Free Web Novel‘Did I send PD Raon off for nothing?’
Sanghyeok sat at his desk, scanning through paperwork, and he suddenly felt it in his bones again: KJ Entertainment was still, very clearly, a mid-sized agency.
There were a lot of items waiting for Sanghyeok’s approval right now, and in moments like this, there were plenty of things he usually discussed with Raon—someone with deep entertainment-industry experience—before making the final call.
So with Raon gone, Sanghyeok couldn’t help feeling the absence.
This was also a consequence of KJ Entertainment’s structure. Unlike the bigger agencies, almost all decision-making authority had been placed in the hands of Sanghyeok, the CEO, and Raon—making it resemble a mid-sized agency in how it actually operated.
Of course, with the parent company’s solid backing and the way they’d recruited specialists across fields to build the company, comparing KJ Entertainment to a typical mid-sized agency was downright cruel to the truly mid-sized ones.
Even so, KJ Entertainment still didn’t have the kind of tight, layered structure the major agencies did.
For example, SY had a dedicated overseas team. There were managers and staff whose entire job was handling nothing but international schedules—Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and so on.
And beyond that, in the fine details, major agencies had employees who existed solely to support idols, each one shoring up their activities flawlessly in their own specialty.
-There’s a reason mid-sized agency idols hit a ceiling even if they get a great song.
Sanghyeok remembered Raon explaining why it was hard for an idol from a mid-sized agency—even one who blew up overnight—to keep that momentum going.
Starting with promotion for the song, there were differences right away, from the music video to styling.
And because they didn’t know how to coordinate schedules with precision throughout a promotion period, even if an opportunity came, it wasn’t easy to actually seize it.
If they hadn’t had someone experienced like Raon, KJ Entertainment probably would’ve gone through those problems in full, too.
‘No. We definitely would’ve gone through them.’
-The album cover is the most important thing in the world! It has to look good when you just see it, and it has to look good when it’s on the shelf! And you also have to prepare pre-order perks separately for each site. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Thanks to Raon, who didn’t miss a single detail Sanghyeok would’ve cluelessly let slide, Iam’s album became known for being high-quality in a way that didn’t feel like it came from a brand-new agency.
And Raon had also prepared in advance for the members’ stages and variety appearances.
Of course, Lee Sion’s insane performance had made all that preparation feel pointless, but still.
Anyway, the reason Sanghyeok was thinking about Raon—whom he’d personally sent off to Paldo Man—was because of the difficult decisions sitting in front of him right now.
[KJ Entertainment – Partnership Proposal Regarding Expansion of Activities in Japan]
[Partnership Proposal – I.AM U.S. Market Entry]
Two emails that had arrived at KJ Entertainment at the same time a few days ago, like someone had aimed them.
If they’d been ordinary emails, Sanghyeok wouldn’t have been agonizing like this.
‘Unibex and Universal Music Group...’
The senders were, unbelievably, record labels from Japan and the United States.
And not just any labels—top-tier giants in their own countries—so once Sanghyeok and Raon confirmed the emails were real, the team leads at the company had gone into a frenzy.
-Unibex was my partner when I did promotions in Japan. I heard they split with SY recently, so maybe they put us on the shortlist as one of their next partners?
Korean idol groups had been at the center of the K-wave boom that had been sweeping Japan for years now.
And among the local labels that handled Japanese activities for those Korean idol groups, the most famous name was Unibex.
-Without cooperation from a local label, overseas promotions are impossible.
People even said that whether you succeeded overseas came down to the local label’s support, and Unibex was the kind of best-in-class partner that had a rumor attached to it—even a doomed group could at least hit average with them.
And that wasn’t all.
The other company that had sent KJ Entertainment a proposal—Universal Music Group in the U.S.—was one of the world’s top three record companies.
A global industry leader you couldn’t even compare to Unibex, which was top-tier in Japan, the world’s second-largest music market—let alone compare to SY, Korea’s strongest.
‘They said it was a place that wouldn’t even reply no matter how many Korean agencies proposed partnerships.’
Even Raon, who had tried entering the U.S. market, had been shocked when she saw Universal’s proposal.
-These bastards actually reply to emails?
There was a bit of profanity in it, but to Sanghyeok, it was clearly admiration.
-In Korea, KJ Entertainment is probably the only one that’s ever gotten partnership proposals from both of these places.
Unibex, with massive influence across Japan and the wider Asian market, and Universal Music Group, with influence not just in North America but Europe as well.
Even calling it a miracle didn’t feel like enough.
But—
-This won’t work as-is.
After analyzing the proposals with the management team sent from HQ and with Raon, they’d reached a conclusion: this was a probe.
Tempting, sure, but not something they’d be desperate enough to claw at—exactly what “probing” meant.
‘She called it chicken ribs.’
It was like the old saying Cao Cao spat out during the Hanzhong campaign.
And above all, the real problem was—
-I don’t think they know Iam is a project group.
Looking at the contents, both Unibex and Universal seemed to believe Iam was under a seven-year contract like other Korean idol groups.
If they found out Iam was a project group only meant to promote for one year, it was obvious they’d retract the offer immediately.
In truth, Sanghyeok could have told both companies that fact and made the proposals disappear without any problem.
KJ Entertainment and Iam weren’t in a position where they had to stake their lives on overseas expansion.
Still, Sanghyeok was greedy.
Because KJ Entertainment had a solid HQ backing it unlike a typical mid-sized agency, if they truly aimed for overseas expansion, Sanghyeok was confident he could get funding and manpower support from HQ.
And if a proposal like that was accepted, it would be more than enough to change the minds of the members’ original agencies—the ones who wanted their trainees back as soon as possible.
Only a little over half a year left on the contract with Iam.
‘How far can we go?’
Watching the Iam members, Sanghyeok found himself getting curious about where their limits really were.
They’d debuted only half a year ago, yet Iam was already writing new records in the girl-group world.
If they were given more time, what kind of results would they produce?
That was why Sanghyeok had no choice but to bring up renewal to Lee Sion.
There was still time, but if they didn’t start preparing now, it might be too late.
‘In the end, we need to have the initiative.’
Not only did they need to secure a stronger position than they had now to form a real partnership with Unibex and Universal—
To overcome the group’s inherent limitations, they also needed to prove to every agency the members belonged to that it would be more profitable for them if Iam continued as a group.
And at the very center of that process was Lee Sion.
Even to Sanghyeok—still close to an outsider in the entertainment industry—rumors had started reaching his ears.
Rumors that not just the other Iam members’ agencies, but practically every agency in Korea was preparing contracts for Lee Sion.
And it made sense.
Iam had succeeded beyond expectations, so when each member’s agency debuted their own girl group later, if they could bring in a member whose contract had ended—
Especially Lee Sion—
It wasn’t like they wouldn’t know there was a high chance they could harvest a huge portion of the fruit Iam had built up over a year.
[Hey! You’ve been waiting a long time, right? Then shall we start talking about Iam??]
(A meme where the Iam members’ photos are pasted onto the “soul marbles scattering” image)
⤷Maitreya, Sango, Sitfo, Kirara!
⤷All right, now kill each other
⤷A lottery ticket that hits the market in a year gets listed for sale?
⤷Can’t let this go lol time to loot the Iam members
⤷You bastards, they’re still one group!
⤷If you give up it’s easier. Accept the fate of a project group
As Iam’s popularity and recognition rose, posts were already going up in communities talking about what came after the disbandment.
[What changed in Agbaek Season 2?]
「Not much is known yet about Idol Ground 100 Season 2, which is still shrouded in secrecy.
However, some of what was delivered to agencies has leaked and is becoming a hot topic. Unlike Season 1, the biggest difference is that this time it will be produced for a boy group.
And in contrast to Iam, the project group from Agbaek Season 1, which signed a one-year contract, the selected participants will sign a 2+1-year contract with KJ Entertainment···」
⤷2+1 is basically three years, isn’t it? Then what agency would send trainees?
⤷Tons of them would. I heard there are already so many applicants they’re struggling to choose.
⤷I mean, Iam hit that jackpot. Honestly, how can you not send someone? fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
⤷The agencies that passed in Season 1 were beating their chests in regret. Even the trainees outside the top 7 got their faces out there and got tons of promo.
⤷KJ learned from Iam—one year just ends with you doing good for someone else.
⤷They didn’t think it’d blow up like this either lol
Maybe they had no intention of repeating the same mistake twice, because Agbaek Season 2, which was being prepared now, was putting a multi-year contract on the table, unlike Iam.
And even so, agencies were going crazy trying to participate.
Sanghyeok had even heard, vaguely, that even if the Big Three weren’t all in, the major agencies right beneath them were all participating.
Sanghyeok couldn’t help thinking they should’ve done it like this from the start, but at the same time, he understood.
Just like someone wrote in the comments, no one had expected Agbaek and Iam to succeed like this.
And if you asked who the number-one contributor was to making Agbaek and Iam a hit, anyone would pick the same single name.
Lee Sion.
If Lee Sion’s renewal fell apart, it was obvious Sanghyeok wouldn’t even be able to attempt the plans he was drawing.
‘First, one thing at a time.’
Iam’s further growth, and renewal with Lee Sion.
Only after those were achieved would Sanghyeok’s plans gain force, and only then would he have justification to persuade HQ and other agencies.
If you pulled each thread apart, they were tangled and complicated, but in the end, the first starting point to untangling them was Iam’s success.
They were already successful—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that.
But it still wasn’t enough.
They needed a huge success—big enough that not just fans but even the general public would think it was too much of a waste for Iam to disband like this.
And the first start of that huge success, in Sanghyeok’s mind, was Three Kingdoms.
‘Because it’s a guerrilla concert, I don’t know what variables might pop up.’
With only the final third round left, the last stage theme for Three Kingdoms was a guerrilla concert.
-Iam, LYNX, and VYNNIA—three groups will each start a guerrilla concert at the same time in different locations after 30 minutes of promotion. The given performance time is 30 minutes. After that, when the final stage ends, rankings will be decided by the number of audience members who entered by then.
As befit the last round, it seemed MPlay and SY Production, which produced the broadcast, had made a major investment.
A simultaneous guerrilla concert in three locations.
After the second round ended and even the audience had all filed out, Sanghyeok remembered everyone at the site being shocked when they heard MC Jang Junseok explain the third round.
They’d been told that both the location and time would be top secret, only announced on the day of the performance.
The production team was keeping it locked down so tightly that they’d even threatened that if any prior information about the guerrilla concert leaked, this time they would absolutely track down whoever spread it and come down hard.
So just like SY and TSP, the only thing KJ Entertainment and Iam could do was practice even harder for the stage they would show at the guerrilla concert.
Slide.
Because of that, when Sanghyeok pictured the Iam members—everyone except Lee Gahyeon, who wasn’t here—gathered in the practice room without even resting as they prepared for the guerrilla concert, he thought he should stop by with at least a small encouragement, maybe bring them coffee.
Sanghyeok went to the café across from the company, which had basically become KJ Entertainment’s regular spot, and personally took out six iced Americanos to go, then headed for the practice room.
"Kkieeeek!!!"
When he opened the door, what he saw was Lee Sion tied up—and what he heard was Lee Sion’s scream.
***
"A person should cherish connections, no matter what."
"CEO, don’t be fooled! She was trying to run away again!"
"It wasn’t running away. I was trying to keep my loyalty!"
"What help does it do for you to go there just because some kids are debuting?!"
"People don’t move on pure profit and loss!"
Seo Ryujin and her underlings were still holding me down tight so I couldn’t run.
Even with Lee Gahyeon gone, Kurosawa Yuri and Ryu Ayeon locked onto me like a fortress, so there was no way to slip out.
"First, calm down, and tell me why you’re doing this."
At CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s words, they finally untied me, but Seo Ryujin’s trio still blocked the entrance to the practice room completely.
I couldn’t even set down the coffee he’d bought, and seeing CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s eyes go wide as he tried to mediate us, the dark circles that had already rivaled Lee Gahyeon’s looked even deeper.
"Today, some kids are having their debut stage, so I was just going to go watch and come right back!"
"When you say ‘kids,’ who are you talking about?"
"My sworn little sister Suyeon is debuting."
That’s right.
Today was the day Kim Suyeon, Kim Nayeon, Yoo Jihye, Choi Garam, and finally Park Soyeon—who apparently used to be in the same agency as Kim Nayeon—were all having their debut stage. Five of them.
-I’m so nervous. How did you get through this, Sion?
Late last night, Suyeon called me for the first time in a while.
She said she was so nervous about debut that she couldn’t sleep, and we stayed on the phone for a long time.
‘For some reason, I’m worried.’
The original coward, Kim Nayeon, and Suyeon, who was too kind for her own good, and aside from them, Yoo Jihye and Choi Garam, too—none of them were the type you’d call tough.
They’d spent all this time waiting just to debut, but I kept worrying without meaning to about whether they’d mess up.
"Then... shall we all go together?"
"Huh?"
After hearing why I’d tried to slip out of the practice room, CEO Kim Sanghyeok hesitated for a moment—then he suggested we all go together instead.
"If your ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ mind is on something else, you won’t get efficiency out of practice anyway. And it’s not like going to see your friends’ debut stage will take an enormous amount of time, so wouldn’t it be better to just go and come back?"
"That’s true, but···."
"Besides, it looks like the other members want to go too. If that’s the case, I think it would be better for all of you to go together."
At CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s words, all the members stole glances at each other, then nodded.
In truth, both the people debuting today and all our members had ties to each other.
