Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

“The eighteen-wheeler just passed Chupungyeong.”

“Okay, sir. I will prepare immediately a 30-ton forklift, a jib crane and a freight lift elevator.”

Director Yoon was now working for Dyeon Korea as a director who was in charge of general management. Since he was an executive officer, he had his own office. Gun-Ho wanted to make sure that everything was ready to handle the necessary moving and installation when the machines arrived, so he asked Director Yoon again,

“The eighteen-wheeler that left Busan City will arrive here around 12 o’clock. You sure we will have everything including the forklift truck ready by then, right?”

“Yes, don’t worry about it, sir. Once the machines arrive, we will move them to the production worksite with the forklift truck.”

“Hmm.”

“Once we put the machines in their place that we prepared for them, we will need to connect them to the power and cooling system before we could test them.”

“Hmm.”

“Also, we are expecting to receive 50 tons of raw materials. In order to efficiently store them in our storage, I think we need to install maybe a three-tier shelf in metal. I believe that Director Jong-Suk Park is the best person who I can discuss it in details. I will talk to him about it.”

“Are you saying that you want to store the raw materials on a shelf?”

“I think that’s the best way to store them. We might need more shelves later once we pick up speed in our business. We now start with 50 tons of raw materials, but later we will possibly handle hundreds of tons of raw materials constantly.”

“Does that mean we will have to pick up the raw materials at the customs in Busan City every time we receive the shipment?”

“No, sir. We sent our three employees to Busan City this time because we will have to move the equipment, but for raw materials only, the customs compliance service provider can handle them for us.”

“Busan City is too far from our factory. Can we receive the shipment at Pyeongtaek Port instead?”

“I believe we can receive raw materials at Pyeongtaek Port, if not for the machines. I think Mr. Adam Castler will have to talk with Dyeon America to arrange the location though.”

“Hmm...”

“It’s windy and the level of Asian Dust is high today. I think you’d better stay in the office, sir. Once the shipment arrives, we will take care of it.”

“Hmm. Hmm.”

Gun-Ho cleared his throat and went back to his office in Dyeon Korea, and started reading the cartoon book which GH Media had sent to him the other day. His office was cozy even on a windy day. A lot of natural light was coming into the office. The office was filled with the orchid plants that GH Mobile’s customer and vendor companies sent to congratulate on the new factory construction, and the flowers were giving off pleasant scents. Gun-Ho enjoyed the moment where he was reading a cartoon book in his large office that was filled with orchid flower scents.

Gun-Ho fell asleep while reading the cartoon book, and he woke up to some loud noise. When Gun-Ho heard people yelling, he walked to the window and looked down. An eighteen-wheeler was in the factory yard and a huge forklift truck was moving busily with Jong-Suk’s scream.

“Hey, Mr. Driver! More to your left! More and more. Sh*t! You almost hit the wall! Manager Park! Don’t touch that!”

They were making a lot of noise. Gun-Ho could hear all sorts of sound from the forklift truck, freight lift elevator and some other noise from machines and tools.

Gun-Ho walked down to the factory. When the three workers who just came back from Busan saw Gun-Ho entering the area, they walked towards Gun-Ho to greet him,

“Welcome back, folks. The equipment looks great.”

Gun-Ho looked at his watch. It was after lunchtime, around 1 pm already.

“Why don’t you have lunch first?”

“We will eat our lunch after unloading the shipment, sir.”

Director Kim asked for the assistant manager.

“Hey, Mr. Park, let’s place an order of our lunch for delivery. I think Jajjangmyeon* will do fine.”

“For everyone here, sir? I think we have about twenty people.”

“Let them choose from Jajjangmyeon*, Jjamppong*, and fried rice. If you go to the container office, you will find the phone number of a restaurant that you can order those foods from. The number is attached to the wall.”

“Yes, sir.”

The assistant manager moved around quickly among the twenty workers to take their lunch orders.

“Mr. Park, I will have Jajjangmyeon*.”

Gun-Ho shouted to the assistant manager,

“Are you having lunch with us here, sir?”

“Of course.”

Gun-Ho sat with his employees, together with the truck drivers and had his Jajjangmyeon*.

When the workers had almost finished their lunch, the assistant manager distributed coffee in a paper cup to everyone there. The coffees were from the vending machine in the container office.

The assistant manager seemed to be feeling good and excited since he was recently promoted to his current position. He was three years younger than Gun-Ho, and Gun-Ho sometimes found himself treating the assistant manager in an informal and comfortable way.

“Sir, why don’t you go back to your office and take a rest. The worksite is too noisy and not very organized yet.”

As Director Kim suggested Gun-Ho, Gun-Ho went back to his office on the second floor after lunch, and he continued to read the cartoon book for a while. Once he finished the book, he came back to the worksite to see how things were going.

“The forklift truck driver already left?”

“Yes, sir. He left at about 3 pm. The driver for the freight lift elevator left right after he finished his Jajjangmyeon*.”

Dyeon Korea hadn’t purchased its own forklift truck yet. If they had to buy one, a 5-ton forklift truck should be large enough to handle their raw materials. This time, they leased the huge 30-ton forklift truck to move the machines they received from Dyeon America.

When Gun-Ho looked around, he saw Jong-Suk who was taking a break. He was holding a paper cup of coffee and he was smoking a cigarette while standing near the fence.

“Director Park, you did a great work today.”

“It’s part of my job.”

“Are you coming back here to work tomorrow?”

“Director Kim asked me to come here tomorrow. The people in our factory in Jiksan Town wouldn’t like it though.”

“Why don’t you work in the Jiksan location in the morning and come to this Asan location in the afternoon? That’s what I do these days.”

“I don’t know.”

While Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk were conversing about the work arrangement, a Starex van entered the factory gate, and three American men got off from the van. They were the engineers from Dyeon America. Manager Kang picked them up at the airport that morning. Once they got off from the van, they went straight into the office building without noticing that Gun-Ho was standing in the yard.

“Bro, I guess you’d better go back to your office. The American engineers have arrived.”

“It’s okay. Director Kim and Mr. Adam Castler are in the office.”

“I want to talk to them before we start installing the equipment.”

“Do it tomorrow. Those engineers must feel very exhausted after the long-hour flight.”

Note*

Jajjangmyeon– Korean-style Chinese noodle dish with black bean sauce, vegetables, and diced pork.

Jjamppong– Korean spicy noodle soup with seafood, pork, and vegetables.