Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

The chairman then spent some time to hear some other companies’ president; they mostly commented or suggested something they found necessary in doing business together.

“This is a rare opportunity for us all to get together like this. Let’s have lunch together.”

The chairman took the participating presidents to a ginseng chicken soup restaurant that was situated near the S Group.

The chairman was a bit overweight and he seemed to know how to enjoy food. Even with his age of 70, he ate chicken bone too by chewing it with his teeth. The chairman filled the presidents’ glasses with liquor. They were drinking soju which was inexpensive and popular in Korea. The S Group’s chairman was one of the top five richest men in Korea and he was surprisingly easygoing. Gun-Ho was told that the chairman’s favorite food was Jajjangmyeon* and he sometimes enjoyed a ginseng chicken soup on a special occasion.

“He is indeed a tycoon.”

The chairman looked at Gun-Ho. It seemed that he remembered Gun-Ho by Gun-Ho’s answering his question earlier.

“What did you say your company name was? It was GH something.”

“It’s GH Mobile, sir.”

“Since you are a very young president, you are probably working so hard in expanding your company. Please let me fill up your glass with liquor.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Gun-Ho held his glass with two hands to show his respect.

The S Group’s president who was following around the chairman while carrying a bottle of soju said to the chairman,

“He is the one who acquired Mulpasaneop recently. His company developed our new product as well.”

“Oh, really?”

The chairman tapped Gun-Ho’s back with his thick hand.

After the meeting held by the S Group, Gun-Ho headed back to his TowerPalace condo in Dogok Town. Tomorrow was the interview day for the new employees of GH Development, so he decided not to return to Jiksan Town, Cheonan City but he would stay in Seoul. Gun-Ho was having a fruit while watching TV when he received a call from an unknown number.

“Is it a spam call or an advertisement?”

He answered the call,

“Hello?”

“Umm, are you President Gun-Ho Goo?”

“Yes, I am. Who am I speaking with?”

“Umm… I am the manager of BM Entertainment Management.”

“BM Entertainment Management?”

“Yes. We actually have met in Shanghai before, when we were waiting for the director of the bureau of cultural affairs and radio broadcasting, film, and television.”

“Oh, oh, I think I remember that. What made you call me though?”

“I’d like to meet with you, sir. You gave me your business card back then, and your company address is Jiksan Town in Cheonan City…”

“Why don’t you tell me on the phone instead?”

“No, I really like to meet you in person, sir.”

“Then, can you come to Sinsa Town in Gangnam District tomorrow? I will be in Seoul tomorrow.”

“Sinsa Town? Where should I go in Sinsa Town?”

“You can come to GH Building on the 19th floor. It’s GH Development. You will find the building at the entrance of Garosugil Road.”

“GH Building? Okay, I will be there tomorrow.”

The next morning, Gun-Ho went to GH Building in Sinsa Town. It seemed that his office was just cleaned up, maybe because the cleaning crew heard that their president was coming that day. Gun-Ho could see some moisture on the sofa.

When Gun-Ho arrived at the building, the security guard in a uniform ran to the entrance and greeted Gun-Ho. He held the elevator for him as well. When Gun-Ho entered his office, there were Manager Seong-il Kang and Team Leader Soo-Nam Jeong waiting for him.

“Team Leader Jeong is here too.”

“Yes. I heard you are coming to the office today and I had to come to say hello to you, sir.”

Gun-Ho received a brief report from Manager Kang.

“The interview will be held at 11 am today, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Am I expecting to see three candidates for each position?”

“That’s right, sir.”

“Manager Kang, please prepare an envelope with 50,000 won in it for each interviewee who will be coming today, so they can use it for their transportation expense.”

“Okay, sir. Will do that.”

Gun-Ho was sitting at his office by himself and reviewing the application packets of the final six candidates. They were all highly qualified people.

“If I was one of the candidates for the position, I wouldn’t have been able to compete with these people.”

Gun-Ho first thoroughly reviewed the application packets of the three candidates for the accounting staff position. They all had the computerized accounting level-1 certificate, not to mention all sorts of finance-related certificates. One of them had a tax accountant license. And one of them used to work in a foreign branch office of a financial institution and could speak English fluently.

Gun-Ho then looked at the three candidate’s job applications for the secretary position. They all had TOEIC (Test Of English for International Communication) scores exceeding 950. By looking at their pictures on the job application form, they were all very good looking people. One of them graduated from college abroad.

“All of them are better qualified than me. Who am I going to select?”

Gun-Ho gave a hollow smile.

“We have only one open position for the secretary job, and 750 people applied for it. The person we will hire will win in a competition 750:1. It’s much harder than becoming an actor or actress, I guess. Is it really that hard to get a job in Korea right now?”

Gun-Ho leaned back in his chair.

“749 people who wouldn’t get a job today with my company will apply for another job somewhere. They all had a very good qualification at a similar level. They will be very disappointed and they would feel nervous and anxious about getting old without having a job for a while. Egnopak’s president’s son would know what it feels like? Mulpasaneop’s president— Se-Young Oh’s son would have had this sort of experience in his life?”

Gun-Ho looked at clouds outside the window. The clouds were flowing in the direction of the wind.

“However, these people who are applying for a job in Sinsa Dong, Gangnam are in a better situation than the one I used to be in. I mostly looked for a job in a province and had a job interview here and there for a small factory job. And I lived in a tiny OneRoom.”

Gun-Ho closed the job application file.

“Our government is encouraging young people to start their own business. However, I think they’d better stay unemployed rather than starting a business even though that will worry their parents. Starting and running their own business is not easy at all, and if they fail and go bankrupt, they would become a person with a bad credit score. Once they stay that way with a bad credit score, there wouldn’t be many things that they can do. At first, a bank will ignore them. Look at the Jae-Sik Moon’s case. He is an intelligent man but once he became a person with a bad score, people considered him as he was a swindler who deceived his friends from high school. That’s our current society.”

Gun-Ho sipped his cup of green tea.

“If I hadn’t touched the YS Tech company’s money for a few days, what would I have been doing now? If Chairman Lee from Cheongdam Town was not cruel enough to take the debtor’s pot when he was young and still working as a hard money lender, he wouldn’t have become the current Chairman Lee as he is now.”

Gun-Ho’s eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

“Okay. Throw your stone to me—Gun-Ho Goo or Chairman Lee in Cheongdam Town if you want. I would yell that this was the only way I could go as a person who was born into a poor family.”

Gun-Ho closed his eyes.

Note*

Jajjangmyeon – Korean-style Chinese noodle dish with black bean sauce, vegetables, and diced pork.