Managing the Korean entertainment industry: I have superpowers, but I won't say.

Chapter 14: Breaking Down the Building to Obtain the Certificate, the Screenwriter Enters the Game

The day the business license was issued, Su Yu was fast asleep in the semi-basement.

When his phone rang, he thought it was an alarm clock. He groped for it with his eyes closed and saw it was an unfamiliar number. He answered, and a flat voice came from the other end: "Mr. Su Yu? This is the Jiangnan District Registration Office. Your business license is ready. Come and pick it up anytime."

Su Yu hummed in agreement, hung up the phone, lay down for another ten seconds, then sat up. He took out the rubber band from under his pillow, looked at it, and then put it back in.

When he arrived at the registration office, the same woman with reading glasses was at the window. She handed over the license, which Su Yu took and glanced at. Yinguo Entertainment, legal representative Su Yu.

It wasn't the previous application receipt; it was a genuine business license, with a number and a stamp on it. He folded the license up, put it back in his backpack, zipped it up, and went out the door.

After leaving the registration office, he didn't go home but went straight to Dongdaemun on a bus. On the bus, he sent Cai Xiubin a message: "The license is ready. Come to the office."

The other end replied instantly: "You call that run-down building an office?" Su Yu said, "It's written on the license: Yinguo Entertainment, address Dongdaemun." She didn't reply. After a few seconds, she sent an eye-rolling emoji.

When Su Yu arrived, Cai Xiubin was already standing at the door. She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt today, her hair loose and untied. The first thing she said to Su Yu as she got off the bus was, "Where's your license?"

Su Yu took it out of his backpack and handed it over. She took it and looked at it for a long time. This time it wasn't an acceptance receipt, it was a real business license, black and white, with the embossed seal imprinted on it. Her fingers rubbed against the line "Legal Representative Su Yu" a couple of times, looking at it over and over again several times before she spoke.

"You really started a company."

"I already said so."

She closed the license and handed it back. Su Yu didn't take it. "Keep it."

"Where should we keep it?"

"Whatever. Just stick it on the fridge."

She paused for a second, hugged the license to her chest, and said nothing.

Su Yu took out her key and opened the door. The first floor was empty, but there was no dust on the ground. Last time, before Cai Xiubin left, she said, "I'll come and clean tomorrow," and she really came the next day. She cleaned all day by herself and even fixed the window on the third floor that was stuck.

Su Yu didn't know she could fix windows; she said she learned from the props team when she was filming. The floor was now covered with cheap, grayish-blue linoleum, the edges uneven and a piece sticking out. Half the walls were painted white, the other half still cement.

A small office was partitioned off on the second floor, furnished with a table and a chair, both secondhand items sourced from the Dongdaemun flea market.

Cai Xiubin went inside, sat down in the chair for a moment, then stood up and sat back down. He turned around once, and the chair creaked. "Not bad."

Su Yu leaned against the doorframe. "The contract isn't finished yet, and the printer hasn't been bought." "No rush." ​​"The profit sharing hasn't been negotiated." "You decide."

She stood up from her chair, walked to the window, and looked out. The rooftops of the old Dongdaemun district were densely packed, with power lines hanging overhead like a spider web.

"What is your company planning to film?" she asked.

"First, find a screenwriter to write a script."

"Did you find it?"

"Soon."

Su Yu pulled a piece of paper from his pocket with a phone number written on it. It belonged to Lee Young-eun, the screenwriter he'd met at the coffee shop last time. He handed the paper over, and Cai Xiubin took it and glanced at it.

"Who is this?"

"screenwriter."

"How did you find it?"

"Introduced by Yoon Shi-yoon."

She stared at the paper for a few seconds, then put it away. "You made an appointment?" Su Yu asked, saying he hadn't called yet. "Then call now."

Su Yu glanced at the time on his phone; it was a little past four in the afternoon. He wasn't sure if Li Ying'en was busy, but he dialed anyway. The phone rang three times before being answered. He put it on speakerphone, and Cai Xiubin stood beside him.

"Hello, I'm Su Yu from Yinguo Entertainment."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone. "The license came through?" "Yeah, just got it." "Then come over, I have a document I want to show you." Su Yu glanced at Cai Xiubin, whose eyes lit up, as if someone had lit two lamps in her pupils. She subconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes, her fingertips turning white, and she didn't make a sound, but Su Yu saw her mouth open and then close again.

"What book?" Su Yu asked.

You'll see when you get here.

Su Yu agreed and arranged to meet the next afternoon before hanging up.

Cai Xiubin was still standing by the window, holding the piece of paper in her hand, not putting it down. Sunlight shone on her face, and the corners of her mouth were turned up, unable to hide it.

"Didn't you not laugh?" Su Yu said.

She didn't reply. After a few seconds, she spoke, her voice slightly unsteady. "Su Yu, we have the notebook."

"Um."

"It's not empty."

"Um."

She suddenly laughed, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "My palms were sweating buckets when you put it on speakerphone just now."

"I can tell."

"When did you figure that out?"

"When you were clutching the hem of your clothes."

She glanced down at the hem of her clothes, and sure enough, it was all wrinkled. She reached out and tugged at it a couple of times, but couldn't smooth it out, so she gave up.

"I'm going to see the screenwriter tomorrow, you're coming with me," Su Yu said.

"I?"

"They're the elders. If the elders don't go, who will?"

She stared at him for two seconds, then turned her head back to look out the window. The wind from Dongdaemun blew in, messing up her hair again, but she ignored it.

"Su Yu".

"Um."

How far can this road take us?

"have no idea."

"Then why are you leaving?"

We'll see.

She didn't speak. She stood by the window, the wind blowing through her hair. The creaking of the secondhand chair stopped, and the entire first floor fell silent, except for the gray-blue linoleum floorboards sticking out in the corners, like poorly pasted wallpaper.

She still held the license in her hands. She didn't know how far this path would take, but when Su Yu said "we'll see," she felt those three words were more useful than any plan. Plans can't keep up with changes, and "we'll see" meant—just take the first step, and see what happens.