Time quietly arrived at July 3, 2020. DM Entertainment's popular solo artist, Taeyeon, made her comeback with her latest album, 'Rain'.
While their top solo artist, Lee Ji-eun, was making waves in the entertainment industry, Kim Tae-yeon took up the mantle of DM Entertainment's solo artist.
Although she didn't have the impressive record of Lee Ji-eun defeating Kim Hyun-a, Kim Tae-yeon, who created a legendary stage moment upon her debut, was also among the top solo singers in terms of popularity.
Coupled with the fact that DM Entertainment always gave Kim Tae-yeon songs that perfectly suited her style, Kim Tae-yeon's popularity was absolutely not low.
However, DM Entertainment's artists were all incredibly strong, and in terms of popularity, Kim Tae-yeon was currently second to last.
You ask who is last?
NMIXX.
With JYP's full support, NMIXX didn't end up half-dead like Jiang Shu remembered; instead, they became a top-tier, powerful rookie group.
The third-tier standard that NMIXX barely reached with all their might back then, they already achieved that level after debuting through 'Produce48', and now they are even approaching second-tier status.
Currently, NMIXX is definitely not a flop, but popularity is something that needs to be compared.
For groups under DM Entertainment, let's not even mention IZONE and ITZY for now.
aespa is also a group that is much more popular than first-tier groups, but within the group, only Liu Zhimin truly reached the super first-tier standard, and in a group like Four Seconds Watch, one super first-tier popularity cannot carry the entire group.
Aside from these, there's also Red Velvet, currently recognized as the gatekeeper of first-tier.
There's a saying in the industry: to determine if a girl group's popularity has reached the first-tier standard, just compare them to Red Velvet.
Red Velvet is a group that has reached first-tier in every sense, including skill, which is a rather demanding requirement for popularity; they are genuinely first-tier.
Even among these second-generation girl groups, Red Velvet is widely considered the ceiling for skill.
Since S.M.'s Rainbow Girls, nearly forty second-generation girl groups have debuted to date, and the four groups standing at the pinnacle are known as the Four Heavenly Kings of the second generation.
Red Velvet, ITZY, aespa, and IZONE.
NMIXX does not yet have a spot as one of the Heavenly Kings.
To join the ranks of the second-generation Heavenly Kings, one must surpass Red Velvet; this is the standard for first-tier groups, and also the only four groups above first-tier in the second generation.
The reason DM Entertainment is the absolute leader in the girl group field can be seen from this ranking.
In addition, these two solo artists under DM Entertainment are not to be underestimated either.
After defeating Kim Hyun-a, Lee Ji-eun went from strength to strength, and under DM Entertainment's arrangements, seamlessly entered the acting industry. Recently, she has appeared as a supporting character in popular TV dramas, showing great potential for a successful transition.
Kim Tae-yeon, on the other hand, does not have Lee Ji-eun's inclination for a dual career, but her stunning stage performance of 'I' last year went viral, and in terms of stage fame both inside and outside the industry, she even surpassed Lee Ji-eun.
However, strong as Kim Tae-yeon is, her popularity ranking at DM Entertainment is only higher than NMIXX, and she is on par with Red Velvet, making it hard to say whose popularity is higher.
This time, other groups and artists from DM Entertainment did not make a comeback; only Kim Tae-yeon returned by herself, so many entertainment companies did not deliberately avoid her strength.
Kim Tae-yeon is strong, but not as strong as IZONE and ITZY, so there's no need to hide.
But as many people were discussing Kim Tae-yeon's comeback, DM Entertainment, which had just released the news of Kim Tae-yeon's return today, released another piece of news.
D Company, reporter's desk.
Jin Zhongting sat in front of his computer, yawning, his left hand propping up his chin, casually staring at the screen, while his right hand held the mouse, clicking between several open web pages in the browser.
This was his task, or rather, the task of an intern: monitoring the official websites of well-known companies and reporting any new information to the official reporters immediately.
After graduating from art high school, Jin Zhongting successfully passed the college entrance exam and was admitted to Dongguk University's journalism department. Although this university is considered by international students and foreigners to be one that 'even dogs wouldn't attend', for a native Korean like Jin Zhongting, Dongguk University is a legitimate national prestigious university.
There isn't much to learn in journalism, so during the summer after his sophomore year, before his junior year courses began, Jin Zhongting submitted his resume to D Company.
As Korea's most famous entertainment news agency, D Company's reporters come from various prestigious universities; SKY universities are basic, and internationally renowned universities are standard.
For a current student like Jin Zhongting from Dongguk University, let alone that he hasn't graduated yet, even if he had, his resume would only be fit for the trash can.
But Jin Zhongting actually got into D Company as an intern.
The reason?
His resume contained this line: "Previously worked under Jiang Shu, Chairman of DM Entertainment, and helped him discover artists such as Shin Ryujin, Li Caiyan, and Lee Chaeryeong."
Who is the Chairman of DM Entertainment?
An absolute big shot in the K-pop field, the 'Girl Group Godfather' written into white papers, a truly significant figure in K-pop.
Jin Zhongting said he worked under Jiang Shu?
The HR's first reaction upon seeing this resume was disbelief, as Jiang Shu's method of finding trainees was notoriously bizarre in the industry.
But despite their disbelief, if she was told to pretend not to see it, she wouldn't dare.
What if it was true?
The HR could only report Jin Zhongting's resume.
What the HR didn't know didn't mean D Company's top management didn't know. As Jiang Shu and the strange trainees he found became popular in K-pop, some of his past was dug up, including the matter of Jiang Shu 'farming dungeons' at various art high schools.
And by Jiang Shu's side, a male student in a school uniform frequently appeared. There was also information about this male student online, and lo and behold, what do you know?
D Company's HR management compared them and realized that it was the same person.
So what else was there to say?
Hire him!
However, Jin Zhongting's relationship with Jiang Shu was not that deep after all, and under the subtle probing of D Company's old foxes, he eventually gave himself away.
But to say Jin Zhongting was bluffing was not entirely true.
Finally, D Company decided to let this kid start as an intern, giving him a chance, believing that this connection might be useful in the future.
And so, Jin Zhongting gloriously became an intern at D Company. And because his entry into the company was so bizarre, the reporter assigned to him also wanted to see some fun, so he was assigned to monitor the latest news from the four major K-pop companies.
Thus, we have the current scene.
Jin Zhongting, as usual, sat in front of his computer, repeatedly refreshing the web page.
He had already sent his master the news that DM Entertainment had just announced Kim Tae-yeon's comeback today, along with the universally known information about Kim Tae-yeon's album release event.
At least let people know he was working, right?
While refreshing and zoning out, after clicking F5, the first piece of content on DM Entertainment's official account was no longer about Kim Tae-yeon's Inkigayo performance, but rather...