Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: 19. Nine Great Sects × Green Forest (3)
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Actually, 100 million views in 24 hours wasn't an astonishing number for the Nine Great Sects.
The Green Forest kids were acting like a miracle had occurred, getting all worked up and insisting they had to do a thank-you U-Live for hitting 100 million views.
We held the record of reaching 100 million views in just 23 hours and 40 minutes—even for the opening video of our dorm variety show [Orthodox-Demonic Joint Camp Chaos].
But even the Nine Great Sects members were taken aback by how quickly the views kept climbing.
Before two days had even passed, the video broke through 200 million views.
That's when I started sensing something was off.
It took an average of six days for a Nine Great Sects MV to hit 200 million views.
Even factoring in Green Forest's fandom boost, reaching 200 million in that amount of time was ridiculously fast.
While the marketing team and I were gathered in the conference room, analyzing whether the influx might be from views funneled by the recent Lion 6 ad we'd shot.
In burst La Man's CEO, Woo Ki-duk.
I'd gotten a message in the lobby that La Man's CEO was causing a scene, so I'd rushed down.
Woo Ki-duk had been yelling at the front desk staff, but when I showed up, he acted like we were buddies.
"Hey, Manager Park. Is CEO Sa inside?"
He was putting on this overly chummy act, but our CEO had no personal connection to La Man's CEO—and neither did I.
He clearly didn't even know my name.
I stepped in front of the front desk staff.
"As I've told you several times, my name is Jeom So-ui."
"Oh yeah? Weren't you Park before?"
"Team Leader Park has resigned."
"Quit without a word when?"
My mentor, Team Leader Park, had resigned years ago.
Instead of pointing that out, I got straight to business.
"What brings you here?"
"What do you think? I'm here to see CEO Sa."
"I'm not aware of any meetings scheduled for today... Did you at least call ahead?"
"Do we need that between us? We're collab partners!"
So he'd just shown up out of nowhere, demanding to see our CEO.
And whatever he had to say was about the collab.
I shot the front desk staff a look, and they tactfully returned to their station.
In the meantime, Woo Ki-duk pressed me.
"You're on good terms, right? Just tell him I'm here to see him, Manager Park."
"......"
This Woo guy was deliberately getting my name wrong.
The classic type who thinks he doesn't need to remember the names of underlings.
Saibi Rep hated types like La Man's CEO.
Who could blame him?
La Man was ripping off everything about the Nine Great Sects, and on top of that, they didn't even understand martial arts lore properly.
It was a miracle our rep had put up with him this long.
In the old days, I'd have made an excuse that the CEO was out and sent him packing...
"He's in Meeting Room 3."
"See? Now you're talking sense. Thanks for the help, Manager Park."
I asked a passing staff member to escort Woo Ki-duk.
A moment later, Dang Sa-cheon, who'd been watching from nearby, sidled up and asked.
"Hyung-nim, that guy's arrogant. Want me to handle him?"
"...Why are you talking like that?"
"He kept calling you Manager Park right to the end."
The Heavenly Demon strolled in behind Dang Sa-cheon, casually asking.
"And who's this Manager Park?"
"The former head manager. Back then, we called the position 'team leader' instead of head manager."
"So you clawed your way to that spot after some cutthroat office politics?"
Lately, the Heavenly Demon had been hooked on these high-drama shows.
"No... He was my mentor. He stayed with the Nine Great Sects until my third year, then resigned due to health issues, and I got promoted."
"Oh ho. So in other words, your master."
He was my master in a sense, but why was he giving me that loaded look?
That's when Dang Sa-cheon asked with a worried expression.
"But hyung-nim, La Man's CEO looks like he's here to make trouble. Is it really okay to let him meet our CEO?"
"There's a saying: Yi yi zhi yi."
You had to fight fire with fire.
Some things needed to be said in front of both of them.
* * *
"CEO Sa."
The moment Saibi Rep entered Meeting Room 3, Woo Ki-duk blurted out.
"Hand over this collab video to the La Man account—while I'm still asking nicely."
I'd figured he'd come demanding something since the collab was exceeding expectations.
But I hadn't expected him to straight-up threaten our CEO like that.
At the start of the collab, we'd agreed that Kichi would cover all costs in exchange for all content going up on the Kichi account.
"Hmm, this is awkward."
Saibi Rep tilted his head with a chilling smile.
"I came because So-ui said he had something to discuss... but it's you here, CEO Woo?"
Right. I hadn't told the CEO that Woo Ki-duk was the one who showed up.
I'd figured La Man stuff was something I should handle on my end.
Since I'd been avoiding one-on-ones lately, the CEO had gladly accepted my request to talk and followed me here without suspicion.
I flashed a bright smile.
"You do have something to tell me, CEO. But I thought CEO Woo here should hear it too."
"What? Me too?"
Woo Ki-duk looked flustered at my words.
Looks like he'd planned to throw a tantrum and snag the video's views for himself.
Sure, to outsiders, it was a ridiculous demand.
But for us, videos hitting hundreds of millions weren't rare.
Especially a fresh, non-martial-idol-concept collab.
The CEO probably would've just handed it over to avoid the hassle.
Woo Ki-duk knew that about him, so he'd played the irredeemable villain from the start, being extra rude.
But now that I said I had something for both CEOs, he was thrown.
I ignored him and spoke up.
"We won't be handing over the MV."
At my words, Woo Ki-duk smirked like 'Knew it,' then put on an indignant act.
"What? Who do you think you are? This is big-agency bullying, pure bullying!"
"You're right, it is bullying. And there's more."
"More?"
"The collab behind-the-scenes will go up on our Kichi account too. As you know, the reaction's been great. We didn't plan to release the track originally, but now a mixtape drop is in order."
A mixtape meant releasing the track for free online.
As expected, Woo Ki-duk flipped out at the idea of dropping a 200-million-view collab song for free.
"Mixtape?! You're giving it away free right now?"
"It was a fan event, so of course."
"That's insane! One of our kids composed it—how dare you release it free without permission?"
"The members already agreed, including the Green Forest composer. You weren't hoping for a single release, were you? Even if we did a single, there'd be no revenue share."
Woo Ki-duk flinched slightly at my words.
"N-No revenue share? What does that mean?"
"Exactly what I said. If we release a single, it'll be a cover by the Nine Great Sects members only. We'll pay royalties to the composer, Lupin, but nothing to La Man."
"A collab track, and you're putting it out as a Nine Great Sects album? What about our kids?"
"Pardon? What are you talking about? Greenwood can release their own single."
"But we..."
He couldn't bring himself to admit they had no money or popularity and wouldn't sell as well as us.
La Man's CEO had only thought about taking the video—no way he'd anticipated us dropping [Sky Full of Falling Petals] as a mixtape.
With a 200-million-view track, he'd figured we'd release it as a single and he'd rake in royalties passively.
Honestly, at first, I'd been willing to push for a release if it helped the Green Forest kids' pitiful payouts...
But then La Man tried to screw them on album sales revenue shares.
'2% flat no matter how many hundreds of thousands sell? Give me a break.'
So I'd scrapped the collab single plan and switched to just paying royalties.
I'd told them to order chicken as a late-night snack during practice, and they only got two whole birds. That was shocking.
They'd been sharing one among four, apparently.
...Thinking about it again makes my blood boil.
Anyway, Woo Ki-duk wasn't some genius who'd turned flops into stars.
He was just so obsessed with easy money that he had no shame.
No wonder Woochi fell for our CEO's temptation hook, line, and sinker.
For a second, even I thought maybe it was better to just bring him into Kichi...
That's when Saibi Rep cocked his head and said.
"If you've already thought that far ahead, do I even need to be here? I'd never oppose your opinion, So-ui."
No. You're the most essential person here, Saibi Rep.
"You need to drive the point home to CEO Woo."
Saibi Rep looked genuinely puzzled.
"Drive what home?"
"Woochi."
At the mention of Woochi's name, Saibi Rep's calm facade finally cracked.
Woo Ki-duk looked equally startled to hear his idol's name come out of my mouth.
"Woochi? Why bring up Woochi?"
"CEO Woo."
I cut in before Saibi Rep could respond.
"Are you renewing his contract?"
"What?"
"Greenwood's contracts are up soon too, right? You're... not renewing, are you?"
A group already mocked as copycat flops.
No way La Man would renew and keep carrying them.
At twenty-eight, Woochi was too old to pass as an idol much longer.
He'd have to enlist soon, and agencies don't wait out military hiatuses—they bury them under rookies.
It was public knowledge La Man was prepping a junior group debut.
But asking outright like this was against industry etiquette, so Woo Ki-duk scowled.
"Now that you mention it, weren't you friends with Woochi, So-ui?"
His tone was suddenly calm, a far cry from his earlier hysterics.
He even knew my name properly now, and our connection.
This was probably his real personality.
"So, renew Woochi if you want? What'll Kichi give us in return? Some trainees?"
"No, CEO. I'm against it. Please don't renew with Woochi."
"What?"
I smiled brightly and pointed at Saibi Rep with my open palm.
"Our CEO wants to bring Woochi over."
Saibi Rep looked more flustered by my bombshell than Woo Ki-duk did.
"What? CEO Sa, you serious? Woochi's got enlistment coming up. And his looks... honestly, they're subpar. Quick on the uptake, but he's got no idol spark—just bland. Even if you trust So-ui, this is a stretch..."
Bashing his own artist like that in front of another agency's CEO.
Though his real motive was probably jealousy—if Woochi thrived at Kichi, it'd sting.
Saibi Rep gave an awkward smile, then pondered for a moment.
He was probably trying to figure out why I'd suddenly brought this up.
"You heard him, right, CEO?"
"Yes?"
"CEO Woo says it himself—do you really need to bring Woochi over?"
Woo Ki-duk let out a hollow laugh.
"Now I see—you're trying to block a poach. Friends, huh? But company comes first?"
"No. That's not it."
I shook my head firmly.
"If Woochi jumps to Kichi alone, he'll get every slur in the book. How could I stand by?"
"Fair point. If CEO Sa took all of Greenwood, maybe."
From the way he talked, Woo Ki-duk had zero attachment to Greenwood.
Saibi Rep raised one eyebrow, clearly not interested in taking the whole group.
"So what So-ui wants to say is..."
"Which is why."
Cutting Saibi Rep off mid-sentence, I dropped the real bomb.
"I'm thinking of starting my own agency."