to Attorney Kim.
“I’m sorry that I missed your call.”
“You must be very busy, huh?”
“I’m good now. What’s up?”
“I just received a call from Amiel in Tokyo.”
“Really?”
“He was asking if you already develop the new product—AM083. He said you showed him the product drawing last time.”
“How can we develop the product already? Dyeon didn’t even give us an opportunity to make a sample product.”
“Amiel said he has someone he wanted to recommend you meet with in order to resolve that problem.”
“Recommending someone? Who is it?”
“He is a Japanese engineer who used to work for Dyeon in the U.S. He is now retired. He used to be the best engineer in Dyeon.”
“Oh, really?”
“Amiel was asking if you want to get some advice from that engineer.”
“Of course. I really need any help now.”
“Okay, then. I will let Amiel know that you want that engineer.”
