Gun-Ho’s high school reunion was held in a Korean food restaurant called Baek-Hwa that was situated in the Gangnam Station area. There were about 21 people attending the high school reunion. All those friends were busy talking to each other and the restaurant became noisy. The president of the high school reunion—Won-Chul Jo stood up.
“It seems we have everyone here. Let’s say ‘Bravo’ to all of us who made this far in our lives since we are all here together. Bravo!”
“Bravo!”
They then drank a glass of liquor.
“Let me introduce our friends who came far from here. At first, this is Min-Hyeok Kim who is running an auto parts company in Jiangsu Province, China.”
“Hello, everyone. I’m Min-Hyeok Kim.”
Min-Hyeok stood up from his seat and gave a deep bow to the crowd.
“Hey, Min-Hyeok! Give me your business card before you leave today. I am in China too, in Qingdao City!”
Min-Hyeok actually came prepared and brought a bundle of his business cards. He walked around the crowd and gave his business card to everyone there.
“The president of GH Parts Company? You are the president?”
“Yeah.”
“GH is Gun-Ho’s company, no?”
“That’s right.”
Gun-Ho stood up at that moment.
“Min-Hyeok is actually running the company independently. He is receiving a stock option. It’s more like a business partnership.”
“So you two work together as a business partner?”
“You can say that.”
Won-Chul continued to talk,
“And, we have one of our friends who came to our gathering for the first time. He is the one who made our beautiful high school directory book and sent it to all of us earlier. Jae-Sik Moon! He is now working as a chief editor in a publishing company.”
Jae-Sik stood up and gave a bow.
“Umm, I am not a swindler.”
Everyone in the room laughed out loud when they heard Jae-Sik’s rather blunt statement without introduction.
“Our friend, Jae-Sik Moon won an award for his novel recently. The prize was 50 million won.”
“Wow. Is Jae-Sik buying us a drink today?”
“Our dinner will be paid with our membership fee. And after dinner, we go to a bar and will have a drink. Min-Hyeok Kim will treat us for the drink. It seems like Min-Hyeok is making good money in China.”
“Really? Yeah, it looks that way.”
They all clapped for Min-Hyeok Kim.
“Are we having something more after a drink? And Jae-Sik Moon will treat us there?”
Jae-Sik didn’t respond to that question; he was just sitting on his chair and smiled.
Won-Chul Jo continued to talk.
“For the last but not the least, we have a friend here today with us, who couldn’t have attended our meeting so far because of his activities with a civic group. Min-Ho Kang!”
Min-Ho Kang stood up and the crowd clapped for him.
Someone in the middle of the crowd shouted.
“Hey, Min-Ho! Did you go to the big house?”
People laughed.
“Yeah, I had fun there.”
“You should only eat Tofu today then.”
Won-Chul was going to say something, and then he decided not to. There were 21 people there and it was really noisy. Won-Chul had a hard time making them listen to him.
People gathered close to Gun-Ho.
“Hey, Gun-Ho Goo. Let me fill in your glass with liquor.”
“I will have just a little. I am not a good drinker.”
Gun-Ho let everyone fill in his glass with liquor but he drank a little bit of them. People didn’t push Gun-Ho to drink more though. Gun-Ho who was the wealthiest among the friends gradually became their idol.
Min-Ho Kang, who was just released from prison for his activities with a civic group filled Gun-Ho’s glass with liquor.
“I will have just a bit.”
Unlike other friends, Min-Ho kept pouring liquor even after Gun-Ho’s glass overflowed with it.
“Stop it.”
“Why? You don’t want to take the glass of liquor that I filled in for you?”
“Haha. What are you talking about? I just don’t have a high alcohol tolerance. I can’t drink much.”
“I hate people like you. You are one of those people who accumulate their wealth by exploiting manual laborers.”
“I’ve never done it. As you already know, I wasn’t born into a wealthy family. I was born poor.”
“Not anymore. What were you doing when the labor workers at your factory worked so hard with all those machines and machine oils? You probably were drinking with girls.”
“Hey, what are you doing there? Someone stop Min-Ho. He seems to be drunk already.”
“What were you doing when I was fighting for the poor’s right on the street? Gun-Ho Goo? Min-Hyeok Kim? You two are just businessmen who make money no matter how, without caring about the society and people.”
Min-Ho’s statement seemed to upset Min-Hyeok.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Are you drunk?”
“Yeah, I’m drunk. So what? I can’t face this fu*king society without drinking. I can’t stay sober.”
“Just keep drinking then and stop your BS.”
Min-Ho Kang turned his attention to Jae-Sik Moon this time.
“Jae-Sik Moon! You are writing a novel, huh? Don’t write a funny story or useless stuff, but write about the problems of this society!”
“I actually write pure literature.”
Once Min-Ho started talking gibberish, a few friends left the gathering earlier; most of them had a home far from the area.
“I will be leaving.”
“I gotta go too.”
After five to six friends left the restaurant, Gun-Ho tried to calm Min-Ho Kang with a smile.
“Maybe you are right. I think you need to become a politician, not a businessman for sure. Our society needs people like you.”
“You think so, right? Gun-Ho Goo, I’m so glad that you understand me.”
“Yeah, your body seems to refuse to take more alcohol. Stop drinking for today. You are probably exhausted after having time in the big house.”
“So, you became a businessman, huh? When you were in high school, you were so poor. That’s why you decided to become a businessman who is extorting money and labor from the poor? Stop doing it. Our people can find happiness once those wealthy business people like Samsung and Hyundai disappears.”
One of the friends finally yelled at Min-Ho.
“Hey, you dumb knucklehead! We do need Samsung and Hyundai to compete with other countries. You stupid moron!”
“What did you just call me? A moron?”
The room was heated by those people with different opinions. Some friends dragged Min-Ho out of the restaurant. Gun-Ho followed them outside.
“Min-Ho, let’s have a talk.”
Gun-Ho took Min-Ho to a quiet place in an alley.
“To be honest with you, I was very surprised when I heard what happened to you. I’m sorry I didn’t visit you in the prison. I heard that people become weakened once they spend some time in prison. Get something good for your body with this.”
Gun-Ho quickly slipped an envelope into Min-Ho’s pocket.
“What the fu*k is this?”
Min-Ho took out the envelope from his pocket. However, when he opened it and realized there were a lot of cash in it, he slowly put it back to his pocket.
“You are drunk and must be tired today. Why don’t you go home now? I will let our other friends that you went home earlier. I know you are the one who truly worries about our society.”
Gun-Ho quickly grabbed a taxi and sent Min-Ho to his home.
Gun-Ho could calm Min-Ho Kang down and convince him to leave the meeting early, with his money. It was not for his skillful talk or physical force, but it was his money that gave Gun-Ho the power to do it. Gun-Ho became a powerful man.
