Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

Director Seukang Li asked Baogan Chen, “How much fund for the production cost did you collect through the crowdfunding for the movie—Menghuan Yinghua?”

“It’s 10 billion won. Mr. President Goo here invested half of it—5 billion won.”

“Hmm, President Goo, you put a lot of money in it.”

Gun-Ho said with a smile, “To clarify, it’s not just 5 billion won. If I add the fund that I previously invested in Huanle Shiji Production Company for the TV drama production, it should be more than that.”

“What are you saying?” Seukang Li asked.

“I previously invested 1 billion won into the TV drama production, and I haven’t received any returns from this investment yet, but instead, it was added to the movie production cost.”

Seukang Li’s face hardened all of a sudden. He said as he glared at President Baogang Chen, “Is it true?”

“Ye… Yes, sir.”

Gun-Ho didn’t mean to upset anyone in the room, so he tried to ease the tension that filled the air in the room by saying, “President Baogang Chen had promised me that he would send me 1.5 billion won when he had made money from the TV drama. I still have his email saying it. I later agreed that he used that amount to his subsequent movie production.”

“Is that right?”

As Gun-Ho further explained the situation, Seukang Li looked a bit comfortable. Seukang Li asked Baogang Chen, “I understand that I’m not in a position to ask this, but how much money did you spend in producing the movie?”

“70% of the fund that we reserved for the movie production has been exhausted. A large portion of it was used to pay the actors and actresses.”

Gun-Ho chipped in, “The leading actress—Ms. Mori Aikko—is supposed to receive 200,000 dollars. Is that amount fully paid to her?”

“The movie production has not been completed yet, so, we haven’t fully paid her yet either.”

“How much did you pay her so far then?”

“I will have to look at our company’s account book once I go back to the office in order to give you the exact amount.”

Seukang Li turned his gaze to Baogang Chen and said, “200,000 dollars is low for an actress who is playing a leading role. You wouldn’t have been able to work with an actress for the amount if she was Chinese. You should make sure that you pay her the full amount that you promised.”

“Of course, sir.”

Seukang Li continued, “As you know well, President Goo is a very close friend of mine. When I learned that Huanle Shiji Production Company was in a financial crisis, I asked him for help. That’s how he decided to make an investment in your production company. As you have already heard about him, he owns a public company as well. He doesn’t need to invest in a movie production company to make money, but he did anyway because I asked him for it. You should keep that in mind, and please don’t make any mistakes in working with him.”

“Understood, sir.”

Gun-Ho talked to Director Yan Wu, who was sitting on the last seat at the table while having his liquor, “Mori Aikko is a dancing geisha, and she hadn’t taken any lessons for acting before. I wonder how she handled her part.”

“Well, I can’t tell that she was good from the beginning, but she eventually played her role satisfactorily. In addition, her beautiful look and dance covered any deficiency if she had any. I’m pretty positive that this movie will become a box office hit.”

“That’s really good to hear.”

“I just feel sorry for her that she had to play the traitor role in the movie, who betrayed her country for love.”

Gun-Ho said, “As you just mentioned, Mori Aikko played a geisha in the movie, who betrayed her country—Japan. Japan is an open society, and they consider a movie as an artwork. When they look at an actor or actress in a movie, they focus on how well those actors played their role; they don’t concern much about what kind of role that an actor or actress played. Even so, I believe that the role that Mori Aikko played shouldn’t have been a desirable or pleasant role for her.”

“That might be true.”

“I just want to remind you of Mori Aikko’s efforts despite this situation, and pay her full amount that was promised in time.”

As Gun-Ho mentioned the money that they had to pay Mori Aikko, Director Yan Wu looked at President Baogang Chen, and Baogang Chen said, “Of course, we will, sir.”

As he placed his glass of liquor back on the table, Gun-Ho did the math.

‘This must have given them enough pressure for them to pay Mori Aikko the exact amount in time.’

Gun-Ho thought that he had better make sure that President Baogang Chen clearly understood the deal between him and Gun-Ho when other people such as Director Seukang Li, Director Yan Wu, and Director Woon-Hak Sim were present; they could be good witnesses.

“The movie—Menghuan Yinghua—is explicitly spurring Chinese viewers on patriotism. It will, of course, succeed given the current trend in China and Chinese people’s disposition. I strongly believe that the movie can be well exported to other countries that share Chinese culture and language such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. And, maybe we can think of expanding to even Europe as well.”

“We agree with you, Mr. President Goo.”

“The total amount of fund that I invested in your production company is 6.5 billion won which includes the fund that I was supposed to receive as an investment return from the TV drama production. In other words, I take up 65% of your crowdfunding of 10 billion won.”

“That… that’s true.”

“That means that 65% of the profits that you would make out of this movie, including the profit that you would make from exporting the movie to other countries should be sent to me. Of course, it would be after you subtract relevant expenses.”

“Of course, sir.”

Seukang Li chipped in.

“I’m also curious about how the profits would be shared. Mr. President Baogang Chen, when you have those in paper later, can you send me a copy of it?”

“Su… Sure, sir.”

Gun-Ho nodded his head.

‘Seukang Li is watching my back, which is very important in China. He is my Kkwansi (connections) in this country. He was the leader of the Community Youth League of China, and he is currently a high-ranked government officer. Baogang Chen won’t do anything stupid as long as Seukang Li is paying attention to what he is doing.’

Director Woon-Hak Sim said to Gun-Ho in a low voice in Korean since no one in the room would understand what he was saying—Gun-Ho and Director Sim were the only Koreans there, “Sir, it was a good idea to clearly state the matter at this time with all these people in this room. Chinese people act carefully when there is a government officer present. China can be very brutal as it is a communist state. Even a very famous actor can be dragged to somewhere by the government without going through the legal procedure if the government doesn’t like what he or she did.”

“You don’t say.”

Noticing Gun-Ho and Director Sim were talking in Korean, Seukang Li said, “Hey, Gun-Ho Goo. If you are talking with Director Sim about something interesting, please share it with us.”

“No, it’s nothing. Since Director Sim doesn’t completely understand Chinese, I was just telling him stuff in Korean.”

Gun-Ho said to President Baogang Chen as he filled up his empty glass with Baiju, “What scenes are you planning to shoot tomorrow with Mori Aikko?”

“She will have her last dance before committing suicide. It will be shot at the film park in Shanghai—Yingshi Leyuan. A lot of people now recognize Mori Aikko, so we can’t use the film park during the daytime when visitors are still there. We are going to shoot the scene tomorrow after 5 pm when the film park becomes quiet.”

“While she is dancing, I believe you need someone to play the musical instrument—Shamisen. Who is playing it?”

“We will have our actors pretend to play Shamisen, and we will use the sound that would be recorded in Japan.”

“Hmm, I see.”