The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 238



Only Krnovel

238. The process of becoming a butterfly (2)

After finishing the presidents’ meeting.

When I returned to the vice president’s office, the head of the planning department came to me with an emotional look on his face.

“The last speech is still lingering in my head. I will always keep in mind that going from a caterpillar to a butterfly requires a literal metamorphosis.”

“I’m glad you agree with my thoughts. In fact, what I said at the CEO’s meeting was a kind of declaration of war. The Taewoo Group needs to change everything from its constitution to its business divisions to survive.”

“I saw a report from the Economic Research Institute. It was a report that said the service industry must develop further for Korea to become an advanced country.”

In fact, it was something everyone knew.

In the case of underdeveloped countries, manufacturing companies can make profits through cheap labor.

As a country grows, labor costs tend to rise, and in order to survive, it has to try to switch to the service industry.

“Taewoo Group has advanced into the service industry earlier than other groups. In particular, it can be said that the IT business is ahead of any other company in the world, but isn’t it possible to entrust the future of Taewoo Group to IT alone?”

“You are right. Taewoo IT is growing day by day, but there may come a day when we can no longer expand.”

It would not be wrong to say that Taewo Group dominates IT services.

Not only did it own a large amount of shares in world-famous IT companies such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook, but Taewoo IT was also continuously releasing new IT services.

Honestly, I could be satisfied here.

This is because you can make much larger profits than before just by using the shares of IT companies you have already secured and IT services.

However, in order to become the world’s best group, it was essential to advance into other service industries as well as IT services.

“I think finance, culture, and education are good service industries for Taewoo Group to enter. What do you think, Planning Director?”

“In the case of the financial industry, Taewoo Securities is launching a variety of services. There doesn’t seem to be any harm in further expansion. However, I don’t understand how they are trying to advance into culture and education.”

Which company would neglect its financial business?

Therefore, the planning director also viewed the expansion of financial business positively, but was quiet about cultural and education projects.

“In order to expand the cultural business, a reorganization of the group’s organization is essential. We need to create a new entertainment subsidiary by merging Taewoo Cinema and the music site. We will transform into a company specializing in content such as music, movies, and dramas.”

“Do you think the Korean Wave craze will get stronger? I received a report from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism that the sales of content-based businesses will increase significantly every year.”

K-Pop Wave.

Before regression, a K was added in front of various media.

K-drama, KPOP, K-movie, etc.

It was a time when anything with the letter K in front of it was recognized as cultural content, and plans were made to advance that era and revive it further.

“Taewoo Cinema’s workforce will be invested in the production of movies and dramas with an amount more than five times greater than the current amount.”

“It is natural to increase investment to secure content, but movies and dramas are like lottery tickets. A work that was expected to be a success may fail, and conversely, a work that was thought to be a failure may become a huge success.”

“If you can recruit excellent directors, writers, and actors, you can greatly increase your chances of winning. From now on, please organize the movie and drama scripts that come to Taewoo Cinema and bring them to me. I will have to choose them myself.”

The lottery was high risk because the winning numbers were not known.

However, if you already know the winning numbers, you can definitely win by just buying a lottery ticket.

Because I knew which director and which work would be successful, I was confident that Taewoo Group’s cultural business field would become a huge success in a short period of time.

It’s not that I haven’t thought about this before.

But it was too early, and I put it on the back burner to focus on other projects.

Now is the time to prepare and enter the cultural business in earnest.

“The number of works coming into Taewoo Cinema exceeds 20,000 every year. It is impossible for the vice president to check all of them.”

“I’ll check it whenever I have time, so just organize the title, director, and writer’s names first and bring them with you.”

“Okay. Then, we will proceed with the merger of Taewoo Cinema and the music site.”

“Be prepared to hire a large number of professional personnel. In particular, include suggestions for hiring writers and producers.”

“Are you talking about PD? If we expand too big at once, wouldn’t it be difficult for the industry to accept?”

“If the industry can’t handle it, we can get help from other industries, so don’t worry and proceed.”

Movies are at the cinema and dramas and entertainment are on TV.

Until now, everyone thought this way.

As OTT services grow, we have entered an era where movies, dramas, and even entertainment can be viewed on OTT.

Rather, it could have been a larger market.

Because it could have been released simultaneously around the world through OTT.

And most importantly.

I was the largest shareholder of the world’s best OTT site.

Unlike the industry where there are already multiple hostesses, the OTT industry had the advantage of being able to act as a hostess and work to suit my tastes.

* * *

In just one month, Taewo Entertainment was born.

By acquiring Taew Cinema, a music site, and three cable TV channels, it grew into a large entertainment company from the beginning.

The problem was the sales structure, which was no different from a hollow steel tablet.

Although sales from movie theaters and music sites were significant, the remaining departments had not yet completed their organizational structure.

Therefore, I had to focus even harder on selecting the personnel composition.

In order to not only recruit talent but also cultivate talent, we had to check over thousands of profiles every day.

“Director, how is the recruitment of directors and writers going?”

“Although we are in close contact, I feel pressured about working as a director or writer for Taewoo Entertainment. I see some potential as a writer, but it is very difficult for a director.”

“I didn’t think it would be easy. Then let’s focus on investing and producing the work rather than recruiting him. In particular, our company must be responsible for the investment and production of this director’s work.”

I handed the profile to the planning director.

The name box at the top of the profile had [Bong Ho-jun] written in large letters.

He was a director who would sweep all kinds of film festivals in the future.

He was a director who not only mobilized 10 million viewers but also brought about the Korean Wave in the film industry.

“We have already received requests for investment from our company. However, because the subject matter is so bizarre and it involves a lot of CG filming, the production cost is at least 10 billion won.”

“It doesn’t matter if you invest 20 billion won instead of 10 billion won. No, please set up a meeting with director Bong Ho-jun right now. I have to meet him in person.”

“We’ll schedule it as soon as possible.”

The entertainment company really needed a signboard piece.

Director Bong Ho-jun’s work was able to go beyond being a standard work and immediately raise the company’s image several levels higher.

“I made a reservation for dinner tonight. I will make a reservation at a Korean restaurant that the Vice President often goes to.”

Fortunately, I was able to meet director Bong Ho-jun today.

I arrived at the restaurant 30 minutes earlier than my appointment time.

However, director Bong Ho-jun had already arrived at the restaurant and was sitting quietly in his seat with his characteristic bear-like body.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting. This is Minjae Kim from Taewoong Group.”

“It’s such an honor to see you in real life after only seeing it on TV or in magazines. I don’t know how you feel when I say this, but I think you could become a movie star.”

It was a compliment that came suddenly.

Giving praise like this means that they are having a hard time attracting investment.

So, I guess I’m trying to flatter something I’m not used to.

“First, let’s eat. This restaurant is a hidden restaurant. We will serve you the most delicious food in the house.”

“I don’t know if I deserve to be treated like this. But I can’t leave any food behind, so I’ll enjoy it!”

Director Bong Ho-jun was a happy eater.

Although he is still a famous director, before his return, he was a director who received rave reviews from the world film industry.

Perhaps that’s why director Bong Ho-jun’s every action seemed pretty.

“The meal is almost over, so let’s have a quick drink and talk about it in earnest.”

“Thanks to you, Vice Chairman, it’s been a long time since I ate delicious food. If you’re talking about real money, is it about investment?”

“That’s right. Taewoo Entertainment will fully invest in the director’s next film.”

“Are you saying that Taewoo Entertainment will invest alone? The production cost of the next work is over 10 billion won.”

The film production cost was 10 billion won.

In this day and age, it was rare to see movies investing 10 billion won in production costs, but even just a few years later, movies with 20 to 30 billion won in production costs are pouring in.

And honestly, it felt like a cheap price.

In the case of Hollywood, there were quite a few movies that spent hundreds of billions of won.

Compared to that, the production cost was only 10%.

Of course, it felt cheap because there was confidence that director Bong Ho-jun’s next film would be successful.

“You can spend 20 billion won instead of 10 billion won. For CG production requests, we will also contract with the best professional company in the United States. Don’t worry about actor casting costs, just cast the actor you want and obtain all the necessary equipment at the Taewo Group level. I’ll give it to you.”

“…Are you sure? We’ve met with many investors so far, but they’ve all expressed dissatisfaction with the large production costs.”

“Directors, don’t worry about production costs and just focus on making the work you want.”

“Thank you so much. Whew, I finally got some rest for an hour.”

It was director Bong Ho-jun, who clasped his hand and said he liked it.

I put one condition on him.

“Instead, there is one condition. In the future, I would like Taewo Entertainment to exclusively invest in and produce director Bong Ho-jun’s works, regardless of whether they are movies or dramas.”

“…What do you mean by monopolizing all works?”

“This literally means that we will invest in all the works that director Bong Ho-jun wants to make in the future.”

“You mean not just one or two works, but all of them? I appreciate you trusting me, but… I don’t know that this type of contract has ever been made in the industry.”

Who would sign a contract like this?

No company would be crazy enough to sign a contract like this when they didn’t know what kind of movie the director was going to make or how much it would cost to produce.

It was a contract that director Bong Ho-jun could offer because he knew what kind of work he would make in the future.

“The Taewoo Group plans to invest a lot in the development of Korean cultural businesses. In particular, we plan to make almost unlimited investments in outstanding directors. Wouldn’t you like to join hands with Taewoo and conquer the world stage in the future?”

“You, the terms are really good, but I don’t know how the situation will change, so for now, I only want to sign a contract for the next project and the next project.”

“Then let’s do it under these conditions. After the contract is made for the next work, Taewo Entertainment will have priority to contract for the next work.”

“I will accept it under those conditions. No, thank you very much for giving me such a good offer.”

I reached out to director Bong Ho-jun.

He squeezed my hand and expressed his gratitude.

Director Bong Ho-Jun’s hand was covered in sweat, not suitable for his size, but I held his hand tightly.