star of the peninsula

"Workaholic, should I assign you two scripts?"

Taking a moment to relax, Chen Chen went to the riverside to enjoy the breeze with Lee Ji-eun when everyone else was busy.

"Of course I can," Li Zhien threw the stone beside her into the river, "but why did you suddenly think of me?"

"What do you mean I suddenly thought of you? I've always been thinking of you." Chen Chen argued, "It seems like you have nothing to do, so I quickly sent you a job!"

"Have you already taken care of it for me?" Lee Ji-eun asked, turning her head.

"No one has yet." Chen Chen laughed, "We are going to start watching it soon."

"Get lost! Are you helping me out while you're selecting scripts for your main cast?" Lee Ji-eun glared at Chen Chen angrily, "When can you help me find a script on purpose?!"

"Let's wait until C headquarters acquires EDAM and you become an artist of C headquarters. Otherwise, I'll always feel like I'm working for someone else." Chen Chen joked, "Think of a way to convince your agent to sell the company to me."

"How can I possibly sell it to you?" Li Zhien glanced at Chen Chen. "Given the current image of C Headquarters, is there any difference between selling the company to you and handing it over completely to KakaoM?"

"That's better than handing it over to Hybe. Look at what has happened to the companies that were taken over by Hybe." Chen Chen teased, "I think Hybe definitely wants EDAM. IU is a super powerful blood bag. If you take a sip, you can save several years of hard work."

"I don't understand what you guys who run companies are thinking." Lee Ji-eun complained: "Fortunately, I was just singing wholeheartedly before, otherwise my clean and pure heart would have been polluted by these things."

"Now, why do you limit singing wholeheartedly to the range of 'before'?" Chen Chen accurately grasped the difference in her words.

"Because I really want to act well now." Li Zhien looked far away, and the scenery where the river and the skyline meet was breathtaking. "Whether it's a TV series or a movie, when I play someone else, I can always find my own truth in the character. This feeling is fascinating."

"If you have this mentality, then you were born to be an artist." Chen Chen suddenly became curious, "Oh, by the way, after you played the leading role in the movie, have you received any invitations that are different from before?"

"Yes." Li Zhien retracted her gaze and just looked at her shoes. "I have been bombarded with rubbish scripts recently."

"Oh my god, that's really hard work." Chen Chen asked, "Is there nothing good in there?"

"Is The Broker a good movie?" Li Zhien looked at Chen Chen. "If you have been following the film and television industry, you should have received relevant information about this movie. Its production team has invited me to play a supporting role."

"I know that even if I'm not familiar with the director, the male lead Song Kanghao is always worth paying attention to." Chen Chen smacked his lips and made his comment, "It's a good refusal. New movie actors can't act in such works that are well-received but not popular. They'd rather act in those that are criticized but highly discussed!"

"Newcomers in the film industry must first work hard to gain popularity, right? I understand that." Li Zhien chuckled. "I didn't think so before. I used to think that if I did good things in silence, people would see it one day. But after I met you, I threw this idea out of my mind."

"Artists who become famous late have to endure a lot more hardships, and they may even waste their peak period." Chen Chen sighed: "There is probably only one disadvantage of becoming famous early, and that is that it is easy to become the Zhongyong who hurt Zhongyong."

"Uh" Lee Ji-eun tilted her head, "Who is Zhongyong?"

"This is a long story." Chen Chen calculated the time, which was really long. "About a thousand years ago."

Telling the story of "The Story of Zhongyong" does not waste time, because the story is very simple so Lee Ji-eun has no difficulty listening to it.

"Is there a 'Zhongyong' in your opinion in the current entertainment industry?" Li Zhien asked curiously.

"A lot, but I won't tell you. If I do, I'll offend people." Chen Chen changed the subject. "When did you receive the invitation from The Broker? Three or four months ago?"

"At the beginning of the year, when the filming of 'Adults Don't Understand' was almost finished." Li Zhien felt that Chen Chen seemed to have misunderstood, and quickly explained, "'The Broker' is just something we talked about casually following your topic. It doesn't belong to the pile of 'garbage that has tortured me recently'. If you misunderstood, then blame me for not explaining it clearly."

"Ha, you're so nice?" Chen Chen laughed dumbly, "It seems like you really want to get the script from me."

"I can't help it. You are the best resource around IU." Li Zhien leaned towards Chen Chen, "You can't blame me, right?"

"No one can blame you. If anyone is to blame, it's my promotion that's too fast." Chen Chen sat up straight and made a formal invitation, "Come and be an actor for me, Jieun. I happen to have a movie in my hands."

"You got a movie?"

Li Zhien was shocked and her eyes widened.

"..."

So Chen Chen told him about how Lee Jung-jae came to him with "The Hunt".

"Hahaha, it seems that you are also a well-known investor in the industry." Li Zhien was excited and curious, hoping to be satisfied. "Do you think that actor Lee Jung-jae can attract other people's investment in the future?"

"Of course he can. Is it possible that the name Lee Jung-jae can't attract anyone to gamble with him?" Chen Chen replied, "But there is definitely no one who can gamble as big as C headquarters. The ones who will come in later can only be scattered investments from well-connected forces."

"You said earlier that Lee Jung-jae would definitely be able to get people to gamble with him, but then you said that he couldn't get big investment." Lee Ji-eun was a little confused by him, "Aren't you being inconsistent?"

"The situation is a little different." Chen Chen smiled and shook his head. "Investing 5 billion in a movie with a budget of 10 billion is called gambling, while investing 500 million is called playing with you."

"There are many people who are willing to play with Lee Jung-jae. If he invites everyone in, he will definitely be able to raise a budget of 10 billion."

"It's just that there is an investor from C headquarters who is willing to directly invest 10 billion to back it up. Lee Jung-jae doesn't care about small amounts of 500 million or 500 million. Putting it in will only complicate the problem and may cause a lot of trouble that didn't exist in the first place."

"So, Lee Jung-jae will reject investments from some people who don't perform well." Chen Chen raised a finger, "For example, the kind of guy who is only willing to invest a little but has an arrogant attitude, as if investing in you is giving you alms."

"Wow~ How annoying!" Li Zhien got goose bumps all over her body, "Your description reminds me of the hard time I had in the past!"

"It's all in the past anyway. You don't have to go through that anymore." Chen Chen patted her arm. "Just wait. Lee Jung-jae will come to see me again in the next two days. I'll arrange for you to go in then."

"Is more than a week enough time for him to run away from everyone he wants to run away from?" Lee Ji-eun asked puzzledly.

"Hahaha, that's enough." Chen Chen laughed. "Everything is ready, just waiting to start filming. Which new director can resist not starting filming and go outside to test people's hearts?! Can you resist? I can't resist anyway!"

"Come to think of it, maybe they have even prepared a production team." Li Zhien stood up, "Come on, I'll treat you to a meal at the riverside restaurant!"

"IU is showing up at a riverside restaurant at this time, so life is going to be miserable, right?" Chen Chen didn't want to go, "Especially with me, my life will be miserable!"

"Hey~ Didn't you ask me out to find actors for 'The Hunt'? What are you afraid of?" Lee Ji-eun waved her hand, "Let's go! If any rumors get out, I'll be responsible for clarifying it!"

"What the hell is this for? The rumor is just a good way to promote the movie." Chen Chen also became tough. "Although we don't know when the movie will be released, I'll start promoting it first!"

"..."

Facts have proven that Chen Chen was overthinking. People who can come to the Han River to play at this time of night would not care who is sitting next to them. …

The next afternoon, Lee Jung-jae came to the president's office of C headquarters and brought a list to Chen Chen.

"Let me decide?" Chen Chen put the list down and looked at Lee Jung Jae with interest. "Is it okay if I cross them all out?"

"It's okay. Just do as you wish." Lee Jung-jae lowered his eyes respectfully. "The people who entered after the biggest supporter C headquarters are not that important in themselves."

"Okay, I'm not that heartless." Chen Chen handed the list back to him, "Pick out a few names that you must keep."

"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Chen." Lee Jung-jae folded up the list and put it away, staring at Chen Chen with fiery eyes, "When do we start filming?"

"You want to ask when we will pay you." Chen Chen smiled and took out a contract from the drawer. "Sign it. It's the director's contract. We will pay you after you sign it."

With another director contract, the entire "Hunting" will fall into the hands of C headquarters, and Chen Chen can rest assured to pay the money.

Money is not a problem. The most abundant thing in C headquarters now is money, so much that Chen Chen has no idea how to spend it.

The most expensive AI project was directly stopped because one person could not afford it. So the C headquarters has no expensive projects recently, and large amounts of funds are rotting in the account.

TV series shooting is no longer a money-burning project for C headquarters. C headquarters now cooperates more with TV stations, unlike before when it took on too much and ate all the spoils alone. As a result, the relationship with TV stations has become much better.

Another thing is that Netflix is ​​much richer than C headquarters, and Netflix usually pays the lion's share of the projects that cooperate with Netflix.

Now that Lee Jung-jae's movie has been delivered to Chen Chen, it has hit the jackpot, directly solving the problem of C headquarters having no place to spend money, and turned it into an investment with good returns.

"It's signed. Please take a look."

Li Zhengzai pushed the document in front of Chen Chen.

"OK." Chen Chen glanced at it and handed a copy to Shirley who had been standing beside him, and then gave another copy to Lee Jung-jae. "After the contract is concluded, C headquarters will transfer the funds to the account specified in the contract. Please check it. The details of the transfer are just as written in the contract. It will not be transferred all at once, but in batches and stages."

"I know." Lee Jung-jae was so excited that he even stuttered a little. "I know all this!"

"That's it." Chen Chen spread his hands, "It's okay. Go do what you need to do, get the production team together and start filming as soon as possible."

"Okay!" Li Zhengzai picked up the contract and left. When he reached the door, he suddenly bowed to Chen Chen, "Thank you for your investment!"

"..."

"You're so excited. You look like a young actor, not a top artist at all."

Shirley couldn't help laughing, and there was a barely perceptible hint of excitement in her smile.

"It's your first time as a director, and you're directing a script you wrote yourself, with yourself as the lead. It's normal for you to be excited." Chen Chen said casually, "I guess you felt the same way when you first got a role, right?"

"It may be the way you looked when you first got a role, but it's definitely not the way I looked when I first got a role." Shirley patted her chest and said, "I debuted as a child star, OK?!"

"OK, I know you're very capable." Chen Chen rolled his eyes and said, "You handle the payment, don't make any mistakes."

"As long as I don't sign anything rashly, nothing will go wrong." Shirley put away the contract. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Yes, I have asked for a role for Jieun in this movie. Please talk to him after the production team is set up." Chen Chen instructed.

"Jie Eun?" Sulli frowned unconsciously. "I remember she has a movie coming up in October. Is she scheduled to appear in this movie again?"

"The actors in C headquarters all have their own things to do, so we can only ask EDAM to help." Chen Chen's excuse was very realistic. "I don't want to do this either, but there's nothing I can do."

"Heh, you don't like to use KEYEAST's actors or you just didn't think of them?" Sulli snorted, "And you can't use Joohyun unnie at home either, right?"

"Ouch." Chen Chen continued to speak as if he hadn't heard anything. "It's a pity that there is no female lead in this movie, otherwise we could have used Jin Xiangqi instead."

"Ah, Jin Xiangqi will come to see you later."

When Shirley heard the name, she immediately sent a message.

"Why is she here?" Chen Chen was very confused.

"How should I know?" Shirley rolled her eyes at him. "You can research it yourself. I'm going to file the contract and then tell the finance department to transfer the money."

……

"I want to express my gratitude to you in person."

Jin Xiangqi stood in front of Chen Chen, looking small, and spoke timidly.

"Hmm." Chen Chen scratched the back of his neck, "What did I do?"

"You first gave me the resources for the TV series and then for the movie. I feel your care for me." Jin Xiangqi said seriously: "This is something I must thank you for in person."

"Oh, okay."

Chen Chen was not quite sure how to deal with such a serious atmosphere. He felt that the initiative was not in his hands.

"Work hard." Chen Chen patted the post-2000s actress on the shoulder like an old uncle, "Try to win the Best Actor award, no, Best Actress award!"

It smells so strong of old stuff. I even said it wrong once in the middle. It was so embarrassing.

Jin Xiangqi smiled, and her expression quickly turned into excitement.

"I will work harder!"

...(End of chapter)