The Famous Millionaire

After getting her thoughts into shape, Seoim wrote something down on a piece of paper and then said, as if she presented a rewritten story,

“There is a lake of the fairy in the demon’s forest. If the world is turbulent, the fairies lose power. The demon is studying how to make the world chaotic to try to control the fairies, thus he sends the villains to the past to change history. In such a situation, the fairy sends a spirit to the past to defend history. With the help of the fairy, the boy and the girl main characters, fight the villains to defend history. The villains are Dark, who is strong but dumb, and Red, who is cute but cruel.

The spirits are capable, but there is a naughty boy, Tuti, and cute and calm girl Angelica, who has no ability other than helping Tuti. The boy and the girl defeat Dark and Red with the help of Tuti and Angelica. It turns out that the two villains used to be the spirits but became the villains because of the demon’s spell. When Tuti and Angelica break the spell on the spirits, Dark and Red change into splendid and beautiful spirits Blue and Pink respectively.”

When Seoim said that, a new idea burst into Jihun’s mind.

He brought a piece of paper and began to draw one character.

Though it was a rough sketch, it had some clear intention. The core of the sketch was Tuti and Angelica. Tuti was personified into a comical, strong but kind tiger while Angelica was depicted as beautiful as possible.

At that moment, Jungah opened her mouth as if she hit upon some idea, “Angelica is the fairy of the lake, isn’t she? Why don’t you draw her clothing in a way that makes one feel the lake?”

“Feel the lake? What kind of clothing gives out such a feeling?”

“Running water itself is the fabric.”

Then, Jihun quickly drew something as if he had some idea.

“We had better use different colors for the different characters.”

When they kept changing the original story like that, they felt it was much more dynamic and interesting. Everyone’s face brightened.

“I feel great about it.”

“Looks like the Anifan kids will also like it.”

“I think you can make the production, based on this flow.”

Hyunwoo was very satisfied, so were the Anifan kids, but Jungah kept tilting her head and suggested cautiously, “Why don’t we change other characters? We don’t have to draw them as real human beings. I think we could make them as simple as possible but at the same time cute and precocious.”

As soon as she said that, Jihun again drew pictures. In the case of a man, not only his face and body but also his arms and feet were depicted as square and burly, while the woman was drawn as a slender and round one as a whole.

Jungah snapped her finger at that and said, “I think this is much better. What do you think?”

“Good idea. Very unique.”

“It looks unique and friendly.”

All of them liked Jungah’s idea.

Hyunwoo was impressed by Jungah’s initiative. He thought she had just a good eye for coloring, but she was also good at finding out the problem with productions. Maybe she was better at analyzing a production than at coloring.

Isn’t Jungah the real gem? Hyunwoo thought.

Their discussion about the educational cartoon continued through the night.

In particular, it was Jungah who presented ideas the most. When she presented a certain idea, others fleshed out the idea, and at the end of the day, the original production changed into a completely different one, and the heart of the matter was fun.

If the educational cartoons are full of learning and lesson, with no fun, it would be destined to fail, after all.

Success came after the fun, they felt.

Around the same time that Hyunwoo mingled with them at the House of Happiness, Suji felt uncomfortable because her mother’s nagging, was unusually severe today.

“Don’t you have any appointment even on Saturday.?Just go out and meet your friends if you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“It’s cold outside, so I don’t want to go out.”

“Hey, that’s why you should make a boyfriend. I guess Sangho seems to be a good guy. Why are you saying you don’t like him?”

“I told you already. He is not my type. Please don’t say anything about him. Did you call him again?”

“Are you crazy? I didn’t.”

Suji stared at her mother, suggesting she should not lie.

“Seriously. Don’t you believe your mother?”

Mrs. Kong walked out of her room with a waddle.

Left alone in her room, Suji threw herself on the bed.

She was bored. She wanted to have a boyfriend like her friends.

Suddenly, she thought of Hyunwoo.

How dumb he is! I wish he had called me out for dinner this evening.

Come to think of it, it was an unreasonable wish given that she had been so cold to him.

The more she thought of Sangho, the angrier she got. Sangho made her misunderstand Hyunwoo by lying. She regretted she had been so kind to Sangho.

On the other hand, she felt so guilty about Hyunwoo.

She sprang out of bed suddenly.

“Okay. Let me contact him first just once to express my apology to him.”

She grabbed her cell phone, but sent him a text message instead of calling him.

What are you up to now?

He replied, I’m meeting with the staff of Ani & Funny.

Suddenly, she had nothing to say. If she replied wrong, she might give him the impression that she was interested in him. In a situation like this, it is the best policy to deny.

You called me a minute ago, didn’t you?

Nope. I didn’t call you. Was it my phone?

An unknown caller. I thought you called me to invite me to dinner.

Well, I made a dinner appointment with my staff here.

Suji let out a sigh, apparently disappointed as if she was expecting him to say something different.

On the other hand, she felt her pride was offended as a woman. She felt she was rejected after she proposed to have dinner with him. Suddenly, she got upset.

Did I ever call you for dinner?

Can I call you after dinner?

For what?

I’d like to have a beer with you.

She was tempted for a moment, but when she thought of it again, she felt bad. For she felt he would spend the rest of his time after he had great fun with his staff.

No thanks. I have an appointment with my friends at night.

Okay. Have a great Saturday!

After his reply, she threw her phone on the bed, saying, “Damn it. I texted him needlessly.”

Come to think of it, it was the price for what she did to him. It was Suji who misunderstood Hyunwoo first and acted mean to him. She decided to forgive him nicely.

“Deal. It’s fair between us now. I can’t allow this to happen next time, though.”

***

On Sunday afternoon, Hyunwoo called Yonggu outside. Hyunwoo wanted to discuss an idea with him that came to his mind while meeting Nami the other day.

Hearing that Hyunwwo hit upon a good idea, Yonggu dropped everything and came out to see him, but he was disappointed to hear Hyunwoo’s idea.

“I told you that kind of idea would not work, man. The president wouldn’t care a bit about separating the luxury department from Aurum as an independent entity.”

Hyunwoo expected such a response from Yonggu, but he brought it up again because he was confident he could persuade not only Yonggu but also the president.

“You didn’t read the president’s mind correctly. You have to think about why the president doesn’t want to make an independent company,” said Hyunwoo. Only then did Yonggu seemed to realize the reason, “It’s because the president is not sure about making profits. Only a fool would create an independent luxury company that is certain to lose money.”

Yonggu nodded his head after hearing Hyunwoo’s remarks.

The deficits of the luxury department of Aurum were much larger than they first thought. Keeping the department afloat, however, was purely for the sake of improving Aurum’s image. If not for that reason, the luxury department would have been closed a long time ago.

“What if we can show the president we can make profits, assuming the luxury department would be separated as an independent corporation?”

In such a situation, the president would probably support the idea of the luxury department going independent.

“How can the deficit-ridden luxury department make profits even if it started as an independent corporation?”

“I know the surefire publicity knowhow. For example, getting the sponsorship of a TV soap opera or sitcom…” said Hyunwoo, telling him about his idea.

Snapping his finger after listening for a while, Yonggu said, “That’s a really good idea. I wonder if they can accept our products as their sponsor, though. I guess there might be fierce competition to get the sponsorship.”

“I know a well-known TV talent. If the president okays my idea, I think there might be some good ideas on how to persuade the TV producer. As you know, our team leader Youngsu Park knows how to approach them. I think I can arrange such a meeting.”

“Then the final problem is how to persuade the president,” said Yonggu, with an anguished expression on his face.

“If things go well, the independent luxury department can grow bigger than Aurum. Once famous brands hit the jackpot, it will rake in enormous money.”

Yonggu nodded his head, staring at Hyunwoo with sparkling eyes.

“Hyunwoo, I like your idea. Can you give it to me? Oh, not free. Sell it to me, man.”

Hyunwoo’e eyes widened, “Selling it? What are you talking about?”

“To be honest with you, I’d like to get the recognition from the president that I’m the best candidate as Minhye’s groom. So, I would like to persuade the president on this upon my life.”

It was Hyunwoo’s ardent wish for him to be the president’s son-in-law.

When Hyunwoo seemed hesitant a bit, Yonggu grabbed his hand and said, “Please, man. Help me out. Let me pay back enough. Why don’t we have a deal?”

Nodding his head, Hyunwoo said, “Absolutely let me help you if my friend like you wants to marry a woman in his heart. By the way, how long are you going to stay aloof like that? Don’t you think you should seduce her more aggressively, apart from your business relationship with her?”

“I know. I’m trying hard. Let me tip you off on this, as you say you’ll help me. To be honest with you, I have a date with her next weekend. We are going to watch a movie.”

“Oh, you’ve made good progress! Maybe you can get married sometime next spring.”

“Yea, if I pull off this deal, it’s possible.”

“Great. What would you do for me if I gave you my idea?”