Sooho

Chapter 81: < Protect – Episode 80 – Open Audition [4] >

Hosoo Entertainment group currently had three subsidiary groups, and their worth which was evaluated by Daniel was as follows.

Hosoo Investments – 63 trillion won

Hosoo Airlines – 6 trillion won

Hosoo Entertainment – 900 billion won

Hosoo Guards – 90 billion won

The money that Hosoo Entertainment could mobilize was only 10 trillion won. On top of that, billions of won went into compensating for Hosoo Airlines’ deficit. Hosoo Entertainment was simply a private airport for the use of Hsoo Entertainment Group and Soo Ho.

The yearly deficit of Hosoo Airlines was 370 billion won which was around 300 million dollars. No matter how much the board of directors flaunted their money, it was difficult to even spend 50 billion won. That was how expensive it was to operate an airline. It was unreasonable to compare an entertainment company with an airline, to begin with.

Following the settlement and reorganization of Hosoo Entertainment, they were on their way to a great surplus. As long as the CEO didn’t do anything crazy, the company would be able to end with profits. However, Ahn Soo Ho was Ahn Soo Ho.

The budget for Hosoo Entertainment Group’s open audition was 100 billion won. Since it was the group’s event, Hosoo Entertainment didn’t have to take on all of the costs, but they did. Since they spent lots of money in the region, tradespeople liked Hosoo Entertainment best, and the surrounding land went up in value, so if Ahn Soo Ho decided to run for office, he would get the votes.

The fans who visited the exhibition hall for the celebratory performances, short fan meeting, and fan signings, were very excited. The attention that was initially set on the candlelight vigils and political scandals shifted to Hosoo Entertainment’s Group.

“I can’t tell if this is a festival or an open recruitment.”

Since there was a congratulatory performance every few hours, the audience and reporters were hyped up. The peak of the audition was on the third day when Lyla, the fairy of pop, made a surprise appearance. The ones who saw her didn’t believe it at first and then screamed in excitement. Even those who weren’t interested in pop would have heard her name at least once.

“This is crazy! How much money did they spend?”

“Who’s next? Rock Spirit?”

The performers of the fourth day were the heavy metal legend, Metallica. At this point, people had no choice but to acknowledge Hosoo Entertainment’s power. It was impressive that they got such big stars to agree to perform at this event. On the first few days, Korean celebrities visited the exhibition hall, and then after that, it was stars from Japan and China who held fan meetings and fan signings.

The reason why they could keep it a secret was because of Hosoo Airlines as well as Ahn Soo Ho’s Hollywood connections. On the first day, Ahn Soo Ho entertained the audience by dressing up as Mansour. And on the last day, he entertained the audience once again by making them laugh.

He went onto the stage dressed up as jacked Steve Jobs. The audience clapped, laughed and whistled. Ahn Soo Ho did his best to imitate Steve Jobs. There was lots of laughter and cheering. He waited until they quieted down.

“What do you think? Do I look like an innovation icon?”

His facial expression made people laugh once more.

“I had a good time, everyone. Did you have fun?”

“Yes!”

“That’s good. I’d like to hire everyone, but unfortunately, that’s not possible.”

“Aw.”

“But I’m planning to hold an open audition every year.”

“Wow!”

They cheered again so he waited for them to quiet down.

“Just like Director Oh Joo Kyung said, my management policy is duty and loyalty!”

“Haha!”

As soon as Ahn Soo Ho threw his fist in the air and talked about loyalty, Oh Joo Kyung’s face popped onto the screen. It was a sneak attack. The look of her embarrassment made everyone laugh.

“Then how about my second policy? It’s the enjoyment that you showed today. What’s the duty of entertainment companies? To give people enjoyment. But in order to do that, we have to enjoy it first. Work stress? Of course, that can’t be avoided. But if there’s enjoyment involved, that stress can become a driving force.”

Hosoo Entertainment’s employee welfare was just as good as those of major corporations. But since Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t running a charity, they had to consider the deficits as well.

“People ask if I’m being lazy as a special inspector, but I don’t agree with them. Politics is politics and entertainment is entertainment. Most importantly, I think I did my part.”

“Wow!”

Cheering swept over the news screen that switched to a bunch of politicians and government workers.

“I spent a lot of money.”

“Haha!”

The way he rubbed his finger was referring to the paparazzi.

“I should make sure that this doesn’t happen again. But in order to do that, society must change. As I said, I spent a lot of money.”

“Haha!”

“I’d like to thank everyone for gathering the courage to make reports.”

Ahn Soo Ho bowed and the crowd applauded.

“People call it Hell Joseon, but our country is a good country. There are definitely things that could be improved. But Korea can definitely get better.”

When the vibe became serious, he changed the topic.

“Some of you probably noticed something about this look. That’s right. Jobs is the icon of innovation. There’s a reason why I climbed so high despite the opposition of directors.”

The words VISION 2030 flashed up on the large screen.

The dozens of long-term projects that Hosoo Entertainment Group planned to complete by 2030 went up on the screen. It included the Star Town plan that was talked about as well as the plan to buy broadcasting, production, and film companies in order to produce movies and dramas. There were also plans to collaborate with other Asian countries and restructuring foreign branches to improve their marketing strategies.

“2030? It might sound like a long time from now, but it’s really not. It’ll already be 2020, which Wonder Kiddy talked about, three years from now.”

Those who knew Wonder Kiddy were probably middle-aged men.

“I’ll make a promise to you before 2030 rolls around.”

“Let’s do this!” Ahn Soo Ho shouted in confidence.

“Our company will surpass Disney!”

Since he wasn’t the one doing the work, it didn’t matter.

- The 2030 vision that Hosoo Entertainment revealed! They’re challenging the entertainment empire, Disney!

- Wow, So badass! Disney? They’re challenging Disney?

- Koreans only think of animations when they hear Disney, but they’re the biggest in the American entertainment business!

- The icon of this generation, Mickey Mouse!

- But Hosoo Entertainment and Disney are two different industries.

- So they’re saying they’re going to invest in another field as well! I’m cheering them on!

- That’ll cost so much money. Can they afford it?”

- It’s a waste of time and energy to worry about Mr. Ahn’s wealth!

- They’re going to take over broadcasters, production companies, and build a multiplex? Can they do it?

- If they monopolize on theatre businesses, they could cause a lot of harm!

- Monopolize? Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?

- If the price goes down due to the competition, that’s good for customers!

- By broadcasters, does that mean they’ll buy a cable network?

- Isn’t our country’s public TV super strict? I heard SBS wouldn’t have received permission if it wasn’t for democracy. But how much profit can they get from a population less than 100 million? I don’t know about this!

- You can’t ignore the power of population! But at least there’s China and Japan nearby!

- CEO Ahn finished off their Asian tour in Shanghai and met with the Chinese premier all for this project! It’s the perfect big picture!

- That makes more sense. Wow, this is why not everyone can run a business!

- But Japan was left out of the Asian tour.

- They can go to Japan whenever they want. They’re our country’s turf.

- Hallyu isn’t as popular in Japan as it used to be!

- Hallyu! The Japanese ladies like it!

- At least Japan doesn’t go as far as to ban Korean culture.

- You’re wrong. Japan is so much more shameless than China!

Hosoo Entertainment hired 1000 people from the open audition, and Hosoo Entertainment had around 900 people in total. Among those 900 people, 200 were trainees to become actors, singers, and models. Model trainees? Models just train on their own, right? It was kind of a new job group, but the foreigners that were selected were new to the Korean industry.

“You’re fresh out of college.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Ed, who was 23 years old, entered the CIA through a program that gathered top students. They were complete noobs. Were they so understaffed that they had to dispatch newbies as well? That wasn’t the case.

“What’s your assignment?”

“To succeed as a model at Hosoo Entertaiment.”

That as all.

‘He’s Friendly.’

Most people understand ‘friendly’ as being nice and approachable in personal settings, but in this world, it was more similar to a token of amity or a voluntary hostage. He was a hostage, but since they could help each other as needed, he wasn’t a typical hostage. He was more of a liaison officer. But he didn’t expect them to send a guy in his twenties.

They didn’t want to suspect a veteran of having other plans up his sleeve. It was like they surrendered and then let their bellies out and ran around like fools. They seemed to have no pride left. Did the Sao Paolo incident hurt them that badly?

‘This must have been Eaton’s idea...’

It seemed like Jeremy Eaton O’Hare was involved in this. The problem was that it wasn’t just the CIA that sent an agent. Seven out of 200 trainees that were selected were agents, and there was a total of twenty-five in the entire group. He could have dropped them in the documents stage, but they didn’t because they didn’t have formal experience as agents.

They were all noobs.

Ahn Soo Ho didn’t see this as a difficult situation. He was capable of dodging monitoring whenever he wanted, so he preferred having a bunch of newbie agents around than veterans.

“I don’t care if you monitor or not, but it won’t be free.”

“I’ll provide you with the information you want.”

Information from the CIA was pretty valuable.

Following the States, Russia, England, France, China, and Japan meddled as well. Ahn Soo Ho was quite pleased. And then not long afterward, an opportunity came up. Kim Dae San denied, it, but blood was thicker than water.

Kim Na Hee was still in Italy.

“I need Han Chae Kyung’s case file.”

< Protect – Episode 80 – Open Audition [4] > The end.

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