NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 224

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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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Episode 224. Awards Ceremony After-Party

After the awards ceremony ended, Saebyeol’s actors headed to the large party room that the management had reserved.

 

“I thought it would definitely be a BBQ restaurant since it’s an after-party, but a party room! Representative Jung has amazing taste.”

 

At Lee Ye-eun’s words, Kim Min-su shook his head.

 

“There’s no way Representative Jeong Hyeok made the reservation. If it were Representative Jung, he probably would have rented out that pork belly restaurant we went to last time. This was definitely arranged by Director Yoon Mi-yeon.”

 

At Kim Min-su’s words, Yeon-woo also inwardly agreed that Director Yoon Mi-yeon had a sophisticated sense despite her age.

 

It was actually fortunate.

 

Dressed up glamorously in black and gold, going to their usual pork belly restaurant would have been a bit awkward, wouldn’t it?

 

‘Of course, since many of the outfits were sponsored, if it had been a BBQ restaurant, I would have changed clothes anyway…’

 

Kim Min-su’s car arrived at a building in Gangnam where the party room was located.

 

Getting out of the car, taking the elevator up, and passing through the entrance, they could see food laid out buffet-style, apparently catered by a catering company.

 

Saebyeol staff who had already arrived were drinking wine or champagne along with finger foods.

 

“Hmm, I see a lot of people I don’t usually see at company dinners?”

 

At Kim Min-su’s words, Yeon-woo nodded in agreement.

 

Since the company hadn’t been established for long, they hadn’t had company dinners very often, but he had heard that many employees who didn’t like company dinners usually didn’t attend since participation was left to the employees’ discretion.

 

But for this kind of company dinner, what reason would there be not to come?

 

Some people had red wine in wine glasses, while other staff members held small champagne bottles and freely moved around, talking and drinking in a relaxed atmosphere.

 

“It’s properly European style.”

“No. Actually, it would be more accurate to call it American style.”

 

Of course it varies by country, but major European countries generally tend to hold parties with more formality.

 

Seeing people moving around in such a free atmosphere, it felt exactly like home parties in America or high school graduation parties called Prom.

 

‘Ah, when I went to LA last time, Director Yoon Mi-yeon said she grew up in America.’

 

Now it made sense.

 

In one corner of the party venue, drinks were prepared by type, from wine to champagne, and classically even soju and beer.

 

Then one of Saebyeol’s staff members saw Yeon-woo and his group entering through the entrance and clapped.

 

“Our great actor Ryu Yeon-woo, who won the double grand prize, has entered!”

 

Thanks to the staff member who announced Yeon-woo’s entrance, the attention of the party venue, which had been noisy with everyone talking, focused on Yeon-woo.

 

And applause and cheers erupted.

 

Although there were newly hired employees, most of the staff had quit their previous entertainment companies and changed jobs.

 

From team members who left LN and naturally followed Jeong Hyeok and Yoon Mi-yeon, to cases like Gong Min-jeong who came from other entertainment companies.

 

But their common point was that the decisive influence in deciding to join the company was that it was a startup chosen by ‘actor Ryu Yeon-woo.’

 

So watching Yeon-woo receive awards on TV broadcast today, everyone could confirm again that their choice wasn’t wrong.

 

Receiving enthusiastic cheers, Yeon-woo lightly greeted everyone and entered the party venue.

 

Since the awards ceremony had gone on for a long time and he was quite hungry, he grabbed some finger foods and lightly quenched his thirst, and soon other actors arrived and entered one by one.

 

“Yeon-woo. You can’t escape today. You have to drink with us until we’re completely drunk.”

“Right. Exactly. You’ve been excluding us too much lately, you know? Are you saving some country or something? What keeps you so busy all the time?”

 

At Jeong Cheol-min and Son Jin-wook’s words, Yeon-woo smiled while breaking out in a cold sweat.

 

“Alright, alright. I’ve been busy saving the country lately. Go ahead and start drinking. I’ll join you.”

“Okay. You better.”

 

It’s not that Yeon-woo particularly dislikes drinking.

 

They would never know, but over the past few weeks he had been so busy conducting operations with the agents that he simply couldn’t hang out with them.

 

As Jin-wook said, in a way, he couldn’t drink because he was saving the country.

 

So Jeong Cheol-min and Son Jin-wook immediately found a corner spot as soon as they entered and were drinking heavily, while Han Byeol, still being a student, came in with her mother, made a round of greetings at the party venue, and went home first.

 

Seo Ji-eun and Jung Su-yeon were mingling with staff members they had become close with recently, laughing and chatting comfortably.

 

And next to Yeon-woo stood one man all alone.

 

“You…”

“Hm?”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, the man standing alone, Jin Yu-han, looked over.

 

“Didn’t you originally dislike after-parties and such?”

 

Then Jin Yu-han shrugged his shoulders and said.

 

“Well, it depends on the situation.”

 

And there was one more man who wasn’t affiliated with Saebyeol.

 

“Jin Yu-han hyung. I’m really a fan. I respect you. When I was a trainee, I watched all the movies and dramas you appeared in, you know?”

“Oh, is that so?”

 

At Dong-ha’s words, Jin Yu-han scratched the back of his head.

 

Just then, there was a noisy commotion from a corner of the party venue with people crowding around something.

 

“Hmm? Why on earth is that here…”

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head in confusion upon seeing that sight.

 

In one corner of the party venue, there was a pocket ball pool table and a dartboard.

And there was also a ‘claw machine’.

And standing before it in a dignified pose was “Master Minsu Kim.”

It was mercilessly spinning its claws round and round, and those ruthless movements took turns gripping the doll’s nape without letting go.

Among the piling dolls, the staff clapped incessantly.

“Hmm, it seems like maybe Minsu hyung shines brightest not when he’s being a manager, but when he’s playing the claw machine…”

***

The morning after the company dinner that went on late into the night began with a message posted in the group chat.

– Dongha: Did you all see this article?!

[Link] Universe X White Blood Edition pre-sale first day unlocked version initial stock ‘sold out’

Yeonwoo groggily got up from bed, clutching his dizzy head from the hangover.

Yeonwoo sat on the edge of the bed, checked his smartphone, and clicked on an article.

– SL Electronics’ Universe series, the company’s flagship smartphone for the first half of the year, is showing signs of success in pre-sales. The initial stock distributed through SL Electronics’ official website and open markets sold out early.

According to industry sources on the 17th, pre-order sales began at midnight that day, and the website reportedly experienced intense competition as buyers flocked to make purchases.

Mr. Mo (28), who tried to purchase the Universe, expressed disappointment, saying “I’m usually a fan of ‘White Blood,’ so I clicked right when it hit midnight, but after waiting for about 2 minutes, it showed as temporarily sold out.”

According to industry insiders, while previous series also sold out their initial stock, this sales performance is definitely exceptional compared to the average 3-hour sellout time, as online inventory was depleted in around 2 minutes this time.

One netizen even posted an opinion on a community forum stating, “The Hwablo Edition (Universe X White Blood Edition) is the factor behind its popularity.”

Meanwhile, an unusual scene unfolded as long lines formed from early dawn for customers trying to purchase limited quantities sold offline at SL Electronics’ flagship store. In response, an SL Electronics official said···(omitted)

“Hmm, was today the smartphone launch date?”

The article Dongha posted in the group chat showed news about online pre-sales selling out quickly and images of customers lining up to purchase smartphones being sold on-site at some flagship stores.

– Hanbyul: That’s really really amazing

– Jung Soo-yeon: My cousin asked my mom if she could get her a smartphone

– Jung Cheol-min: Maybe the gold didn’t sell?

– Dongha: No, they said all colors are completely sold out!

The members seemed excited when the smartphones featuring them as models sold out completely.

Everyone except Hanbyeol would be suffering from hangovers, but the group chat was buzzing from early morning.

– Dongha: At this rate, we might even get our own merchandise!

– Hanbyul: What if we talk to Yeonwoo oppa about it!?

– Jung Cheol-min: Come on, it’s not like we’re idols or anything

– Jung Cheolmin: Oh right, Dongha was an idol

While reading the conversation, Yeonwoo stroked his slightly raised, rough stubble.

“Hmm…”

I went into the bathroom and washed my face to help sober up, then applied shaving cream while thinking things over.

Come to think of it, both the cleansing foam and slippers in the bathroom had some character drawn on them that I couldn’t tell if it was a bear or a lion, so they seemed like merchandise from somewhere.

‘I think that was a character released by a messenger app.’

Most of the household items in the house were bought by his mother on behalf of busy Yeonwoo.

Actually, my mother had my younger sister Sohyun place the mobile order, so everything was completely tailored to my sister’s taste, which meant there were lots of cute character products.

When I looked back, there was a floor mat with the same character drawn on it placed at the bathroom entrance.

After briefly looking at the character merchandise around me, I recalled the conversation between the members.

“Goods, huh…? It might be better than I thought.”

Currently, the rights to “White Blood” are divided into three parts.

Director Hwang Min-kwon, the original creator, and Kim Ju-sung, a private investor.

Finally, Yeonwoo, who was granted partial ownership rights along with running guarantees at the time of production.

‘Among them, Representative Kim Ju-seong and I are in the same boat, and since my relationship with Director Hwang Min-kwon is good, I should be able to move as I want.’

CEO Kim Ju-seong, who originally exercised absolute decision-making authority at LN as if it were his personal company, was essentially treated as synonymous with LN in the industry.

But when the two split apart, the ownership and distribution of “White Blood” also became complicated and divided.

 

During production, LN’s board of directors expressed doubts about CEO Kim Ju-seong’s management ability and thought the success probability of “White Blood” was low.

 

Because of the board members who opposed him even to the point of holding board meetings, CEO Kim Ju-seong covered the initial production costs with his own money and added various special clauses to the production support contract taking responsibility if the drama failed.

 

‘Thanks to the board throwing all kinds of obstacles back then, it actually became a good situation in the end.’

 

Contrary to the board’s expectations, “White Blood” succeeded globally, achieving a recoup rate far exceeding what was initially expected compared to the production costs.

 

In other words, according to the special agreement criteria specified in the existing investment contract, distribution profits went to LN, while intellectual property rights went to individual investor Kim Ju-seong.

 

‘In short, LN took some profits from White Blood, but the revenue from secondary works that will be created using that IP in the future belongs entirely to Saebyeol.’

 

While LN still handled the distribution rights for 「White Blood」, they had no claim to rights for secondary works derived from it, like this commercial film.

 

“Merchandise…”

 

The more he thought about it, the better the idea seemed.

It would also create good synergy with the upcoming basketball drama 「Parabola」 and the NeTube variety show 「Saebyeol Family」.

 

“Hmm, someone suitable to handle this…”

 

Yeon-woo briefly thought about the staff and two people came to mind.

 

‘The company cafeteria construction is almost finished now.’

 

Yeon-woo, who liked efficient work distribution, wouldn’t leave CEO Kim Ju-seong, a proven top worker, idle.

 

And since merchandise basically required expertise in fandom culture and capturing youthful sensibilities, he needed one more person, and there was a perfect candidate who met all those conditions.

 

‘I should pair CEO Kim Ju-seong with senior Gong Min-jeong like a task force. If they work together, the combination of ideas and experience should create good synergy.’

 

And so, without the parties involved even knowing, a temporary project team for merchandise was formed.

 

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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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