Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1474

“What about Bator?”

“His disciples are progressing well. While I was in Mongolia, I pushed them a bit, and they’re growing rapidly.”

Everyone closed their eyes for a moment.

Thinking about the children who must have suffered under Bator, whose personality had become extremely harsh, they felt a pang of sympathy.

“However, there’s something the master needs to assist with regarding the transfer of demonic arts. It seems there are cases where phenomena slightly different from mine are occurring.”

That was likely the case.

Even when learning the same martial art, depending on the learner’s skill level, problems could arise or not. Those with a high level could control their energy to resolve issues, but those who couldn’t wouldn’t know how to manage their own bodies.

“So, you’re saying I need to take a look.”

Bator nodded.

“I don’t need the master’s help with external martial arts, but I’m practically a novice when it comes to demonic arts. Honestly, I’m barely managing to control the demonic arts I’ve learned.”

“Understood.”

Kang Jin-ho readily agreed.

This wasn’t a problem with Bator’s abilities. It was simply a result of the unique nature of demonic arts.

“Hmm.”

“There are no other problems, then.”

“That’s right, master. Actually, it would be stranger if there were problems now.”

That was true.

Since the establishment of the Assembly, Kang Jin-ho had been constantly working to refine the Assembly’s system and lay the groundwork for growth. Now was the time for those efforts to bear fruit.

In other words, it meant that the Assembly had reached a point where it could operate smoothly without Kang Jin-ho’s constant intervention.

‘It took quite a while, though.’

Reforming a group of this size was no easy task. After tireless efforts, the results were finally beginning to show. There was still a long way to go, but….

‘I might have some free time now.’

Kang Jin-ho’s expression relaxed slightly.

Usually, as meetings ended, he would always be racking his brain about how to solve the problems that had surfaced, but this time, except for a few minor issues, there was nothing for Kang Jin-ho to address.

Such a refreshing meeting….

“I have a report.”

…Of course, that couldn’t be the case.

The moment he saw Lee Hyun-joo’s serious face, Kang Jin-ho was reminded that things in the world were never that simple.

“This is a report on the projects MK is currently undertaking. First, MK Entertainment’s sales have increased fifty-fold.”

“Huh?”

Why did that sound like good news?

“However, since the previous sales were so insignificant, the actual amount isn’t that great. It’s just that the director’s sales decreased sharply and then increased slightly from before.”

“Hmm.”

“But, even excluding the director’s sales, the overall sales are on an upward trend, which is encouraging. Due to the nature of the entertainment industry, sales will fluctuate, but in the long term, we are moving in the right direction.”

“Really?”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head, slightly puzzled.

Choi Yeon-ha’s sales were expected, but it was surprising that other sales were increasing.

“The director’s business acumen is beyond expectations. Even if she has to sacrifice her own sales, she intends to grow the business in the long term. The effect is clearly showing. If we continue to grow like this, she will definitely become a pillar of MK’s sales.”

Kang Jin-ho wore a pleased expression.

He was more pleased to hear that Choi Yeon-ha was managing the company well than that sales had increased.

‘That’s a relief.’

For Choi Yeon-ha, starting a company was a significant challenge. Since she had succeeded in that challenge, she deserved to be congratulated.

“The problem is….”

Ah, here it comes.

“The launch of the franchise business is just around the corner. All the training is now complete, and the branches have almost finished their interior work.”

“Then isn’t that good news?”

“The risk is also high.”

A hint of anxiety flickered across Lee Hyun-joo’s face.

Kang Jin-ho, noticing the emotion, looked at Lee Hyun-joo with a puzzled expression.

“Basically, a franchise business is conducted by gradually increasing the number of branches. You open a small number of stores to gauge the reaction, and if the response is positive, you increase the number of directly managed and franchised stores.”

“And?”

“But… we have so many franchise applicants that 100 stores will open simultaneously this time. In other words, if the response isn’t good, all 100 stores will fail at the same time, regardless of investment recovery.”

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes widened slightly. Ah, no, I hadn’t considered that.

“The president tried to open the stores sequentially as much as possible, but those eager franchise owners were so insistent… no, I shouldn’t speak about the franchise owners like that. They’re the ones in charge….”

“Because they kept protesting about why they weren’t being opened sooner, the original plan to open stores only in Seoul first was overturned, and we ended up with a simultaneous nationwide opening.”

Well, that was understandable.

If I had also invested money, there would be no justification if they asked why others were allowed to profit first.

“Chairman, no, Chairman.”

Lee Hyun-joo bit her lip.

“Huh?”

“CF [Commercial Film]! You need to shoot a CF right away! With the director!”

“Oh… that’s what we promised.”

“We need several days to shoot the CF! The images for the banners! And the video ads for the web! Please adjust your schedule immediately! Right now!”

Lee Hyun-joo was almost in a panic.

Her mistake was thinking too lightly about the business. She jumped into the business thinking that with money and manpower, there wouldn’t be any problems. But as she proceeded with the business, Lee Hyun-joo realized that while she was good at accounting, she had no talent for management.

‘If we hadn’t recruited the president, I would have ruined everything.’

Come to think of it, her grandfather wasn’t great at business either. He was talented at acquiring and accumulating money, but he was indifferent to using that money to generate more.

In the past, Lee Hyun-joo didn’t understand her grandfather, but now, looking back, perhaps Lee Joong-geol knew from the start that he had no talent in that area.

“We need to do everything we can, including the CF! If we don’t succeed in this, we’ll face a terrible deficit.”

Kang Jin-ho was taken aback by Lee Hyun-joo’s intense reaction.

“No, it’s not like we spent a huge amount of money….”

“We don’t have any new sources of income right now, so we have to make this business work, and if we screw up the first business under the MK name, there’s no point in looking at the next one!”

Why are you getting so worked up?

It’s embarrassing.

Kang Jin-ho cleared his throat loudly.

“President Hwang, the board members, and the other employees have all worked hard. There will be good results.”

“This isn’t martial arts, Chairman.”

“••••••Huh?”

“It’s not a world where results come from hard work. You can know the factors that make a business successful, but you don’t know the factors that make it fail. Even if you prepare everything perfectly and launch the service, you can still fail miserably.”

Lee Hyun-joo was slightly annoyed at Kang Jin-ho’s nonchalant words.

‘I’m at the point of getting alopecia areata [hair loss]!’

A martial artist with alopecia areata!

Lee Hyun-joo had gone to the hospital after feeling a round bald spot on the top of her head and had already been diagnosed with stress-induced alopecia areata.

The doctor, who was too nonchalant, had told her to ‘not stress and take a rest,’ which led her to turn the hospital upside down on her way out.

Damn it, who wants to be stressed! You get stressed because you can’t avoid it!

It was fortunate that it was in a place that wasn’t easily visible; if there had been a bald spot in a visible place, she would have become depressed.

“We have to! Absolutely! Succeed. If we don’t increase brand awareness in the early stages, we’ll fail!”

“Hmm.”

Weegins nodded.

“I don’t know much about business, but what she’s saying isn’t wrong. Those who are prepared have a higher chance of success, but it doesn’t mean they’ll definitely succeed, right?”

That was right.

“We need to do anything that can increase the chances of success.”

Lee Hyun-soo also chimed in.

“That’s right. Besides, the fact that it’s a cafe is a bigger problem. It’s not differentiated.”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head.

“The coffee tastes different, though?”

“I won’t say that you can’t differentiate yourself with the taste of coffee. These days, people are so used to coffee that even if they can’t distinguish good coffee, they know bad coffee like a ghost. The problem is…”

Lee Hyun-soo sighed.

“That coffee taste is something you have to experience to know. You only know it’s delicious after you’ve tried it. But the people who come to buy coffee are already customers. It’s meaningless to differentiate yourself after they’ve become customers. You have to turn passersby into customers to make it meaningful.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho looked troubled.

‘That’s strange. I’m a business administration student.’

Besides, he had recently read countless business books. He was now well-versed in theory, but perhaps because the theory was too broad, it was useless in situations like this.

Or maybe it wasn’t that, but that Kang Jin-ho wasn’t at a level where he could connect theory with practice.

After all, how much help could cramming be?

“Then, can’t we just give out samples or free coupons? Then they’ll buy it next time.”

“……It’s not because people are stupid that they don’t try that carelessly. There’s a strange aspect to people’s perception; even if they think something has enough value, they don’t want to pay for something they got for free.”

“Hmm.”

Kang Jin-ho scratched his head.

Why is this so difficult?

“These days, the competition is so fierce that places that are opening even use fake customers.”

“Fake customers?”

“They hire people to come to the cafe and buy drinks. By showing people constantly coming in and out and occupying seats, they give passersby the impression that the place is doing well right after opening. Then they want to go there.”

“……Wow.”

He knew that making a living wasn’t easy, but he didn’t know they went this far.

“Then can’t we do that too?”

“……Think about it. To pretend that a cafe is doing well all day, you need at least 100 customers. But even if 100 people each buy one drink, it’s only about 500,000 won in sales.”

“Oh, right.”

“Even if you do that a couple of times, it’s only 1 million won in sales. If you give that all away for free and pay for labor, even if you calculate 100,000 won per person, it costs 10 million won a day.”

“……Oh, right.”

“If there are 100 stores, that’s 1 billion won a day. If you include the cost of the drinks, it goes up even more. A 30-second commercial on a major network during Friday prime time costs 30 million won, but you can’t invest 1 billion won in such an uncertain venture.”

Kang Jin-ho tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.

“So, it’s about the money.”

“It’s about the money, but where do you find 10,000 people? It’s impossible to mobilize 10,000 people a day. And we can’t do it sequentially.”

Kang Jin-ho turned his head slightly.

“……I have them?”

“Yes?”

“They’re over there.”

Kang Jin-ho pointed out the window.

Lee Hyun-soo stared blankly out the window.

“Oh… they are?”

They were there.

Ten thousand people who were just loafing around.