Chapter 3: Bonds
Jiang Shu picked up his phone, entered the password he remembered, unlocked it, and opened his contacts.
Although the original owner’s ability to manage a company was questionable, he did have good social skills. He had the contact numbers of most well-known company executives in the industry, such as the one he was currently dialing.
Beep~
Beep~
After only two rings, the call connected.
“Hello, who is this?”
“Chairman Yang, this is Jiang Shu from DM Entertainment!” Jiang Shu said with a chuckle.
“DM Entertainment… who?” Yang Hyun-suk’s confused voice came from the other end of the line.
Jiang Shu’s expression stiffened, and his mouth twitched slightly as he said, “It’s Lalisa’s entertainment company.”
“Oh, it’s you.” Yang Hyun-suk’s voice, now enlightened, came through.
Damn it, this Yang Hyuk!
“Is Chairman Jiang looking for me for something?”
“I want to sell Lalisa. I wonder what price Chairman Yang can offer?” Jiang Shu stated his intention.
The company had no money, and he didn’t want to keep relying on his parents, so the only option was to sell the ticking time bomb!
Lisa’s stats certainly qualified her as an S-rank card, but compared to Liu Zhimin, who was also an S-rank card but whose “landmine” level was at most C or B, this big sister’s landmine was a genuine SSS-rank!
Jiang Shu wouldn’t dare to keep such a monstrous thing.
“Oh? You’re finally willing to sell her?” Yang Hyun-suk’s voice lifted. “How about I give you the price of an A-rank trainee in the industry?”
“Lalisa is the pillar of our DM Entertainment, the future cornerstone! This price… isn’t quite right, is it?” Jiang Shu frowned and said.
A-rank trainee?
Are you looking down on our Thai entertainment powerhouse, global superstar, and Crazy Horse Empress Lalisa?!
Yang Hyun-suk on the other end of the phone fell silent. What Jiang Shu said wasn’t wrong.
He didn’t know about DM Entertainment’s situation, but the fact that he didn’t know about the company’s operations itself was very telling.
An entertainment company he’d never even heard of, how big could its scale be?
He had seen Lisa’s level, otherwise, he wouldn’t have kept a trainee in mind all this time. So, his silence wasn’t because Jiang Shu was asking for too high a price, but because he was considering what price to offer.
“A+ rank trainee treatment. As for S-rank, you know that’s impossible.”
Don’t let the half-rank difference fool you; the price directly doubled. As for S-rank trainees, those were the core trainees of the Three Greats entertainment companies, each capable of being the absolute core of a group.
“Okay, but I have one condition,” Jiang Shu said.
“What condition?”
“Let me take a few trainees from your YG Entertainment.”
“Below A-rank, not including A-rank.”
“Alright.”
“Deal.” Yang Hyun-suk readily agreed. What difference would it make if he gave a bunch of filler trainees below A-rank to this DM Entertainment?
YG’s foundation had always been its producer team and its S-rank and A-rank trainees.
“Pleasure working with you!” Jiang Shu smiled, his lips curving upward happily.
He was here to find hidden gems.
Because in the game world, most S-rank cards, except for a very few discovered by entertainment companies, were generally not given much importance and rarely appeared among A-rank and S-rank trainees.
Therefore, this meant there was a very high probability of finding hidden gems among YG’s trainees below A-rank!
He didn’t expect to find an S-rank card; finding an A-rank card that matched Liu Zhimin’s bond would be enough.
This game had a bond system. Although Jiang Shu didn’t have the game system, with his experience of five playthroughs, he had basically memorized the attributes and bonds of most S-rank and A-rank cards.
The reason it was “most” and not “all” was because this damn game was constantly updated, and these annoying bonds could be added at any time. Jiang Shu only remembered the current ones; who knew if there would be any hidden bonds in this real world.
For example, Liu Zhimin currently had two bonds: Stopwatch and Center.
The Stopwatch bond was aespa’s group bond. Currently, only the four members of aespa had the Stopwatch bond. This bond had to be activated by gathering Liu Zhimin, Kim Minjeong, Ning Yizhuo, and Giselle; otherwise, it was just for show.
But if this bond could be activated, revitalizing the almost bankrupt DM Entertainment would be easy.
Four Stopwatches: aespa exclusive bond.
Effect One: After activation, members’ individual fanbases increase sharply, but group fanbases decrease accordingly.
Effect Two: After activation, members’ and group’s popularity greatly increases, but there will be significant differences in members’ individual popularity.
The effect was powerful, but unfortunately, the requirements were too high.
The Center bond, however, required far fewer people; just two could form a Dual Center bond.
The Dual Center bond was very strong, even more powerful than the Four Stopwatches.
Dual Center:
Effect: After activation, members with the Center bond automatically possess top-tier popularity, but other members in the group are automatically overlooked.
But the problem was, the Center bond only appeared on S-rank cards. Liu Zhimin was a beginner’s welfare, but where was he going to get other S-rank cards?
He couldn’t possibly pull out an S-rank card from YG Entertainment, could he?
What kind of dog-shit luck would that be?
Jiang Shu scratched his head.
Moreover, there was a key point: he didn’t have the game system, so he couldn’t be sure whether this bond was actually useful in this world, which was like reality.
If it was useful, he could try to form bonds. If not, he would just have to work with the existing groups in the real world.
After all, a group composed entirely of S-rank cards didn’t necessarily mean it would be popular. Without the power of bonds, he would just have to follow the conventional path of forming existing groups.
Jiang Shu shook his head. He needed to form an easier bond to prove whether bonds existed in this world.
“An easier bond…” Jiang Shu leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.
He really didn’t know what bonds his own Four Dark Heavenly Kings had. Every time he started the game, he would terminate their contracts, so he naturally wouldn’t pay attention to their bonds.
And what he remembered were basically the bonds of S-rank and A-rank cards. Currently, the only known high-rank card was Liu Zhimin.
“Where else can I find these high-rank cards…” Jiang Shu turned his head to look out the window, pondering.
He couldn’t rely entirely on YG’s trainees; it wasn’t a guarantee of finding hidden gems, just one avenue.
Knock knock knock.
A knock on the door interrupted Jiang Shu’s thoughts.
“Come in.”
Then Choi Ji-yeon pushed the door open and entered. Seeing it was Choi Ji-yeon, Jiang Shu spoke.
“Where’s Xiao Liu?”
“She went back to Seongnam with the contract. Her home is in Seongnam City, not Seoul,” Choi Ji-yeon explained.
“Then it’s inconvenient for her to come here for practice.”
“Yes, once her family agrees, she will transfer schools, from her current school to Hanlim Arts High School.”
“Hanlim Arts High School?” Jiang Shu was startled, then an astonishing light lit up in his eyes.
How could he not have thought of it!
Hanlim Arts High School and Seoul Arts High School, these two art schools, were the alma maters of countless S-rank and A-rank cards!
Even if K-pop in this world had become a mess, no matter how much it changed, there must still be some high-rank cards in these two most famous art schools, right?
Thinking of this, Jiang Shu looked up at Choi Ji-yeon.
“The company will handle Xiao Liu’s transfer procedures for her. I’ll personally take her to school!”
Choi Ji-yeon: “???”
In the related works, “Levels and Bonds,” the characters and bonds are continuously updated with the plot.