Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Gun-Ho was in the class of the Advanced Center for Administrative Development at Seoul National University that day. The classroom was always noisy during the break because of the students’ constant chit-chat.

The students in that class were mostly the people with high social positions, and their chit-chats were full of critical and nutritious information, accordingly. Many of them also knew very interesting stories behind some certain social events and affairs, and they were busy sharing those stories.

A congressman came forward in front of the class and made a suggestion.

“It’s late fall, and we are having very nice weather these days. We should be outside and get together. Mr. Class President should preside over a gathering like this, but our class president doesn’t seem to be so willing to do so. Is there anyone in our class who would make a plan and arrange the gathering for the class?”

“Let’s do that!”

“I’m in!”

“Yes, we definitely should get together outside the class.”

“Let’s go somewhere like a park, so we can enjoy nature in the fall. I want to see fall foliage.”

“What about Naejang Temple?”

“That’s too far. We will need to rent a bus if the whole class goes there.”

“What about Ganghwa Island then?”

“We won’t see any fall foliage there.”

“Let’s go to Anyang Art Park behind Gwanak Mountain.”

“That place must be packed with so many people.”

“If we go there in the evening, the traffic should be light.”

“Anyang Art Park is a nice place, and it’s very close to here. It won’t be busy at all at this hour.”

“Yeah, sure.”

The park was filled with a lot of people even though it was a weekday.

“Let’s try the road back over there.”

After going around the Anyang Art Park twice, they found a restaurant building that specialized in Galbi*, which looked clean and decent. The entire three-floor building was the restaurant. The second and third floor seemed to be primarily used for an event or meeting with a group of customers. When Gun-Ho and Chan-Ho Eum entered the restaurant, the restaurant owner greeted them and asked, “How many people do we expect?”

“It will be twenty.”

“Twenty?”

“Oh, there should be more because I have to count their chauffeurs as well. You can double the number.”

“Plus twenty chauffeurs, sir?”

When the restaurant owner realized that there would be 20 customers and each customer would bring his or her own chauffeur, he scanned Gun-Ho from the head to toe.”

“Which dishes do you want us to prepare for them, sir?”

“We will have Galbi*.”

“We will prepare seats on the third floor for you. It has a better scenery view and quiet. After dinner, you can have karaoke as well. All the systems with a microphone are set up on the third floor. I will prepare separate seats for the twenty chauffeurs on the second floor.”

Gun-Ho thought that the restaurant seemed to be a good place for the gathering next week and made a reservation with the restaurant under the name of Advanced Center for Administrative Development at Seoul National University.

After making the reservation for next week, Gun-Ho had Galbi-tang* with Chan-Ho Eum at the same restaurant. They then walked out of the restaurant while holding a cup of coffee in a paper cup and headed to the valley in the park.

“This valley is full of water. I came here before with my mom when I was little.”

Chan-Ho Eum seemed to reminisce about his memory with his mother.

‘Poor kid,’ Gun-Ho thought.

‘He doesn’t have a father, and his mother remarried someone. He must miss his days with his parents. Doesn’t his mother miss him?’

Gun-Ho sometimes wondered about Chan-Ho’s family background, but he didn’t ask Chan-Ho about it directly. He didn’t want him to hurt his feelings or force him to think about things that he wouldn’t want to think about.

Gun-Ho was enjoying his coffee in a paper cup on a bench under the tree when he received a call from Jae-Sik Moon in China.

“President Goo? Can we talk?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Am I interrupting your lunchtime? Isn’t it your nap time?”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Suk-Ho Lee just left. I just dropped him off at Guiyang Airport with my car.”

“Good.”

“I had to postpone visiting the new bus route because of him, and now I can go.”

“Was his visit for a sheer sightseeing?”

“No, not at all. He came to make a proposal to me. He asked me to buy his stores in Shenyang City, and he said that he would accept the payments in installments from me since I’m his friend. He enticed me to purchase his stores by ensuring that the price of those stores will dramatically go up after a year.”

“You said no, right?”

“Of course I said no. I don’t even have money for it anyway. Even if I had money, why would I make an investment somewhere far away from my area? Guess what he said.”

“What did he say?”

“He suddenly got all upset and said that I’m not a good businessman, and I have a bad insight.”

“Hmm, really?”

“And then he said something to me that he shouldn’t have.”

“What did he say?”

“Well, I will tell you later.”

“It’s okay. Just tell me what he said to you.”

“I’d better tell you later.”

“Just say it!”

“He said that I only know how to make a living under the shade of Gun-Ho Goo and that I have no insight about business at all. He was mad.”

“Man… his mental age seemed to have stopped in high school.”