Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

President Jeong-Sook Shin came to Gun-Ho's office at GH Development with Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit this morning?"

"We brought something for you to review, sir."

"What is it?"

"It's a magazine publishing plan."

"Oh, is it about the costume play magazine?"

"You will find all the details regarding the magazine such as the name of the magazine, production crew, target audience, etc. Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda drafted it."

"My reviewing it won't help you much since I don't know anything about it…"

"The name of the magazine is Costume Korea. I'm going to apply for ISBN."

"If this is the result of the discussion between you two, I have no doubt. Please proceed as you planned."

Gun-Ho gave a cursory glance to the document even though he didn't really paid attention to it, and then he gave it back to President Jeong-Sook Shin.

"Umm, sir, I was wondering what happened to the idea of acquiring the production company of soap operas."

"I haven't made my decision yet. I think I will have to go on a trip to Shanghai before finalizing my decision."

"As to the costume magazine, I will assume that you agreed with my plan, and I will proceed with publishing it."

"Okay. Please do what you have to do."

"A lot of people are asking on our GH Media website when they should expect to see the magazine where they could see the pictures of the children who participated in the costume play event the other day."

"Haha, really? It seems that we already have readers for the magazine."

After President Shin and Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda left the office, Gun-Ho made a call to Professor Jien Wang at Zhejiang University.

"Hey, Gun-Ho Goo, it has been a while since I heard your voice last time."

"I'm calling you because I miss you, man."

"I've heard the rumor that you will be working with Antang City, Guizhou Province on their terminal project business."

"I actually wanted to visit you last time I was in Antang City for the project, but I couldn't make it."

"A terminal project is a Cash Cow business. If you have funds available, you might want to take part in the project. I can't say that you would hit the jackpot, but I can tell that you would make more than bank interest income with the same amount of the money that you would invest in the project for sure."

"I still haven't decided whether I should participate because it requires me to invest a substantial amount of money."

"You haven't heard of any terminal that went bankrupt in Korea, have you?"

"That… I don't know."

"When I visited Korea last time to attend a seminar there, I stopped by bus terminals—Seoul Express Bus Terminal and Seoul Nambu Bus Terminal or something. They must have made enormous money by owning the land itself."

"Antang City is a provincial city located in a deep inland area. Do you think the value of the land where the new terminal will be built on will increase that much?"

"Once a public facility comes in, land price in the area definitely goes up. You should know better than me on things like this. You are a businessman after all with a high sense of business, different from people like me who just do well academically."

"Aren't you often going to Shanghai City? Do you see Seukang Li sometimes?"

"I don't go there often. Shanghai City is far from Hangzhou City where I am. I see him only when I have a chance to go there to attend an international event in Shanghai City or when I'm invited for a special lecture by universities in that area."

"Seukang Li suggested that I invest in a soap opera production company the other day."

"A soap opera production business? There should be huge Chinese investment funds available in the industry already. Why do they need foreign investment funds?"

"Huge investment funds?"

"Yes. Chinese investors with huge investment funds are highly interested in the soap opera industry. They consider it as a gold market. The amount that they invest in there is massive."

"Really?"

"Producing a historical drama, for example, requires huge funds, and big players in the industry don't hesitate to put their money in there. If you have ever watched a Chinese historical drama before, you should know what I'm talking about. Remember battle scenes? They use several thousands of extras for those kinds of scenes."

"That makes sense. China's large-scale production is well known even though their editing skill needs some improvement."

"It's not just editing skills that we need to improve. Our government's censorship is way too strict. Moreover, I don't like Sinocentrism either when they excessively emphasize on it."

"Seukang Li wants to help competent and promising young producers in the industry, and he is asking for my help. I'm thinking of meeting him."

"Let's meet him together then this month, maybe the 17th? I have a special lecture that I need to give at Fudan University in Shanghai that day. We can have a drink after it. We probably want to visit your joint venture company in Suzhou City as well."

"That sounds good."

"You must come, okay? To be honest with you, I can't freely go to Korea even though I miss you. With my salary as a college professor, going abroad to see a friend is not easily affordable. I don't have a business credit card like a businessman. So, it's ideal that you, President Goo who has several businesses, come to China to see us."

On Friday night, when Gun-Ho and Young-Eun were in their bed, Young-Eun suggested visiting Yangpyeong District.

"Yangpyeong? You want to visit Artist Choi there?"

"I used to go to see her pretty often on Sundays before I got married, but, these days, I couldn't. She must be very lonely, especially since she doesn't have a child."

"I think your father in Sillim Town must be lonelier than your aunt."

"My father has lots of friends, and he is busy with his hobbies. I believe that he is a member of a lot of activity clubs like photography, playing tennis, planting or searching for medical herbs, etc. So, I don't worry too much about my father."

"Oh, he does?"

"Also, since he lives in Seoul City, he has his friends who are living close by. So he often gets together with them for a drink."

"That's nice."

"But, my aunt is living in Yangpyeong District. It's not easy for her to see her friends often, many of whom live in Seoul City. I don't think she has friends in Yangpyeong. She only focuses on her painting work there. I think I'd better visit her sometimes."

"Why is she still single?"

"She said once to me that she married the art."

"Haha. Oh, my… She would feel lonelier as she gets older, especially without her own child."

"On the bright side, she looks young for her age because she is single. Her body is still in good shape. Who would think that she is almost 50 years old?"

"You want to visit her tomorrow then?"

"Yeah. We can bring her some food."