Season 3: Chapter 53: The Best Partner (3)
"… Alright! Everyone, start working on the posters and ads to put on the screens! Hurry! Even if it's simple, make something with Almond's face!"
The sudden command left the advertising team baffled.
"But… is it okay to produce them? The contract is different..."
"Contract! Ah…! The contract!?" Manager Jeong stuttered momentarily and exclaimed, "It's almost done! Almost!"
The employees' heads tilted in confusion. Wasn’t a contract either done or not done? What did almost mean?
"So! What I mean is you guys should almost finish making the posters and ads too! As soon as the contract is signed, we'll launch them immediately!"
The somewhat mysterious statement meant that they had to prepare ahead of time for the contract.
"Wow. He’s a god of logic."
"The logic of a god."
"Rightly said..."
Unintentionally, the employees nodded in agreement.
Manager Jeong had a reason for hurrying. The boom of the Almond challenge could end at any time. It could cool down as soon as tomorrow or the day after, so he wanted to proceed immediately if they signed the contract tomorrow.
"Is it really almost finalized?"
The designers had a different perspective. Their morale would plummet if they worked hard for nothing, so they wanted to confirm the contract.
The manager waved his head and hands emphatically.
"Yes! It will happen! Almond just said he needed to consult with his manager first and then he’ll sign! I have a feeling, man. Trust me! Unless there's a falling out with the manager, it will happen!"
"It will… happen?"
"It will! Unless there's a falling out, it will happen! It shall be so!"
***
"Ha."
Thump.
Ju-Hyeok flopped onto the bed after returning to his hotel room.
"Ha… Ha…"
The unnecessary running left his breath all rough.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart throbbed like a drum on a battlefield. He felt his blood pressure spike as he stared blankly at the ceiling.
“If it had been us, we could have resolved it more smoothly. Indeed, there would have been no room for misunderstandings.”
Something felt like it was piercing deep into his chest. Ju-Hyeok knew better than anyone the implications of those words. The situation simply becoming an issue in the first place was a massive risk due to its potentially negative associations.
'It’s because of that clause.'
He suddenly got up and rummaged through his briefcase to unfold the advertising contract.
Rustle.
Sure enough, there was such a clause.
[If the Second Party causes social controversy that is deemed to negatively affect the First Party’s image in a socially acceptable manner, the First Party may terminate the contract with the Second Party and the Second Party shall compensate the First Party for the penalty.]
It was a common clause attached to advertising models. If the advertising model caused social controversy that damaged the company's image, they would have to pay a penalty which was usually twice the contract amount.
Flutter…
Ju-Hyeok’s hands trembled. Paying such a sizeable penalty fee would almost mean starting over from scratch.
"Crazy son of a… what then?" Ju-Hyeok muttered to himself, annoyed as his hand fumbled for something in his pocket. He was reaching for his phone. "It worked out in the end, right? The risks didn't materialize, so isn't that good enough?"
No one answered the question. He was talking to himself.
An imaginary adversary in his mind responded, "The risk was greater than the return we received."
Ju-Hyeok frantically searched his pockets and grew even more irritable. His phone wasn't there.
"What the... did I leave it behind?"
Flipping over the bedsheets, he found his phone by the headboard. It appeared that he had tossed it there while changing clothes and forgot about it when he went downstairs.
Turning on his phone, he saw two missed calls.
[Missed Calls ×2]
Both of them came from the same number.
[Manager Jeong Min-Cheol of Hitman]
It was Manager Jeong Min-Cheol.
'What?'
He tried calling back, but the Hitman manager was probably busy. The manager would probably call back later since he left a missed call.
'He'll call back soon.'
Then, Ju-Hyeok logged into the community where he could most vividly see the results of his efforts. There, posts about Almond still lined up plentifully.
1. The Identities of Those Badmouthing Almond.avi
2. I Worship the NUT
3. Breaking News! Almond Would Have Been First Even Without Hitman LOL
4. Yu Sang-Hyeon <<< This guy is basically a god, upvote
"I've made Yu Sang-Hyeon a god. What's the problem, damn it?"
Such overwhelmingly positive public opinion had rarely ever been seen before. Almond had also reaped significant benefits, but that voice came again.
“More than just being an advertising model, an exclusive model contract would be necessary to make up for the risk of damaging Mr. Almond's image.”
Their words weren't without reason. Perhaps the victory Ju-Hyeok had achieved was small compared to the risks, at least by their standards.
However, Ju-Hyeok couldn't accept that.
"An exclusive model!?"
Which streamer could turn a crisis into an opportunity and suddenly become an exclusive model so easily? Wasn’t that too much? Among celebrities, only the most famous were paid hundreds of millions for such roles.
How could an ordinary streamer manage that? It didn’t make a difference even if it was for a game. In reality, it was common for popular girl groups to do mobile game ads.
"... Do they really think that's possible?"
Ju-Hyeok grew curious about the capabilities of Navi Entertainment. If their claims were to be believed, perhaps Yu Sang-Hyeon would benefit more on their side.
Maybe it was time for Ju-Hyeok to step back.
Sang-Hyeon would obviously want to continue together. That was predictable. He regarded Ju-Hyeok almost as a benefactor, but Ju-Hyeok was merely being dragged along by the inertia of their past relationship.
"That's not enough."
He disliked that. His desire to leap once more into the world was for recognition, not because of some sentiment.
Beep!
That was when it happened. Someone entered the room. Naturally, it was Sang-Hyeon.
"Are you up?" Sang-Hyeon asked Ju-Hyeok, who was still lying down.
"Ahem. Ah, uh... just now," Ju-Hyeok turned his head away as he answered and felt embarrassed that his shouting could have been heard.
"You seem pretty dressed up for just having woken up."
Sang-Hyeon pointed at Ju-Hyeok's brown turtleneck sweater.
"Ah. I was going to go out, but I just went to the bathroom. I'm not going to eat. My stomach feels off."
"So that’s why you were lying down."
"Yeah," Ju-Hyeok turned away and responded without looking at Sang-Hyeon.
"Yeah. It didn't taste good anyway."
"That's how hotel breakfast usually is."
After that, they both fell silent. They weren't the type to keep talking endlessly when alone, but this silence felt different.
"When is the checkout?"
"Twelve o'clock, I think. We can stay until quite late."
A brief exchange of questions and answers followed before the awkward silence returned.
'Ju-Hyeok was there and came back. And his clothes too...'
Sang-Hyeon recalled feeling this atmosphere once before.
'I've felt this kind of vibe before.'
During the last filming of Avatar of LIL with Navi Entertainment, he felt like Ju-Hyeok had seen him talking with the company staff. Ju-Hyeok acted strangely that day, but they soon became busy preparing for G-Star and didn’t discuss it properly.
After that passed, Ju-Hyeok quickly returned to his usual self. He seemed even more energetic than usual at G-Star, so Sang-Hyeon dismissed it as nothing significant and filed it away in the back of his mind.
Now, he realized this was the same feeling. Every time a Navi Entertainment employee appeared, Ju-Hyeok had eerily witnessed it.
"I’ll start getting ready."
Sang-Hyeon spoke as he opened his suitcase.
"We should leave early since the traffic will be bad."
He suggested they leave before the checkout time.
"Ah. Yeah. Let’s do that."
Ju-Hyeok nodded and slowly got out of bed.
Sang-Hyeon noticed that Ju-Hyeok’s focus had returned and informed him, "Manager Jeong called earlier."
"What?"
Ju-Hyeok suddenly turned and looked directly at him.
"He called you?"
"Yeah. He said you weren’t picking up."
"What did he say?"
"He was asking if we’d take an exclusive model contract. Anyway, I have to discuss it with you..."
"What!?!?"
Thump!
Ju-Hyeok bolted up from the bed, startling Sang-Hyeon.
"Ah, no. I said we'd sign the contract after talking to you..."
"Not that! An exclusive model!? It’s really an exclusive model contract!?"
Ju-Hyeok's eyes widened.
‘Is he kidding me?’
How could it be so coincidentally perfect? Ju-Hyeok wondered if Sang-Hyeon had noticed his condition and was just lying to comfort him.
Of course, Sang-Hyeon wasn’t such a person. He absolutely wouldn’t catch on, and even if he did, he wouldn’t lie to offer comfort. That was unimaginable.
The more unimaginable thing was that what Sang-Hyeon told him could actually be true.
"An exclusive contract... it really happened, huh?"
"Yeah."
Ju-Hyeok took a moment to cool his head.
"Phew."
An exclusive model contract? That was great. Ju-Hyeok felt glad to have something to say to that arrogant kid from Navi Entertainment.
'Did they decide on this because of Almond?'
Ju-Hyeok pondered for a moment and pointed out a risk, "Being exclusive also means selling and risking your image, you know?"
"Ah, the contract we're talking about is different. It's short term."
"Short? How short?"
"One month."
"... One month?"
"Yeah."
A month? That was exceedingly short, wasn’t it? Typically, exclusive model contracts lasted at least three years.
This one was just for a month. It seemed they just wanted to use Almond until the challenge hype died down. That greatly reduced the risk of damaging his image, which almost became negligible.
However, another issue still existed.
"What about the pay?"
If the period was short, would the pay be significantly low?
"Here."
Sang-Hyeon handed over the contract. Surprisingly, it already had the amount written on it.
"... Is this a scam?" Ju-Hyeok half-joked as he asked.
The amount certainly didn’t disappoint considering the duration.
"They specifically proposed that because they're grateful."
A contract given out of gratitude was like a major sponsorship.
"With this much, it really seems like they're giving it out of gratitude. Of course, I'll need to see the whole contract as a PDF or something."
"Ah. That's..."
Sang-Hyeon sent the contract to Ju-Hyeok's phone, who read through it and nodded.
"It's not any different from the explanation."
"Right, I think it would be good for me."
If Sang-Hyeon also wanted to do it, they had no reason to hesitate.
"So, should we sign it?"
"… Hmm."
"Yeah, it might not be the best idea to sign such a contract on the same day. Let's think about it one more day before handling it."
"Ah. Um... that's not it."
"Today then?"
"No, we'll do the contract tomorrow. What are you going to do when we get home?"
"What do you mean? You live with me, man."
"Will we get home around dinner?"
"That's right. After sorting things out... let's go out for some beers."
Ju-Hyeok cocked his head, "Why are you suggesting drinking first?"
It was rare for Sang-Hyeon to propose drinking first.
"Just to celebrate a little, you know. You coming?"
"I thought we were handling the contract tomorrow?"
"It’s not for that. We've also secured many other ad contracts. You coming?"
Ju-Hyeok paused to think. His schedule was relatively free after G-Star.
"Alright. There’s no reason not to go. Let's go. I've been craving some chicken and beer."
Ju-Hyeok thought of their usual pub in front of the Ah-Sung headquarters, but Sang-Hyeon planned on heading somewhere completely different.