It was Tuesday, and Gun-Ho went to work in GH Building, Sinsa Town.
When he was in his office, he received a call from President Jeong-Sook Shin who was in Shanghai City for the contract signing.
“We signed the contract yesterday. There were a lot of journalists to cover it.”
“That’s good.”
“I am leaving for Korea soon, sir.”
“Okay, Mr. President Shin. If you want to take a look around Shanghai City for sightseeing and enjoy Chinese food, please do so.”
“We have a female worker— Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh— in GH Media. She handles our accounting and general affairs. I left our company’s bank book and stamp with her. If you need to make an international fund transfer with GH Media’s name, you can ask her to do the job.”
“Okay. I promised Huanle Shiji’s president— Mr. Baogang Chen— that I would send 1 million dollars once their casting is completed. I think I will have to send it today. Especially, the formal contract is now signed by both parties, and it seems to be the right time to transfer the funds.”
“I will give a call to Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh, so she will expect your call. When we sent 50,000 dollars to Huanle Shiji last time, Ms. Noh was the one who actually went to the bank and sent the funds. She knows exactly what she has to do.”
“Sounds good. How is Director Sim doing there? Is he well?”
“Yes, he is doing well. Actually, he looks better and more energetic than when he was in Korea. Haha.”
Gun-Ho waited about ten minutes before calling for his secretary— Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh.
“Please go downstairs to GH Media, and ask the female worker— Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh— to come to my office.”
“Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh? Yes, sir.”
After a moment, Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh entered Gun-Ho’s office with Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh from GH Media. Gun-Ho could recognize her. He saw her before.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh?”
“Yes, sir.”
The way that this Hyeong-Sook Noh person answered Gun-Ho was like an elementary schooler would, maybe because she was feeling nervous talking with Gun-Ho who was the owner of the company that she was working for.
“Did you receive a call from Ms. President Shin in Shanghai City?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I need you to go to the bank and send 1 million dollars to China. You know how to do it, right?”
“Yes, sir. I made a copy of the request form for the international wire transfer, that I used last time. I will take it with me to the bank.”
The secretary— Ms. Yeon-Soo Oh— who was listening to the conversation between Gun-Ho and Ms. Hyeong-Sook Noh while standing in the office, looked surprised when she heard the amount of the money to wire transfer would be 1 million dollars. She once studied in the U.S., and she knew very well how large amount of money the 1 million dollars was.
Gun-Ho continued, “You know Director Woon-Hak Sim who is now in Shanghai City, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir. He had worked with us in our office until he left for Shanghai City, even though it was for a short period of time.”
“After you send the 1 million dollars to China, take a picture of the wire transfer receipt and text Director Sim with the photo.”
“Understood, sir.”
“You look like a very competent worker, Ms. Noh.”
Hyeong-Sook Noh grinned. She seemed to be feeling less nervous by then.
“Thank you, sir.”
‘Huanle Shiji will soon give a drama production presentation to the public. Once it’s done, the entertainment industry both in China and Korea will start talking about the drama.’
Gun-Ho looked at the calendar hanging on the wall.
‘It’s almost the end of November. I believe that Jae-Sik Moon’s wife will deliver their child in December. I wonder how Jae-Sik Moon is doing these days. He is regularly sending a weekly report to me, but that doesn’t tell anything about his personal life. I’m not sure if his wife is doing well.’
Gun-Ho made a call to Jae-Sik Moon.
“President Moon? It’s me, Gun-Ho.”
“President Goo? I will call you back in a moment. I have to go to see Antang City’s mayor. Someone just told me that he is in the terminal right now.”
“Sure. I will talk to you later.”
About 20 minutes later, Jae-Sik Moon called Gun-Ho.
“Sorry about that. We have a new mayor in Antang City now. He is making his tour visiting important places in the city, and he stopped by our terminal today.”
“Did you meet him?”
“Of course. I went to the terminal to greet him. Our joint venture’s vice president— Mr. Chun Chang— was already with the new mayor at the terminal when I arrived there. He introduced me to the new mayor.”
“What did the new mayor say?”
“He seemed to be delighted to meet with me. He called me Pengyou (friend) from Korea. He looked like a nice old grandpa.”
“Why did he come to the terminal? Nothing special to look at in a terminal.”
“We are building a new terminal building, and it seemed that he wanted to see the construction site.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“Vice President Chun Chang gave a full tour of the terminal and explained to him about our plan on the new terminal construction, with all sorts of details.”
“I see.”
“We have a public road in front of our terminal entrance. Since it’s a public road, we can’t really do anything about it. I heard Vice President Chun Chang talking to the mayor that it would be really nice if the city could pave that road for the citizens’ convenience to access the terminal.”
“Really? I didn’t know Mr. Chun Chang was someone who could raise his voice.”
“He is a very smart man. Look at his forehead. It’s bulged. The idea of forming a joint venture with us came from him. That’s what I heard.”
“I thought it was the deputy mayor’s idea, who is Director Seukang Li’s friend.”
“The deputy mayor might have come up with the possibility of bringing in foreign investment funds for the terminal project, but everything else was implemented by Vice President Chun Chang. You know, he had worked for Antang City’s transportation company for a long time as their planning manager. He has a nickname. Guess what people call him.”
“What is it? I didn’t know he has a nickname.”
“The transportation company’s workers always call him Zhuge Chang (It’s from Zhuge Liang except his last name is Chang).”
“What? Zhuge Chang? Hahahaha.”
“I laughed so hard when I heard of his nickname for the first time too.”
“Man…, I feel sorry for you. You have to constantly negotiate with Zhuge Liang.”
“Yeah, it’s not easy.”
“How’s your wife doing? I believe next month is her due, right?”
“Yeah, she is doing fine. She feels a brief pain in her stomach sometimes. Other than that, she is fine. She eats a lot and sleeps well. She already has friends in the condo community, some ladies at about her age.”
“Hmm, I guess she is a very social person.”
“My wife majored in Korean literature, and she can read and write Chinese words. So, she can at least communicate with Chinese people by writing.”
“Oh, I see.”
“She said that most of her new lady friends in the community have husbands who are in a high-ranking position either in the private sector or in the government. And she likes it.”
“I guess socializing with some high-ranking people’s wives could be an asset in doing business in China.”
“I talked with Jong-Suk the other day. He said that Suk-Ho came to your factory in Jiksan Town.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“He is so shameless about visiting your company.”
“I told him that he would better sell his stores even though he can’t recover the investment funds that he put into there, and that he might have to sell for the half price of his original purchasing price. But, it’s clever to get out there as soon as possible and move on for another opportunity.”
“I totally agree with you. He’d better leave the current situation as soon as he can. He is losing money by staying there because he is not making any income with those stores. Unlike me, he doesn’t know how to save money on his living expenses, so I’m sure that he is currently wasting a lot of money.”
“I suppose so.”
“He moved to China before I did, but he can’t even speak the basic Chinese language. I feel sorry for him.”
“Really?”
“As you well know since you lived in China once, you can’t learn Chinese if you live in an area where you can meet so many Koreans or Korean Chinese. Spending ten years in those areas won’t do any good to your learning Chinese.”
“That’s very true.”
“As to the terminal project here, I don’t think you will make an enormous amount of money, but you will earn some profits for sure.”
“Yeah, I’m aware that it’s a Cash Cow business, and that’s what I’ve expected from the beginning. Well, I will let you go now. Take care.”
