1
The next morning.
At 8:30, the managers streamed into the office in a crowd.
"What is this, Park Geon-ho? Don't tell me you stayed up all night?"
"No. I came to work at eight."
"Why? Does Actress Jo have a schedule?"
"I wanted to speak with you, Team Leader."
"What is it? What kind of accident did you cause this time?"
Park Geon-ho took Team 5 Leader Han Sang-woo to the rooftop and briefly reported what had happened the previous day.
"So you caught a plagiarizing composer? You did?"
"To be precise, the Singer Division caught him. I only tipped them off."
"So? What did the Singer Division say? Surely they aren't planning to pretend nothing happened and move on."
"Jena bought me a deluxe lunchbox yesterday."
"They're settling this with a lunchbox?"
"A deluxe lunchbox. It cost thirty thousand won."
"It's still a lunchbox! Anyway, I'll report this matter separately to the division director, so bear that in mind."
Team Leader Han Sang-woo didn't like standing out.
He was good at reading the people around him and tended to follow the majority when that was what they wanted, even if he disliked it.
When the previous Team 5 leader left with the managers who followed him, creating a vacancy, the other team leaders had recommended Team Leader Han Sang-woo because of that disposition.
But that didn't mean he was indecisive.
He knew how to share the blame for a junior and how to speak up when something seemed wrong.
"By the way, I submitted a correction request for So-hee's N Portal information yesterday. One award was missing."
"Good work. You need to manage things like that meticulously."
"I also got Drama Weekly to change an article's headline."
"Drama Weekly? That outlet isn't on good terms with us?"
"I gently coaxed them by promising to give them some stories in the future. Nothing good comes from making an enemy of a news outlet, right?"
"All right. Handle that as you see fit. More importantly, what about the report? Are you writing it?"
"It's not due until next week?"
"Even if it's next week, you should write it in advance. Don't you know what the deputy division director is like?"
The managers disliked Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan because he had no convictions of his own.
He often said one thing in meetings, then said the opposite in front of Division Director Kang Young-jin.
"I've established the broad framework."
"Have you? What is it?"
"It's a little obvious, but I think we need to change her image. Jo So-hee has an overwhelmingly strong image. It might be different if she were older, but she's far too young, isn't she?"
"That's true."
"And I'm thinking about growing her NewTube channel."
"Her NewTube channel? You mean Actress Jo's personal channel, not the company channel, right?"
"Yes. I checked it yesterday, and the most recent upload was four months ago."
"It should still have a fair number of subscribers, shouldn't it?"
"One hundred thirty thousand. It's not bad, but compared to So-hee's name recognition, it's a little disappointing."
Only a handful of actors in their twenties operated personal NewTube channels.
Among Jo-Jeong-Park-Joo-Kim, Jeong Yu-min and Park Min-seo, who belonged to Wooju Entertainment, used the company channel.
Kim Hye-rin's channel, launched in November 2023, had barely exceeded fifty thousand subscribers.
The only one with a bigger channel than Jo So-hee was Joo Hyeon-gyeong at a small or medium-sized agency, and her subscriber count had reached 190,000.
"But does she really need to use NewTube? Young actors don't do it much these days, do they?"
"Thinking about the future, it would be good to grow it in advance. Look at Actress Shin Se-hee. They say she bought a building with the revenue from her NewTube channel, don't they?"
"That was only possible because she's Shin Se-hee."
"Exactly. Actress Jo So-hee feels like an upgraded version of Actress Shin Se-hee, doesn't she?"
"Don't say that anywhere else. You'll be in serious trouble."
"I'm only saying it because I'm with you, Team Leader. And if we promote So-hee on the company channel, every other artist will be buried. Do you think Jena created her own channel for no reason?"
Wooju Entertainment's Singer Division maintained a policy of using a shared NewTube channel exclusive to the division.
Jena had also used the shared channel consistently from the beginning of her career, but she made a new channel and went independent the year before last.
That was because Jena's overwhelming presence buried the other artists.
For a similar reason, if Jo So-hee appeared on Wooju Entertainment's shared channel, the existing actors were highly likely to suffer.
'They'll be compared with Jo So-hee, who supposedly looks flawless even in an extreme close-up. How are they supposed to endure that?'
Team Leader Han Sang-woo seemed to think the same way, because he nodded.
"Let's move past NewTube. What about improving her image? How are you going to do that?"
"I'm still thinking about it."
"You punk. Are you going to write that in the report?"
"That's why I'm asking you to give me some ideas, Team Leader."
"What ideas? Did you leave your ideas with me for safekeeping?"
Truthfully, he hadn't brought it up with high expectations.
Every team leader had different strengths and weaknesses. Team Leader Han Sang-woo lacked flashes of inspiration, but he had good practical sense and crisis-management ability.
"Then at least think about it with me."
"This punk is already putting his team leader to work?"
"You should help me that much. I'm a rookie."
He had brought out his rookie shield because he seemed to be standing out too much on his own, but it didn't work on Team Leader Han Sang-woo.
"What do you mean, rookie? Are you an ordinary rookie?"
"Then what am I?"
"You're Actress Jo's manager! Anyway, plenty of managers are watching you, so do a good job. Understood?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo took a cigarette from his pocket.
After putting it between his lips, he held the pack out to Park Geon-ho.
"I'm fine."
"Did you quit?"
"I should."
"Did she tell you to quit?"
"I heard Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju uses these instead?"
Park Geon-ho pulled a cigarette-pack-sized box of Obmint from his pocket.
Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju had given it to him as a gift yesterday. The candies were small, but that made them convenient to carry.
"Yes. If you're going to manage Actress Jo, quit. That would be better. And take more care with how you dress."
"Doesn't this look all right?"
"You wore that yesterday?"
"The shirt has been washed."
"Buy some clothes when you get paid. You'll earn plenty of bonuses while managing Actress Jo, so invest in advance."
"Yes."
"More importantly, who should I assign Actor Han to?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo muttered quietly as he lit his cigarette.
Park Geon-ho responded as though he had been waiting for that question.
"I thought about it while writing the handover report too. Why don't you take charge of him, Team Leader?"
"Me?"
"You know Actor Han Do-hoon requires a lot of attention."
"You punk? Now that he's not your responsibility, that's how you want to play it?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo said his piece, but he couldn't deny the facts.
Han Do-hoon wasn't described as an actor who brought out people's maternal instincts for no reason.
"So? You want me to clean up after Actor Han?"
"Unless it's you, Team Leader, it'll probably be difficult to manage Actor Han Do-hoon properly."
"Then what about the actors I already manage? You want me to send them away?"
"You can manage them together. I'll help whenever I have time."
"Phew....... Will you really help?"
"This hasn't been decided yet, but I recommended Actor Han Do-hoon to play Actress Jo's romantic counterpart."
"What? When?"
"Yesterday. Deputy Team Leader Ahn Hye-ju said she'd return to Blue Media today and discuss it, and it'll probably happen. I appealed to the screenwriter too."
"Really?"
Team Leader Han Sang-woo repeatedly drew on his cigarette as though deliberating, then nodded.
If Han Do-hoon played Jo So-hee's romantic counterpart, he would finally get a chance to shine.
Missing out on that achievement would be foolish.
"Fine. But when I'm busy, you handle him personally on set."
"Of course. Actor Han Do-hoon gave me these clothes too."
"I know, punk. I can tell the price range at a glance. How could you possibly have afforded them?"
"Ahh. As expected of you, Team Leader. I respect you."
"That's enough. Keep your mouth shut about it for the time being. Understood?"
"Yes! Team Leader."
He went back down to his desk at nine and organized the report.
Now that he had established the direction, it was time to fill in the method.
"I'll need to hire an editor to manage the NewTube channel too, won't I?"
Park Geon-ho opened ClipForge, a job-matching site for NewTube editors.
The home page displayed a ranking of popular editors, and every one of them charged a considerable fee.
MonoCut (Yoon**, male)
Specialties: Cinematic vlogs, music video editing
ClipForge Rating: 9.67 / Customer Satisfaction: 9.50
Fee: 1.2 million won+ for a ten-minute video
MemeSmith (Kim**, male)
Specialties: Variety-show captions, meme editing, short-form video
ClipForge Rating: 9.71 / Customer Satisfaction: 9.33
Fee: 300,000 won+ for a short-form video, 800,000 won+ for a ten-minute video
Loopra (Song**, female)
Specialties: Music channels, live sessions, cover-song editing
ClipForge Rating: 9.75 / Customer Satisfaction: 9.18.
Fee: 1 million won+ for a ten-minute video
IconLight (Jeong**, male)
Specialties: Documentaries, educational and lecture videos
ClipForge Rating: 8.88 / Customer Satisfaction: 9.75
Fee: 500,000 won+ for a ten-minute video
NeonPunch (Ha**, female)
Specialties: Fashion and beauty short-form video, trendy editing
ClipForge Rating: 9.75 / Customer Satisfaction: 9.10
Fee: 300,000 won+ for a short-form video, 800,000 won+ for a ten-minute video
"Wouldn't the side expense end up bigger than the main one?"
Growing Jo So-hee's personal channel didn't mean drastically increasing the number of uploaded videos.
He would aim for one standard video per week, with at least three per month.
He intended to fill the remaining slots with short-form videos.
But if he hired MemeSmith or NeonPunch, the editing costs alone would easily reach five million won per month.
Jo So-hee wasn't the sort to spare money when it came to managing herself.
But if they spent the money and the results weren't good, her trust in him could be broken.
"Right. Let's be realistic. An editor who can adapt to Jo So-hee might be better than one with a highly distinctive style."
He lowered his standards and opened the page for rookie editors.
There were so many editors seeking work that he sorted them by their ClipForge ratings.
ClipForge only allowed editors to register after submitting at least three portfolio pieces and passing a basic screening.
The portfolios used for screening were made public to all members for evaluation, and unless someone was a professional editor, earning a score of 9.0 or higher wasn't easy.
Starting with editors rated in the low eights, Park Geon-ho clicked them one by one and watched their portfolio videos.
"PlitterCut doesn't seem bad. This person, CutLink, seems all right too......."
While he searched for promising editors, visitors arrived.
"Hello, Manager Park Geon-ho. I'm Lee Ha-jin from Reve. This is our CEO."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Jang Mu-hyeon."
"I'm Park Geon-ho. Please come this way."
Reve Enterprise was the production company that had handled the commercial shoot with Han Do-hoon.
Park Geon-ho had been waiting after hearing that Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan had summoned them, but he hadn't imagined the CEO and a director would come in person.
"Manager Park. We've met before. Do you happen to remember me?"
"Of course. Um...... I attended the last contract signing too, didn't I?"
"Thank you for remembering. But will Deputy Division Director Jo Yeong-chan not be joining us?"
"Ah, there was a slight misunderstanding during the reporting process. The deputy division director misunderstood something, but it has been resolved."
"Ah, is that so?"
"If I'd known even the CEO would come, I would've called you in advance, but I wasn't thoughtful enough. I apologize."
"Not at all. I'm truly glad the misunderstanding has been cleared up. Isn't that right, CEO?"
"Oh, of course. We were worried this incident might mean we could no longer work with Wooju Entertainment."
Reve Enterprise was a highly capable company for its size.
Starting with CEO Jang Mu-hyeon, a former director at a global advertising agency with excellent instincts.
Director Lee Ha-jin and the other team members were all established figures in the industry as well.
That was why he had often worked with them during his time at SH Entertainment.
'Even though I've regressed, their skills won't have gone anywhere...... It would be better to stay on good terms with them.'