star of the peninsula

The day after signing the contract, Chen Chen was absent from work. He had his reasons for having to leave SMART.

In the coffee shop on the first floor of C headquarters building, sitting opposite Chen Chen were master and apprentice Kim Eun-sook.

"Sorry I'm a little late." Shirley came hurriedly with a few documents in her arms. After saying hello, she smoothed her hair and sat down apologetically. "It hasn't started yet, has it?"

"How can we start if the most important person hasn't arrived yet?" Chen Chen placed the drink he ordered for her in front of her. "Don't be in a hurry. Drink some water first."

"How come I'm the most important person? I'm just an observer." Shirley smiled and took a sip. "Or you could say I'm here to witness it. The master and the apprentice signed a TV drama contract with C headquarters at the same time. This is a very rare situation in the industry, if not unique."

Shirley's words were a bit exaggerated. In fact, what the master and disciple came to discuss with Chen Chen were two completely different matters.

Kwon Do-eun's "25, 21" is about to start filming, and she came to communicate with producer Chen Chen about various details within the crew; Kim Eun-sook came to sign the contract with the script of "Dark Glory" customized by Chen Chen, just a simple contract.

"The greatest credit goes to me. It was only because of my insight that we are where we are today."

Chen Chen praised himself and gave the two people on the opposite side an opportunity to respond.

They are reluctant to brag about themselves, but if you give them a chance to flatter Chen Chen, they will definitely participate in the conversation.

"Haha, this must be President Chen's credit!"

"Thank you for the recognition from President Chen Chen."

"..."

After chatting for a while, the atmosphere among them quickly became heated.

"Writer Kwon, let's talk about 'Twenty-Five, Twenty-One' first." Chen Chen found a gap to bring up the main issue. "Writer Kim Eun-sook is here too, so someone can help fill in the gaps we've missed."

"Okay." Kwon Do-eun tilted his head and glanced at Kim Eun-sook, "Then I'll trouble you, teacher."

It was Chen Chen's careful plan to call Jin Enshu over. This new book "Twenty-Five, Twenty-One" must have her participation.

After all, it is a new script that is very different from the "original" script. If South Korea's top writer Kim Eun-sook does not get involved, Chen Chen finds it hard to believe that the TV series produced by this script can still be the one nominated for the Baeksang Awards.

"We have discussed the script a lot, and even brought writer Kim Eun-sook to discuss it many times. Let's not dwell on it here." Chen Chen looked at Kim Eun-sook, "Writer Kim, the market hasn't changed much during the time we were revising the script, right?"

"That's my conclusion, too."

Kim Eun-sook gave the answer.

Chen Chen felt much more relieved after getting this guarantee, and the process of chatting with Kwon Do-eun about things on the crew became quite pleasant. From time to time, he could even bring Shirley in to chat for a while.

"Please discuss the final implementation with our representative director." Chen Chen pushed Shirley to the front of the stage, "Let her handle this part."

"Yes." Shirley lifted her hair, "I am gradually taking over the work of TV drama production under the care of the president."

"25, 21" and "Dark Glory" can be said to be TV series that are bound to be successful. Using these two works to lay a foundation for Shirley can help her quickly gain a foothold in the film and television industry.

Chen Chen is going to step down, and Shirley will definitely be in charge of the TV drama business.

Film and television is a business that can reach all corners of the world, and Chen Chen can rest assured if he entrusts it to someone else instead of Shirley.

"Do you think there is anything that needs to be revised in what I showed you last time?"

Seeing that the two people over there were already chatting, Jin Eun-sook began to tell Chen Chen about her own affairs.

“After watching it, I think it’s excellent.”

Chen Chen made a relatively fair evaluation.

"Is that it?" Jin Enshu was a little dumbfounded. "Is there anything that needs to be modified or fine-tuned?"

When she was writing the script, she was prepared for Chen Chen to find fault with it, because she had seen him being very ruthless when he found fault with his own apprentice's script. But now it ended with just one word "satisfied", which made her feel weird and uncomfortable, as if she had prepared her defense but no one had made any move.

"No." Chen Chen answered honestly: "Even if there is, it's not something I can see."

"..."

Jin Eun-sook was speechless for a while. She hadn't recovered from the previous blow yet, and Chen Chen hit her again.

"why?"

Jin Eun-sook couldn't help but ask.

"I was able to make a lot of suggestions for revisions to the script of 25, 21 because I've been to school and been an adult, so I have experience in everything." Chen Chen spread his hands, "But I have no experience with bullying, especially the kind of bullying in South Korea."

"It's stupid to make statements based on stereotypes about things you don't understand, so I would never do that."

What he said made a lot of sense, and Kim Eun-sook was speechless.

"Okay, okay." Jin Enshu was a little disappointed, "I'll take it as your approval."

"I already approve of it." Chen Chen nodded with a smile, "I approve of it very much. I approve of it to the extreme."

"And we shouldn't always call it "it, it, it" or "that script". We should give it a name." Chen Chen continued according to the current atmosphere. "Does writer Jin have a name prepared?"

"I plan to call it 'Dark Glory', which means to gain glory after experiencing darkness." Kim Eun-sook said casually, "It is not easy to get out of bullying, and it is even more difficult to complete revenge through wisdom. It can be called glory."

"Then let's just call it 'Glory'." Chen Chen pulled out something that came to his mind. "As for what Glory is and why it's called Glory, please let our audience discover it themselves in the series."

This TV series has only two names, either "Dark Glory" or "Glory".

Now you said you were going to call it "Dark Glory" so I said just call it "Glory". If nothing else, doesn't it make me seem pretty smart and that I understand the script well?
"That's fine." Kim Eun-sook didn't have any special ideas. She was very realistic. "The title of the drama can easily affect the drama itself, but the dramas produced by C headquarters will never have such troubles."

"C's TV series have always received a lot of attention from the audience, and C's promotional methods have always been top-notch in South Korea, so the title of the series is not important here, as long as it's not particularly bad."

"So if you think it's better to call it 'Glory', let's call it 'Glory'." Jin Enshu finally joked, "I dare not offend our financial sponsor because of a name!"

"Hahaha, Mr. Jin, stop teasing me. It's just a name." Chen Chen laughed so hard that he almost cried. "Let's call them both. No one should be left out!"

He said something so realistic at the beginning and then suddenly said something unrealistic. Isn't this a joke?

"..."After this meeting, C headquarters gained a lot.

"Twenty-Five, Twenty-One" will start filming on a certain date, and the script of "Dark Glory" has been obtained. The dominance of C's TV series in the next year is completely confirmed.

After seeing the master and disciple off, Shirley and Chen Chen returned to the cafe and sat down again.

"When will the filming of My Running Away Diary start? You've had this script for a while, right?"

Shirley suddenly remembered this and asked.

"Let's talk about it after Jieun comes out of the set of 'The Hunt'. It will be soon, just within two weeks." Chen Chen said that there is plenty of time, "Or we can also pull together the production team first and join the crew directly after she comes out."

"OK, let me calculate which method is best for us when we get back. You can make the final decision after we come to a conclusion."

Shirley pushed her hair behind her ears and responded efficiently.

"The results are all in front of you, you can choose for yourself, there is no need to ask me." Chen Chen shook his head, "TV series are a relatively stable project, and data calculations are hard to deceive people."

"I know, but I'm unsure and need your nod as support." Shirley couldn't help but get angry when she saw Chen Chen was so hard-hearted. "I can only play small roles in TV dramas, but now I'm directly promoted to such a big thing as TV drama production. My little heart can't handle it!"

"So that's how it is. Then you can just say no." Chen Chen squinted and said, "Would I really not help you?"

"Bah, you stinky straight man!"

Shirley cursed quietly, and only the two of them heard it.

"Now that the three TV series are complete, we just have to spend money from now on, right?"

Shirley took a sip of her drink and spoke as if nothing had happened, as if she was not the one who had secretly cursed.

"Yes, these three." Chen Chen touched his chin, "But these three films shouldn't cost much, and the special effects shots added up to less than a few minutes."

"Isn't it a good thing to spend less money?" Shirley was confused for half a second and then suddenly realized, "You are talking about me worrying about not being able to spend money. Now I don't worry about it anymore."

"Why?" Chen Chen asked curiously, "What have you discovered in just a few days?"

"I've discovered that our trainee section is a money-eating beast. If we weren't strong enough in making money, we wouldn't be able to support them!" Shirley reminded seriously, "Chen Chen, you treat the trainees too well! Among so many people, only about ten can make money for C headquarters in the end!"

"There are too many people now, so we can just send some of them away later." Chen Chen said slowly, "And not all of those trainees have to become idols. Your S branch can also recruit some of them to be anchors."

"The anchors will also retire, so naturally we need fresh blood to replenish them."

"Leave some, send some to S Branch, and keep some as staff. You see, these trainees can be digested. Oh, by the way," Chen Chen suddenly thought of another good place, "We still have MODHAUS, which will consume many of our trainees."

"I don't even want to mention your MODHAUS. It costs much more than what we spend ourselves." Shirley complained: "Did you meet a scammer?"

"He's not a liar." Chen Chen couldn't stand the way MODHAUS spent money. "It's just that I finally understand why the members of Loona are still paying off their debts after so many years since their debut. They really owe a lot. Jung Byung-gi is really good at spending money."

"It's different. They didn't spend the money on their own initiative. The company spent the money on activities." Shirley shook her head. "Although the money was indeed spent on LOONA, it was an idea that the company took the initiative to come up with. The girls just cooperated, so it would be fair for the company to bear at least half of the expenses. In the end, all these expenses were charged to other girls. How shameless."

"As a producer, Zheng Bingji made the final decision on how to spend the money, so he should bear a large part of the responsibility."

"In the end, this person ran away, leaving Moon Girl struggling there by herself, and then she met you." Shirley became more serious as she spoke, "You really have to be careful and don't be fooled."

"I know all this, and I have a rough idea of ​​it in my mind." Chen Chen glanced at the time, "Let's go, we should go back to the office and clock out."

"Okay, I'll go back and sort out my information, and you can go back and continue researching SMART." Shirley stood up and stretched slowly. In the final moment of relaxation, she thought of something funny and laughed out loud, "Ha, you didn't see how lively the Internet was yesterday, it was like Chinese New Year."

"What is the mainstream opinion on the Internet?" Chen Chen asked curiously.

"Didn't you read it?" Shirley felt strange. "Even if you didn't read it, didn't your assistants write a summary for you?"

"I was so focused on studying the Stupid Hat materials that I really didn't read them. I didn't even read the assistants' summaries." Chen Chen replied.

"Okay, then I'll talk to you." Shirley walked up to the elevator and pressed the floor button. "Everyone thinks you have bad intentions."

"Everyone?"

Chen Chen frowned.

Shirley nodded without hesitation.

"Well, everyone."

"It's troublesome. It seems that more and more people in South Korea know me!" Chen Chen pretended to be distressed. "But on the one hand, they think I have bad intentions, and on the other hand, they buy a lot of Shamrock shares, causing the Shamrock stock price to soar. It seems that those who hang out in the circle and those who play the stock market are really not the same group of people."

"They are not the same group of people." Shirley raised her head slightly and asked curiously: "Speaking of which group do you like better?"

"I don't have any particular likes or dislikes. Both groups are the same to me." Chen Chen shrugged. "The group of people who play stocks are easy to deceive. Any slight disturbance will make the stocks in their hands unstable. Once they feel the possibility of loss, they will sell them immediately."

"Those in the entertainment industry are not easy to fool. After all, they are the ones who dig up details about idols and create all kinds of rumors every day. Their resistance to lies is not extreme, but it is extremely high."

"But people in the entertainment industry are easy to please. As long as you treat them a little bit well, they will be very happy and sometimes even touched."

"Alas." Chen Chen sighed suddenly when he said this, "It's a pity that there are not many entertainment companies with conscience."

"Are you an entertainment company with a conscience?" Shirley asked.

"Half and half." Chen Chen seemed to have the answer in his mind. "Every action of C headquarters is aimed at making money from fans, but in the process of making money, C headquarters does much better than other entertainment companies, so we can barely be considered a clear stream."

"I just don't know if C headquarters' other businesses will shrink in the future, and the entire company can only use idols to make money from fans, and it will not be able to maintain its current appearance."

"Forget it, it's none of my business." Chen Chen pulled Shirley out of the elevator, "I would have retired by then."

"Yes, yes, that's the trouble I'll have to face then." The sound of the elevator door closing reminded Sulli of something else, "Oh, by the way, aren't we investing in Joohyun's TV series?"

"Did she tell you again?" Chen Chen smacked his lips. "You can invest a little if you want, but not too much. After all, it's MBC's stuff."

...(End of chapter)