Chapter 43

"Bronze, Silver, Gold, Jade, and Diamond—there are five levels of treasure chests randomly rewarded by the system, each containing various rewards such as achievement points, prestige points, luck points, and so on, as well as rewards for works and characters, etc.

As for the mysterious treasure chest that the system randomly rewards without indicating a level, it does not belong to these five levels. Moreover, it could be a reward or a task with extremely high returns. Of course, high returns often imply high risks. If the task is not completed, the player might be in serious trouble..."

After bidding farewell to Ha Ji-won, Lee Jung-hui came out of a luxurious hotel far from Chungmuro, which had left him utterly puzzled. He tried hard to recall how he had gone wild and ended up there last night, while carefully reviewing everything in Devil Entertainment, including the morning's task.

Half an hour later, he arrived at the building of Empire Entertainment. When he went upstairs, the company looked pretty much the same as before, which made him wonder if, before the filming of 'Friend,' when signing contracts with actors like Jang Dong-gun, they would have walked out if they had come to this company.

Well, perhaps directly handing over a few hundred million won might have been convincing, but then 'Friend' wouldn't have been able to start production.

Thinking about this, he chuckled to himself, which startled a beautiful woman passing by. She thought to herself, "What a weird guy, standing there and laughing to himself!"

Fortunately, at this moment, Jang Dong-guk came out of his office and greeted Lee Jung-hui from a distance, "Ah, you're here. I've ordered you some jajangmyeon, marinated beef, fried chicken, and so on."

Then, he asked the woman beside him, "Chun Sung-rim, have you eaten?"

Lee Jung-hui only then noticed someone beside him, realizing he was blocking her way, and quickly moved aside, glancing at her casually.

Hmm, she looks familiar, was his first thought. Then, his eyes widened, and he remembered the name Chun Sung-rim. Isn't Chun Sung-rim Song Ji-hyo?

However, the way she was standing made Chun Sung-rim somewhat disdainful. She thought, "How rude, staring at people like that!" But she was also curious, having heard Jang Dong-guk greet Lee Jung-hui. She wondered, "Who is this guy?"

She greeted Jang Dong-guk first and walked forward, "Thank you, President Jang, I've already eaten!"

Jang Dong-guk didn't notice Song Ji-hyo's impression of Lee Jung-hui. Instead, he smiled and introduced Lee Jung-hui, who had just come to his senses, "Chun Sung-rim, this is the writer Lee Jung-hui I mentioned to you before..."

Then, he introduced her to Lee Jung-hui, "This is our newly signed artist, Chun Sung-rim. Get to know each other!"

Both Song Ji-hyo and Lee Jung-hui were taken aback and surprised. Song Ji-hyo was surprised that the gem of Empire Entertainment, the so-called genius doctor and screenwriter, was actually a somewhat awkward and rude guy. Lee Jung-hui was surprised that Song Ji-hyo had become part of Empire Entertainment.

However, he soon found out. After a brief greeting with Song Ji-hyo, when he returned to Jang Dong-guk's office, Jang Dong-guk told him what had happened.

It turned out that Jang Dong-guk had met Song Ji-hyo a month ago while having coffee with an old classmate who now teaches at a university. As the representative of Empire Entertainment, he naturally had the instinct of a talent scout. Seeing the pretty Song Ji-hyo, he had an idea.

However, Song Ji-hyo didn't agree at first, so Jang Dong-guk didn't mention it to Lee Jung-hui until he signed her a few days ago, when Lee Jung-hui was filming in Gangwon-do.

"The most important thing is that she currently lives in a dormitory and doesn't need us to provide accommodation!" Jang Dong-guk said excitedly, "Oh, right, I also promised her a role in your new film..."

Lee Jung-hui rolled his eyes but was really hungry, so he stuffed his mouth with food.

After a while, he finally swallowed and smiled, "Let's not talk about the dormitory for now. How can someone with no experience suddenly act in a film..."

Today was really strange. Before he could finish, Song Ji-hyo, who had just walked over, heard this and immediately gave him a disdainful look, saying in an unfriendly tone, "First, I have a lot of performance experience, though it's just stage plays. Second, I am currently learning under President Jang's arrangement. Third, I'm not particularly interested in acting in your film..."

After saying this, she handed the documents in her hand to Jang Dong-guk and proudly walked out.

Lee Jung-hui and Jang Dong-guk were momentarily stunned. The former shrugged innocently, "Uh, did I say something wrong?"

Jang Dong-guk looked at him with amusement, "Maybe not, but her pride was hurt!" He patted his shoulder, "Don't worry about it. I'm currently helping her negotiate an advertisement with Bonil Pharmaceutical. Even if she doesn't get a role, it's fine!"

It was still Bonil Pharmaceutical. Lee Jung-hui checked the information in the system. Song Ji-hyo was originally supposed to be discovered by a talent scout in the afternoon when Jang Dong-guk found her, but her path changed because of Jang Dong-guk's appearance.

This was good news, perhaps caused by his influence on Jang Dong-guk's path. He didn't think much about it and started discussing ways to make money with Jang Dong-guk.

"Just take the contract we signed with TUBE Entertainment to the bank!" Lee Jung-hui said confidently, "Tell them, first come, first served. After a while, their decisiveness will no longer be an advantage!"

He paused briefly, touched his chin, and continued, "Of course, we don't need to use the full amount at first. Start with the minimum expected amount, get them to spend two or three hundred million won. This is easy, and the most important thing is speed!"

Jang Dong-guk noted all of this. With the experience of the first loan, he was no longer worried. He curiously asked Lee Jung-hui the same question Jin Sung-gwang had asked yesterday, "Honestly, what is your real expectation for the box office?"

"1.5 million admissions," Lee Jung-hui thought seriously and gave an answer that surprised Jang Dong-guk. He then explained, "Well, our promotional efforts have been very effective, the quality of the film has clearly improved, and the recent scheduling is good. There won't be a similar genre film until the 26th of next month, 'Live and Die,' but it's rumored to be a bad film..."

He had seen all this in the system, and it was free. The recent American blockbusters were the past 'Mission: Impossible 2' and others, with no new ones for now. The next Korean film was 'Beauty' on the 12th of next month, followed by the major release 'Joint Security Area' on September 9th.

This meant that 'The Curse' had a good release window.

The promotion, quality, and release window of a film almost determine its box office success, which could be described as the right time, place, and people. Now, 'The Curse' was doing well, which was why he had expressed his ambition just now.

Jang Dong-guk didn't understand, but he now trusted Lee Jung-hui. After listening, he opened his mouth wide and calculated, then exclaimed in shock, "That's at least 1.4 billion won..."

Seeing Lee Jung-hui nod with a smile, he didn't know what to say. His mind was extremely excited, his heart rate accelerated, and he pounded the table a few times to calm down. Then, he looked at Lee Jung-hui with admiration and murmured, "You, when you signed that contract, I thought you were crazy..."

"Bro, that's just a small amount!" Lee Jung-hui was also excited, but he remained calm before the money was in hand, "Besides, it's just a guess. It might not happen."

Jang Dong-guk was taken aback, then laughed and shook his head in self-reflection, "Yeah, 1.5 million admissions isn't easy..."

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