Chapter 57: Zhun Ge, a True Man
Jiang Shu was chatting with Min Xizhen about Red Velvet when his phone on the table suddenly rang.
Jiang Shu picked up his phone and took a look.
Caller: Xiao Liu.
Jiang Shu was startled for a moment, then answered the call.
“Hello, Xiao Liu.”
“President nim.” Liu Zhimin’s voice came through, and Jiang Shu couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows; Liu Zhimin never used that form of address with him.
“What’s up?”
“What kind of person do you consider yourself to be?” Liu Zhimin asked.
Hearing this, Jiang Shu glanced at Min Xizhen, placed his phone on the table, and turned on the speakerphone.
Min Xizhen looked curiously at Jiang Shu’s phone screen.
Xiao Liu?
Is it Liu Zhimin from IVE?
“What do you mean?”
“How do you describe yourself?”
“Handsome.”
Jiang Shu and Min Xizhen clearly heard other voices, both male and female, coming from the other end of the phone.
“They’re recording a show,” Min Xizhen immediately lowered her voice and gave her assessment.
Jiang Shu nodded; he had also noticed.
If he remembered correctly, IVE was recording the girl group special of “Running Man” these past two days, and due to the large number of members, it would take several days to record.
“Anything else?” Liu Zhimin asked again.
“Gentle?” Jiang Shu asked tentatively.
“President! Don’t say qualities you don’t possess!” Liu Zhimin’s exasperated voice came through.
“How dare you speak to your President like that?” Jiang Shu said with a smile.
“Oh, President! Do you usually work out?”
“No, I don’t.”
Liu Zhimin seemed a bit stumped on her end.
Jiang Shu and Min Xizhen vaguely heard discussions on the other side, and after a while, the voice came again, only this time it was Zhang Yuanying instead of Liu Zhimin.
“President oppa!” Zhang Yuanying’s clear voice came through, and Min Xizhen raised an eyebrow, looking at Jiang Shu in surprise.
“Yes, what is it, Xiao Yuan?” Jiang Shu responded.
“President oppa! I watched the nakeses you mentioned, what is Himeya Jun?” Zhang Yuanying asked.
“A true man, Zhun Ge is a true man.”
“Yeah!!!”
Loud cheers came from the receiver, lasting for several seconds before the sound on the other end resumed.
“We’re recording ‘Running Man’ and playing a game. We need the President to say a keyword, and our keyword is ‘true man’!” Zhang Yuanying said excitedly.
“So that’s how it is,” Jiang Shu said with a smile.
“Chairman Jiang, I’m Liu Zaishi, the MC of ‘Running Man.’ Thank you very much for your participation. Finally, do you have anything you’d like to say to IVE?”
Jiang Shu smiled but didn’t speak.
After two or three seconds.
“Chairman Jiang?” Liu Zaishi’s puzzled voice sounded.
“I’m here.”
“Do you have anything you’d like to say to IVE?”
“I already said it. I said silence,” Jiang Shu’s voice, filled with a smile, came through.
On the other end, another burst of laughter erupted, accompanied by IVE’s dissatisfied wails.
“Haha, no more jokes,” Jiang Shu said cheerfully, stopping the playful banter at the right moment. “Kids, have fun on ‘Running Man.’”
“Yes~~~” IVE’s voices came in unison.
“Alright, then that’s all. Goodbye.”
“Chairman Jiang (President), goodbye!”
Jiang Shu hung up the phone.
“You have such a good relationship with your artists?” Min Xizhen said in surprise.
“IVE are the heroes who saved DM Entertainment,” Jiang Shu said with a smile.
“Even so, it’s still too much. You should maintain a superior demeanor towards artists,” Min Xizhen shook her head in disapproval.
“I don’t think so,” Jiang Shu shrugged. “Artists are the company’s cash cows. Treating them well is always the right thing to do.”
To make money off people and then treat them poorly, acting high and mighty—Jiang Shu couldn’t do that.
“It’s unnecessary. An idol’s cycle is only seven years. Whether you treat them well or not, you’ll still make money.”
Idol contracts are usually for seven years, some even ten, basically covering an idol’s entire career. Companies treating them inhumanely are confident that they can’t breach the contract.
After all, the K-Pop scene is only so big; where else could you go?
Jiang Shu responded to Min Xizhen’s viewpoint with a smile.
There was nothing more to say about that.
Min Xizhen was just a microcosm; the entire Korean Entertainment industry’s leadership held this view. Jiang Shu had no interest in changing their minds; he just needed to make sure he wasn’t swayed by them.
Seeing that Jiang Shu was unwilling to discuss this topic further, Min Xizhen stopped talking.
She glanced at the time and spoke again.
“How soon can the lead vocalist be finalized?”
“As early as these two days, as late as a month,” Jiang Shu gave a number he himself wasn’t entirely sure about.
However, he could be unsure, but he couldn’t let Min Xizhen also feel unsure like him.
“A month?” Min Xizhen thought for a moment, then nodded towards Jiang Shu. “Then a month it is.”
A month wasn’t too long, after all.
Min Xizhen then stood up, and Jiang Shu also rose.
“I’ll take my people back first.”
“Won’t you stay for a meal?”
“No, I have other things to do. Remember to send me a copy of that song from earlier.”
“Okay.” Jiang Shu didn’t insist; he hadn’t really intended to keep Min Xizhen for a meal, it was purely a courtesy.
He went to the practice room with Min Xizhen, called out Park Soo-young and Kim Ye-rim, and saw the three of them into the elevator. Only after the elevator doors closed did Jiang Shu leave.
He glanced into the practice room as he passed, seeing Bae Joo-hyun and Kang Seul-gi chatting. He didn’t go in but went straight back to his office.
No sooner had he sent the song to Min Xizhen than Choi Ji-yeon arrived.
“President.”
“How are the preparations for Lee Ji-eun’s debut coming along?” Jiang Shu asked.
“They’re all set. The sound source and MV will be released for her debut on October 10th.”
“What about the music show stages?”
“Those have also been arranged.”
Jiang Shu nodded.
“Are there any notable comebacks scheduled for the same period?”
“Not that we’ve seen so far, just comebacks from some smaller companies,” Choi Ji-yeon shook her head.
She had naturally overlooked the fact that her own company was also a small one.
Are you kidding me?!
With IVE in their hands, they were only a small company for now.
“Where is Lee Ji-eun now?”
“At her own home. She has complete equipment there. The company only has one practice room, so she rarely comes to use the company’s practice room now,” Choi Ji-yeon explained.
Jiang Shu raised a hand and rubbed his temples.
“It seems we need to prepare to move to a new place.”
With the increasing number of trainees, one practice room certainly wasn’t enough, to say the least.
“Although the company’s accounts have started to show revenue, it probably isn’t enough to move to a new place, right?”
Although IVE was popular, they had only been monetized for less than a month. That amount of money was only enough for Lee Ji-eun’s debut expenses, let alone buying a building; even renting one would be a bit difficult.
“Hmm, I know,” Jiang Shu waved his hand. “You can go now.”
“Yes,” Choi Ji-yeon responded and left the office.
“We’re short on money…”