I'm an Investor
If Iseul hadn't brought up the idea of a housekeeper, I never would have dreamed of any of this.
A home without a speck of dust. Bedding always neatly made. Laundry I never had to worry about. Delicious home-cooked meals waiting every morning and evening. And on top of all that, little joys like this.
"Have a good day, oppa~"
"Yeah. I'll be back."
If she'd seen me off every morning with a face like that, I probably would have worked a lot harder at life.
"Ah... Oppa...!!"
"Hm?"
The bright smile on her face suddenly dimmed.
Did something happen with Lee Chan again?
"About dinner tonight...."
"Go ahead and eat without me. No need to set anything aside. Looks like I'll be late again."
"Okay... Have a good day..."
Maybe she just hated eating dinner alone. Fair enough — I hadn't exactly loved solo dinners either, back in the day. Eating alone never felt like a real meal so much as dutifully packing fuel into your body. You could learn to enjoy that time once you got used to it, sure. But still.
"Alright. Time to go."
I hopped on my bike and pedaled hard toward work, same as always. Catch every light right and it took six minutes; usually eight. Today looked like a seven-minute commute.
"Eunho-ssi~!"
"......"
That voice. Shin Yena.
I considered turning around, then clenched my jaw, ignored her, and started walking the bike across the crosswalk.
"Eunho-ssi!! Hah..! Hah..! Didn't you hear me calling you??"
Did she really need to run all the way over here? We're going to see each other at the office anyway.
"Haha... Good morning."
"......"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"I asked if you didn't hear me calling you."
"Sorry. I was lost in thought and missed it."
"It's fine~ Heehee."
If it was fine, why grill me about it like that? Impossible to understand, this woman.
"So you bike to work??"
"Yeah. About four days now."
"Wow~ That's so cool! Maybe I should bike to work too..?"
"Where do you live?"
"Sillim-dong."
"......"
She had to be joking. Right? No — knowing Shin Yena, she might actually try to bike in from there.
"Sunbae-nim. If you bike from there, you'll die."
"Really? Heheh~ Then where do you live that you can bike in, Eunho-ssi?"
"Seongsu-dong."
"I'm so jealous... If I lived in Seongsu-dong I could sleep in forever and still never be late...."
Wherever you live, if you sleep in, you're late.
And why was I lying again? Come on. Stop stringing people along and just tell the truth. She'd only get hurt if she found out later.
"Hey, sunbae."
"Yeah?"
"The truth is..."
"Kyaaah~!!!"
"Wh-what?! What's wrong?!"
"Did you see that just now??"
"See what??"
"A kitten! Oh my god! It was so cute~!!"
"......"
And just like that, all the way to the office, Shin Yena poured out an unbroken stream about her tragic, unrequited love of cats — how she adored them but could never have one because of her allergies. She never once gave me a gap to get a word in.
"We're heeere~!!"
"Good morning..."
She still had energy left after all that talking. I'd done nothing but listen and I was already exhausted.
"Representative, is something wrong?"
"Just feeling a little drained... Hoo...."
"Ah..."
Choi Jinwoo, the manager at the desk next to mine, glanced over at Shin Yena — already running at full volume this early — and nodded in complete understanding.
"Still, I'm jealous."
"Of what?"
"Yena-ssi. She's really close with you, Representative."
"Isn't she friendly with everyone?"
"She is, kind of... but there's this invisible wall, you know? When she's with you, though, that wall just disappears."
"Haha... I wouldn't mind having a wall of my own."
"......"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Choi Jinwoo's expression suddenly turned serious. He checked the room, then leaned in and whispered.
"This is really out of line, but... is there something going on between you and Yena-ssi...."
"No."
I cut him off cold before he could finish. I already knew exactly where that question was headed.
"Really??"
"......"
"Haha.. hahaha..."
His voice jumped a little too loud; under the sudden weight of every stare in the room, Choi Jinwoo flashed an awkward smile and sank even lower in his seat. At this rate he was going to end up under the desk.
"Do you maybe like Yena-ssi? Want me to ask if she has a boyfriend?"
"If you would...!! Th-thank you so much...."
"Alright. Next time I have a reason to talk to her, I'll ask."
"Thank you so much, Representative..! From this day forward I swear my undying loyalty..!!"
"Whoa, no need to go that far..."
She did have the kind of look that would make her popular, though. Not from an adult's perspective — from a student's. Shin Yena was small, cute, bright, and sweet.
"What are you guys talking about? Tell me too."
"Aaaagh!!!!"
"Jesus..!"
"Heehee~"
Shin Yena had definitely gone back to her desk on the other side of the room — and yet somehow she was now crouched right between me and Choi Jinwoo, grinning with pure mischief.
"What's going on?"
"What's the matter?"
"N-nothing at all! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Sorry for the noise."
I hadn't been the one who screamed, but whatever.
"Y-Yena-ssi... what brings you...."
"I have a favor to ask Eunho-ssi."
"You can ask me, you know..."
"Nope~ Gotta ask Eunho-ssi."
"Ah... okay...."
"What kind of favor?"
"Well... I need your help...."
"......"
Help with what, exactly? Why leave it hanging like that and make me nervous?!
Shin Yena dragged me into the break room, shut the door, and grabbed both my hands.
"Please help me! I have to shoot a promo video for our rookie actors... and I have absolutely no idea what would be good...."
"Wouldn't it be better to ask the other sunbaes for advice on something like that?"
"Well... I don't want to look like the useless junior.... Ah! I'm not asking you to do it for me blindly! Just watch and give me your honest opinion!"
"If that's all it is..."
"Just wait one second!"
She bolted out of the break room, came back with her laptop, and started walking me through every idea she'd come up with along with a pile of reference videos. Not that I was any kind of expert on what made good content.
"You know I'm a newbie too, right? I'll just tell you whatever I feel."
"Yes! That's more than enough!"
"The first one's way too cringey — it'd tank the actors' images. The second one... they're not even shooting Reels with idols. Having them copy some challenge like that feels off."
"Then what about the third one..?"
"This one's good."
"Really??"
"Yeah. Nobody cares about a plain daily vlog from a rookie actor, but behind-the-scenes practice footage from a currently popular project? I'd watch that. Though — don't you need the production company's permission to post something like this?"
"I'll get the permission somehow! Assuming my idea gets picked, of course.... Anyway, thank you! Next time I'll buy you a meal... no, drinks!"
"It's fi—! ne, but..."
She snatched up her laptop and tore out of the break room before I could finish. Left standing there alone, I made two cups of coffee and headed back to my desk, handing one to Choi Jinwoo beside me.
"Thank you! But next time, just tell me to make it..."
"I was already making one, so I made two. And why would I send you on coffee runs? Whoever wants coffee should make their own."
"Representative.... I will truly serve you with absolute loyalty! But about what you and Yena-ssi were talking about..."
"Yoo Eunho-ssi."
"Yes."
"Come with me on an outside meeting."
"Yes. I'll fill you in when I get back."
Leaving Choi Jinwoo's curiosity unsatisfied, I left the office with President Hong Mincheol.
The meeting was at a high-end Korean restaurant.
"It's been a while, President Hong Mincheol."
"It has, Representative Kim Hyungjin. And this is Representative Yoo Eunho of our Art Company. He's also the representative of U-INVESTMENT."
"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Yoo Eunho."
"How do you do. Hong Mincheol of Odyssey Pictures."
Today's outing was a meeting — the investment deal President Hong Mincheol and I had already agreed to pursue together.
"A seasonal format... Is the reason you're proposing seasons because of the investment capital?"
"That's part of it, but mostly because time is too precious to waste."
"Pardon?"
"Money you can always earn again. Time, you can't reverse."
"Time... Yes, that's true. Time is the most expensive thing in the world. Especially for people like us, staring down retirement. Hahaha~ So if we accept the seasonal format, how much would you be prepared to invest?"
"Twenty-five billion won. That number doesn't change."
"And I'll put in eight billion on top of that, for a total of thirty-three billion. That should be more than enough, don't you think?"
"It should be. And the investment terms?"
"Same as Metflix. We put up the full amount, and in exchange we want ownership of the IP."
"By 'we,' do you mean Art Company?"
"No. U-INVESTMENT."
"Wouldn't that put President Hong Mincheol at a loss on the deal?"
"Hahaha~ Not at all. I'm giving up the IP rights in exchange for a higher share of the returns relative to my investment."
"Hmm...."
He was taking longer to think it over than I'd expected. But both President Hong and I already knew. He was going to say yes. From a production company's perspective, you were walking away from the massive upside of a hit — but you weren't carrying a single scrap of the downside if it flopped.
"Alright. Let's do it that way."
"Then we look forward to working with you."
"The pleasure is mine."
"Ah — would it be alright if I added one more condition?"
"Go ahead. If it's reasonable, I'll accept it."
Whether it was reasonable or not, I couldn't say. That judgment belonged to Representative Kim Hyungjin.
The set was as hectic as ever. Inside the waiting van, though — where a rookie actor sat cooling his heels — it was dead quiet. Quiet enough that the passing minutes felt completely meaningless.
"But why did only you come today, Representative..?"
"Something came up. I'll go ask how much longer the wait is."
"What?? R-Representative!!"
I got out of the van and strode straight toward Assistant Director Park Seongjun, who was already in the middle of throwing another tantrum and spewing curses at everyone in earshot.
"Hello."
"What now?!"
"We've already been waiting three hours. I was wondering when we'd actually start shooting."
"Ha... Is this bastard out of his mind..! Hey, you little shit. You crazy? You lost it?! I told you to wait, so just wait! You bastard!!"
He jabbed his finger into my chest with every insult — then a burst of noise from somewhere on set made his face twist even harder as he bellowed.
"Hey, you bastard! Are you not controlling this set?!!"
"I-I'm sorry! I'll go right now....."
"Get over here."
"......"
"Hey. If you can't even do that one thing, what the hell can you do? Huh? Huh??"
"I'm sorry..."
He rolled up the script and smacked the directing team's youngest over the head with it, then shoved at his forehead, his shoulder, his chest.
"Get lost, you bastard!"
"Yes!"
"Where do you think you're going?! Go control those people!!!"
"Ah..! Yes, sir!"
"Ugh, that useless piece of shit..!!"
Assistant Director Park Seongjun glared after the kid, cursing him the whole way, then whipped back around and fixed me with the same vicious stare.
"You get lost too, you bastard!"
"I still haven't gotten an answer. When do we start shooting?"
"Hey. You crazy? You lost it? No — what am I even doing talking to a bastard like you. Call your senior right now. No — call him and tell him to get his ass over here immediately! Got it?!"
"......"
"What are you standing there staring for?! Make the call!!!"
I pulled out my phone and dialed.
"He says to come here."
After that very short call, Assistant Director Park Seongjun looked at me like I was a bug, tapped me on the head with the rolled-up script, and jerked his chin toward a pile of boxes.
"Go move those boxes over here."
"That's not my job."
"This bastard still hasn't learned..! I said move them, so move them, you bastard!!"
"No."
"No? No?? Fine, then don't. Take your actor and get the hell out. As of today, you're done on this set. And from now on, not just you — every actor from your company can forget about showing their face in any movie or drama. Where the hell did this useless piece of garbage crawl in from..."
"Is that enough?"
"What?!"
"Not you."
"You..? Did you just call me you??"
"Yeah, I did, you bastard."
"Hey!!!!"
"You get to jab me and call me this bastard, that bastard — but I can't do the same?"
"This crazy son of a bitch is actually..!!"
That was when it happened. The voice of Kim Hyungjin — the representative of the production company this thug of an assistant director worked for — cut across the set.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!!!"
"R-Representative..?"
"How dare you treat the representative of our investment company like that..!! Have you lost your mind?!!!"
"I-investment company... This guy's a manager...."
"I should have introduced myself sooner. I'm the representative of the investment firm that just agreed to put twenty-five billion won into your company. Nice to meet you, you bastard."
"Ah......"
Alright then. Time for a little human remodeling.