Chapter 199

Chapter 199. Blank Card

I had planned to take things a little slower for Serin and Anna, who were already working themselves to the bone in America.

But the moment Serin heard that she might be able to appear in 〈Geronimo〉, her passion caught fire.

Anna got swept up in the excitement too, and the two of them were practically working day and night.

So I'd been living like their personal butler to preserve the members' stamina when an unexpected visitor came to the temporary New Dimension office we'd borrowed.

"Chairman Kim Gyu-bong? What brings you all the way here...?"

"I had some business in America, so I stopped by. ...No, honestly, I came to see you, CEO Do Jun-hyeok."

I thought about serving him coffee or something, but I had no idea what chaebol chairmen drank, so I left it alone.

The image of Shin Hyung-geol grilling an expensive grouper even though it was still just a fish flashed through my mind.

"The Olympic Committee will soon finalize the host city for the 2036 Olympics. The vote is coming up."

Kim Gyu-bong said as he sat down in one of the chairs in the separate meeting room.

"But I'm not nervous at all. Hahahahaha! Washington was the strongest candidate, but that's over now. Seoul, the next leading candidate, will be chosen. It's all thanks to you, CEO Do Jun-hyeok!"

Online newspapers had been incredibly noisy for the past several days.

Sarah Pullen's son's admission had eventually been revoked, and every coach accused of accepting money was under investigation.

Even though Kim Gyu-bong was the chairman of a major Korean conglomerate, I hadn't expected him to have this much influence in America.

Though it probably wasn't influence in the literal sense.

Sriver wasn't that powerful in America.

More likely, he had capable reporters there who listened to him, or some other kind of network he could pull.

"Thanks to me? You're the one who guided everything so well, Chairman. That's probably why public opinion formed the way it did."

When I declined the praise, Kim Gyu-bong kept smiling, but his eyes became much more serious.

"Ah... Of course, I did pull a few strings. But no matter how hard you fan perfectly good firewood, will it catch fire without kindling? You gave me excellent kindling, CEO Do. That's why I was able to roll it this way and that."

Apparently, the admissions corruption among Washington universities was spread fairly evenly across athletics and the arts.

But because it happened during Olympic bidding season, coverage was being deliberately concentrated on the athletics side.

From the outside, they wanted it to look less like "Washington university admissions corruption" and more like "corruption in Washington's athletic establishment."

Outside athletics, investigations were still active, but the media coverage wasn't nearly as aggressive.

He really was making excellent use of the kindling I'd given him.

"I'm glad I traveled around the world handing out business cards in advance. Even though I thought we probably wouldn't win this time, I still went around visiting Olympic committee offices in all the member countries. I told them about the Miracle on the Han River, Admiral Yi Sun-sin, all kinds of things. Asked them for their votes."

"Looks like all that effort is paying off."

Kim Gyu-bong nodded.

He looked so happy that I could imagine him getting completely drunk tonight.

"You know, I started from the bottom as an ordinary employee myself. Company life is all about effort. You know that too, CEO Do, don't you? If your own work life feels easy and comfortable, that usually means someone else is carrying the burden for you."

"That's true."

"That's exactly how I feel right now. Everyone keeps asking me how I knew corruption would break out at Washington universities. I trusted what you told me and prepared the public-opinion strategy in advance. Apparently everyone thinks I have some extraordinary foresight."

When people asked him how he'd known, Kim Gyu-bong claimed he'd simply improvised after the scandal broke.

That was all.

And apparently that answer made everyone admire him even more.

In other words, I had shouldered the burden of finding out about the Washington university corruption...

And he'd simply picked up the finished package.

"So I'd like to repay you somehow."

Kim Gyu-bong began rummaging through his bag.

"Oh, no. That's really unnecessary. It's not like I did this expecting repayment. I did it for my own reasons too."

"Of course you did. I heard Serin and Anna ended up getting good roles because of this too. But that doesn't mean I didn't receive help. You did look out for me, didn't you, CEO Do?"

So he knew everything.

Looks like I'd failed to appear completely selfless.

Kim Gyu-bong handed me a white envelope.

When I took it, he gestured that I could open it immediately.

It didn't feel like money.

Through the envelope, I could feel something firm like a card, but thinner and larger.

When I pulled it out, I found a small panel with the Sriver logo printed across it like a watermark.

It looked perfect for writing something on.

Was this the legendary blank check I'd only heard about?

It looked pretty different from the ones in movies.

"What... is this?"

"I wasn't sure what kind of gift you'd like, so I prepared something special. It might not satisfy you, but with that, you can buy anything. Hahahaha! You can use it however you want, CEO Do."

Was this some kind of test of how bold I was?

I'd seen scenes like that in movies too.

Someone timidly writes down a number, only for the rich guy to sneer,

Did you forget a few zeroes?

It didn't even look like a normal pen could write on the thing.

It was thin and flexible, but the surface was basically coated plastic.

Kim Gyu-bong explained.

"With that card, you can walk into any Sriver store and take any product for free. It was made specially for you, CEO Do. You can't see it, but there's a chip hidden inside. Even if you lose it, we'll make another one whenever you need."

Ah.

So it wasn't a blank check.

But it was still an incredibly valuable item.

Sriver had been making some nice audio equipment lately.

I was slightly tempted.

Still, I refused.

I wanted to gain Kim Gyu-bong's favor.

I didn't want to owe him.

"No. Sriver employees work themselves to the bone making those products. I can't just take them for free."

"If you put it like that, what does that make me as the chairman? Hahahaha!"

Kim Gyu-bong laughed even more happily than before.

After several rounds of offering and refusing, he finally said,

"If you really won't accept it, then I suppose I can't force you... Though I actually had another request to make, which is why I tried this little trick. Now it's harder for me to ask."

"What's the request? You've brought the Olympics to Korea for us. Of course I'll listen."

Kim Gyu-bong said he wanted to appoint me as a member of the Olympic bid committee.

Just my name, as thanks for what I'd done.

If this were Choi Gyu-sik, it was basically like putting my name in the credits.

Was that really help?

It sounded more like another favor to me.

Still, I couldn't reject him twice, so I accepted.

"All right. Then I'll be going. I shouldn't keep a busy man tied up for too long."

"You're leaving already?"

Kim Gyu-bong added a few more words of encouragement before standing.

"Ah. Come to think of it, there's something I've been personally curious about. Is Universe not planning to go public?"

Go public?

I got that question from time to time.

No.

"No. If we went public, I wouldn't be able to support Blue Moon exactly the way I want anymore. That's what happens when outside capital gets involved, doesn't it?"

"That's what you think? Hmm..."

Kim Gyu-bong rested a hand on his chin and thought for a moment before walking toward the exit.

"CEO Do Jun-hyeok, I think you're seriously misunderstanding something. Still, if you don't go public, that's good for me. I'll be going now."

"Take care on your way back."

I'm misunderstanding something?

What did he mean by that?

Kim Gyu-bong closed the office door behind him.

And on top of the cabinet beside the door, without me noticing, he'd left the Sriver blank card behind.

"I have no way to prove it now that things turned out like this, but I really was going to use Anna's dubbing!"

On the very day Sarah Pullen was arrested, I met Even Favreau and Jennifer McCarthy together.

The moment Even Favreau saw me, that was the first thing he insisted on.

"I figured you would."

"Really?"

To be honest, Anna couldn't beat Sarah Pullen on singing ability alone.

That wouldn't change even if Serin or Youngchae came in.

Sarah Pullen was one of Broadway's most respected actresses, and Korean musical fans practically worshipped her.

But she hadn't suited the role of Anne in 〈The Three Duchesses〉 particularly well.

Her voice was too thick and too much like a warrior's.

The character had plenty of scenes where she bravely confronted enemies, but she didn't need to sound like a full-fledged warrior woman.

Even Favreau's original plan had probably been to cast Anna for the dubbing because she suited the character, then use the extremely famous musical actress Sarah Pullen for the songs to maximize the OST's popularity.

But then he'd been forced into a situation where he had to choose one and focus on her.

From the little I'd seen of Even Favreau, he valued the quality of the work itself.

If he only cared about singing or acting skill in isolation, he could've simply cast the most expensive voice actors and musical performers across the board.

"Then, about me..."

Jennifer McCarthy asked.

They had just started rehearsals when Sarah Pullen suddenly disappeared, putting Jennifer in a difficult position.

Even Favreau at least already had Anna's version recorded, so there wasn't much of a problem for him.

Jennifer, however, was about to get extremely busy.

"You were probably choosing between 〈King of the Savannah〉 and my offer. But now one of the directors of 〈King of the Savannah〉, DeAndre, is also under suspicion. A musical he produced can't realistically go onstage anymore."

"That's right."

"But I only need to find another actress. The schedule has become tighter, but in a way, I think I can now make a better offer than before. Would you be willing to recommend Serin for the role in 〈Geronimo〉...?"

When I'd first said I'd get Serin a role in 〈Geronimo〉, she'd quietly shown a little anticipation.

Anna, after recording alongside Sarah Pullen, had also thought she didn't have much chance.

And now we'd gotten both opportunities.

Just imagining how happy the members would be made me want to hurry back to the hotel and tell them.

After giving both Even Favreau and Jennifer positive answers, I sent them off.

Jennifer, especially, sent me the 〈Geronimo〉 script practically the moment she left.

Now the important issue was our new-song schedule.

Serin wanted to do a musical, which meant returning to Korea had become difficult.

After hearing Youngchae and Aran's opinions back in Korea, we decided to prepare the new songs in America.

They also seemed to like the idea because everyone would be able to watch Serin's musical premiere together.

"At this point, why don't you just do a Blue Moon world tour?"

When I returned to the office and told Moon Hee-jung about the decision, I asked whether we could continue using the office since our stay in America would be longer than planned.

That was her suggestion.

"A world tour? Whew. Too dangerous. Dangerous. Do you know how scary the world is these days?"

I wasn't genuinely afraid they'd be kidnapped while traveling.

Still, every time we came to America like this, I couldn't help worrying about the Korean fans.

I'd been certain the Super Bowl would be our last major overseas schedule.

Yet here we were sniffing around Broadway.

But what was I supposed to do when Serin and Anna wanted to try dubbing...?

If we had a reason to come, we had to come.

"I'm seriously not joking. At the very least, you should give some feedback on the fan café about why you aren't doing overseas schedules."

"Why?"

Dae-hun was the one responsible for monitoring the fan café.

I only watched the information-sharing messenger rooms.

Hee-jung showed me the hottest Apollo fan-café post of the day.

The title was:

[Hohoho~ Our Girls Are Dubbing a World Dizn Animation This Time~]

[Blue Moon has seriously joined the "Do You Know" club now. The Korean Peninsula is too small for them to promote in.]

[Do-hyung became an Olympic committee member too. Kim Gyu-bong and Jung Jun are gonna start grabbing each other by the collar lol]

[But when is the next comeback? They're not gonna become like other idols who go overseas and only release English songs, right? ㅜㅜㅜ]

The post itself was the usual overexcited Apollo fan nonsense about Blue Moon's activities.

But the comments were in the middle of a pretty fierce war.

[Please stop whining about Blue Moon coming back to Korea. If you can't support them, at least don't block their path to success.]

[Whining my ass. The second they go abroad and taste foreign air, it's easy for them to become "your Blue Moon" instead of "our Blue Moon." It's always clueless old-timer fans pushing them overseas.]

[Please look at what happened to other groups~ If they go overseas, Universe crashes and burns, and they come crawling back, are you elder fans going to rebuild them yourself?]

[Then are you guys buying dozens of Blue Moon albums each? Can you keep them trapped domestically and still guarantee enough revenue? Even 〈The Stranger〉 did way better in North America than Korea, so what makes you think you have the right to tell them not to go overseas? Anyone would think Korean fans were handing the members hundreds of millions of won~.]

[Do we even have the right to tell them whether to go overseas or not?]

[How are we supposed to participate in fandom activities when the elder grandpas are this scary ㅜㅜ]

A full-blown war had broken out among the fans over Blue Moon's overseas activities.

Apparently, bringing Serin and Anna to America this time had triggered it.

And this wasn't the kind of argument that would become a hot topic for a few days and then disappear.

Judging by the comments, everyone had been holding things in for a long time and had finally exploded.

"See? I think you need to step in and settle this yourself, CEO-nim."