102: Chapter 102 Investing in JYP

The appointed day was a Tuesday, and it was raining in Seoul. Chairman Wang Shunyi's car stopped on the second basement level of JYP Entertainment's headquarters. Kim Young-jun turned back from the passenger seat and said the Chairman had arrived. He pushed open the car door, his leather shoes stepping onto the wet concrete floor, splashing water onto his trouser legs.

Kim Young-jun handed him a black long-handled umbrella, but he didn't take it, saying it wasn't necessary for such a short walk.

The elevator stopped once on the way from B2 to the first floor. Two young men carrying backpacks got in, looking down at their phones with masks on, failing to recognize him. He pressed the button for the eleventh floor, and the doors closed.

Park Jin-young's office was at the end of the corridor. The door wasn't fully closed, and music drifted out—not the deafening K-pop kind, but soft jazz.

A female secretary led him in, saying President Park would be ready in a moment. Signed posters of JYP artists hung in the office—TWICE, Stray Kids, ITZY, and a few other groups he didn't recognize.

On the wall hung a photo from the Grammy Awards. Park Jin-young stood in the middle of the crowd, smiling happily with a trophy in his hand.

When Park Jin-young emerged from the inner room, he was wearing a black turtleneck sweater, no tie, and his hair was neatly combed.

His palm was thick and dry when they shook hands, gripping firmly. He invited Chairman Wang Shunyi to sit on the sofa and sat in a single chair opposite him, separated by a coffee table with two cups of freshly brewed barley tea on it.

Park Jin-young took a sip of tea, set it down, and smiled. "Chairman Wang is much younger than in his photos."

"As are you, President Park."

"I'm old. Just look at the photos of TWICE when they first debuted versus now, and you'll know I'm old."

He pointed at the TWICE poster on the wall, his tone relaxed. Chairman Wang Shunyi followed his hand with a glance but didn't respond; he wasn't here as a fan.

Park Jin-young clearly knew this as well, so he put down the remote and turned off the background music.

"Chairman Wang said he wants to invest in JYP. I'm curious—you're in the food business, so why are you interested in an entertainment company?"

Chairman Wang Shunyi picked up his teacup, but set it back down without drinking.

"Because the consumers of Shunyi Foods and JYP fans are the same people. They are twenty to thirty-five years old, people who would spend an extra thousand won for a bowl of delicious instant noodles, and would also wait in line for three hours for an album. Wherever the consumers are, Shunyi should be there. It's not a crossover; it's the same battlefield."

"So that's also why you invested in SM?"

"SM was testing the waters. JYP is a strategy."

Hearing this, Park Jin-young fell silent for a few seconds. The smile at the corners of his mouth faded slightly, but the light in his eyes didn't go out.

"Strategy? Tell me more, Chairman Wang."

Chairman Wang Shunyi leaned back against the sofa, his fingers lightly tapping twice on the armrest.

"Shunyi Foods has reached number one in South Korea. The ceiling is visible. The next growth points are in China and Southeast Asia. SM has good artist resources, but their business penetration in China isn't as high as JYP's. You have Korean idols with the best Chinese skills and groups that have held the most concerts in China. If my noodles are going to be sold in China, they need a face. Your artists are that face."

He paused.

"It's not the kind of endorsement cooperation where you just stick up a poster and call it a day. It's a deep, bound partnership that connects the entire chain from product R&D to marketing. You provide the artists, we provide the products. Co-branding, customization, limited editions. JYP fans buy my noodles, and Shunyi consumers listen to JYP's songs."

After listening, Park Jin-young took another sip of tea. He shifted his gaze from Chairman Wang Shunyi's face to the coffee table. His hands rested on his knees, his fingers slowly clenching and then relaxing.

The office was quiet for a while. The wall clock ticked away, every step of the second hand clearly audible.

"How much do you plan to invest, President Wang? What stake are you looking for?"

"Five to ten percent. The price will be at market value. I won't join the board or interfere with operations. I only want one thing—JYP artists must give priority consideration to Shunyi endorsements, under equal conditions."

"Priority?" Park Jin-young's eyebrows lifted slightly. "Not exclusivity?"

"Exclusivity is unrealistic. You have so many groups; if they were all tied to Shunyi, other brands wouldn't agree. Priority is enough. Consumers would be confused if they saw your artists in Shunyi's ads and other food brands' ads at the same time. Priority means that among similar products, Shunyi comes first."

Park Jin-young didn't answer immediately. He stood up and walked to the window, his back to Chairman Wang Shunyi, watching the rain outside.

The rain was blown diagonally by the wind, hitting the glass and streaming down.

"President Wang, I need to discuss this proposal with my team. It's not something I can decide alone. But I can give you a preliminary answer: in principle, I agree. As for the specific ratio and price, let the people below us handle the negotiations."

He turned around and returned to his previous smiling self, but there was something more in that smile.

It wasn't satisfaction, but relief. Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't ask, but he knew this trip had been worthwhile.

It was still raining when he left the JYP headquarters. Kim Young-jun was waiting at the door with an umbrella and asked, "Chairman! How did the talk go?"

Chairman Wang Shunyi didn't speak until he got into the car.

"Park Jin-young is easier to talk to than Lee Soo-man, but an easy talker doesn't mean he's easy to deal with. He started as an artist, so the scale in his heart is different from a businessman's. A businessman looks at numbers; he looks at people. Today, he found the people at Shunyi to his liking."

Back at the company, Kim Young-jun went to coordinate specific terms with JYP's legal team. The negotiation period would likely be two weeks to a month, with the focus on the share percentage and price.

Back at the company, Kim Young-jun went to coordinate specific terms with JYP's legal team. The negotiation period would likely be two weeks to a month, with the focus on the share percentage and price.

Chairman Wang Shunyi set a baseline: seven percent.

This was the number he and Kim Young-jun had been calculating throughout the car ride—not exceeding ten percent, so as not to dilute Shunyi's cash flow, while also making JYP take Shunyi seriously. Kim Young-jun noted it down in his notebook.

At six in the evening, Chairman Wang Shunyi sat alone in his office. The JYP investment memorandum left by Kim Young-jun was spread out on the desk; he flipped through a few pages and closed it. The rain outside was still falling, having never stopped since the morning.

The streetlights in Seongdong-gu cast a dim yellow glow in the rain. He stood up and walked to the window, lighting a cigarette. The smoke cast a blurry shadow on the glass.

His phone vibrated; Park Min-ji had sent a message asking if he was coming home for dinner. He replied, "Yes."

He added another: "Met Park Jin-young today. The talk went okay. I want to eat army stew tonight."

She replied with one word: Okay.

He stubbed out the cigarette and picked up his coat. A faint ash mark remained on the window pane; he wiped it with his finger but couldn't get it clean, so he decided to leave it.