The Famous Millionaire

But Hyunwoo didn’t move quickly. He knew that if he brought up the topic to Producer Kwon with Seoul Broadcasting without any specific preparation, he would not get what he wanted.

What’s the best concept of the program if I want to get as much as what I want?

His biggest concern was how to stabilize the new Animoon site as soon as possible.

For this, he had to secure as much good content as possible from a variety of animation companies.

No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not find ways to use Seoul Broadcasting to engage animation companies.

After all, he stopped thinking any more, for now, recalling the proverb, “Haste makes waste.”

I don’t have to be too impatient now. Let me stop by Haenim School to rest my mind.

Hyunwoo headed for Haenim School.

When he got there, there were three container houses that he didn’t see before. Originally, they were used as research rooms near Hyunwoo’s house, used by Duyoung, Kuroda and Taeho.

The reason they moved the container houses there was because of the need to maintain rooms for secret material. Some of them could be accessed by their research students, but others should be off limits to them.

Of course, the container houses were not intended to keep all their secret materials. They were just there for window-dressing. They kept really important research material somewhere else.

Only Duyoung, Kuroda and Taeho knew that place.

Duyoung was having a discussion with the students about green oil.

A little later the tutors arrived. They were supposed to teach English and math to the students.

Leaving the students to the tutors, Duyoung came back to his research room.

He made a bright smile when he saw Hyunwoo in his office.

“You’re late. Why don’t you go home and take a rest?”

“It’s too early to go home now. How is your research?”

Duyoung gave him a research file with sparkling eyes.

“Minkyu, how smart he is! I might develop new green oil thanks to his help.”

“Really?”

“I am not sure when he started to work on microbes. I just left him alone because there was nothing dangerous in that field. To my surprise, he found very interesting material.”

Hyunwoo opened the research file his father gave him. It was a report on microorganisms showing active growth in petroleum extracts.

But there was an amazing change. Before the growth of microorganisms, a very cloudy substance was cleared by microorganisms. It was as if muddy water had been purified through a filter.

“It’s not just about visual changes. Explosive power has improved, and pollutants have been reduced by more than 90%,” said Duyoung.

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide.

“Wow, this is the so-called green oil!”

“But it is hard to use this substance for automobile energy. I have to do another test with gasoline.”

What Duyoung said was there was no tangible outcome yet. However, he came to recalibrate the direction of his research.

Even that was a great achievement for Duyoung. It would be a matter of time before found new green oil if he found the right way to chart his research.

Hyunwoo cheered him up with a promising expression, “I just wonder why you haven’t thought about this before. I think your research can gain momentum on the occasion of this.”

Nodding his head, Duyoung said, “Yea, our research students are my hope. Their imagination is just indefinite. If we secure them a proper playground for them to play, they can make much better outcomes than dozens of researchers like me.”

Duyoung gave all the credit to the students from the alternative school.

Actually, Duyoung’s statement was far from an exaggeration. During his long search period, he confined himself to the framework of his own imagination. That’s why he could not make further progress despite his long research.

But the students had no such framework. They were simply unpredictable, acting out of the box.

That’s why Hyunwoo dreamed of founding an alternative school. To the best of his abilities Hyunwoo wanted to provide them with an environment in which they could freely stretch their imagination.

At that moment, he hit on an idea of how to use Seoul Broadcasting.

Snapping his fingers, he shouted.

“Yea, that’s the best thing to do.”

With a surprised expression Duyoung looked at him.

Hyunwoo said with a bright smile, “Well, Seoul Broadcasting asked me to give them a program idea on my company. Now I’ve found a good one.”

“What kind of idea?”

“It’s about the story about Ani & Funny students’ challenge.”

“Hummm. That sounds good,” said Duyoung, nodding.

“Like you said, the students will churn out a series of extraordinary ideas as long as we secure them a playground to play. I’m thinking of making Ani & Funny such a playground.”

If all goes well, Hyunwoo won’t need to worry about the lack of animation story ideas.

What bothered him was profitability. It would be difficult to have potential consumers pay for the students’ works. Animoon should be run on a payment basis for the time being.

Hyunwoo didn’t make any haste, though. As for the program to be on air on Seoul Broadcasting, he turned it over in his mind all through the night, pondering over the best way to approach the problem.

The next day he went to the Ani & Funny office very early in the morning.

When he got there, all the staff including Kyungsu and Sanggyu were surprised because he had never come to the office early like that.

“What brought you here at dawn like this?”

“I’ve got something to discuss with you managers. Can you come to my place?”

Then he briefed them about his deal with Seoul Broadcasting. It was new to them.

“Wow, that’s a really good opportunity.”

“Why don’t you make it a promotional occasion?”

Nodding his head, Hyunwoo said, “That’s why I deeply pondered over the theme of the program. The original purpose of Ani & Funny was to help the students grow professionally. I want to make it the theme of our program to be broadcast by Seoul Broadcasting.”

“Sounds good.”

“That will improve our image a lot.”

The team managers of Ani & Funny expressed delight, clapping their hands.

The thing was to flesh out the details of the program because the viewers’ interest and reaction would be directly affected by what kind of theme the program would adopt.

Hyunwo continued, “How about adopting the production process of Iron Worm, the top winner at the open contest on short animation stories? I think we can naturally publicize the work by doing so, and also publicize Animoon when we announce that we will post it on the new site.”

“Perfect. Iron Worm is the right fit for the program.”

Their discussion lasted more than three hours. Only after lunch did they wrap up the meeting.

Hyunwoo went to see Kwangsu Han, the representative of Real Film, before meeting producer Kwon with Seoul Broadcasting.

Examining the project draft, Kwangsu pointed out several problems.

“I think the order of placing previous programs is wrong. If you insert Duckling Fly or Garbage World in Part 1, that is a drag on the whole program.”

“Don’t you think the viewers are still most interested in them, do you?”

“That’s why you should put them in the back of the list. When they come to think of Ani & Funny, they immediately recall Duckling Fly or Garbage World. So, we need to make them curious about the next production with great expectations. If you release something too stimulating from the beginning, they won’t be able to sustain their interest in any piece after that.”

Hyunwoo agreed with that.

Kwangsu began to change Hyunwoo’s ideas on the Seoul Broadcasting program. There was no change in the contents themselves, but the order of the specific parts in the program.

“Looks like this much change is good. What you want to emphasize, after all, is that Animoon is the new opportunity for the students to challenge, isn’t it?”

“Correct. Thanks for your advice.”

Then Hyunwoo called Producer Kwon with Seoul Broadcasting.

“So, did you choose the program item?”

“Yes, I think this is going to generate more attention from the public than KOVE DREAM programs.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Ani & Funny. It’s about the challenges of those Ani & Funny students involved in the production of Garbage World, Duckling Fly, Temptation and Animoon.”

Producer Kwon briefly screamed with joy.

At that moment, Hyunwoo said, “But I have one condition.

“What kind of condition?”

“It’s simple. We’re going to take charge of the production. If you have to edit it before broadcasting, you have to consult with us in advance.”

“That’s a difficult condition. We can’t broadcast the program if it doesn’t fit the mission of our company.”

“Of course, we’re going to make it fit your mission. That’s how we did for Korean Broadcasting. You don’t have to broadcast the program if you don’t like it,” said Hyunwoo confidently.

“Is that all?”

“Instead. you have to reimburse the production cost. Of course, we won’t submit an unreasonable bill to you. Again, all the conditions are the same as those we presented to Korean Broadcasting.”

“Sure, we will reimburse. Can I receive your detailed plan on this? I can’t make the final decision on the conditions you just mentioned.”

“Got it. If you give me your email address, let me send it now.”

After the call, he received a text message.

He emailed Producer Kwon his idea on the program.

Producer Kwon was known more as a ‘bulldog’ producer than his name. As he was so much ambitious about his career, he tried his best to go after it once he got wind of a good item.

As soon as Kwon received the email from Hyunwoo, he hurriedly printed it out.

He was all smiles after checking it.

In fact, he was worried as Hyunwoo might intend to make his program focus on publicizing Ani & Funny.

Unlike his concern there was nothing in it intended to promote Ani & Funny like Korean Broadcasting’s KOVE features.

Still, Kwon had to be produent. He reviewed it several more times to find any hidden pitfalls in Hyunwoo’s program idea, and only when he was convinced, he met his boss, the director of the cultural affairs department.

Hearing Kwon’s explanation, the director also felt it was a big scoop.

“Ani & Funny? I hear its president is also running KOVE DREAM, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. I made all my efforts to persuade him to give us a program idea on Ani & Funny. This is the program draft submitted by its president. Please review it.”

The director gave it a quick review, but he didn’t look good.

“The real thing is missing here.”

Kwon made a stunned expression, though he thought it was perfect.

“What is that?”

“As you know, the masked dancers of the music video Temptation are the top curiosity of the entertainment circles these days. They are affiliated with Ani & Funny, aren’t they?”

Kwon’s jaws dropped momentarily.

As the director said, what the people were most interested in these days were who the hell these masked dancers were.