President Nim

The next morning, before dawn, Jiang Yuhe's biological clock had already woken him from his dream.

He quickly got up, splashed his face with cold water, changed into a neat set of clothes, and then left.

Seoul's morning rush hour is known for its hectic pace.

Jiang Yuhe gripped the handrail tightly, his gaze drifting out the window as the car swayed.

The bus slowly crossed the Hanjiang Bridge and entered the Jiangnan region, where the surrounding scenery changed instantly.

The towering buildings stand side by side, their glass curtain walls reflecting the morning light. White-collar workers hurry along the roadside, and there is a sense of urgency in the air.

It wasn't until I turned onto an inconspicuous side street near Apgujeong that the surrounding noise quietly faded away, revealing rows of slightly old office buildings.

On the side of a building, there is a small sign with four large characters: Xing Shuo Entertainment.

However, among the four characters, the light tube following the character "烁" seems to have some poor contact, with a weak and flickering light.

Jiang Yuhe looked up, smiled with a complicated expression, and then took the elevator upstairs.

Starry Entertainment occupies half a floor of this building. The space is small, the decoration is extremely simple, and it is even somewhat empty.

Since it was still early, there was only one intern at the front desk dozing off with her chin resting on her hand, and the head of the brokerage office in the corner who seemed to be on the phone forever.

Jiang Yuhe was already used to this.

He walked briskly to the bulletin board, wrote down the relevant information on the artist schedule form, and then posted it back on the bulletin board.

At this moment, the manager of the agent's office finally ended the call and walked over, rubbing his temples.

He glanced at the bulletin board, gave a soft "hmm," and then turned to Jiang Yuhe, saying, "Understood. Remember to let the company know if there's any further news. By the way, are there any recordings scheduled for 'X-MAN' this week?"

"Yes, Director. The production team will notify me in advance if there are any arrangements," Jiang Yuhe said.

"Um."

The department head nodded, his gaze lingering on Jiang Yuhe's face for a moment before he simply gave a businesslike instruction, "Then you should hurry up and prepare for these two things. As for the company... if there's anything we can help with, well... we'll talk about it later!"

He didn't say much, and his tone wasn't exactly enthusiastic.

That's Xing Shuo's style, or rather... he couldn't offer Jiang Yuhe any more help.

Jiang Yuhe nodded, without saying anything more.

He didn't ask for much more from the company.

Having a place to report one's itinerary and handle contract-related matters is sufficient.

The two didn't exchange many pleasantries before Jiang Yuhe took his leave.

The elevator slowly descended.

A strange sense of urgency followed.

Role-playing interviews are a top priority.

Fortunately, he still had a general impression of the plot and character relationships of "Coffee Prince". If there were no pre-selected "connections", it should be fine to pass the test.

The real challenge lies in the subsequent coordination.

How can you get a TV drama production team to accept that they have to disappear for a few days every one or two weeks to film an outdoor variety show that requires going up mountains and down to the sea?

This is what's really giving him a headache.

Arriving at the convenience store outside the office building, he subconsciously took out a few coins and put them into the vending machine next to him.

"Click".

A can of iced coffee rolled out of the exit.

The bitter liquid made him slightly more awake. Thinking that he had no other plans for the day, he didn't rush home. He just stood by the roadside, letting his thoughts settle.

"Hey! Isn't this our Star Shine Entertainment's top star? What brings you to the company today?"

A mocking voice came from behind, its tone languid and tinged with a hint of cynicism.

Jiang Yuhe's lips unconsciously curled up as he turned around.

The man was in his early thirties, very tall, and wearing a well-fitting dark suit with the collar casually open.

He has a handsome face, but there's always a nonchalant air about him.

"President-nim."

Jiang Yuhe smiled and bowed, "Look at what you're saying, I can't accept that. But what brings you here today?"

"Don't even mention it."

Lee Sung-soo slowly stepped forward, naturally took out a cigarette case from his pocket, skillfully shook out a cigarette, and handed it to Kang Woo-hyuk.

Jiang Yuhe smiled and took it, but only held it between his fingers without lighting it. "I've given it up. I'll only touch it when I'm socializing."

"Okay, that's starting to look good."

Lee Sung-soo didn't seem to mind, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said, "Seriously, what brings you to the company today? Something wrong?"

He was well aware of the state of his small company's operations; normally, when things were going well, his artists rarely came to him on their own initiative.

"Yes, just wanted to let you know I have two job offers."

Jiang Yuhe briefly recounted what had happened yesterday to him.

After listening, Lee Sung-soo silently took two puffs of his cigarette before awkwardly touching his nose. "Ahem... Well... Woo-hyuk, I told you, gold always shines. Look... here he comes! Haha, hahahaha..."

His tone was hesitant, and he seemed somewhat unnatural.

Jiang Yuhe smiled amicably and didn't say anything more.

He felt mostly grateful to StarSpark Entertainment.

He signed the contract without really understanding what was going on, only to find that the profit sharing was ridiculously low and the management was extremely lax, making him almost think he had joined a shell company.

However, two years have passed, and apart from his name being listed on Xing Shuo, he is like a free man. He only needs to report important schedules like today. The company never interferes with his specific actions, nor does it force him to take on those random commercial performances.

Some announcements are also made through negotiation.

This is simply unbelievable in the notoriously demanding South Korean entertainment industry!

Privately, he had speculated about Lee Sung-soo's background.

I have a vague feeling that he might not have started this company to make money, but rather as a hobby, or... he might have other motives.

At this moment, Lee Sung-soo regained his lazy expression, "It's good that you're developing things here, since I can't really help you much right now. But speaking of which, since you've already reported everything, why are you still downstairs? Are you reluctant to leave?"

"I was just about to leave when I ran into you."

Jiang Yuhe smiled. "And you? What brings you here today?"

"Me? I just came here to find some peace and quiet, but I didn't expect trouble to come knocking on my door."

Lee Sung-soo flicked his cigarette ash. "I have a few friends coming to see me later. They're the childhood friends I mentioned before... Their families have some connections. They see that I've set up an entertainment company, and I don't know what they're thinking, but they think I'm practically an insider now, so they want to get involved too."

"Get involved?"

"Exactly! They've been tricked by someone lately and have their eyes on a record company, so they want me to give them my advice."

"Tell me, I'm barely managing to keep my own business afloat, what do I know! When I meet them later, I'll have to figure out how to persuade these big shots to leave. If I really can't convince them... tsk, maybe I should just trick them into throwing their spare money into Xing Shuo? At least..."

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, "At least I can renew the lease on this lousy place and hold out for a few more years."

Jiang Yuhe nodded in understanding.

He had occasionally heard of Lee Sung-soo's friends; they were all wealthy young men from well-off families, and their investments in the entertainment industry were mostly just for fun, or perhaps with a secret motive of picking up girls.

This kind of hot money comes and goes quickly, often starting off excitingly but ending up in a mess, which is not necessarily a good thing for the industry as a whole.

After thinking for a moment, he echoed, "We really need to be careful. The entertainment industry may seem glamorous, but it's actually very complex, especially the record industry, which is a bottomless pit of money. Just having money isn't enough to make it big."

"Who says otherwise!" Lee Sung-soo wholeheartedly agreed.

Just then, Lee Sung-soo's phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, clicked his tongue, and answered it without trying to hide it from Jiang Yuhe.

"Hey? We're here? I'm at the convenience store downstairs... yeah, downstairs from my crappy office. What? It's almost done? How much? How much? Holy crap!"

He swore, his voice suddenly rising in pitch.

"I'm telling you guys, you're really burning money, aren't you? Seoul Records, I know! But what's it worth this price?"

"Hey! I'm not saying this industry is bad, I'm talking about the way you're doing it! Fine, fine! We'll talk when we meet. Hurry up and come over, I'm waiting."

He hurriedly hung up the phone, about to complain to Jiang Yuhe, but found that Jiang Yuhe was frowning slightly, looking thoughtful, which was rare for him.

"Woo Hyuk?"

Lee Sung-soo waved his hand in front of his eyes. "What are you daydreaming about? Did you hear that? A bunch of good-for-nothings are just messing around!"

Jiang Yuhe then suddenly came to his senses.

The smile faded from his face, replaced by a serious expression as he looked at Lee Sung-soo.

"President-nim, you just said... your friend wants to invest in or acquire Seoul Records?"

Lee Sung-soo was taken aback, not expecting Kang Woo-hyuk to react this way. He nodded subconsciously, "Yeah, that's the one. What, you've heard of it? They must have heard something, which is why they're trying to get involved."

His expression turned serious. "The way you look at me, have you heard something too? Tell me!"