The Famous Millionaire

Hyunwoo hit upon a good idea all of a sudden.

He called Nami at the drop of a hat.

Fortunately, she had no shooting schedule in the morning. As soon as she received a call from him, she rushed to the broadcasting station.

He told her about Angel’s difficult situation at the moment. Nami looked at her with a worried look on her face.

“Hi, I’m Nami Yu, and my agency is AT Entertainment.”

In fluent Englsih, she told Angela about the strength and weakness of her company. Of course, she passionately emphasized the risk she might have to take when she joined AT Entertainment. She also told Angela about the difficulties she had been going through.

Showing her an article about Yuni, a former member of the female singer group Hey Girls, she told Angela she could end up treading in Yumi’s step.

“Of course, there are some female entertainers who really made a success, but there is something like an X-file involving their affairs with Taesu Ahn. That means you really have to be careful with him.”

Angela didn’t say anything, just listening to Nami’s briefing quietly.

In the meantime, Hyunwoo took Jinhon outside for a conversation.

Jinhon was confused about Angela’s situation.

Calming him down, Hyunwoo said, “We can’t force Angela’s choice in our favor. We have to help her make the correct choice. If you try to persuade her carelessly, it will only backfire. So, don’t try to irritate her with annoying words. Just stay with her silently. That is how you can help her. Okay?”

“Got it.”

As requested, Jinhon tried to calm down and control his feelings. He just patted Angela on the back quietly.

With trust in Jinhon, Hyunwoo then headed to the conference room of Seoul City.

There were several unfamiliar faces when he got there. It looked like they were the salesmen of the Dream Korea team just like Hyunwoo was doing business for the KOVE DREAM team.

With a broad smile, Hyunwoo said hello first.

“Nice to see you. I’m Hyunwoo Jang of KOVE DREAM.”

“I’m Jaewoo Kim of Dream Korea.”

They shook hands and exchanged greetings, but turned away their eyes.

The meeting began. The city official explained the overview of the trade fair and then decided on the most important matter of ‘how to assign which promotion booth to which company?’

The priority was given to Dream Korea, not KOVE DREAM, because the former was a coalition of 32 companies in Vietnam.

“You can use the first six promotion booths nearest the entrance,” said the official.

Hyunwoo was surprised. Though it was a trade fair hosted by the city, using the booth was not free. It was pretty expensive, depending on the size and location of the booth.

In particular, the five booths reserved for Dream Korea cost 20 million per booth each day.

As the trade fair would last for five days, they would have to pay 100 million won in booth fees.

Hyunwoo chose a large promotion booth located a bit from Dream Korea. It was three times as large as other promotion booths in size.

When Hyunwoo didn’t choose any other booths, the official asked, “Is just one booth enough for you?”

Hyunwoo felt as the booth was very large, it seemed spacious enough to house all the products of the 13 companies of KOVE DREAM. Besides, the booth cost as much as 50 million in daily fees, so he didn’t have to use lots of money by adding more booths.

“Yes, one booth is enough.”

As soon as the meeting was over Jaewoo Kim of Dream Korea simply left the conference room.

Smacking his lips, Hyunwoo said, “Hummmm..he didn’t have to feel hostile toward me like that.”

In the meantime, Jaewoo called someone in Vietnam. The other party was Hyongbok Lee of DAS Toy.

“Uncle, I chose the best spot in the trade fair exhibition hall.”

“Good job! I trust you.”

“Don’t forget to pay me the commission fee, please!”

“Don’t worry, dude. You’re going to make much more that I make here. Instead, you have to keep it to yourself that you’re my cousin. Make sure they believe you and I met as business partners, okay?”

“Of course, President Lee!”

***

Hyunwoo arrived at the office of Ani & Funny rather late today as usual, but Kyungsu called him urgently as soon as he came in the office.

“Hold on a second. My boss has just got here. Pick up the phone now,” said Kyungsu in an urgent voice.

Not only Kyungsu but also other staff pressed on him to take the call urgently.

Hyunwoo thought one should stay calm even if one was put in a dangerous situation, but this time he couldn’t.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is a drink company called Ionhealty in New York, USA.”

Hyunwoo tilted his head. He instantly thought of Seungwoo Paek, his high school alumnus and former executive of N&C Korea who recently flew to America, but he would have called N&C Korea or Hyunwoo’s cell phone if he had made a success in America. And the other party mentioned his business was soft drinks. So, obviously, he was not Seungwoo.

“Oh, I see. Why did you call us?” asked Hyunwoo.

“I called you after hearing the music video ‘Duckling Fly.’

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide. He felt good to hear that.

“As a matter of fact, I would like to use the characters of the music video for the wrapping devices of our drink products.”

Hyunwoo clenched his fist in spite of himself, and felt like his heart might explode with joy.

Finally, the sale of the characters that Hyunwoo had been waiting for so long began. It was something unexpected that an American company, not a domestic company, contacted him first, but it was a more encouraging sign.

“Very good suggestion. If you email me a contract, let me review it and get back to you,” said Hyunwoo.

As if they waited for a moment like this, the staff shouted for joy.

“Hooray! Finally, we have made it! This is the beginning.”

Hyunwoo nodded his head and said, “I told you that we would certainly make a success. Now, let’s work on other products and sell them to the market. Let me pay you incentives as much as possible. So, don’t worry about anything and focus on your work!”

“Yes, sir!”

A little later Hyunwoo received the draft contract from the American drinks company.

Hyunwoo asked Kyungsu and Sanggyu to review it.

There was no clause about exclusive rights to the music video. The contract period was five years, and the characters would be used on the wrapper.

“The contract money is $100,000 in addition to 5% royalty of the sales price. Given the level of awareness of our brand, the contract condition is reasonable.”

Hyunwoo signed off on the contract, and the staff once again yelled out a cheer.

The contract with Ionhealty was the first sale of the music video, which would bring another one. Several days later, another company called him for the same reason.

Not only Hyunwoo but also the staff were all smiles.

Surfing the internet on his computer Kyungsu murmured, “What the heck is this?”

“What is that?”

“Our branch in Vietnam sent us a sample video production. They sent us a funny drawing pile, too.”

“Did they send a wrong file?

“No, it looks like a proposal. They suggested changing the characters of Tuti & Angelica.”

Hyunwoo grinned at that because they felt their initiative was commendable.

Most probably each of them would be fiercely competing to be the first CEO of their branch by promoting themselves. The character proposal was such a move.

“Do you think it’s okay to change the characters?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Yea, I think it’s a very good idea. They’re much more attractive than the existing characters.”

“Really? Can I see them?” said Jihun Kang.

“Wow, this is great. Who drew this? Looks like personal characters are 100% better than mine,” said Jihun.

“Are you sure they’re that good?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Yea, look at this. They all wear the same facial expressions, but their characteristics look all different. This one is pure, this is wicked, this is naughty, and this one stupid…”

Kyungsu nodded, seeing eye to eye with him.

Hyunwoo suddenly became curious who drew the characters.

“Do you see the author’s name there?”

“I see it in English. How do you pronounce it, Yujong?”