Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Chapter 822: Tears of Miura Machines’ Owner President (1) – Part 1

When Gun-Ho, Jong-Suk Park, and Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui arrived at Haneda Airport, Mr. Sakata Ikuzo was waiting for them at the airport.

“Sir, how have you been?!” Jong-Suk said as he spotted Mr. Ikuzo and quickly went to him.

“Hey, Mr. Jong-Suk Park!”

Jong-Suk Park and Mr. Sakata Ikuzo seemed to be thrilled to see each other. They exchanged hugs.

Mr. Sakata Ikuzo also delightedly greeted Gun-Ho and Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui.

“Shacho San (Sir), it has been a while. It’s really good to see you again,” He then looked at Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui and said, “Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui, I’m so glad to see you.”

Gun-Ho thought that Mr. Ikuzo looked healthy and energetic. He was wearing overalls and a beret. His outfit was definitely not for an engineer, but he looked like an artist, maybe a painter.

“I’m so happy to see you, Mr. Ikuzo. You look healthy.”

Mr. Ikuzo smiled broadly in response, and he said, “I was told that Dyeon Korea became a Ppabeurikkeu Campani (public company). Congratulations.”

“Thank you. We finally made it happen through a lot of people’s hard work.”

Gun-Ho also broadly smiled because the way that Mr. Ikuzo said the English word—public company—was funny to him.

Gun-Ho pulled out his credit card and handed it to Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui, and he told him, “Please use this credit card to rent a vehicle.”

“Hai. I’m on it.”

“Car rental companies are located at the airport, aren’t they?”

“They have a Toyota rental company here at the airport.”

After a while, Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui came back with a Toyota Isis minivan. He was with a chauffeur. Gun-Ho thought that the car looked petite and cozy.

‘This minivan looks like Japanese people.’

The vehicle featured sliding doors. And it had enough room for four men to sit comfortably in the car. Since its trunk didn’t have enough space to load everyone’s luggage, some of them had to sit on an empty seat.

“Please go to Takada Nishi,” Mr. Ikuzo, who was sitting on the front passenger seat, said to the chauffeur. He would be the guide to the destination for the day.

Gun-Ho enjoyed the scenic view through the window for a while, and then he asked Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui, “This car is an Isis, right? What does it mean?”

“I don’t know, sir. Let me ask the chauffeur. He might know it.”

Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui asked the chauffeur, who looked like he was in his 50s, “Doraiba San (Mr. Driver), do you know, by any chance, what Isis means?”

“Isis? It’s the name of the ancient goddess of fertility in Ejiputo (Egypt) mythology.”

It took a good while until they finally arrived in Takada Nishi.

As they were in the area, Mr. Ikuzo gave further directions to the chauffeur, “Please make a left turn at the intersection over there. We want to go to the second factory.”

When they arrived at Miura Machines, two old workers in uniform were waiting for them at the entrance. They seemed to be expecting Gun-Ho’s party. Those two senior workers looked neat and clean even in a factory uniform. The first impression that Gun-Ho had for those two workers was that they looked like a senior professor in a college rather than a worker in a factory.

“Good to see you, Ikuzo.”

“How are you, Tsuyoshi-shi Miura.”

Sakata Ikuzo and Tsuyoshi-shi Miura were good friends. They seemed to be delighted to see each other. After shaking hands, Mr. Sakata Ikuzo introduced Gun-Ho to Mr. Miura.

“This is President Gun-Ho Goo of GH Mobile from Korea. Mr. President Goo, this is President Miura of Miura Machines.”

Gun-Ho gave a deep bow to President Miura as he said, “Nice to meet you, sir. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Mr. Miura also gave a deep bow to Gun-Ho and said, “Thank you for coming.”

As two business owners—One was in his late 30s and the other was in his late 60s—gave a deep bow to each other at the same time, they almost hit each other’s head. Gun-Ho thought that Japanese people seemed to be very polite as he expected.

Mr. Sakata Ikuzo continued to introduce the visitors to President Miura.

“This is Mr. Jong-Suk Park. He used to work as a plant manager at GH Mobile. He is now running GH Machines.”

“Oh, really? It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Mr. Ikuzo continued, “This is Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui from GH Media in Korea.”

“You are Japanese. Nice to meet you, sir.”

President Miura then introduced the man, who was standing next to him, to Gun-Ho’s party.

“This is Yanagi Masatoshi. He is Miura Machines’ plant manager.”

They gave a deep bow to each other.

President Miura led the group to the inside of the factory.

The factory was not large in size. It was probably a bit smaller than GH Machines that Jong-Suk Park was running, in the agricultural and industrial complex. Some machines were being operated, but they were not making loud noises. Gun-Ho could spot workers handling the machines.

“Machine parts like bearings and bolts are being produced here, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“I thought your factory manufactures things like a camshaft as well.”

“Oh, we do. You will be able to see those being manufactured over there.”

Jong-Suk Park intuitively knew that they were using ceramic rollers in their machines, given the fact that he couldn’t hear a loud noise and couldn’t feel intensive vibration either.

“They are ceramic rollers, right?”

“That’s correct. We are using ceramic roller bearings.”

“Where did you purchase this machine?”

“I actually built that machine myself.”

“Oh, is that right?”

Jong-Suk nodded his head as he looked around.

At that moment, Gun-Ho asked Jong-Suk Park in a low voice, “What do you think? Does this factory look good?”

“As a matter of fact, it is good. Machines here are working at a high speed, but we can’t hear noises. You noticed that too, right?”

“Oh, they are moving to another area. I guess they have an additional production site over there.”

In the area where the group was led to, CNC (computer numerical control) machines were sitting on worktops along with boring machines. Several milling machines that seemed to have been built in-house were seen as well. Camshafts were probably being produced in this area. The workers there all looked old as well.

Gun-Ho asked Jong-Suk Park again, “So, what do you think? Do you think it’s worth acquiring?”

“Well, I thought they would be building machines manually, but everything here is automated. Usually, these works are handled by young workers, but everyone here seems to be old for the job.”

“What if we remove these machines from here and install them in GH Machines?”

“I can’t handle these machines by myself. I will need to hire workers who have been trained to handle CNC machines, and also the Japanese workers here will have to come and stay with us in GH Machines for several months to train our workers too.”

“I see. So, what do you think?”

“I actually like what I see here...”

“Well, then let’s buy the business.”

“It’s only a matter of time to learn how to build the parts that they are manufacturing here with these machines, but the problem is sales. We will need a competent salesperson just like Dyeon Korea’s Director Kim.”

“Is that so?”

“Directory Kim didn’t major in engineering in college, but he is tremendously knowledgeable even in theory about machines and stuff. That must have been developed throughout his career in this field for several decades. Moreover, he has inborn talent in communicating with people, and he can be very convincing too. With a salesperson like him, this business can work.”

“Sales...”

At that moment, Mr. Yoshitaka Matsui came close to Gun-Ho and said, “Mr. President Miura is suggesting that we should go to his office and have a cup of tea together.”

“Of course. That would be nice.”