My Peninsula 2007

Chapter 441 God of Management
As the Chevrolet turned into the parking lot entrance of the Shilla Hotel, An Rusong took a special look at the western skyline. Although it was already six o'clock, the sky was still so bright, which meant that summer was getting closer and closer.

On the seat next to her, Han Meiyan, wearing an off-the-shoulder evening dress, was still on the phone. She had been on the phone since she left the Lotte World Building and hadn't finished yet.

The person on the other end of the phone was Li Fuzhen. An Rusong really couldn't understand how two women could have so much to talk about, chattering away as if they would never run out of things to say.

The car shuddered slightly as it drove over the speed bump at the parking lot entrance. An Rusong stroked his chin, his thoughts returning to Min Xiujin.

This woman ultimately made the right decision. She plans to join "Zenith Playhouse" after terminating her contract with her current agency. Not only her, but also her former manager, Yoon Ye-young, who was previously preparing to join "Star-Empire".

From Min Xiujin's words, An Rusong also learned some things about Yin Ruiying. According to Min Xiujin, Yin Ruiying, who is 37 years old this year, is an "experienced" agent. In the previous fraudulent company, she was the best person to Min Xiujin.

An Rusong merely listened to what Min Xiujin said and certainly didn't take it to heart. Considering the size of Min Xiujin's former company, even if this agent, Yin Ruiying, was experienced, it probably wasn't that much more.

An Rusong brought her over simply because Min Xiujin clearly trusted her. Also, this woman had indeed worked as a manager before, and even if she didn't have much experience, she was still much better than hiring a newcomer.

As for whether this woman was genuinely kind to Min Xiujin, or whether Min Xiujin was too naive to see through the wickedness of people's hearts, An Rusong didn't care much. He was confident that the other party wouldn't dare to play any tricks in front of him, unless she was an idiot.

As for the issue of "promising" to Min Soo-jin, An Ru-song wasn't actually making empty promises. He genuinely wanted to enrich the business of "Zenith Playhouse" and get a share of the K-pop market.

In the world of my previous life, South Korea, though a tiny country, held a significant place in the global K-pop market, earning billions of dollars annually—a truly enviable position.

Furthermore, although the progressive faction supporting "cultural nation-building" in South Korean politics would not regain power in the short term, neither Lee Min-bok nor Park Dae-suk changed course on this path in the following years. The annual funding provided by the Korea Creative Content Agency to the entertainment and cultural industry was also a substantial sum.

As a reborn individual, An Rusong possesses ample foresight, and the development of NGN is indeed his focus. However, he might as well do some side projects as well. Even if "Zenith Playhouse" fails to achieve anything in the K-pop market, wouldn't it be quite pleasing to have a girl group starting with the number 9 performing for him?
Lost in thought, Luo Minzhi had already parked the car on the side of the driveway near the elevator. When the car door opened, An Rusong got out first, then turned around and helped Han Meiyan, who had finally decided to put down her phone, out of the car.

The two had just stood still under the car and hadn't even turned around when they heard the sound of high heels clicking on the concrete pavement from behind, along with a soft voice greeting them with a smile, "Hi, good evening."

An Rusong turned around and saw Li Fuzhen, dressed in a white business dress, walking towards him while waving her hand. Behind her were a middle-aged man and a woman, who were probably her assistants.

"Hi, Sister Fuzhen," Han Meiyan said first, jogging over to greet her.

Her evening gown was a fitted style, with the hemline extending past her knees and tightly wrapping around her legs. As a result, she couldn't take long strides even when running, and she looked like she was rushing to the toilet when she urgently needed to urinate. An Rusong was really worried that she would trip over the dress.

The two women went to each other, and when they met, they hugged without saying a word, and then held hands and continued to talk about the topics they hadn't finished discussing on the phone.

An Rusong raised his right hand and scratched his forehead with his pinky fingernail, wanting to give the two of them a good scolding.

Neither of these two women is simple. An Rusong is certain that neither of them could develop a genuine friendship with the other. The reason they were able to come together is simply because they need each other.

Han Mi-yeon hopes to leverage Lee Bo-jin's status and influence to enter the so-called high society and earn more money. Lee Bo-jin, on the other hand, needs to use Han Mi-yeon's projects to prove that she is stronger and more insightful than Lee Jae-young, and at the same time, earn more money.

To put it bluntly, the two have a cooperative relationship, or even a relationship of mutual exploitation. Yet, despite this relationship, they act so intimately, like true best friends.

Therefore, women are all actors; their acting skills are so good that they can not only fool the audience, but even fool themselves.

“Chairman An, it’s nice to see you again,” Lee Bo-jin said with a smile as she extended her hand to An Ru-song as he slowly walked over. “Yes, it’s nice to see you again,” An Ru-song said, briefly touching her fingertips before letting go. “First of all, congratulations, Chairman Lee, the ‘God of Management’ among the third generation of the Samsung Empire. The new financial report of Shilla Hotel is indeed impressive. Your father really should consider whether to change the family heir.”

Just recently, the JoongAng Ilbo published the latest financial report of Hotel Shilla. This is the first financial report released by Hotel Shilla since Lee Boo-jin took over as chairperson and fully controlled the hotel's decision-making power.

Admittedly, the financial report shows very impressive figures. If the data is not fabricated, the hotel's shareholders are probably so happy they can't sleep.

Of course, from a fair perspective, An Rusong does not believe that Shilla Hotel's financial statements contain falsified data. Lee Boo-jin is indeed very talented in business. If she didn't have that talent, she wouldn't have been able to challenge Lee Jae-young for the position of Samsung's heir.

However, it would be an exaggeration to call him a "god of management" based solely on this achievement.

"President An, please don't make fun of me," Li Fuzhen laughed in response to An Rusong's flattery. "What 'God of Management'? It's just that some people hate that the world isn't in chaos. This isn't praise, it's flattery to kill."

An Rusong chuckled and said nothing more.

Lee Boo-jin's words were akin to airing her dirty laundry in public. She meant that the JoongAng Ilbo's praise of her as the "goddess of management" among Samsung's third generation was not meant to praise her or affirm her management of the Shilla Hotel, but rather to stir up conflict between her and Lee Jae-young—even though their conflict had existed for some time.

Chairman Hong of the Central Daily News was not satisfied with taking the newspaper from Samsung; he seemed to want more. Naturally, he hoped that the conflicts among the third generation of the Lee family at Samsung would be as sharp as possible.

From a standpoint of opinion, both Chairman Hong and Chairman Lee's wife support Lee Boo-jin, but it's hard to say how genuine their support is, and Lee Boo-jin herself is clearly aware of this. In short, the internal strife within the Samsung Lee family is very complex, a common problem among large families and conglomerates.

“Let’s go upstairs. I just got a call from the restaurant manager saying that Director Li and the others have arrived,” Li Fuzhen said, taking Han Meiyan’s arm.

An Rusong had no objection. He followed behind the two women and took the elevator straight to the top floor of the hotel.

While riding the elevator upstairs, Lee Boo-jin discussed the current state of KBS. According to her, despite Lee Byung-soon's iron-fisted approach and tough stance after becoming president of KBS, opposition within the station has never disappeared.

However, this opposition mainly comes from the news department. In the past period, the programs canceled and the PDs and hosts who were marginalized on KBS were mainly from the news department, while the impact on the entertainment department was almost negligible.

Currently, there are reports that KBS is preparing for the 10th China-Korea Song Festival. As the new president of the station, Lee Byung-soon attaches great importance to this program, and it is said that he is personally in charge of it.

Lee Bo-jin mentioned this year's China-Korea Song Festival because she felt she could acquire the online broadcasting rights and stream it on CieloTV's platform. She believed that the festival's popularity would bring CieloTV a certain number of users.

It's clear that this woman really cares about CieloTV. She even inquired about the preparations for the China-Korea Song Festival. According to the information she received, the festival is scheduled to take place in mid-October, which is still six months away.

CieloTV software has not yet been developed, but there is no particular technical difficulty in creating such software. After all, there are already several similar software programs in China, such as Funshion and Storm Player.

However, the launch of CieloTV is not something that can be done simply by creating the software. Many issues need to be considered, especially the copyright acquisition that Han Mi-yeon has been working on. It would be unwise to launch CieloTV directly before this work is largely completed.

Attracting competitors is secondary; the main concern is that once CieloTV is officially launched and has a certain number of users, the prices offered by copyright holders for film and television variety shows will likely be much higher when Han Mi-yeon negotiates for their online rights.

(End of this chapter)