After the First Broadcast of 'Love After Separation'
Young-hoon arrived at the office a little early, keeping one eye on Soo-jin's mood.
The moment he sat down, he booted up his computer, pulled up last night's broadcast of Love After Separation, and checked the ratings first.
The premiere's rating was 31.3%.
Not quite a mega-hit, but without question a smash.
It was still early, so he decided to wait until after nine to call PD Shin Hye-yoon and PD Lee Hyo-young.
In the meantime, Young-hoon calculated the revenue Girin Entertainment would rake in from last night's broadcast.
Hold on, now. A 31.3% rating means Sinabro Production's excess profit is 113 million won...
Our cut is 8% of that times three songs... that's 27.12 million won.
So if the ratings just hold steady, twenty episodes would mean over 500 million won.
Woohoo~ But wait, only one OST song played last night. They're not going to pay me for just one, are they? I'd better call PD Shin and ask.
While Young-hoon was happily doing the math by himself, nine o'clock came and went.
He dialed PD Shin Hye-yoon first. Her voice, when she answered, was slightly giddy — apparently congratulations had been pouring in from everywhere.
"Congratulations, PD Shin Hye-yoon."
[Oh my! Thank you, CEO Kim.]
"I knew it was going to be a smash hit. The writing, the production crew, the directing staff, the OST on top of that... If something like this didn't hit big, that would be the strange thing, wouldn't it?"
[That's exactly what I've been thinking. The rating peaked the moment Five Girls' OST started playing. Really, thank you so much.]
While Hye-yoon was still riding the high, Young-hoon whipped in a strike down the middle.
"So, about that — I'm not sure if I should even bring this up..."
[What is it? Go ahead.]
Feigning hesitation, he eased into the question carefully.
"This might sound terribly rude, but only one of our girls' songs made it into last night's episode. So when the excess profits are distributed... do we only get paid for one song?"
Hye-yoon's laughter suddenly burst through the receiver.
"Hohohoho~ So that's what CEO Kim was most curious about? Don't worry. Whether one OST plays or two, I'll calculate it as three."
"Then I'm truly relieved."
"Anything else on your mind? Like, say, asking me out on a date?"
"WHAT?! PD Shin, you keep shocking me like this — I'm going to have a heart attack."
[Oh dear! There I go again, saying the wrong thing. I've got calls coming in from all over, so let's talk again next time.]
Under the cover of a "slip of the tongue," Hye-yoon had tossed her feelings out into the open — and got absolutely no reaction whatsoever.
Which just went to prove that Young-hoon was, without a doubt, one enormous boulder of a man.
She felt relieved, and yet uneasy at the same time. Other women had their eyes fixed on Young-hoon too — the Chinese women, especially, seemed ready to throw their whole bodies at him — and compared to them, her own approach felt far too passive. It weighed on her.
But even if she mustered her courage and pounced, that blockhead of a man had a situational awareness of absolute zero, so she figured the road ahead on the romance front would be anything but smooth.
Young-hoon, for his part, had caught at least a whiff of Hye-yoon's intentions during the call, but he didn't dwell on it deeply. He merely resolved that some day, when things quieted down, he would sit down and properly sort out his relationship with her.
Having finished with Hye-yoon, Young-hoon next called PD Lee Hyo-young.
"Congratulations on the ratings bonanza."
[That's all thanks to you, CEO Kim. Last night's peak rating came the moment the OST played. 'After Farewell' is set to air tonight as well, so I'm cautiously projecting 35%.]
"And it'll just keep climbing from here, won't it? Oh — and I heard the news from PD Shin Hye-yoon. Thank you, truly."
[Don't mention it. The moment I read the script you wrote, CEO Kim, I made up my mind that I had to be part of this drama. I'll leave MBS at the end of January and join you in early February.]
"Still, I'd appreciate it if you could occasionally attend the production meetings."
[Of course. I'll be there starting from the next one.]
"Understood. I know you're busy — I'll let you go."
With his calls to Hye-yoon and PD Lee Hyo-young done, Young-hoon assumed all the urgent business was wrapped up. He was wrong.
An endless flood of KakaoTalk messages came pouring in from the Five Girls, and he spent the better part of half an hour fielding congratulations, demands for celebratory BBQ, and everything in between. If a call from China hadn't interrupted, it might never have ended.
When he saw the incoming call from China, at first he took it for spam and ignored it. Then a text arrived — it was CEO Wang Mimi. Fluent in Korean, she had no trouble at all carrying on the conversation.
"I'm sorry. A lot of calls from China are spam, and since I didn't recognize the number, I deliberately let it ring."
[That's all right, I completely understand. I watched the drama last night — it was fantastic.]
"Really? You can watch Korean TV live from China?"
[No, I downloaded it off the internet. The OST was stunning, as expected. We're planning to release the music next week or so, and it's guaranteed to explode over there.]
"I hope it's a huge hit in China too."
[By the way — I hear you're flying to the US this Sunday to help out my father?]
"Yes, that's the plan."
[I suppose you'll be riding that white horse to your heart's content this time?]
"I'm sorry — WHAT? That's... quite a blunt thing to say."
[You know how much my father loves women. With the elixir on top, his American trip is a guaranteed success — no need to even watch the video. I ought to chase after you myself and keep you company, Young-hoon, but there's too much work here in China, so I'm holding back. Next time I set foot in Korea, I'm going all in~]
"Haha, CEO Wang Mimi, you really are good at jokes. I appreciate your generous regard, but... that's not why you called, is it?"
[You gave my father the script last week, didn't you? Did you also give one to Xu Linhong, that witch?]
"No. Things were so hectic at the time that I couldn't."
[Then give us exclusive distribution rights for China. Whatever the price, we'll buy.]
"Production hasn't even begun yet. There's plenty of time, so why not think it over slowly?"
[None of that. The week after you return from your US trip, I'm coming to Korea — so consider it settled. I'm busy, that's all for now.]
"Wait — hello? Hello?"
Like a declaration of war, Wang Mimi laid out exactly what she wanted and then unilaterally hung up the phone.
Young-hoon had no idea how to deal with this wildcat of a woman, and his head was beginning to throb.
Young-hoon sat dazed for a while after Wang Mimi's out-of-nowhere bombshell, and ended up missing lunch. Before he knew it, the meeting hour was upon him, and since grabbing fast food felt beneath the occasion, he skipped the meal entirely.
Instead, he had a quick cup of tea in the office and, right on schedule, headed into the conference room with the two chairmen. The people already waiting inside greeted the three of them warmly, and the meeting began.
Chairman Choi got things rolling.
"We're gathered today to check how the beverage business is progressing and to see whether there's an even better way to go about it. Everyone, feel free to speak your minds. Now then — Managing Director Kim, give us the rundown of where things stand."
So summoned, Managing Director Kim Sang-ho rose from his seat and began his report.
"First, the business permits. With the help of Gyeonggi Province and the city of Pyeongtaek, we expect the permits to be issued within two weeks at the latest. The architectural blueprints should also be finalized within this month. The coffee factory is being designed at a maximum of 500 acres, with the tea factory scaled down to 100 acres. That means construction can begin sometime in January of next year. As for the site, we've decided to use Chairman Choi's privately owned land in Anjung, Pyeongtaek."
Young-hoon had been listening attentively, taking notes on the Managing Director's report, when a question suddenly occurred to him.
"Managing Director Kim, is the partnership with domestic producers I mentioned last time looking feasible? If not, scaling down the tea factory would be a risky move."
"Acting on your instructions, CEO Kim, I reached out to Korea's leading tea manufacturers. The market is saturated at the moment, and not a single company is running its factory equipment at full capacity. So as long as we supply the work, they've given firm assurances that they'll take OEM orders in any volume."
"Then how do you intend to use the 100-acre factory?"
"We plan to divide it between a premium tea plant supplied with domestically sourced ingredients, and a reprocessing-for-export facility that imports raw materials from China, Japan, the UK, Vietnam, and elsewhere. Chairman Choi has informed us that he has secured two major buyers in China, the world's largest tea market. So we'll be approaching the heavy tea-producing and tea-drinking countries first."
"Now, let's move on to the research team's report. Please present the coffee part first, then the tea."
Kim Gi-hyun, team leader of the coffee division, stood up and began.
"Using the herbal powder you gave us at our last meeting, CEO Kim, we ran a series of experiments. We've established that the herbal powder produces its effects across every variety of coffee, without exception."
"Could you be more specific?"
"Certainly. To break it down: we tested the powder on premium coffee — Jamaica's Blue Mountain — mid-grade coffee such as Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe, and even low-grade instant coffee mixes made from Robusta beans, running side-by-side trials with and without the herbal powder. To put it in a nutshell: the coffee blended with the herbal powder tasted overwhelmingly better."
"So you're saying it doesn't matter which country's beans we use, anywhere in the world? And have you compared the taste of a mix coffee with the powder against a premium coffee without it?"
"Just as you say, CEO Kim. Judged purely on taste, the powder-blended mix coffee was far more delicious. That's the unanimous view of the entire research team. However, in the qualities that lie beyond taste — the aroma and character that premium coffee carries — the mix coffee simply couldn't keep up. And yes, if we build the coffee business on taste alone, any beans from anywhere in the world will do."
"In that case, we should structure the business like this: premium products from top-grade beans plus herbal powder, mid-grade products from standard Arabica beans plus herbal powder, and budget products from low-grade Robusta beans plus herbal powder, correct?"
"Not necessarily. The mid-grade line could also be made by blending Arabica and Robusta beans. We're currently searching for the optimal flavor across a range of possible combinations."
"And when would you expect to have that figured out?"
"Within two to three months, I'll have it solved."
Listening to Gi-hyun field every question without a single stumble, Young-hoon thought to himself that this was a young man with a truly tremendous passion for coffee. Chairman Choi and Chairman Jang were also wearing faint smiles on their faces — clearly thinking the same thing he was.
"Then how much of the herbal powder needs to be blended into the beans?"
"The minimum quantity is enough to produce the full effect. The research isn't perfectly complete yet, but roughly one kilogram of herbal powder per ten tons of beans should do it."
"Then please finish the research as quickly as you can."
With concrete figures finally on the table, Young-hoon concluded that the foundational research on coffee was now all but complete.