Young-hoon's Decision (2)
Lee Jae-man had agreed to meet again in the afternoon for a detailed conversation, so for now, Young-hoon had to take care of the more urgent business first.
Knowing that Assistant Manager Park absolutely should not overhear, Young-hoon stepped outside the office and called Director Park.
The Director, as it happened, had been waiting for the call — he picked up the moment the phone rang.
“Oh! Well, this is a surprise, Representative Kim. What brings the call?”
“Hello, Director. Did you happen to tell Assistant Manager Park that you know me?”
“As a matter of fact, I was just about to call you myself. Last night, my boy came home utterly sloshed, declaring he was going to quit the company. I figured he'd simply had too much to drink, so I put him to bed.”
“And then?”
“But this morning, once he'd sobered up, I asked him about it, and he gave me the exact same answer. He said you were quitting the company too, Representative Kim. That's when it struck me — you must have offered my boy something. So I said yes on the spot. Is there a problem?”
“No, not at all. So Assistant Manager Park has no idea that you and I know each other?”
“Of course not. He'll find out someday, but not now. Life's little pleasures are the best part of this world, after all.”
“Then until you've had a chance to tell him yourself, I'll keep my lips sealed.”
“I appreciate that. So — Representative Kim, are you really quitting?”
“Yes. I made the decision just moments ago.”
“If you do, I'll have my boy attach himself to your side, so look after him well. That's a request from Seong-ho's father.”
“Understood. I'll call you again later. Goodbye, sir.”
“Right. Keep up the good work, Representative Kim.”
Having finished his call with Director Park, Young-hoon returned to the office to find a KakaoTalk message waiting from Assistant Manager Hwang of Marketing Team 2.
Young-hoon then spent the entire morning lost in thought, turning over the question of where exactly to deploy Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Park, and got nothing else done.
As lunchtime approached, Assistant Manager Park, in a hurry about something, began urging Young-hoon to head out.
“Young-hoon! Let's go grab lunch, huh?”
“I'll go when it's time. Can't you see Manager Kim is still working?”
“Then what time are you planning to head out?”
“Let's leave around twelve thirty.”
Unable to endure Park's constant whining any longer, Manager Kim finally rose from his desk.
After finishing their meal near the office, Young-hoon asked the two men to spare him some time. They were puzzled, but readily agreed.
Young-hoon loaded them into his car and drove to the specialty coffee shop where he had promised to meet Lee Jae-man.
Assistant Manager Park found it odd that Young-hoon had driven them all the way out here, but he took it in stride, figuring his friend had something in mind.
No sooner had they sat down than Park voiced the question that had been gnawing at him.
“There are plenty of coffee shops near the office. Why drag us all the way out here?”
“Just order your coffee first. It's really good here.”
“I don't suppose we came all this way just for good coffee... but fine, I'll go order.”
When the coffee arrived a little later, Manager Kim and Assistant Manager Park savored its aroma and waited for Young-hoon to begin.
After a long moment of deep thought, Young-hoon finally opened his mouth, as though a decision had crystallized within him.
“I honestly don't know where to start, but — do you two happen to know Five Girls? The girl group that's been making waves lately.”
Assistant Manager Park, an avid follower of the entertainment world, answered first.
“Of course. They're always near the top of the real-time search rankings these days — how could I not know them? And their songs are incredible. I could listen all day and never get tired of them. But what do they have to do with you?”
“Manager Kim, I'd like you to hear me out carefully, because what I'm about to tell you is the truth. The leader of Five Girls, Hye-in, is the girl who lives in the house right in front of my family's back in my hometown. When I went home this past Chuseok, I ran into her by chance...”
Young-hoon laid out the whole story — everything that had happened since Chuseok, and how he had come to be entangled with Five Girls.
The sheer absurdity and astonishment of the behind-the-scenes tale left Manager Kim gaping, unable to close his mouth.
Assistant Manager Park, for his part, wore the expression of a man wondering whether his friend had eaten something spoiled.
“You're telling me you wrote those brilliant songs?”
“Yes. But the agency was too small to pay me properly for them.”
“Hey! You have to know when a joke's gone too far. Come on — we just had an expensive lunch and you're spouting this nonsense? If you're Five Girls' composer, then I'm Five Girls' husband.”
At Park's obvious disbelief, Young-hoon simply gave him a knowing smile and continued.
“There's a man named Lee Jae-man. In lieu of the song fees, he transferred the majority stake in his company, Girin Entertainment, to me — so as of now, I'm the de facto owner of that company. In fact, I'm meeting him here today.”
By this point, even Assistant Manager Park could no longer dismiss Young-hoon's words as a joke.
A strange thrill of excitement ran through him, and he pressed Young-hoon to go on.
“So? Come on, out with it!”
“The way I see it, our Girin Entertainment is going to grow enormously from here on. The problem is that we're desperately short on talent right now. As soon as tomorrow, in fact, the Shanghai Media Group and China Media Group — China's top two media companies — are scheduled to visit Korea.”
“What does their visit have to do with being short on talent?”
“They're coming to buy the rights to Love After Separation, the drama currently in production — and alongside that, it seems they want to meet Five Girls.”
“So?”
“To be honest, the drama rights are just a pretext. Their real objective appears to be the music rights to Five Girls' songs. And that's exactly where the problem lies: Girin Entertainment currently has no one capable of negotiating with the Chinese.”
Young-hoon paused and studied the two men for a moment.
They no longer looked as though they thought this was all a joke, but their expressions still said they weren't quite convinced.
Like a hammer driving the nail home, Young-hoon made his offer.
“That's why I asked about your foreign language skills earlier. If you two accept my proposal, you'd need to be thrown straight into the field starting tomorrow. After the Chinese delegation's visit ends, we'll sit down together and work out what your roles will be. I'll give you all the time you need to think it over — but the sooner I hear your answer, the better.”
As the conversation turned serious, Manager Kim's expression hardened further.
He had realized it: depending on how one looked at it, this was a momentous turning point — the beginning of a new life.
“Of course, your roles at Girin Entertainment would be temporary for now. Your positions may change later. Anyway, that's all on that front... there's one more thing you need to know.”
Assistant Manager Park had always kept a keen eye on the entertainment industry. And if what Young-hoon was saying was true, then he had already decided he was joining, no question about it. He had become Five Girls' most devoted fan, and the mere chance to see his five angels up close was more than he could ask for. But now Young-hoon was saying there was something else on top of all this — how could he not be stunned?
Just how many secrets is this guy sitting on?
No — never mind that. How dare he keep secrets from me? Unforgivable. If he doesn't introduce me to Five Girls, he'll pay for it.
Manager Kim, meanwhile, had also been floored by Young-hoon's revelations.
Learning that Young-hoon could write lyrics and compose music was astonishing enough, but discovering that he had secretly become the owner of an entertainment agency was a genuine shock. That alone had nearly knocked him out of his chair — and now there was yet another secret?
He found himself almost morbidly curious just how much more this man intended to surprise him.
“Young-hoon, is everything you just said the truth?”
“Yes. I'd have no reason to lie to you, would I?”
“And there's something else that's going to shock us?”
“Yes. In fact, that part is just beginning. There are people I know personally — people who could hold the entire Republic of Korea in the palm of their hand with the money they possess.”
Manager Kim had no way of knowing, but Assistant Manager Park was well acquainted with exactly the kind of people Young-hoon meant. The most exclusive VIP clients of Chunghyo General Hospital, where his father served as director — asset magnates whose names everyone who was anyone in Korea knew. If those names came out of Young-hoon's mouth, there could be no doubt about it.
“Young-hoon, the people you're talking about would be nothing short of Korea's Cash Kings. You're telling me you actually know men like that?”
“Yes. Two of them, no less. Their names are Chairman Jang Young-wook and Chairman Choi Min-yong...”
In that instant, Assistant Manager Park's brain short-circuited completely, and he found himself unable to utter a single word. These were, unmistakably, names he knew through his father. Barely managing to gather himself, he prodded Young-hoon to continue.
“...Right. Go on, then.”
“Yeah. I've agreed to go into a new business venture with them. We've established a corporation called YH Co., Ltd. — the registration should be complete by now. I'm its Representative Director, and the two Chairmen are taking the shareholder positions.”
Only then did Assistant Manager Park finally understand the reason behind all of Young-hoon's strange behavior lately.
“So that's why you've been running around all over the place! Meeting those gentlemen and preparing the business. So what kind of business is this new corporation planning to do?”
“I can't go into detail just yet... all I can say is that we plan to build a company producing world-class liquors and beverages. We're still in the preparation stage, but I expect it will take at least a year before things are fully up and running.”
When the talk had been about Five Girls and Girin Entertainment, Manager Kim could just barely keep up — but the sudden leap to the Cash Kings and some out-of-nowhere liquor venture left him utterly unable to follow. Assistant Manager Park, on the other hand, visibly stopped doubting once names he personally recognized entered the picture and the business talk turned concrete.
“We're currently building out the organization with the two Chairmen. The liquor division is taking shape reasonably well, but the beverage side is dragging, because good people are hard to find. If the two of you come work with me, then one day you'll be playing central roles at YH.”
“So in other words, we gain experience at the agency until it's time to join YH? I'm a hundred percent in, for the record. I'd come even without the YH part. What about you, Manager Kim?”
Young-hoon's proposal was enormously tempting to Manager Kim. But he could not make the decision on the spot. He had a family to support — he couldn't gamble his livelihood on a single impulsive choice. Testing each stone as carefully as if crossing a river, he asked the questions that weighed on his mind.
“I'd join right away if I could, but that's easier said than done. There are a few things I'm curious about, if I may ask?”
“Of course. Ask me anything.”
“I'm the head of a household, so the pay can't be unimpressive. And a workplace outside Seoul would be a little difficult for me too.”
“I'll discuss the salary with President Lee Jae-man, but I'm thinking roughly what a senior department head at LK Electronics would earn. As for the workplace... it's actually the building behind this coffee shop. I was planning to take you there in a little while.”
The truth was, Manager Kim had already considered his ties to LK Electronics severed. Deputy Hong's remarks that morning had been the final blow. Upper management had already decided to push him out. Still, he had given the company more than ten years, and with nothing else to his name but this trade, he'd have no choice but to look for work as an experienced hire at another firm in the same industry. Or else open a fried chicken place. But in an economy like this, he doubted many companies were in a position to hire someone with his high salary. And if what Young-hoon had just told him was true, there wasn't a single reason left to turn the offer down.
“In that case, you'll be resigning immediately, then.”
Young-hoon was confident that once he laid out the working conditions he'd described, Manager Kim would surely join them. But since there was no telling how things might later become entangled with LK Electronics, he thought it best to help the man wrap things up cleanly before leaving the company.
“If it were up to me, I'd suggest wrapping things up properly rather than quitting on the spot. We haven't committed any crime, and I don't think we should leave the company as though we've been chased out the door. For now, I'd recommend continuing to work at LK Electronics as normal while handling matters on this end in the afternoons. Then, once the audit results are announced, we submit your resignation and make our exit. How does that sound?”
“Your reasoning holds, Young-hoon. If I quit right now, it would look like I'm accepting all the blame. I'll do as you say.”
“Same here, Young-hoon! But in exchange, you'd better introduce me to Five Girls. That's the deal.”
“Haah, you impossible man. Fine. But they're kind, innocent girls — you absolutely will not try anything. And Manager Kim, I'm scheduled to meet President Lee Jae-man at four, so we can discuss the details then.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Just then, Young-hoon spotted a young man he vaguely recognized approaching. It was Kim Gi-hyun, the owner of the coffee shop.