Rookie Talent Agent Knows It All-Chapter 774: Finding the Director (1)

"My total annual salary last year including bonuses was about 1.7 billion won. And this year, it's expected to exceed 2.5 billion."

I brought up my salary boldly to stop any further talk about the Jung Yoon-Ho risk. I wanted to make it clear I was being treated better than anyone else in the industry here at Hoop Entertainment.

However, I didn't mention the shares I was set to receive. The 15% stake in Hoop Entertainment that Chairman Choi Eun-Tae promised me was enough to instantly make me the third-largest shareholder, and it could impact the upcoming public offering.

Still, just mentioning my salary was enough to stir the room. Not only reporter Lee Joon-Hee, but all the reporters present began murmuring. After all, the figure I threw out was unimaginable for a salaried employee.

-Wait, not 170 million but 1.7 billion?

-That's insane for someone in their twenties...

Of course they wouldn't believe it. A 1.7 billion won salary was the kind of money people only dreamed of.

-That's nuts...

-Are talent agent salaries really that high? Is this even real?

-I heard the vice chairman of Daechon Inc. makes 2.2 billion.

-Who is this guy? Why would Hoop give that kind of money to a chief?

-I heard there's a rumor he's President Kang Gam-Chan's hidden son. Is that true?

-Wow. This is like winning the lottery every year.

-Shit... I'm jealous.

The reporters forgot about their articles and buzzed with excitement. My salary, on par with that of chairmen from Korea's top ten conglomerates, had that kind of impact. Of course, those owners took home tens or hundreds of billions in dividends if they wished, but just in salary terms, that was the benchmark.

And here I was, still in my twenties, with a salary surpassing 2 billion this year. It was no wonder they were reacting this way.

Flustered, Lee Joon-Hee stammered, "Is... is that really... true?"

Kang Gam-Chan nodded beside me, confirming my words. "Hahaha. Chief Jung makes way more than I do. That's why I never buy him meals. I joke that I should just tuck away my poor credit card."

Soft laughter broke out from the audience.

Then Director Kang Ji-Yung chimed in playfully to back me up. "Honestly, I sometimes get drinks off Chief Jung too. And once in a while, I even feel like calling him oppa. He makes so much money~"

Taking their jokes in stride, I turned back to Lee Joon-Hee. "No one in the industry is paid this well. I already receive the best treatment in Korea here at Hoop Entertainment. Why would I leave? If you were in my shoes, would you change companies?"

Other reporters shook their heads with conviction.

-Wow~ hell no.

-If it were me, I wouldn't either. Why leave when you're making 2.5 billion?

-At 2 billion a year, you could just buy a new apartment every year and double your money.

-Man... even breathing must bring in money at that point.

-That's not a salary. That's a money printer.

Lee Joon-Hee's face flushed red. Yet driven by stubborn pride, she shouted out, "Still, you could go independent! You'd make even more!"

Kang Gam-Chan clucked his tongue and answered smoothly. "Come now, Reporter Lee. Do I look dumb enough to just sit back and let that happen? Not likely. But even if Chief Jung were to go independent, we'd just make his company a Hoop Entertainment subsidiary under the best terms in Korea."

Subsidiary performance was consolidated into the parent company, just like Ju Yung-In's one-person agency JU Entertainment. So even if I did go independent, Hoop Entertainment's total revenue wouldn't change.

I bowed my head to Kang Gam-Chan in thanks, then smiled at Lee Joon-Hee. "Mrs. Lee. Do you still think there's a Jung Yoon-Ho risk at Hoop Entertainment?"

Trembling and unable to speak, Lee Joon-Hee dropped her head. She had lost completely. And at that moment, my phone started vibrating.

[Notification: Fortune of the Day has been updated.]

[Everyday V13]

[Date: March 20, 2021]

[Fortune of the Day: The morning light begins to shine.

(Deleted fortune: Forewarned is forearmed.)]

The fortune that had been warning me to be ready had finally disappeared. Maybe that was why the rest of the press conference went perfectly smoothly.

***

In the president's office at TNT Entertainment, Bang Sang-Yung was listening to the report that both Park Hyung-Sik from Spotlight Daily Newspaper and Lee Joon-Hee from Entertainment All Times had failed to stir trouble.

-I'm sorry. It didn't work.

"Hey! You said you were confident! After all the money I fed you, you were supposed to be worth it!" Bang Sang-Yung's voice erupted with anger.

-Fuck! I did everything I could! Why the hell are you yelling at me?

"W-What did you just say? Did you swear at me?"

-You heard me right! That guy's salary is over two billion won! Two billion! Even I'd stay loyal for life if I were paid that much! What the fuck did you expect me to do? You used to work at the same company. Shouldn't you have checked that kind of thing beforehand?

Thud!

Lee Joon-Hee spat out a curse and hung up.

"What the... is she out of her mind?!"

Bang Sang-Yung was left stunned. The plan to sabotage Hoop Entertainment's IPO by weaponizing the so-called "Jung Yoon-Ho risk" had completely backfired. And worse yet, this was the first time he had heard that Jung Yoon-Ho's annual salary exceeded 2.5 billion won.

"That bastard... was making that kind of money?"

To reach that figure, every celebrity under Jung Yoon-Ho's management would have to give him about three percent of their net profit. And if that were true, it meant there was no way to drive a wedge between Jung Yoon-Ho and his top stars.

"I couldn't even get a single million won more out of Jo Min-Sung..."

After fifteen years in the industry, Bang Sang-Yung's salary as TNT Entertainment's president was three hundred million won. Yet Jung Yoon-Ho, just an employee, was earning 2.5 billion.

"Hah, damn it!"

A wave of bitter jealousy wrapped around Bang Sang-Yung. At that moment, he got an incoming call.

Buzz~ Buzz~

[Caller ID: Sung Hak-Soo, former president of Daechon Inc.]

Bang Sang-Yung had confidently promised Sung Hak-Soo that he could ruin Hoop Entertainment's press conference. Now that he had failed again, he couldn't bring himself to answer.

Buzz~ Buzz~ Buzz~

The phone kept buzzing until Bang Sang-Yung finally snapped.

"Fine! I'll do it! I'm desperate to get that bastard, too!"

Bang Sang-Yung believed that Kim Dong-Soo and Jung Yoon-Ho only looked capable because they had powerful backing. Deep down, he still saw himself as the most skilled talent agent in the industry. But realizing how far he had fallen behind a younger colleague filled him with despair.

"Damn it."

Jealousy and bitterness welled up from deep inside, clouding his thoughts. He almost wished he could just disappear, but he couldn't. After all, Sung Hak-Soo's calls kept coming.

Buzz~ Buzz~

At last, Bang Sang-Yung picked up.

-So the press conference failed, huh?

As expected, Sung Hak-Soo's voice was cold. Bang Sang-Yung swallowed hard and decided to stall with a lie.

"No, sir. I've already planted the seeds of doubt. You could call it a partial success."

Sung Hak-Soo replied in a calm, chilling tone.

-That's hard to believe... but fine. I'll wait for now. Not that you have much time left anyway.

Click.

The moment the call ended, cold sweat began to pour from Bang Sang-Yung's body. As he racked his brain for the next move, he started yanking at his hair so hard it seemed he would go bald.

***

The press conference wrapped up after more than two hours. Kang Gam-Chan treated LT Entertainment's President Shin Jong-Ki, Mirinae's President Han Yoo-Sik, Daeheung Savings Bank's President Choi Yung-Ho, and Yoo-Jin to lunch.

While we ate at a Chinese restaurant near the office until about 2 p.m., news articles began to go up.

[Hoop Entertainment Press Conference: "Lee Tae-Poong to team up with Director Choi Sung-Moon again?"]

-After recently drawing another 10 million viewers with Jiri Mountain, Lee Tae-Poong is reportedly aiming for a third box-office hit with Director Choi Sung-Moon.

[Hoop Entertainment's Project I.O.A. enters the second week of pre-voting!]

-132 members of Project I.O.A. landed in Korea last week and are now breaking a sweat ahead of the first viewer vote.

[Star talent agent Jung Yoon-Ho of Hoop Entertainment—an annual salary of 2.5 billion won?]

-Jung Yoon-Ho, said to receive the best compensation in the industry, revealed a salary far beyond expectations.

(Comments)

-Whoa~ a talent agent with a 2.5 billion won salary?

-Apparently, his base is 100 million and the bonuses total over 2.4 billion.

-If I could work at a company like that, I'd stay for life.

-I want to become a talent agent too.

-I didn't know talent agents made that kind of money?

-No, normally they don't. Hoop Entertainment is just special. They say even new hires get paid based on their performance.

-Well, they say Jung Yoon-Ho raised Jung Yoo-Jin, Lee Tae-Poong, Haru, and Cherry Blossom. He deserves that much. Otherwise he'd go independent.

-He's basically a walking enterprise.

[Jung Yoo-Jin to debut in film. Title of her first movie: She Was Beautiful]

-With full support from LT Entertainment, top star Jung Yoo-Jin's debut film is in the works.

(Comments)

-Jung Yoo-Jin in a movie?

-If it's a rom-com, I'm in. She was hilarious in Blue Sky.

-She was super lively in In the Name of God too.

-She's got a crazy range from serious, historical to comedy. She does it all.

Questions poured in about the celebrities under Division Jung: Lee Tae-Poong, Kang Ha-Na, Choi Deok-Bae, Haru, Cherry Blossom, Project I.O.A., and Seo Yeon-Woo. As expected, the articles with the most comments were the ones about my salary and Yoo-Jin.

Shin Jong-Ki turned to me as I skimmed the articles. "Chief Jung. What's got you smiling like that?"

"Oh~ I just feel like the press conference went well today."

When I told him the coverage was coming out positive, Shin Jong-Ki nodded. "Yeah, it really did. Hahaha. I didn't expect you to drop your salary like that, though."

"I didn't have much of a choice."

"I get it. But still, you'll have to be a little more careful moving forward."

"I was thinking of doubling the security detail on my street."

"Smart move. You're about to get hit with donation requests from all sorts of groups—the National Life-Water Sharing Association, the Sleep for Life Foundation, the Beef is Truth Society, and so on."

Shin Jong-Ki listed the names of the associations that had already sent him letters asking for donations. Strangely, the names sounded legitimate enough to make me want to give.

"By the way, do you have any idea who was backing Reporter Lee Joon-Hee today?" Shin Jong-Ki asked.

"Probably President Bang Sang-Yung from TNT."

I didn't even have to think hard anymore. Lee Joon-Hee was well-known to be close with Bang Sang-Yung.

Shin Jong-Ki let out a dry chuckle and spoke meaningfully. "Well then, I suppose we'll have to scrap all our projects with TNT Entertainment."

It was no wonder everything ran so smoothly under Shin Jong-Ki's care. Without hesitation, Shin Jong-Ki turned to Managing Director Lee Eun-Joo beside him and ordered her to sever all ties with TNT.

Then he looked back at me. "By the way, have you decided who'll direct She Was Beautiful?"

We hadn't announced the director for She Was Beautiful during the press conference. Yoo-Jin and the others all looked curious, so I finally shared the name I had in mind.

"I'm thinking of bringing in Director Yeo Ik-Hwan."

The moment I said it, everyone looked visibly shaken. After all, Yeo Ik-Hwan suffered three consecutive failures and had completely stepped away from directing.

***

Five years ago, Yeo Ik-Hwan's debut film The New Hire hit theaters. It was a comedy about a twenty-something man born and raised in Seoul who gets transferred to a rural area.

Made with a budget under one billion won, the distributor didn't expect much. Yet the main character Jang Ill-Sang's clumsy work life resonated with audiences, and the film became a sleeper hit with over five million viewers.

Riding the success of his debut, Yeo Ik-Hwan quickly moved on to his next project. Yet this rushed decision led to everything starting to go down. Flushed with investment offers, he recruited production director Oh Jin-Sae, who had experience with large-scale projects, and focused solely on writing the script for Woo-Jin's Love.

But while Yeo Ik-Hwan was buried in his writing, Oh Jin-Sae blew through the initial twenty-billion-won investment on hostess bars and gambling. By the time Yeo Ik-Hwan realized what had happened and fired Oh Jin-Sae, the money had vanished without a trace and the investors had turned their backs. Most assumed Yeo Ik-Hwan had squandered the money alongside Oh Jin-Sae, drunk on his early success.

To finish the movie, Yeo Ik-Hwan had to pour in all the money he had earned from his first film. Yet with the investors gone, the film received almost no theatrical support and tanked. Still, Yeo Ik-Hwan didn't give up. He tried again with a low-budget high-concept film, which was his specialty.

Then, just two weeks before release, a school violence scandal surfaced involving his lead actor, Jo Han-Yung. At that point, the film couldn't even be screened. In the end, Yeo Ik-Hwan had to sell his modest apartment and move into a small villa, right in the winter his first daughter was born.

However, Yeo Ik-Hwan's wife—an art major and fellow alum of Suhyaejong—encouraged him to try again. So Yeo Ik-Hwan bet everything on his fourth film, even using his in-laws' apartment as collateral.

Unfortunately, burdened by the pressure to succeed, the film ended up mirroring his anxiety instead of capturing the lighthearted tone it needed and bombed. Yeo Ik-Hwan's in-laws had to sell their apartment and the entire family moved into a cramped two-room villa.

That winter, his second child—a son—was born. Just fifteen days after giving birth, Yeo Ik-Hwan's wife began working as a kitchen assistant, abandoning her lifelong career in art. Even Yeo Ik-Hwan's in-laws started working again.

Watching this, Yeo Ik-Hwan was overwhelmed with guilt for dragging his family into ruin and gave up on filmmaking. He went to Suhyaejong University and begged Professor Han Beom-Soo, head of the film department, for a teaching position. From that day on, he had been doing anything the department head asked like a slave, just to hang onto his position as an assistant professor.

But five years from now, his life would change again. After failing to secure a promotion to associate professor, he would return to filmmaking. And with Song of Hope, he would draw in 6.5 million viewers and make a triumphant comeback.

Song of Hope was a story about a singer's journey to stardom in the entertainment industry, so I knew Yeo Ik-Hwan would be perfect for She Was Beautiful. And he wouldn't stop there. With his next film Singing of Youth, a musical drama, he would attract 7.5 million viewers and solidify his status as a star director.

I already knew Yeo Ik-Hwan was going to become a star director. For this reason, I recommended him. Yet unaware of that future, everyone else looked deeply concerned.

Even Kang Gam-Chan couldn't hide his anxiety. "Chief Jung. It's not that I don't trust you, but Director Yeo Ik-Hwan... he's put down the megaphone. He said he'd never direct again. Is there no one else?"

Kang Ji-Yung also looked worried. "Mr. Jung, I know Director Yeo as well... and he's been so discouraged that he doesn't even watch movies anymore. He said he doesn't want to put his family through more hardship."

These two had always trusted me, but even they looked uneasy about my decision.

That's when Yoo-Jin set down her knife and fork and joined the conversation. "Mr. Kang, Ms. Kang... I'll do whatever Yoon-Ho oppa says!"

Kang Gam-Chan seemed startled by Yoo-Jin's firm stance. "Yoo-Jin, I'm not saying this because I don't support Chief Jung's decision—"

"I know. You care a lot about Yoon-Ho oppa. You're just worried Yoon-Ho oppa and I might fail on our next project, right?"

Yoo-Jin, perceptive as always, had seen through Kang Gam-Chan's real concern. Kang Gam-Chan feared that if we failed after everything we had achieved, we would be deeply hurt. As always, I was grateful for his sincere care.

I was just about to ask him to trust me one more time when Shin Jong-Ki, who had been quietly observing, looked me straight in the eyes and asked, "Chief Jung."

"Yes, sir."

"Can you make this work?"

"Yes, sir! I'm confident Director Yeo can do it."

Shin Jong-Ki nodded. "Alright. Then I'll give you full authority. Do as you see fit."

Once again, Shin Jong-Ki showed me his complete trust. It was no wonder his company thrived.

I bowed. "Thank you. I'll head to Suhyaejong now and scout Director Yeo Ik-Hwan myself."

Yeo Ik-Hwan was currently teaching a Saturday lecture at Suhyaejong.

"Wait—what? Chief Jung, you're going there in person?"

Shin Jong-Ki looked worried. Ever since I got Director Gong Hak-Beom fired, the film department at Suhyaejong had been gunning for me.

"Yes. Director Yeo's practically glued to that school, so I don't have a choice." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Everyone looked unsure, but I didn't even blink. After all, Suhyaejong didn't scare me anymore.

"There's no need to worry."

I gave them a reassuring smile and stepped out of the restaurant. Then I called in Chief Choi Eun-Seok at the company, and for the first time since my regression, I headed back to Suhyaejong.