The Myeongseong University Bid Results

When Young-hoon woke in the morning, Su-jin had already left the house. He made do with a quick breakfast of the side dishes his mother had prepared, then headed off to work.

Once again, Young-hoon was the first to arrive at the office. His morning ritual never changed: the moment he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sat down, he spread open his work notebook. Today was the day the results of Myeongseong University's competitive bid would be announced — the technical scoring pre-evaluation, at least. Generously speaking, they'd know the outcome by eleven-thirty. It was a pure lottery anyway, so there was nothing for him to do but wait.

His other task was preparing documents for the supply audit. Because the dealership he managed was so small, he'd rarely landed any large supply contracts — which meant only three files needed assembling. A mercifully short list. Best of all, he had no outside appointments today. Lately he'd been running around in the field every single day without exception, but this morning he could settle into his chair at a leisurely pace and catch up on everything that had piled up.

As had become routine, Young-hoon brewed himself a cup of coffee and savored it slowly. And right on schedule, a text arrived from President Lee Jae-man.

At the mention of a consultation, Young-hoon dialed President Lee Jae-man directly.

"Good morning, President Lee. You had a long day yesterday yourself, I'm sure. So — what is it you'd like to discuss?"

"I've already given you full autonomy over management, President Lee, so please treat my opinion as nothing more than a reference. Frankly, you'll run things better than I ever could."

"Understood. I'll listen carefully."

"Like I told you before, I want you to think long-term. If our girls are going to break into overseas markets, raising their public profile has to come first. Viewed that way, appearing on the networks' music shows is not a bad thing at all."

"I see it the same way, but if we skip events, our revenue takes the hit. That's what has me torn."

"Of course you have a point. Barely two weeks ago, the girls didn't have a single event booking to their name. But from here on out, I'd like you to plan less around money worries and more around putting this girl group at the very top."

"Understood. I'll take your advice on board in full, Mr. Kim."

Young-hoon decided that while he was at it, he needed to settle the matter of how he was addressed, too. Every time he heard the word 'teacher,' it itched at him in a strange way — maybe because it made him picture schoolteachers drilling children ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in a classroom. But now that he was about to become Representative Director of YH Co., Ltd., he resolved to unify his title once and for all.

"One more thing — what you call me. You'll find out soon enough, but I've been appointed Representative Director of a newly established company. So from now on, please just call me Director Kim."

"Oh, is that so? Congratulations, Director Kim."

"Thank you. And by the way — that synergy proposal PD Shin Hye-yoon raised yesterday, about Five Girls working with Sinabro Production — have you been giving it any thought?"

"I've been turning it over every which way, but nothing good actually comes to mind. What about you, Director?"

"I was planning to start thinking about it right now, as it happens. If something comes to you, let's compare notes. Have a good day's work, President Lee."

"You too, Director Kim. May today treat you well."

No sooner had he hung up than he spotted Park Dae-ri walking in.

"Well, this is a first. You're in earlier than usual."

"Ugh, my dad chewed me out. Said something like, 'Some people are out there hustling from the crack of dawn, so what exactly are you doing?' and booted me out the door with orders to get to work early. I'm telling you, my father must have clairvoyance."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Everything my dad describes fits you to a T. He's never even met you — so what else could it be but clairvoyance?"

Young-hoon's heart dropped like a stone, and he hastily changed the subject.

"Quit talking nonsense. Go grab yourself a coffee — I'll mix in the herbal powder for you."

"That's my partner for you. Thanks, man."

Park Dae-ri darted off to the break room and came back shortly with a cup of coffee. As the two of them sipped and chatted away, most of the staff filtered in — and true to form, Deputy General ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Manager Cho clocked in precisely on time. Before long he'd be calling a meeting. Sure enough, at nine-thirty sharp, he summoned everyone.

"What time does the Myeongseong University bid result post today?"

"Somewhere between eleven-twenty and eleven-thirty, sir."

"Got it. Report the outcome to me directly. And you all know I'm at promotion training next week, right? I'm delegating my approval authority to Manager Kim, so he should act accordingly. Beyond that — be thorough with the supply audit prep. I don't want any unpleasant incidents. Everyone stay on top of it."

"Yes, sir."

"Anything to add? No? Then let's get out there and work."

Short and to the point, as always. Young-hoon had barely stepped out of the conference room to review the supply documents when a KakaoTalk message zipped in from Park Dae-ri.

"What? What's going on?"

"Hey, Assistant Manager Kim. Doesn't Deputy General Manager Cho seem off to you?"

"He looks completely normal to me."

"Kim, your problem isn't just everything else — it's that you have zero instinct for this stuff. His voice changed. There's a strength in it now that wasn't there yesterday, not even close. And think about it — would you go off to training in a situation this precarious? One wrong step and he could be looking at getting cut from the company. My read is that he got a firm answer from Managing Director Kim. No question about it."

"A firm answer? Like what — that they're saving the main culprit of this whole mess?"

"This is just my theory, but chances are Deputy General Manager Cho gets off with a light disciplinary measure. And Team Leader Gyeongbuk is the one who'll take the fall. He's from a regional university, he's older — Managing Director Kim probably pulled some scheme to save his own protégé."

"Doesn't that create a fairness problem, then? Cho's team supplied twenty-five hundred units and Gyeongbuk's only a thousand."

"Beats me. Detective Park is on the case starting now."

"Ugh, enough with the detective act. Office life is more tangled than politics, I swear. Come on, let's head back in — we'll draw eyes."

When Young-hoon and Park Dae-ri returned to the office, Deputy General Manager Cho was, unusually, sitting at his desk. Up through yesterday, he'd always been gone at this hour without fail. Park Dae-ri was right — something was strange.

Shortly after, a storm of KakaoTalk messages began pouring in.

Just past eleven-ten, the call he'd been waiting for finally rang through.

"President Lee, how did it go?"

"Understood. Thank you for the update."

Park Dae-ri, who had been listening in, asked with wide eyes.

"Third? Then Namseoul Distribution might actually take it?"

"Yeah, it's possible. I'll go report to the team leader."

When Young-hoon delivered the bid results, Deputy General Manager Cho, evidently pleased, broke into a broad smile.

"The stars really are with you lately, aren't they, Kim? Two in a row — Hankook University and now Myeongseong University. Congratulations. I'll report to the Managing Director myself, so get the results report written up and submitted."

Deputy General Manager Cho promptly phoned in the bid outcome to Managing Director Kim, then pulled on his coat and began getting ready to leave the office.

"Manager Kim, I'm having lunch with the Managing Director. Call me if anything comes up."

He made a point of saying it loudly — loud enough for the other team leaders to overhear — before striding out of the office.

At that very moment, an emergency strategy meeting was underway at Sinabro Production.

"You're telling me Shanghai TV and Zhonghua TV in China want to buy the rights to our drama?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hmm. Is it common for the Chinese to pre-purchase TV rights like this?"

"No. This is highly unusual. Chinese broadcasters generally wait until a drama has proven its ratings before they buy the rights at all. The fact that both of China's top two companies are showing interest suggests there's something behind this that we don't know about."

"Whatever that something is, isn't it good news for us? They broadcast to different regions, so selling the rights to both shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"You're right, ma'am, but here's the issue: those two companies are bitter enemies. They compete ferociously across every sector of the media business, and lately their battleground is the music market. As it happens, the person running that music company is the youngest daughter of one group's chairman. The two daughters are just as bad as their fathers — they despise each other like cat and dog."

"Really? So what do we do? When exactly are they coming next week?"

"They say they'll visit next Wednesday — accounting for the time difference, of course. The problem is that both of them are coming on the same day. And on top of that, neither visitor is from the TV side. As I mentioned, it's the two daughters who run the music companies, which feels a little off to me. My guess is they intend to purchase the rights to Five Girls' songs along with the drama rights."

"Whew. This is turning into a headache from every angle. It's not as though we can turn away guests who are coming to see us. They're our clients either way. Get everything ready to receive them properly, and set up a cooperative framework with President Lee Jae-man at Girin Entertainment."

"Understood. I'll meet with President Lee Jae-man myself."

Even just for the sake of finding a win-win arrangement with Girin Entertainment, Hye-yoon needed to sit down with President Lee and Young-hoon as quickly as possible. And so — striking while the iron was hot, as the saying goes — she dialed Young-hoon.

And yet... there wasn't a flicker of change in the man's voice. Surely he knew perfectly well that she'd been sulking last night.

The most hopelessly dense man alive.

It was at that moment Hye-yoon realized she would need to change her entire approach with Young-hoon.