Once Gun-Ho came back to his office in GH Building, he made a call to Min-Hyeok Kim. It was around 2 pm.“You seem to be very busy taking care of businesses outside the office.”

“Haha. Not really. I’m not particularly busy these days.”

“GH Parts Company’s year-end profit and loss report has been emailed to the Manager Song person over there.”

“Yeah, I’m aware of it. But I still wanted to hear from you.”

“We barely made over 10 billion won last year. It’s 10.4 billion won to be exact.”

“You did a good job.”

“Our cost of goods sold is 8 billion won, and the general administrative cost is 800 million won.”

“Hmm, I see. The general administrative cost is less than 8%.”

“I’ve tried hard to reduce our general administrative cost, but it has not been easy. The salary of our manager here is included in the general administrative cost rather than in the cost of goods sold since the position that he is holding is a managerial position.”

“Is that so? That manager person is good?”

“Yeah, he is good. He is doing all of the actual supervisory work around here.”

“I see.”

“Since we don’t have any loan from a bank or need to make an interest payment to them, you can say that our ordinary income is 1.6 billion won.”

“That’s good.”

“After paying Congsi Shui (corporate tax) here, we will be left with around 1.2 billion won.”

“Are you going to use them all to distribute dividends?”

“That would be great. I need money, and I’m sure that you need cash considering your ongoing investment in China for Huanle Shiji Production Company. What do you think?”

“Hmm, I see.”

“You will receive 1.14 billion won, and I will receive 60 million won as dividends.”

“Don’t we have to leave some cash in the reserve?”

“Money is constantly coming into the company as we continuously do business, so I don’t think we have to leave some of our profits from last year to save in our reserve.”

“Okay, then. Let’s distribute the dividends then.”

“I still have some mortgage loan left for the condo in Incheon City, where my parents are living right now. I’m going to use the 60 million won to pay it off. I will be debt-free in Korea.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

“It will take a huge burden off my shoulders. I can then focus on paying off the mortgage loan here for my condo, starting next year.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, once I pay off those two mortgage loans, I will have two condos without any financial obligation— one in Korea and one in China. I can then consider myself the middle class. I believe that I will be in a better financial situation than Suk-Ho Lee.”

“Is Suk-Ho Lee still in Shenyang City?”

“I think so. I sometimes want to help him, but I can’t shake off those negative feelings developed over the past years, especially during our high school years. I don’t feel sorry for him whenever I think of those old days when he treated me so badly. Well, I know those feelings are fading away though as I grow old.”

“You don’t have to actually help him, but you can be kind to him.”

“You know what? You remember Ms. Eun-Hwa Jo, who used to work here in interpreting for me, and she is now helping Jae-Sik Moon in Antang City?”

“Of course. She was my private tutor when I was learning the basic Chinese language.”

“She is now giving private lessons to Jae-Sik Moon and his wife, and Jae-Sik’s wife is speaking Chinese almost fluently now.”

“Really? She just started learning Chinese, didn’t she?”

“I talked with Eun-Hwa Jo the other day. She was amazed by Jae-Sik’s wife’s fast improvement in the Chinese language. Even though she started learning it not long ago, her skills to apply what she learned is very impressive. If Eun-Hwa Jo teaches one thing to her, Jae-Sik’s wife applies it on ten different occasions. Eun-Hwa Jo said that she had been teaching so many Koreans for a long time, but she has never seen a person like her who learns Chinese that quickly.”

“Haha. She must be talented in languages. She majored in Korean literature in college, and I’m sure she knows a lot of Chinese words too. Hmm, even so, knowledge in literature and Chinese characters don’t really guarantee someone’s second language speaking ability…”

“I heard about this from somewhere. There are people who are born with natural talent in language. It’s like your inborn talent with numbers, Gun-Ho.”

“Haha. I’m just doing some mental calculations. That’s all. Anyway, it’s very nice that Jae-Sik’s wife is talented for languages.”

“As to Dingding’s sales company, Dingding told me that she already sent the year-end financial report to Mr. Adam Castler along with the next year’s plan. You received it, right?”

“Yeah. Dyeon Korea gave me the report during the meeting yesterday. Its total sales revenue is 52.8 billion won.”

“Whoa, 52.8 billion won? That’s huge. It’s doing incredibly well considering that the company was a newly established firm.”

“I would attribute its success to the brand name— Dyeon.”

“I talked with Jong-Suk Park the other day. He said that GH Mobile generated 110.2 billion won last year. That’s unbelievable, Gun-Ho Goo. I admire you for the achievement with your business, even though you are my friend.”

“That’s not enough. We still have a long way to go.”

“GH Mobile is a large company now with 500 workers. I’m so proud that I have a friend like you, Gun-Ho.”

“Haha. You are silly! It’s time to go back to work, my friend.”

After getting off the phone with Min-Hyeok Kim, Gun-Ho was thinking,

‘Min-Hyeok Kim and GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook Shin both will receive 60 million won for their 5% share in the company this year. Adding the dividend to their yearly salary, they are making more than 100 million won per year. I guess they are making enough money to have a decent life.

In addition, President Jeong-Sook Shin’s condo is now worth 1.2 billion won, and she made 350 million won since her condo price increased that much, even though she has a mortgage loan for that condo. Therefore, she made more than 450 million won last year alone if I add up her salary, dividend, and the amount increased in her condo price.

Well, Min-Hyeok Kim and Jae-Sik Moon purchased their condos in Incheon City. Even though it’s nice to have their own clean condos to live in, their condo price hasn’t increased much just because they are not located in Seoul City. No wonder why people want to buy a condo in Gangnam District, Seoul City. I’m sure that the price of President Shin’s condo in Gangnam District will continuously go up to 1.5 billion won, to 1.8, and even to 2 billion won soon, while the condos in Incheon City will stay around the same price even after three or five years. It will deepen the housing price polarization.

By that time, the person, who bought a condo in Gangnam District, would make enough money to buy ten condos in Incheon City, while the person, who bought a condo in Incheon City, would own the same condo that is worth the same value. When I was in high school, in Incheon City, if someone owns two condos, that person was deemed to be rich. President Shin will soon have enough money to buy ten condos in Incheon. On the other hand, Jae-Sik Moon had been living in a basement until he turned almost 40 years old, and finally bought a condo in Incheon. He could finally afford to live in a condo when he was almost 40. That’s why people say that both poverty and wealth passes on to the next generation.

I still remember what Master Park told me when I visited him in his home— Cheonghakjeongsa in Goesan Town. He said that someone is rich if that person is satisfied with what he or she currently owns. Well, President Jeong-Sook Shin, Min-Hyeok Kim, and Jae-Sik Moon seem to be fully satisfied with their current financial status. I guess they are rich.’