Shanghai Media & China Media's Visit to Korea (3)
Wang Chenchen very nearly fell over in shock at his own body as the banquet drew to a close.
He had assumed he would never see a day like this again in his life — and yet there it was, flaunting its presence toward the heavens like the equipment of a man in his twenties.
And it seemed a full 1.5 times larger than usual.
He had swallowed Viagra more times than he could count, but this was beyond any comparison.
He wanted to verify it (?) right away.
When the banquet ended, the young man handed him a bottle of wine as a gift, telling him to bring it back to China and drink it whenever he needed it.
What a truly grateful, dear young friend he was.
Yet he had received a gift worth over 30 billion won and offered nothing in return to Five Girls, and that nagged at his conscience. So he called over President Lee Jae-man and, as a token of his thanks, handed him five checks — one million yuan for each of the five girls.
Even so, it came to less than a billion won — pocket change, really.
They agreed to meet again tomorrow morning for a practical business discussion, and parted ways there.
The moment the Chinese team headed up to their hotel, Chairmen Jang and Choi raced off in their cars as if something urgent had come up.
Clearly, they were off to run some nighttime races, courtesy of the wine.
In Young-hoon's estimation, the biggest winners of the day were Five Girls. They had sung three songs and pocketed 170 million won apiece for it. Of course, since that was company revenue, President Lee Jae-man would divide up the agreed fifty percent — around 80 million won each.
That alone was a handsome bonus, but the designer outfits Chairman Jang had bought them earlier counted as a tremendous gift in their own right. It must have felt like a downpour of money had landed squarely on their heads.
In any case, Young-hoon was in a good mood today too.
There was one wrinkle, though: to meet everyone tomorrow morning, he would have to show his face at the office first and then hurry right back here. It would be a little conspicuous, but he decided tomorrow's worries could wait for tomorrow.
To celebrate the successful first meeting, Young-hoon arranged a modest after-party at a beer joint near the hotel. It was the first piece of Girin Entertainment business wrapped up not just for him, but for Director Kim Jong-seok and Team Leader Park Sung-ho as well.
It was late by then, so Five Girls were sent back to their lodging first, and afterwards the five men — Young-hoon included — enjoyed a quick round of beer each.
Back in her hotel room, Wang Mimi reflected on how meaningful and wonderful the evening had been.
In truth, from the moment they arrived at the hotel until she came down to the banquet hall, she had endured every variety of grumbling her father could produce. It seemed the Sinabro Production side had sent their CEO out to greet them, and her father had decided the evening banquet should properly belong to China Media Group — hence his insistence on holding it jointly with Five Girls' agency.
Mimi considered securing the music rights far more important than the drama rights, so privately she thought it had worked out well.
But when she came down to the banquet hall, waiting at the head table where she was supposed to sit were two old men, a man about her own age, and an interpreter. Her father kept muttering about something or other, and she wasn't exactly delighted with the seating either.
Then, after the introductions were done and dinner was winding down, the young CEO drew out a bottle of wine and offered it to her father. In that instant, his attitude flipped a full 180 degrees.
She tried a glass herself, and it was genuinely delicious. She wanted more, but her father mounted an iron-wall defense — telling the men it was fine liquor while refusing to let her have any. Somehow it felt petty.
And then, at the news that a single bottle cost 30 billion won, she could hardly contain her astonishment. No matter how rich a person was, who could bring themselves to drink wine at that price? Yet her father looked as though he could buy ten bottles without batting an eye.
In high spirits, he asked Five Girls to sing. Mimi had already heard two of the songs and knew perfectly well how good they were, but hearing the singers perform them live brought an entirely different wave of emotion. And the final song was one even she had never heard before — slated for release as a digital single in early December, and absolutely stunning. It nearly overwhelmed her.
When she was told that the man sitting across from her, CEO Kim, was the one who had created all three of these astonishing songs, she found herself studying his face all over again. Whether it was the drink or not, he somehow looked even more handsome.
Meanwhile, her father had gone and declared that he would purchase the rights to the songs no matter what happened — and then, right before the banquet ended, he handed a gratuity of five million yuan to the CEO of Five Girls' agency. She had never once in her life seen her stingy father give away that much money as a bonus.
In any case, with that ironclad declaration to buy the music rights no matter what, she judged her objective for coming to Korea largely accomplished. The only task left was to completely shake off that wretched Xu Linhong.
Still, one thing bothered her. The look on her father's face — that flushed excitement — when he received the bottle of wine from CEO Kim. Somehow she couldn't get that expression out of her head.
He couldn't possibly be planning to sneak around behind her mother's back, could he? She resolved never to take her surveillance eyes off him.
Chaos reigned in the Five Girls' van on the ride back to their lodging, too. They had come away with free designer clothes and a fortune in song fees. But what pleased them above all was that Chairman Wang — head of China's number-one media group — had declared he would sign a contract no matter what. Their entry into China was all but confirmed; their spirits were through the roof. It seemed unlikely any of them would fall asleep easily tonight.
Amid all the celebration, however, Hye-in felt an odd unease sprouting in one corner of her chest. The look in the eyes of that Chinese woman seated beside her at the head table had been anything but ordinary. There were already plenty of rivals — and now it felt like one more had joined the ranks.
'Well, she's just some Chinese girl anyway — we probably can't even talk to each other...'
Of course, it never crossed Hye-in's mind that Wang Mimi spoke fluent English from her years studying abroad, or that Young-hoon could manage basic English conversation. Still, she resolutely dismissed the worry, convincing herself that the advantage in any competition was hers.
Young-hoon had barely opened his eyes the next morning before Su-jin started in on him.
How can her nagging repertoire be exactly like Mom's? It honestly feels like I'm getting scolded by Mom all over again.
Letting Su-jin's grumbling wash past one ear while he ate breakfast, Young-hoon hurried out of the house. Once again, he was first to arrive at the office.
Today was a day with a lot to do. There was almost nothing to handle at the company itself, but the meeting with the Shanghai Media people was scheduled for 10:30 in the morning, so he needed to slip out of the office promptly. Park Dae-ri had said he would pick up the coffee, so he only had to wait a little while. Then, coffee in hand, he could casually pretend he was heading out on fieldwork.
He was sitting there lost in that very scheme when a message arrived from President Lee Jae-man. Truthfully, he hadn't expected one today — they were due to meet shortly anyway.
A short while later, Park Dae-ri walked in beaming, two cups of coffee in hand. Even though they hadn't exchanged many words, he was clearly in high spirits after meeting the Five Girls members he'd been dreaming about even in his sleep last night.
"CEO Kim, your coffee is served, as this humble servant was commanded. And I beg you to bestow upon me a measure of the magical herb powder as well."
"Hey, how many times have I told you not to clown around at the office? Hurry up and get ready to head out yourself."
"Ugh, living this double life is killing me. How on earth did you keep this up for more than two months?"
"Tell me about it. Where's your suit?"
"In the car. No need for a suit at a morning meeting, is there?"
"There's the banquet with China Media Group tonight, remember? You'll have to wear it then."
"If all three of us walk out together again today, Jin-man's bound to get suspicious."
"That's why Manager Kim told everyone he's going straight to the site today. All we two have to do is make a clean getaway."
"That works out better, I suppose."
While Young-hoon and Park Dae-ri chatted, most of the staff finished arriving. Even that Hong Dae-ri character showed up on time today — apparently he'd come in early to sort through the supply paperwork.
Jin-man came over to Young-hoon with a question. "Where did Manager Kim go today?"
"He's out doing an on-site inspection to prepare for the Supply Audit. Said there were a few things that didn't sit right with him."
"Wasn't it supposed to be a document audit?"
"Jin-man, it'd be nice if an audit ended with paperwork alone, but there's always a chance they ask to see the actual site, you know? That's why he went out to get ready. Park Dae-ri and I are planning to head out to the field as well. Jin-man, if anything strikes you as off, you should go check a site yourself."
Hong Dae-ri, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, butted in with his two cents. "Kim Dae-ri, what kind of nonsense is that? It's nothing but a simple document audit. Don't go scaring Jin-man. We've got plenty of work to do today."
Hong Dae-ri — this guy had taken such a verbal thrashing from him yesterday, and apparently still hadn't come to his senses. Speaking up as if nothing had happened was beyond disgusting. Didn't he threaten him just yesterday, saying to just wait and see? Unwilling to start a pointless quarrel, Young-hoon pretended not to notice and fired back anyway.
"Hong Dae-ri, sir, what will you do if sparks fly from the Supply Audit in some unexpected direction? So — Jin-man, once your paperwork is sorted, go visit one or two of the sketchier sites. That's the surest road to a long career."
"Yes, sir, understood. I'll prepare right away and head out to a site."
Typical Jin-man — even when you tossed it out like a lumpy rice cake, he caught it like a perfect one.
"Good. I need to head out myself. The site's up in Pyeongchang, so I'm not sure I'll make it back before end of day."
Loud enough for everyone to hear, Young-hoon made his excuse and walked straight out of the office. A moment later, KakaoTalk messages came flooding in from all directions.
Hong Dae-ri, left alone in the office, couldn't even muster the will to decide where to begin. That Kim Dae-ri and Park Dae-ri clearly had no intention of listening to a word he said, and he had been planning to take the docile Jin-man along to sort the supply paperwork — only for the man to bolt outside under the pretext of an on-site inspection.
The only employee remaining was the female staffer, Lee Ji-young, and she was feigning busyness so thoroughly that he couldn't get so much as a word in edgewise.
In for a penny, in for a pound — Hong Dae-ri decided to just play hooky.
'Deputy General Manager Cho will cover for me. He always does.'
Deciding he might as well hit a sauna, he grabbed his coat and sauntered out the door.