Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 168

Music Monster Overnight! 159

“Just call it a hobby?”

“Pardon?”

“I also want to test something out, just for fun.”

“???”

Park Sung-ryul couldn’t understand what the CEO was thinking, but he didn’t really have a choice.

He had risen to the position of team leader, but this was thanks to the Black Tiger-affiliated manager’s boost. In reality, he didn’t have any special talent suited for this kind of work.

However, if he had something special, it was his driving force, pushing forward with physical abilities that ordinary people couldn’t even dream of, befitting his background as a national wrestling team reserve.

Furthermore, his loyalty, like that of an elite soldier, made him a reliable talent in many ways.

That’s why Young-chan thought of Park Sung-ryul first as his representative.

Having obtained the position of director at the P Investment firm that Young-chan had created for his investments, Park Sung-ryul approached Kim Seung-jae according to Young-chan’s wishes.

The condition that Park Sung-ryul presented to Kim Seung-jae was incredibly groundbreaking.

It was to put Kim Seung-jae in the position of president of the newly created entertainment company.

Moreover, it wasn’t just a figurehead position, but a condition that guaranteed Kim Seung-jae a whopping 10% stake in the company.

One might think, what’s so great about a 10% stake in a newly formed entertainment company? But this was huge.

This was because Young-chan was investing a whopping 10 billion won [approximately $7.5 million USD] in this entertainment company.

Simply put, Kim Seung-jae, with a 10% stake, would have assets worth 1 billion won [approximately $750,000 USD].

What’s amazing is that this was only the first round of investment.

Well, such aggressive investment was actually a natural thing.

Currently, the biggest card that Young-chan could play was his capital.

Of course, neither Kim Seung-jae nor Park Sung-ryul knew about this yet. They had only heard that more investment could be added later.

Therefore, when an investment equal to the initial investment was made later, it might be natural for them to be greatly surprised.

“If you have any other conditions you want, please feel free to tell me.”

In any case, Park Sung-ryul had learned from his investigation of Kim Seung-jae that he was the optimal target the CEO wanted.

So, he spoke to help Kim Seung-jae make a decision, and Kim Seung-jae thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“With such groundbreaking conditions, what more could I want? However… what worries me is the clause that you will be in complete control of the project direction.”

“…I understand what you mean.”

Only then did Park Sung-ryul realize the main reason for Kim Seung-jae’s hesitation, and he barely managed to hold back his laughter.

What Kim Seung-jae was saying was nothing else.

Even veterans who had been in this industry for over a decade often failed repeatedly.

K-pop, especially idol production, was a field that required an enormous amount of money. It wasn’t that they couldn’t use it because they didn’t have money, but it was like a black hole that endlessly devoured money if you had it.

For an investor from P Investment to lead the direction of the project in such a field was like holding a ritual for failure.

Of course, it was his own money, and even if he was the president, he was essentially a salaried employee, so Kim Seung-jae himself wouldn’t be greatly affected.

However, what he was worried about was the idol at the center of the project.

The lifespan of an idol was short, and naturally, the opportunities given to them were very limited.

Even then, if such a large project failed and was overturned, most of them generally couldn’t recover.

For Kim Seung-jae, who didn’t consider the celebrities he was in charge of as strangers but as family, such a result was too terrible.

That’s why Kim Seung-jae found it difficult to accept, even though he had presented such groundbreaking conditions.

Park Sung-ryul, having understood his thoughts, had a hard time holding back his laughter for two reasons.

One was that Kim Seung-jae was an even more remarkable person of noble character than rumored.

‘How can he have such a mindset after being in this industry for over 20 years?’

Even if he was at a large entertainment company, it wouldn’t be easy, but Kim Seung-jae had worked at a small entertainment company where he had to endure all kinds of abuse.

Park Sung-ryul couldn’t help but be happy to have acquired such a talent.

If that was the first reason why he almost burst out laughing, the second reason was, of course, that he knew too well who was behind this project.

A Midas touch who has achieved unimaginable success in everything he has touched, whether it’s music or business.

Even as a movie actor, which he thought he had no connection with, he had achieved absurd success, so YC was revered as a god within the company and in this industry.

This is because everything he has been involved with has been a great success. In fact, companies related to YC Revolution and his businesses are enjoying tremendous prosperity even during this COVID-19 period.

That YC was doing this project.

‘Originally, it wouldn’t be possible. If it wasn’t for that… hobby?’

And that hobby was on such a huge scale, handling hundreds of billions of won, that Park Sung-ryul couldn’t help but be a little fed up.

In any case, that YC was leading the project for the first time in a long time.

That meant that Kim Seung-jae’s worries were too meaningless.

‘Rather, he should be worried about whether he can handle the overwhelming success.’

While Park Sung-ryul was thinking that, Kim Seung-jae had already made a decision.

“The only condition I want is this. I hope you will listen to my opinion at least once during the project.”

Kim Seung-jae, not knowing that YC was behind it, said that in anticipation of the worst-case scenario, and Park Sung-ryul nodded, barely holding back the laughter that was about to burst out again.

“……You want me to use this place?”

“Yes. We’ll move to a better place later, but it’s not bad for temporary use.”

“……”

Kim Seung-jae was speechless.

It was because what was happening now was beyond his common sense.

He was going to use an entire four-story building in Gangnam [a wealthy district in Seoul], which could be said to be the most expensive neighborhood in Korea.

And it wasn’t just a mini-building of a formal level.

It was a building with a total floor area of 280 pyeong [approximately 925 square meters] on a site area of 100 pyeong [approximately 330 square meters].

Although it was on the edge of Gangnam, even considering that, the rent for using this place would be enormous.

“Just in case, you don’t have to worry about the rent. It’s because it’s a building owned by P. Of course, the remodeling is already complete.”

Then, Park Sung-ryul led Kim Seung-jae to tour the inside of the building that would become the entertainment company’s headquarters, and Kim Seung-jae couldn’t help but be even more surprised.

The interior, decorated with state-of-the-art facilities that could only be seen in the new headquarters of a large entertainment company, was amazing, but in addition, the internal products of facilities such as practice rooms, recording studios, and conference rooms were all incredibly expensive products.

In particular, after seeing a speaker in the recording studio that cost hundreds of millions of won [hundreds of thousands of US dollars], Kim Seung-jae had a hard time regaining his senses.

‘Who on earth is P? Could it be…….’

A scale that far exceeded what he had vaguely thought of as rich.

Therefore, Kim Seung-jae couldn’t help but naturally think of a chaebol [a large, family-owned business conglomerate].

It was highly likely that it was someone from a chaebol within the top 50 that had a great influence in Korea, not just a chaebol in name only.

Only then would such aggressive investment be possible.

In a way, Kim Seung-jae’s thoughts were not wrong.

If all the unlisted companies were listed, YC Entertainment would actually become a chaebol within the top three in Korea.

That meant that Young-chan, who owned the majority of the shares in those companies, actually possessed a level of wealth that was beyond reach in Korea.

In fact, even the funds he had in addition to that were enough to be in the top ranks of the world’s richest people.

So, rather, Kim Seung-jae’s thoughts should be seen as a much smaller version of the truth.

In any case, after having a headquarters that could rival a decent mid-sized entertainment company, Kim Seung-jae first decided on the name of the entertainment company.

And the name of the entertainment company that was decided was very simple.

P Entertainment.

The name was taken after Mr. P, the largest shareholder of the entertainment company, and Park Sung-ryul thought it wasn’t bad.

The name of a new entertainment company should be as simple as possible.

This is because people can easily remember it, and in that respect, an entertainment company that uses the single letter P may have as much recognition as a large entertainment company if things go well.

‘Well, of course it will go well.’

In any case, after naming it P Entertainment, things progressed really quickly.

This was because they had to hire employees so that P Entertainment could run. Fortunately, this part was not a difficult task.

Since there were no affiliated celebrities yet, there was no need to hire that many employees, and even if they hired a lot of people, they could easily recruit talent with the name Kim Seung-jae.

In fact, less than ten days after P Entertainment was established, rumors were already spreading that Kim Seung-jae had a big sponsor.

The fact that Kim Seung-jae, who was reliable in terms of skills and personality, had now obtained a major investor was as good as the end of the game.

Of course, talent was contacting him from all over the place without Kim Seung-jae having to step out.

So, if things go well later, filling the staff quickly would be a piece of cake.

Although the employees were hired smoothly and P Entertainment was running normally, Kim Seung-jae was suffering from a headache in other areas.

“To make Happiness the main character of this project.”

This was the part.

To make the main character, who was like the textbook example of a failed idol, the main character of this large project, what a bolt from the blue!

His thoughts only grew stronger as he learned more about Happiness.

They had already changed agencies once… but they had not succeeded in the end, and they had been taking a break for over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In fact, it should be seen as the agency giving up on them.”

In fact, their agency had already gotten everything they could from them.

Like putting in dither fish [fish that distract other fish from bullying] to make it suitable for raising fish in a fish tank, Happiness’s role was like that.

They were used like dither fish to improve the constitution of the entertainment company owned by the actor, but in fact, this was a good thing for Happiness as well.

If they had some success, they would become the main idol that the agency would steadily push before forming a new team.

“But they failed this time too.”

The reaction was even worse than at the previous company.

Their awareness increased, but some of their existing fans were dissatisfied with the drastically changed concept and turned into antis [anti-fans], which was a big factor.

“You’re telling me to bring these kids?”

It probably wouldn’t be that difficult to bring them in itself.

They must have set a short contract period. Considering the circumstances that they have been on hiatus for over a year, it would be possible to bring them in without any special penalty if they talked well.

“……I can’t help it.”

He had the authority to make them listen to him once, but he couldn’t use it yet.

This is a weapon that should only be used when the company makes a big mistake.

“Well… I didn’t think it would be easy from the start.”

Kim Seung-jae, who had tasted hell in his previous company, decided to accept it, rather than despair over something like this.

As Kim Seung-jae thought, bringing Happiness to P Entertainment was not that difficult.

No, rather, things went so smoothly that he wondered if it was okay.

As soon as he spoke to Happiness’s agency, they transferred Happiness to P Entertainment in a flash, as if they were really relieved, because Happiness’s situation was more hopeless than he thought.

He had expected to spend a lot of money, but they were eating up more money than he had imagined, and even with that investment, they were only making losses, so he wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Above all, it was already difficult to find proper idol trainees, so Happiness’s existence in the company was more of a minus.

“Okay. Things are going better than I thought?”

Young-chan, who didn’t know how disappointed Kim Seung-jae was with the current situation, muttered comfortably and quickly began to take the next step.

He began to enjoy his hobby in earnest through P Entertainment.