Chapter 103: < Protect – Episode 102 – Kid Fight [1] >

Ahn Soo Ho was busy after the first day of his arrival in Korea. The reason why he set up Hosoo Entertainment Group was so that he could take in Logan and his underlings so they could have an easy time making money, but it felt like he was getting busier and busier. After meeting with Kim Dae San and Kim Dae Chan, he went to the conglomerate of which Kim Na Hee was CEO. It was the Daesan Group of the beauty industry that all aspiring beauty experts of Korea wanted to work at.

“Soo Ho.”

Kim Na Hee greeted Ahn Soo Ho at the entrance and linked arms with him while calling his name. She was happy to see him, but she also wanted to take this opportunity to make good publicity. Business definitely wasn’t for everyone. Both of them had business smiles on their faces until they got up to the office away from the public’s eye.

“How’s Chae Kyung?”

“She’s good.”

“Did her parents say anything?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I’m going to adopt Chae Kyung.”

“What? Then what about her parents?”

“I’m going to foster her instead.”

She must have been setting everything up so that she could make Chae Kyung her heir.

“Are you going to get a divorce?”

“Yeah.”

“The old man will hate that.”

He was talking about Kim Dae San.

“I have no choice. We’ve come too far already.”

“I see.”

“Did you catch on?”

“Of course. You were so madly in love before, but now you’re always alone. But if you get divorced, your relations.h.i.+p with your niece will get complicated. What are you going to do?”

“I’ll have to make sure I split my wealth properly.”

“Will there be anything left after you split up the stocks? Oh, after you sell your brand?”

“That’s still in progress.”

When Kim Na Hee seemed to hesitate, Ahn Soo Ho shook his head.

“Don’t even contemplate it. If you agreed to give it to them, you have to do it to avoid any headaches later on.”

“Hmph! Fine.”

It would be a lie if she didn’t feel sad about her loss. She clicked her tongue but then smiled as if something came to mind.

“I heard you’re buying a broadcasting company.”

“Who told you?”

“Dae Chan.”

“What a blabbermouth. He can’t just talk about another person’s company information to other people like that.”

“We’re like family, aren’t we?”

“Manners should be kept even among close people. That’s how you make the relations.h.i.+p last longer.”

Just like how Ahn Soo Ho wanted something from Kim Na Hee, it seemed like she wanted something from him as well.

“What is it?”

“Can you take care of Chae Kyung for just a year?”

“Why?”

“My life’s going to be a little noisy for a while.”

He nodded. The entire divorce process was hard on the couple as well as the family. They didn’t have to go through the trouble of negotiating what to do with children, but even if one of them got a little greedy, they were both going to end up in the pits. The scale of divorce among the rich was on a whole different level.

“Okay. Can I leave it to Director Oh?”

“I can trust her.”

As Hosoo Entertainment Group became a hot topic, the young and pretty director in her 20s also became newsworthy. Some even wondered if she came from a rich family, but the truth was that she grew up in an average household just like CEO Ahn.

“Is it my turn to ask for a favor this time?”

“A favor? You?”

“I guess I’m getting old.”

“Nonsense!”

Ahn Soo Ho wasn’t used to asking for favors.

“I’m going to hold a beauty pageant next year. The prize money’s going to be 50 million dollars, and I have a budget of 100 million dollars for advertis.e.m.e.nts and operation. What do you think?”

“Is it going to be a worldwide pageant?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm. If this is the first time, you’ll need a lot of advertis.e.m.e.nts. 100 million dollars won’t be enough.

“Don’t worry about advertis.e.m.e.nts and branding.”

“Oh yeah. You visited France after Italy, didn’t you? Is it because of that?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

That wasn’t true, but he let her think that way.

“I’d actually love to manage the pageant.”

“I feel bad for asking. You’re probably busy with your divorce.”

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t think I can do it alone. Can I make a notice beforehand?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want. But are you sure? I heard there will be a lot of conflict with Miss Korea and whatnot.”

All a.s.sociations depended on winning the rights and interests.

“Ha! They’re always going around begging for money, but that’s not a problem for you. You have so much money that you could give me 100 million dollars right now. Who’d mess with that?”

Kim Na Hee laughed. She was on top of the fas.h.i.+on industry, but she didn’t have the guts to invest 100 million dollars in a beauty pageant that could either fail or succeed. Once Ahn Soo Ho received Kim Na Hee’s approval, Ahn Soo Ho headed to his next schedule.

Korean pro sports were no different from an advertis.e.m.e.nt board for major companies. That meant their market scale was so small that they needed the support. Unlike England where people were crazy about sports, Korea didn’t have many people cheering on the teams of soccer, baseball, basketball, or volleyball.

The sports marketing expert that Oh Joo Kyung invited put soccer and baseball above basketball and volleyball. Most just returned for the World Cup or the Olympics, but soccer and baseball still had a large number of supporters within Korea.

“Manchester United is worth 3 billion euros and the LA Dodgers is worth 2.8 billion dollars, but the Korean soccer league isn’t cheap either.”

“I said money’s not an issue. I just want to know how much I can buy them for.”

“Clubs affiliated with major corporations aren’t even being sold, and the stock relations.h.i.+ps are complicated and kind of like public property, so you have to consider the public’s opinion as well.”

“So you’re saying the a.s.sociation and the parliament have the key.”

F*cking Korea! This was the problem with Korea’s a.s.sociations. Politicians were basically involved in everything. Pro sports were a place where all sorts of corruption took place.

“I suggest you don’t waste time with public hearings and whatnot and just build a new city instead. What do you think, Director Oh? How about we build a Sim City?”

“There are no sites that can be used if we exclude national land and national parks. And if we try to go for private land, we won’t have enough money.”

“I’m just kidding.”

But it didn’t sound like a joke. Oh Joo Kyung wanted to yell, but she held it in. Beside Hosoo Entertainment or Hosoo Investments, there wasn’t a single company that followed the regulations.

“If we can’t take over, we’ll have to establish a new one. Will we be able to find good enough players?”

“It definitely can’t be done overnight.”

She made it clear that he had to be patient. Whenever he said things without thinking, the ones under him slowly died inside.

“Let’s do the official negotiations after we take over the broadcasting company.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Oh Joo Kyung sighed in relief in her head.

They managed to hire a lot of people through the open audition, but because Ahn Soo Ho kept coming up with new things, they were always understaffed. It was wiser for them to reduce their workload at this point. That was because once they took over the broadcasting company, they were going to be 10 times busier. It was a little too early to move the newly hired people up to Hosoo Entertainment Group.

Once Ahn Soo Ho finished everything on his list, he went home as soon as the sun started to go down. The Hosoo Entertainment he knew didn’t stress the importance of working overtime. Sure, there were night filmings and events, but when it came to regular work, they paid overtime for those who stayed later than regular hours.

He made plans with the Do brothers. Do Kyung Ho, who received training from Logan and his underlings, changed the gangster ways that he and his underlings were used to. Since they used to be physical, they had the right build for it. Once all the gangster vibes were washed out, he looked like an admirable guard.

But he still hadn’t fixed one thing.

“Say h.e.l.lo.”

“h.e.l.lo, CEO Ahn!”

They greeted people by bowing. Logan and his underlings were fascinated and entertained by this.

“You finally look like decent human beings. Did you learn a lot?”

“Yeah. We almost died though.”

“Don’t be a baby.”

Ahn Soo Ho smirked at Do Kyung Ho’s complaint. The dissatisfaction they had for society were gone and the void it left was filled with confidence and pride.

“Drink as much as you want. It’s on me today.”

“Thank you, Sir!”

In order to make subordinates more comfortable, it was important to step out when needed. Ahn Soo Ho took the Do brothers and went to a different room.

“Is it not too hard for you?”

“No, Soo Ho. Thank you for the opportunity.”

The second eldest, Do Dae Ho didn’t have any special talents, but he knew how to keep secrets and had a serious personality. He didn’t talk much, so he didn’t seem friendly, but he actually had a big heart and looked up to Ahn Soo Ho since he was little.

“Congrats to the youngest. Sorry I didn’t say this earlier.”

“That’s okay, Soo Ho. This is all thanks to you. I should be the one bowing to you.”

The youngest, Do In Ho recently pa.s.sed the judicial exam. Since the 3rd round of interviews was easy to pa.s.s, the Do family finally had a lawyer in the family.

“Is your goal to become a judge or prosecutor?”

“No, a lawyer. Hehe. So will you…”

“You annoying little punk.”

The sight of Do In Ho rubbing his hands together was both cute and gross to Ahn Soo Ho. Were all married men like that?

“All that’s left is for Domino to get married.”

“That’ll be hard this year. Maybe next year.”

“Why?”

The only unmarried brother, Do Min Ho smacked his lips, and Do Kyung Ho answered instead.

“Something bad happened in the in-law’s family.”

“Really?”

Seeing how they were hesitating, he didn’t want to dig into too much. Ahn Soo Ho held up a gla.s.s to turn the awkward vibe around.

“Since I helped you out this time, you’d better all stay loyal to me.”

“Oh!”

“Turn off the local station, please.”

He then led the chant.

“Hurray!”

“Hurray!”

They all chugged their drinks.

“When are you going to get married?”

“Me? I could do it tomorrow, but I have a movie filming next week that I’ll be busy with. I’ll probably get married next year, too.”

Whenever men got together, they had to talk about women. It didn’t matter what ages or stages of life they were in. And what made men bluff more was definitely the size of their junk. There wasn’t a single Korean man whom this didn’t apply to. If it didn’t, then that was probably a foreign man with a Korean mask on.

“Domino, if you don’t get her pregnant on the first night after you get married, I’m taking you off the family’s register.”

“That’s not up to me!”

“The youngest did it.”

The Do family was praised for how easily they got their women pregnant. The Do family’s parents even received an award from someone high up. Ahn Soo Ho, who was busy teasing Do Min Ho, left as soon as he saw a secretary peeking in.

“What is it?”

The secretary that Oh Joo Kyung sent looked awkward.

“Miss. So Hye is at the police station.”

“The police station? Did she get hit?”

“No, it’s quite the opposite.”

“That’s good.”

That meant she was the one that hit them first. Ahn Soo Ho felt a little more relieved. The secretary seemed surprised by his reaction. Ahn Soo Ho asked her another question.

“So how are you handling it?”

“We sent the legal team. We’re still confirming what exactly happened, but it sounds like she got in a fight with someone she was pa.s.sing by.”

There was no way Lee So Hye started that fight first.

‘So Hye’s too nice to do that.’

He didn’t know who this was, but they chose the wrong opponent.

“Let’s go.”

< Protect – Episode 102 – Kid Fight [1] > The end.