Chapter 218 (G)IDLE
It's a common practice for K-Pop companies, especially publicly traded ones, to hold a board meeting every January to set development goals for the first quarter and strategic directions for the entire year.
Although DM Entertainment isn't a publicly traded company, high-level meetings still need to be held. However, in the first half of January, they were busy orchestrating the 'Five Factions Besiege the Short Round Peak' event, so the high-level meeting had been delayed.
It wasn't until February 12th, after all groups and artists had finished their promotional periods, that they finally had time to hold the 2020 high-level meeting.
Ding.
The elevator doors on the fifth floor slowly opened, and Jiang Shu led the way, with Jeon Soyeon following closely behind him, clutching documents.
The two went straight to the conference room. The administrative staff outside the conference room immediately opened the door upon seeing Jiang Shu's arrival, bowing to greet him. Jeon Soyeon also received the same treatment.
"Chairman!"
As Jiang Shu entered the conference room, the mid-to-high-level executives of DM Entertainment, who had been conversing, all stood up and greeted him with bows.
Jiang Shu nodded in acknowledgment and took his seat at the head of the table.
This time, Jeon Soyeon did not follow Jiang Shu but sat on the sofa behind the conference table.
"Is everyone here?" Jiang Shu asked, scanning the room.
"Not a single person is missing," Li Duohui said with a smile.
Jiang Shu nodded.
"Alright, let's begin."
Jeon Soyeon sat up straight, watching the company's mid-to-high-level executives discuss the company's strategic development for the year. Her face showed no expression, but her ears perked up.
This was her first time attending a meeting of this level. Although she was already DM Entertainment's most talented producer apart from Jiang Shu, she still wasn't involved in meetings of this caliber.
Her presence this time was purely at Jiang Shu's request. Jeon Soyeon guessed that there might be a project related to her.
Anyway, she had just finished producing ITZY's comeback album and didn't have much going on lately. If she had to say... did trainee classes count?
"I have no objection to continuing to focus on IZONE, but do we need to debut a new girl group this year?" Kim Hye-soo asked Jiang Shu.
The others also looked at Jiang Shu upon hearing this.
Since 2018, DM Entertainment had been debuting one or two girl groups every year. What about this year?
"I was just about to discuss the new girl group project with you all. Since Director Kim Hye-soo brought it up, let's talk about it now," Jiang Shu said, looking at Jeon Soyeon, who was sitting behind Sun (Minister of Personnel).
"Jeon Soyeon."
"Yes!" Jeon Soyeon stood up abruptly, and everyone else looked at her.
They were all familiar with this student of Jiang Shu, a contracted producer for DM Entertainment and the associate chief producer for ITZY.
Given Jeon Soyeon's current qualifications, it wouldn't be surprising if Jiang Shu promoted her to Production Director in the future.
"The new girl group will be built around her as the core."
?
When question marks appeared on everyone's foreheads, it wasn't because they had a problem, but because they felt Jiang Shu had a problem.
New girl group?
Jeon Soyeon?
How could she debut looking like that?
Not only were the mid-to-high-level executives confused, but Jeon Soyeon, the person in question, was also bewildered.
Her?
Core of a new girl group?
Jeon Soyeon did indeed come to DM Entertainment initially to debut, but as her time as a producer gradually increased, she realized that she didn't seem suited to be an artist.
Putting everything else aside, her face alone wouldn't pass.
DM Entertainment was known as the 'Second Generation Flower Garden'; none of the female artists in the company had subpar visuals.
In such a situation, she certainly didn't think she could debut.
Jeon Soyeon had initially dismissed Jiang Shu's words to her as a casual remark, but now...?
"Jeon Soyeon, I apologize, I'm quite direct," Kim Hye-soo said before looking at Jiang Shu, "Jeon Soyeon does not meet the standards for debut."
She said it was direct, but it was still roundabout. After all, Jeon Soyeon was Jiang Shu's student, and Kim Hye-soo had just had the 'acting' removed from her title by Jiang Shu. It would be somewhat inappropriate to directly criticize her now. But as the Art Director, there were things she had to say.
Why didn't she meet the standards for debut?
Jeon Soyeon's singing and dancing were both on point, and she could also write songs, but Kim Young-joo still said she didn't meet the standards. What else could it be?
Jeon Soyeon blinked, not particularly angry. After all, spending all day surrounded by beautiful girls made it hard to have blind confidence in one's own looks.
"Why care about visuals? As the team's core, she doesn't need to be the most popular one; she only needs to serve as the group's concept," Jiang Shu said calmly in response to Kim Hye-soo's skepticism.
"You mean... a concept group?" Jiang Shu's old partner, Li Duohui, was the first to grasp Jiang Shu's idea.
"Exactly." Jiang Shu gave Li Duohui an approving look. "Can you do it?"
"This..." Li Duohui hesitated, glancing at Kim Hye-soo. Only the two of them at DM Entertainment handled group concepts. Kim Young-joo used to be able to do it too, but she was swamped with human resources matters now and hadn't touched this kind of thing in a while, so she might not actually be able to create a concept.
And a concept group wasn't just a regular group concept; it was much more complex. Red Velvet's success wasn't just due to Min Xizhen's brilliance, but also the equally brilliant producers at S.M. who assisted Min Xizhen.
If DM Entertainment were to try to create a concept group on their own... it would be difficult.
"We can do it, but we can't guarantee it will reach the level of Red Velvet," Kim Hye-soo mused for a moment before giving an answer. "And I'll need Jeon Soyeon to cooperate with us."
It was difficult, but because there was Jeon Soyeon, a concept core who could write her own songs, the difficulty wasn't too extreme.
"Jeon Soyeon?" Jiang Shu then looked at Jeon Soyeon.
"I still have ITZY's album to produce," Jeon Soyeon hesitated.
Of course, she wanted to debut and wanted to cooperate with Li Duohui and Kim Hye-soo, but the problem was that Jiang Shu was a hands-off manager when it came to ITZY. His eyes were entirely on IZONE. If she left, what would happen to ITZY?
As soon as Jeon Soyeon said this, the others realized that Jeon Soyeon was still the de facto producer of ITZY. If she left, what would happen to ITZY?
"There's no rush for the new girl group. We'll take a year to solidify our position this year and debut them next year."
Although Jiang Shu didn't mention ITZY, everyone present understood ITZY's future.
He wasn't taking over ITZY, and Jeon Soyeon was being transferred, which meant that ITZY would either be abandoned or have a new leader take charge.
Would ITZY's unreasonable upward trend in popularity be maintained after a change in leadership?
A question mark appeared in everyone's minds.
Jeon Soyeon felt a sense of relief mixed with reluctance.
The reluctance was because her relationship with the ITZY members was genuinely good. She had watched them grow step by step to where they were today, and they were also very close friends privately. She didn't really want to part ways with them.
The relief was because... the pressure was too great.