บท 14: One For The Ages

Min-soo got up bright and early which was only 8am and headed out after eating breakfast. Uncle Sun had already texted him where to meet up. He arrived outside a real estate agent's office and walked in seeing Uncle Sun already waiting for him.

Uncle Sun had asked an old friend of his who also happened to be a realtor.

The very first place they arrived at was too dark, it only had a brief hour or two where it would not be overshadowed by its surrounding buildings. This was clearly unacceptable, even though it was going to be only where they start things off, they still needed to demonstrate their ambitions.

Otherwise, no one would really take them too seriously. Some might even cast certain aspersions as to the functions of such a building. Shady deals in a shady building.

The second, third and fourth all had various problems, size, location or quality. In fact, the fourth place looked good from the outside, but on the inside, there were serious problems and would require a significant sum to make the building safe let alone suitable for training idols.

Fortunately, the fifth location was exactly what Min-soo was looking for. Located in an area that was soon to be gentrified, the area was currently cheap, but its development potential was massive. Especially since he was able to buy not just the building but the surrounding buildings for dirt cheap prices.

A majority of them had been put up for sale during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/9 and had changed hands several times over the years. So, the one he had his eye on would serve its purpose especially since it had actually only recently been renovated.

The previous owner had invested too heavily in the renovation and with the recent downturn in the global economy, they had been over leveraged and had gone under. As for why no one else had bothered to buy up the surrounding land since it was so cheap, it was simply because the various governments both nationally and locally continuously announced plans to redevelop it, but problems cropped up every time and it would get shelved.

However, it did not matter to Min-soo whether it would be developed or not. If the government would not do it, then he would simply slowly buy up the area and eventually turn it into the headquarters for his entertainment empire. In fact, this had been his plan all along. It would save him the headache of having to find a new place later.

But this was a matter for the future, he needed to first establish his company, get together a boy group and bring the joys of K-pop to every single person on this K-popless Earth. Min-soo sweated a little as he realised, he sounded like a religious fanatic.

Regardless, he had his goal. He had his plan.

So, although Uncle Sun had been a little hesitant at first, he was eventually convinced that this location was the prime location for his future plans. They finalised the purchase and the realtor were kind enough to throw in an extra building on top of the five they had brought.

For some of these buildings they had been waiting for years to find a buyer, the maintenance costs over the years had cost them a fortune and offloading it to Min-soo was a massive favour for them. Plus, he could net himself a nice commission, if they came back to him in the future.

At the end of the day, Min-soo had spent nearly $5 million of the money he had been given just on the office. Fortunately, apart from some soundproofing works and outfitting of the building for music production, there was nothing much he needed to spend money on, in regard to the building at least.

However, he still needed to buy recording equipment, hire specialists and staff to run the various day to day aspects of the company. He started to have a headache just thinking about the myriad of things one needed to start a company, well at least one that had as large ambitions as he had.

At least he had Uncle Sun, otherwise he really would not know where to start. The life of a CEO was relatively easy.

While Min-soo took a tour of the buildings he had newly acquired, Uncle Sun went to register the company, it did not take long. Before Min-soo had finished looking at the second building, he had returned with another person.

It was a woman in her mid-thirties. She had a professional and austere aura to her, a no-nonsense type. Dressed in business attire with her hair tied up in a bun, she gave Min-soo a once over before turning to Uncle Sun.

"So, this is the young pup you want me to help? I admit he is a treat for the eyes, but at the end of the day a vase is a vase, no matter how much you want it to be otherwise."

Min-soo could already feel he had been judged and found wanting by this woman. He actually felt slightly offended, he wondered if she even knew his name and even if she did, how could that possibly be a reasonable reaction.

However, before Min-soo was able to respond, Uncle Sun jumped to his defence.

"Hyun-jung. What have I been telling you all these years? You should not be so quick to judge others. CEO Lee here is someone to be respected, sure he has ambitions and dreams, who doesn't? But he has the courage and conviction to move forward, to make those dreams a reality. You will like him, I am sure. You have followed me all these years, how often have I been wrong?"

He spoke in a calm and measured tone, the one an elderly would take when offering advice to their juniors. However, it did not come across as patronising, a skillset that Uncle Sun seemed to excel in.

The woman, Hyun-jung immediately responded, "Thirteen years ago. You were wrong then. However, I will listen to you this time."

Uncle Sun then turned and smiled at Min-soo with slight embarrassment, "Uh… CEO Lee…"

"Just call me Min-soo, Uncle Sun." Min-soo interjected.

"Ah, right, Min-soo, forgive me for not consulting you beforehand but I went and asked one of my old students to come over and help out. She is currently between jobs and I thought to give her a call. She is a finance graduate and has plenty of experience in companies both big and small, here and overseas. In fact, her most recent employment was with Hyundai."

Min-soo could not help but ask, "So, why did you leave?"

Hyun-jung's eyes closed and a brief expression of anger flashed across her face. In a cool and detached voice, she said, "I pissed off my new manager. He wanted to go for afterwork drinks, I exercised my right to say no, and well the rest is history. What an asshole."

Min-soo could only shake his head in sympathy, it seemed that despite the many differences between this world and his last, there will still too many similarities.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that here. If you want to take up arms and join us, I can guarantee that within five years that manager will fully regret getting you fired. Our company will not be something just anyone can sniff at, let alone some low-level manager. But of course, my company has an unlimited future. If that is more of your style."

Just as Min-soo was getting into his groove and about to continue his spiel to rope her in, Hyun-jung interjected in a deadpan voice, "Of course it has an unlimited future, you literally started it today."

Min-soo was rendered speechless, Uncle Sun laughed aloud and inquired, "I assume that is a yes then, Hyun-jung?"

"Very well, what should I do, CEO Lee and President Sun?"

Min-soo turned to Uncle Sun only for him to look at him with a blank expression. So, he turned to Hyun-jung, "How much do you know about labour contracts?"

Since he had her here he might as well get her to draw up an employment contract.