After GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook Shin’s party left the office, Gun-Ho called for Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh.
“I’m going to make a call to Dyeon Korea’s Mr. Adam Castler now. I want you to interpret for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Mr. Adam Castler? Congratulations on becoming Dyeon Korea’s president. We are very happy to have you as our president.”
“Haha, thank you, sir. I want to thank you all for your support and help, especially you, Mr. Chairman.”
“Did you hear anything from Lymondell Dyeon about my decision to sell my ownership interest in Dyeon Korea?”
“They said that there is no restriction on disposing of each partner’s ownership interest. It’s strictly up to each partner according to the joint venture contract. So, it’s up to GH Mobile. However, they are concerned about the fact that the buyer— W Group— has its own chemical company. They are worried about possible leaks of their technology.”
“W Group doesn’t seem to be interested in Dyeon’s technology, but they are focusing on its brand name since they have an already-established sales network. They want to sell the products under Dyeon’s name using their sales network, hoping that they could create the synergy.”
“I see what you mean, Mr. Chairman. Lymondell Dyeon wants to be in the loop for any updates on acquisition and also any public announcements that Dyeon Korea would make in the future since it is a joint venture company after all.”
“Sure. I will make sure that we keep them in the loop from now on.”
After getting off the phone with Mr. Adam Castler and letting Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh leave the office, Gun-Ho made a call to Dyeon Korea’s internal auditor right away.
“It’s Gun-Ho Goo.”
“Yes, Mr. Chairman.”
“Whenever we make a public announcement in the future, I want you to inform Mr. Adam Castler about it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And, make a public announcement saying that we will soon have a shareholders meeting. As Mr. Adam Castler is appointed to Dyeon Korea’s next president, we need to comply with the procedure of a joint venture company for it. An appointment of a new president must be approved by shareholders meeting anyway.”
“I was actually going to ask you about this, Mr. Chairman. I will put the public on notice about it right away.”
“And, also schedule the shareholders meeting.”
“Yes, sir.”
After getting off the phone with the internal auditor, Gun-Ho asked Director Kang to come to his office.
“About the single house in Bangbae Town that you mentioned to me the other day… How much did you say it was priced for?”
“Its appraised value is 9 billion won. But, as its first auction failed, the price dropped to 7.2 billion now.”
“I believe that we rarely see an expensive single house in Seoul City on the market for sale. I will give you power of attorney. I want you to make a bid on the property on behalf of me on the next auction day. I want to buy it for myself as an individual.”
“Oh, it will be under your name, Mr. Chairman?”
“Yes. The area is nice. I could actually move in the property to live, or I could later build a residential building there. It seems to be a good investment.”
“Yes, sir. I will do that.”
“There could be a few competitors for the property, so I want you to write down 8 billion won to be safe. I will send you the necessary fund to your personal bank account, Mr. Director Kang, including relevant expenses and fees. Before submitting our bid, I want you to visit the property.”
“Yes, sir. I will stop by the property today right after lunch. I will need your certificate of seal impression, two of them please.”
As the news about Gun-Ho’s inauguration as chairman was spread out, Gun-Ho received numerous calls from various people.
GH Machines’ President Jong-Suk Park knew about it before it was announced, but he still gave Gun-Ho a congratulatory call for it. Gun-Ho also received calls from China— from President Min-Hyeok Kim and President Jae-Sik Moon.
“Mr. Chairman? It’s Jae-Sik Moon. Congratulations. You should have done this a long time ago. I sent an official letter to our Chinese partner here about your inauguration as chairman of GH Group. President Runsheng Yan of the intercity bus terminal in Antang City sent me some money saying that he wanted me to send you an orchid plant for him.”
“An orchid plant? He doesn’t have to. Send the money back to him.”
“That could hurt his feelings. He wants to congratulate you. If you refuse to accept his gift, he would misunderstand you.”
“Oh, really? Well, then just tell him that you sent an orchid plant to me, and use that money to have lunch or something.”
“I will take care of it.”
After lunch, when Gun-Ho came back to his office in GH Building, Sinsa Town, there were about 10 orchid plants waiting for him in his office.
“What are these?”
Gun-Ho looked for Director Kang to ask him about the plants in his office, but he was not at his desk. Gun-Ho then asked Assistant Manager Jeong about it.
“Ms. Assistant Manager Jeong! What are these?”
“Those are gifts for you, sir, to congratulate you on your inauguration as chairman.”
“These are very unnecessary.”
Gun-Ho checked the ribbons hanging on each of the orchid plants to find out who sent those to him. Most of them were from vendor companies, and some of them were from branch managers of the major banks that GH companies were working with. One was from the Anchang Accountant Office, and even Director Seukang Li in China sent one for Gun-Ho as well.
“Huh? This is from Seukang Li. How did he know?”
Gun-Ho made a call to Director Seukang Li right away.
“Director Li? It’s me, Gun-Ho Goo. You sent me an orchid plant, huh?”
“Yeah. I heard that you became chairman. Congratulations. Director Woon-Hak Sim told me about it this morning.”
“Oh, I see.”
“I was told that there are 8 GH companies. That’s impressive. I admire you, friend.”
“They are all small companies. There are 8 of them, but having one large company would be better than having several small companies.”
“I’ve always admired your humbleness too, Chairman Goo. That’s why I like you a lot.”
“Well, thank you for the orchid plant.”
“And, I was told by Huanle Shiji Production Company’s president that the movie— Menghuan Yinghua— already passed its break-even point. Congratulations on it as well.”
“I thank you for it, Director Li. I know you’ve been helping us a lot.”
“Don’t mention it. I didn’t do much. The movie itself is a very well-made good movie. Well, I had a meeting last week in Tianjin City. I actually talked about the movie during the meeting since the movie’s content is really good. They want to bring their government workers to the theatre to watch the movie. Well, in that sense, you can say that I raised the number of moviegoers a little bit. Even if it’s not a box office hit, it would be still successful.”
“Really? If I make some profits by the movie production, I will buy you a drink.”
“Haha. Thank you.”
When it was around 3 pm, Gun-Ho received a text message from Director Kang through KakaoTalk. He seemed to be sending the text message while visiting the single house in Bangbae Town. He sent several photos of the property as well.
“These photos are taken from outside the property. I couldn’t take pictures of the inside since I couldn’t enter the property. According to my research, the 300 pyung large land includes an access road. So, the land that you can actually use is about 256 pyung large. There are two liens held by Kukmin Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea; the amount of the liens is 8 billion won. It looks like someone is living there, probably a tenant. The property is locked from inside. I’ve talked with several real estate agents in the area. They all said that this is a very rare property.”
Gun-Ho replied to Director Kang’s text message thanking him for his work.
