After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 98
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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 098
The Founding of the Great Korean Empire team and KH Construction were periodically exchanging information while proceeding with the theme park construction.
“Chairman, have you arrived?”
Kang Hyeon personally toured the theme park site to confirm whether this coordination was working well.
“This area will be operated with The Founding of the Great Korean Empire theme.”
“Oh, construction has progressed considerably.”
“Yes. The production team has been very cooperative, so we’re proceeding quickly.”
“What’s the current progress rate?”
“We’ve progressed over 60 percent. It’s scheduled to be completed next year.”
The theme park would be completed earlier than the drama, but that didn’t matter.
Since it was divided by sections, even if completed early, it would be sufficient to attract people.
Moreover, he was confident that more people would flock once The Founding of the Great Korean Empire was released.
‘Things are proceeding smoothly.’
After finishing the site inspection, Kang Hyeon got in his car and moved to Seongsu-dong.
Since the light had appeared, it was to confirm how it could be utilized as an achievement.
Seongsu-dong was bustling with people as always.
The ratio of foreigners was considerably higher than Koreans.
“There are quite a lot of foreigners.”
“Seongsu-dong is a hot place for young people.”
He nodded at the response from Cha Hyeon-woo, who was in charge of Kang Hyeon’s personal security.
“Do you come here often too, Hyeon-woo?”
“I come with friends occasionally. Recently, it seems like acquaintances I met while working overseas always visit here whenever they come to Korea.”
“Oh, is it that popular with foreigners?”
“First of all, among foreigners visiting our country, Seoul being the overwhelming area where they stay seems to play a big role.”
For foreigners, when touring other countries, the best city was indeed the capital.
Since infrastructure was well-developed and there was abundant information, the time spent in the capital during first visits was overwhelmingly long.
Naturally, information about hot places gets shared on the internet and essential courses for foreigners are created.
Seongsu-dong was one of those courses.
Especially since the proportion of young people was large, there were many people interested in Korean culture.
‘Certainly, if promotion takes place in places like this, it would be quite good.’
Thinking this way while looking around Seongsu-dong, various stores came into view.
Among them were street markets, but the number of pop-up stores operating in event format was overwhelming.
“Are foreigners also interested in pop-up stores?”
“In the case of my friends, they always stop by pop-up stores at least once. Especially works that are hits on global OTTs like Netflix are popular abroad too.”
“Oh.”
That meant pop-up stores had considerable competitiveness targeting foreigners as well.
“Huh?”
Then Cha Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened as he spotted someone.
“Team Manager!”
When he turned his head at the mention of Team Manager, he could see Kim Chul-jin standing there.
And behind him were Nathan, Sophia, and finally Curie as well.
“Oh~ Chairman!”
Nathan spotted Kang Hyeon and waved his hand as if pleased to see him.
From the shopping bags swaying each time he waved, it seemed they had been shopping.
Come to think of it, the other two people’s hands were also full of shopping bags.
Kim Chul-jin also seemed to have become a porter, with an enormous amount of shopping bags in both hands.
“Nathan, did you come to Seongsu-dong for shopping?”
“Yes! I came because there were goods I wanted to buy. Wow~ Korean pop-up stores are really great. There were so many products I couldn’t get abroad!”
“Are you interested in pop-up stores too, Nathan?”
“To be precise, I alone like the work called Solo Leveling. That animation is truly a masterpiece!”
Solo Leveling, a Netflix original work, was a mega-hit not only in Korea but also in Japan and the United States.
Come to think of it, all the products in Nathan’s hands were related to that work.
‘Even Nathan, who only knows research, is interested in this anime…’
He thought the power of content was truly amazing.
‘This is what it meant.’
Kang Hyeon realized what the connected light had meant.
* * *
Kang Hyeon had a meeting with Lee Jin-su, the CEO of KH Entertainment.
“A pop-up store?”
“Yes. It’s an idea that came to mind after hearing Director Bong’s blueprint. The Founding of the Great Korean Empire is linked with the theme park, but timing-wise, the theme park will open before the drama.”
“Certainly, the release of Season 1 will be at earliest two years later, but the theme park will open one year earlier than that?”
“That’s right. So for the theme park to be successful from the beginning, preliminary promotional work is necessary.”
After thinking for a moment, Lee Jin-su nodded.
“That work would be the pop-up store.”
“Yes, that’s correct. Since The Founding of the Great Korean Empire has even been made into a webtoon, images are already available. Using those to hold a pop-up store should be able to gather public interest.”
“Not bad. Plus, if we make the actor auditions and production announcement spectacular, we should be able to attract public attention.”
Lee Jin-su was a former director, but he also understood business.
Hearing his suggestion, Kang Hyeon nodded.
“Regarding that part, it would be good if the entertainment company could proceed with it. As for the location, let’s proceed at a building I own in Seongsu-dong.”
“Understood.”
“And when will the actor auditions be held?”
“Auditions for the lead actors are scheduled for next week. If your schedule permits, would you like to observe?”
“Would that be okay?”
“Yes. To see various aspects of actors, we need diverse perspectives. If you participate, Chairman, it would be a great help.”
“Understood. Then please confirm the schedule and let me know, and I’ll participate.”
“Yes, I’ll send you the schedule by today. And regarding the pop-up store, I’ll proceed with meetings with related companies as quickly as possible.”
The decision to hold The Founding of the Great Korean Empire pop-up store was made.
* * *
Director Bong Jun-seok’s The Founding of the Great Korean Empire was gathering the biggest attention in the Korean acting world recently.
“Director Bong taking on drama production. It’s really something you live long enough to see.”
“And it’s based on an original work, right? I didn’t expect him to make such a choice.”
Director Bong Jun-seok’s influence on the film industry was tremendous.
He was the world’s greatest director born in Korea, so it was natural if you think about it.
The news that such a person would take on a work with source material, not an original work, gave a big shock to the acting world.
At the same time, actors had one goal.
“I must land a role in this work.”
“If we work with Director Bong, we can also rise to the ranks of world stars.”
“This work will be watched by global film companies too. It becomes an opportunity to expand our territory.”
Director Bong Jun-seok was a director who received worldwide attention.
In other words, when his work came out, film industry people worldwide would watch it.
If you stood out there, you’d get a chance to expand into the global film industry.
“I’ll definitely show my best at the open audition.”
This was why actors’ interest in The Founding of the Great Korean Empire was higher than ever.
* * *
The day of The Founding of the Great Korean Empire open audition.
Kang Hyeon arrived at the audition venue early.
‘Wow… it’s spacious.’
While looking around the place where the audition would be held with admiration, Director Bong approached.
“Chairman, have you arrived?”
“Ah, Director. Today I’ll just observe without getting in the way.”
“Haha! Not at all. Isn’t Chairman’s foresight remarkable? If you see any actor that catches your eye while watching, please let me know anytime.”
Director Bong Jun-seok was well aware of the businesses Kang Hyeon had been running.
And he had seen exactly how those businesses succeeded and grew.
‘Someone with such vision would surely have a different eye for actors too.’
This was also why he had invited him to this audition.
In his view, Kang Hyeon was someone with a special eye.
Therefore, he believed his eye for people would also be accurate.
‘Acting is a different field, but since I’m the one who listens to opinions and makes decisions.’
The fact that the final decision was ultimately his was also one of the reasons he wanted to hear his opinion.
Kang Hyeon nodded after hearing Director Bong’s words.
“I understand. But don’t have too high expectations.”
“Haha, yes.”
Kang Hyeon didn’t think Director Bong Jun-seok had figured out his ability.
But he was curious.
‘I wonder if this ability can be used for evaluating actors too?’
If so, he might be able to discover hidden pearls.
‘This should be interesting.’
He looked forward to the audition.
* * *
Two hours later.
Kang Hyeon had no choice but to retract his thoughts.
‘This is incredibly boring.’
Watching actors perform for two hours was quite laborious work.
Their acting was certainly excellent, but watching specific scenes without knowing the context before and after only brought boredom.
‘Occasionally, people who show tremendous acting are spotted by Director Bong and other judges who immediately select them.’
The judges had better eyes for acting than himself, who was an amateur.
Perhaps because of this, the people he thought were excellent were already being passed by the other judges.
‘This is a position I don’t really need to be in.’
Moreover, since his ability wasn’t manifesting, the boredom was growing even more.
‘Maybe I could figure it out faster by looking at the list?’
Since he couldn’t notice things faster than others by watching the acting, he tried to find that method in the list.
During breaks in the audition, Kang Hyeon skimmed through the lists to check if there was anyone glowing.
‘Not this person either.’
There were over a hundred participants in the audition.
Checking the lists one by one also took considerable time.
While flipping through the profiles on the tablet, he found someone whose ability manifested.
‘Huh?’
There was one person he was familiar with.
‘Isn’t this the male actor who’s been frequently in the media recently? But why is he glowing blue?’
The name was Kang Seo-jun.
He was someone who had made quite a name for himself as an actor.
With his handsome visuals and decent acting skills, he was popular not only in South Korea but worldwide.
He was also good at singing, earning him the nickname of an all-around entertainer.
But this man was emitting a blue light.
‘His profile is marked as important, but casting this person would be poison for the work, wouldn’t it?’
There were quite many cases where works had problems due to actor risks.
If it was a supporting actor, they might cover it up and proceed, but if it was a lead actor, the story was different.
And this man was at least a size that needed to be cast in an important role as a main or supporting lead.
‘If we cast him and personal life issues explode, there’s a high possibility the work will be delayed further.’
Thinking he needed to prevent that somehow, he flipped through the profiles again.
While going through the profiles, Kang Hyeon was able to discover actors whose abilities manifested.
‘This actor glows red. That would mean they’re beneficial to the work. Huh? Blue light again. Let’s exclude this person.’
Director Bong might object, but he should still be able to convey his opinion.
And depending on the intensity of the light, he planned to appeal a bit more strongly using his chairman’s authority.
‘Huh?’
While he was checking the profiles, his hand stopped at one actress’s profile.
‘Golden color…!’
That actress was emitting a golden light.
‘Jackpot!’
He had found an actress who absolutely must be recruited.
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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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