Hyunwoo said, “I’ve confirmed that Design Room’s pulled off more than ten sponsorship deals with new TV soap operas recently. I guess they will have to spend a lot to sponsor all the furniture for the shooting studios.”

“Don’t you think they can be flexible on spending? What I mean is that they spend more on the studio of a more popular soap opera while spending less on an unpopular one,” said Minhye.

Hyunwoo snapped his finger at her remarks and continued, “That’s the point. If it is not a company with huge financial firepower, it can control the budget that way. In that case, the producers of the soap opera with a low studio budget will be disappointed. They might save money but lose the producers’ trust.”

Minhye and other staff’s jaws dropped at Hyunwoo’s analysis. They seemed to figure out what he was trying to point out.

“If that’s the case, we have to go the opposite way. In other words, even if we have only a few sponsorship deals, we’re doing our best for each one of them. At least the TV watchers will be impressed with the studio settings even if the soap opera doesn’t become a hit.”

“That’s a very good idea. How did you come up with such a wonderful idea?” said Minhye, praising him.

Hyunwoo felt that was the most basic point in making friends with others. What’s more important than befriending even one person is to not make a single enemy. It’s good to win praise from somebody, but what is important is to not let somebody down. Hyunwoo just focused on that principle.

“I’ll add this: even if we have many sponsorship deals, it doesn’t necessarily mean we can sell more furniture. It is important for all of the items to get the attention of the consumers watching the soap opera.”

“That’s right. Ok, let’s do market research from now on. One of our research targets are unmarried women in their early 20s, and another is newly married women. Try to find out what kind of furniture design gets their attention, please,” said Minhye.

Hyunwoo got to work on ith the new mission. Sometimes, he visited the studio of a new soap opera and joined drinking rounds with those in the broadcasting business in the evening.

He attended drinking parties mainly at the invitation of Mansoo Kim.

Today, he had been invited to such a party. He went there with executive director Youngsu.

When he went there, he saw a familiar face, who was none other than Jinyoung Paek.

“Nice to see you, Brother Jinyoung.”

“Oh, me, too. Come and have a seat here.”

The spot right beside him was supposed to Hyunwoo’s anyway. Last time the subject of the conversation was Jinyoung, but now they mainly talked about Hyunwoo.

At every opportunity Mansoo and Youngsu praised Hyunwoo for his enthusiasm and fine character, talking about the episodes related to the “faceless angel,” “Ani & Funny,” and the “Castor Dream Team.”

Then, Hyunwoo suddenly brought up the topic of Jinhon Kwak and Angela.

In Hyunwoo’s opinion, they were so talented. If someone like Jinyoung could support them, they could make a big hit someday.

“Won’t you work as a producer again?” asked Hyunwoo.

“Well, I’d love to support talented young men, but I can’t now. I’m deeply in debt now.”

Actually, Jinyoung set his eyes on lots of talented guys but couldn’t support them now.

Hyunwoo felt it was regrettable. He wanted to financially help Jinyoung out, so he could freely follow his dream. If Jinyoung could realize his dream, Hyunwoo’s animation business could grow, but the timing was not right for Hyunwoo. He had to concentrate all his energy and time on Space Design and his own company Ani & Funny for now.

The drinking party continued into the wee hours, with everybody going back home around 3 am, but Hyunwoo wanted to have more time with Jinyoung.

“Brother, shall we have just one more glass?”

“Sure, we should, as we don’t see each often anyway.”

They moved to a beerhouse for another drink.

When he was left alone with Hyunwoo, Jinyoung opened his mouth as if on cue.

“Last time you asked me about Taesoo Ahn, the owner of the entertainment company AT, right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Was that woman you mentioned at that time Nami Yu?”

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide at that.

“I hear Taesoo Ahn has one particular woman in mind these days. So, I found it out furtively, and she was Miss Korea Nami Yu. I heard she was named Miss Korea thanks to his support.”

That was something new to Hyunwoo but that wasn’t important to him.

Jinyoung continued, “I think she is in big trouble now. Taesoo is not the type who gives up on what he wants easily. He doesn’t do business losing money.”

“I think I have to see Nami first and ask her directly if she has a thing for him. If she is now using Taesoo to be a star, that won’t matter, I think.”

“Even in that case, it’s not that simple. Taesoo will try to ruin her life in every way if things don’t work out for him. Taesoo is a dirty jerk.”

While talking about Taesoo, Jinyoung took out a white piece of paper from his pocket. It was a newspaper clipping about Yuni, a member of Hey Girls. She was once the most popular star with her stunning beauty and fascinating sexy dancing.

However, a scandal of her sex video and her relationship with the president of her entertainment company broke out and ruined her life instantly. She burst into the entertainment scene and then disappeared overnight.

“All this happened because of Taesoo?”

“Right. Taesoo tried to make her his girlfriend by all means, but when she wouldn’t listen to him until her contract expired, he ruined her life like that. If Nami doesn’t have a thing for Taesu, that’s good for her, but she must be ready for the consequences later.”

Hyunwoo’s face darkened all the more, “What should she do now?”

“It all depends on her. Someday, she will have to face the music. How she can overcome it is important. Phew…Why did she have to get entangled with a sponsor like Taesoo?”

The atmosphere was heavy due to their concern over Nami, and it was already well into the night.

“Well, I think I have to go home now, man. I have a shoot scheduled today.”

“Take care, brother.”

Hyunwoo went back to his lodging with a heavy heart.

I think I have to see Nami one of these days.

Hyunwoo’s working hours were flexible. If he had to stay late into the night because of a drinking party for business, he could report to work late the next day.

He parted with Jinyoung around 5 am, and nobody would complain even if he overslept on a day like this, but Hyunwoo couldn’t do so.

While Hyunwoo was sound asleep, someone with a low baritone voice played some music nearby. It was loud as if he was playing right beside Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo tried to sleep in one way or another but couldn’t because of the noise.

The lodging Hyunwoo stayed in was mainly for company employees who usually went to work early in the morning and came back late at night. Now, Hyunwoo learned someone played guitar and sang. Though he couldn’t go to sleep because of it, the music itself was sweet. In particular, the man’s husky voice was appealing, as if it reflected the ups and downs of his life.

The only thing that Hyunwoo found lacking was his poor pronunciation. Though he was singing in Korean, it was too incorrect to understand. Obviously, he was not Korean.

All of a sudden he conjured up the face of someone there. He was a very tall and rough-looking black man. He looked like a heavy-weight boxer appearing on TV.

Though Hyunwoo didn’t have a chance to introduce himself formally, he ran into that man several times at the lodging.

At that moment someone shouted toward him, “Hey, dude, let me have some sleep!”

As soon as the black man heard it, he stopped singing immediately

Hyunwoo got tense at that moment. Given the black guy’s rough-looking face, he might not sit idle. Fortunately, there was no trouble like fighting between them.

Hyunwoo giggled and thought, He looks like a good-hearted man, unlike his tough impression.

Come to think of it, Hyunwoo knew nothing about the black man next door. It was only natural as both of them never said hello to each other.

Suddenly, Hyunwoo felt guilty, I wish I had reached out to him first.

Of course, it was not too late. Hyunwoo thought about how best to approach him. Then he heard the black man making some rustling sound, turning on the kitchen power switch as if he was cooking ramen.

Hyunwoo snapped his fingers.

There was a snack house nearby, so he quickly bought three rows of kimbap, seaweed rice balls, and headed to the black man’s room.

A moment later the door opened, and the black man, poking out half his face, said, “Who is it?”

“How do you do? I’m Hyunwoo Jang. I live next door.”

“Oh, nice to meet you. By the way, what business brought you here?”

Hyunwoo showed him kimbap.

“Well, I think we haven’t seen each other often as neighbors. So I just stopped by to say hi and give you some kimbap. Won’t you try some?”

“Thanks so much,” he said, receiving kimbap.

Hyunwoo said, “In fact, I haven’t had breakfast yet. Shall we eat together? If you feel uncomfortable, you can refuse, of course. I just want to say hi and get acquainted with you as a neighbor.”

“Oh, not at all. My room is dirty…” said he, opening the door.

So, they had breakfast together. Though ramen, kimbap, and kimchi (fermented cabbage) were the only parts of the meal, they enjoyed it a lot.

His name was Raymon, 26 years old from Florida. He had a crush on Korean pop-music, so he came to Korea four years ago. His goal was to make a debut as a singer in Korea, but the door to success didn’t open as he expected, so he was making a living by offering English tutoring to middle and high school students.

Now, he was giving serious thought to going back to the United States. He would have left already if not for his music friends here.

Suddenly, Hyunwoo thought of the animation ‘Garbage World’, the work of the kids at the House of Happiness. He asked Jinhon Kwak to compose a theme song for it. He toyed with the idea of adding Raymon to that project but stopped it. He wanted Jinhon to take care of it from beginning to end. He thought Jinhon would have gained good experience if he could finish it on his own without any other’s help.

After saying goodbye to Raymon with hand-shaking, Hyunwoo went back to his room.

Though he lay on the bed to hit the sack, he couldn’t sleep.

Shall I search Story Mecca?

He turned on the computer to check it out when he received a call from the Jaeyol Song.

“Hey, brother. We have made it!”