Chapter 36
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether Trainee Yuhyun could properly show his presence in such a fatal and decadent concept….”
“He’s good, right?” Se-rang eventually couldn’t hold back her itching mouth and cut in.
Eden gave Se-rang a small laugh.
“Yes. He’s good. His vocals are firmer than I expected too. Though he needs to bring out more detail in his dancing.”
“That’s true. Trainee Seol Yuhyun, make sure you take that to heart.”
“Yes!” Yuhyun’s expression visibly brightened.
Then Eden passed the turn to Seungha, and Seungha’s gaze turned toward Taeha.
“To begin with, among the three of you, the mood and concept of this song suit Trainee Jung Taeha the best. You know that, right?”
“Yes, I’m aware.” Taeha answered with a tense face.
“Then you should also know that, among the three of you, you’re the one who should stand out the most. But it wasn’t quite like that. I actually wondered whether Trainee Seo Dowon would suit this kind of concept, but he suited it very well, so my eyes kept going to him. Even though Trainee Seo Dowon is the weakest of the three in both singing and dancing.”
Seo Dowon’s face went blank, and Jung Taeha’s expression sank. But Se-rang only nodded.
Because it wasn’t very different from what she had felt.
“Trainee Jung Taeha needs to be more greedy. You don’t need to try to stand out alone, but you need to have the greed to captivate the person watching you. Right now, it feels like you’re only thinking, ‘I need to finish this stage stably and well.’”
Maybe because she spoke from the perspective of a fellow idol, it seemed to reach him much more clearly. Se-rang silently watched Taeha, hoping this would become some kind of awakening opportunity for him.
“But you know, Producer Yeon Se-rang.”
“Ah, yes.” Why me all of a sudden? Se-rang turned to Eden in surprise.
“The song is really good. Don’t tell me you made it yourself, Producer?”
“Ah.” Se-rang grinned. “Yes, I made it.”
At those words, the expressions of everyone in the practice room changed into one of two types.
“Wow,” or “Really?”
Rather than react to each response one by one, Se-rang only shrugged.
“I wanted to make a song that suited those three. I thought I was going to die from making a song so suddenly, but seeing them pull it off this well makes all that effort feel worth it.”
My conscience hurts from lying without even wetting my lips.
However, the three trainees, who had no idea this was a lie, only looked at Se-rang with both hands gathered over their chests and eyes that seemed to say, Hing.
(Translator’s Note: Hing (힝) — Korean onomatopoeic expression used to convey a small whimper, sulky sadness, or cute emotional pleading.)
Don’t look at me like that. It’ll only make my conscience hurt more.
“You worked hard.” After all the filming ended, Se-rang handed the three trainees a card. “Buy whatever you want to eat. Anything, the best kind.”
“Gasp.”
“And exercise. I much prefer the kind where you eat a lot and exercise a lot.”
“Ugh….”
As if their excitement had shattered, the three trainees clutched their chests without even taking the card, but Se-rang didn’t blink.
“You don’t have to exercise if you don’t want to.”
“What?!”
“Everyone is responsible for their own life. The company does not take responsibility for your life.” Se-rang smiled brightly and placed the card on Dowon’s hand. “It only gives you a card.”
“…!”
“Th-that’s better, isn’t it…?” Yuhyun muttered in confusion.
I don’t know about that. I only spend money. Se-rang glanced at her wristwatch and took one step back.
“Then handle your dinner yourselves. I’ll get going.”
“Pr-Producer!”
When Seo Dowon stopped Se-rang, she only tilted her head.
“What? Do you need something else?”
“Would you like to come to the team dinner too, Producer…?”
“Huh? Then it’ll turn into a real company dinner. The true completion of an enjoyable team dinner is when I leave you alone.”
“No. I think it would be even more enjoyable if you came with us, Producer.”
Jung Taeha, I’m sorry, but if you’re going to play office politics, at least smile while doing it….
“No thanks. Just don’t cause trouble, grow up healthy, and feed me. That’s the only thing I want from you.”
“Yes?”
“You guys are my meal ticket. Work hard. If you get cut off, my meal ticket gets cut off too.”
“Producer, even if we get cut off… don’t you have… other meal tickets?” Yuhyun didn’t look like it, but he was the type to say everything he needed to say.
“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t take damage if you guys failed. I’m desperate too. As desperate as you are.”
Because you guys have to succeed for me to take over this company.
Se-rang casually looked around her. This building, this company. All of it.
But these kids didn’t need to know such complicated adult circumstances.
Their heads were probably already complicated enough just handling the stage in front of them.
Se-rang clicked her tongue as she looked at the three of them, who wore dazed expressions.
“I’ll handle my own work. You guys focus only on the stage. Let’s each do our own job well. Okay?”
“…Yes!”
Se-rang put on her sunglasses and gave the three trainees a double thumbs-up.
Let’s each do well on our own.
Because that was the hardest thing.
“This is Trainee Min Yeongseo’s recent status.”
Se-rang received the tablet PC Secretary Cha handed her. Min Yeongseo’s portfolio was displayed on the tablet screen.
Perhaps she had recently auditioned, because Yeongseo was singing in an audition video.
“Which entertainment company’s audition is this?”
“Yeon Entertainment.”
“Damn it.”
Of all places, it’s Yeon Sae-byeok’s company? Se-rang’s face twisted sharply.
“Then Yeongseo is there now?”
“Yes. She is at Yeon Entertainment.”
“Is Yeon Entertainment currently forming a girl group debut team? According to their current plan, they’re still far from debuting a girl group, right?”
Secretary Cha nodded. “Yes. Debut plans change so often that it’s difficult to know for certain, but we expect it to be delayed by at least two years. The immediate upcoming debut is a boy group.”
“Yeon Sae-byeok is famous for delaying plans like crazy. If they’re estimating two years, then it’ll take at least three years, which means she’s already….”
“From Miss Min Yeongseo’s perspective, she’s on the side of missing her golden time.”
(Translator’s Note: Golden time (골든타임) — Borrowed from the English “golden time,” used in Korean to mean a critical window when action is most effective.)
“Does Yeongseo know that?”
“She’s probably noticed roughly. A company has a certain atmosphere, after all.”
Of course. A smart kid like Yeongseo would never fail to notice that.
Who was Min Yeongseo? Back when Se-rang had been Kang Iwon, not Yeon Se-rang, she was the leader of the girl group <Ideal>, which had been evaluated as the group that would lead the next generation.
And she was the dark horse and ace of Se-rang’s company, Undefeated. No, of Iwon’s company.
To begin with, Ideal was a project that never would have started without Min Yeongseo.
Because Min Yeongseo herself was the “ideal” idol.
“Can we recruit her?”
“She is an extremely popular trainee. Yeon Entertainment also worked hard to recruit her. However… if we emphasize that their plan doesn’t really suit her and that we can debut her much faster, it may not be impossible. The problem is.” Secretary Cha stopped speaking and looked straight at Se-rang. “That only works if we really have a girl group debut plan.”
“We do.”
“…But what about <Cast the Future>? If your team wins there, Director….”
“Of course they’ll win.”
“…Then you’ll end up with a schedule where you have to debut two groups at the same time.”
“What? Debuting at the same time under the same company? That would only make them eat into each other’s share. We need to leave around three months between them.”
“You’re saying you’ll debut two groups within one year?”
“Yes. Is there a problem? Imperial isn’t some tiny neighborhood shop. It’s a major corporation in the entertainment industry. Isn’t it overflowing with human resources and material resources?”
Kang Iwon’s company, Undefeated, had been a tiny shop, so debuting two idol groups within a year had been impossible. But if it was a large corporation like Imperial, shouldn’t they at least be able to do that much?
Se-rang only tilted her head slightly.
“But when our labels were separated, all the human resources moved to each label….”
“Then we can fill it with my human resources.”
“Pardon?”
“Secretary Cha. Why are you acting like this? Of course, it’s not like I don’t know how difficult it is to debut one idol group. But the hardest parts are actually forming a debut team that matches the concept the company has in mind and selecting the debut song. Once those two are handled, you know the rest can be squeezed out somehow if we really push, don’t you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to say. Right now, the debut team we have in mind has only one person, doesn’t it? We don’t have any trainees to put into the debut team.”
“That’s why the other trainees I asked you to look into are important.”
Se-rang handed the tablet PC back to Secretary Cha. As if telling her to move on to the next one quickly.
As if she already knew Secretary Cha had investigated everything.
“…Next is the recent status of Trainee Han Riwon, whom you mentioned.”
“See? You already investigated everything. You’re being too cautious.” Se-rang grinned.