Chapter 51 - Acquiring a Korean Restaurant in China (2)
Today, Gun-Ho was leaving for China.
“I guess I’ve done what I had to do before leaving Korea. Let’s go to China and dream big.”
Gun-Ho made a call to Jong-Suk before he turned on international data roaming on his cell phone.
“Jong-Suk? I guess I won’t be able to see you for a while.”
“Don’t worry about it. Once you get settled in China, I will come and visit you there during my vacation.”
“If you happen to see Chairman Lee at the fishing site, tell him that I am in China.”
“I know we have talked with him several times, but I don’t think a rich man like him wouldn’t be interested in people like us. But, well, yeah I will let him know.”
Gun-Ho went through the phone numbers stored in his cell phone while sitting in the waiting area of the airport.
“Sh*t! I don’t have anyone else to make a call before I leave the country. Am I not a social person? I have no one to call except my parents and Jong-Suk. I do have a very small social network. When I get married, I won’t have anybody to come to my wedding except my parents and Jong-Suk.”
Gun-Ho felt pathetic about himself. He had spare time before the boarding time and he decided to walk around the airport.
“Lounge? It looks cozy. Should I stay here?”
A staff lady with a name tag on her chest blocked him.
“This is a VIP room.”
“VIP? How to become a VIP here?”
“You have to have a first class flight ticket.”
“Poor people are discriminated even here! F*ck!”
“You speak Korean very well.”
Dingming started talking in Chinese and Gun-Ho had no idea what she said so he just smiled. Gun-Ho asked Mr. Byeon, “Does she do the tax return as well?”
“That’s right. The tax return requires the president’s signature before it can be submitted. You can ask Mae-Hyang Kim to translate the tax return. You will catch up quickly after reading the paper maybe about twice.”
Gun-Ho, then, met two serving staff ladies. They looked like in their early 20s and seemed to have just moved to the city from the countryside. Mr. Byeon then took Gun-Ho to the kitchen to introduce him to the kitchen staffs. There were four of them. One of them was off that day, so Gun-Ho met three of the kitchen ladies.
“This is the kitchen manager, Manager Kim.”
“Manager Kim?”
“She is the interpreter Mae-Hyang Kim’s mother.”
“Oh, really? I am so glad to meet you. You should speak Korean fluently.”
“Just a little. Haha.”
Manager Kim said while laughing. She had some accent.
Gun-Ho met with the other two ladies in the kitchen as well. They kept saying ‘G-jjong’ while smiling at Gun-Ho.
“What does ‘G-jjong’ mean? They kept saying that word to me.”
“‘G-jjong’ means President Goo.”
“Haha. So I am ‘G-jjong.’ That sounds weird. ‘G’ sounds like a rat in Korean.”
“Haha, you think so?”
Mr. Byeon laughed along.
“Well, since you are here now, why don’t you go to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China around here and open a bank account? You need to find an apartment as well. You can take the same apartment as mine if you like or you can find somewhere else.”
“Okay. I will stay in this hotel like last time until I find one.”
“Why don’t you look for an apartment tomorrow morning with Mae-Hyang Kim? For today, since you already paid off the sales price and met with staffs, you probably want to replace the name of the tenant with your name at the hotel management office.”
Gun-Ho went to the hotel management office with Mr. Byeon and put his name with the restaurant. The management staff said something in Chinese.
“What is he saying?”
“He said you need to bring a copy of the business license with your name on it, issued by the tax office. Also, he is asking a copy of your passport.”
Gun-Ho verified the fresh produce delivered to the restaurant the following morning. Dingming in the counter showed Gun-Ho the purchase receipts of the ingredients. Gun-Ho couldn’t read Chinese on the receipts, but he could read the numbers there.
“Ms. Mae-Hyang Kim, what does this mean?”
“Hwapiao means a receipt. The receipt is for three boxes of chives and ten cartons of eggs.”
“Hmm…”
Gun-Ho could guess how much fresh produce was coming in and how much food would be cooked. His experience of a restaurant business in Noryangjin was very helpful even though it was a short period of time. Dingming showed Gun-Ho how to use Chinese POS. Gun-Ho took note as he followed her around.
The kitchen ladies started cooking. The hall staffs and counter staff had spare time for now. Mr. Byeon came late to the restaurant.
“I’m sorry that I’m late today.”
“You seem to have a drink last night.”
“Yes. I had a drink with Korean people here since I am leaving soon after selling this restaurant.”
“Are there a lot of Koreans here?”
“Not that many, but there will be, so the restaurant could prosper.”