Ch.226Renewal of Contract

In a world where even words without legs can travel a thousand miles, news of the title match spread quickly.

No matter how thoroughly the CEO tried to control information, leaks were inevitable.

The key was how much control one had over that information. And in that regard, this incident could be considered a failure.

As soon as someone confirmed that Choi Seokho was meeting privately with Bob Diren, an employee who secretly observed them immediately sold the information to a reporter. The moment Choi Seokho left the CEO’s office, the reporter immediately tweeted:

【Top Ranker Promotion contacts Veritas CEO, Kim Donghu title match anticipated】

This news began to be retweeted like crazy as soon as it was posted. The result:

ㄴWhat’s Veritas?

ㄴKim Donghu’s agency

ㄴSo the CEOs just had a meeting then

ㄴOMG, is he going straight to a title match right after turning pro?

ㄴCan he bypass the contender stage so exceptionally?

ㄴKim Donghu is exceptional, there’s never been an athlete who’s taken Olympic medals so destructively

ㄴNo matter what, Kim Donghu can’t overcome the wall of professional boxing, it’s 12 rounds

ㄴHonestly I agree, amateurs only do 3 rounds, right? The weight of rounds is different lol

ㄴSeriously, he probably won’t be able to handle the stamina drain, pros are different

ㄴHelloIamKimDonghu’sdevotedfan.KimDonghuwillbeateveryoneandknockthemalldown.I’mcertain.

ㄴWow, the guy who just tweeted is the CEO of Happy Note

The reaction was explosive.

American community sites were buzzing at minimum. Social media was filled with talk about Kim Donghu. YouTube seized the opportunity to upload highlights of Kim Donghu’s matches.

While all of America was heating up with Kim Donghu’s boxing news, Choi Seokho was once again sitting in a conference room.

“No, the conversation shouldn’t go that way.”

“Excuse me?”

“We need to renegotiate this contract.”

The difference was that while he had been very nervous when talking with Bob Diren, now, speaking with Disney’s negotiation team, he felt none of that tension.

‘Meeting Donghu once really cleared my head.’

Muttering that to himself, Choi Seokho firmly controlled the flow of negotiations as he continued.

“Although major organizations have referred to Donghu as Tarzan, using the Tarzan name directly in our boxing matches is a different matter.”

The Disney negotiators frowned at Choi Seokho’s firm stance.

‘I knew this would happen, but…’

‘I didn’t expect him to understand the difference in positions so clearly.’

After the news about Kim Donghu’s title match broke, Disney was in a celebratory mood.

Without even needing to promote, Kim Donghu was automatically hunting for them. What an economically beneficial opportunity this was.

But then:

-Boxer Kim Donghu and actor Kim Donghu should be considered separate activities.

-What do you mean?

-If you want to promote Tarzan through boxing, we need to renegotiate the contract to include that.

Choi Seokho had precisely identified the blind spot.

This wasn’t an activity to promote Tarzan. It was clearly a separate activity, yet they wanted to gain additional benefits from it?

Then naturally, the contract should change accordingly. The biggest problem in this situation was:

‘Since we know the estimated fight money, his value will skyrocket.’

‘Even if he doesn’t get paid the same as in boxing… many adjustments will be needed.’

‘If this happens suddenly, his value will jump too much.’

‘From running guarantees to revenue sharing, how much should we consider?’

Kim Donghu had suddenly become too big. In just one day—no, in the mere five hours since that damn tweet was posted.

So it was unpredictable. And in that situation, when CEO Choi Seokho proposed a deal, the Disney negotiators naturally had headaches.

“Even if we discuss running guarantees separately, I’d like to start with revenue sharing.”

As the time of deliberation grew longer, Choi Seokho drew his sword again.

“I want a share of box office revenue and OTT-based revenue.”

“Wait, wait. What did you say?”

The first to be stabbed by the drawn sword was Disney’s legal team.

“Revenue sharing for a rookie who just debuted in Hollywood?”

Next was the business team.

“…Getting a leading role right away is already exceptionally unusual.”

“I know, I know. I understand it’s already extraordinary.”

Amid this confusion, Choi Seokho maintained his smile and opened his palm.

“That’s why I want 5%.”

“What? 5%?”

“Absolutely not! Not even net profit-based, but 5% of box office revenue! This is absurd!”

The difference between net profit sharing and box office revenue sharing was the size of the pie.

The former gives actors a share of net profits after recouping production and marketing costs.

Box office sharing is simply based on opening revenue itself, without those deductions. As a result, the amount difference was ridiculously large.

And a rookie actor, an Asian actor at that, was requesting this? 5%? Was he crazy?

It was nonsense.

‘I don’t even know why we’re having this meeting.’

‘Drop it right now! What nonsense, we just won’t use the Tarzan name in boxing!’

‘We don’t need this, just proceed as planned! Let’s forget about negotiations!’

That’s what they wanted to say.

They wanted to pour coffee on that smirking Asian CEO’s face and leave this meeting.

They wanted to show this impudent Asian CEO who looked down on Disney how massive Hollywood really was.

“I don’t know much about boxing, but they say it’ll be at Wembley… and at least 15 million people will watch.”

Until Choi Seokho continued.

“…Is it really happening at Wembley Stadium?”

“Yes, that’s 90,000 seats, right? It would be quite interesting to have Tarzan’s name proudly displayed there.”

Of course, I’ll need to discuss details with Top Ranker Promotion again, but Disney will handle that well, won’t you?

“…”

The weight of Choi Seokho’s casually spoken words pressed down on the conference room.

‘This man plans to make us negotiate with Top Ranker as soon as the revenue sharing request is over.’

‘He clearly knows he’s the shrimp, so he just takes the benefits and…’

‘Wants the big organizations to handle the troublesome parts themselves.’

It was an obvious ploy.

But the ploy was too sweet.

‘Imprinting Tarzan on all those people.’

‘A wild man climbing into the ring… and facing him is the current strongest heavyweight pro boxer.’

‘Could there be a more perfect image? A perfect duel between pure wildness and reason?’

Even calculating and considering all the complex factors, the value of putting Tarzan’s name at Wembley was incalculable.

As the mental battle continued in tense silence throughout the conference room…

“Haha, 5% was a joke.”

Choi Seokho playfully tossed out the words.

“I should actually get 6%.”

To that:

“Korean jokes are really the worst, not funny at all.”

“The fact that you’re the only one laughing makes it truly vicious. Do all Koreans enjoy such spicy jokes?”

Disney raised the white flag.

It was the moment of Disney’s first ever exceptional rookie renegotiation.

+++++

“So you’re saying Kim Donghu’s name and Tarzan’s name will be used together for the match?”

“Good summary skills? That’s right.”

“That’s amazing. Then as your workplace colleague, I’ll naturally get front row tickets, right?”

“What?”

“Isn’t that obvious? I’m Evelyn Queen Ember.”

Evelyn said this while thrusting her face close to mine.

“Everyone needs to see me cheering for you, so the world will know we’re Tarzan and Jane.”

“Does everyone need to know that?”

“If that was a Korean joke, I’m really going to get angry.”

“Of course, of course I’ll give you tickets.”

While answering appropriately, I mentally counted the number of people I needed to give tickets to.

‘First family… friends… and others around me, that’s at least over twenty.’

With 90,000 seats, I should be able to get about 20 tickets.

While I was calculating this:

“Good, that’s a very satisfactory answer.”

Evelyn seemed satisfied as she moved her face back to its original position and smiled contentedly.

‘But now I can’t walk around on the streets anymore.’

Starting with that tweet, after the explosive reaction to boxing news, I could no longer walk freely on the streets. This naturally ended our hamburger dates. We had no choice but to order hamburgers to eat indoors.

“But wasn’t I really heavy back then?”

“How many times have you asked this… I told you, you were like a feather.”

“…T-then carry me on your back again.”

“What?”

Why was her voice getting softer toward the end? I really couldn’t hear.

“I said carry me on your back again!”

Suddenly?

But it wasn’t difficult, so:

“Eek! A-are you crazy?!”

“You asked me to carry you, right?”

I just picked up Evelyn and put her on my back.

‘Why are her legs struggling while her arms are holding tight?’

I was about to make a joke about how her upper and lower body were acting differently when my phone rang.

Ring ring ring.

“Hello?”

-This is Berillard. The FAA approval came through so we can do aerial filming… but we need to resolve the license issue.

“License?”

Carrying her while talking on the phone wasn’t uncomfortable. If there was a problem:

“A man who ignores me for something else, I might get a little upset.”

It was just Evelyn playfully whispering into my ear and blowing on it. Well, I could tolerate this much.

-Yes, it’s normally a process that takes about a year… but depending on ability, it can be reduced to a minimum of 2 months.

“And that’s needed to film without restrictions, including light aircraft?”

-That’s right. The problem is this came up suddenly so finding people isn’t easy. We’re contacting Red Horn…

“Red Horn?”

-Yes, they can teach this field effectively. Their dedicated coach is also very skilled.

Hearing that:

‘Ah, they really haven’t researched me thoroughly.’

That’s what I thought. How could they not know about my official partner?

“That’s fine. I’m actually close with Red Horn.”

-What?

Ignoring Berillard’s surprised response, Evelyn continued blowing in my ear and poking my thigh with her toes.

Is this why she asked me to carry her?

Thinking that, I continued my conversation with Berillard for a while. After about 10 minutes:

“…”

Evelyn was asleep.

On my back.

And even:

Drip.

Drooling a little.

At such a defenseless, silly appearance:

“Ha.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

What’s with this woman, really?

Anyway.

‘So from tomorrow I’ll prepare for skydiving licenses and everything else.’

Since we can’t film during this time, I’ll just take classes until at least May.

‘Perfect time to work on my body too.’

Though nothing’s confirmed yet:

The boxing match was scheduled for mid-April next year, and Tarzan’s release was targeting May next year.

Starting training now seemed just right.

+++++

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the Earth:

“Wait, wait… does this mean we can’t film Musashi? Donghu-san! Why are you so busy!”

Kiryu Sota was crying because Kim Donghu was too busy. He needed to film Musashi, but why was he so busy? Tears blurred his vision.