Chapter 49: Settled (First Update Seeking Recommendations and Bookmarks)

  August 31st, the weather in San Francisco was still sunny, with warm sunlight in the morning, but it was raining on the Korean side in the evening. Soo-young sent a photo of herself standing in the rain, wearing a white dress, standing in the pouring rain, with a wet and serene background, a long park path stretching behind her, lined with lush trees, misty sky, making her look like a white lily blooming quietly in the woods. Soo-young asked him if she looked more mature walking in the rain like that, Ahn Jun-hee said she looked like a homeless little puppy, which made the little girl so angry that she stopped texting and chatting with him.

  When An Junhe received Xiao Xian's last message with an angry expression, he was standing in front of a very ordinary house in a community in San Francisco.

  Over the past three days, negotiations on investment have gone very smoothly. In the end, Sean Parker invested $200 million in Facebook and acquired about 28% of its shares. This is Mark's psychological bottom line. To ensure the company's independence or to guarantee his personal freedom to manipulate the company, he would not allow others to hold shares that could threaten him. He agreed to sell almost a third of the company's ownership because Sean Parker promised to continue investing in Facebook's development and some equity can also be entrusted to Mark for execution.

  For such a result, An Junhe was not unexpected. In business, no matter what the private relationship between the two is like, when it comes to the level of interest, there is no room for sentimentality.

  And this part of the equity will also be gradually diluted in the future, which is a necessary step for the company's development. Facebook wants to gain more growth space, not only needs money but also needs support from large companies. In the future, financing and increasing shares, even if Mark insists on his independence, he cannot compromise under the pressure of reality, allowing some large companies to participate in this market, sharing a piece of the cake, otherwise, business expansion will be difficult.

  An Junhe can't help with this, actually the future shown in the dream indicates that compared to other social networking sites completely occupied by capitalists - such as Twitter, Facebook is already very good. At least Mark has been adhering to his own ideas from start to finish, being cautious about financing, and making every effort to protect the interests of old shareholders. Moreover, it had relatively mature profitability early on and didn't need to burn too much money.

  He doesn't mind that his shares will be diluted, but it doesn't mean he won't try to prevent dilution. He promised Mark that he would continue to invest after the IPO, which is the first way to maintain his equity. The second approach seems to be a loss, which is to entrust part of the equity to Mark as an agent for execution under the agreement - although this will make him lose the power to intervene in the company's decision-making, he has never thought about participating in it himself. Rather than letting this part of his power go idle, he might as well hand it over to Mark to use, at least he can tell Mark: I'll always stand by your side!

  Through this means, his interests can be effectively tied to Mark's, avoiding being completely kicked out of the circle in the future.

  Thinking about the future plans for the shares in his hands, An Junhe stood in front of the small house, raised his digital camera and took a few shots.

  The cottage has two floors, a typical California-style building with a square wooden structure that looks like a solid matchbox. There is a small lawn in front of the door and near the sidewalk, where there is an old eucalyptus tree.

  The wutong tree grew very luxuriantly, with only one thick branch protruding from the lowest part being slightly dead. Standing under the tree, you can see scars on the branches, probably where a swing or something similar was tied up before. An Junhe took a few more photos of it.

  After a while, the door of the house opened and a middle-aged Asian man came out with a baseball bat in his hand, shouting: "Hey, what are you doing? This is a private residence, no random photos allowed!"

  Most of the residents in this community are Asian, and in a country dominated by whites, people of color with similar skin tones tend to be more united. As he shouted, neighbors from left and right also came out and gathered around. An Junhe, who didn't want to cause trouble, quickly explained his intentions, and then someone relaxed:

  "Oh, is it the Zheng family? They moved away for such a long time, I didn't think Big Sister would still remember this place."

  "Right, I remember now. The two little girls were very pretty since they were young. Young man, are you living well in Korea?"

  As people gradually remembered their former neighbors, the tense atmosphere suddenly dissipated. The current owner of the house also apologized somewhat awkwardly and then smiled: "Except for inside the house, you can take pictures anywhere else. I haven't changed much since moving in, just taking down the swing in front of the door. Do you want to hang it back up?"

  "No need, no need, just take a few casual shots, let her take a look."

  While dealing with the enthusiasm of these people, An Junhe took a few more photos, and even the neighbors gathered together to take a group photo. Afterwards, he left and found an internet cafe, where he sent these photos to Xiuyan through Hotmail. He specifically circled the baseball bat in the hand of the current owner in the group photo and joked in the email: "I almost got hit with a stick, treat me to dinner when I get back!"

  Then in the afternoon, I booked a ticket for the next day to return to Korea. Not only was the task completed, but more importantly, the copyright acquisition negotiations with KBS were nearing completion earlier than expected.

  In the KBS main building, in a spacious conference room, Park Young-joon's acquisition team and KBS' negotiation team were arguing over each clause of the contract, their faces red with anger. Next to them, however, was Park Young-joon, calm as ever, along with the equally unflappable KBS minister and officials in charge of this negotiation.

  The copyright of the drama "Sorry, I Love You" has been sold, and it's already a done deal. Even if some ministers or officials are dissatisfied, they won't come out to sing a different tune at this point.

  Where there are people, there are disputes. Just like in the TV station, some people agree to sell the copyright to avoid risks, while others disagree with selling out the planning of the station. The negotiations between the two sides have been stuck on this issue for a period of time, but everything became history yesterday.

  So Ji-sub, who is still in the hospital, announced through his agency that he will enlist after recovering from his injuries. At the same time, his agency, on behalf of So Ji-sub and 51K, sued the broadcasting station for a unilateral contract termination fee.

  When the contract was first signed, there were clauses about injuries, but the description of the penalty for breach of contract was ambiguous. Moreover, Soo-young's injury was not caused by filming, so the TV station would not pay. If it were an ordinary case, even if the TV station cancelled the project, they would not agree to the other party's request. Although that would lead to a prolonged lawsuit, the TV station is not afraid, as they have fewer lawsuits every year.

  But now it's different, after receiving the news yesterday, Park Young-joon immediately added his willingness to bear the penalty for So Ji-sub's breach of contract to the negotiation conditions. This attitude also changed the minds of the TV station's top executives who had been hesitant about selling the copyright. Although they are not afraid of trouble, it is better to have one less problem, and since someone is willing to take over this mess, they have no reason to refuse.

  Soon after, both sides entered into substantive negotiations. Now the intense disputes between the two teams are actually about minor details that do not affect the overall situation.

  Bored and waiting, the assistant poured a cup of coffee for Park Young-joon. He took a slight sip, the taste was terrible, making him feel even more impatient.

  To be honest, he has always had some reservations about An Junhe's decision to become a star. In Korea, the status of idol stars is not high. On the surface, it looks glamorous, but in reality, most of their income is taken by the brokerage company. Even the most popular artists are insignificant small roles in the eyes of successful people like him.

  He couldn't understand why Junhe was so determined to get into this unprofitable industry, and what's more, Junhe seemed to be a bit obsessed, spending lavishly on his debut. In his opinion, investing 7 million in a TV series was not as good as giving it to him to speculate in the stock market or real estate.

  "It's really crazy." He shook his head, thinking helplessly.

  "It's really crazy......" The ministers and officials on the opposite side also thought so, looking at Park Young-joon's uninterested expression.

  It's clear from Park Young-joon's behavior that the other party has no interest in investing in TV dramas, let alone enthusiasm. They really don't understand why they would invest if they have no interest or passion for it. Is their money burning a hole in their pocket? As a result, various speculations emerged, and some people privately exchanged opinions over the past few days, with some thinking that the other party might be entrusted by Joo Ji-hyun's family, while others vaguely felt that the other party might have taken a liking to the female lead of this drama.

  Of course this is just a joke. Even if there are some rich sons in the entertainment industry who spend a lot of money to chase after female celebrities, they can't and wouldn't dare take out nearly 8 billion won to squander.

  There is a minister who once said, "Maybe he's someone related to An Junhe. From what I know, during the preparation of the drama, he was one of the investors and never spoke up until An Junhe appeared, then suddenly showed interest in the drama's affairs and gave the role of second male lead to An Junhe... If you say there's no ulterior motive behind this, I don't believe it."

  This makes sense, but nobody takes it to heart. They've all met that An Junhe, the male lead, a pretty and polite young man who looks quite mature, but this world isn't about who's good-looking or mature gets more money. The entertainment industry is full of such young people, nothing special.

  "That's just a small actor, you're overestimating him!" Others said.

  The attitude can't be described as disdainful, but in fact there is no respect at all. Artists are like this, whether they're newcomers or veterans, popular or not. They always get applause from fans, but from other places, it's humiliation.

  But reality always likes to surprise people!

  When the afternoon arrived, both sides' dispute over the terms came to an end, and the final agreement was signed. Park Young-joon, who became the main investor, made a decision that left everyone's mouth agape after meeting with the director, screenwriter, and producer of the drama team.

  "Has the male lead of the drama been confirmed? No? Alright, I think An Junhe is pretty good, give it to him!"

  After saying that, Park Yeon-joon, who had been lacking enthusiasm, turned around and left, as if everything he had done in the past few days was just for this one sentence.

  Everyone stared at his gradually disappearing back, dazed and stunned.

  Only the minister who had "predicted" earlier was stunned for a moment, then excitedly knocked on the table: "I knew it! I knew it!"

  Other ministers and officials looked at each other in dismay...

  ;