Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho felt great; he felt like he could fly.

“Oh, my gosh. Now I have 1,174,800,000 won. Hahaha. In addition to that, I still have 20,000 Yuan that I had saved up in preparation for the restaurant rent for the next period; it is still in my bank account with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. I left it there so I could use it during my stay in China before I return to Korea. I am so happy. Hahaha.”

Gun-Ho laughed and jumped around in his apartment by himself.

“You fool!”

Gun-Ho felt like he heard Chairman Lee’s voice.

“You are jumping around in excitement for only 1.1 billion won? You fool!”

Gun-Ho straightened up his posture.

“That’s right. I shouldn’t be crazily excited about only 1.1 billion won. As Master Park had told me before, I am destined to be awfully rich.”

Gun-Ho was planning to have a tour in China before returning to Korea.

“This is a good opportunity for me to have a tour in China before I leave this country. Let’s travel and broaden my experience!”

Gun-Ho started off his trip by flying to Beijing and visited the Forbidden City.

“This is the palace where Chinese emperors used to live.”

Gun-Ho then went to the Wudaokou area in front of the Peking University, where Professor Wang of Zhejiang University and Director Li of Shanghai City Construction Bureau used to hang out when they were in college. Gun-Ho could see a lot of restaurants serving lamb skewers.

Gun-Ho felt his legs got tired and became exhausted after seeing the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace where Empress Dowager Cixi used to have fun hanging out.

“It began to rain. Let’s have a drink at the lamb skewer restaurant.”

Gun-Ho ordered lamb skewers and a Tsingtao beer.

“I feel like I can drink more than the usual today.”

Gun-Ho looked out of the window while having beer and lamb skewers. People outside were walking with short quick steps in the rain with an umbrella.

“I’ve been in China for almost three years now. I guess my time in China was well spent. I grew my money to 1.170 billion won and graduated from Zhejiang University. Moreover, I’ve always wanted to learn a foreign language and now I can speak Chinese; I obtained the level-6 which is the highest level of HSK. I think my life in China was a success.”

Gun-Ho ordered one more plate of lamb skewers and two bottles of Tsingtao beer. He already reserved a room in a three-star hotel, not an inn or Chodaeso.

“Okay, let’s make more money. Next time I come to Beijing, I will stay in a five-star hotel instead of a three-star hotel.”

Gun-Ho continued drinking his beer slowly while leaning on the window sill and listening to the raindrops.

Gun-Ho flew to Urumqi City where many Uighurs—one of China’s ethnic minorities—were living. They indeed looked totally different from Chinese people. Old Uighurs looked like they were Russians; they were just sitting without doing anything. They glanced at Gun-Ho who was carrying a travel bag.

“There are lots of sheep ranches in this area. I want to taste lamb meat produced from here.”

Gun-Ho went to a traditional market. He found a lamb skewer restaurant while walking in the market. It was shabby but crowded with people and filled with smoke created by grilling lamb meat. The restaurant’s walls and columns were already blackened by the smoke.

“The food in this restaurant must be delicious since a lot of people are eating here.”

Gun-Ho ordered lamb skewers and a beer.

The restaurant owner wearing a traditional white rectangle-figured hat brought a plate of lamb skewers to Gun-Ho. The chunk of lamb meat skewered in a pin was as big as a walnut.

“Wow. This blackened lamb skewers didn’t look delicious, but it is actually very tasty.”

The lamb skewers were not made of frozen meat. They were using fresh meat for the skewers.

“I believe this could sell well in Korea. It can become very popular!”

Gun-Ho thought that lamb skewers could be a good new restaurant menu, and then he shook his head.

“No! no more restaurant business. A restaurant business requires a lot of labor, and I can’t hire that many staff in Korea and expect to generate profits. I have to start a big company.”

Gun-Ho decided that he would never do a small business by renting a space like a restaurant; he was sick and tired of it.

A Uighurs gentleman who was sitting next to Gun-Ho talked to him.

“By looking at your travel bag, I guess you are maybe a Taiwanese, aren’t you?”

“No, I am a Korean.”

“Korean!”

That gentleman seemed to be surprised, and he started asking Gun-Ho a lot of questions about Korea such as its population, number of military soldiers, size of the country, navy power, combat plane, etc.

“Why are you asking me all these?”

“Because I am envious of Korea. If we have the same power as Korea has, we would have achieved our independence from China already, but we have a population of only 7,000,000 people. Whew.”

The Uighurs gentleman let out a deep sigh.

“Isn’t it good to be a part of China? China has been developing a lot and it is one of the most powerful nations. I heard the country provides a lot of affirmative action programs to ethnic minorities, doesn’t it?”

The gentleman smiled cynically while shaking his head from side to side implying a negative answer.

“What’s your occupation?”

“I am a professor at Urumqi University.”

The gentleman continued drinking his liquor; he looked sad.

While staying at Urumqi, Gun-Ho received a full-body massage from a beautiful woman masseur who looked like Russian. It cost him 300 Yuan.

“Having money is good. Someone is willing to wash my smelly feet with warm water as long as I have money.”

After visiting Urumqi, Gun-Ho continued his trip and stopped by Chengdu and the enormous Three Gorges Dam before he returned to Hangzhou City.

When he came back to his home in Hangzhou City, he felt extremely tired and slept all day long.

“What time is it? It’s already 10 AM. How long have I slept then? I don’t remember having dinner last night.”

Gun-Ho wanted to say good-bye to Professor Wang at Zhejiang University before he left China, so he made a call to him.

“Uh? G-jjong? I was going to call you. Aren’t you going to continue your studies to MBA?”

“I closed my Korean restaurant. The hotel will begin its renovation construction soon. I want to see my friend before I return to Korea.”

“Really?”

“Let’s meet at Pinghoo Restaurant & Bar in the West Lake area around 5 PM. I guess you don’t have a lecture at the time?”

“Isn’t it an expensive restaurant? Let’s go somewhere else that is less pricey.”

Pinghoo Restaurant & Bar in the West Lake area was the one where Gun-Ho met the branch manager of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for the first time.

“That’s okay. Come to the restaurant. I’m the CEO, remember?”

“Haha. Okay. See you there then.”

Gun-Ho and Professor Wang sat at the window-side table.

A staff lady wearing a Chinese traditional dress—Qipao—poured green tea in their cups.

“Longjing tea of Hangzhou City is the best green tea.”

“I used to drink this tea all the time when I was in the U.S. studying for my Ph.D. This tea clears my mind.”

“I agree with you. I drink this tea whenever I’m trying to figure out something in running my business.”

“Aren’t you going to do any other business in China? Do you have anything on your mind about what kind of business you are going to do once you return to Korea?”

“I am interested in investing in real estate.”

“Real estate? A developing country has highly restrictive policies on real estate, doesn’t it?

“In fact, I didn’t really make that much money in running a Korean restaurant in China.”

“Hmm… of course. You should have had a client base of local people for your restaurant to make money. With Korean workers and students as your only customers, your restaurant would most likely not generate enough revenue.”

“That’s why I had invested in real estate while I was running the restaurant. I had purchased the Hwaganghwawon condos two and a half years ago and recently sold them.”

“Oh, really? The condos there are really expensive. I guess maybe the president of Zhejiang University could afford to live in a condo like that. It’s amazing. So, you must have made a lot of money from it, huh?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Let me see. You brought Korean Won to China two and a half years ago… Then you must have made a lot of money from the foreign exchange as well, in addition to the proceeds from your real estate investment.”

“You surely are a professor. Do you think the currency’s exchange rate will increase more in the near future?”