Superstar From Age 0

“…Huh?”

Seo-jun tilted his head.

His movement looked very slow.

It was obvious that he didn't understand at all.

Seo Eun-chan smiled bitterly and opened his mouth.

“So, to explain from the beginning… I'm thinking of changing Cocoa Entertainment.”

“…Cocoa Entertainment?”

Seo-jun blinked and repeated.

“Yes. I'm planning to move the company to a new building and hire quite a few staff members.”

“A new building…”

Seo-jun looked around the president's office as he echoed Seo Eun-chan's words.

It was less shiny than when he first visited as a child, but it didn't look too bad, probably thanks to good maintenance.

And it was the same for other places.

The basement practice room, the conference room, the office, etc.

All the places were familiar to him.

“Of course, if you, the investor, oppose it, well, I guess we’ll have to compromise somehow.”

Seo-jun shook his head quickly.

“No, it's fine. I don't know much about that stuff.”

He didn't have much interest either, and his parents were taking care of the related matters.

He just invested in Cocoa Entertainment for Brown Black and Seo Eun-chan.

He didn't invest to run Cocoa Entertainment.

‘Of course, I would stop them if they ran it into the ground.’

He remembered the previous president who had brought Cocoa Entertainment to the brink of ruin.

There was little chance that Seo Eun-chan would do that.

He also understood why he wanted to move the company.

The number of singers had increased to four teams, and Blue Moon had debuted for a while, so there would be new groups coming out soon.

Then they would need more staff members to take care of the increased number of singers.

The company might have become too small.

It was already a bit crowded.

“And I'm thinking of reorganizing the company structure.”

At Seo Eun-chan's words, Ahn Da Ho tightened his hands clasped together.

His gaze was down, as if he was lost in thought.

Seo-jun looked at him for a moment.

If they reorganized the company, there would be personnel changes as well.

‘A new manager… Then what happens to Da Ho hyung? Does he work in the office? Do they find a road manager?’

Then what would be different from now?

He had those thoughts in his mind, but Seo-jun decided to listen to Seo Eun-chan's story a little more.

“How are you going to change it?”

“I'm going to separate the singer team and the actor team clearly. They’re mixed up right now.”

Seo-jun nodded.

Cocoa Entertainment was currently divided into four teams.

Singer team 1 with Brown Black and those who had been with them from the beginning.

Actor Lee Seo-jun's exclusive team 2 with Seo-jun's joining.

Singer team 3 that was newly created because it was too busy with Brown Black and White's care, and Red Crown's debut.

The trainee team that recruited trainees who would become idols and took care of them until they debuted.

Even if they included A&R team, PR team, management support team, etc., the company was small compared to its name value.

And since the teams were made whenever there were new celebrities or when things got too busy, there was no clear system.

He understood that well enough and nodded his head, but then Seo-jun paused. One word caught his attention. Not an exclusive team, but,

“…Actor team?”

“…Yes.”

In a strangely tense situation, seo Eun-chan swallowed his saliva.

This was the main point of his story.

It was also the reason why he met them today.

“When we move to the new building… I'm thinking of making an actor team as well. I want to recruit some good rookie actors and gather some existing good actors.”

“…Actor team…”

As he repeated it as if to remember it, seo-jun's faint voice sounded so scary for some reason.

He looked at Seo-jun who was staring at the table in thought and remembered the conversation he had with his wife last night.

“Wouldn't it feel like suddenly having a younger sibling if an actor team is created?”

“A younger sibling? He gets along well with Subin and Eun-su.”

At her husband Seo Eun-chan's question, Kim Su-ryeon tilted her head.

“Hmm. Maybe it's different? The kids are young and there's a big age difference, so Seo-jun has some room in his heart… But having new actors means that the attention and care are divided. They are also competitors.”

“Competitors… really? He's our Seo-jun.”

At Seo Eun-chan's confident look, Kim Su-ryeon laughed.

“That's something you don't know. A genius actor could suddenly appear out of nowhere. No one expected an actor like Seo-jun to appear.”

“That's true, but…”

“And some celebrities have a strange attachment to the people around them. To people like managers, stylists, or agency staff.”

“Really?”

“Brown Black kids love you and the team 1 leader too. And so do the original members of Cocoa Entertainment.”

“That's because they stayed with me and Brown Black in the agency that was on the verge of collapse. I rely on them too. Honestly, I wonder how they stayed in the company.”

Kim Su-ryeon, one of the original members of Cocoa Entertainment and the PR team leader, said with a smile.

“Honestly, it was because I was young. I couldn't have done that if I had a family like now.”

“That's true.”

If he had a wife and daughter at that time, seo Eun-chan wouldn't have thought of taking over Cocoa Entertainment.

“Anyway, some celebrities rely on the people around them like that. They even take their managers or other staff members with them when they change agencies. It happens quite often.”

“…Does Seo-jun do that too?”

“Seo-jun has been with him since he was young, so I think he would be more like that. He's been with team leader Ahn longer than you.”

Seo Eun-chan looked at Seo-jun, remembering his wife's words.

‘I can't read his expression. Team leader Ahn is good at this kind of thing…’

He was the one who had been with Seo-jun for 12 years.

He realized that fact again and rubbed his neck as he opened his mouth.

This was the important part. It was also the reason why he met them today.

“And I'm going to leave the overall management of the singer team to team 1 leader… and the overall management of the actor team to team leader Ahn.”

“…To Da Ho hyung?”

Seo-jun's gaze turned to Ahn Da Ho.

Ahn Da Ho quickly opened his mouth.

“Of course! If you’re okay with it, seo-jun… No, no. Mr. President. I think it would be better to leave it to someone else. I’ll keep working with Seo-jun.”

“No, then team leader Ahn's skills would be wasted. Of course, it's nice to have team leader Ahn with Seo-jun… but I hope you can be in a position where you can use your abilities better.”

Ahn Da Ho had gained a lot of skills while taking care of Seo-jun for 12 years.

He had connections with directors, writers, broadcasters, etc., and he had a good eye for works as he read scripts every day without fail.

He also knew a lot about acting and could give some advice to actors on their practice based on what he had observed while taking care of Seo-jun.

And he had connections in Hollywood, so he could get good scripts and audition for them.

If those skills were passed on to other actors in Cocoa Entertainment, the newly created actor team would surely grow a lot.

As a president who wanted Cocoa Entertainment to grow, Ahn Da Ho was too precious a talent for Seo Eun-chan.

“But…”

Ahn Da Ho clenched his hands tightly and unknowingly bit his lips.

The reason why Ahn Da Ho entered the entertainment industry was because of Seo-jun.

He was living a life of enduring day by day, but when he saw William in [Shadowman 1], he cried and dreamed of supporting an actor who could act like that.

It was a vague dream that would never come true, and he wandered around various companies with that dream, but he actually became the manager of actor Lee Seo-jun.

He enjoyed every day.

It was hard to choose good works because his eye for scripts was no different from ordinary people, but it was fun.

He wanted to go to Hollywood with him, so he studied English hard and now he could easily communicate with the locals.

It was rewarding to remove one by one the obstacles that interfered with Seo-jun's filming, and to promote him to make more people see him.

He was always proud of his actor who immersed himself in the character without any worries in the perfect set. His heart swelled when he saw his actor shining brightly in front of the public.

‘That actor is my actor.’

Supporting Seo-jun made Ahn Da Ho really happy and joyful.

So he planned to stay with him like this until now, and even after Seo-jun became an adult… He thought they would stay together forever.

‘But…’

A while ago, seo Eun-chan brought up the company reorganization. His heart sank at the question of whether he would oversee the actor team that would be created later.

He was afraid.

And he felt guilty.

‘Even if we go somewhere else, we have to go with Da Ho hyung and team 2. I'm sorry, uncle.’

He remembered Seo-jun's words at the last renewal. He felt like he had betrayed Seo-jun for a moment of fear.

So he tried to refuse, but he couldn't help thinking of Seo Eun-chan's words sometimes.

He only focused on Seo-jun when he took care of him, so Seo-jun didn't notice because he didn't have any other thoughts, but when Seo-jun wasn't there, he quickly had random thoughts and it showed.

‘Seo-jun's parents must have known that too.’

Ahn Da Ho sighed inwardly and washed his face.

He didn't know why he was like this.

His mind was wavering.

He couldn't make a decision after seriously considering Seo Eun-chan's proposal, so he decided to follow Seo-jun's decision.

He told Seo Eun-chan that he had to listen to Seo-jun's opinion anyway and agreed to talk to him. This meeting was created. He was still worried here.

‘New actors…’

Of course, as the head of the actor team, he would be more of a director than taking care of each actor, but he couldn't help being interested.

He was curious about what kind of results he would get if he supported other actors.

‘But Seo-jun is just starting…’

Seo-jun was just becoming an adult and it was time for him to be active.

He would get more roles and be able to play more diverse characters. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He was busy enough finding the next work and script, so this was something that shouldn't take away his time.

‘…Still.’

He thought it would be better for him to take care of Seo-jun.

When Ahn Da Ho made up his mind and looked up, seo-jun opened his mouth.

“What about team 2?”

“…Huh? Huh?!”

Seo Eun-chan and Ahn Da Ho flinched as if they were hit by Seo-jun's slightly hoarse voice.

Seo-jun spoke with a stiff expression.

“If you need experienced people to lead and guide the actor team… It would be faster and better to use team 2 staff members than recruiting new ones from outside. If you were planning to take Da Ho hyung away, didn't you think about team 2 too?”

‘…Wow. Our Seo-jun is smart.’

He had thought that far in that short time.

At Seo-jun's words, seo Eun-chan glanced around and nodded his head.

Just like Ahn Da Ho, the team 2 staff members who had been working together for a long time were also very valuable talents.

He was thinking of getting their help if the actor team was created.

“…I haven't told team 2 yet… but if you’re okay with it, I'm going to talk to them and decide who will stay in team 2 and who will move to another team.”

Without saying anything, seo-jun looked at him and Seo Eun-chan felt a prick in his heart and sweated coldly.

“No. That's… if you’re okay with it, I mean. If you’re okay with moving! That's why I'm telling you first before anyone else! Only you and me and team leader Ahn and team 1 leader and Su-ryeon know about the reorganization!”

“What if I'm not okay?”

“Then I have no choice but to keep team 2 as it is and recruit from outside…”

Seo Eun-chan's voice got smaller as he panicked at Seo-jun's stiff voice.

He had only planned to discuss it slowly with Seo-jun after making a real plan.

‘I didn't know he would hate it so much! I have to rethink the actor team plan from the beginning. Should I scout? Where do I get them from?’

Ahn Da Ho looked down.

He was glad that Seo-jun didn't want to let him go, but he also felt sorry.

He felt stupid for being tempted for a moment.

‘Let's just focus on Seo-jun's care from now on.’

They both made up their minds at that moment.

“Okay. Let's do that, whatever.”

They looked up at the voice with a light sigh.

“…What?”

“…Seo-jun?”

The stiff expression from before was gone, and Seo-jun smiled as if he couldn't help it but was a little disappointed.

“It's okay. A new manager.”