novel
| ← Ch.083 | Ch.085 → |
Hyunwoo visited the House of Happiness with his family on the weekend. His parents spent time with the kids of the cooking club and Hyunmin while Hyunwoo met with the Anifan club kids.
The Anifan kids were so busy making webtoons. Though it was a short webtoon, each of them was making teasers of the story that Suhim had prepared.
They already contributed some of them to Story Mecca.
When Hyunwoo checked them out, they were completely different from the existing ones as they were dramatized to satisfy the taste of the adults, but they were much less interesting than their video versions. It looked like the videos designed for children would be much more fun.
Was that the reason that the reaction of the readers was icy? The number of visits was at the bottom.
And even the situation of Imagingpia was not good. They invested a lot to make Garbage World a big hit, but as time went by, they incurred more losses.
Hyunwoo thought they needed to find a breakthrough in making Garbage World a big hit which required a more accurate assessment of Garbage World. In other words, it was necessary to find out first if it was an item that could really appeal to the public.
Suddenly, Jungah came to mind. He felt the animation club she belonged to at the college could be of some help.
He called her, and she responded favorably, "I'm not so sure if I can give you an accurate assessment, but as we have a general review session every Thursday evening, let me present it for their review."
"Great. Thanks for helping me."
The animation club room was quiet. Everyone there, reading Garbage World's webtoon, tilted their heads.
"It's neither bad nor good, " said one.
"I like the unique characters, but the content is not interesting, " said another.
That was the general review of the club members. In other words, they felt Garbage World had potential, but would not make a hit in the market.
On the other hand, their reaction to the video version of Garbage World was good. Though its content was less mature than its webtoon version, it was still interesting, according to them, but nobody didn't figure out why Garbage World was not making a hit in the market.
Jungah was the first to speak, "The main target of the video is children, but the characters are too much factual to arouse children's interest."
Then another disagreed with her, "The target should not be necessarily children. The video itself is pretty appealing to adults, too. I don't think you have to limit a class of readers."
"I agree. I think the video itself has a great marketability as it is now."
Jungah looked downcast without saying anything. As her seniors felt that way, she felt she was wrong, but she kept repeating in heart, "I wish they made the characters more cute."
It was Thursday night that Hyunwoo received a call from Jungah. As she told him that her club had a general review session on Thursday evening, Hyunwoo picked up the phone immediately, "Hey, Jungah."
"Sorry to say this, but there were more bad reviews than good about Garbage World."
"I think that makes sense. Its unpopularity means that there is not much that can appeal to them. Can you tell me what they said?"
Jungah told him about their reviews without adding or concealing anything.
Among them were some good reviews, too, "All of them reacted to the video favorably, finding it interesting. Not only children but also adults would be likely to feel attracted to that. They also said it had a potential marketability as it was now."
"Oh, thanks for their review."
Hyunwoo called Jihun again and conveyed what he heard from Jungah. Jihun seemed to think the same, and said, "I guess they felt the same, too. We had a discussion session among ourselves and reached the same conclusion. Instead of changing the contents to the taste of adults, we're going to make webtoons as we intended originally."
"Good decision! Looks like this is going to be hit as you guys are of the same mind. Be confident and go for it!"
***
The only thing that Hyunwoo could do for the Anifan kids was to wait for their success with patience. In fact, Hyunwoo felt he should not expect any quick results from them because they had a long future. Impatience might be their biggest enemy in some respect.
Given their age, the Anifan kids had a long time to cultivate their ability, which was not fully developed enough, to compete in the market.
I wish they would not be disappointed about the tepid response of the market, Hyunwoo thought.
If that's the case, Hyunwoo would have to comfort them, so that they would not be as hurt by the icy reaction of the market.
While checking the reaction of the readers on Story Mecca, Hyunwoo called the director of the House of Happiness from time to time to check out the moods of the Anifan kids.
So far, there had been no big problems.
Reassured by their calm moods, Hyunwoo focused on his work at Aurum.
These days the atmosphere of his team at Aurum was the best ever. At first, every team member expected the atmosphere would be like hell with the arrival of the new team manager, Youngsu, but it was the opposite now. Youngsu was even being talked about as the most comfortable manager to deal with among the team members, and praise made even whales dance. Youngsu heard his staff praising him and felt satisfied whenever he heard that. Even if he got hurt outside, he brightened up his face when he came into the office.
Stepping into the office, Youngsu gathered everyone around him, "Hey, come over here."
When they gathered, he announced a company event. It was simple.
"As you're already aware because of the company bulletin, we have a picnic this coming weekend. The announcement says only those who want to participate in the picnic may come. As you know, you had better participate in it for proper social life."
In other words, he was ordering all of them to attend the picnic. Some of the team members frowned. In particular, Sangho Oh did so, but he didn't dare talk back at Youngsu's order.
"If you want, you can come with your family members. Got it?"
Everybody was quiet.
"Okay, then. Go back to work."
After announcing the company picnic, Youngsu left the office.
Only then did the team members begin to complain, "What the heck is this? Why don't they allow us to take a break during the weekend?"
"It drives me crazy. I have to attend my friend's wedding."
Yonggu also let out a sigh, but for a different reason, "Phew. I think I'm going to get harassed by the kids."
Hyunwoo asked him what the heck he was talking about.
"Kids?"
"Yea, every year I was harassed. They're going to take out all their children to the picnic and then let them play together."
"What the heck do the kids has anything to do with us?"
"You will find out when you attend the picnic. Some of us will have to take care of them as their nannies."
Only then did Hyunwoo figure out what Yonggu said. Middle or high school children wouldn't accompany their parents to the picnic. Accordingly, most of the kids would be elementary school students or kindergartners, who were troublemakers at their age. Those who had to play the role of a nanny could not take their eyes off these troublemakers while the picnic is going on.
Yonggu looked at Suji Min and Sangho Oh and said, "As I'm superior in rank, I'm in better position, but you guys, new hires, will have to be ready to get harassed by the kids."
Finally, the weekend came, and the company employees all prayed for the heavy downfall of rain, but the sky was blue and clear to their chagrin.
The kids were excited as ever. There were kindergartners, elementary school students and some looked like middle school students. The middle school students behaved well, but the other kids laughed and ran around the picnic like a bull in a china shop.
As Yonggu expected, young employees acted as nannies for them, but his prediction proved wrong because it was not the new hires but the assistant managers who were assigned the role of nannies. Among them was Yonggu who felt pitiful about the new hires, predicting they would take on the role of a nanny. What was surprising was that Yonggu volunteered to do so.
There were three more volunteers. They were Assistant Manager Younghwan Koh, rank and file employee Sangho Oh, and Minhye Park, daughter of the president. All of them were potential candidates to be Minhye's groom and competed to volunteer to be nannies to curry favor with her.
It was not easy to take care of the kids as there were eleven in total at the picnic. It looked like four nannies were enough to keep an eye on them, but it wasn't that easy.
"Hey, don't go that way, It's dangerous."
No matter how loudly they screamed, the kids didn't care at all. They ran after one group of the kids, grabbing their wrists to forcibly to take them to a safe place.
In the meantime, other kids were involved in fighting with makeshift swords, "Hey, put down your sword. You're going to get hurt."
"Don't take away my sword, you villain!" shouted one kid.
Not only the male nannies but also Minhye Park also had a hard time controlling the naughty kids.
In fact, Minhye didn't like the kids that much. Despite that, she volunteered as a nanny at her father's request. Her father wanted to see how Yonggu and other potential candidates would behave themselves, so she had been controlling her emotions all along, but her patience was running out. She just got upset whenever the kids got out of her control.
Then, there appeared her savior.
"Hey, guys, look at this!" shouted Hyunwoo.
Nobody knew when he prepared it, but Hyunwoo put down a large wooden box on the grass and took out something. It was a long and thin balloon.
The kids just ignored Hyunwoo. They just ran around as if they didn't hear his voice at all. Hyunwoo didn't pay any attention to them. Only some kids who didn't get along with the other running kids cast their glances toward him. He didn't pay any attention to other kids.
He began blowing up balloons, intensively watching one kid among them, in particular.
He was rather big for a child, but not big enough to be called a boy. The boy looked very weak. If someone hit him slightly by mistake, the boy looked like he would get injured.
Thanks to his strong lung capacity, the balloon changed into into a big and long stick. Skillfully tying up its end, he bended the balloon here and there. The boy watching Hyunwoo opened his eyes wider and slowly walked toward him and said, "Wow! You're really great, sir."
Looking at that, other kids began to turn their heads toward Hyunwoo.
Hyunwoo was playing with a puppy-shaped balloon with the first who came to him.
"What name would you want to give it?" asked Hyunwoo.
The boy just grinned. He looked like an elementary school child, 4th grader at most, but the way he spoke and his facial expressions made him seem older.
Hyunwoo gave a name to the balloon instead, "As it's pink, let's name it Pink. By the way, what's your name?"
"Mingyu, I'm Mingyu Kang."
"How old are you?"
"I'm 15 years old."
Hyunwoo was more than surprised to hear that. Mingyu was five years older than he thought, but the way he looked at the balloon was exactly the way an elementary school boy would. As if he was completely into the balloon, he replied automatically when Hyunwoo asked something.
"This is my gift. Take it, Mingyu."
"Wow! Thanks."
Mingyu was so happy with the balloon. Looking at him, other kids came swarming Hyunwoo, "Wow, it's a puppy balloon."
"Can you make a rocket balloon?"
"Rocket? Of course, I can. Do you want one?"
"Yes!" said the boy in excitement.
Hyunwoo blew up a balloon and made it rocket-shaped on the spot. Though it was different from a real rocket in many ways, the kid was just happy simply because it looked like a rocket.
"Wow, it's a rocket!" said the kid to his friend.
"Can you make me one, too?" said another kid.
"What do you want?"
"A flower balloon."
Hyunwoo worked at an event company for a couple of years in the past. As the company didn't receive many orders, there were more off days than normal working days for the employees there. It was around that time Hyunwoo learned how to make magic balloons. That had been 10 years ago, and he forgot many of the skills he mastered in making balloons. Still, he could make as many as 50 different balloons, if he really wanted, so when he heard from Yonggu that the new hires like him would have to serve as a nanny, he stopped by a staples shop and bought the balloons.
Thanks to the sudden appearance of Hyunwoo, Yonggu, Younghwan Koh and Sangho Oh could be released from the nanny detail, and they just relaxed, lying on the grass and watching Hyunwoo play with the kids, so did Minhye. She stopped moving around before she knew it and kept watching Hyunwoo.
Is there anything he isn't good at? Minhye thought to herself.
| ← Ch. 083 | Ch. 085 → |