The Famous Millionaire

Hyunwoo signed the contract to purchase the farmland lot near his house without any hesitation. Though he had yet to see the blueprint of the new research center, he had the builders work on the construction of the third factory of Hyunwoo’s Mom, the farming ground for the grasshoppers, and the dormitory for students coming from faraway places.

In particular, the dorm was designed to house forty students, so not only could the students of the alternative school but also Ani & Funny students and staff could stay there.

The next thing to do was to bring in the students.

Hyunwoo first called Byungwon Kang, his former colleague at Aurum.

He thought Byungwon would welcome his project with open hands because he and his son, Mingyu, liked the educational methods of Dreaming School very much, but Byungwon reacted differently.

“Unauthorized alternative school? In that case, my son can’t get a high school diploma, can he?”

Actually, his son Mingyu entered an authorized alternative high school as soon as he graduated from Dreaming School because he wanted to obtain a high school diploma.

Hyunwoo felt a bit disappointed. Mingyu’s great creative ability stood out when he was attending Dreaming School. He felt regrets about losing a creative student like Mingyu, but it was not something Hyunwoo could decide as far as Mingyu’s future was concerned.

All he could do was help Mingyu make the correct choice.

Hyunwoo was convinced that creative students like Mingyu would need a more creative education method like that of the Dreaming School, but Hyunwoo had to prove it by action not just by words, so he prepared a written plan on how to cultivate the students’ abilities and what was different from the education methods of Dreaming School despite some common characteristics.

He valued the students’ experiences, so he would make sure that the students learned more through travel than classroom education. He would maximize his network to help the students experience all kinds of occupancies.

He also mentioned in the plan that the students would spend a lot of time assisting Duyoung, Kuroda, and Taeho with their research projects.

Byungwon changed his mind after hearing Hyunwoo’s detailed briefing. He agreed with Hyunwoo that it was more important for Mingyu to cultivate his ability to plan his own future rather than obtaining a high school diploma.

“Got it. Let me discuss it with Mingyu. I don’t think he will oppose it.”

Hyunwoo called other prospective students and persuaded them in the same way. All of them were graduates of Dreaming School.

Their parents showed concern at first, but when they examined Hyunwoo’s plan, they decided to send their children to Hyunwoo’s alternative school.

Hyunwoo succeeded in bringing a total of ten students, far short of his original goal of twenty, but the number of incoming students was not the issue.

“Yea, what is the big deal? I’ll do my best to raise even ten students the best I can.”

While Hyunwoo was looking around the construction site of the research center, he received a call from Sonjong, the chief accountant of KOVE DREAM.

“Hi, the chief of Ansan Customs Office wants to visit our office,” she said.

Hyunwoo was familiar with some of the customs office but not its chief.

“What’s the reason?”

“He said he wanted to offer customized consulting.”

“What is it?”

Though it was new to him, Sonjong was aware of its meaning as she had the relevant experience in the field as a former customs official.

“Well, he is trying to find the kind of information that can benefit our company. There is nothing to lose even if you meet him, and this is a free consultation.”

“Okay, I trust you then. What should I do?”

“You can just set up the time then the Ansan Customs Office will take care of the rest.”

Hyunwoo set up the next afternoon as the consulting time, and the chief customs official visited the office of KOVE DREAM at the appointed time.

As Sonjong said, the purpose of the official was purely to help Hyunwoo’s company. Obviously, the mayor of Ansan asked the chiefs of various city government offices to help Hyunwoo’s business.

The chief official gave Hyunwoo a rough briefing on the possible benefits, and his staffer, who accompanied him, specifically explained about various support programs available, but they were not compatible with the situation of KOVE DREAM. Most of the benefits were available for companies with several years of tax returns records.

One of the benefits grabbed his attention, though.

“Have you just said that if we use a bonded warehouse, we can store items there without paying any tax?”

“No, what I mean is you can delay the imports declaration until the time you want to declare. You can delay taxes until then.”

Hearing his explanation, Hyunwoo felt it could be of great help to KOVE DREAM when he maximized its benefits. Currently, KOVE DREAM is importing all the items through the port of Incheon or Pusan with all the imports declarations.

In order to transport the import items to the warehouse of KOVE DREAM, Hyunwoo had to complete the import processing first, which meant that he had to pay the duty and added value taxes when the items entering the port. These days the monthly imports cost over 30 billion won, and he had to pay as much as 3 billion won in added value taxes, but if he could make use of the bonded warehouse, he could immediately move the import items there without going through the imports declaration process. When the items were sold, then he could take them out of the bonded warehouse.

There were other advantages of using the bonded warehouse.

Sometimes, Hyunwoo received wrong items. In that case, he had to ship them back to Vietnam through a series of difficult processes. If Hyunwoo had a bonded warehouse, he could confirm if the import items were correct even before the customs clearance, skipping all the burdensome processes.

“I like the bonded warehouse system very much. KOVE DREAM wants to use it. Can you advise us?” said Hyunwoo, showing great enthusiasm.

Though the bonded warehouse system offered lots of benefits, there were some tough conditions for any company to enjoy the benefits. Above all, they had to hire at least one professional dealing with the bonded warehouse matters with the relevant license.

“How can I hire such a person?” asked Hyunwoo.

This time the chief customs official intervened, “If you don’t know anyone in that field, let me recommend someone. Actually, this gentleman, Mr. Kang, is an assistant manager here, will retire at the end of the week. He is pretty experienced and knowledgeable in that area.”

Hyunwoo focused on the middle-aged Mr. Kang.

It seemed that the chief customs official’s primary purpose of meeting Hyunwoo was to introduce Mr. Kang to him for hiring.

Hyunwoo was put on the spot at the moment. At a glance, Mr. Kang didn’t seem to fit the position. Besides, as he was old, Hyunwoo would find it hard to manage him.

When Hyunwoo was hesitating, Mr. Kang opened his mouth.

Mr. Kang stuttered a lot. Though he had no difficulty communicating with others, his stammering certainly would obstruct him from receiving calls from customers.

“You don’t have to feel any burden. I’m seeking a job, but I am not financially stressed. In fact, I was planning to travel or read books after retirement. You don’t have to hire me.”

“Hey, Mr. Kang. If you have a job, you don’t get older. Even if you receive one million won, you will stay young if you keep working,” said the chief officer.

At that moment, Hyunwoo noticed the phrase ‘one million won’. How can a retired man like Mr. Kang be hired for such little compensation of one million won per month?

Waiting for the opportune time to cut in, Hyunwoo asked, “If I hire you, what kind of job do you want me to assign you?”

“Well, it depends on your decision. As I specialize in dealing with bonded warehouse matters, I think I will mainly take care of that kind of work. And you can adjust the compensation, depending on my assignment.”

“In fact, I know nothing about that kind of work. If I may ask, what kind of work do you want to do and how much do you want?”

“To be honest, it is not that easy for a public servant like to to get a job at a private company, and it will be also hard for me to serve you as the president. And you will find it difficult to use me as an ordinary employee.”

Mr. Kang had a point. It was difficult to change the boss-subordinate relationship. Even though Mr. Kang was retired, those who worked with him would still be his friends. And if Hyunwoo treated Mr. Kang roughly because he was Hyunwoo’s subordinate, the customs official might take revenge on Hyunwoo.

Mr. Kang continued, “So, I guess the title ‘advisor’ would be perfect. I will just advise you on the matter of managing bonded warehouses. As the workload is not that much, I think 500,000 won per month is appropriate.”

Scratching his head, Hyunwoo thought 500,000 won was too little.

“I think 500,000 won per month is way too small. I think you deserve at least one million won.”

Deep inside Hyunwoo felt that even that compensation was less than that of a part-timer.

But Mr. Kang’s attitude was pretty sincere. Though he stammered, he didn’t propose 500,000 won to sound out Hyunwoo’s feelings.

“What kind of work can I do here other than managing the items in a bonded warehouse or taking care of the customs clearance? And I would like to work, free from reporting to work and leaving the office at the fixed time. If I receive a high salary, I can’t do so, right?”

Everybody including Hyunwoo kept silent at his remarks.

Hyunwoo felt he wanted to discuss with Sonjong Kim, who knew much more about Mr. Kang as his former colleague.

Hyunwoo wrapped up the conversation, “Please give me some more time to think about. I have not yet made the decision to open a bonded warehouse.”

“Sure. When you make the decision, please let me know. As for the matter of opening a bonded warehouse, let me help you to the best we can, regardless of your hiring of Mr. Kang,” said the chief officer.

As if he waited for Sonjong’s judgment, Hyunwoo asked her, “You know Mr. Kang, right?”

“Of course, I know him very well.”

“What kind of personality does he have? Is he good enough? Can I trust and hire him?”

Sonjon replied without hesitating even one second with a thumbs-up, “Yes, he is the best!”