Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 598: Certificate of Inno-Biz (3) – Part 1

Gun-Ho made a call to the former chief officer of GH Mobile’s research center.

“Mr. President Goo, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call today?”

“I haven’t seen you at work lately, sir.”

“I am truly grateful that you let me stay at the company with an advisory position, but I feel like I’m not needed there. I don’t want to impose anyone at work, so I stay home most of the time. I usually come to work briefly in the morning. I was at work this morning since we had a meeting for the executive officers.”

“It was my fault, sir. I should have prepared an office for you.”

“No, sir. There is no company that would give an office to someone who is holding a temporary advisory position. I sincerely thank you for giving me a position even after I’ve already reached my retirement age.”

“As you just mentioned, we had a meeting this morning between the executive officers. And, an idea of changing the compound room into a research center came up.”

“That sounds not bad at all. We would give a better impression to the public by having a research center within the company. Compounding chemicals are also research activities, and it requires laboratory work, so it makes sense to call the compound room as the research center.”

“As you just mentioned, considering the positive effect on our company’s public image, we’ve decided to change the compound room into a technology research center. And, we will give you an office even though it’s a temporary position, hoping that you would come to work more often and spend some time in your office giving good advice to the young workers there. It could be a nice place to relax as well as reading a newspaper.”

“I would greatly appreciate that, sir.”

“Dyeon Korea’s research center is different from the one in GH Mobile though. Various chemicals are being handled there, and it’s not a good place to stay all day long. We will find an office for you with a window, so you could have proper ventilation airflow.”

“The workers at the compound room wear a mask while handling chemical compounds. So, it doesn’t matter whether I have a window or not; I can wear a mask too.”

“During the meeting this morning, many executive officers suggested giving you a position title as a chief research officer even though it would still be a temporary advisory position, and the current manager of the compound room—Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo—would take the deputy chief research officer.”

“Well, I’m not sure how Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo would take it.”

“I indirectly asked Manager Yoo about the new arrangement, and he said that it would be his pleasure working with you again, sir.”

“Really? Haha. I’d love to work with him too.”

“You need to know this though, that even though we give you a job title as a chief officer of our research center, your current salary won’t change.”

“I understand, sir. I’m still so grateful that I have this opportunity to continue to work in this company. Since I had a lot of spare time at home, I’ve met with Mulpasaneop’s president the other day.”

“How is he doing?”

“It seems that he is doing very well. He said that he sleeps much better at night, maybe because he is having a less stressful life now.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“With the cash that you gave to him, he bought a small building in Suwon City. He is making rental income from that building around 5 million won per month. With his monthly national pension of 6 million won in addition to that rental income, he is making a good life without help from his children. He said he is happy now.”

“Haha, I see.”

“He said that whenever he thought about his life when he was running Mulpasaneop, he felt terrified. The last five years of his life with Mulpasaneop right before you acquired it wasn’t pretty at all. He had seriously been harassed by his creditors during those five years. I was there, so I know it.”

“I see.”

“Also, I talk with the former plant manager—Man-Soo Li—pretty often, who is in China, holding an advisory position at GH Parts Company. He seems to be satisfied with his current position. He said that he is enjoying working with President Min-Hyeok Kim. He sent me a bunch of photos that he took there, showing his life in China. He recently sent me his picture at the Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou City.”

“I’m so glad to see you both staying healthy at work. Well, I will have the general affairs department set your office, Mr. Chief Research Officer.”

“Thank you, sir.”

It was definitely great news for GH Mobile’s former chief research officer. He was initially offered a one-year temporary advisory position with Dyeon Korea after he reached his retirement age. Now, he was placed at the newly-restructured research center as a chief officer, and he was hoping that his one-year contract would be extended. He had a grown-up son at home, who still needed his financial support even to buy cigarettes. His son was already 35 years old but without a job. His son was spending most of his time playing online games at home. It wasn’t easy for him to just watch his adult son wasting his life like that, but what could he do about it? He was just grateful that he had a job and was still making money.

The former chief research officer—Mr. Gil-Hoon Bang—once came back home after briefly stopping by at work in the morning. It was around noon, and his son was still in his bed sleeping. That day, he lost it.

He yelled at his son, “I can’t believe that you are still sleeping! It’s noon already! It’s lunchtime for those who are working in a company or a government office, after spending their busy morning at work. Look at President Goo in the company that I’m working for. He is about the same age as you, and he acquired Mulpasaneop and accumulated wealth; it must be several tens of billions won.”

His son objected right away.

“It’s not fair for you to compare me to other people. I can also compare you to my friends’ fathers! Won-Tae is running a company that he received from his father. His father also bought him a condo in Banpo Town, Gangnam District, Seoul City, which is worth 3 billion won. Do you think I’m happy staying home like this? I’m staying at home because I don’t have money.”

“You are not trying hard to change your life. If you can’t get a decent job right now, you should at least find a part-time job or something.”

“I graduated from a good college in Seoul City. Do you really want your son to work in a store or a restaurant doing a part-time job? If I spend my time doing some meaningless part-time work, I will be stuck there forever. I need to save my time and energy to find a better job. You have no idea how things work these days because you are a retired man with a temp job.”

Chief Research Officer Bang gave up on convincing his son to make a better life because he didn’t want to have a fight with his son, which wasn’t going anywhere. He was just crossing his fingers for now hoping to keep his job for another year.

Gun-Ho asked for the general affairs manager and the accounting manager.

The two workers were standing in front of Gun-Ho in his office.

“You have heard of the salary raise that was decided during the executive meeting this morning, right?”

“Yes, sir. I just heard about it from Mr. Director Yoon.”

“Mr. General Affairs Manager, I want you to prepare a pay raise document to be signed. Ms. Accounting Manager Jo, once you receive the list of the affected employees with their raised pay from the general affairs department, please get me the updated general administrative expenses.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The pay raise applies to all salaried employees. The production workers, who are being paid per work hour, are excluded. Please include the one who is holding an advisory position too.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Also, my chauffeur—Mr. Chan-Ho Eum—is from a service company. Please raise his pay by 7% as well. I don’t want to see him pouting over being excluded from the pay raise.”

“Of course, sir. I will include him.”