Youth Entertainment, the undisputed top management company that no one working in the entertainment industry could be unaware of.
The man who acquired an unknown small to mid-sized agency and transformed it in just 6 years into an agency that anyone dreaming of becoming a celebrity would want to join was Lee Dojun.
Lee Dojun. The second son of Yuseong Group, the number one conglomerate, and the CEO who proudly built the global entertainment company ‘Youth,’ which boasts a market capitalization approaching 3 trillion won.
A man who had no connection whatsoever with the word ‘failure’ even from his mother’s womb. A man whose appearance was so outstanding it was perfect, that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was chosen by God. For Dojun, who didn’t know what failure was, life was sometimes so tedious it was boring. Because there was nothing he couldn’t do if he set his mind to it.
Born with a diamond spoon that no one could approach, the world was trivial to Dojun from the start. When he was 100 days old, at his first birthday celebration, the newborn baby who hadn’t even been born that long ago made an expression as if he’d lived through the whole world and boldly overturned all the first birthday items placed in front of him—this action had been passed down as a famous anecdote in the Yuseong household to this day.
Also, Dojun didn’t think the life of a chaebol was as attractive as portrayed in the media. The fact that he could handle wealth that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine, and that everyone looked up to him were the same, but having to be tied to one company for life and discuss things like discovering future revenue sources or withdrawing from certain businesses due to worsening profits was very tedious to Dojun.
So from early on, he firmly announced to his parents that he had no intention of inheriting the business. His parents, who knew Dojun’s disposition well, didn’t say anything particular to him and accepted him as he was.
‘Where have I seen him?’
The same day, always boring days. Dojun, riding in the luxury sedan driven by his chauffeur, caught sight of a man’s face. In the middle of Gwanghwamun, a man’s face filling the screen of a giant electronic billboard.
It was a very flashily designed advertisement. Some people, as if impressed by that video, stopped walking and even took out their phones toward the billboard to take pictures—a pathetic sight.
‘How pathetic.’
Dojun also kept looking at that screen, trying to recall the familiar man. Ah, now he remembered.
“Hello. I’m rookie actor Yoon Hajun. Please take care of me.”
The identity of the man on the screen was a man he had seen in passing at some corporate event a year ago. A man whose name he couldn’t even remember, brought around by someone who said he was the CEO of some agency, claiming this was the guy he was raising, introducing him to this person and that person.
When he actually saw him, he was nothing special. Quiet with few words, his weak appearance as if overwhelmed by the atmosphere was a defective product itself in Dojun’s eyes. One of those obvious, mundane humans with no aura or charm who, if they walked around on the street, would be kicked by someone’s foot.
That guy had completely transformed his appearance and was boldly occupying one side of a billboard in the middle of downtown Seoul.
It was merely packaging a worthless pebble-like guy to the maximum. And at that illusory image, the pathetic masses were looking at the screen with admiring eyes as if they had encountered a god.
However, the foolish situation before his eyes succeeded in drawing Dojun’s interest.
Packaging a worthless defective product to the maximum to make it an attractive commodity. The glamorous product created that way mesmerized the public’s attention.
It was one of the few ‘moments that aroused interest’ in Dojun’s life. Taking that as an opportunity, Dojun jumped into the entertainment industry without hesitation.
When other corporate heirs were going abroad to prestigious universities for successor training and whatnot, busily showing their faces at corporate communities to make their presence known, Dojun quietly entered a prestigious domestic university alone, graduated quickly, and immediately started working in the entertainment industry.
And his choice was not wrong. Dojun escaped the shadow of being ‘the second son of Yuseong Group, the number one conglomerate’ and established himself as one of the legendary figures who secured his own absolute domain in the entertainment industry.
* * *
As soon as he acquired the small agency, the work Dojun set about was planning an open audition. An open audition held once a year.
Even up to the first and second rounds, the response to the open auditions was lukewarm. It was a natural result since it was an audition held by a startup agency without any notable affiliated celebrities.
However, when the actors who entered Dojun’s agency through the audition rose like morning stars in a short time, the entertainment industry began to stir, and the third round of auditions drew explosive interest.
Even words mixed with envy and jealousy began circulating toward the actors from the first and second round auditions, calling them people blessed with good fortune who got in lucky when the competition was low.
Dojun disliked humans themselves. Therefore, he had never felt any warm emotions or affection toward other humans. However, that very point paradoxically worked as a great weapon in the entertainment industry. His merciless and cold-eyed judgment that thoroughly excluded all emotions and judged the person before his eyes solely by marketability earned him the nickname ‘Top Star Detector,’ and thanks to that, Youth’s auditions became famous in a short period.
Now Youth’s open auditions had become a gateway to top stardom that everyone acknowledged. Just as Joseon-era nobles once dreamed of the civil service examination, any capable entertainment industry aspirant began to apply to the audition and knock on Youth’s door.
From a certain point when the company grew explosively, Dojun didn’t even participate in the final auditions. It was because he felt tremendous boredom even from facing the faces of numerous participants.
Instead, he devised a unique method of having a one-on-one meal with the final successful candidate selected through internal discussion before signing the contract. If someone fell out of Dojun’s favor at that occasion, that participant couldn’t enter Youth. Several people who regarded this time as simply a meal with the company CEO before signing the contract ended up parting with Youth forever due to words and actions that rubbed Dojun the wrong way.
The 6th open audition was the same. On the day of the audition, Dojun had a business trip to America scheduled for a Hollywood project collaboration. However, due to an unexpected flight delay, the unfortunate incident occurred where the flight was pushed to the next day.
‘This is quite annoying.’
Dojun, who very much disliked disruptions to his plans, considered whether to take his private jet, but since things turned out this way, he thought he should take a look at the audition site for the first time in a while, even if just briefly.
‘Quite good-looking.’
That was Dojun’s thought as soon as he faced Hanryul’s face. However, after seeing his acting, he felt great disappointment.
It was because his acting ability was terrible. What becomes of a product that relies only on its appearance and doesn’t invest in acting ability? Even if it can initially concentrate people’s attention with its flashy exterior, as time passes, the product value is bound to plummet. The masses seem stupid, but they’re also cold in unexpected corners.
Looking at Hanryul, Dojun thought that all sorts of riffraff must be coming now that he’d taken his hands off the auditions, and he even felt lamentable.
“…I’ll even kneel in his place.”
His mood was already ruined by the low-quality participant, and the audition wasn’t proceeding because of some guy. That guy, not knowing shame, kept holding out and kept requesting opportunities.
‘Disgusting bastard.’
Dojun disliked all humans, but among them, he especially abhorred clingy opportunists. However, when the guy causing the chaos turned his body toward him, he thought it was somewhat unexpected. The guy who appeared to be a manager boasted quite a refined appearance.
The guy who looked majestic like a Siberian Husky and was yapping away asking for just one more chance looked like a Maltese that didn’t know its own size and was acting up. However, the surprised emotion faded back to indifference as if it had never been there.
Among managers, there are guys with decent faces who later try to become celebrities too. He thought that guy must be one of them.
‘Well, I can’t ignore his tearful devotion.’
Seeing the man’s tearful devotion, he readily gave him a second chance. However, the person called Seo Hanryul, as if he was something special, rejected the opportunity he gave.
The way the manager next to him gently coaxed him to do the second performance was quite a sight to see.
The second performance. It was acting at an excellent level, incomparable to the first performance.
However, Dojun’s brain, which had already perceived Hanryul as a ‘guy with no promise,’ refused to evaluate him at all.
* * *
When Hanryul finished his second performance and left, the atmosphere in the audition venue became very unsettled.
They could understand why he kept requesting opportunities to the point where it was pitiful for the viewer. When comparing the two performances, it was clearly felt that in the first opportunity, the participant hadn’t shown even one ten-thousandth of his ability.
“Hmm… Looking at the second one, he’s definitely got something. If he can act that well, I wonder why the first one was like that. …It does violate fairness, but with that appearance and acting ability, isn’t he actually the type of person we’ve been looking for?”
“I don’t think so. That participant might be weak with the emotion of ‘anger,’ right? It’s not acceptable to have such a difference in ups and downs depending on the type of emotion required. If that participant had drawn happiness in the first round, I think he would have acted just as well as now. It’s just that that participant had a strength in the emotion of happiness.”
The judges’ opinions began to diverge.
“Let’s ask for CEO-nim’s opinion as well. What is your opinion, CEO-nim?”
When they couldn’t reach an agreement and time just passed, finally one judge stepped forward.
“Well. I was someone who shouldn’t have been here today. I think it would be a clear overreach of authority for me to add my opinion here. I think the results drawn from just your opinions will be sufficiently good. I’ll take my leave now.”
After leaving brief words, Dojun quietly left the scene.
Dumb and Dumber causing chaos at the audition venue. Dojun’s thoughts about the two of them went only that far, and they were merely meaningless bastards not worth thinking about any further.
