Chapter 52
Knock, knock.
At the sound of someone knocking on her office door, Se-rang quickly sprang to her feet and opened it.
“Ah, Hwiun. Welcome—”
Se-rang began greeting Hwiun, who had come to her office, but abruptly stopped.
He was not the only visitor.
All six members of Twenties were standing outside her office door with murderous expressions on their faces.
Isn’t it cheating to come at me with superior numbers like this?
“It’s actually convenient that you all came. We can talk about everything in one go. Come in.”
“We’re not going in.”
The one who answered was not Hwiun, but another member. Siyoung, the group’s main dancer, crossed his arms and made it clear that he had no intention of entering.
“If you weren’t going to come in, why did you come all the way here? You could’ve just sent me a one-line message.”
“…….”
Faced with Se-rang’s perfectly reasonable argument, none of the members could say anything.
“I know you’re angry with Imperial and Yeon Si-ho. I also understand very well what that anger feels like. So come inside first and talk to me. Who knows? I might be much easier to communicate with than you expect.”
The members seemed taken aback by Se-rang’s confidence, which was far greater than they had expected.
They had been with Imperial long enough that none of them could possibly have avoided hearing about Se-rang’s notorious reputation.
Hehe.
Taking advantage of their confusion, Se-rang slipped behind them and quickly started pushing.
“Come on, come on. Let’s go inside. In you go.”
Once all seven large men had entered the office, the spacious room suddenly felt a little cramped.
After seating them, Se-rang pointed toward the liquor cabinet.
“Want a drink?”
“We don’t drink.”
“Okay. I don’t like alcohol either.”
“…You don’t like alcohol, but you have that much of it?”
Hmm.
Right. Even Se-rang had to admit that sounded ridiculous. She laughed it off.
“Let me make one thing clear before we start. It’s not exactly a huge secret, but you should keep it in mind.”
“…….”
“I really hate Yeon Si-ho. More than you do.”
“…What?”
“Didn’t you hear the rumor that I beat that bastard with a golf club not long ago?”
“……What??”
“You didn’t hear? We had a little incident at the golf course. Haha. It’s a shame. If you’d heard about that before coming here, I probably wouldn’t have needed to explain anything else about myself.”
After making light of it, Se-rang naturally took a seat in front of them.
“I’ll be honest. I want all of you to return to Imperial headquarters. My team, which I personally manage, will take care of you. Of course, I know you’ve been in the industry for years and probably have very firm ideas about what you want. I’ll accommodate as much as possible. As long as it isn’t anything too outrageous, I’ll accept everything—”
“Liar.”
The words came from the youngest member of Twenties.
“You’ll say that now and then deceive us again. Imperial always screws people over like that and…!”
“Jeongho. Stop.”
Hwiun, the leader, restrained the increasingly agitated member and let out a long sigh.
“Director, as you already know… we’ve completely lost all trust in Imperial. That didn’t begin with CEO Yeon Si-ho. It started before that, back when every artist was still under Imperial headquarters.”
“…….”
“There is only one thing we want. We don’t want to become enemies with Imperial. We just want you to let us leave peacefully.”
In Hwiun’s eyes, Se-rang saw a reflection of her former self.
She, too, had once had eyes like that. Exhausted, disappointed, and wounded.
That was exactly when I told everyone to go to hell and walked out of Imperial.
…And then I got spectacularly stabbed in the back.
“…Believe me, I would love to do that for you. But as you probably already know, the people above me are petty, underhanded, unparalleled sons of bitches.”
“?!”
“Seriously, you won’t find worse bastards anywhere. When someone tries to leave, they cling to their trouser legs and try to drag them down with them. And they’re so damn sneaky about it. They screw people over in ways that make it impossible to even fight back.”
“?!?!”
At Se-rang’s vicious criticism, the pupils of the Twenties members shook wildly.
There were not many people above Se-rang in the hierarchy. In particular, the most prominent person above her was… her grandfather, Chairman Yeon Kangho, wasn’t he?!
Hwiun could only stare at Se-rang with an awkward expression, as though he had no idea whether he should laugh or cry.
“I know. I know you feel so wronged and furious that you want to leave. I know that because I’m standing here in front of you as a blood member of the Yeon family, you’re probably thinking, Isn’t she one of them too? I know you’ve heard all about my terrible reputation. I also understand perfectly well that you’re confused because I’m already suspicious enough, and then I talk like a complete lunatic on top of that.”
Se-rang poured out her grievances.
I’m telling you, I know all of it because I went through it too.
“I’m not going to ask you to trust me. Trust is something that can only be built after a long period of proof. Instead!”
Se-rang pulled out a thick stack of contracts.
“I’ll prove myself through the contract. The law will guarantee all of your security!”
She handed the stack of documents to Hwiun.
“It’s a preliminary contract. Read it over, and if there are clauses you want added, I’ll add as many as possible. No entertainment company in this industry will match these terms. I guarantee it.”
In truth, Se-rang already knew all about the free-agent offers they had received.
She had simply taken those offers and added a string of slightly better terms.
They were basically the kind of desperate conditions only a newly established entertainment company with nothing to its name would offer, with even more benefits piled on top.
There was no way they would be dissatisfied with the contract terms themselves. Se-rang smiled confidently.
“…….”
Hwiun looked back and forth between Se-rang and the contract with an expression of disbelief.
“Could we review this… and contact you again afterward?”
Of course.
Who knew what traps or toxic clauses she might have hidden in the contract?
You should check every single one carefully. I like that cautious attitude.
“Of course. Review it as thoroughly as you like.”
Se-rang added one more thing.
“Also, unlike CEO Yeon Si-ho, I don’t live like a filthy bastard, so I promise I won’t constantly drag you out to drinking parties. I hate that kind of thing myself.”
“…….”
“What about settlement issues?”
Right. Settlement issues were extremely important.
Se-rang nodded.
“As you know, Imperial headquarters is a company that receives a lot of scrutiny. We get audited at the slightest excuse. There is absolutely no chance of us causing settlement problems like some tiny mom-and-pop operation. Yeon Si-ho will be thoroughly investigated before long too.”
“…….”
“I know you won’t believe me no matter how many times I say it. But if you consult lawyers, you’ll find out that what I’m saying is true.”
Hwiun turned through the contract one page at a time, still looking as though he could not quite believe it, then looked at Se-rang.
“You did get all of this approved by the Chairman, right?”
“…Yes!”
O-Of course!
It had definitely not been easy, though!
“Absolutely not.”
“Come ooon.”
At that moment, Se-rang was practically sprawled out in Chairman Yeon’s study.
Technically, lying flat on the sofa in his study still counted as sprawling out.
“No. Those terms disadvantage the company too much. We do not sign contracts like that.”
“But if we don’t offer terms like these, Twenties will leave.”
“Then let those bastards leave!”
Chairman Yeon suddenly roared, and Se-rang felt her heart turn cold.
Those bastards?
Was that really all he could say about artists who had earned him so much money?
“Grandfather. You need to be realistic. It would be one thing if we hadn’t wronged Twenties, but anyone can see that we’re clearly at fault here.”
“Who says we did anything wrong?”
“Stop pretending you don’t know when you know everything. You know Oppa Si-ho ruined everything. He committed practically every vile thing an entertainment company could possibly do. Don’t you know that when a major corporation behaves like that, the auditors come down on it like a hammer?”
“…The company as a whole cannot take responsibility for things Si-ho did on his own authority. He can take responsibility for his own actions.”
“So you wouldn’t mind if Yeon Si-ho went to prison?”
“Watch your mouth.”
Se-rang did not so much as blink at Chairman Yeon’s cold warning.
“Grandfather. This is the only way to save both Yeon Si-ho and the company’s performance. Think about what happens if Twenties leaves. We’d be losing a major cash cow. How far do you think the stock price would plunge?”
“We are not a company that would be shaken by an issue of that scale. Do not treat Imperial as a corporation whose fate can be determined by a single idol group.”
“…….”
This old man just won’t listen.
“Then think of it as giving me an opportunity, and approve it for my sake.”
“What? What could you possibly achieve with something like that?! Se-rang, what do you think this company is, that you would reduce it to something so trivial—!”
Yes, yes.
Se-rang gave a perfunctory nod, then cut him off.
“Otherwise, Twenties will report Yeon Si-ho, Grandfather.”
“!”
“Then both Imperial and Yeon Si-ho will be completely screwed.”
So if you don’t want to see that happen, cooperate.