Chapter 220

: Chapter 214
 
How can a global company like Tony World call Ani & Funny on the contract about the characters of Garbage World? If the contract was signed, that would be awesome.
Hyunwoo rushed to the office.
Kyungsu handed him a note with Tony World’s number. It was the call number of Tony World’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
He quickly called the number.
As Kyungsu said, it was about the contract about Garbage World.


The size of the contract was beyond imagination. It was far from a typical commercial contract.
In fact, Hyunwo was not badly in need of money.
Garbage World was generating over two billion won per month as its contract money and royalty fee were increasing steadily.
Besides, Tuti & Angelica was also fast catching up with the popularity of Garbage World.
Above all, Jinhon and Angela’s Duckling Fly reaped huge revenues. Even after deducting the shares for Jinyoung, Jinhon, and Angela, the net revenue was over 5 billion won up to now.
All combined, the monthly net revenues of Ani & Funny was about 9 billion won.
Compared with the revenues of KOVE DREAM, however, Ani & Funny was still trailing far behind in revenue.
KOVE DREAM’s net revenues reached over two billion won, and when combined with the revenues of its branches in America and Japan, its monthly total was over 13 billion won. The Chinese branch, launched recently, was already generating 500 million won in revenues.
The total amount of revenues of Hyunwoo’s companies was 23 billion won per month.
Despite such a remarkable increase in revenues, the contract money that Tony World proposed to Hyunwoo was astronomical. Hyunwoo might have uttered exclamation to hear it.


Ah~ 500 million dollars!
Converted in Korean currency, it was more than 5 trillion won, but one condition of the contract bothered Hyunwoo.

In return, you should give us the exclusive rights to the use of the characters. Those contracts that you have signed already are fine, but we’re going to take care of all future contracts related to Garbage World,
the Tony World official said over the phone.

You want me to give you its copyright, right?
asked Hyunwoo, touching the heart of the matter.

Yes, that’s correct. You can post its animated serials freely, but all other contents are bound by the contract. If you want to make an animated movie, you should first get the approval of Tony World.

Suddenly, he felt discouraged to hear that. There was a reason Tony World proposed such a large amount of contract money.
He agonized. It was a matter of whether or not to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Let me discuss with our staff first about your offer and get back to you.


Okay. Let me be clear. Tony World is the best global company in the industry. Don’t simply look at the contract money. Take into account the rate of gainsharing.


Got it. Let me review it.



After the call Hyunwoo, feeling his forehead with hand, pondered over Tony World’s offer.
At a glance, it seemed like a choice of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, but when the situation was examined carefully, it wasn’t necessarily so.
Tony World’s condition was 500 million in contract money, along with the payment of 10% of its ordinary profits. In other words, he could count on the continuing, not one-shot, revenues.
He had to take into account the question of whether Ani & Funny could generate as many revenues as Tony World’s offer independently.
In his opinion, that was impossible. Given the current growth rate of Ani & Funny, it would take at least ten years to make 5 trillion won in revenues.
The bigger issue was whether An & Funny could sustain its growth in the future.
The main reason that Garbage World won so much popularity was directly related to the worldwide popularity of Duckling Fly. If its popularity went down, that of Garbage World would face the same fate.
Music experts expected Duckling Fly’s popularity would not last more than a year. In fact, it would begin to lose popularity in about six months.
If that’s the case, it would certainly be a profitable transaction to execute the contract with Tony World.
Actually, his staff seemed to think so. When he looked around quickly, all of them were nodding, gesturing toward him to accept the offer.


But that was based on the commercial calculation.
Hyunwoo thought about the difference between one trillion and five trillion won in revenues.
What was the difference? Of course, there was a big difference.
He could expand the business, hire more people and grow Haenim School with the money, but that was only growth in terms of size. When he thought about its purpose, he came up with a different conclusion.
The purpose of Hyunwoo’s founding the companies was to raise the less fortunate children. To him, how to offer good quality education to them was much more important than simply increasing the number of prospective students.
In that respect, Garbage World was the best teaching material for the students. They could gain experience and confidence by directly participating in the production of such a popular animation.
He also thought about how people would feel about his deal with Tony World.
The characters of Garbage World were already loved by people. They were very proud of the Korean-made characters, too.
Selling the copyright of the characters was the betrayal of the peoples’ trust. That would affect negatively the sales promotion of not only Garbage World but also all the future content offered by Ani & Funny.
In conclusion, there were more losses than gains in the current deal.


What’s most important was how much Hyunwoo was satisfied with the deal.
To Hyunwoo, 500 million dollars was not the final goal of his life. He felt he would not feel happy just because he received that money.
He felt he could feel happier if he earned one trillion won by growing his companies with his own efforts.
When he thought as far as that, he could make the final decision.

I won’t sell the rights of the characters.


Ah…
exclaimed the staff regrettably.
But he was not moved at all. He was confident that he would not feel regrets about his decision later.
He called Tony World again and notified them of his decision.
Tony World bent over backward to persuade him.
When he didn’t budge a bit, they offered a revised proposal.

Okay, then. We’re going to buy the right to use the characters without the exclusive right, but as the contract money depends on the extent of our use of the characters, we can’t discuss it over the phone. Can you visit our head office in Los Angeles, if you don’t mind?


When is it convenient for you?


Our CEO is planning the creation of several new theme parks now, so he wants to use Garbage World characters there. Can you visit us sometime this week?


Got it. Let me arrange the schedule as soon as possible. By the way, can you send us a contract draft first? Let me review it.


Will do. Let me email it to you.

When he hung up the phone, his staff, who watched him, holding their breath, made happy expressions on their faces.

Wow! We’re finally signing a contract with Tony World!


This must be a jackpot! We can grow bigger than BNB, right?

Hyunwoo also could not help but smile.
Signing the contract would mean the explosive growth in revenues but more important was the promotional effects. On the occasion of the contract, there would be a big increase in the sales of Garbage World characters as well as its animation video.
It would be a matter of time before they caught up with BNB.
He quickly called Yellow Balloon to get a ticket to Los Angeles at the earliest time.
Fortunately, there was a plane bound for Los Angeles tomorrow afternoon.
He bought a round-trip ticket that would get him back on Saturday.
He smoothed down his chest,
Phew. The timing is perfect!

Otherwise, he might have broken the promise to have a date with Suji.
Kyungsu handed him a note with a stranger’s name and his contact.

When you have free time in Los Angeles, please see him.


James Lee? Who is he?


He was my junior in college. His Korean name is Dongbang Lee. As soon as he graduated, he immigrated to America. I call him a couple of times every year. He is involved in animation. As he lives in Los Angeles, he might help you.


Oh, is he the president of an animation company?


Yes, but it seems his business is in a slump. Contact him anyway. If you drop my name, he could help you a lot.


Sure. Let me contact him when I get there.

As soon as he arrived in Los Angeles, he called James Lee.

Hello. Actually, I’m here in front of the entrance gate. Please wave your hand!

Looking around, Hyunwoo waved his hand.

I’ve found you. I’m behind you.

Hyunwoo quickly turned his head when a dressed-up gentleman wearing sunglasses was approaching him.
Though he was Kyungsu’s junior in college, James was a middle-aged man, seven years older than Hyunwoo.

Nice to meet you here. I was waiting for you since Kyungsu tipped me off. I hear this is your first visit to America.

James welcomed him with open hands and promised to escort him to the headquarters of Tony World.

Why don’t you come to my office now?

James was the president of the animation company ‘J World.’ He worked for an animation company until last spring, when he quit to found his own company.
He had a total of nine employees but produced no noticeable content.
As he had nothing to do, his office was empty. There was nobody left behind to work in the evening even though it was just past the official quitting time.

Looks like your staff got off work already.


Well, as they don’t have much work to do, they have no reason to stay late.