Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 327: Chairman Lee's Vacation Home (2) - Part 2

"Those lands that are surrounded by other lands cost about 600,000 won per pyung while the lands like this location are 1.2 million won per pyung."

"That makes this land 1.2 billion won."

"Correct. The landowner already affirmed that he would not negotiate the price. So I guess the land price is firm. Why don't you think about it, and let me know if you decide to take it."

"Okay, will do. I will actually need to think about it."

The realtor gave his business card to Gun-Ho with his phone number on it.

Gun-Ho liked the land.

'The land is in a simple square figure. It's on the six-meter wide road, so it's very accessible with a car. Moreover, the bus station is close. But the price is too high. If the land is really 120 billion won, that means all those farmers in this area are very rich. When I lived here in Incheon City, my family rented a small townhouse just because we didn't have 100 million won at that time. So do Min-Hyeok's and Jae-Sik's families. With 120 billion won, I can purchase five of the Hyundai HomeTown condos that Min-Hyeok recently bought for his parents.'

'Once I purchase this land, I can ask my mom and dad to watch it for me. I don't want someone to cultivate some grains in my land. Also, I need to deter anyone from dumping trash or some construction wastes on the land. After a few years, once the area gets developed, I can build a facility. Even though I own the foundation to run the facility, I can have my sister to actually run it. She has a level-1 certificate of a social worker. I guess she will fit right in the job. Her husband can stop driving a truck doing transportation work for other companies and work with my sister here instead. That would look really nice.'

The following day, Gun-Ho made a purchase contract for the land. He took his parents to the land to show it.

"I bought this land as an investment. The previous owner is cultivating some chili peppers here. I told him that once he harvests the current peppers, he shouldn't continue to do it any longer. Why don't you come to this land from time to time and see if anyone uses the land."

"I think I want to grow something here, maybe some chives. I heard I can easily sell them."

"Mom, that's hard labor work."

"No, it's okay. I want to use the land. I think I will cultivate some garlic or spring onions with your dad."

Gun-Ho's mother looked excited.

Gun-Ho was driving back to Cheonan City when he received a call from President Jeong-Sook Shin of GH Media.

"Sir, Mr. Ding Feng's art exhibition is finally scheduled. I already sent out the information to the press. You will see the news about his art exhibition in most of the newspapers starting today."

"Did you prepare the information to be on the news?"

"Yes, we prepared them. Actually, the chief editor—Mr. Jae-Sik Moon—wrote the article to be on the newspaper. His writing is so good that I believe they will post it without any problem. While we prepare the article on our own, sending it out to the press was handled by a service provider."

"Good work, President Shin. I will stop by the art exhibition."

"Sir, please send us an orchid plant to the art exhibition venue on the first day of the exhibition with your name on it."

"Well, I will send three of them, not just one, with three different company names: GH Mobile, Dyeon Korea, and GH Development."

"That sounds great. Thank you."

Gun-Ho spent his time in GH Mobile that afternoon. He was reading a newspaper. While Dyeon Korea subscribed to only one economic newspaper since it was a newly opened company, GH mobile received three different newspapers. There was a news article about Mr. Ding Feng's art exhibition with one of his oriental paintings.

"So, this was written by Jae-Sik."

[The great artist of the oriental painting from China—Mr. Ding Feng—will host his art exhibition at Sotdae Gallery in Insa Town for the next two weeks starting today. Artist Ding Feng is highly known as the master of northern school literati paintings in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. His paintings are highly recognized worldwide. This is his very first art exhibition in Korea.

Northern school literati paintings that use a lot of colors are more popular in China while southern school literati paintings are prevalent in Korea. Mr. Ding Feng's art exhibition will give an excellent opportunity for art lovers to enjoy northern school literati paintings.]

"Man, Jae-Sik is good."

Jae-Sik's father was a blue-collar labor worker, but he loved writing a poem. Yes, he was a poet. He was not a financially savvy person, and Jae-Sik's family had suffered from poverty. Jae-Sik was bullied during his school years, and his only happy time during those days was when he read cartoon books by himself. Once he entered high school, he read novels all the time, which he borrowed from the school library.

"Well, I guess Jae-Sik was somewhat influenced by his father who used to write a poem. Jae-Sik is doing great as a chief editor."

Gun-Ho closed his eyes and reminisced about his days in his middle school and high school.

Won-Chul Jon was living in a nice condo at that time, and he hung out with Byeong-Chul Hwang and Suk-Ho Lee. Gun-Ho was living in a shabby townhouse, and he was friends with Min-Hyeok and Jae-Sik who had about the same home environment, and Jae-Sik's family lived in a basement of a townhouse. Gun-Ho sometimes spent time with Jong-Suk who was two years younger than him as well since he liked Jong-Suk's mother's Seolleongtang (an ox bone soup).

Min-Hyeok and Jae-Sik were often beaten up by Won-Chul and Suk-Ho in those days, and they didn't even try to fight back, maybe because of their sense of inferiority which came from the different financial situation of their families. Fortunately, Gun-Ho had a larger frame at that time, maybe because of Jong-Suk's mother's Seolleongtang, and he wasn't often targeted for bullying.

The children at that time didn't call Jae-Sik with his name, but instead, they just called him like, "Hey, basement."

And they often asked Jae-Sik,

"Hey, you, basement! Carry my school bag for me!"

Whenever someone mentioned the word "basement," Jae-Sik lowered his head with his slumped shoulders.

Won-Chul Jo's family lived in a nice condo. His mother was a pharmacist, and she ran her own pharmacy in the town. Byeong-Chul Hwang's parents were both school teachers, and Suk-Ho Lee's father owned a lumber mill. These three people lived in the same condo, and they all went to college in Seoul. Currently, Won-Chul Jo was a manager in a big company; Byeong-Chul Hwang graduated from KAIST and worked as a researcher in a research center in Pangyo. As his parents were both school teachers, Byeong-Chul had the highest grade in high school. Suk-Ho Lee, whose father was running a timber mill at that time, owned a bar at Gyeongridan Street until recently with his parents' financial support, and he was now doing some business in China. Min-Ho Kang, who joined a civic organization, had lived in a different condo. His father was a politician; he was a member of the city council at that time.

Gun-Ho's father was a labor worker in an industrial complex, and then he later worked as a security guard. Min-Hyeok's father was a bus driver, and after he retired, he now drove an art academy shuttle for children. Jae-Sik's father was a labor worker who always wrote a poem, and Jae-Sik hadn't contacted his parents for a while now. His father had a bad credit score and that affected Jae-Sik's life badly.

It seemed like the life of the father and his son looked alike. The son seemed to follow his father's footprints in some way. Surprisingly though, Gun-Ho was the most successful among these high school friends, and he was running his own companies.