God-Given Business Genius

“Director Seo Si-hwan… of Hyeonmu. Is that correct?”

Seo Si-hwan looked with interest at the name displayed on his phone screen.

Jo I-ruk. None other than Song Woo-yeon’s closest aide and one of the founding members. Although his individual capabilities weren’t well-known…

‘There’s no way Song Woo-yeon built such a solid company all by herself. It must be thanks to this man’s support by her side.’

It was an assessment that subtly belittled Song Woo-yeon for her youth and inexperience. A firm prejudice was evident, assuming that the trusted aide by her side must be closer to the true power.

“Ah~ Jo I-ruk-ssi. It’s been a while. I gave you my contact information quite some time ago, but you didn’t reach out. I thought you weren’t interested.”

-…I needed time to think.

“Haha. Is that so? I made an offer that anyone would find tempting, but you’re quite cautious. Or should I say loyal?”

The tone was arrogant.

This natural rudeness, characteristic of someone perched atop countless others.

Seo Si-hwan considered even a personal call with someone like Jo I-ruk to be a significant waste of time.

‘If it weren’t for Chairman Hyun Jung-hu’s words, I wouldn’t have bothered with such small fry.’

Seo Si-hwan casually waved to someone calling him from afar.

“I’m in the middle of a round of golf, so let’s keep this brief. My offer, will you accept it?”

-……

“You have nothing to lose, do you? You’ll be hard-pressed to find better terms than this. This is when your value is at its peak.”

Seo Si-hwan, frustrated with Jo I-ruk’s unnecessary hesitation, pressed further.

“Even an elementary school student could do the math and accept this offer. Frankly speaking, isn’t Hyeonmu far superior to The Song in terms of welfare and name value?”

-…There’s one thing I’d like to ask.

“Go ahead. Keep it brief.”

Seo Si-hwan glanced to the side. As one of his companions swung their club, a golf ball flew in a graceful arc with a crisp sound.

-Why are you making this offer to me? As you said, it’s more than I deserve.

“Haha. Why are you curious about that? What other reason could there be for scouting talent?”

-It doesn’t feel like a simple talent scout.

“Is that so? Hmm. I wonder why.”

Seo Si-hwan tapped the golf club handle with his fingertips.

“Ah, right. Is it because The Song swallowed up our entire team from Hyeonmu first?”

-……

“That’s quite vexing, but~ Well, it wasn’t a particularly high-performing team to begin with. We should be thankful that we could offload this troublesome burden to someone else without resorting to layoffs.”

Seo Si-hwan struggled to maintain a smiling face.

Despite his arrogant words, it did sting a bit to lose a significant number of experienced staff to an unheard-of company like The Song.

But there was no benefit in showing such feelings. Seo Si-hwan nonchalantly spewed out a lie.

“Hyeonmu often does this sort of thing. We don’t have a scouter position for nothing, do we? It’s part of our capability to bring talented individuals to Hyeonmu when we spot them. And as it happens, you caught my eye, Jo I-ruk-ssi. Hah!”

-……

“While everyone else is focused on Song Woo-yeon, I’m not fooled by such illusions.”

-Illusions?

“Yes. That company, The Song. It’s been on an excessively successful streak, hasn’t it? Never failing even once.”

That’s close to impossible.

Even Hyeonmu stumbles once or twice. Not every new product can be successful, after all.

Moreover, Hyeonmu’s new product development team was staffed with some of the best talents in the country. Not only Ph.D. holders but also diverse talents from around the world, recruited with premium salaries to foster creativity.

Despite this, missteps are unavoidable. Creative products are inherently challenging.

But what about The Song?

“To hit consecutive grand slams like that, it’s hard to attribute it solely to individual ability. Haha. There must be a few employees supporting her behind the scenes, right? Among them, I judged that Jo I-ruk-ssi would be a good fit for our Hyeonmu.”

-……

“So, I’m ready to hear your answer. Have you made up your mind, Jo I-ruk-ssi?”

-…Yes. Thanks to you.

“Hah! Is that so?”

Seo Si-hwan nodded, thinking ‘Of course.’ No matter how loyal one might be, there’s no way they wouldn’t be swayed by these terms.

How much could a startup possibly pay? Considering the performance bonuses, welfare benefits, and stable salary growth rate. Anyone could see which is the wiser choice.

‘Hehe. How dare a second-hand rookie with no proper experience expect such a salary?’

Jo I-ruk’s defection was merely a stepping stone to shake Song Woo-yeon.

He had enticed Jo I-ruk with all sorts of sweet talk, but if he really left The Song for Hyeonmu…… The plan was to dispatch him to a field position at some branch.

It was a method to squeeze out employees they wanted to lay off.

After being sent around remote areas of the country every year, handling all sorts of difficult tasks, they’d want to quit out of frustration if nothing else.

Since they’d be quitting on their own, the promised salary and bonuses would be void. And if Hyeonmu used its influence to prevent them from entering related industries?

That would be the end of dealing with Jo I-ruk.

‘It’s a perfect plan. I’ll suck out all the good and toss him aside. Hehehe!’

Seo Si-hwan smirked, half-convinced. Unless he was a fool, there was no way he’d reject this offer.

-My answer is…….

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

Click.

“This is being broadcast, right?”

I asked while fiddling with the camera. There was no direct response, but I could see chat messages starting to appear next to the broadcast screen.

-What’s this?

-Oh, it’s Song Woo-yeon

-kkkkk Hello~

“Hello.”

As I bowed slightly, the chat window started to scroll rapidly.

“Yes, yes. This is ‘My Small Television’, and I am indeed Song Woo-yeon~ I’m reading all your chat messages.”

As I responded to a few chats, excited viewers started sending messages more enthusiastically.

Skimming through them, I tried to estimate the number of viewers.

There weren’t as many people as I had expected.

Is it because it’s still a pilot broadcast? Or maybe because one of the other performers is a famous male idol, and viewers might be flocking there.

It doesn’t matter either way. I just need to focus on what I’ve prepared.

“Yes~ The broadcast I’ve prepared for today is a combination of mukbang and cooking show! It’s called ‘Song Woo-yeon’s Golden Recipe’!”

-Golden Recipe?

-I’ve been using the Junghwa-jeyuk-myeon recipe you shared on Cold Cooking~ I often make it at home

-Wow! Please say hi!

-ENG plz

-Are you in touch with Oh Ga-eul?

-Cooking? Boring;;

There’s a lot of unnecessary chatter, but I’ll just ignore it and start taking out the ingredients.

“I’ll show you recipes that you can easily make at home. These days, more and more high-end ingredients are appearing on Cold Cooking, making it hard to follow along, right?”

-Oh, for real

-Do celebrities usually stock their fridges with caviar and foie gras?kkk

-Those staged shots are so fake

-Cold Cooking seems to have lost a lot of its old charm these daysㅠ

-Wow~ Looking forward to it!!

-I think there’s a ghost behind you

“Now, these are all the ingredients you’ll need. Lemon, perilla leaves, soju, sprite, and sugar.”

The chat window filled with question marks at this unexpected combination of ingredients. Most reactions were wondering what kind of dish uses perilla leaves and lemon together.

I expected this.

“Everyone, you like the Maldives, right?”

I grinned as I held up the prepared glass.

“How about a taste of the Maldives with a mojito today?”

-Mojito??

-Does mojito have perilla leaves in it?

-Huh;;;

“Yes, yes. You’re all surprised, right? Mojitos are delicious, but they’re quite difficult to make at home. You need lime, mint leaves, and a spirit called ‘rum’. Almost no one keeps all of these at home, right? If you do, congratulations. You’re in the top 10% of Korea.”

I lighten the mood with some jokes. Although it’s a cooking show, the essence is still an internet broadcast, isn’t it?

The key point was to provide some light entertainment to keep viewers from leaving.

“The recipe I’ll teach you today is ‘Perilla Leaf Mojito’! Everyone has perilla leaves at home, right? Well, if you don’t, there’s not much we can do. But perilla leaves are still easier to find than mint leaves, aren’t they? Wanting to drink a mojito without either of those? That’s just greedy.”

If you don’t have either, just drink straight soju, what else?

“We’ll use this lemon instead of lime. If you don’t have lemon, you can substitute with lemon juice. The world has improved, and lemon juice is readily available these days.”

I put ice cubes in the glass, cut a lemon in half, squeezed the juice from one half into the glass, and neatly sliced the remaining lemon to add it.

“And sugar…… this much, about two spoonfuls. If you like it sweeter, you can add three spoonfuls.”

I scooped a heaping spoonful of sugar and added it to the glass. The glass was quite large, so three spoonfuls might be fine too.

“The rest is simple. Tear up the perilla leaves and put them in, then add half a shot of soju. Give it a gentle stir to release the aroma~ Mix the remaining soju with sprite to finish and……”

Ta-da!

A delicious-looking perilla leaf mojito is complete.

“How about that? It’s quite easy, right?”

I smiled as I looked at the chat window.

I was expecting reactions like ‘Wow, amazing!’, ‘A mojito this simple?’, ‘I have to try making this right away!’ But……

The viewers’ reactions were the opposite of what I expected.

They seemed fixated on something that, to me, was completely irrelevant.

-Do you really add that much sugar???

“?”

I couldn’t help but tilt my head. Sugar…… why?