The Famous Millionaire

Hyunwoo took the students back to the office of Ani & Funny in Ansan. As they spent lots of time in Seoul, it was quite dark when they arrived at the office.

But not only the staff but also the other students were still working in the office.

The atmosphere of the office was pretty somber. When Hyunwoo entered the office, some of the students tried to read his mind, as if they were scared of his strict punishment against their three friends who were caught playing computer games.

But when they saw the three coming back, they felt a bit relaxed.

Hyunwoo wanted them to maintain a feeling of tension for some time because he didn’t want to see the repetition of today’s trouble.

He called all of them to one corner and said, “Originally, I didn’t want to give them another chance because the same thing would happen again. But I noticed they were freshly determined while I was driving to Seoul. So, I decided to take the risk of giving them another chance.”

They clapped their hands before they knew.

“But I won’t give them any further opportunity. Though it is a regrettable decision, I have no other choice in order to establish a strong discipline here. So, be careful not to be the subject of discipline. Got it?”

“Yes, sir!” replied the students, raising their voice.

“Let me point out one more thing. I told you this before, but let me remind you once again that those who are lagging behind should leave. It doesn’t make sense for you to stay here if you don’t make any progress just because you came here first. Instead, I’ll give other students a chance. You can show me your progress, right?”

“Of course!”

Hyunwoo was determined to put his words into action. At the appropriate time, he would expel those who disturbed the atmosphere or didn’t make any tangible progress.

If they saw their friends expelled, they would work harder, which would be an occasion to make another Jinhon.

Those who would be expelled from Ani & Funny might feel pretty regretful about Hyunwoo’s decision and even feel resentment. They might even feel they were kicked out like killing a dog after hunting was over. So, Hyunwoo decided to give the expelled students some amount of severance pay.

I think I have to open their bank accounts one by one without informing them.

When Hyunwoo thought of Jinhon and Angela, he felt so good again. He heard that even when just one song hit the jackpot, the revenue would be enormous, which was true for the case of Duckling Fly.

Ani & Funny’s ad revenues of music streaming and the number of YouTube hits on Duckling Fly, sales revenue and the direct ads by companies using the music video had amounted to 4 billion won already, even with the deduction of the payments to Jinhon, Angela and Jinyoung Paek.

The box office hit of Garbage World was possible because of the popularity of Duckling Fly. In short, Jinhon was like a luck of lump to Hyunwoo.

On the other hand, there was some room for improvement in Hyunwoo’s opinion.

The biggest share of Jinhon’s revenue came from his music video ads. Though the indirect ad revenue was big, based on the number of hits on YouTube, he made much more as a CF model.

Not only in the United States, the main stage of Jinhon and Angela, but also in Korea, Japan and China they were inundated with requests for CF shooting. So far they appeared on 17 CFs.

Though many domestic companies wanted to use them as CF models, they could not do so because of their conflicting schedules.

Thanks to the celebrity of Jinhon and Angelica many people were making lots of money. If any company gave them 300 million in payment for its CF model, it could enjoy the promotion effects worth 3 or 30 billion won.

But Hyunwoo, owner of the company that manages Jinhon and Angela, did not enjoy those kinds of promotional effects. He needed to maximize the publicity effect when their popularity was at an all-time high.

The next morning Hyunwoo called Seungwoo Paek in the United States, his high school friend and former sales manager of N&C Korea.

Even after he immigrated to the United States, he could not get rid of his intrinsic nature of itchy feet. He traveled across America from the east coast to the west coast, from the southernmost to the northernmost areas as if he were touring.

When Hyunwoo called him, he thought that Seungwoo was in Houston, Texas, but now he was in Los Angeles.

“Are you happy there?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Sure, I am. I would have had lots of hard times without money, but there is no heaven like America as I’m financially stable, man.”

After exchanging brief pleasantries, Hyunwoo brought up the main topic. It was about the advertisement for KOVE DREAM in the United States.

Seungwoo welcomed his idea.

“Well, I see great minds think alike. Actually, I have been feeling the same way. Are you thinking of using Jinhon and Angela as your CF models?”

“You bet!” said Hyunwoo.

“Can you shoot an advertisement on KOVE using them? Let me pay for the production costa.”

“Don’t worry. As I take 30% of the profits, let me chip in,” said Seungwoo.

“Thanks, dude. Hahaha.”

After the call, Hyunwoo called Unhye Kim, the general manager of N&C Japan for the same reason. She also gladly agreed with his idea.

Then, he called Kwangsu Han, the head of Real Film. Though he was not an expert in CF shooting, he knew many experts in the field.

“Shooting for CF? I think I have to travel to America to shoot the advertisement to have Jinon and Angela appear on it.”

“I guess so.”

“Do you have any good CF concept?”

“Hahaha. I’ve got one, but it’s not that good, so I’m thinking of another one. Any good suggestions?”

“Well, it would be best to release such an ad on air through special programs like they do in Korea. It’s impossible in the USA. Give me your idea, first.”

“It’s vague at the moment, so let me tell you when I flesh it out.”

“Sure.”

This time Hyunwoo called Jinhon about his CF shooting.

Jinhon gladly okayed it.

“Sure, uncle. I can make the time to shoot for the advertisement. Of course, I can do it free.”

“No, I can’t make it fee. Given the fairness of other ads, let me give you and Angela 100 million won each.”

“No, no. I won’t take it. Instead, please indicate somewhere in the ad that we’re appearing for the sake of our friendship with you. That will bring about more promotion effects.”

Jinhon insisted. Angela was of the same opinion.

Come to think of it, Hyunwoo felt their appearance for friendship was a good idea. In that case, their close association with KOVE would be known to the public naturally.

“Thanks. By the way, is there any progress in your efforts to search for your father, Angela?”

“Not yet.”

“I guess it might be more effective if you reveal it to the press.”

“I think so. I’ve been trying to find him privately, but it didn’t work out well.”

“How about approaching this way?” asked Hyunwoo.

“How?”

Hyunwoo told her how to search for her father openly. It was a very provocative way to grab people’s attention.

Angela nodded to his idea.

“Oh, sounds great! I love that.”

After calling Jinhon and Angela, Hyunwoo called Jinyoung this time.

“Are you busy these days, brother?”

“Not really. My friends in America are busy. I’m free these days.”

Actually, Jinyoung was so busy until recently that Hyunwoo could not call him. While he was shooting for the sitcom Wolf & Fox, at the same time he was busy managing the business related to Jinhon and Angela and training some new singers that he set an eye on.

Moreover, he had to work very early in the morning when he had to take a break. Because of the time difference between Korea and the United States, he often had to call his business partners in their local time, which made him work until dawn.

Now he was a bit freed from such a tight schedule.

“Can you come with me to the alternative music school Todolyipyo one of these days? They have some songs and dances that you might want to check out.”

“Really? Are you going to make another music video?”

“Yea. I guess they are okay, but still, there is something lacking. Though the teachers and students are working hard, I don’t see any big progress.”

“Got it. I can come with you two days later. See you then.”

Two days later, Hyunwoo arrived at the alternative music school Todolyipyo.

Jinyoung, who got there first, was waiting for him.

“Oh, you got here early, brother,” said Hyunwoo.

But Jinyoung didn’t look good.

“Hey, did you see this? I just have no idea what happened.”

“What’s wrong?” said Hyunwoo, approaching him to check out the computer monitor.

It was a personal blog run by Jinhon.

There were already posted lots of contents on it. Some of them were Jinhon’s personal music contents, and some of them were official bulletins posted by Ani & Funny.

As if it boasted of the blog of a world star, there was a huge number of visits to the blog. So, Jinhon, as well as Ani & Funny, were very careful when they posted any content on it because any wrong content could deal a fatal blow to his popularity.

Because of that risk factor, it was much better not to post any controversial content.

But there were a few such things on it. Jinhon used some products and posted his comments on them.

In fact, it was much better for him not to post such comments because such comments tended to be biased and partisan according to the consumers’ preferences.

If he had to upload them, he needed to comment on only good products, which would invite only a few complaints.

But Jinhon did it the opposite way. His postings focused on making fun of some products, not praising good products.