Chapter 345: The Wind Rises
DM Entertainment’s press conference officially concluded after Jiang Shu answered more than ten questions. As soon as the press conference was over, Jiang Shu returned to his office to lie down and catch up on sleep!
He was sleeping, but the work of DM Entertainment’s various departments had just begun.
According to the original plan, numerous analytical posts immediately appeared on major forums.
These posts combined the publicized evidence of IZONE members’ bullying, rh, and diva behavior with the investigation content released by DM Entertainment, conducting in-depth analysis, and then writing these articles.
Since the “evidence” itself was provided by DM Entertainment, they naturally knew where the loopholes in this “evidence” were.
As soon as the investigative posts were released, a brief analysis was enough to reveal that this “evidence” was full of holes.
The emergence of countless analytical posts proved that these so-called negative rumors were completely fabricated. Subsequently, the special task force of the Seoul District Prosecutor’s Office Criminal Division One also released a statement.
As the special task force’s in-depth investigation progressed, it was discovered that the publishers of these negative rumors about IZONE were organized internet trolls, and it has been confirmed that this was an act of internal competition within the K-pop industry. The prosecution has already taken coercive measures against the troll masterminds.
Although it wasn’t explicitly stated who in K-pop hired the trolls, the public isn’t foolish.
First, there was a full-scale online smear campaign against IZONE, then the slave room, and then the rabid fan who was about to reveal the mastermind immediately died after being arrested. No matter how you look at it, this is related to industry companies, led by YG.
Moreover, based on the basic logic of who benefits the most when IZONE has problems, most entertainment companies in the industry can’t escape suspicion.
So, fans started cursing!
Ever since IZONE’s issues broke out, fans had been holding in a lot of anger with nowhere to vent. Today, they also learned the news that IZONE was going to disband. The already burning anger combined with the fact that their group was gone, directly caused many fans to explode with rage.
For a time, the entire Korean internet was overwhelmed, with IZONE fans and trolls everywhere, attacking various participants.
Fans of other groups also joined in. After all, IZONE fans weren’t just cursing one or two companies; among them were rivals of their own idols. It was rare to have such strong allies, so why not take advantage of the situation?
Besides online verbal attacks, the Korean fans’ ability to act is also world-class. Trucks loaded with wreaths drove to the entrances of various entertainment companies.
Especially YG, the road in front of its entrance was almost full of trucks, circling YG non-stop. IZONE fans also came offline to the YG Entertainment building, scolding any fans of YG artists they caught. If they talked back, other fans would come to help.
Because of this, within just a few hours, the police pressure in Cheongdam-dong surged, forcing police officers to be dispatched to maintain order and ensure public safety.
However, this action was misinterpreted by fans as the police helping YG, the “culprit.” Fans who already suspected a conspiracy theory and believed that IZONE’s disbandment was due to pressure from above became even more enraged. The more rational ones pointed and cursed, while the irrational ones even laid hands on these police officers.
And then they were arrested.
But there were too many people.
Among the offline fans, the irrational ones were the majority. You can arrest one or two, but what about ten or twenty?
For a time, the area in front of YG was in complete chaos.
Compared to the chaotic YG, there were also many people at DM Entertainment.
As the biggest victim in this case, remorseful fans spontaneously came to the DM Entertainment building to apologize, and also held up banners hoping that DM Entertainment would not disband IZONE. There were even more people here than at YG.
DM Entertainment’s offline stores were also bought out by remorseful fans engaging in revenge consumption.
This completely exceeded the expectations of Li Duohui and others. This revenge consumption came suddenly and fiercely. Not only were the offline stores bought out, but online platform orders also surged by more than seven hundred percent.
It was unbelievable.
For a time, Li Duohui and the other executives suddenly felt that perhaps IZONE’s demise wasn’t entirely unacceptable?
…
Evening.
A tired Li Duohui walked out of her office. Her gaze caught Choi Ji-yeon sitting at the workstation in front of the President’s office. Her expression shifted slightly, and she walked over.
Hearing the sound of high heels on the ground, Choi Ji-yeon looked up and saw Li Duohui approaching. She stopped her work and slowly rose from her workstation, bowing to Li Duohui.
“President Li.”
“Is the President still here?”
“The President is still resting,” Choi Ji-yeon replied.
“Still sleeping?” Li Duohui’s face showed a hint of surprise. She thought Jiang Shu had woken up a long time ago and was just working.
“To make the performance more realistic, the President hasn’t closed his eyes for over forty hours,” Choi Ji-yeon said with a smile.
“If the President were an actor, I believe he would be very dedicated,” Li Duohui sighed.
“How much money can an actor make?” Jiang Shu’s voice echoed in their ears.
Li Duohui and Choi Ji-yeon turned around simultaneously and saw Jiang Shu had already opened the door and was standing at the entrance, rubbing his eyes.
His hair was a bit messy. Choi Ji-yeon stepped forward and reached out to help Jiang Shu tidy his hairstyle.
Neither Jiang Shu nor Li Duohui reacted to Choi Ji-yeon’s actions.
“President, won’t you sleep a bit more?” Li Duohui asked, looking at Jiang Shu’s dark circles.
“I slept from twelve until now, that’s enough. I’ll eat something and then sleep again tonight,” Jiang Shu continued, rubbing his eyes.
“Then should I report today’s work to you tomorrow?” Li Duohui asked.
“Let’s have dinner together tonight and talk then,” Jiang Shu thought for a moment and said.
“Perhaps not,” Li Duohui shook her head, “Today is my boyfriend and my anniversary.”
Jiang Shu raised an eyebrow at her words, then smiled.
“So, when are you planning to get married?”
“We’ll see,” Li Duohui didn’t respond, seemingly not very satisfied with her current boyfriend.
Or perhaps he was suitable as a boyfriend, but not quite as a husband?
Jiang Shu didn’t bother her; he never concerned himself with his employees’ romantic lives.
“What about you? Do you have plans?” Jiang Shu turned to Choi Ji-yeon and asked.
“I don’t, but you do, President,” Choi Ji-yeon said with a smile.
“Me?” Jiang Shu raised an eyebrow.
Choi Ji-yeon didn’t speak but turned to look at Li Duohui.
Li Duohui was very astute. Seeing Choi Ji-yeon’s gaze, she knew this was something she shouldn’t know, so she spoke.
“Then I’ll go first. My boyfriend should have arrived already.”
“Mm.”
“President Li, take care,” Choi Ji-yeon bowed to Li Duohui as she said goodbye.
After Li Duohui turned and left, Jiang Shu finally looked at Choi Ji-yeon, who was still gazing in the direction Li Duohui had left, and spoke.
“Tell me, who is it?”
When Jiang Shu was sleeping, his phone was with Choi Ji-yeon, just in case an urgent call couldn’t wake him from his “coma.”
“Hae-won xi wants to meet you.”