Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun got off at the Hangnyeoul Station and walked towards SETEC—a convention center. There were tons of young students at the event. Many female high school students seemed to wear some make-ups as well.

"Oh, my gosh! So many people are here."

Gun-Ho saw a witch with white hair, who was standing next to a goblin. There was a group of people wearing German soldier costumes. Those kids were busy taking pictures of each other.

"Wow! I didn't know we have this sort of culture in our country!"

Young-Eun looked impressed. She took a picture of a boy who was wearing a crusader costume. Gun-Ho and Young-Eun entered the exhibition room no. 1. The room was filled with people and their heat. Gun-Ho and Young-Eun went into the event office where President Shin and Artist Choi were sitting in.

"Oh, you came!"

"Whoa, this is amazing."

Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda was walking around while carrying a large professional camera. He was wearing an ID around his neck, which said his name—Yoshitake Matsuda.

"So many people are here."

When Gun-Ho noticed that Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda kept glancing at Young-Eun, he introduced her to Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda.

"This is my wife."

"Oh, I see. You have a very elegant wife. Please allow me to take a picture of you two."

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun posed for a photo. Young-Eun held Gun-Ho's arm. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda took a picture of the couple while making sure that the photo would contain the event scene as its background.

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun walked slowly around the event hall. There was a personnel for the event sitting at an information desk. They were GH Media's employees. When they saw Gun-Ho, they stood up quickly and greeted him. They also glanced at Young-Eun who was with their boss.

Gun-Ho said to Young-Eun, "These are GH Media's employees."

"Oh, hi. It's very nice to meet you all."

Young-Eun smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

Ji-Young Jeong and Yeon-Soo Oh from GH Development were there too to help with the event.

"You are Mrs. Goo, aren't you?"

Young-Eun didn't talk much, but she just smiled. She later told Gun-Ho, "I feel weird when people call me 'ma'am' or 'Mrs. Goo.'"

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun stayed at the costume play event for about an hour.

"Shall we go? Where to? To Yangjae Riverside?"

"Yeah. I saw a passage behind the event hall, leading to Yangjae Riverside. Let's try it."

On the way to the passage, Young-Eun started laughing so hard; she probably saw someone who was wearing a funny costume. When Gun-Ho followed her gaze, he saw a boy wearing a Japanese military uniform that was used during the Japanese colonial period in Korea. He was also wearing glasses with a circle frame which was popular during the particular era, along with a short mustache which was also a typical Japanese style during the same period. The mustache made the boy look sly. And whenever he talked, his mustache moved accordingly. That was hilarious. Gun-Ho laughed out loud along with Young-Eun.

"I can feel these people's heat and passion. I guess President Shin's plan for the costume play magazine will succeed."

"Well, yeah, it can very well be even though I can't be 100% sure."

Gun-Ho and Young-Eun were walking along the Yangjae riverside. They could see many residents of the condos around the area jogging there. Gun-Ho and Young-Eun held each other's hand and walked all the way from Hangnyeoul Station to Dogok Station.

Gun-Ho enjoyed walking with Young-Eun while hearing sounds of water stream from the river. When they passed Daechi Station, they came halfway to their home—Dogok Station—and it took no time for them to arrive at their final destination. The TowerPalace condo complex should be very close to where they were.

"The event hall is not far at all from our home. It didn't take much at all to get here."

"My legs are tired, and I'm hungry."

"Do you want Bibimbap* or hot stone pot Bibimbap?"

"Let's eat meat with soju."

"It's still daytime."

"So what? We don't have work tomorrow."

"We shouldn't spend too much on food. We need to save money."

"I know, but we can save on other things. Let's try there. It says 'Seolseong Ranch.'"

Gun-Ho dragged Young-Eun to a restaurant called Seolseong Ranch. The restaurant specialized in Korean beef tenderloin dishes. Gun-Ho and Young-Eun had grilled beef dishes with soju. Since it was the weekend, Young-Eun looked relaxed, and she took several glasses of soju. That day, the two went back home drunken, and they fell asleep for another nap right away.

Gun-Ho went to work in his office in GH Building, Sinsa Town. When he was reading an economic newspaper as part of his morning routine, he received a call from the director of the transportation department in Antang City, Guizhou Province, China.

"Wei, Ni Hao! (Hello)."

"Ni shi shei (who is calling)?"

"Wo shi an tang shi jiaotong zhuguan (I am Antang City's transportation department's director)."

"Oh, hi. Are you in Korea right now?"

"We just visited Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, and we are moving to see Seoul Express Bus Terminal right now. The Korea Public Transportation Association is showing us around."

"How was the tour? Was it useful?"

"Well, terminals here are very similar to the terminals in China."

"What's your schedule tomorrow?"

"We will visit one more terminal in a province tomorrow—Daejeon Express Bus Terminal. We will then come back to Seoul."

"I see."

"Your address shown on your business card that you gave me the other day is Cheonan City. I'd like to drop by on the way from Daejeon City to Seoul City."

"Sure. If you come to Cheonan City's KTX station, we will pick you up there."

"I prefer to use a bus rather than a train. Can you pick us up at Cheonan Bus Terminal instead? That's the reason we are here after all."

"Of course. We will see you at Cheoan Bus Terminal then."

"I'm not sure if it is okay to impose like this."

"Don't worry about it. I had a great time when I visited China last time because of you. Please come, and let's have lunch together. The address that you have is my manufacturing factory. My logistics company is located far north from there. It's a transportation business, not a public bus business. It's a small company."

"I believe that we've seen enough terminals. We just want to see you, sir. I will see you tomorrow."

After getting off the phone with the Antang City's transportation department's director, Gun-Ho took out the business plan that they sent to him earlier and began to review it again.

'The total investment funds are 50 million dollars. The size of land where the terminal will be built on is about 50 moo (mu: 10,000 pyung). The building would be 12,000 ㎡. The volume of expected daily traffic is 12,000 people. The parking lot can accommodate up to 150 vehicles…'

"Their plan has dwindled, compared to the previous one when I visited them last time, but it's still too large for a small provincial city that has an average daily traffic of 12,000 people."

Gun-Ho closed his eyes and lost in thought.

'Out of 50 million dollars of the investment funds, I have to bring in 25 million dollars. It's over 25 billion Korean won. Since high taxes are imposed on the income generated from stocks, maybe I should use 25 billion won in my stock account.'

A light bulb went on in Gun-Ho's head.

'That's it! They can't take a loan from a bank for their terminal project right now since there is nothing to use as collateral; however, once they start building the terminal, they can take out a loan using the amount of work completed at that time! Once they become able to borrow money, they will probably ask me to withdraw from the project while giving me all kinds of reasoning, just like Jinxi Industrial Park!'

Note*

Bibimbap - Cooked rice with various vegetables and meat mixed together with Korean red chili paste.