Episode 102 Dignity (4)

“You haven’t checked it yet?”

Joon-young opens her mouth with a faint smile.

"Confirm? What check?”

Professor Young-geun Lee tilted his head and looked at Jun-young and the representative.

It was as if he was making an outrageous sound.

Then, a bitter smile formed on Jun-young's lips, who was looking at him.

Somehow, when I opened the door of the representative room earlier and entered, I was told that I was in a different mood, but it seemed like I came in without checking anything.

‘No, I would have checked. Perhaps 'old' material.'

In fact, before the full-fledged advertisement, the sales volume of Jun-young's problem book was lagging behind that of Professor Young-geun Lee's book.

In any case, Professor Young-geun Lee's book was a bestseller and a steady seller that had never been out of the top 10 selling books for the past 5 years.

But.

After was aired, CEO Yong-seok Lim, who was encouraged by the performance, started to fully support the advertisement, and the relationship between superiority and inferiority that seemed unlikely to change in an instant turned around.

of course.

“Are you really not going to tell me what you mean? If you keep playing around like this, you'll get in trouble later, right?"

Professor Young-geun Lee, as if he has not yet confirmed the details of the change, is unable to abandon his overbearing attitude.

Jun-young, who looked at Professor Young-geun Lee for a moment, opened his mouth to the CEO.

“Can I speak to Professor Lee?”

Then, the president continued looking at the professor with a sad expression.

“I can’t help it.”

The CEO nodded his head with a bitter expression and said.

It was like a Zhuge Liang who was genuinely suffering from evil spirits.

At this point, Professor Young-geun Lee realized that things were going strangely and opened his mouth with a bewildered expression.

“No, what are you all talking about? What is this representative talking about?”

But.

"Phew."

The representative only responded with a long sigh.

And then.

“Would you like to check it out?”

Jun-young held out an A4 sheet of paper to Professor Young-geun Lee and said.

Then Professor Lee grimaced and took the A4 sheet of paper.

In an instant, the professor's face became pale.

[March study book sales ranking]

1st place: ESB SAT Special Lecture English Area (Author ESB Editorial Department)

2nd place: The Dignity of the Korean Language (Author Kim Jun-young)

3rd place: High-grade Korean history (Author Choi OO)

.

.

6th place: Oh Ji-gee strong math (Author Hong OO)

7th place: The essence of the Korean language (author Lee Young-geun)

“··············This is such a nonsensical thing...'

Professor Young-geun Lee's hand holding the material trembled.

He then looked at Joon-young and Lee Yeon-jin with expressions of disbelief.'It's ranked 3rd in sales...'

It was an unbelievable result.

She was obviously ahead of Kim Jun-young by an overwhelming margin until two weeks ago.

'Nonsense! I must have misunderstood something!’

Professor Young-geun Lee took off his glasses.

Then, in a hurry, he wiped his glasses and put them back on.

It was because she thought that she might have been mistaken because the name of her book with Joon-young was so similar.

But.

2nd place: The Dignity of the Korean Language (Author Kim Jun-young)

7th place: The essence of the Korean language (author Lee Young-geun)

No matter how slowly I checked the data, the ranking did not change.

5,000 copies vs 25,000 copies.

If you look at the number of copies sold alone, the difference is not 4 times, but more than 5 times.

It was a score that far exceeded what Joon-young had bragged about at first.

"her······."

A smirk escaped from Professor Young-geun Lee's mouth.

Obviously, up until two weeks ago, I had confirmed that Junyoung's book had sold less than 2,500 copies, let alone 25,000 copies.

However, in just a few days, he transcended his sales and climbed to a position where he competed for 1st and 2nd place with the ESB Special Lecture, which is called the wall of the 4th dimension that cannot be crossed.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been absolutely impossible.

Then that moment.

One possibility popped into the professor's mind.

‘Yeah… that way would be enough.’

Professor Young-geun Lee nodded his head.

It was possible to raise the sales ranking in two weeks, if he thought of it.

That's the way.

'Book hoarding'

A secret expedient among publishers is to intentionally buy books from one's own publishers in order to make a bestseller.

Of course, there is a risk of social censure when the fact of hoarding is discovered, but due to the peculiar nature of the Korean publishing market, where the sales of a few bestsellers account for more than 50% of the total book sales.

‘If you don’t get it, stop. If you get caught, you are sick.’

It was a fairly broad and deep task with such an evaluation.

However.

After thinking for a moment, this professor shook his head with a sullen complexion.

‘············································.

It was because he knew that Globian had never used such a shortcut as sajaegi before.

'Hoarding? You shouldn't be a bookseller for things like that! That's a scammer, a trader! what? Does everyone else do it too? Hey, hey, are you going to die when other people die?

Professor Young-geun Lee's ears seemed to hear the former president's cry.

Think of the former CEO, who has been running the company with honesty to the point of seeming foolish.

For a moment he was ashamed that he had thought that way.

‘Actually, our CEO is not like that.’

He's been running the company for 30 years, and he's the one who, except for the degree, didn't walk.

It cannot and should not be the case that such a person's successor used such an expedient.

So let's rule out the most probable way.

There is only one possibility left.

But it is.

"...Phew."

It was a possibility he never wanted to accept.

Because it was admitting that his prediction was completely wrong.

“·················ogue.”

Professor Young-geun Lee, who had been contemplating for a long time, lifted his head.

Then, Junyoung's face came into his eyes.

Seoyul University's bachelor's degree is an entrance exam academy instructor.

Let's look at the face of a kid who has just entered the publishing market.

A sigh leaked out.

It was a sigh that contained a lot.

'You're stupid, you're stupid. The answer is right in front of you... ignoring it.'

Now, the possibility that Professor Young-geun Lee did not want to accept until the end.

It was time to admit it.

The professor, who let out all the emotions inside him, nodded his head with a sullen complexion.

He then opened his mouth by returning the material with the sales rankings to Joon-young.

“I can’t deny this…”

It looked like a piece of paper cut in pain.

The professor, who had difficulty speaking, continued to speak slowly.

“Yeah, I lost. As promised, we will readjust the royalties rate at the next reprint contract,”

It was a surprisingly calm tone.

Then, after hearing this, President Lee looked at Professor Lee with a surprised expression.

Because Professor Young-geun Lee, whom he knew, was not the type of person to bend his arguments so easily.

"Prof···."

The president continued looking at Professor Lee with a complicated expression.

It was a face that neither cried nor smiled.

The professor who looked at him opened his mouth with a wide smile.

“Heh heh, CEO, why are you making such a face? You have to laugh because it turned out just as the representative thought.”

It was a word that could be heard as a sarcastic sound if misunderstood.

However, the face of Professor Young-geun Lee who spoke those words looked so edgy, I didn't even think that he had bad intentions.

The representative's expression darkened.

After thinking about something for a moment, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Professor... are you going to just do something that didn’t exist?”

It was a nonsense word.

What are you talking about now that you've been through so much trouble?

Jun-young looked at Yi-jin with a puzzled expression.

I knew from the first time I met him that he was a person who exuded the scent of Hogu, but I didn't expect it to be this much.

No, how absurd his words must have been, should even CEO Young-geun Lee, who is the party, look at CEO Lee with a worried expression?

“One of the best in the world. Even if my words aren't worth a thousand gold, they shouldn't have to be platinum. So, let this CEO just pretend he can't win. Don't tell me."

The professor shook his head as if he was talking nonsense and said firmly.

Then he looked at the president with the expression of looking at a child who had been thrown out of the water.

"Prof······."

The representative licked his lips with a cloudy expression.

But when Professor Lee looked at him and shook his head, Representative Lee cried and bit his mouth.

and after iProfessor Young-geun Lee looked at Joon-young and opened his mouth.

"You···."

It was a serious expression.

But the words lingered in his mouth as if the words couldn't come out easily.

Jun-young looked at Professor Lee with a curious expression on what he was going to say.

The professor, who had been talking for a while, slowly opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry. As if I didn't realize that the water behind my Yangtze was pushing the water in front of me. That won't happen anymore, so let's help our nephew a lot in the future."

He even spoke right away.

“And if you ever need my name, just say it. Yes, I will lend you right away without saying a word. Well, looking at your book sales, it doesn't seem to matter, but you don't know."

When Professor Lee had finished speaking, he looked back at Jun-young and Yi-jin with a refreshed expression.

“·················ogue.”

President Lee looked at Professor Lee with a speechless expression.

I was just perplexed. No matter how clear and obvious evidence was in front of us, it was difficult for ordinary people to admit their defeat and their own mistakes.

But.

“How is it?”

Professor Young-geun Lee was looking at Jun-young with an expression that did not show a single delusion.

Well.

How can a person change so suddenly...

Jun-young pondered the words of Professor Young-geun Lee.

In fact, the proposal that Lee Young-geun made to Joon-young was a petition for uninterrupted hearing.

Although we were able to achieve the 2nd place in sales of study books thanks to the full support of CEO Yong-seok Lim this time, we couldn't stick with CEO Yong-seok Lim for a while.

Therefore, if it was not to be sold out in a month or two, it had to be able to capture the hearts of students who are actual consumers.

But he has a body close to being a strong player in the learning book market.

He has not yet gained enough recognition by name alone that he can give students confidence in his name.

So, of course, if someone with the same name value as Professor Young-geun Lee lends his name to Jun-young, he can give students confidence.

In addition, it was possible to block the mouths of those who expressed doubts about their abilities in the first place.

After organizing his thoughts, Junyoung slowly opened his mouth.

“If you lend it to me, it’s welcome.”

After hearing the answer, Professor Young-geun Lee looked at the CEO with a satisfied smile.

“Is this representative okay?”

The expression of the CEO, who had been hardened by tension, melted like spring snow.

"Sure."

It was the moment when all the sediment accumulated during that time was washed away.

CEO Young-geun Lee shed a satisfied smile and extended his hand to Jun-young.

“Then, please take good care of our representative in the future.”

Joon-young held his hand.

"no. I wish you all the best.”

In an instant, a friendly atmosphere permeated the inside of the representative room.

The CEO, who looked at him with a happy expression, opened his mouth with an 'ah' sound.

"Ah! So, to commemorate that, shall we have a meal together as the three of us today?”

Then, Jun-young opened her mouth with a confused expression.

“Is this fine dining today?”

After hearing Jun-young's words, Lee opened his mouth with a smirk.

“A day like today is a nightmare.”

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