After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 65
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 065
Celebrities liked privacy.
Since their job exposed them to the public, they preferred places where they wouldn’t be exposed to people as much as possible in private settings.
The Berry, located in Cheongdam, was one of the restaurants that celebrities preferred for this reason.
It was a French restaurant that sold various foods, and all the dining areas were private rooms.
‘There were quite a few places like this in Yeouido too.’
When I was working at the company.
The high-end Japanese restaurant in Yeouido that I went to a few times following my boss was like this.
“Choi CEO, the person we’re meeting today is a bit reluctant about photos and such until we become close, so please just be mindful of that.”
“Understood.”
After receiving the warning from Kim Hyeon-su who was walking ahead, we arrived in front of a room.
The door opened, but it wasn’t a structure where you could see inside immediately.
After turning to the side and passing through one more door inside, I finally saw a person sitting at a table.
“Hyung!”
“Oh, Hyeon-su. Welcome.”
Hyeon-su greeted warmly and the man who received it.
I had seen him several times on the news.
‘It’s Lee Jin-su, the ten million movie director.’
Director Lee Jin-su, who created a ten million movie that became the standard for mega-hits in South Korea, was right in front of me.
“Hyung, this person here is Choi Kang-hyeon CEO whom I’m indebted to.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m film director Lee Jin-su.”
“I’m Choi Kang-hyeon. I run a few small companies.”
“Haha, you’re being modest. Please, sit down and let’s talk.”
“Yes.”
At Jin-su’s suggestion, Kang Hyeon and Kim Hyeon-su took their seats.
Soon glasses were placed in front of the two men and Jin-su poured wine for them.
“Do you like wine?”
“I’ve had it a few times before, but I don’t have deep knowledge about it, so I don’t know the details. However, I do enjoy the taste itself.”
“Haha, that’s a very good answer. I don’t know much about wine either. It has such a deep history and diverse flavors that you need to drink it for a long time to truly understand it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. It’s like getting to know a person. You can’t tell if someone you just met is a good person or not, right? So you have to observe them for a long time.”
Kang Hyeon smiled gently at his words that contained a slight sense of wariness.
“I agree. But sometimes don’t you think you can build a good relationship from the first meeting? Just like how I’m finding this wine delicious right now.”
Jin-su made an expression as if he’d been hit by Kang Hyeon’s response, then burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! That’s right. You said you were CEO Choi, right?”
“Yes, I lead companies called KH Capital and KH Recovery.”
“Let me formally introduce myself again. I’m Lee Jin-su, who directed a movie called The Legacy.”
I liked that he said he was introducing himself formally.
It felt like I had passed the test he had given me.
Everyone has something called boundaries.
Different conditions were needed to enter within those boundaries.
Some people needed time, and some people needed certain conditions.
The man named Lee Jin-su seemed to have met those conditions in that conversation.
“The Legacy, I also enjoyed watching it. The scene at the end where the protagonist passes on his inheritance to the boy is still memorable.”
“I struggled quite a bit conceptualizing that scene. But the actor expressed it well, so I was able to make it into a decent scene. Do you have such a legacy, CEO Choi?”
Legacy.
It means inheritance.
The fact that he asked me this didn’t seem to simply mean money or business entities.
The legacy he was asking about seemed to be asking whether I would leave something behind in this world.
And after thinking for a moment, Kang Hyeon shook his head.
“I’m searching for it.”
Jin-su showed a somewhat surprised expression at Kang Hyeon’s answer.
“Most people start making things up when I ask this kind of question. Because they don’t know the answer. But people don’t want to talk about things they don’t know. You could call it a self-defense instinct.”
Jin-su’s words were quite difficult.
But I felt like I could vaguely understand what he was saying.
I used to be like that too.
I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t know something or that I was wrong.
But not anymore.
‘Is it because I’ve changed from back then?’
The assets that started with hundreds of billions had somehow become trillions of won.
Perhaps because of that, unlike in the past, I had no hesitation in saying that I didn’t know something.
“I guess I don’t have that self-defense instinct.”
“No. It’s because you have enough confidence that you don’t need to defend yourself. I don’t know what it is, but your instinct to defend yourself seems to be above that.”
“Is that so? Then my self-defense instinct will awaken somewhere I don’t even know about.”
“Haha, you really are an interesting person. I think I’ve met a good friend today. Shall we have another drink?”
“Sounds good.”
Even though we just met, I felt like we got along well.
The other person seemed to think the same way, filling his wine glass to the brim and drinking.
Kim Hyeon-su was confused watching the two people enjoying themselves.
‘Damn… I can’t understand any of this.’
Not everyone lived a complicated life.
Sometimes there were people who ran toward a single goal.
Kim Hyeon-su was that kind of person.
* * *
In the first meeting with Jin-su, Kang Hyeon didn’t ask about the Directors’ Association.
For some reason, he felt that he shouldn’t bring up that topic there.
‘He was someone at a higher level than me as a person.’
I felt he was someone who had a clear sense of what he was striving for on the path of life.
‘There will be another opportunity next time.’
We talked about meeting again.
We would probably be able to make another appointment soon.
In the meantime, there were things to do.
“CEO, I’ve checked the suspicious aspects of the Film Directors Association.”
I listened to Kim Ha-ryul’s report.
“First, the chairman has never changed since the association was established.”
“Is that possible?”
“It’s possible according to the articles of association. Most importantly, the articles here state that the chairman is determined by someone recommended by a majority of the executives.”
“So it’s entirely possible if you just secure the executives.”
“Yes. And organizations that have stagnated are likely already rotten from within.”
“You said the chairman there hasn’t released any movies recently, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“What about other economic activities?”
“From what I’ve found, there don’t seem to be any. Copyright fees from past movies do come in, but that level doesn’t even reach the basic livelihood recipient level.”
It was strange.
Just because you get older doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost money to live.
Money was needed to maintain a livelihood, and there should naturally be activities to earn that money.
“If there’s no economic activity, it means they’re making money through other channels.”
“Even with membership fees paid by members, it would only be around ten to twenty million won annually. That would be difficult, so there must be other activities.”
“If we find those activities, we should be able to find their other illegal behaviors.”
“I’ll investigate. Oh, and this month’s IR report has arrived. Shall I bring it to you?”
“Yes. I’ll review it. Please bring it to the Executive Office.”
Some IRs came once a quarter, while others came monthly.
There were many places in the world seeking investment, and IR always followed wherever money gathered.
This month, the volume of IRs that flew into KH Capital was considerable.
“It seems like there’s even more than last time?”
“Well, that’s only natural.”
Kwangho said as he entered the Executive Office.
“You were in India and the United States for nearly three months. These are what accumulated during that time.”
Since he had last reviewed IRs before handling Nereid’s affairs, it was certainly enough time for them to pile up.
“Perfect timing. Let’s check them together.”
“Why do you think I came? Of course I was going to do that.”
“Friends really are the best.”
“Not as a friend, but as a subordinate employee doing what I naturally should.”
“Haha!”
When he was with Kwangho, he didn’t feel like he had aged.
That felt good.
Kwangho divided the IRs in half.
“I’ll look at this side, so you look at that side.”
When he nodded and looked at the IRs Kwangho had pointed to.
“Hmm?”
There was a document emitting a reddish light.
When he reached out to check it, it was an investment proposal for a movie.
<The Founding of the Great Korean Empire Investment Proposal>
From the title, he immediately got a sense of what the content was about.
He opened the first page to check the contents.
Initially, there were detailed descriptions introducing what kind of company it was.
An introduction of the director followed as well.
But he wasn’t interested in such things.
He thought the important thing was the content.
<Synopsis>
After flipping through a few more pages, the synopsis appeared.
Each and every letter that made up the synopsis was emitting light.
‘It’s alternate history. A protagonist with modern knowledge returns to the past to turn Joseon into the Great Korean Empire?’
Content that could be called cliché.
But that wasn’t what was important.
‘The protagonist is attractive.’
The Joseon era was different from modern times.
It was Confucian and a place where everything was determined by social status.
If you were born a slave, you died a slave.
If you were born a king, you died a king.
Such changes happened only 0.1 percent of the time.
But the protagonist regressed to the past, was born a slave, became king, proclaimed the Great Korean Empire, and then dominated the entire world.
‘His decisiveness and action are remarkable. This kind of character would definitely be popular. The problem is that bringing this to life as a movie would require considerable production costs.’
Historical dramas originally required high production costs.
Sets had to be built and lots of CG had to be used.
On top of that, costumes and weapons had to be produced as well.
Matching all these things one by one inevitably consumed enormous production costs.
‘Above all, a story of this scale should be made into a series. Why are they trying to make it into a movie?’
The IR was ultimately a movie investment plan.
But in Kang Hyeon’s opinion, this would be better made as a series rather than a movie.
‘Though making it into a series might consume even more production costs than a movie.’
After pondering for a moment, Kang Hyeon soon stood up from his seat.
“Huh? Why are you getting up? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to meet the people who sent this.”
“What? Movie investment? Now you’re going to invest in movies too?!”
Kang Hyeon, who had paused at Kwangho’s exclamation, smiled broadly.
“If it makes money, I should try anything.”
Then he left the Executive Office.
Left alone, Kwangho shook his head vigorously.
“You’re doing it with your own money. Who would try to stop you?”
If it failed, he would at least nag about it.
But since every investment succeeded, he couldn’t even nag.
* * *
Film production company Ullim was one of the small production companies.
Kim Hyeok-gi, the CEO of Ullim, was originally a director who made independent films.
He had made some successful films.
He achieved a record of 2 million nationwide audiences and rose to become an output of independent cinema.
But that was as far as it went.
The independent works he made afterward, as well as commercial works, all failed at the box office.
Then he happened to see a work written by a junior colleague and invested in it.
And when that work succeeded, he made a lot of money.
That was the opportunity to start a film production company.
A man came to visit Kim Hyeok-gi.
“I’m CEO Choi Kang-hyeon from KH Recovery.”
The man offered his business card.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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