Starting a Business (2)
Starting a Business (2)
With the house cleaned and the conversation mostly caught up, it was time to go check out the building where Hojun would be launching his first business.
He said he'd already talked to the building manager, so we could head straight over to take a look.
"Oppa, but how much did they say the monthly rent is?"
Minji seemed curious about A-ra's building.
She'd probably heard the location was fantastic, so it was only natural for her to be interested.
"Twenty thousand won, I think?"
"Wow... A-ra unnie's generosity really is on another level..."
Twenty thousand won for the monthly rent of a first-floor space in a building directly across from a station on Seoul Subway Line 2.
It was practically free.
I knew that monthly rents for first-floor spaces in that area typically ran around five million won.
I also knew there was a famous coffee franchise and a buffet restaurant right next door.
Still, it seemed like Hojun could do well with more than just secondhand goods...
I had plenty of means to help with promotion, so branching out wouldn't be a bad idea either.
"But what about computer assembly? I want to build a desktop."
"You have that really nice laptop, don't you?"
"That's a Mac, so I can't play games on it."
The laptop A-ra had given me as an enrollment gift.
It had broken down once, and I'd even gotten it repaired under warranty, so I was still using it diligently, but even though it was expensive, games wouldn't run on it, so it felt almost pointless.
The cheap laptop I'd bought as a temporary replacement seemed to lack the specs...
They say desktops are good, but I only really knew how to buy pre-built brand PCs — I'd never custom-ordered an assembled PC before, so...
"Computer assembly? That takes way too much capital."
"Because you have to buy graphics cards and stuff? Don't worry, hyung will cover you up to a billion won."
I'd heard that properly starting a business requires a lot of capital.
Especially since computer-related goods involve so many expensive parts, it would definitely need far more capital than buying secondhand goods.
"If... if we spend that much and it flops..."
"Jeez, flopping would be harder, don't you think?"
A twenty-year-old like Hojun, who looked like he'd be popular with women, starting a business?
On top of that, if you add Qtube into the mix, his channel might end up bigger than mine.
"Minji, you shouldn't feel any pointless jealousy toward Hojun, okay?"
"Me? Toward Hojun?"
"Yeah. Didn't you get jealous of Hojun once when you were little?"
"Oppa, you were the cause of that. There was one pudding left when I hadn't had any, and you gave it to Hojun."
"Ah, did I?"
To think I'd made a mistake like that.
It seemed Minji had been hurt badly enough by it to remember it to this day.
I'd have to buy her some fruit pudding on the way home later.
"Hmph... I'm the only one who remembered it, huh?"
"Back then, oppa was young too, so he didn't know any better..."
It was something that happened well over ten years ago.
Considering not even a trace of it remained in my memory, it might have been even longer than that.
Minji remembering it was the remarkable thing — it wasn't strange that I didn't remember.
"Back then, I seriously thought Minji noona was going to hit me."
"I'm a woman now, I don't hit men..."
Hojun started shivering a little, maybe from the cold.
Minji's hands were trembling oddly.
So my mistake had nearly driven my siblings apart...
I'd have to reflect on this.
*
"Whoa... it's huge..."
"This place... it's literally right in front of the station."
"I'd heard it was right in front, but... it's really right in front."
The feeling was, the building was directly in front of the subway station exit.
From what I'd heard, they hadn't been renting it out because they didn't like the businesses that wanted to move in.
And in the meantime, the famous coffee franchise next door had been trying to get in touch with A-ra to expand their store.
That was when I'd asked A-ra if she knew of any decent places, and she'd given me this one.
"There's no way this place could flop."
I couldn't help but nod at Minji's words.
This was a location where you could probably pull in a hundred million won in monthly revenue selling nothing but silkworm pupae and portable chargers.
And the monthly rent was practically nonexistent...
"Hojun-ah, you have to thank A-ra noona properly later, got it?"
"I'm not that mannerless, you know..."
Hojun's jaw hung open as he looked around the interior.
It seemed he was already starting to picture in his head where everything would go.
"Being on the first floor is about as good as it gets for buying secondhand goods."
There was no need to lug heavy items up to higher floors.
So people looking to sell in bulk might prefer this place too.
On top of that, customers buying items or waiting to sell could spend time at the coffee shop next door...
Geographically, location-wise, and in terms of the surrounding commercial district, it was perfect.
"Wouldn't it be nice to give customers a gifticon for an americano at the coffee shop next door or something?"
"Oppa... are you maybe a genius?"
To be called a genius by an actual genius — what an honor.
I'd just tossed out a thought, and to think it would be called a decent idea.
"It's a good idea, but... there's the unit cost issue..."
"Well, Hojun will figure it out."
I didn't know much about business.
That was why only the name itself was under my name, while Hojun was the one running the show.
I hoped there wouldn't be any talk about large creators running wild or threatening local commerce over something like this.
If talk like that ever started, I had no idea what I might actually end up doing.
"I heard the interior work can start right away. If you really set your mind to it, they said it wouldn't even take a month."
"Y...yeah..."
Hojun clutched his chest and let out a sigh, maybe from nerves.
All I could do was pat my younger brother on the shoulder.
***
"S-Seong-hwan-ssi is volunteering to do advertising!?"
"Yes, so I wanted to have a consultation about it..."
"O-of course! Come, sit down right here!"
This time, I'd come to the agency to discuss things with the Director on the advertising side.
Minji and Hojun had each been snatched away by male and female idols fawning over how cute they were, so I was alone, facing the Director.
As always, the Director pulled a cold bottled drink from the fridge and handed it to me.
I took it, opened the cap, and poured it into my mouth.
"S-so?! Where do you want to advertise?"
"My younger brother is starting a business, you see?"
"Your younger brother? Ah, that cute younger brother? I asked him once before if he'd ever considered becoming an idol."
"....."
She was trying to shove my younger brother into the pit of hell.
I knew all too well just how harsh the lives of idols who don't make it big could be...
"Come on, you think I'd cast someone and just let them flop?"
"Hmm... still, our Hojun wants to do business, so please don't put any pointless ideas in his head."
"O-of course..."
The Director was a reliable person, but she was also equally good at working people to the bone.
She tormented our A-ra plenty with the contract as leverage...
"But business, you say? Don't tell me the advertising you want is for your younger brother's business?"
"Yes. I'm investing this time and planning to target the secondhand market."
"Oh ho... you don't happen to buy things like secondhand tablets or laptops, do you?"
"Yes. I think that'll be the main focus."
The Director nodded and settled into a thinking posture.
Once the Director entered that posture, she wouldn't move for quite a while...
*
While the Director was thinking, I pulled out my phone and watched Qtube videos.
It would be hard for others to even imagine doing something like that, but for me, it was a familiar and natural thing to do.
"Seong-hwan-ssi, you know our warehouse is packed with laptops and tablets, right?"
"Yes, I know."
"Would you happen to buy things like that too?"
I'd seen them piled up before when I was pulling out merchandise like bromides from the warehouse.
They weren't covered in dust, so they must have been doing some level of maintenance.
But would things like that even be in working condition enough to buy?
I was pretty sure they wouldn't be.
"I'm not sure... but aren't those broken?"
"They're a bit old, but most of them are perfectly fine."
"Then we might buy them?"
"And my family home is looking for a buyer as well, actually. A business recently went bankrupt, so..."
It looked like my younger brother was going to be very busy even before starting his business.
Our agency's stuff would probably be easy to handle, but the Director's family home was a chaebol conglomerate, wasn't it.
"How much volume do you think there'll be?"
"Not that much. The family home side has some office laptops piled up, and our side has about half tablets and half laptops mixed together... a thousand units at most?"
"Hmm... that doesn't seem like a lot."
There was a shared warehouse in the basement, so if we used that, we could probably fit all the goods in there.
But even so, it still seemed like space might be tight...
I'd have to request a consultation with A-ra later.
"For now, please discuss that with Hojun later."
"Yes, understood... and you said you wanted to do advertising as well, right?"
"Yes, I'll cover the advertising costs myself, so how would we go about it?"
"Of course it's possible. This side runs on loyalty, after all!"
Of course, since advertising was directly tied to other people's income, I couldn't ask for it to be done for free.
It was only natural to pay money for it, and I had no intention of getting it for free either.
"Seong-hwan-ssi takes such good care of the PDs and writers, so your reputation is excellent."
"Well, that's not why I took care of them..."
Since I'd started earning money, I had given out quite a few gifts with the mindset of looking after the family, so to speak.
Gift certificates when giving gifts, holiday gift sets, or seasonal bonuses, that sort of thing.
I'd given especially a lot to the writer and the editor.
"I'm sure those two will do an amazing job for you."
The Director said that and beamed brightly.