Chapter 6: If It Doesn’t Work, Make It Work

Lee Seongbeom has many titles.

“Genius” who brought a new wind to the broadcasting industry.

“Eccentric” who always comes up with fresh and bizarre plans, gets criticized by the director, but pushes them through anyway.

“Midas Touch” because every program he takes on is at least moderately successful.

And so on.

There are many titles, but anyone who knows him even a little would call him this.

[Genius Collector]

It is said that he has a crazy talent for finding and gathering geniuses.

Everyone Lee Seongbeom keeps by his side and nurtures is either at the top of their field or will be soon.

Therefore, people were eager to rush to Lee Seongbeom, but they were always ignored.

He had a clear standard.

-People keep calling me a genius collector, but I don’t collect geniuses. They don’t get it.

-The people I find aren’t just geniuses. What is a genius? Isn’t it a talent given by heaven, hence the word “genius” (天才)?

-It’s not a prodigy (秀才) either. Someone who works hard? Everyone in the world is like that.

-Then who am I looking for?

In my memory, Lee Seongbeom drank a 500cc glass of soju and beer mixed and slammed the empty glass down.

-Both.
-A genius who works like crazy to break through something invisible.
-I’m just looking for such exceptional people.

I couldn’t understand his words, slurred by alcohol.

What is this ‘exceptional person’?

What is the ‘invisible something’?

I didn’t know anything.

If the abilities of a 13-year-old child could be seen as the abilities and skills of a skilled person, I had a little hope that he would be interested.

Fortunately, I was able to attract his interest, but I didn’t have high expectations about adoption, even though it was the goal.

Rather, the backup plan had a higher probability of success.

Adoption was not something that could be decided simply, it was a realistic problem.

But there was one thing I overlooked.

“Hmm, alright. From now on, call me Dad.”

“Huh?”

“Call me daddy~”

This man’s most famous title is ‘Eccentric’.

After something huge was decided in an instant.

I was discharged from the hospital, and Mister visited the orphanage to go through the adoption process.

I had been secretly smiling for the past few days at the fact that the plan I had set as soon as I opened my eyes after going back ten years was already coming true.

The children in the same room and some of the orphanage children frowned at me as if I were strange, but who cares.

I’m leaving this place now!

Even when the bullies hit my back, saying I was being annoying, I didn’t care.

I wonder when I’ll be able to leave.

It was one day when I was looking forward to that day and was casually packing my things.

“I’m sorry. They said adoption isn’t possible.”

Thud.

That day, my world collapsed.

I realized that it is not common for young children to be sent to other families in normal households after I entered elementary school at the age of eight.

When I talked with my peers whom I met for the first time, the words that came out naturally revealed my background as not a warm home but a gathering place for parentless orphans, and my 12 years of school life turned into a living hell.

The age of eight has no distinction between good and evil.

They just say that different is wrong, and wrong is strange, so in a natural flow, a child without parents becomes strange.

I, who didn’t want to be strange, researched how to get parents, and it was around this time that I understood the adoption system.

And it was also around this time that I learned that the adoption rate for boys over elementary school age was close to zero.

That was the first moment of despair in my memory, and that despair came back to me again.

I grabbed Mister’s hand and ran to the director’s office.

Mister kept saying something while being dragged, but I couldn’t hear him.

When I arrived at the director’s office, I took a deep breath, calmly knocked on the door, and when the director said, “Come in,” I burst the door open and protested.

The despair I felt for the first time since becoming this body turned into words and then into anger.

Starting with ‘why’ and continuing with endless ‘whys’ directed at the director, his warm impression did not change, and the director, who was initially surprised, knelt to meet my eye level and accepted all my anger.

The voice I had never used in my life paralyzed my manners and reason and let out the pain in my heart.

Things that I didn’t know whether they were from the present or from memory mixed together and turned into words.

As the unrefined sentences continued, they gradually lost their form and turned from language into sobs.

At some point, the burning anger turned into tears and ran down my cold cheeks.

Only then did the director explain the reason.

Anyone can adopt, but single people cannot.

There is no law that says single people cannot adopt, but last year, only three cases were approved by the family court.

All three cases were single women.

Single men cannot adopt girls.

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know any of this.

That adoption by single people is very difficult.

That single women can adopt boys, but single men cannot adopt girls.

I didn’t know any of this.

If I had done a little more research, if I had been a little more interested, if I had studied a little more, I might have known.

But I didn’t.

And that led to this result.

It’s no one’s fault.

I can’t blame anyone.

This was just a stupid story of me despairing on my own, finding hope, and despairing again.

Lee Seongbeom couldn’t hide his disappointment as he returned home.

It wasn’t that he had decided to adopt lightly, but if he had done a little more research, the child might not have been so hurt.

He knew that his impulsive personality sometimes had its advantages, but it often led to bad results like this.

“Damn it…”

A child was greatly hurt because of his carelessness.

Even now, when he closed his eyes, he could vividly see the child’s big eyes losing their light and tears falling.

The child was more desperate than he thought.

The tone of asking if he would adopt her was light, and the age of 13 was young, but the pain that poured out in her screams was heavy and deep.

“What do I do….”

No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn’t figure out what to do.

It was when he sighed deeply and stepped on the brakes at a red light.

The phone on the mount rang with a call notification.

“Song Jakga? What is it?”

-What do you mean, what is it? Where are you wandering off to again, leaving work behind?

“Ah, I’m at the orphanage….’

-Ah, right, you said you were adopting a child, right? So, is the procedure all done? Are you a dad now?

“Well, it’s a bit complicated.”

Song Jakga and Lee Seongbeom are currently at tvM, but they have been together since they were at KBZ, so they have a strong trust in each other.

Therefore, they often asked each other for advice when they had problems, and this time too, Lee Seongbeom asked for her opinion.

-Oh, is that so? I didn’t know that single men can’t adopt girls either.

“That’s why it got a bit messed up. The kid was more shocked because I spoke lightly.”

-So, I told you to fix that habit of speaking carelessly.

It was his bad habit.

It could be a big source of fun on the show, but when it’s not, it could end up like this.

“……So, is there any way?”

It was rare for Lee Seongbeom, who was always full of confidence, to take a back seat.

So, Song Jakga also seriously thought about it this time.

Then, after making a sound of “Ah.”, she continued.

-That child wants to leave the orphanage no matter what, right?

“That’s right.”

-But she doesn’t have to live in the orphanage, does she?

“Huh?”

-As far as I know, an orphanage is a place to protect children who can’t be independent because they don’t have the help of their parents, right? In fact, there’s no law that says you have to catch a child who leaves the orphanage on their own.

Then, on the other hand, if a child can be independent, doesn’t that mean they don’t have to live in an orphanage?

As Lee Seongbeom listened to Song Jakga’s words, he nodded his head.

This girl is different, having graduated from a four-year university in Seoul.

“Keep talking.”

-The biggest criterion for independence is money, right? So, if the child can earn enough money, it can be considered independence.

“That’s definitely true.”

-But there’s one thing that’s bothering me. Even if she can earn money, she still needs parental consent. From what I heard, the orphanage director seems to care a lot about the children…. I don’t know if he’ll allow it.

“Ah, that’s okay. I just had a great idea.”

-What is it?

Something flashed through Lee Seongbeom’s mind.

A great plan that could solve this situation at once.

“I’ll create a new planning department. For example, let’s call it [Young Talent Discovery Team]?”

-That’s a rip-off. And there’s no way they’ll let you create a new department so easily.

“It was just an example. And you know that the director and I are pretty close, right?”

-Of course. The whole company knows that when the director left KBZ to establish tvM, he practically begged PD-nim to come along by grabbing your pants. But didn’t you already use that to get any proposal prioritized?

“Yeah, that’s right. But I can do something else.”

-What is it? Ah, don’t tell me……

“I’ll have to borrow a tent after a long time.”

-Oh, please, PD-nim….

Song Jakga groaned, covering her forehead.

An incident that no one working at tvM could forget flashed through her mind.

In the past, there was a proposal that Lee Seongbeom was in charge of that was changed and had a very tight budget.

Of course, the director ignored Lee Seongbeom because he had already received the highest priority review and the highest budget.

So, while all the writers and PDs were re-examining the budget, Lee Seongbeom suddenly went out, borrowed a tent, set it up right in front of the director’s office, and started a one-man protest.

He brought food, lodging, and even a chamber pot, and took care of everything while harassing the director.

Eventually, he received additional funding, and it is said that he produced a broadcast with record-breaking viewership ratings with that budget, which has remained a legend and is still talked about today.

It was the incident that gave birth to another title that describes Lee Seongbeom, the ‘Crazy Bulldozer’.

“If you can’t, make it happen.”

-Please don’t mention my name. Okay? Please!

“Ah, this heavy and cool sensation. It’s been a while.”

Lee Seongbeom took out something made of stainless steel that he had kept in the trunk.

It was a chamber pot.

At the same time.

The director, who was working overtime to revive his old senses, felt an unknown chill.

“…Sh*t, don’t tell me?”

For some reason, Lee Seongbeom’s annoying face flashed through his mind.