Thirty minutes before Gyeong Chanhyeon revealed his aspirations.
As the head of <GO Entertainment>, Go Jinhun waited for admission in front of the Seonghyeon KMD Pictures building.
When he saw Seonghyeon KMD Pictures’ new building, admiration naturally came out of Go Jinhun.
“Ha… The building is really nice.”
“It is. CEO. Haha. The CEOs of Seonghyeon’s production company really are amazing people, after all.”
“That’s true. Haha.”
A building like this in Hollywood, America.
After handing over his invitation, he had been waiting while wondering in his head just how much it must have cost to prepare this building.
Then an event staff member spoke with a bright smile.
“Welcome, CEO Go.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Inside, far more people than he had expected were enjoying the luncheon.
Beyond the people holding glasses of champagne and conversing in a friendly atmosphere, movie posters came into view.
Among them, the one that immediately caught his eye was the poster for <Jawol>.
It was the work that, through him being Gwak Yeonji’s manager, had allowed him to meet Gyeong Chanhyeon and Lee Junseong.
The three years he had spent in the CEO position at <GO Entertainment> until now.
A time that was long if called long, and short if called short.
During that time, the things that had happened at <GO Entertainment> flashed through his mind.
Zetais, the six-member male idol group launched after two years of preparation.
It might seem like a relatively short time to prepare idols, but most of the kids were ones who had crossed over from other agencies.
After the “Gangster Organization Gullnis Entertainment Incident” that Kim Seunghun had been part of, entertainment agencies connected to gangster organizations collapsed, and the kids who had been trembling inside them came looking after hearing of GO Entertainment’s reputation.
The raw gems there had been left unpolished, with nothing but their money being extorted…
And even if only to stand in place of the adults who had stolen their dreams and money, Go Jinhun did his best.
“…”
Thanks to that, they were able to debut within a short time.
And because other idols had already prepared the ground in the Asian market, they were able to advance easily.
But…
While Go Jinhun was lost in old thoughts and standing there blankly for a moment, an employee called out to him.
“CEO! It looks like the opening address is about to start. Let’s hurry.”
“Ah, yes.”
Go Jinhun and the employee hurriedly avoided the people and ran toward the front of the event hall. Just then, Gyeong Chanhyeon was adjusting the height of the microphone.
“Whew, it looks like it’s just starting now.”
“It does. That’s a relief.”
Gyeong Chanhyeon’s opening address was fairly attention-grabbing and provocative.
It felt as if he were speaking toward someone in particular.
‘Directors who were unable to seize any opportunities for reasons other than their cinematic ability.’
‘A meaningless film or anything like that.’
There was a strong feeling that he was trying to take aim at someone with words like those.
Gyeong Chanhyeon would not have said such things thoughtlessly.
What on earth was the reason?
Just as Go Jinhun was thinking about it, Gyeong Chanhyeon’s opening address came to an end.
“Hmm…”
Seeing Gyeong Chanhyeon after he finished the opening address, he felt as if he had grown another step.
Gyeong Chanhyeon and Lee Junseong. He had known long ago that they were not ordinary people, but he had never dreamed they would succeed at such a fast pace.
The thing he had told Gyeong Chanhyeon when they first met a few years ago.
To the point that the words, “The core of soft power is music,” felt meaningless.
Gyeong Chanhyeon had created a powerful influence through film.
Of course, <GO Entertainment> was also sailing smoothly, but it was limited to the Asian market.
Whether with actors or idols, they had produced successful results in every field, but what he had said to Gyeong Chanhyeon felt like a dream-like story.
It was a self-deprecating situation where they could not even look toward America.
Rather, because he thought that carelessly reaching for it might only cause a great loss, he had not even dared to challenge it recklessly.
“CEO Lee Junseong’s opening address is a little long…”
At the words of the employee beside him, Go Jinhun suddenly snapped back to his senses.
“It is all valuable and useful advice. Let’s listen well. Haha…”
After quite a long time had passed, the opening address seemed to end.
Gyeong Chanhyeon and Lee Junseong came down from the platform.
“Oh, Jinhun!”
Lee Junseong, who was some distance away, called Go Jinhun first.
Beside him, Gyeong Chanhyeon also approached together with a bright smile.
“Oh! Haha. It’s been a while, everyone. Ha, this is incredible! You already have such a nice building too…”
“Zetais’s status these days is no joke either. I heard they’re insanely popular in Asia. You said there was a friend on your side who wanted to become an actor, right?”
At Lee Junseong’s words, Go Jinhun nodded with a bright smile.
“Yeah. His name is An Siho. He has good visuals, and his voice is pretty decent too.”
“When we aim for the Asian film market later, we might be able to make him properly explode once. Haha. Wow, when Gyeong Chanhyeon told me a few years ago to ask you to become CEO, I really wondered what kind of nonsense he was talking about…”
At Lee Junseong’s words, Gyeong Chanhyeon shrugged once.
“If you just listen to me, rice cakes will fall even while you’re sleeping, man.”
“Oh, really? This is why I shouldn’t praise you. I praised you, so why is it not a whale dancing, but you getting drunk on your own hype?”
Seeing those two bicker for the first time in a long while, Go Jinhun smiled faintly, then said to Gyeong Chanhyeon,
“Ah, I have something to say… I think the conversation might get a little long. Would you happen to have time? Since so many people came…”
“Me? Or him?”
When Lee Junseong asked, Go Jinhun looked back and forth between the two of them, then said,
“If both of you have time! Both of you. Would that be okay?”
“Mm… I have to do something with those Hollywood gentlemen over there…”
At Lee Junseong’s words, Go Jinhun answered with a regretful smile.
“Ah, it’s fine. Haha. We can do it next time.”
“What kind of story is it? I’m getting scared about what kind of bomb you brought again.”
At Lee Junseong’s words, Go Jinhun waved his hand.
“Ah, no. Haha. It’s not to the level of a bomb… It’s just a small problem.”
At the sight of a white man waving from afar, Lee Junseong made an apologetic gesture with his hand and said,
“Ah, I’ll go deal with those gentlemen over there. They’re important people.”
Lee Junseong went off with a smile to talk with the representatives of the distribution companies. Go Jinhun smiled awkwardly and said to Gyeong Chanhyeon,
“Should we move somewhere a little quieter? It’s a bit noisy here……”
“Yeah. Let’s go. I’m not a fan of loud places either. Only someone like him would like that.”
Watching Lee Junseong grinning broadly and clinking glasses one after another, Gyeong Chanhyeon smiled faintly.
I moved with Go Jinhun to the terrace.
When we came out to the terrace where there were no crowds, it felt like I could breathe again in the clear air.
“Whew… So what did you want to talk about?”
At my question, Go Jinhun spoke with an apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry, Chanhyeon.”
“Huh? All of a sudden? Why?”
“America is harder than I thought…… I promised you something, but it isn’t easy……”
Advancing into America.
Of course I knew it would not be an easy thing.
I did trust Go Jinhun, but it seemed it was harder than expected.
“No. You’re already making more than enough profit right now. Zetais are doing well these days, aren’t they? That alone is something.”
“Still, I made a promise to you. But most of the predictions say that if we try to enter America right now, we’ll only take a huge loss…”
“Hey, rather than losing money trying to force your way into America, preparing properly like you are is much better.”
Go Jinhun definitely knew how to read the situation.
The few memories about idols that remained in my mind.
The kids who had made grand media plays about advancing into America had failed completely.
Huge losses, small profits. And on top of that, American recognition they never managed to gain. At the same time, their popularity in Korea plummeted.
“I thought if we carelessly tried to enter America, we might even lose the popularity we worked so hard to gain in Asia. So I couldn’t challenge it recklessly.”
“It’s fine. I’ve already recovered what I invested in <GO Entertainment>, and there’s much more left over. You’re not in a position where you need to apologize. Honestly. I thought you were going to hit me with an apology or something.”
I took a sip of the cocktail in front of me and fell into thought for a moment.
The time when Go Jinhun succeeded in the future was around 2021.
That was far too different from now, in 2006, starting with the era itself.
Over the fifteen years, the world would change completely.
Especially with media that had high volatility, such as media, film, and music, the scope of that change was even greater.
But right now, not only was SNS not active yet, there were still several years left before smartphones would become popularized.
“Hmm…”
The reason I was thinking this hard.
Of course, there was also the stake I had in GO Entertainment, but their success in America had the possibility of producing tremendous results.
Because of the clear limitation of being Korean, no matter how good a film I made, I could not spread my influence throughout the world.
In the end, the solution was to raise Korea itself to the status of Korea in 2021, as I knew it.
If that happened, then being Korean could instead work as a strength within Hollywood.
But the answer did not come easily.
“But surely, if Americans can properly learn about Zetais and these kids, they can succeed. But that opportunity… I can’t see it. There’s nothing I can do either. I’m sorry… even though you backed us so much…”
If their music had not been good, they would certainly have been buried even in the Asian market.
But Zetais were not like that.
They were latecomers, but there was also Junseong’s evaluation that they had become the most successful group in the Asian market and were leading the Korean wave in Asia.
Thanks to them, quite a lot of profit had gathered, and <GO Entertainment> had been able to grow quite a bit in size.
“An opportunity…”
There was something Director Bong Joon-ho had once said in praise of a world-famous Korean idol group.
[Although I am here at the Golden Globes right now, the power they enjoy is more than about 3,000 times greater than mine.]
Those words.
Of course, they were words mixed with Director Bong Joon-ho’s characteristic humility, but looking at something like that, as Go Jinhun had once said, music was culturally stronger than film.
If we could only create that opportunity…
But how?
‘It’s not like I can make smartphones right now. It’s not like I can create SNS either. How am I supposed to create that kind of influence in 2006…!’
When it came to business, my head would not turn.
If it were film marketing, I could squeeze something out somehow, but I did not know idol marketing well.
What was there that I could do…
“Ugh…”
When I clutched my head and let out a groan, Go Jinhun, who was in front of me, asked,
“Why, are you okay? Uh… should I call an ambulance?”
“No. Hah… My head just isn’t working well.”
When I took a sip of the champagne in front of me, a sweet scent lingered at the tip of my nose.
“As expected, when something isn’t working, you need to eat something sweet……”
I was savoring the sweet scent lingering at the tip of my nose, but when I saw Go Jinhun’s expression, I could not continue speaking.
His expression was mixed with worry and guilt.
Seeing how tightly his shoulders were hunched, as if the burden on him had been quite heavy, I patted his shoulder and said,
“You’re doing well, so don’t go around feeling sorry for nothing. Anyone watching would think I’m some vicious employer. Think about Lee Junseong. If you were losing money right now, he would have pulled his hands off immediately. But he’s supporting you.”
“Still…”
“What do you mean, still? I said it’s fine.”
The kids who, several years later, would try to advance into America and fail.
They had done so much media play in Korea too, saying things like they had stood as the opening team for a famous band, that even I, who had no interest in them, knew about it.
But it had been quite shocking to later find out that all of it was inflated lies.
The strategy of “becoming famous for being famous.”
Which meant that such strategies did not work…
I thought about the information on idols that remained in my mind, as if wringing out a dry rag.
‘Think. Think…! Think!’
Then, in that moment.
The best choice I could make flashed through my mind.
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