Chapter 16. Rookie Planning (3)

Translator: Synopsis

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

KangYoon, who visited the 3rd floor for a little bit to receive some paperwork from the trainers, received loud greetings from the trainees when he was walking along the corridor.

‘Hey, hey, hey. Is that him?’

‘Yeah, yeah. I heard he’s planning for the next singer. Wow, wow.’

The trainees, especially the girls were all over the place. To get noticed by KangYoon, or to make him have a good impression of them, they greeted loudly and sometimes they even acted charming in front of him like a fox while approaching him. However, he was in his 30s, no, he lived ten more years in the ‘past’ so, to the mentally 40-year-old KangYoon, he could only see them as nieces who were acting cute in front of him. He just laughed it off.

“Here are the related papers.”

“Thank you.”

KangYoon received the papers from the trainer, and he was about to head back to his office when he craved for some coffee so headed to the resting area.

“Oh, hello.”

“It’s MinAh, hello.”

There was someone before him in the resting area. It was Jung MinAh, who was wearing a sleeveless shirt while hanging a towel around her neck. She seemed to be delighted to meet KangYoon as she waved her hand. Jung MinAh made other trainees sneak a look at her due to the neckline hid by the towel and her chest line which were revealed due to her clothes sticking to her body.

KangYoon bought a bottle of water and handed it to her.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Were you in the middle of practice?”

“Yes. Ahjussi… was working?”

“Ha… what ahjussi. Don’t tell that to a bachelor.”

“I like the word ahjussi… But if you don’t want it, then I will change it to another one.”

“…Do what you want. But within the company, call me Team Leader.”

“…Yes. It doesn’t matter if it’s outside, right?”

“…You…”

To Jung MinAh, who was disappointed in her heart, KangYoon couldn’t think of anything to say to her. She was cute, but a company was a place that had a lot of gazes. Caution was necessary.

KangYoon and Jung MinAh sat down and had a conversation. Jung MinAh already didn’t have the pickiness from the beginning. She brightly talked about her days as a trainee and KangYoon advised time to time while listening. Of course, KangYoon never touched the topic about the next generation girl group. Jung MinAh was the same.

KangYoon, who was talking, thought it was time, so he stood up.

“Then I’ll leave first.”

“Yes. Have a safe trip.”

KangYoon left Jung MInAh and went up to the office. He needed to sort out the materials for Christie An, and he needed to hurry with the work with the temporary contract. He also needed to distribute work to the various teams, so his workload was enormous.

When he concentrated on work, time flew quickly.

“Fua… It’s over.”

When he finished distributing work and sorted out the temporary contract, it was already night.

‘If I go now, then I might be able to eat with HeeYoon, eh?’

It was even a leave on time. It was thanks to processing them quickly even though there was a lot. His dinner time with his sister was his happiness. KangYoon hurriedly left the office and got on the elevator. However, the elevator which was supposed to stop on the 1st floor but the door opened when it was on the 3rd floor. However, there was no one there.

‘What the heck?’

He pressed the close button, thinking that someone must have taken the stairs after pressing. But then.

Do we love — each other — with you–

Someone’s singing from not far away stimulated his ears. It was a female voice. KangYoon immediately pressed the open button and left the elevator. Then he headed towards the origin of the voice.

Today’s a good day to love — You and me —

The voice came nearer and nearer. The female voice was full and had strength. However, it was soft and good to listen to. The voice was clear, and the lyrics were precise. KangYoon, who became curious at the sound, walked towards that place. Then, he carefully opened the door to the practice room, from which the voice was coming from.

‘Han JooYeon?’

Inside the door, there was a trainee with average height and long hair. KangYoon could only see her back, but her thin waist stood out. The white light emitted from her filled the surroundings to the brim. It was similar to JooAh’s intense light, but it was at the same time, different.

Han JooYeon wasn’t aware of KangYoon’s presence. She was absorbed in singing so she couldn’t perceive anyone entering. The story of two lovers – Today was a good day to love, but we have to separate – was clearly delivered to KangYoon. And matching that, the light emitted from her became stronger.

‘She’s good. But why is the vibration so high? I’d rather want her to polish her core skills now.’

KangYoon expressed his disappointment, perhaps due to her still being a trainee. He was slightly disappointed at the climax part where she vibrated her voice too much. The light from Han JooYeon also became dimmer at the climax part. KangYoon was disappointed in that part. However, he felt it. That her voice was necessary.

KangYoon quietly left the practice room before the song ended.

‘Let’s first put Han JooYeon as a candidate. And…’

Inside KangYoon’s head, he was thinking tens of thousands of things as to which direction he should develop Han JooYeon.

***

“Christie An. Han JooYeon. Seo HanYu. Ailee Jung. These four?”

President Lee HyunJi carefully checked over the report KangYoon brought to her. She just ticked the box for the transaction a lot of the time due to having too much work, but she never did that with KangYoon’s report. It was important, and there were some things she could learn from it.

“That is so.”

“Then the girl group is set with these 4?”

One of the most important things of a singer group is the members. It was because the members affected various things such as the performance concept, or the song. The current trend was 4~5. President Lee HyunJi was curious.

“I’m thinking of that for now…”

“For now…?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I’m thinking of up to 7 people.”

Then, President Lee HyunJi tilted her head.

“If there are too many people, you won’t be able to bring out their individuality, though?”

It was as she said. If there were too many people, they could express various things, but their personality would be gone. This meant that there were not enough marketable elements for each of the team members. She was worried about this.

“We should find a method to bring out the team’s character and the members’ individuality at the same time.”

“A girl group with a maximum of 7 people, and will bring out the personality of each member. I understand. Try it.”

President Lee HyunJi was refreshing. People say ‘achievement is the best proof.’ The effect of KangYoon’s success with JooAh in Japan was tremendous. President Lee HyunJi immediately signed the transaction box and placed the paper on the side. This article would be brought to Chairman Won JinMoon.

“Then I will take my leave.”

“How long until the members are decided?”

“I will finalize by the end of next week.”

“I understand. Thanks for your work.”

KangYoon greeted and left the president’s office.

‘Ha… I’m tired.’

Rookie planning was a process of creating something from nothing. He needed to produce a profit by ‘mining’ trainees and ‘process’ them into ‘products.’ The era was where countless contents were all over the internet. If he didn’t prepare enough, then success wasn’t easy.

‘Oh yeah. Now I think about it, the members of EDDIOS are gathering. They must have become singers because they were prepared right?’

The EDDIOS members of KangYoon’s ‘past’ all put in their best efforts. He tried to be unbiased, but he couldn’t not select them. Thanks to that, it helped with deciding on a concept so he could put those in when he sent the papers to the planning team.

KangYoon headed to the practice rooms after resting a bit. It was to find any trainees he missed. He was already famous amongst the trainees. As a ‘scouter.’ To get noticed by him, the trainees were all tense while practicing.

‘There’s nothing special.’

However, no matter how nervous they were while practicing, to KangYoon, who could see singing and dancing as colors, it was quite meaningless. The lights KangYoon saw became brighter when there was something different, or it resonated with the masses – differentiating from the rest of the trainees. However, no one caught his eyes in the last few days.

It was the time when KangYoon was disappointed and was about to go back up.

“You scumbag!!”

Suddenly a voice struck his ears.

“Eh?”

“How can you do this to me? Who are you to do this to me? HUH!!?”

KangYoon felt awkward. Did I do something wrong? – While thinking this, he looked around. However, there was no one. He turned his head a few times and headed towards where the sound came from and found out a room with lights on. KangYoon opened the door and headed inside.

“Why. Why… are you doing this to me? That girl, you like that girl so much?”

A small practice room. There was a girl. She was very tall. Her facial features were like an actress.

“Get lost!! I said go away!! Don’t ever come back again!!”

Tears fell from the girl’s eyes. KangYoon felt as if someone was standing in front of that girl. There was clearly no one there, but it felt like someone was there – Her acting was that realistic.

“Ah…”

But then, the girl who was concentrating on practicing found KangYoon. The girl felt embarrassed and wiped off her tears.

“Hello, sir.”

“Oh, hello. It seems I interrupted you.”

“Oh, no. what interruption.”

The girl seemed shy and avoided KangYoon. She felt embarrassed that she was absorbed in acting to the point of crying.

‘Min JinSeo? It’s Min JinSeo. Min JinSeo’s here?’

KangYoon’s eyes widened when he realized it was Min JinSeo. KangYoon knew her very well.

‘Acting, looks – she was a top tier actress with both of these things. She swept the movies before becoming an adult, so that’s all that needs to be said. A majority of child performers would fail if they grow up, but even as an adult, she kept her position as the top. But was Min JinSeo in MG Entertainment? If I remember correctly, she was in Diros Entertainment.’

However he thought about it, it was strange. Diros Entertainment was a small entertainment company, but due to Min JInSeo, they were reborn into an entertainment company which produced good actors after another. But to think Min JinSeo was here, KangYoon was curious.

“Hello?”

While KangYoon fell into thought, Min JinSeo called out to him.

“Oh, sorry. I heard you practicing from outside. So I got curious and came.”

“Oh, is that so. I, I know you. Sir Lee KangYo?” (KangYo means ‘to force’)

“…It’s KangYoon.”

“I’m sorry.”

Unlike KangYoon who was thinking complicated things in his head, Min JinSeo looked at him with an ‘I don’t know anything’ expression. Unlike Min JinSeo who was watching KangYoon while thinking ‘what’s this,’ KangYoon’s thought were complicated while looking at her.

‘This… isn’t this a jackpot?’

KangYoon looked at Min JinSeo with trembling eyes in disbelief.

Whether she knew this or not, she showed wariness towards KangYoon.