Gun-Ho gave a call to his mother.
“Mom, the wedding will be on March 18th as planned. It’s going to be held at noon. The wedding venue is the Hilton Hotel across the street from Seoul Station.”
“Hilton Hotel? That one is expensive. I see.”
“Don’t invite too many people; just invite essential people who you really want to invite.”
“That’s not fair. Some of them will complain that I discriminate against them because my son is now rich.”
“Mom, please don’t invite everyone you know, but only those who you really want to come to congratulate on your son’s wedding, okay?”
“Okay. By the way, Gun-Ho, I feel sorry that we are not very helpful in arranging your wedding, as your parents. I will prepare gifts for the bride.”
“Okay, mom. I will talk to you later.”
Gun-Ho had a class at the Advanced Center for Administrative Development that day.
Gun-Ho was thinking if he had to let the class know that he would soon marry.
‘I’m not that close to these people. We’ve met only a few times in the class. Should I still let them know? I would get a few more congratulatory flower wreaths at my wedding and maybe some gift money from them if I do, and I don’t need them. Maybe it’s a matter of courtesy. Hmmm. I don’t know what I should do.’
When Gun-Ho was thinking of whether he should inform the class that he would marry soon or not, a general from the class asked Gun-Ho that he wanted to talk to him in private during the break. He was the quiet type.
“Mr. Class Manager, let me ask you something.”
The general person pulled out something from his pocket.
“This is a wedding invitation. My first daughter is getting married. I was wondering if I should let everyone in the class know.”
“Oh, really? Congratulations. Of course, you should let the class know.”
“You think so?”
“Of course. Did you bring additional wedding invitations? I will help with distributing them to the class.”
The general opened his Samsonite briefcase and pulled out a bunch of wedding invitations and gave them to Gun-Ho. He also gave Gun-Ho his business card. He was a commanding officer.”
‘This man was always sitting at his desk quietly all the time, but he still wants to share his daughter’s wedding event with the class, which is interesting. I should have broken my wedding news to the class before him. Well, the good thing is his daughter’s wedding is at the end of February while mine is in March.’
The students started getting into the class since the class would resume anytime soon. Gun-Ho went forward in front of the class before the professor came to the class.
“Can I have your attention, please? Mr. General over there who is sitting in the third row from the back has a daughter, and she is getting married on February 26th. He is a commanding officer. If you can make time, I do encourage you to attend the wedding to congratulate him and his daughter. Thank you.”
The students didn’t seem to be happy to hear the news. The people sitting near the general congratulated him and had a handshake with him.
While Gun-Ho was distributing the wedding invitations, he heard someone making sarcastic remarks in a low voice.
“I don’t even know him. Is he serious about distributing the wedding invitation to the class and expect us to attend his daughter’s wedding?”
Gun-Ho was in his office at the building in Sinsa Town when he received an international call from President Song who was currently on a business trip to Chicago.
“Sir, we arrived in Chicago. The staff from the Korea International Trade Association is already here, and they helped us with setting up our booth.”
“That’s nice.”
“Many people at the event showed their interest in our AM083 Assembly. Many of them took our company’s catalogs and my business cards.”
“I hope we would hear from some of them.”
“Well, for now, we have received lots of attention. Some people were willing to get into negotiation for our other products.”
“Hmm.”
“We might not receive any product orders, but our products are definitely promoted and well marketed. H Mobis’ president came to the motor show as well, and he stopped by our booth and took a look at our products.”
“Hmm.”
“I will keep you updated, sir.”
“Hold on.”
“Is there anything you’d like to talk to me, sir?”
“The general affairs director brought me a list of candidates for promotion, and the accounting manager was on the list. What do you think?”
“All of the nine candidates satisfied the requirement to be promoted. So, even if we decide to promote all of them, that should be fine. As for the accounting manager, it’s not something I can decide.”
“If we promote her, we will have two directors in finance.”
“We will have to send one of them to another department.”
“How do you think we should handle it?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t have an answer for that. It’s your call, sir.”
“Okay.”
Gun-Ho went to work in Jiksan Town, and he ran across Director Jong-Suk Park in the restroom.
“Jong-Suk, come with me to my office.”
When Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk sat in the president’s office, the secretary brought two cups of green tea.
“How are you?”
“I’m doing fine. President Song stopped by the production site the other day, and he said the defect rate has decreased. In order to compensate for our effort in diminishing the defect rate, he suggested that I have dinner with the managers in the production department.”
“The defect rate has diminished? That’s good to hear. The labor union has been quiet lately, right?”
“They are not quiet at all. They have their own problems now.”
“What is it?”
“They are competing to win the lead positions within the labor union.”
“Why is that so? Is it a beneficial position? The company doesn’t give any extra pay to the leaders of the labor union.”
“It’s because of the expenses allocated to the labor union. The leaders will have the power to manage the budget.”
“You mean they can spend the labor union member fees as they please?”
“Well, not absolutely, but they can definitely exercise their discretion in managing the fund.”
“I see. How’s your family doing?”
“They are doing fine. By the way, bro, when are you going to announce the promotion? The candidates are desperately waiting for the decision.”
“I will do it soon.”
Gun-Ho made a call to Director Kim in Dyeon Korea.
“Are you in the office right now?”
“No, sir. I’m at Egnopak.”
“I was going to ask you to have lunch with me. Well, I guess we will have to do it at another time. I will talk to you later then.”
“Sir, I’m on my way out of Egnopak. I can go straight to GH Mobile without going back to Dyeon Korea. GH Mobile is closer from here. You are at GH Mobile right now, aren’t you?”
“Okay, then let’s meet at Plum Plantation Garden at noon.”
“Okay, sir.”
The branches of plum trees at the Plum Plantation Garden were bare in this cold winter. Only the pine trees near the outdoor sitting area were still green.
Director Kim arrived.
“Did you come by yourself?”
“Yes, sir. I came alone.”
Gun-Ho and Director Kim entered the garden restaurant. Not many people were in the restaurant. When the plum trees were in bloom, the restaurant would be full with people again. It was warm inside.
Gun-Ho, Director Kim, and Chan-Ho Eum sat at the table and ate together. In a situation like this, Chan-Ho usually quickly finished his lunch and gave some privacy to Gun-Ho and whoever was with him, so they could freely discuss business.
