Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 592: Bus Line Permit (2) – Part 1

When Gun-Ho was getting ready to go home at the end of the day, he received a call from his sister.

“I’ve sent 3 million dollars to China.”

“The transfer seemed to be smooth and easy, huh?”

“Don’t get me started. The bank requested me to bring a bunch of documents like the joint venture company’s business license and GH Logistics’ certificate of the full payment of our tax. I had to travel between the bank and the office twice today. I guess they were being extra careful because we were sending a substantial amount of money.”

“Thank you, sister. Can you send the remittance receipt to Jae-Sik Moon by fax? I believe that they won’t be able to withdraw money right away. I just want them to know that the money has been sent.”

“Okay, I will do that. I will fax the receipt and also will give him a call.”

“We got the bus line permit, and President Moon is going on a trip tomorrow to purchase buses. He will feel more confident in negotiating the deal if he knows for sure with the copy of the remittance receipt, that the money has been sent.”

“Do they have to pay in full for the buses in order to take the buses with them?”

“Probably not. There should be different stages of payments like you have to pay a certain amount when signing a contract, and another payment when taking the buses, etc. They can use the 450,000 dollars that we had sent earlier in making the sales contract and taking the buses.”

Gun-Ho was home after work. While watching the TV in the living room, he was lost in thought.

‘Once Young-Eun gives birth to our son, will she want to go back to work at the Seoul National University Hospital right away? She will probably have to stay home to raise the child for a while.’

Gun-Ho sent a text message to Young-Eun.

[Your aunt in Yangpyeong Country sent a package for you yesterday. I forgot to tell you that.]

Gun-Ho received Young-Eun’s reply a moment later.

[Please leave the package on my vanity. It should be things related to our baby.]

Gun-Ho laid down on the bed and thought about the companies that he had invested in, one by one. He started by GH Mobile and Dyeon Korea.

‘GH Mobile is currently experiencing a significant increase in its sales because of A Electronics. However, I don’t think we should give Minister Jin-Woo Lee’s father a dividend this year. He just obtained GH Mobile’s share, and it hasn’t even been a year yet. They probably know that they can’t expect to receive a dividend so soon. Maybe I should skip the dividend distribution for the net profit this year, and use this year’s entire net profit to pay for the debts. I won’t take a dividend this year either.

Dyeon Korea’s sales are interlocked with GH Mobile’s business, and its sales are on the rise rapidly. Since it’s a joint venture, the partner— Lymondell Dyeon— can request a dividend. Also, we can request them more investment funds in order to grow the company as well.

Dyeon Korea currently has a substantial amount of funds in its reserve. If they want a dividend distribution, I will just agree to it. GH Mobile is the company that invested in Dyeon Korea, so if Dyeon Korea distributes dividends, GH Mobile will receive it. I will use that money to pay for GH Mobile’s debts as well. That way, GH Mobile’s debt ratio will significantly decrease and obtain a good credit rating.’

Gun-Ho then moved on to the next company that he invested in— GH Development.

‘All that GH Development has is the GH Building in Sinsa Town; that’s it. It’s not generating enough income either. It is making money just enough to pay the employees and maintain the building. I doubt that they properly have kept the depreciation reserve either. But, the price of the building itself increased substantially. I bought it at 210 billion won, and it must be around 250 billion won by now. Look at the condos in Gangnam District. Their prices continue to skyrocket.

The condos located in provincial cities are not selling, whether they are old or newly constructed condos. However, the condos in Gangnam District are selling quickly at higher prices. A condo that was 2 billion won yesterday is now selling for 3 billion won. The housing price polarization is extreme.’

Gun-Ho then chuckled, and he continued to think, ‘Many people are blaming the government for it. They are saying that the government needs to come up with a new real estate policy to correct the situation. They are complaining that it’s getting more and more difficult for the people, who don’t own any house, to buy one. But, what can those people do? All they can do is to complain. They won’t do anything else to actually make any difference. Having bought that GH Building that is located in the middle of Gangnam District was my excellent move.

Gun-Ho then thought of GH Parts Company in China that was being run by Min-Hyeok Kim, and GH Media that President Shin is operating.

‘I’ve already received the full return of my investment money that I put in GH Parts Company and GH Media when I received the dividends from the companies last year. President Min-Hyeok Kim and President Jeong-Sook Shin are smart people, and they are doing very well. Whether they make 1 billion won or 10 billion won, I will let them continue to run the companies. I will just continue to receive dividends from them, and I’m satisfied with it.

Let me see… GH Logistics… It’s a small company without a debt. As long as it maintains the current status, I am okay with it. I sent 3 million dollars to the joint venture in China today using GH Logistics’ name. From now on, until they make the change in the ownership of the terminal land to the joint venture’s name, I will make sure that they understand that they won’t receive any additional investment funds from me for their terminal project. As to the intercity bus service business, once Jae-Sik Moon starts the business and generating profits, I just need to collect the profits that he would send to me.

I don’t think they will do that, but what if they change the ownership of the terminal land to the joint venture’s name? If that happens, I can take out a loan in China from a bank using that land as collateral. We can then build the terminal with that money. The Chinese partner won’t like it though. They will persistently make a request for the third and fourth investment funds without properly changing the ownership of the land.

The main forces among all GH companies are surely GH Mobile and Dyeon Korea. The rest of GH companies are trivial. I don’t have much expectations from those other companies. How large GH Mobile could possibly grow?

Gun-Ho fell asleep while thinking about his businesses. The lights were still on, but he fell into sleep deeply.

It was Thursday.

Gun-Ho went to work in GH Mobile which was one of his major companies. The work at the construction site where the new production site was being built on was in progress. Any additional machines would be installed there. The building’s wall was constructed already. Once H-beams were placed, they just had to attach prefabricated panels on them.

“Sir, you are here.”

Gun-Ho turned around to see who that was. It was Dyeon Korea’s Director Yoon. Gun-Ho didn’t expect to see him at GH Mobile’s construction site.

“You are here to help with their construction?”

“Yes, sir. I come here every morning to check the construction progress per Mr. President Song’s request. I stay here only briefly in the morning, and I will continuously do it until the new production site is completed.”

“It looks like we will soon see the completion.”

“Right. We just need to place electricity and cooling system.”

“Thank you for your work, Mr. Director Yoon. I’m sure your presence at the site is of great help for them.”

“There are many engineers here, so it’s very comfortable working at the site. I just supervise the work of the contractors from outside.”

“When do you think we can place the machines?”

“I would say that we will be able to do that by next weekend.”