Chapter 217. They Meet (2)

‘Hm?’

KangYoon felt a strange gaze land on him as he shook hands with minister Jung ManSoo.

‘Who is it?’

It felt as though someone was scanning him from head to toe.
KangYoon felt a weird aura about a caucasian man.

‘…..’
‘…..’

The two met eyes briefly.

‘What a strange guy.’

He wondered if he had seen this man before, but no one came to mind.
At that moment, someone grabbed his shoulders.

“Oppa.”
“JooAh?”

KangYoon’s eyes widened.
JooAh was supposed to be in America right now. She should have been in the middle of practice.
As though she understood what he was worried about, JooAh sighed.

“…I took some days off. I have to be practicing… but this damned company won’t let me. They really make me do everything.”
“You have a hard life.”

KangYoon shook his head.
While he understood, he found her pitiful as well.
Soon, KangYoon and his company greeted all the people from the government and entered the venue.
Although this was the first time KangYoon and his company was attending this party, no one looked down on them.
Recently, Min JinSeo joined their company as well, and the scale of the company had become incredibly large.
“I’m honored to spend some time with the people who lead the Korean culture. Also…”

After a boring speech from Minister Jung ManSoo, The events proceeded one by one.
People reported about how widespread Korean culture has become, as well as how the government will support the celebrities that are popular in other countries.
The majority of the content was that the government will give support in various directions and negotiate with other countries in order to help the celebrities that go to foreign countries.

“…That is it. Does anyone have any questions?”

Senior chief Jung ChaSoo finished his presentation.
However, no one raised their hand.
Everyone believed that nothing good would come out of sticking out like a sore thumb.
At that moment, one person raised his hand.

“May I ask a question?”

It was KangYoon.
When Senior chief Jung ChaSoo allowed him to speak, he started speaking calmly.

“Not long ago, there was an incident where the opinions about the Korean wave deteriorated rapidly due to the actress Min JinSeo.”

His words made the people of MG Entertainment, who were directly involved with this incident, shocked.
Not only that, some of the famous journalists that were invited to the party focused their eyes on him with interest.

“What the public thinks the reason is, is that Min JinSeo arrogantly ignored the script without even giving it a glance. Of course, I’m not saying that she actually did so, but that’s not the point here… anyway, thanks to the incident regarding Min JinSeo this time, the image of Korean actors and actresses have fallen in China. Not only but the actors and actresses that are already active in the Chinese industry received damage, the ones that aimed for the Chinese market now have a higher hurdle. The reason for all this is that we were plastered with the image that we ignored Chinese Guan Xi, or relationships, so to speak.”

KangYoon took a sip of water before continuing to speak.

“Right now, this situation still hasn’t been resolved. Thankfully, the singers have it easier… but what I want to say is that trivial happenings causing big scandals like what happened this time occur frequently in this industry. I am very thankful that the government is paying attention to the Korean wave, but… I wish to know what the government can do for the celebrities that have received damages like this.”
“…..”

Senior chief Jung ChaSoo became silent.
Although he spoke quite a lot, what KangYoon was basically asking was ‘what can you actually do for us?’
The actual plans to support the celebrities that popularize Korean culture.
After contemplating for a long while, Senior chief Jung ChaSoo started speaking.

“First… I am deeply sorry about what happened to Miss Min JinSeo. What comes first is to never let such a thing happen again. So we…we…”

However, he couldn’t speak so easily.
He had spoken abstract words precisely in order to boast that they were doing ‘something’, but now he was asked the concrete details.

‘Ah… dammit. It’s not like we can do anything about the Chinese media!’

The faces of the vice-minister and the minister behind him were getting uglier and uglier.
When he didn’t get a reply, KangYoon opened his mouth.

“We wish for the government to stand firmly behind us with clear standards. Someone interpreted Min JinSeo’s incident as such – that the Korean actors are becoming too big in China so that the Chinese government intentionally drove the incident in such a direction.”
“…Whoa.”
“It’s only an estimate since we don’t have clear evidence, but it’s plausible considering which party has the most to gain out of this incident. After all, the empty spots left behind by Korean actors and actresses like Min JinSeo were filled by Chinese ones. I just thought ‘what if the government used their influence and helped her out a little?’ … I apologize. I was just too bitter about our JinSeo… Looks like I’ve overstepped my boundaries.”

Silence flowed.
KangYoon’s words resounded deeply within everyone’s hearts.
Actually, everyone here fought for themselves for this ‘Korean wave’, and never had firm support. In fact, most of them started from scratch when going to foreign countries.

“…We shall look into it more deeply.”

It wasn’t Senior chief Jung ChaSoo that spoke, but Minister Jung ManSoo behind him that spoke with a serious nod.

‘World Entertainment, Lee KangYoon, huh. This guy… isn’t ordinary.”

Those words weren’t empty promises.
They will make their move.
Richard’s eyes shone brighter as he watched KangYoon make those heavy asses sit up in their seats.

***

After the announcement, the party resumed.
KangYoon toasted with President Choo ManJi and talked about recent matters.

“…If it’s Min JinSeo, she’ll definitely be able to stand on her feet again.”
“Thank you for your words.”

KangYoon smiled at President Choo ManJi’s words.
He knew that President Choo ManJi meant his words.

“Fufu. There’s you, who’s willing to go against those arrogant dudes for Min JinSeo, so she will definitely make a comeback.”
“What? Go against them? I just…”
“Hahaha. I know. Oh yeah, do you know that World Entertainment is the number 1 company that trainees want to enter these days?”

KangYoon shrugged his shoulders.
Thinking about it, his website’s servers almost couldn’t handle the influx of videos seeking to apply to their company.

“If any of our recruits go your way, please chase them away. Hahaha.”
“Oh, President Choo…”
“I don’t care about anyone else, but I don’t want to be compared to you. It might make me look bad.”

KangYoon smiled as he toasted with President Choo ManJi.
While they were talking, Joo YeAh from DiaTeen had a smile on her face with both of her hands holding chocolate tarts.

“…YeAh, you’ll get fat.”
“Noo….”

Joo YeAh looked as though she was about to cry and did not put down the chocolate tarts, but President Choo ManJi became stricter.

“You have a photoshoot as well soon. You’re the main model, so do you want to look fat in that?”
“Ugh… Can’t I start tomorrow? Please? Please? Ah~n, prescient. please?”

She tried to appeal with cuteness, but President Choo ManJi snorted.

“Put them down.”
“…Tch.”

In the end, she frowned and started eating the cabbage salad she brought.
Pitying her, KangYoon made a bitter smile.

“YeAh, good luck.”
“*sob sob*. Thank you, composer. Our president is so evil.”
“What was that?”
“Hiek!”

Joo YeAh ran towards the vice-president with her plate.

“Sheesh, even though she’s the center visual of the team, she’s so cocky. Oh, how good would it be if she was a little like HyunJung.”

Seeing that, KangYoon shook his head.

“There’s no fun in everyone being nice. It’s because there’s a girl like YeAh that DiaTeen is popular, don’t you think?”
“Haha. I guess. Oh, president. Can I ask you for a favor?”
“A favor?”
“I think I need your help a little. If it’s alright with you, may I visit your company sometime?”

KangYoon nodded his head.

“Anytime.”
“Thank you.”

President Choo ManJi took a step back.
As soon as he did that, President Kang ShiMyoung of Yerang Entertainment and Director Jung HyunTae of MG Entertainment approached them. Behind him was the tall Caucasian man.

“Hello, President Kang.”
“President Choo, President Lee. It’s been a long time.”

President Kang ShiMyoung shook hands with President Choo ManJi and KangYoon with a smile on his face.
It wasn’t a smile on the inside though…
Director Jung HyunTae did the same.

“It’s been a long time since I saw both of you. Especially you, team leader, I mean, President Lee.”
“I guess that’s the case. It has been a long time, director.”

As there were no good feelings between KangYoon and Director Jung HyunTae, a sharp air flowed between the two.
Even as they talked about recent matters, they probed each other out.

‘Well, then. Let’s see, huh?

Richard looked at KangYoon.

***

“MoonHee-unni. Shall we stop here for today?”

HeeYoon asked In MoonHee, who walked out of the booth exhausted.
However, In MoonHee shook her head saying that it was okay.

“No. It’s fine. I’ll go home after one more hour.”
“Okay then.”

HeeYoon closed her music notebook and stretched her arms out.
She had thought up of dozens of melodies while listening to In MoonHee singing.
However, none of the melodies were usable.
When In MoonHee left the studio saying that she wanted to go to the bathroom. HeeYoon put her head against the desk.

“Trot is really hard… It’s not about the melody. It’s about how to effectively put emotions into the song….”

HeeYoon shook her head since she didn’t get much inspiration.
She finally realized why KangYoon told her to listen to In MoonHee’s voice.
Not only was In MoonHee really capable, but the genre she was doing also wasn’t an easy one.
Just as she was filled with worries, the door to the studio opened quietly.

“Huh? HyunAh-unni.”
“You aren’t busy, are you?”

It was Lee HyunAh who walked in.
HeeYoon gave her a seat.

“I have something I want to consult you about.”

Lee HyunAh took out a piece of crumpled paper. This was the song that she showed off several times before.
As HeeYoon knew her style, she put the score on the music stand.

“Then I’ll start playing.”

HeeYoon started playing Lee HyunAh’s song.
A calm melody started ringing inside the studio.

‘It doesn’t feel bad at all.’

HeeYoon’s eyes widened since this song was dramatically different from the song she had made until now.

***

The conversation between World Entertainment and MG Entertainment became the center of attention instantly.
Not only did World take Eddios and Min JinSeo, who were originally from MG, but even the president was also originally at MG, as well as the director.
There were rumors of enmity between them as well.
There was no way these people, who liked to gossip, would stay still.

“I’m really glad to see that you’ve made it this far.”

Director Jung HyunTae toasted KangYoon with a smile.

“Thank you, sir.”
“It looks like you’re having a good time, MinAh. I’m glad to see that you’re doing good over at World.”

Jung MinAh greeted him politely as well.

“Thank you, director.”
“Yes, yes. MinAh. You don’t smoke as you did before, do you?”

It was a light jab.
Just as Jung MinAh’s eyes were about to turn scary, KangYoon stepped in.

“Hahaha, director. That was when she was still an immature trainee. She never touched it since she debuted.”

The people around reacted sensitively to that.
Jung MinAh looked as though she didn’t react to his words, but she was actually boiling on the inside.

“Is that so? Smoking isn’t easy to stop. One or two years of not smoking doesn’t mean you’ve completely stopped. I just said this out of worry for you, MinAh. Don’t take it to heart.”

Jung MinAh found it absurd.
Then there was no reason to talk about it here, no?

‘Ah…’

Jung MinAh looked up at KangYoon, feeling warm from her hands.
KangYoon’s hands had covered her hands.
Perhaps this was what it felt like to be protected? She felt much more at ease now.
KangYoon continued to speak.

“I’m really thankful for your magnanimity to care for someone that left the company, director.”
“You don’t have to sugar-coat it so much. You’re embarrassing me.”

As Director Jung HyunTae had a leisurely smile on his face, KangYoon smiled right back at him.

“Haha. Not at all. You’re worth respecting. I’m really thankful for your magnanimity to let Eddis and JinSeo go. Although they weren’t able to continue working with you, I heard you supported them a lot…”
“W, wait. S, stop!”

Director Jung Hyuntae suddenly shouted.

‘Oh no!’

KangYoon brought out a sensitive topic as well.

‘Who do you think you’re touching?’

Oh yeah? You wanna fight? Then let’s fight.
His heart was on fire as well.
It was clear that MG would be at a disadvantage if they went into detail about Min JinSeo or Eddios. Nothing good would come out of talking about that here.

‘…Director Jung is no good.

Seeing Director Jung HyunTae so helpless, Richard stepped in.