The Drama Production Meeting
The members of Five Girls were far younger than Su-min, Young-hoon's own little sister. Only Hye-in was as close as seven years younger, and the maknae, Su-min, was nearly nine years his junior. They were closer to nieces than to little sisters.
These days, celebrities date and marry people a good ten or more years apart without anyone batting an eye, but somehow that had never really resonated with Young-hoon. That was why he didn't see the Five Girls members as women at all. He'd simply been chatting with them in the group chat the way you'd keep your nieces company.
And yet, now that he realized he wouldn't be able to drop a message in that group chat for the foreseeable future, why did his mood feel strangely off? The answer, presumably, was known to heaven alone.
Young-hoon's heart had already left LK Electronics, so there was nothing weighing on him there. He could have quit on the spot without a single problem. The only reason he was still hanging on was that he felt it was his duty to see things through to a proper finish.
Around eleven o'clock, the audit schedule for the delivery documents landed in the inboxes of every employee, Young-hoon included. The notice said that auditors would visit the Seoul offices on Wednesday to conduct the inspection. So it wasn't going to be a surprise raid after all. Since he had already finished his preparations, there was no particular stir in the office.
Young-hoon let the hours drift by, had lunch, and then crossed over to his office in the Synergy Building. On the off chance, he stopped by Chairman Jang's office to see whether the man was in, and the secretary reported that he was in the middle of a shouting match with Chairman Choi.
When Young-hoon eased the door open and slipped inside, both chairmen were roaring at each other, so wrapped up in their fight that neither had noticed his arrival. Listening in for a moment, he gathered that the argument was over whether or not to go to China.
"Chairmen, why are you two fighting?"
Chairman Jang and Chairman Choi turned and greeted Young-hoon with unmistakable delight.
"CEO Kim, there you are!"
"CEO Kim, good to see you. Come here and listen to me.
The hogu bastards in China spent the night before last and last night in heaven, I swear. This morning they were already on the phone pestering me about when we're coming to China.
But this Jang fellow here says we're not going."
"What kind of nonsense is that? The one who wants it should be doing the legwork."
"They're offering to feed him, put him up, even send a private jet — what possible reason is there not to go?"
"CEO Kim is busy, that's why. He hasn't even quit his company yet."
"He can go over the weekend, can't he? Fly out Friday, sleep in Beijing that night, spend the next day in Shanghai, and be back by Sunday. Done."
"Hmm. What do you think, CEO Kim?"
Young-hoon had known exactly what Chairman Choi was after from the moment the man started insisting on the China trip. When you eat rice every single day, now and then you crave bread. Truth be told, Young-hoon himself had been nursing a quiet desire to go to China and ride a Chinese horse — the two-legged kind.
"Chairman Choi, let me ask you something honestly."
"What? Go ahead."
"It's not as if you've never been to China, and you're hardly going there for the sightseeing… You just want to try a novel experience for once, don't you?"
"Ahem, ahem. It's not only that… I want to show these Chinese pups the spirit of a true Korean man."
"In that case, I think it's a fine idea. Even I need to drain the pipes once in a while."
Chairman Choi, utterly thrilled, beamed a triumphant smile and bellowed, "There you go, Jang! Two to one!"
"Well, if CEO Kim wants to go, I suppose I have no choice. What can I do."
"Hmph. And you — haven't you been itching to try someone other than Ji-hye?"
"You rascal, I'm a man, aren't I? I only figured CEO Kim wouldn't be able to make it because he's so busy."
Young-hoon pulled out his planner and checked his schedule. If he took Friday off, there shouldn't be any problem.
"By the way, Chairmen — how many bottles are you actually planning to sell?"
"Five bottles to our little brother Xu in Beijing, and five bottles to our little brother Wang in Shanghai, to start."
"And at what price?"
"That's still to be negotiated, but we're thinking thirty billion won plus a little something for the errand. Shall we say thirty-five billion apiece?"
"Hey, you stingy Choi bastard — what's five billion between friends? Let's make it a clean forty billion."
"Chairmen, ten billion won doesn't grow on trees, you know."
"CEO Kim, those hogu fools in China have nothing but money. Squeezing a mere ten billion more out of them is hardly difficult."
"Then shall I call up the Xu fellow and the Wang fellow and set up the schedule myself?"
"Yes. Choi, do as you please."
"One more thing, Chairmen — are we just showing up empty-handed? Shouldn't we bring one or two bottles as a complimentary gift?"
"No need. You're carrying five bottles as it is. Just crack one or two open once you're there.
And CEO Kim, give me your account number. I'll have them wire you fifty percent as the contract payment."
"That alone would come to two hundred billion won, though. What about your fee, Chairmen?"
"Consider it covered by two solid days of riding the Chinese horse. Hehehehe."
"Choi, you old rascal, you're absolutely beside yourself, aren't you?"
"Of course I am! My young lady friend keeps complaining she can't keep up lately, so I haven't been enjoying myself properly — but this trip, no matter how it goes, I'll at least make it to the penalty kick before I come home. Hehehehe."
For Young-hoon, however, since he was going to China anyway, it troubled him to think of it as a mere elixir-selling errand. Selling the elixir was only one slice of the four business pillars he had in mind — hardly the main venture. And if he wanted to launch his liquor, beverage (coffee and tea), and culture-and-entertainment businesses on a grand scale, China was one of the countries he absolutely had to enter.
That was precisely why, during last week's meetings with Shanghai Media Group and China Media Group, he had asked about the business outlook described above.
"One more thing, Chairmen. Last week, when I was talking with Wang Mimi and Xu Linhong, they promised that if we came to China, they would introduce us to distribution companies capable of importing the liquor, coffee, and tea we plan to produce and sell there. Please arrange through the two of you so that we can add meetings with those distributors to the schedule."
"Understood. If it's a request from you, CEO Kim, I'd pluck the moon right out of the sky for you."
Sensing that the conversation about the China trip had more or less wrapped up, Young-hoon made a show of glancing at his phone clock and dropped a hint to the two chairmen.
"Chairman, it's about time for the meeting with the drama production team, isn't it?"
"Right, let's head over to your office."
After the two chairmen and Young-hoon moved to his office and waited a short while, the staff from the culture and entertainment divisions arrived, including Executive Director Yoo Eui-hyun. With so many people crammed in, Young-hoon's office would have been uncomfortably tight, so they relocated to the conference room to carry on.
Chairman Jang opened the meeting.
"As you all know, you received the drama script from CEO Kim here last Monday and were scheduled to meet with him on Thursday, but a sudden flood of guests from China pushed our meeting to today. I trust that in the meantime you've all done a thorough review. So — what does everyone think? Executive Director Yoo, give us your opinion first."
"Chairman, the drama script penned by CEO Kim is a masterpiece that a mere mortal like myself could never presume to judge. I've only been thinking about one thing — how to assemble the production crew when we actually shoot this."
"Then let's hear from Team Leader Min."
"Yes, Chairman. I showed this script to Son Hye-jin, the actress they call the nation's sweetheart. After reading just the first episode, she threw a fit, insisting she'd do it without a single won of appearance fee if only we'd cast her. I had a terrible time fending her off. She says it will be the magnum opus of her entire acting career. She even called this morning to beg us again."
"And anyone else? Team Leader Jung over there — no differing opinion?"
"I'm of the same mind as Team Leader Min. I showed the script to Ha Soo-yeon, who could just as easily be called the nation's sweetheart, and she said almost exactly the same things as actress Son Hye-jin. This is guaranteed to be a smash hit. My situation is the same as Team Leader Min's, too — CEO Gong of KJS has been making my life miserable."
"Why is that fellow giving you grief?"
"CEO Gong's nickname in the industry is the Baboon. I suspect he's caught the scent of a blockbuster."
Chairman Jang knew KJS Entertainment's CEO Gong Jung-shik — the man Team Leader Jung had mentioned — very well. His gift for picking out quality projects was exceptional, which was why the actors at his agency consistently outperformed their peers in earnings and name recognition alike.
"And the others?"
"I've shed a full bowlful of tears reading this script. I have never in my life seen a love story so heartbreaking, so poignant, and yet so beautiful."
"I showed it to my wife, and she snapped at me, saying she'd ask for nothing more in this life if she could just love someone the way the heroine does. I nearly died, I tell you."
"If we make a drama from a script this magnificent and it doesn't crack fifty percent in the ratings, I'd say the fault lies squarely with the director. I guarantee fifty percent, minimum."
"This one is a mega-mega-MEGA hit, without question."
Feeling the production team shower the script with extravagant praise, Young-hoon marveled once again at the brilliance of the Archmage Hains.
"Then is there anyone who thinks this script needs to be touched at all?"
At that, one of the production-side team members stood up and answered.
"I don't think the dialogue needs a single edit. However, if we're considering product placement, a few scenes would need to be lightly adjusted to make room for it."
"I agree with that."
Young-hoon diligently noted down what the production team members were saying in his planner. Then, after organizing his thoughts for a good while, he offered his own opinion.
"Thank you very much for your generous evaluation of the work I wrote. As I mentioned in our previous meeting, I intend to avoid product placement as much as possible. No matter how brilliant a work is, I've seen time and again how it becomes something strange the moment PPL worms its way in. Unless it's truly unavoidable, I have no intention of using it."
"CEO Kim is right about that. It's not as if we're so hard up for money that we can't shoot a proper drama."
Chairman Jang chimed in with enthusiastic agreement.
"Also, please cast for acting ability rather than for name recognition. I have absolutely no intention of propping up the ratings with an actor's famous face."
"That's sound reasoning too."
Once again, Chairman Jang backed him wholeheartedly.
"And lastly… as a rule, I'd like us to go with a pre-production model. Even in the worst case, at least ten completed episodes must be fully edited before broadcast. Please adjust the schedule accordingly."
Taking up where Young-hoon left off, Chairman Jang added a word of his own.
"Don't worry about the production budget. Concern yourselves with nothing but how to make this drama as good as it can possibly be. Now then, let's get down to practical matters. When could shooting begin? And roughly what will the production budget run? Executive Director Yoo, answer us."
"Before coming here today, our team gathered to discuss it. We will begin filming by February at the very latest. As for the budget, we believe ten billion won should be sufficient."
"What's taking more than two months to prepare? No money? No actors willing to do it? What exactly is the problem?"
"The biggest issue is a shortage of specialists. Recruiting them takes time."
"Which fields are we short in?"
"For direction, either Director Kim Pil-joon or Director Jung Il-young would be an excellent choice. For cinematography, Director Seo Dong-chan is ideal, but… he's shooting Love After Separation right now, so that's a bit difficult. We're also short on production PDs, and we need an editing specialist."
Young-hoon, who had been listening quietly, offered a suggestion.
"What if we brought in PD Lee Hyo-young of MBS for the editing? And I think PD Shin Hye-yoon would be a good fit for production."
Chairman Jang pushed back, looking troubled by the idea.
"Will President Joo let go of PD Shin that easily? And PD Lee Hyo-young is an MBS employee, isn't he?"
"I'll meet with him myself. As for President Joo, you can smooth him over, Chairman. If the talks fall through, we'll build an alternative plan then."
"Understood. Then go and carefully consider who the right actors would be. And next week, we'll have a shortlist more or less confirmed. Everyone, dismissed."
The drama production team agreed to return the following week with more concrete proposals, and for today they parted ways. Chairman Jang and Chairman Choi, apparently having somewhere to be, rose from their seats as well.