“What is the condition?” asked Hyunwoo cautiously.

“Well, our students in Hwasung City should receive quality food from Hyunwoo’s Mom factory at a low price like they do in Ansan.”

“Of course. I hope they can get the same benefits as Ansan students.”

“Wonderful. We’ve another assistance program. We’ll pay 10% of the food ingredients offered to our students in Hwasung, and …”

The official mentioned some other subsidies.

Originally Hyunwoo started all this with the idea of getting some subsidies on the construction cost, and now he found himself getting a series of subsidies and other assistance benefits from the city.

What he liked most was the assistance program on the construction of a new dormitory.

In fact, it was such a burden and headache for Hyunwoo to get up early in the morning to pick up the elderly women. If a dorm is built, he wouldn’t have to worry, and his mother would be able to hire more.

“Thanks. I think your assistance programs will be of great help. By the way, can I ask you one more favor?”

“Go ahead, please. Let me report it to my supervisor.”

“I know a very reliable architect. I’d like to have his company get the contract on the construction…”

“Well, that should go through a due process. However, if the estimate is not that high, I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

“Thank you.”

The next day, all the major media, including Korean Broadcasting, gave prominent coverage to the campaign of Ansan City to innovate the food sanitation of snack houses.

So far, they reported only about the assistance programs of Ansan, but now their reports mentioned Hwasung City, too.

The food sanitation campaign extended across the whole Ansan city, with all the elementary, middle school and high schools joining the campaign.

In the meantime, Hyunwoo asked the architect he knew to build a new extension of the factory and the dorm. Sanggon Ahn, the architect, had built a couple of container houses for his father and Kuroda.

“Brother, I hope I am in your good hands.”

“Don’t worry. You know my abilities, right?”

***

“Did you check it out?”

“Yes, he is a guy named Hyunwoo Jang, a businessman running several companies, but it looks like he doesn’t have any special relationship with Nami. Except that they lived in the same neighborhood for a very long time.”

After he was briefed by the manager, Taesoo Ahn, the president of AT Entertainment, tilted his head.

“Then, why is that guy so interested in Nami’s work?”

“Well, any single guy would be interested in Nami. As Hyunwoo is rich, he might want to seduce her by all means,” said the manager, smiling as if he clearly read Hyunwoo’s mind.

Curling up his lips, Taesoo asked, “Did you hear what they talked about?”

“They chatted in a very low voice, so I couldn’t hear well, but I heard she repeatedly, ‘Tell him not to worry.’ That’s it.”

“Have you made sure her boyfriend Dukwoo Jang has not met her at all?”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Got it. You can leave now.”

The manager left his room.

Left alone, he wrinkled up his brow, murmuring to himself, Why isn’t she listening to me? What more can I do to please her?

***

These days Hyunwoo had no distinction between weekdays and weekends. He adjusted his business days and off days based on the shooting schedule of the studios.

Oftentimes, he had to attend drinking parties with those in the broadcasting business.

Even when he stayed in Hwasung he had no break time. He had to check the progress of the production of KOVE Dream as well as look around the warehouse and check with the managers of N&C in Vietnam and Unhye Kim, the director of N&C Japan.

He also had to pay attention to the office of Ani & Funny in Bono-dong.

Accordingly, he was always outside except for his sleeping hours in Hwasung.

Even today, he headed for the warehouse of N&C Korea at dawn, helped the staff prepare their sales activities, and a little after 9 am went back to the Bono-dong office.

The fairly large office space was crowded with the staff.

All of them had different skills and backgrounds, so they had different working styles and attitudes.

Some of them were more skillful, more active and passionate while others were easygoing and pretended to do well. And someone tried to win the manager’s heart by flattering them.

That was Hyunwoo’s headache all the time. He had to cheer up those working hard and give a stern warning to those getting lazy.

Kyongsu, the chief animator, played that role very well. In particular, he tried his best to push those screwing around hard.

“Ms. Misook Cho, you have to complete it before you leave the office. You get paid for that, right?” said Kyongsu.

“….Yes, sir.”

Kyongsu assigned a certain amount of tasks to the easygoing staff. Misook pushed out her lips in displeasure. Hyunwoo wanted to fire her immediately, but that was not a good way to handle her.

After hard thinking, Hyunwoo consulted with Kyongsu and Sanggyu Maeng, a manager with Ani & Funny about taking disciplinary action against lazy employees.

“Is there a legal issue here?”

“The contract stipulates clearly about the condition of dismissal. No legal issue at all.”

Hyunwoo gathered all the employees and announced, “From now on I’m going to divide the contractors into three teams. Each team should create their own work, and it will be evaluated on a weekly basis. I’ll give a bonus to the 1st and 2nd best team, but the 3rd best team that affected the company negatively will pay the price: one of you on the 3rd team will be voted out of the company.”

The employee suddenly started making a commotion. In particular, lazy staffers like Misook Cho were shocked at the announcement because they might be fired within one week.

She could not sit idle. Though she was not passionate about work, she was exceptionally good at surviving.

“How will you form each team?” asked Misook.

“I’ll consult with the team leader on that.”

“Can we form the team with those members we know each other well? I think that will be much more efficient,” she said.

Her intention was clear enough. Obviously, she wanted to form a team composed of those younger than her and get the benefits as a team member.

“Nope. The team lineup will be announced next Monday,” said Hyunwoo firmly, rejecting her suggestion.

Then Hyunwoo continued, “If any particular team member continues to perform badly, the number of dismissals may increase, and I will hire new members to replace them. So, you have to do your best, even if your team doesn’t come up with good performance.”

Hyunwoo then called the managers. He called the five full-time employees as the team managers.

In fact, Hyuonwoo’s plan to divide the teams and offer a stick-and-carrot incentive was a temporary solution. He had to solve the fundamental problem.

Hyunwoo felt that was the staff’s uneasiness. Namely, he felt they thought Tuti & Angelica would not be selected by the talent donation broadcasting company, which would mean they would have to leave the company in three months.

In order to clear their uneasiness, Hyunwoo felt it necessary to stir up their confidence.

“Brother Kyongsu, when will the city of Ansan announce the list of animation works they will support?”

“As I understand, it’s between next Tuesday and Thursday. They haven’t yet fixed the date yet.”

Hyunwoo’s heart was thrilled with tension.

Though the subsidized money was only 50 million won, what was more important was the staff’s morale.

“Don’t worry too much. Everything will be okay. The idea and characters of our animation work is excellent. I’m confident they will select ours,” said Kyongsu to cheer him up.

“Thanks. Shall we discuss how to divide the teams?”

There were three methods. One was to make the teams randomly; the second one was to make the team with those with similar capabilities; and lastly, put the lazy performers into a specific team and push them hard.

The managers said in unison, “I think you have to put them together, so they can realize why they are included in the team. Diligent staff will be able to work more energetically.”

“I agree. They have to pay the price.”

Hyunwoo was also of the same opinion.

“Okay, then. Let’s make the team on that principle.”

When Hyunwoo let the managers form the teams, they put those easygoing staff into the same team. Though they wanted to include more, some of them were contaminated by their lazy colleagues’ working style. The managers gave them another chance, and if they still didn’t improve, they would be put onto the same team of worst performers.

“Great. Let’s do that,” said Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo looked at his watch and said, “Oops! Times flies so fast. I’ve got a lunch appointment, so let me leave now.”

Hyunwoo quickly headed home.

Then, he received a call from a stranger in Vietnam.

“Who is this? The caller’s number is unfamiliar to me.”

Hyunwoo picked up the phone. It was a call from Hyongbok Lee, president of a toymaking company DAS Toys.

“What’s up? Hope everything is going well” said Hyunwoo.

To his surprise, however, Hyungbok answered bluntly, “No, I don’t feel good now.”

Hyongbok was upset.

“Why did you rule out my company from the list of KOVE Dream project? Some companies were included, some not. Don’t you think that this a discrimination?”

Those companies included in the KOVE Dream list passed the quality standards. Accordingly, it was inevitable for some companies to be excluded from the list.

“Sorry. We had to apply strict quality standards to keep the image of KOVE Dream,” said Hyunwoo resolutely. If he showed any room for his reapplying, moved by compassion, all other companies excluded from the list would follow suit.

Hyungbok appealed in a high tone, “What about the products of our company?”

“Well, that’s the job of the KOVE Dream’s vetting committee. If you try harder to improve the quality, your company can be included in the list later. The more companies with good technology will come out, the better.”

“How can we pass the test standards as set by the vetting committee arbitrarily? What the hell are you talking about?”

Hyunwoo didn’t agree with him and didn’t like Hyongbok’s arrogant attitude. Instead of making further efforts to improve quality, he just complained, jealous of those companies that had been included in the list.

Hyongbok seemed to misunderstand that if he was so resistant, Hyunwoo would give in and get his company included on the list.