The Peninsula chaebol started by rescuing Samsung's little princess.

Chapter 139 Speculator Kim Kwang-soo

"Alright, Qri, that was good. Take a break!"

"Yes, thank you, teacher!"

After putting down her bass, Lee Juri rubbed her sore arms.

In the past six months, in addition to learning the most basic music theory and vocal knowledge, Li Juli also chose the bass as her main instrument.

Despite the hard work every day, she felt a great sense of accomplishment as she saw herself improve day by day.

She picked up the cup to drink water, only to find it empty, and the water bucket in the practice room was also empty.

So she got up and left the practice room to get water from the water dispenser in the lounge.

After receiving investment from Li Haorong, FNC finally moved to a new address. Although the place was small, it was no longer a basement.

The company currently has two practice rooms. Lee Ju-ri has one by herself, while the Ftisland band members share another.

According to Han Seung-ho, this was to prevent her and the Ftisland band from disturbing each other during practice.

Of course, in Han Shenghao's mind, the main reason was that he was afraid the members of the Ftisland band would harass her, so he was on high alert.

In Lee Juri's eyes, the president was worried that she would disturb Ftisland's practice.

After all, the company has decided that Ftisland will debut this year, and they've been practicing their debut song day and night lately!

Lee Juri has heard their debut song "Pain of Love," and it is indeed quite good, but unfortunately it's not very rock!

"Hi, Qri, you've gotten even more beautiful since I last saw you!"

Upon arriving at the lounge, Lee Qri ran into Kim Kwang-se, the president of GM Planning.

Seeing the other person smile kindly at her, she quickly said, "Thank you, President Kim!"

President Kim and President Han of his own company are good friends. President Kim often comes to the company and is always very polite to him.

Lee Ju-ri didn't believe that the other party was so polite to everyone.

After all, she had heard about President Kim's past misdeeds of beating, scolding, and imprisoning Kim Jong-kook. If he dared to hit Kim Jong-kook, how could he have a good temper?

President Kim was being so polite to him, which was obviously because of the man standing behind him.

"I heard from President Han that your company will be recruiting a batch of female trainees soon, so you'll soon have a partner."

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"Yes, President Han has already told me!"

Lee Qri was quite happy when Han Seung-ho told her the news.

I practiced alone for more than half a year, and it was quite lonely by myself. Besides, you can't form a band by yourself!

"Congratulations! You're one step closer to your debut!"

"Yes, sir!"

After thanking her, Lee Qri was about to leave when she noticed that Kim Kwang-soo showed no intention of leaving and was still standing there watching her.

She couldn't help but look at Kim Kwang-soo again, only to see him smile and say, "Could you please pass on a message to Chairman Lee? I want to see him!"

"Why do you want to see me?"

In the car, Li Haorong, who was driving, smiled and glanced back at Li Juli, who was sitting in the passenger seat looking puzzled.

After getting rid of Lao Pu, Li Haorong had a driver position available again. The company is still trying to find him a suitable driver, but so far they haven't found one yet.

Li Haorong didn't urge him, after all, he didn't want to find another old Park!

"Of course they need something from me!"

Li Haorong smiled.

When Lee Qri brought him news about Kim Kwang-soo, Lee Ho-young's first reaction was, "Who is this guy?"

It wasn't until he looked up the person's information online and saw the other person's small eyes that he remembered that he had met him once at FNC.

"If you're in a difficult position, there's really no need to see him!"

Li Juli was still quite nervous, afraid of causing trouble for Li Haorong.

In fact, she hesitated for a long time before telling Li Haorong the message.

"Since they've already gone the 'wife' route, how can I not give you that face?"

"Who is your wife?"

"Madame Curie!"

"Ugh, you're definitely not doing this just for me!"

Lee Ju-ri, who was initially confused by her concern, immediately understood when she saw Lee Ho-young's appearance that Lee Ho-young had his own reasons for agreeing to meet Kim Kwang-soo!

"Haha, our Qri is so smart! But I'm just giving him a chance; we'll see how he does it!"

As they spoke, the car had already driven to a high-end Western restaurant in the Gangnam district.

"President Li, it's been a long time!"

As soon as Lee Ho-young got out of the car and arrived at the door with Lee Qri, they found Kim Kwang-soo already standing there.

Upon seeing Li Haorong, he stepped forward and shook hands with both hands.

Seeing how humble the other party was, Li Haorong simply said coldly, "Hello!"

Despite Lee Ho-young's lukewarm attitude, Kim Kwang-soo showed no displeasure, seemingly unfazed, and continued with a smile, "Chairman Lee, Qri, please come in!"

Kim Kwang-soo led Lee Ho-young into the private room and sat him down, then personally poured him the tea that had already been brewed on the table.

The Western-style restaurant table was set with an Eastern-style teapot, which looked rather odd.

Watching Kim Kwang-soo's performance, Lee Ho-young did not stop him; at that moment, he kept recalling the information he had about him.

Kim Kwang-soo, who is over fifty years old, is considered a veteran in the Korean entertainment industry.

In the 80s, he formed a band and even prepared to debut as a singer, but things didn't go as planned, and he ended up entering the industry as a manager by accident.

Starting in the 90s, his career began to flourish, and in a very short time, he made a name for himself in the management industry of Peninsula Records.

All of this is naturally thanks to the Turbo group he first launched. The group consisted of only two people, Kim Jong-kook and Kim Jong-nam, and it became the top dance group on the peninsula in just four months.

Unfortunately, he exploited the two of them too much, which caused them to have many conflicts with him. As a result, the two of them disappeared during a scheduled music program at the end of November 1996.

Although the two later terminated their contracts with him, he accumulated capital and founded GM Planning Company in 99.

After that, he launched a series of hugely popular stars and groups, including Jo Sung-mo, Kim Min-woo, SG Wannabe, and Hong Jin-young.

Although he also encountered setbacks during this period, such as being found to have bribed a PD at MBC in 2002 and being given a suspended sentence, which prevented his artists from appearing on MBC programs for several years.

But these setbacks did not stop his company from getting better and better.

A person's success once may be due to luck, but continuous success proves that the person truly has ability!

Looking at it now, putting everything else aside, his interpersonal skills are far superior to Han Shenghao's!

"President Li, this is a Western restaurant, but I know you like tea, so I brought some specially. Would you like to try it and see how it tastes?"

Although Li Haorong enjoyed drinking tea, he wasn't an expert and couldn't truly appreciate the flavor of each type. So he took a sip, nodded, and said, "Hmm, not bad!"

"President Li, I'm glad you like it. This was specially brought from China by a friend!"

Kim Kwang-soo said with a smile.

"President Kim, let's get straight to the point. You didn't invite me here just to enjoy some tea, did you?"

"Of course, we'll talk while we eat!"

A typical French meal takes about three hours, with most of the time spent eating as dishes are served one after another.

During this time, they have plenty of time to discuss business!

"I think that making money from fans by selling products in the entertainment industry is an outdated business. The real money-making place is the stock market!"

The current small-scale operations are not enough to meet my needs!

Therefore, I want to capitalize on my planning abilities, create idols that attract audiences, and thus make the company go public and make money.

During their meal, Kim Kwang-soo explained his plan in detail.

Essentially, his plan was very common in later generations, and many small companies on the peninsula later followed this path, immediately going public and raising money after having a popular star!

This kind of thing might be very attractive to others, but it wasn't to Li Haorong.

How much money can a small entertainment company make after going public?

Once Mars Technology, a subsidiary of his own company, goes public, it will be a multi-billion dollar company. All the small entertainment companies in Peninsula Entertainment combined are not worth as much as his company!

If that's the case, why waste this money and energy?

So, until Kim Kwang-soo finished speaking with great enthusiasm, Lee Ho-young's face remained completely expressionless; he simply said, "Not a bad idea!"

Kim Kwang-soo noticed Lee Ho-young's expressionless face and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly said, "Of course, I know Chairman Lee wouldn't care about such a small amount of money!"

Therefore, I didn't initially intend to contact you; it was CJ who approached me. However, their demands were too unreasonable, so I decided to—”

"So that's why they're thinking of using me to counter CJ, just like FNC?"

Li Haorong interrupted with a smile.

"Hehehe————"

Seeing that Lee Ho-young had directly exposed his thoughts, Kim Kwang-soo could only laugh in response.

"Aren't you mistaken about something? I've already retaliated against Lee Jae-hyun for hitting my car. We're even now, so why would I want to continue retaliating against CJ?"

"Of course not!" Kim Kwang-soo quickly explained, "It's because my company can be helpful to you!"

"How can you help?"

"I know that you, Chairman Li, have your own company in the entertainment industry, but Venus Entertainment is essentially a film and television company, and it is not good at music!"

Therefore, if you have friends who need assistance, my company can arrange it!

For example, if Ms. Qri wants to debut as a band in the future, I can definitely help her!

If you were a shareholder in my company, would you still worry that I wouldn't do my best?

Kim Kwang-soo's meaning is simple: he wants to use his company as a henchman, so that he can step in when Lee Ho-young is unable to do so.

That alone wouldn't be enough to move Lee Ho-young, but considering that Lee Qri is going to debut in the future, having Kim Kwang-soo's help would indeed make things much easier.

This guy seems to have asked around about himself quite a bit!

Seeing Kim Kwang-soo's grin, Lee Ho-young immediately realized what was going on.

He didn't dislike Kim Kwang-soo.

This guy is a typical opportunist, single-mindedly focused on climbing the social ladder.

Once you reach a certain status, you'll find yourself surrounded by more and more people like that; the difference lies in whether they can bring you benefits.

Seeing how hard the other person was working, Li Haorong decided to give him a chance: "How much money do you need?"

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