Chapter 43: Television Dramas and TikTok

"Why are you up so early?"

Bae Ji-woul rubbed her eyes, looking at her former roommate sitting in the living room, somewhat doubting whether she was fully awake.

Based on her understanding of Sullyoon, even if there was a scheduled activity today, Sullyoon would usually be the one to wake up later.

After all, with video games keeping her up, there was no way she could easily get up the next day.

Supporting her head, Sullyoon used the remote to lower the TV's volume: "I just haven't slept."

"Why are you watching *The Heirs*? We were still in elementary school when this drama came out, right?"

Looking at Lee Min-ho and Kim Woo-bin with their rather dated makeup in the drama, Bae Ji-woul slightly parted her lips in disbelief:

"While I can understand how easily hooked people get on shows like this, there's no need to watch it all night, is it?"

Ignoring Bae Ji-woul's surprise and too lazy to explain, Sullyoon simply posed her own question:

"Tell me, which is more exaggerated—the plots in TV dramas or real life?"

"I think reality is a hundred times more cruel and exaggerated than TV dramas."

Bae Ji-woul sat down next to her, watching alongside her the scene in Episode 16 where Chairman Kim Nam-yoon convenes an extraordinary shareholders' meeting to initiate a vote of no confidence against his son Kim Won's position as company president.

"Apart from being grand in scale, I can't figure out why our movies are considered good, and it seems like there's nothing we can do about reality either."

"Even historical palace dramas lack the epic feel and legendary quality of *Empresses in the Palace*; ours look more like children playing house."

Somewhat surprised by Bae Ji-woul's suddenly broadened perspective, Sullyoon nodded: "Yeah, the internal struggles of chaebol families in real life are probably far more cruel than *The Heirs*."

"There are even cases of people sending their own biological brothers and sisters to prison," Bae Ji-woul grimaced. "I just don't get those people. Fighting back and forth like that, do they really get to inherit a larger estate?"

Prompted by Bae Ji-woul's remark, Sullyoon recalled that she had previously heard Hsia Xing share a similar story.

Take the LG Koo family, for example, which enjoys a certain level of renown throughout South Korea and even across Asia.

The brand name LG is derived from the household goods brand Lucky and the electronics brand Goldstar; Lucky toothpaste, which many people in Korea have used, originated from LG.

After the death of LG founder Koo In-hwoi, his third son, Koo Cha-hak, married Lee Sook-hee, the daughter of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, and joined Samsung, successively serving as general manager of The Shilla Hotel and Everland.

When Samsung began direct business competition with LG, Koo Cha-hak—caught between the two major families—returned to LG and carved out the food manufacturing business from the "L," independently establishing the company Ourhome.

Yet Koo Cha-hak's one son and three daughters fought each other for nearly twenty years over a business whose maximum annual revenue never even exceeded 80 billion South Korean won.

Clash after clash at shareholders' meetings and board meetings, showdowns in courts outside...

If it were truly just for a little extra dividend and cash income, there would be no need to fight to the death like this.

Perhaps this is the allure of power?

Recalling when Hsia Xing shared this story with her, she had simply taken it as a bit of fun.

At the time, she even joked, "You're not a member of the LG Koo family, how could you know it in such detail?"

Hsia Xing's earnest reply back then hadn't been a joke at all: "Most chaebol families are probably in this kind of state, and Koo Cha-hak's third daughter, Koo Ji-min, is our senior from the Department of Business Administration at Seoul National University."

Never would she have imagined... It turned out he had always been trying to hint at his family background, only she had never connected the dots in that direction.

"Perhaps it's for power? There is still quite a big difference between having money and having power."

-----------------

Playing on TikTok was a performance video from the 2023 The Fact Music Awards held a month ago.

In the vertical fancam of Shin Yu-na performing *Kill Shot* in a black suit, amid the intense electronic beats, her tall, graceful figure and delicate facial features, combined with her finger-gun pose aimed at the camera, drew bursts of screams from the female fans in the audience.

Ning Ning glanced playfully at Karina, who was smiling foolishly down at her phone: "Unnie, you seem to have browsed a lot of Shin Yu-na's stage performance videos today."

The sudden remark from the group's youngest member pulled Karina's attention briefly back from the screen to reality.

"Huh? Did I?"

She swiped through several more posts, which were either TikTok challenges of Shin Yu-na collaborating with others or Shin Yu-na's individual stage fancams.

"Anyone likes looking at beautiful women, right? Don't you like looking at them too?"

"My viewing is... eclectic. Unlike you, who is practically drooling over Shin Yu-na."

Karina coughed with fake solemnity, looking at the manager who was listening to their conversation in the van: "Manager oppa, didn't you also tell me last time that Shin Yu-na is exceptionally pretty? You're a fan of hers, aren't you?"

Suddenly called out, the innocent-looking manager uncle turned his head back with an aggrieved expression: "Don't talk nonsense. I'm aespa's number one loyal fan."

Sold out by the manager uncle, Karina awkwardly scratched the bridge of her nose:

"That's not what you said last time! Besides... I've just been particularly interested in her lately, is there a problem?"

"And I do look at serious stuff too, making it sound like my mom and dad are watching me. You just don't see me when I'm studying."

To prove her innocence, Karina swiped upwards through several consecutive posts: "Take a look for yourself."

Because her eyesight wasn't very good, Ning Ning squinted slightly as she looked at the TikTok video filled entirely with text.

["Recently, a large Chinese grain enterprise exported 50,000 tons of corn to South Korea..."]

The news with its abruptly shifting style caused Ning Ning to reach out in disbelief and swipe through several more posts.

["10,000 tons of soybean meal have arrived at the port, ushering in a new landscape for our soybean meal market..."]

For a moment, Ning Ning couldn't quite figure out what had gotten into the leader to make her care about news that seemed to have nothing to do with real life.

The manager furrowed his brow slightly. He knew there were quite a few celebrities in the entertainment industry who thought they possessed insider knowledge and attempted to get rich by trading stocks and futures, only to lose every penny they had painstakingly earned since their debut.

Those who could have retired in peace and occasionally appeared on shows to make some extra cash were forced back into the entertainment industry as a result.

"Karina, do you want to trade futures lately? Although you've made some money since your debut, it can't withstand the tossing and turning of the futures market."

"Don't worry, I've just been more interested in business matters lately. So I have to learn from the basics."

Karina sighed with emotion: "Speaking of which, do you guys ever get that feeling? Some things that might seem earth-shattering to us could perhaps be nothing more than someone merely stamping their feet in other parts of the world."

"Just like that news about exporting 50,000 tons of corn—we have a population of fifty million, which averages out to a kilogram per person, right?"

The manager, who had a fair grasp of finance, promptly pointed out the error in Karina's words: "Actually, calculating it that way isn't entirely correct. The imported corn isn't completely used for human consumption; it might be processed into feed for pigs, cattle, and sheep, or pressed into oil and things like that."

Prompted by the manager's reminder, Karina furrowed her brow slightly, looking somewhat deflated: "It seems I still have quite a lot to learn."