Gun-Ho and Jong-Suk continued to talk, “How is Manager Seo doing in the sales department? Is he good?”
“As you know, it’s not an easy job . We don’t sell our product to individuals, but we have to appeal to a highly specialized market . So it’s really hard to earn a new order . People who have been in the field for a long time like President Song have an already-established network in the field and they can get some new orders from the companies that they used to work before . But, Manager Seo is new to the field . It’s really hard for him to bring a new client . ”
“Hmm . ”
“But he is very diligent and persistent with our current clients . Even though he hasn’t brought any new client yet, he highly contributed to raising the quantity of the product orders from our current clients . ”
“I like the fact that you are getting along very well with Manager Seo and also with the head of the labor union . Keep it that way . I know that many of the members of the labor union are working with you in the production field . Get closer to them . Buy them a drink sometimes . I will raise the limit of your allowable expenses . ”
“How’s Jae-Sik bro doing? Is his transportation company doing well?”
“I don’t know yet . It’s too early to say anything . He just started the business . ”
“He needs to be more outgoing and proactive . If they handle heavy equipment, I can introduce some potential customers for him . ”
“Heavy equipment? Jae-Sik does that too . ”
“Oh, really? Then I will give him a call . The factory that I used to work for uses a lot of heavy equipment . They should need some transportation services . I have all the driver licenses of all kinds of heavy equipment . ”
“That’s nice . Your help will be greatly appreciated, Jong-Suk . ”
“Bro, about Dyeon Korea’s Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo…”
“Oh, are you talking about Manager Hee-Yeol Yoo who received the special training in the U . S . ? What about him?”
“Manager Yoo is the only person who knows the recipe and skills for the chemical compounds . Director Kim and Director Yoon are not engineers or researchers but they only do management . Assistant Manager Il-Gi Seong who went to the U . S . with Manager Yoo for the training is now working in the sales team with Director Kim . I understand that sales work is critical to our company given the nature of our business, but we have to think about this . ”
“What are you saying? Is there any problem with Manager Yoo?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
Jong-Suk suddenly stopped talking, realizing they were not alone in the office . Ms . Yeon-Soo Oh was there in the office with them . Yeon-Soo Oh was a smart woman . She quickly thought that she should give them some privacy to talk about their business .
“I will be outside . Maybe I can converse with Ms . Hee-Jeong Park . ”
“Sounds good . ”
Once Yeon-Soo Oh left the office, Jong-Suk continued to talk, “If Manager Yoo decides to leave our company, that could be a problem to us . We hired twelve people last time including workers with experience, but they need some time to learn what Manager Yoo knows . ”
“Hmm . ”
“So, I think you’d better have them enter all the data relevant to any chemical compounds recipes that are highly advanced into the president’s computer . ”
“You mean all of them?”
“Yes . Enter everything now, and then the data has to be updated every time they develop new products . ”
“Hmm . ”
“I’m not saying that I don’t trust Manager Yoo, but we have to be careful given the gravity of the possible damage to the company . ”
“Jong-Suk, I always try to trust the people who I decided to work with . Leave it as it is . I don’t think Manager Yoo would ever do such a thing . ”
“If you can’t, bro, I will do it . ”
“Do you have a plan?”
“I will talk to Director Kim and I will ask him to make an official suggestion during the meeting . Oh, since Manager Yoo is not an executive officer, he won’t attend our meeting . Then, we can talk about it during the general meeting that occurs once a month . ”
“I will take care of it . ”
“What are you going to do?”
“Just leave it to me . ”
“Okay . ”
“Oh, I heard you are very close to Dyeon Korea’s Director Kim . You call him brother, huh?”
“Yeah, I do . ”
“Haha . You know that Director Kim is twenty years older than you, right? He can’t possibly be your brother, man . ”
“I don’t know . He asked me to call him brother and he likes it a lot whenever I call him brother . ”
“Haha . Is that right?”
“Yeah . Director Kim saw me calling Manager Seo brother the other day, and he complained to me why I don’t call him brother too, just like I do to Manager Seo . So I started calling Director Kim brother ever since . He said that he feels like being younger again since twenty-years younger man calls him brother . ”
“Haha . I see . ”
“But President Song is different . ”
“How different?”
“He is a bit cold . He doesn’t even laugh at my jokes at all . ”
“Really? Well, we can’t be all the same . Hey, I guess it’s time for you to go home . You will have to give an extra care to your wife, huh? Since she is pregnant . ”
“Thank you, bro . ”
Mr . Brandon Burke and Ms . Angelina Rein arrived at Dyeon Korea .
“Hey! President Goo!”
“Hey, Brandon Burke!”
The two men hugged each other happily when they saw each other .
“Hello, Ms . Angelina Rein!”
“Hi, Gun-Ho Goo!”
Gun-Ho had a handshake with Ms . Angelina Rein . Gun-Ho felt it inappropriate to give a hug to a lady for a greeting .
Ms . Yeon-Soo Oh greeted Angelina Rein .
“Oh, Ms . Oh . I’ve spoken with you over the phone several times . It’s really good to see you in person . You are so young and pretty!”
Director Yoon led them to a meeting room . There was the national flag of South Korea and the star-spangled banner placed on the table in the meeting room . The representatives of both parties sat at the table facing each other . In the American co-venturer’s side, Mr . Brandon Burke sat in the middle with Ms . Angelina Rein and the vice president of the joint venture—Mr . Adam Castler on his left and right . Mr . Brandon Burke’s bald head looked particularly shiny that day . The interpreter—Mr . Lee sat next to Mr . Adam Castler .
On the other side, Gun-Ho was sitting in the middle with Director Kim and Director Yoon on each of his sides . Ms . Yeon-Soo Oh who came to do the interpretation work sat next to Director Yoon . Assistant Manager Seon-Hong Park from the general affairs team also attended the board meeting . His job was to record the meeting .
A banner saying that Dyeon Korea’s first board meeting was hanging on the wall . Once everyone sat at the table, Mr . Lee—the interpreter took a picture of all the attendees . Gun-Ho looked around .
‘Shoot . I’m the only one who can’t speak English!’
Director Kim majored in English literature from college and he served his military service in Korean Augmentation To the United States Army (KATUSA) . Even though He didn’t have a chance to use his English, he still could understand it . Director Yoon had worked abroad before . He studied engineering from Seoul National University but he learned English while working overseas . Interpreter Lee and Secretary Yeon-Soo Oh both studied abroad, so they surely spoke English very well . Gun-Ho was the only one who didn’t understand English . However, he was sitting in the middle at the meeting table as the president of the joint venture .
The board meeting finally began with Assistant Manager Seon-Hong Park’s declaration,
“We now begin the first board meeting of Dyeon Korea . ”
Interpreter Lee who was standing next to the assistant manager interpreted what the assistant manager just said, “I’d like to get things started . ”
The assistant manager continued to speak, “We will start with the earnings report . Mr . Adam Castler will present the report . ”
Mr . Adam Castler started handing out a booklet to each attendee; a bunch of A4 papers was stapled together . Gun-Ho looked at the title of the document . It said, “Business Results Report . ”
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