Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

“Mr. Class Manager, please ask them to bring us more wipers.”

“Mr. Class Manager, is there any other place where I can park my car rather than the parking lot behind the motel?”

“Mr. Class Manager, we need one more cup here!”

The class president called for Gun-Ho, and he gave three bottles of Ballantines’s 17-year-old whiskey to Gun-Ho and said, “Please put these on the tables equally.”

Gun-Ho wondered if the class president carried around Ballantine’s in his car.

Gun-Ho wanted to announce to the class who brought the Ballantines’s, so he stood up.

“May I have your attention, please?”

Everyone looked at Gun-Ho’s face.

“Our class president brought three bottles of Ballantines’s 17-year-old whiskey for us. Let’s give him a big round of applause to show our appreciation.”

Everyone clapped. There was someone who was being sarcastic. It was easy to find someone like him in any group whether it was a group of factory workers or it was a group of high-ranking government officials. He was a minister.

“Man... You should have brought 30-year-old whiskey instead of 17-year-old one. You have a rich father-in-law after all.”

Gun-Ho sat at the corner seat of the table because he was younger considering other students in the class, and also his social position wasn’t so high compared to others there either. Come to think of it, birds of a feather indeed flock together. There were roughly four kinds of occupations among the students: government ministers, legal professions, generals, and businessmen. People in a similar profession sat together as a group. In front of Gun-Ho, an old business owner of a construction company was sitting. They mostly talked about the old days when they were younger and when they were more vigorously participating in society. The professors were at the table as well, but since they were younger than the students, they seemed to stay quiet.

The loud dinner finally ended and the luxurious cars that the students rode in started pulling out of the parking lot.

Gun-Ho asked Chan-Ho Eum, “How was your dinner?”

“It was good.”

“How were the other chauffeurs?”

“We ate together. By the way, it seems their bosses are all in some sort of high class.”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that there were government ministers, generals, and legal professions. One of the chauffeurs was a government employee.”

“Really?”

“Also, many chauffeurs were old men.”

“Hmm.”

“But, our vehicle was the best. Everyone asked me how much it cost.”

“They are no better than you, okay? Don’t let them get you down.”

“Of course, sir. Even though their bosses are in some sort of powerful positions, there is no guarantee that they could actually exercise the power. Then it’s nothing.”

Gun-Ho went to work in GH Mobile the next morning. President Song was not in the office.

The chief officer at the research center came to Gun-Ho’s office when he heard that Gun-Ho was at work. He was holding some papers.

“Sir, would you take a look at these papers?”

“What are those?”

“They are information flyers by the government which they would subsidize the development of auto parts for fuel cell electric vehicles. The automobile industry sees fuel cells more efficient than internal combustion engines, and we are going in that direction.”

“I remember I read about it from the newspaper the other day.”

“A fuel cell electric vehicle was introduced to the public during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Game.”

“I think I heard of it. What exactly is a fuel cell electric vehicle anyway?”

“It’s an electric vehicle with the power generated using oxygen from the air and compressed hydrogen.”

“But GH Mobile manufactures automobile parts for the vehicles with internal combustion engines.”

“That’s true. But if we develop auto parts for fuel cell electric vehicles, the government will subsidize the cost. They indicated that they would aggressively support the company that would develop such auto parts. This is the document about it.”

“They are not providing 100%, aren’t they?”

“They will actually subsidize 90% of the cost for trial products. We can also use the testing equipment at Techno Park. I mean for the environmental test and license test.”

“Let’s do it then.”

“I’ve actually researched this ever since I worked at the BMW research facility. The thing is that in order to do this product development, I and two of my researchers have to solely devote to this.”

“You are saying that three of you won’t be able to do other work, even though our income-generating products are auto parts for internal combustion engine vehicles.”

“It’s an investment for the future, sir.”

“I got your point. Let’s apply for the program.”

At that moment, President Jang-Hwan Song entered Gun-Ho’s office.

“Our research center’s chief officer is asking for the approval for developing fuel cell electric vehicles’ auto parts. We can get the government subsidy for it.”

“I think the automobile industry is moving in that direction right now even though that industry has currently weak infrastructure. There are not many recharging stations for those vehicles.”

“He said the government will support 90% of the cost.”

“Even with the government’s financial support, our R&D cost will still increase by 1% since we need to devote our researchers’ time and labor to the research.”

“I think we still should approve it for our future.”

“I agree with you, sir.”

“When are you leaving for Chicago?”

“It’s scheduled for next week. We classified the AM083, that Mr. Sakata Ikuzo developed by extruding twice, into different sizes and colors. Other products that we are taking with us to the motor show are the common products for internal combustion engine vehicles, which are commonly found in other auto parts manufacturing companies as well. So, AM083 would be our main product.”

“Are you going with Mr. Interpreter Lee from Dyeon Korea?”

“Yes, I already talked with Mr. Adam Castler, and he said okay.”

In the afternoon, Gun-Ho went to Dyeon Korea. There were people who were taking pictures, and Director Kim was with them.

Gun-Ho asked the secretary—Ms. Seon-Hye Yee what was going on.

“Who are those people?”

“They are the journalists from a magazine.”

“Journalists?”

“Yes, sir. I think they will place an advertisement in their magazine for us with some pictures.”

“Hmm.”

Gun-Ho called for the secretary again, and asked her, “Please tell Mr. Adam Castler to come to my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ms. Seon-Hye Yee, you can interpret simple English for me, can’t you?”

“Yes, I can, sir.”

“Then when Mr. Adam Castler arrived, come into my office with him.”

Mr. Adam Castler came to Gun-Ho’s office, and Ms. Seon-Hye Yee was following him.

“We currently have machine no. 9 and no. 10 on a lease since Lymondell Dyeon’s investment in-kind was up to machine no. 8.”

“That’s correct.”

“We are expanding our business overseas, and we will gradually add more machines probably until we reach machine no. 16. Do you think it is necessary to lease all of them? Our company has accumulated a reserve fund of 3.2 billion won.”

“Well...”

“Since Dyeon Korea hasn’t even reached its first year anniversary, Lymondell Dyeon won’t demand to send their shares of profits yet. Let’s consider purchasing machines instead of leasing them. The problem is their price; it’s too expensive. If there is a way that we could buy them at a more reasonable price, that would be great.”

“Lymondell Dyeon doesn’t manufacture those machines themselves. They buy the machines as well and sell them to us after adding some fees. If we could directly deal with the manufacturing company, that would be nice. But, Lymondell Dyeon might not like it.”

“Why don’t you talk with Lymondell Dyeon about it?”

“Okay, I will do that, sir.”