Chapter 648: First Vendor Company (1) – Part 1
It was Friday, and Young-Eun came home at TowerPalace. The large bulge of her belly was obvious. She was holding her large belly, and she collapsed on the sofa as soon as she entered home. She was breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?”
Gun-Ho exaggerated his care for Young-Eun to cover his guilty mind caused by his affairs with Mori Aikko.
“Let me wash your feet, Young-Eun. Just sit there and relax. I will take care of everything.”
Gun-Ho washed Young-Eun’s feet and rubbed her back while making a fuss about her condition. When he suddenly gave her a kiss on the cheek, Young-Eun finally cried.
“Stop it! Go away!”
Young-Eun wiped her cheek with her hand where Gun-Ho just kissed on.
‘It’s so weird. Whenever I came home after a trip to j.a.pan, she became testy as if she knew something. It was a quick trip, and there is no way that she would have found it out’
Gun-Ho looked at Young-Eun’s hand.
“Huh? What happened to your hand?”
Young-Eun’s hands and feet were swollen. Swelling in feet, fingers, and ankles were common symptoms during pregnancy, especially during the third trimester. Young-Eun was seven months pregnant. When Gun-Ho realized what Young-Eun had been going through with the pregnancy, he felt extremely sorry. She was suffering from those physical symptoms of pregnancy because she conceived his child, and Gun-Ho had fun with another woman in j.a.pan. Gun-Ho wanted to kneel down and beg for her forgiveness.
“Do you want a pizza? I can place an order for you.”
“No, thanks. I want to eat Korean food at home with cooked rice.”
Gun-Ho went to the kitchen and started cooking rice and kimchi stew. Gun-Ho knew how to cook simple Korean dishes. He used to cook for himself when he lived by himself in OneRoom while working as a factory worker.
He found several dishes to add to their dinner that night in the refrigerator, that were bought from a side dish store. It wasn’t difficult to set the dinner table for Young-Eun.
Young-Eun was preparing another dish. She pulled out pork belly from a black vinyl bag. It seemed that she purchased it on the way home earlier. She then started frying the meat.
Gun-Ho asked, “I can do that for you.”
“No, thank you.”
The two sat at the dining table and had their dinner without saying a word. Gun-Ho wanted to have a gla.s.s of liquor with his dinner, but he knew he shouldn’t. Young-Eun might not want to smell liquor since she was pregnant.
Young-Eun finally broke the silence.
“Your friend’s wife in China… She’s going to give birth to their child next month, right?
“You mean Jae-Sik Moon’s wife, right? Yeah, I believe their due is next month.”
“Her baby must be large enough to weigh more than 2 kilograms by now.”
“Hmm, really? That heavy? What about our child? Does our son weigh 1 kilogram now?”
“Yeah, it must be about 1 kilogram. Our baby can hear my voice.”
“Are you serious?”
“Whenever I talk to my child, he responds.”
“You are kidding, right?”
Young-Eun went straight to bed after brus.h.i.+ng her teeth. She didn’t even watch TV with Gun-Ho that night, which was a routine for them. And, she fell asleep right away. Gun-Ho went to the bedroom to check on her. When he saw that Young-Eun was already asleep, he kissed her on the cheek. He then looked at Young-Eun’s belly which was noticeably bulged even though she was lying on the bed. Gun-Ho quietly covered it with the blanket before walking out of the bedroom.
“I won’t see any other woman until you deliver our baby, Young-Eun. I’m sorry.”
It was Monday. On the way to GH Mobile in Jiksan Town, Gun-Ho received a call from GH Media’s President Jeong-Sook s.h.i.+n.
“Good morning, sir. I’m calling from the airport. I’m leaving for China in a few minutes.”
“Have a safe trip.”
“I just need to sign the contract at the table where both countries’ flags are placed on, and take a picture with them, right? Just like when I signed the memorandum of understanding last time.”
“Right. Just follow our Chinese partner’s lead. You will be fine.”
“Okay, sir.”
Gun-Ho arrived at GH Mobile.
President Song entered Gun-Ho’s office.
“Was the claim for our defective products taken care of?”
“Yes, sir. We paid for the damage of 4 million won, and then received a new product order that is worth 400 million won. It was a very good deal for us.”
“That’s very nice.”
“The researchers at A Electronics factory in Dangjin City showed us the defect on the computer screen. They magnified the defective part for a clear view. The defect was not from our raw materials or from the manufacturing process, but it was caused by a small mistake during our a.s.sembling work. They didn’t seem to want to make a big deal out of it. They just want to make sure that we don’t make the same mistake ever again.”
“They don’t want to make a big deal out of it?”
“They just asked me and our plant manager to write a statement saying we won’t make the same mistake, so we did.”
“Really?”
“They don’t really have an option other than continuing to work with us. No company except us can handle the work for them properly. Our company is the only one that produces their product with excellent heat-resistance and without discoloration during the s.h.i.+pping to their buyers in other countries.”
“We still don’t want to produce defective products. If we don’t correct a small mistake now, we will make a bigger mistake later on.”
“The workers at the production department are now aware that their plant manager and president wrote a statement promising that we won’t produce a defective product any longer for our client company. They are working harder with more care.”
“Hmm, really?”
“Did you stop by the production site before coming to your office this morning? We have more workers now.”
“No, I didn’t. I came straight to my office today.”
“As you will see later, GH Mobile now has more than 500 workers. Our monthly sales revenue already exceeded 10 billion won.”
“Hmm, is that right?”
“We are growing rapidly along with the increasing orders from A Electronics. Their volume of orders cannot be compared to those from other major clients— S Group, Mandong Company, and Egnopak.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“Moreover, H Group sent their personnel from their purchase department to our factory the other day. I believe that we will hear good news soon. If they select us as one of their first vendor companies, we will grow to the level of Egnopak and Mandong Company.”
“Hmm.”
President Song then moved to another topic.
“We still have high traffic at our front gate with so many vendor companies’ trucks. I’m contacting the landowner of the property adjacent to our factory. I want to lease a storage there so we can store our completed products. That will ease the congestion at the gate.”
“How large is that adjacent property?”
“It’s around 3,000 pyung large. The landowner is planning to build a large storage there since that property cannot be used to have a factory, but it’s allowed to have storage. He wants to build a storage building with a loan from a bank. It won’t take long to construct a storage since it’s simple, unlike a factory. He told me that he’s going to start the construction before the winter is coming.”
“That sounds good.”
“The landowner used to farm in the area. He is an old man, and he doesn’t want to farm anymore. He converted the property’s land use so he could build a storage construction. He wants to have an income-generating storage in the property. He actually made the suggestion to us first by asking if we need a storage building. Our general affairs director is the main contact for this matter.
You asked us to visit the residents in the area and gave them a small gift to celebrate Thanksgiving, the other day. When our general affairs director visited the landowner with a box of tuna cans, he made that proposition to us. His house is shabby and old, and we’ve never expected that the old man owns a large land like that one.”
“Hmm, I see.”
“The general affairs director is working with the landowner for the storage matter.”