Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 663: Each GH Company’s Year-End Financial Report (3) – Part 2

President Shin continued, “My condo was on the market for an urgent sale. It was last year. It’s a 30 pyung large condo, and the price was 850 million won. I had 100 million won in cash that I saved up with the dividend I had received last year. So, I was like ‘okay, let’s go for it,’ and I bought it.”

“So, you had your 450 million won back from your previous condo and added 100 million that you had in cash to it. So, you bought the condo with 550 million won with a 300 million won loan taken out from a bank.”

“That’s right. With a 300 million won loan, my monthly payment for the bank is 1 million won. I couldn’t sleep at night whenever I thought about the payment. I felt like I was working to make money to pay for the loan interest to the bank.”

“Hmm, 300 million won is a lot for a loan.”

“The price of real estate in Gangnam District increased a lot recently. The news about converting the special high schools—the foreign language high schools and the science high schools—into regular high schools definitely contributed to the increase in price. Now, people prefer to live in Gangnam District even more than before because of its steadily good school district. Without those special high schools, the high schools in Gangnam District are even more attractive to the parents who have school-age children.”

“Hmm, right. I heard about it too. Your condo’s price must have increased already.”

“I paid 850 million won for it a year ago. Now, its market price is 1.2 billion won.”

“Whoa, you made a lot of money within a year.”

“Once I receive my dividend of 60 million won this time, I will make extra payments toward my principal balance on my mortgage loan, and my debt will be reduced to 240 million won. I think I will feel a lot less pressured with my new monthly debt obligation. I’m so happy that I’m now a resident of Gangnam District. Haha.”

“Haha. Congratulations again.”

“I thank you for it, sir. I could buy the condo and move to Gangnam District because you asked me to move my office to this building in the first place.”

“Well, you are a lucky person.”

“When I lived in Dangsan Town, one of my friends bought a condo in Gimpo City for 300 million won, and she kept asking me to buy a condo in Gimpo and move in just like she did. I thank God that I didn’t listen to her at that time. If I bought a condo in Gimpo City, I would have never been able to live in a condo that is worth 1.2 billion won.”

“That sounds right.”

“My friend in Gimpo is now envious of me. She said that the price of her condo in Gimpo City stays the same even until now. She said that she doesn’t even dream to live in a condo that is worth 1.2 billion won any longer. Her husband is making good money, but it’s hard to save a million won per month even under her situation.”

“Well, Ms. President Shin, you can make another successful year this year generating a substantial amount of profit by working hard, so you can earn 240 million won as your dividend next year. You can then pay off all of your debt.”

“Haha. That sounds like a good plan.”

“You will have to wait though before you receive your dividend. We have several procedures beforehand such as getting an external audit and paying our corporate tax. Why don’t you take out 60 million won from the company bank account for now and pay your debt? You can put it back once you receive your dividend later.”

“Really? Are you sure, sir? Thank you so much, sir.”

President Shin gave a deep bow to Gun-Ho before walking out of the office.

Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh came into Gun-Ho’s office to clean the table. She asked Gun-Ho, “Ms. President Shin seems to be in a good mood. I could hear her laughing even outside the office.”

“That’s how she is all the time, isn’t she? She laughs a lot.”

“Well, I saw her walking out of the office. Her face was telling me that she was extremely happy and excited.”

“Hmm, really? I guess her condo price in Nonhyeon Town went up significantly.”

“Oh, really? Our parents’ condo price in Apgujeong Town must have gone up as well then.”

“Condos over there are probably worth more than 2 billion won now.”

Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh grinned and picked up the teacups before leaving the office.

Gun-Ho leaned back on his sofa and thought about the OneRooms in Songuri Town, Pocheon City and Gwangjuk Town, Yangju City, and also in Cheonan City where he used to live a long time ago. When he worked in a factory in Hwaseong City, he lived in a OneRoom where he could see tons of ants.

‘I lived by myself in a OneRoom at that time, but some family lived in that small rental unit or in a tiny two-bed unit with their kids... When I worked as a factory worker, our team lead in the production site often said that it would be really nice if he had 100 million won. The real estate price in Gangnam District is going crazily up. The housing price polarization is not a desirable phenomenon at all...

If people like Minister Jin-Woo Lee get more power in politics, would the housing price polarization be corrected? Min-Hyeok Kim, Jae-Sik Moon, and myself... We were actually a typical victim of that housing price polarization.’

Gun-Ho walked out of the GH building. He wanted to get some fresh air and get away from work for a moment. He took the subway line no. 3 at the Sinsa Station and got off at Seoul Express Bus Terminal. He then entered the movie theater in the basement of Shinsegae Department Store, which was situated next to the bus terminal. Since it was a weekday, there were plenty of vacant seats in the theater. At the moment, he received a call from Min-Hyeok Kim in China.

“I’m calling to give you a report on our year-end profit and loss. Is it a good time to talk?”

“I’m not in the office right now. Can we talk around 2 pm after lunch?”

“Sure. I will give you a call at 2 then.”

“I will call you around 2 pm.”

“Okay. Talk to you later then.”

Gun-Ho watched a foreign movie alone while having popcorn. He didn’t even know the title of the movie that he was watching.

After the movie, he had a chicken burger with coke at Lotteria for lunch. He was sitting in a window seat, and he watched pedestrians on the street while having his burger.

“They all look busy. They must have a job around here.”

Gun-Ho thought about his employees at GH Mobile and Dyeon Korea.

‘GH Mobile has 500 employees, and Dyeon Korea has 150. There are 650 workers combined in those two companies. I guess I contributed to society by creating a lot of jobs.

Well, maybe not. I hired more workers in GH Mobile when I took over other companies’ work. So, technically, I didn’t create jobs, but I just moved the number of jobs, which were already created in other companies, to mine. If I hired more workers to develop a new product, then it would be counted as creating jobs. However, as to the workers hired for the products being sent to Chrysler, it should be considered as creating jobs because we are exporting our products. Also, it’s fair to say that I didn’t create jobs in hiring the workers in Dyeon Korea because that was for the work that we took over from other companies as well.

As I opened Dyeon Korea, we started replacing the raw materials on the market that used to be produced by other chemical companies. Therefore, those companies probably laid off some of their employees, as we hired more workers in Dyeon Korea. So, I wouldn’t say that I created jobs by running Dyeon Korea. I should come up with an innovative product rather than replacing existing products. But, it’s not easy.’

Gun-Ho looked around inside Lotteria while drinking his coke. Lotteria was packed with people, maybe because it was lunchtime.

‘When I was in high school in Incheon City, if someone had a franchise of Lotteria, that family was considered rich. We had one in our class at that time. He was later transferred to a high school in Seoul City. I wonder how he is doing now. I don’t even clearly remember his face, but I remember that he became a popular kid by bringing French fries from his father’s Lotteria. No one beat him up. Suk-Ho Lee, Byeong-Chul Hwang, and even Won-Chul Jo tried to get along with him.’

Gun-Ho looked around again at the interior of the Lotteria and did his math about its business.

‘The biggest problem would be labor cost. Taking into account the rent and the cost of ingredients, a franchised restaurant like this one would generate about 15 million won per month.’

Gun-Ho came back to his office by subway. There were plenty of empty seats in the subway train, but Gun-Ho chose to remain standing for the entire trip back to Sinsa Town.