T/N: Thanks for the Kofi, Flow!
Gyeong Chanhyeon quickly grabbed some tissues and wiped the grains of rice off his father Gyeong Jaesoo’s face.
Watching this, Bong Jiyun, who was sitting beside them, lowered her head as if she were trying to hold back her laughter.
“You really were not listening? This punk, earlier you were calling me Abamama!”
“Haha… no, that is not it…”
“Forget it, you brat.”
Jaesoo’s face was full of annoyance, but beside him, Bong Jiyun could no longer hold it in and burst into loud laughter.
“Honey, this is funny to you? Your son does this to his father’s face? Huh? Should he not be getting scolded right now?”
“Khup…”
Every time she looked at him, Jiyun was laughing almost like she was sobbing, so Jaesoo spoke to Chanhyeon as if there was nothing he could do.
“I am letting you off because of your mom. If she were not laughing like this, you brat, you would be in serious trouble. Your dad’s fists still work just fine, you know?”
“Thank you, Eomamama.”
It looked like it would be quite a while before Jiyun’s laughter settled down.
“Good grief. This will not do. My stomach hurts. I am going to lie down in the bedroom, so just put everything in the sink.”
“I will even do the dishes.”
“In that case, thank you kindly!”
Once Jiyun went into the bedroom, Jaesoo carefully opened his mouth.
“So how much do you need?”
“Huh?”
When Chanhyeon opened his eyes wide, Jaesoo pinched his cheek and said,
“You heard everything and now you act like you did not. At least act like a son once in a while. You are always putting on this act like you are all grown up.”
“At thirty, I am all grown up.”
Realizing that his answer now was completely different from the way he had spoken with Lee Junseong yesterday, Chanhyeon let out a brief laugh.
He had always believed that acting as if he were already fully grown, so as to lessen the burden on his parents as much as possible, was the right thing to do. Smiling brightly, he continued.
“Since I am all grown up now…”
“All grown up, my foot.”
It was Jaesoo cutting him off.
And he looked at his son with a slightly hurt expression.
“In a parent’s eyes you are always a little kid, you punk. Look at Noraeja, that seventy-something son who put on rainbow-striped children’s clothes and acted cute for his parents who were over ninety. They say Noraeja wore the clothes little kids wear so his parents would not feel like they had grown old. It is fine to always stay a little kid in front of your parents.”
While Jaesoo felt deeply grateful to his son, who had worked hardest for the Agape Cinema franchise and had in effect revived the family’s finances, he also felt a heavy sense of guilt.
It was the duty of the head of the household not to make his family anxious.
He did not know how his eldest son, Gyeong Chanhyeon, had figured out their situation, but seeing how he had tried to help his father somehow had made his heart ache for no clear reason.
And now that he finally had some breathing room and wanted to help, the way his son refused to accept that help only made that vague feeling of hurt grow larger.
“Okaaay, Father.”
At his son’s sudden act of cuteness, Jaesoo frowned.
“Do not do stuff like that!”
“You are the one who told me to act cute…”
“I meant naturally, you know. When you do it out of nowhere like that, it just startles me, you brat.”
Thinking that must not have been what his father wanted, Chanhyeon scratched the back of his head, and seeing that, Jaesoo burst into loud laughter.
Then he asked once more,
“So how much do you need?”
Folding his arms, he posed the question again, but his son looked embarrassed and seemed to hesitate to answer.
“It is just that the amount I need is really big…”
“You punk. I am the manager of the first Agape Cinema franchise branch. I already talked it over with your mom, so do not worry.”
“For the next project… it looks like I will need around twenty billion won.”
“…?”
At the unexpectedly huge figure, Jaesoo just blinked without a word.
“Twenty billion…?”
“I am planning to build a CG company first. And then I will make the next project around that company.”
Hearing his son’s plan, his mouth fell open, his strength seemed to drain from his body, and his folded arms naturally dropped.
“I have heard computer graphics cost a lot of money, but it is not like this place is Hollywood… Can you really raise twenty billion? Ah, and the break-even point…”
“I will make it succeed somehow. And there is no way it will not succeed.”
With his eyes wide open, Chanhyeon looked at his father, whose gaze had gone unfocused.
“Sigh… Maybe I really have been seeing my son too much like a kid. I thought having about three hundred million saved up was… quite a lot.”
“Father, I will be grateful if you give it. Hehe. Three hundred million is not a small amount of money. The twenty billion is just the production budget for the next project. We still need to look more into the CG company.”
At his son’s words, Jaesoo gave an embarrassed smile and said,
“R-right?”
“They say many specks of dust make a great mountain. Hehe.”
“This is piling great mountains on top of great mountains, you punk…”
Looking at his son trying somehow to act cute, Jaesoo let out a sigh.
“I am sure, Father. I am going to put something tremendous out into the world.”
“…”
Without a word, he pulled his son into a tight hug.
“Ack… Father, a little more gently…”
“Hold still, you punk.”
“…”
As soon as he let go, Chanhyeon was breathing roughly, his face bright red.
“Have you been working out lately? Your body feels a bit thicker.”
“I am planning to make films for a long time.”
“You are overflowing with ambition, you punk. Who did you take after to be this greedy?”
“Of course I take after you, Father. Anyway, I need to head over to the office, so I will do the dishes. You are finished, right?”
After neatly finishing the dishes and then gathering his things for work, he heard his father say,
“Take it easy. Do not overdo it.”
“It is just a busy time right now. I will be going then!”
Watching his son’s back grow smaller as he walked away, Jaesoo smiled with satisfaction.
After a while, once her laughter had calmed down, Bong Jiyun came out of the bedroom.
“Did Chanhyeon go to work again?”
“He says he is busy. He really has grown up, that brat.”
“Are you sad that he has grown up?”
“A little, yeah.”
Maybe he simply swam in different waters now.
Back when they first screened the short film at the Agape Cinema, they had no idea it would turn into anything like this.
But in the space of about four years, Gyeong Chanhyeon’s position had risen to a completely different level.
He had even won at the Cannes Film Festival, albeit in an unofficial section, and if you were to name the person who had had the greatest impact on the Korean film industry over the past four years, the first name that came to mind was Gyeong Chanhyeon.
But he still seemed to have much left to show the world.
“Did you hear what he said earlier?”
At Jaesoo’s question, Jiyun replied as if it were nothing special.
“Twenty billion?”
“Yeah. Hearing that, you feel nothing?”
Watching his wife toss out the amount so casually, he looked flustered.
“He is my kid. He will figure it out. It is not the first or second time he has done something like this.”
“Even so, twenty billion is…”
“If it were not for him, things would have been hard for us anyway. Think back to four years ago. If he had not been there then, we would have been in real trouble.”
“I know, but still…”
As he wore an anxious expression, Jiyun rubbed his back and said,
“He is our kid. If even we do not believe in him, then who will? Just quietly cheer him on.”
I left the house and got in the car, heading straight for Seonghyeon Productions.
“Hmm…”
My father’s bitter smile kept circling in my head.
The way he looked so sorry that he could not be of greater help.
In my heart, I did not want to take the money, but I had no choice. I worried that if I refused it, it would wound my father’s pride even more.
As soon as I stepped into the office, even though it was Saturday, I saw that Junseong was already there, struggling over something.
“Hey. Is it not Saturday today? Why did you come in?”
“Look who is talking. Did you come here to play?”
The two of us laughed as we looked at each other, then he handed me a pretty thick stack of papers.
“Leaving aside the film investment budget for now, setting up the CG company comes first. I already sent an email to Taylor at the address you gave me.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“How diligent of you.”
Junseong frowned as he spoke.
“Enough with that. Taylor is no pushover either, you know. It was like she had been waiting. She immediately sent over a list of what she needs. So this is the budget plan I made based on what she sent.”
“Yeah…?”
Looking down at a copy of the budget, he began explaining step by step.
“The initial costs are no joke either. Special cameras, the CG software MAYA 5.0 made by a company called Autodesk. And dozens of computers that each cost several million won…”
What was written in the budget stack were not the costs for the next project, but only the expenses for building the CG infrastructure.
From a large space to use as a server room, to dozens of computers.
The software alone was far from cheap, and they needed a huge chroma key setup as well, so it all cost much more money than I had expected.
A total of 2.7 billion won.
Seeing that figure, I went blank for a moment.
When I stayed silent for a bit, Junseong, who was next to me, asked,
“Scared?”
“Not at all.”
“Oh?”
At my answer, he pretended to be impressed for a moment, then leaned his face in curiously and asked,
“So, have you thought about how you are going to persuade the chairman?”
“We have not even had twelve hours since we met. You think I could have come up with some brilliant idea in that time?”
At my words, he laughed and pointed at the budget stack.
“This hyung has finished his share of the work, so I will leave the rest to you.”
“For starters, how about we handle the CG company with our own hands?”
“What…?”
“How much spare money do you have?”
The sudden question seemed to fluster him so much he could not even answer at first, then he seemed to come to his senses and spoke.
“You are out of your mind? Are you shaking down your friend now?”
“Hey. Shaking down, what are you talking about? You should say we are cooperating as comrades. If we can get a firm grasp on this technology, we will be able to rake in every last bit of money out there.”
Frowning, he said,
“So you want me to invest all the money I earned at Seonghyeon Productions?”
“That is what I am going to do.”
“You really have no future, do you?”
“But I have a plan instead.”
At my words, he grabbed his forehead.
“Phew…”
“I will put in all my assets first.”
“…”
Without a word, he nodded.
“Father gave me three hundred million. I have 1.4 billion myself. If I take out a loan with the car as collateral, I can get even more.”
Frowning, he let out a deep sigh.
“So I just need to bring one billion?”
“Yeah.”
He seemed to mull something over for a moment, then shook his head and continued,
“Damn it. Then you and I will both put in 1.2 billion, and your father will do three hundred million. I would rather overextend myself a bit now than feel later like I got the short end of the stick when things go well.”
“You have quite the eye.”
“Shut up. If it were not for you, I would have quit long ago. I do not know if it is luck or skill, but things always work out when I do what you say. I guess it will be the same this time too…?”
Even after making his decision, he shook his head, his expression still wavering.
“If you want to back out, you can. I can always try pulling the money from somewhere else.”
“…”
“In that case, you will not have any shares in the best CG company in Korea, no, in the world.”
He shot me a look as if I were infuriating, then let out a small laugh as if he had no choice and said,
“That is exactly why I am putting in more money. Most of this is money I practically made by gambling on you and letting myself be tricked.”
“It is not gambling. I am a sure investment item.”
Hearing me, he snorted and tapped the desk with his finger.
“First, let us register the business, then set up the basic facilities and call Taylor over. After that…”
“Persuade the chairman and secure the film production funding?”
Frowning as if annoyed, he glared at me.
“We get each other annoyingly well.”
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