Chapter 704 - Employee Stock Ownership Plan (3) – Part 1
Director Woon-Hak Sim pulled out something from his bag.
“What is it?” Gun-Ho asked.
“It’s the film scenario of Menghuan Yinghua. It’s now fully translated into Korean, so I’m carrying this with me to China.”
“Have you finished reading it?”
“No, I haven’t yet. I finished about the first third. I like it so far. No wonder Ms. Ailing Feng is one of the most famous screenwriters in China.”
“Hmm, is that right?”
“I do like the title as well— Menghuan Yinghua. It means dreamy Sakura. ‘Yinghua’ is Sakura, but in the scenario, it indicates a Japanese geisha. If you read the scenario, the main male character is a Chinese spy. He managed to get into the Japanese society and met a Japanese geisha, and then he fell in love with her. We just need to give a little touch to the story. It will turn out to be a great movie.”
“Hmm.”
“I think that producing a movie based on this scenario is worth devoting everything I have even risking my life.”
“Are you saying ‘Isshokenmei’?”
“I beg your pardon, sir?”
“It’s a Japanese saying. It means that you are putting everything into the work that you are doing, to the extent that you risk your life. It’s ‘Isshokenmei’ in Japanese. The Japanese engineer— Mr. Sakata Ikuzo— used to say it.”
“Oh, I see…”
“Well, if that is your attitude toward the movie production, I’m sure that it will succeed. I’m counting on you, Mr. Director Sim.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Director Woon-Hak Sim gave a bow to Gun-Ho before leaving the office.
“Really? It must have not been easy at all.”
“When we hung our KFC sign on the building for the first time, the pedestrians showed great interest. The people in this town seem to love to have a KFC. Chinese people seem to be very interested in having American food.”
“Haha, I guess the KFC will be a success.”
“According to Soon-Young’s mom, we will soon open the Korean deep-fried restaurant right after we open the KFC. Its basic interior is already completed. We just need to bring some equipment to the kitchen. We will sell draft beer too.”
“I think you will need a floor manager for each restaurant.”
“I agree with you.”
“As to the terminal project, they are constructing the terminal building. They are working on the first floor now. The Chinese partners are still complaining about not receiving the second investment fund yet though. They noticeably treat me very coldly these days.”
“Haha, really?”
“I keep telling them that everything will become easier once they transfer the ownership of the land to the joint venture. We can even take out a loan from a bank once the joint venture officially owns the land. And, they keep saying back to me that the Construction Bureau already approved the use of the land to build the terminal, and it has been ratified by them. And, I then tell them that the land must be registered and recorded as such. The Construction Bureau’s approval document doesn’t determine the ownership of the land. A bank wouldn’t even recognize it and will not lend us money using the land as collateral. I’m having this same conversation with them over and over these days.”
“And, they are still constructing the building, huh? That is good.”
“Yeah, but they will eventually reach the point where they truly don’t have any fund left, and they will start freaking out again.”
“Are they going to give us the additional bus lines or not?”
“Vice President Chun Chang wants to go ahead and start negotiating with Duifang Gongsi (counterpart transportation companies in other cities) anyway even though we might not get the additional bus lines.”
“Then do it. It seems that they will give the additional bus lines.”
“Yeah. I’m visiting the transportation companies in the city where we might start running our bus service, with Vice President Chun Chang tomorrow. I have to get ready to drink a lot.”
“Haha. Well, have a safe trip.”
After getting off the phone with Jae-Sik Moon, Gun-Ho thought about it.
‘Once the KFC is open tomorrow, they will start making money from tomorrow. We have spent a lot of money to get the restaurant ready to open so far. Once they start making income every day, they will feel less anxious. KFC is different from the Vietnamese noodle soup restaurant that I had in Noryangjin Town. It will succeed and bring in a lot of profits.
By the way, Jae-Sik Moon’s wife is a tough woman. She went to Beijing with her baby to receive the training. I respect her toughness. She certainly seems to have a will to succeed. She knows how to devote everything she has to her work.’