Smiling brightly as if he wanted to hide his bitterness, Hyunwoo said, “I envy you, Dukwoo.”
“For what?”
“You’re the only guy in this country who can tolerate Nami even when she shows a tantrum. Do you think she gets irritated by just anybody?”
“Oh, really?” said Dukwoo, scratching his head as if he didn’t think that far.
That was true. The fact that she got irritated with him over such a trifle thing showed she felt so close to him.
Hyunwoo said, as if he understood Nami, “I think Nami feels very stressed while doing activities as a TV talent. Who can she vent her stress to? It’s you, Dukwoo, so try to understand her with a benevolent heart.”
“I’m not venting out my stress to him. I’m really pissed off,” said Nami, leering at Dukwoo.
“Oh, come on, Nami. You must be really busy, I guess,” said Hyunwoo.
“Not right now. I’m meeting him once a week these days. I’m going to be busier next year. I wonder how he will react then,” said Nami, looking at Dukwoo.
“Don’t be too hard on him, Nami. Maybe he is acting like that because he misses you so much. By the way, do you have your plan for next year already?”
“Yea, I signed a contract for a sitcom.”
“Sitcom? Isn’t it the gateway to success for rookie stars, right?”
“Absolutely. I may meet a famous K-pop star. Yongjun Park is the main character in the sitcom.”
“Oh, that K-pop star Yongjun? It must be a great sitcom then.”
“There are lots of good things that will come out of me acting with such a K-pop star. I hear the upcoming sitcom has already been arranged for export to Japan, China, Taiwan, and other Asian countries for simultaneous release when it is done broadcasting in Korea next year.”
“Wow! Are you a main woman character?”
“No, the owner of my company tried very hard to make me the main character in vain. I’m just a rookie anyway,” said Nami, regrettably with a smile.
Nami Yu was associated with the entertainment group AT Entertainment. Its president was the youngest son of Osung Group, the biggest business group in Korea. With large amounts of money, it was the dominant player in the domestic entertainment market.
It was a big deal for such a company to strongly support a rookie like Nami as the main character.
“The owner comforted me when I failed, saying I should give in this time. In fact, originally a senior actress with AT Entertainment was supposed to take on the main role, so I think it’s right I give in this time.”
“I think you’ll become the main character of the sitcom in the next season.”
“No idea, but the owner said he would make that happen. He says I will be Asia’s best star in the near future,” said Nami with a bright smile, but Dukwoo didn’t feel good about it, with a sullen face.
Noticing it, Nami said coldly, “What’s wrong with your face, Dukwoo?”
“I can’t trust the owner of your company.”
“Can’t trust him? Why?”
“I hear he has had lots of scandals with women singers and actress with his company. I can see why his nickname is the Virgin Killer.”
“It’s all false rumors. You don’t know anything about it.”
Nami began to take side with the owner, getting irritated with Dukwoo and staring at him.
The atmosphere was suddenly tense. Hyunwoo felt they were going to start a quarrel soon.
Interrupting them quickly, Hyunwoo began to soothe Dukwoo, saying, “Hey, Dukwoo. You should trust Nami, to say the least. Nami, just try to understand Dukwoo. I think he wants to protect you when he is saying that.”
Only when he heard Hyunwoo’s advice did Dukwoo seem to realize that he was too hard on her,
“I’m sorry. I think I am nervous because I can’t see you more often.”
“Gee, you are thinking only of yourself!” retorted Nami.
Hyunwoo quickly changed the topic to the upcoming sitcom that Nami loved most.
“So, what is your role in the sitcom?”
“Well, I’m supposed to act as the daughter of a wealthy house and harass the main character. Though I’m not that important compared with the main female character, I still play an important role. In addition, I get lots of promotional stuff.”
At the moment Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide, “Promotional stuff?”
“Yea. Such as wardrobe, bags, shoes, accessories, etc. Namely, what I wear on my body.”
Hyunwoo felt this was the thing he had been looking for. If the luxury department of Aurum could make the best use of promotional stuff, there might be a breakthrough in its revival. When he thought as far as that, lots of other ideas came to his mind.
What if I provide them with a set for their sitcom instead of offering furniture?
Aurum’s luxury department could only produce a limited number of specialty furniture. In other words, they produced luxurious furniture to enhance the company’s image in very small quantity.
However, if Aurum could offer a whole set for Nami’s sitcom, the luxury team could design everything from the beds, drawers, desks and bookshelves to the wall paper. In that case, the consumers, the sitcom actors, could preview the predesigned rooms and select the one they like. Of course, when something more was needed, they could ask for it on the spot.
Bingo!
After spending some more time with them, Hyunwoo returned home and focused on the strategy.
The next Saturday afternoon Jungah waited for Hyunwoo’s car on the side of a street and waved to him when he was approaching. Next to her was Myunghun Koh.
If she had no particular appointment, Jungah went to the House of Happiness to discuss with the Anifan kids about the inaugural production of Ani & Funny every weekend, but it was Myunhun’s first visit.
When Hyunwoo stopped in front of them, Jungah and Myunghun got in the van quickly.
Myunghun bowed to Hyunwoo, saying “I’ve not seen you for a long time.”
“Yes, long time, no see. Thanks for coming.”
“You’re welcome. I should come here sometimes even though I work part-time. You can speak down to me as I’m much younger than you.”
“Oh, that sounds good. Hahaha”
They headed to the House of Happiness, where two people donating their talent were also present. They were also former employees of Imagingpia. They were supposed to visit the place by turns, namely on Saturday and Sunday respectively, but Hyunwoo suggested that the entire staff should meet Myunghun.
Hyunwoo looked at each of the participants carefully. He was familiar with all of them except for Myunghun whom he was meeting with for the first time. They got right into the discussion.
Hyunwoo emailed them the potential production one week ago, so they must have reviewed it at home. The story started with a boy and a girl who were each chosen by a god. The demon sends a goblin into the past to disturb them and bring chaos to the world. The boy and the girl detects this and travels to the past using their extraordinary power and protect the past and destroy the goblin. The overall story was nothing special, but its details were pretty interesting.
However, there was something lacking there. Compared with Garbage World, there was much more stuff lacking in it. Namly, there were no eye-catching elements.
Hyunwoo started the discussion by asking, “What do you think?”
“I think there is room for improvement, but I can’t figure out how to improve it.”
“I agree. It has no impact factor.”
“How can we make the consumers feel impact then?” asked Hyunwoo.
Nbody couldn’t answer it, even though they must have given it a lot of thought. Anifan kids were also silent, though they felt they needed to make up for the production, but Jungah was trying to read their countenance as if she had something to say.
“Jungah, what do you think? In which area do you feel it’s most lacking?”
“I guess there are no interesting characters here,” said Jungah cautiously.
Hyunwoo felt the same. The characters of the production were all far from interesting, and the storyline was also banal as if he had seen it already somewhere.
Hyunwoo added, seconding her opinion to boost her confidence, “I agree. The characters are too common and uninspiring. I think she pointed out the problem correctly.”
Jungah continued, “This production is intended for those younger than elementary school children, and its contents are educational. Accordingly, there can be nothing special about it. If that’s the case, we have to find impact through its characters.”
Hyunwoo nodded his head, as if he agreed with her, which made her feel more confident.
“Why don’t we create interesting characters? For example, we create one bad and one good male and female angel respectively in the story, who basically act as the comic reliefl. Their roles are to help the main characters.”
Listening to her quietly, Seoim, the most talented story writer of the House of Happiness, exclaimed ‘Ah!’ from her lips. All the story ideas of the animation works of the Anifan kids came out of her brain.
Hyunwoo felt sort of nervous, anxious to hear what she wanted to say.
Hummm… I think she might come up with some great solution.