Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Once Young-Eun's morning sickness stopped, Young-Eun started eating a lot.

Gun-Ho said, "Is it okay for you to eat that much?"

"Nothing much I can do about it. Oppa, can you get me some tomatoes? I want cherry tomatoes."

Gun-Ho went to a supermarket and bought tomato, fruit juices, and other fruits and brought them to Young-Eun. Whenever Young-Eun said she was feeling swollen on her legs, he gave her a massage. These things became a new routine for Gun-Ho.

It was Monday. Gun-Ho went to work at GH Building in Sinsa Town.

Gun-Ho went out of the office by himself and headed to Youngpoong Bookstore at the building where Seoul Express Bus Terminal was located. He took the subway line no. 3 to get there. He bought several prenatal education books, including Talmud's Tales and books on good foods during pregnancy. He also bought some classical music CDs for Young-Eun.

"Oh, my gosh. I will really be a dad?"

Gun-Ho was not sure what it would feel like to be a father. Gun-Ho thought that he should be a good person for his child.

Gun-Ho was sitting in his office at GH Building reading the prenatal education book that he bought earlier when he received a call from Young-Eun.

"Oppa? I just had a test for congenital abnormalities."

"What? Congenital abnormalities? What are you talking about? Is something wrong?"

"It's a medical exam that every expectant mother is supposed to take when they are around four months pregnant. Everything is fine."

"Oh, my. I was frightened when you said you received the test for it. I stopped by Youngpoong Bookstore today and bought several books related to prenatal education."

"You did?"

"You should take good care of yourself. Don't do anything that makes you feel hard, and make a request to the hospital that you can't work night shifts often any longer."

"Okay, I will do that."

"Honey, I love you."

"Well, I will talk to you later."

President Jeong-Sook Shin, who was working on the 17th floor, came up to Gun-Ho's office on the 18th floor.

"What are these books?" Gun-Ho asked when he saw her carrying several heavy-looking books.

"GH Media is publishing these books now. These are business management books. I was thinking that you might want to read them. They are not on the market yet. They just came out of the bookbindery service today."

"Really? These are very thick books."

Gun-Ho didn't carefully look at those books that President Shin had brought though.

"Thank you. I will read them when I find time for it."

"We sold about 3000 of our costume play magazines this month. I wouldn't say that we hit a jackpot, but it is definitely a success. Most of the articles in the magazine were written by Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda alone. Half of the magazine contents are from Japanese magazines anyway, so it's not hard to make our magazine."

"Hmm, really? That's good to hear."

"Also, I brought one more book. It's a children's storybook, which is good for prenatal education. Please give it to Young-Eun."

"A book for prenatal education? I actually went to Youngpoong Bookstore earlier today and bought several books for it. Well, yours is different from the books that I bought."

"Oh, you bought prenatal education books, sir? Oh, my gosh. I see the books on your desk, hahaha. I have no doubt that you will make a great dad, Mr. President Goo."

"We are paying Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda enough with good benefits, right?"

"His current monthly salary is 3.5 million won. It's exceeding 30,000 Japanese Yen. It seems that he is sending 20,000 Yen out of 30,000 to his home in Japan."

"Does he have a lot of family members to support?"

"He doesn't talk much about his family. He has a daughter for sure, but I've never seen him talking about his wife. His daughter seems to go to Tokyo University."

"Hmm, I see."

"Mr. Yoshitake Matsuda is not solely working with the magazine, but he is also busy with introducing and bringing some Japanese best-seller books as well. I was thinking that maybe we should provide him with more support for his accommodation."

"Where is he living right now?"

"He is staying in a studio apartment in the Hongik University area."

"Hmm, really? I guess that he might feel lonely. I think you should pay more attention to his well being."

"Sir, why don't you buy him a drink or something sometimes when you have time? He probably needs man time. I think you can make a good connection with him."

"Haha, you think so? Okay, I will do that."

A moment after President Shin left Gun-Ho's office, Gun-Ho received a call from Jae-Sik Moon in China.

"I got confirmation from our Chinese partner that they received 450,000 dollars."

"That's good."

"I will be attending the preparation meeting for Antang City's terminal project today."

"You mean the meeting conducted by the 'preliminary committee'?"

"Yeah. Speaking of which, I found that we also sometimes say 'preliminary committee,' in Korea not 'preparatory committee.'"

"Hmm, I see."

"Well, since they received our investment funds, I will make a request again to change the ownership of the land to the joint venture's name and to issue us the bus business license."

"I think you should."

"The joint venture's vice president—Changchun—came and talked to me quietly earlier. He said that the transportation department's director has the full authority regarding the bus business license, and we can expect to receive it very soon."

"Of course. Since they received the funds, they will issue it to us pretty soon."

"But the thing is that they will probably allow us to have two or three buses for now."

"That's it?"

"He said that it's pursuant to the Duikai policy."

"The Duikai policy? What is that?"

"It's like if we bring three buses, then the other side will bring three busses as well like fairly matching the number of buses. In other words, say, Antang City will provide three buses for the route from Antang City to Guiyang City. Then Guiyang City will come up with the same number of buses for the route from Guiyang City to Antang City."

"Hmm, really? It's like if we have a new bus line between Incheon City where we used to live and Daejeon City, the bus company in Incheon City will run three buses that go from Incheon City to Daejeon City, and the bus company in Daejeon City will provide three buses from Daejeon to Incheon."

"That's exactly right. That's the Duikai policy. The major difference between Korea and China is about who can be assigned to run those busses. Since Korea is a small company, the bus companies in Seoul can take the bus lines between two provincial cities while the bus companies in a provincial city get a hard time getting into the business. And that's how some large companies become even larger. But China is different. They decentralize authorities and power, so they evenly distribute the business as well. Maybe, they do that because the country is so big."

"Hmm, Duikai policy…"

"Their Duikai policy isn't exclusively applicable to the bus business, but it applies to the airline business as well. In Korea, if we open a new airline route to Busan and if Korean Air takes the lines, then that is it, right? But, if Duikai policy applies, half of the lines to Busan must be taken by Busan Air."

"That policy might not work well in Korea considering the business environment and all that. The companies in a provincial city are small companies with weak financial capability, which means that they might not be able to provide services that as competitive as companies in Seoul would. Well, Duikai policy seemed to be a good policy though. But, it seems like we will have half of what we expected in the bus business then."

"So, I was thinking that maybe I should find a new bus route other than Guiyang City."

"Hmm, really? If so, I think you should go on a trip to other cities for it."

"I think I should go now. I will give you a call once the meeting is over."

"Okay. Keep up the good work."