Chapter 24: Chapter 24. Moving to Asan, Chungnam (1)

Gun-Ho came back to Yangju and went back to his work at Bangil Gas again.

Once sales were made, Gun-Ho issued electronic tax invoices and added earnings and expenses to <Daily Earnings and Expenses> table in Excel, and then reported it to the owner.

Gun-Ho made sure to collect all receipts of every business expense incurred and attached them with glue to the back of an expense form he had purchased from a stationary store in order to properly document them. If there was a client with an outstanding balance for LP gas, Gun-Ho would make a collection phone call to that client as well. He also ran errands for the owner.

“Years of my life will go by like this?”

Gun-Ho was barely making a living; he felt anxious about getting old without saving money.

“It’s Wednesday and I don’t hear anything from that company in Asan which I had an interview with.”

Gun-Ho was constantly checking his smartphone to see if there was any text message from the company. He increased the ringtone of his phone to make sure he didn’t miss any calls. There was no phone call, let alone any text message.

“I don’t think I got the job. Let’s just move on; it is a lost cause. So many smart people are out there. I can’t compete with them with my rubbish work experience and qualification. I just have to appreciate the opportunity for having a job interview with them.”

Friday came around after Wednesday and Thursday. Gun-Ho gave up on getting a position in the company in Asan. He once again started looking through the newspaper classified section and WorkNet; however, there was no job advertisement which drew Gun-Ho’s attention.

“The companies posting a bookkeeper job opening in a newspaper classified section will hire a female, not me. If they hire a male for the job, that’s probably because the position is half bookkeeping and half irrelevant chores.”

After work, Gun-Ho usually surfed the internet on his laptop in dim light or he went to the PC room in the neighborhood. He felt like he was falling so much farther behind in life compared to his high school friends, which made him feel depressed.

“Won-Chul Jo who is now married should be doing fine, shouldn’t he? Byung-Tae Hwang who is working in a research facility of a startup company in Pangyo is getting married soon. He posted about his wedding on Facebook but didn’t personally inform me. He could easily find my phone number by contacting Won-Chul or the others.”

Gun-Ho drank soju almost every other day, and that increased his alcohol tolerance.

“I am destined to live in the countryside. My life is f*cked up. I have ShinWangJaeWang fate? ShinWangJaeWang my a*s.”

It had been more than two weeks since Gun-Ho had a job interview with the company in Asan. The memory of the interview was fading away when he received a phone call from that company, a very unexpected one at that.

“Mr. Gun-Ho Goo? How are you? I am the manager of YS Tech in Asan.”

“Oh, hi. This is Gun-Ho Goo.”

“I am sorry that we took a long time to contact you. You have been hired as our bookkeeper. Can you start on the 1st of next month?”

Gun-Ho came to his senses by this unexpected and sudden phone call.

“Oh, of course, sure. I… I can.”

“You have only five days left until the 1st of next month. Can you manage to quit the current job and start a new job with us within five days?”

“Of course, of course. I can certainly do that!”

“Let me tell you then what to bring on your first day of work. You might want to get a pen and a paper.”

“Yes, I am ready.”

Gun-Ho was so perplexed that he dropped his cell phone while looking for a pen and a paper, and stumbled over the computer power cord.

“You should bring a resident registration, a resident registration abstract showing the status of your military service duty, your highest school diploma, Consent to Collect and Use Personal Data, Identity Assurance Statement, and a work experience certificate letter from your current employer. I will send the forms for the Consent to Collect and Use Personal Data and Identity Assurance Statement to the email address indicated on your resume.”

“Okay. I will prepare all those documents and bring them on my first day of work!”

“You can come by 8 AM on the 1st next month. I will see you then.”

“Thank you. Thank you.”

Gun-Ho felt so grateful to be hired by this company that he repeated “thank you” twice.

“I got it! I got the job!”

Gun-Ho clapped. He felt like he could fly.

“By the way, why did they call me just now? They said they would contact me by last Wednesday.”

Gun-Ho sat on the chair and started thinking.

“I guess that the person they hired decided not to work with them, so they hired me instead as a substitute. Of course, I can’t be their first choice. Well, they hired me anyway. Let’s move to Asan.”

Gun-Ho stopped by the Eunhyeon Township Office to get the resident registration and the resident registration abstract on the way to work after collecting bills.

“I can get my college diploma online, but what about the work experience certificate letter? There is no such thing in Bangil Gas. Well, I can find some samples on the internet and make one for me.”

After he returned to the office, Gun-Ho drafted a work experience certificate letter referring to some examples he found on the internet.

“I need the boss’ stamp to officially seal this letter… I have his stamp for the tax invoices stamping purpose; should I just use it?”

Gun-Ho thought he still should ask the owner for it.

“When he comes back from the gas pipe repairing work, I will carefully inform him.”

A little after five o’clock, the owner came back to the office, looking exhausted.

“A*sholes! They tried to bargain for the repairing cost. I should have just left without fixing their pipes. Sh*t!”

The owner slumped down in his chair, looking really tired. Gun-Ho had to tell the owner that he would quit the job, but he couldn’t because the owner seemed very tired.

“Gee, it is already half past five. Goo Jooim, you can go home.”

Gun-Ho hesitated and the owner looked at him with a question mark on his face.

“What’s the matter? Do you have something you want to tell me?”

“Umm… I am so sorry to tell you that I think I have to move to the city where my parents are.”

“Why? Because your father is in the hospital?”

“My parents want me to come, and they are old now…”

“Hmmm…”

The owner looked very uncomfortable.

“I will have to find someone again. I really liked you here.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking, and I think your wife can handle the work. You can save money that way.”

“My wife? She doesn’t even know how to work with a computer.”

“She just needs to get the knack of it. She will become better and faster at the job after one or two months of practice.”

“I know I can save money… But she always tries to argue with me whenever she is here in the office. That is the problem.”

“Haha. That’s because she likes you a lot.”

“Well, I will have to think about it.”

“I will work until the end of this month then.”

“You leave that early?”

“My parents are pressing me.”

“Oh well, what can I do about it.”

“And once I move to the city where my parents live in, I might need a work experience certificate letter from this company.”

“A work experience certificate letter? I’ve never done it before.”

“I already drafted the letter. I just need your stamp. You can use the same stamp we use for tax invoices.”

“Really? Then you do what you have to do.”

“Thank you.”

“Go home before it gets dark.”

“Thank you.”

Gun-Ho walked out of the office and turned his head to look behind him.

“Bangil Gas. I have so many good memories of this factory. The boss and his wife are good-natured people. Once I become successful, I will come and visit them.”

It was getting dark; Gun-Ho drove to the Gwangjeok Township Office area where his room was located. He called the landlord to give him the notice to vacate his room.

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