Chapter 61: Girl Group Special
The next day.
Jiang Shu personally met with Li Duohui, the current representative director of fex Entertainment, in a meeting room at DM Entertainment.
Compared to Yin Huilin, Li Duohui's age surprised Jiang Shu a bit.
Born in '84, Li Duohui is only thirty-four years old. For a thirty-four-year-old woman to hold her current status and position in Korea, her capabilities are evident.
Their conversation was also very pleasant. Jiang Shu successfully signed this major talent and even elevated the Executive Director position Li Duohui desired by one level.
Vice President.
This was the position Jiang Shu gave to Li Duohui.
Li Duohui was stunned at the time.
It was her first time meeting a boss who immediately offered the Vice President position, a role second only to the Chairman and President. And at DM Entertainment, the Chairman and President are the same person, which meant that upon joining, she would be the highest management, second to none.
This was... outrageous!
Having worked in the workplace for so many years, Li Duohui experienced what it was like to have a 'god-tier' boss for the first time.
This boss from the great Eastern nation, he's a good person!
That same day, Li Duohui returned to fex Entertainment to resign. In the afternoon, she rushed over to complete her onboarding procedures, afraid that Jiang Shu would change his mind.
Even though the resignation process at fex Entertainment hadn't been completed, Li Duohui had already officially become the Vice President of DM Entertainment, though it hadn't been publicly announced yet.
Jiang Shu fully supported this.
The sooner Li Duohui started, the less work he would have.
A boss should be utterly carefree!
What kind of boss goes to the company on time every day like him?
If it weren't for Li Duohui being new and Jiang Shu not yet fully understanding her capabilities, and Li Duohui not being familiar with the company, Jiang Shu would have wanted to directly hand over the President role to her.
Of course, that was just a thought.
However, Li Duohui's arrival also gradually regularized the somewhat informal processes at DM Entertainment under Jiang Shu's operation.
Although fex Entertainment was on the verge of bankruptcy, its reason for bankruptcy was purely due to the poor performance of the groups it debuted, and had little to do with the company's operations.
This is how it is with grassroots entertainment companies: your daily operations might be fine, but if the company doesn't have profitable projects, it won't work.
DM Entertainment, on the other hand, was the opposite. Jiang Shu knew how to launch popular groups, but he didn't understand the company's daily operations. He basically did whatever he felt like, which made it seem less formal.
Li Duohui's arrival filled this gap, making DM Entertainment increasingly complete.
After tasting the sweetness of recruiting Li Duohui, the headhunting company also became more diligent. The order DM Entertainment gave them was to package all high-level positions, and there was more than one director position. If they could fulfill all of them, they could live comfortably for the next year without doing anything else.
On July 12th, the “Running Man” girl group special, featuring IVE, Rainbow Girls, and two other filler girl groups, officially aired.
This was the last of the three opportunities Jiang Shu had to gain popularity through his deal with Li Xiuman. Jiang Shu wasn't entirely sure what tricks Rainbow Girls would pull under Li Xiuman's instruction.
Aside from that, he also participated in the games within the show, so Jiang Shu was quite interested in this girl group special.
Unfortunately, however, “Running Man” aired at 4:50 PM Seoul time, and Li Duohui had arranged a dinner with some people today. Her presence alone wasn't enough; she needed Jiang Shu, the Chairman of DM Entertainment, to be there to lead.
Having only been on the job for a week, Li Duohui had already grasped the situation at DM Entertainment and quickly entered work mode. Jiang Shu's workload sharply decreased, and he finally had time for leisure.
However, he generally fulfilled Li Duohui's requests, such as this dinner, which he attended when called upon.
By the time the dinner ended, it was almost 8 PM, and he called a designated driver to take him home.
Jiang Shu drank alcohol, but not too much; Li Duohui did most of the drinking. It must be said, that woman, young as she was, could really drink like a beast.
She went round after round, almost getting the clients drunk, while she looked perfectly fine.
Amazing.
With such a capable woman in charge, Jiang Shu naturally didn't drink much. When he got home, his head was only slightly dizzy, and his mind was very clear.
After a quick wash-up, he went to the living room and easily found a video of this “Running Man” girl group special online, casting it to the TV.
“Huh?” Jiang Shu looked at the trending topics and was momentarily confused.
#I'mBackToSilence#
#Xiao Liu, Xiao Yuan#
#Jiang Shu's nickname for IVE's double C#
#Zhang Yuanying, nakeses#
#Light is a bond#
#Zhun Ge is a true man#
These trending topics...
His brain, somewhat dulled by the alcohol, gradually recalled the phone call from half a month ago.
“Could it be...?”
Jiang Shu raised an eyebrow, not rushing to click on these topics, but instead looked at the “Running Man” program projected on the TV.
At first, he was looking forward to his phone call, but “Running Man” at this period was quite interesting. As he watched, Jiang Shu forgot about it, until...
On the screen, the guests and the RM MCs formed circles.
The production team also announced the upcoming dinner challenge.
Each group would draw a keyword, and then the leader would contact their company's President. If they could guide the President to say the keyword, it would be a success. Teams that succeeded in the challenge would receive unlimited Korean beef for dinner.
Korean beef was very appealing to these artists, most of whom had only recently debuted, as it is genuinely expensive in Korea, with prices comparable to high-grade wagyu sold in domestic supermarkets.
The four girl groups took turns performing the challenge.
Kim Young-min was fine; after receiving the call, he quickly realized what was happening after a couple of sentences, and his tone changed from his initial indifference to a more friendly one.
But the other two filler girl groups didn't fare so well. Their company presidents didn't catch on and hung up directly.
Even though the production team tried their best to save face with subtitles, it was still useless, and the comments on the video were all scolding.
Another was also a heavyweight. Jiang Shu heard from his tone that he seemed to realize he was being filmed, but the other party didn't care at all. After a casual chat, when Liu Zaishi asked him to say a word to the girl group, he hung up the phone directly.
Although it was slightly better than the previous one, most of the comments were still scolding.
When it was IVE's turn, the girls showed visible nervousness on their faces, but Liu Zhimin, who was making the call, looked as usual, without much emotion.
And the comments filling the screen suddenly changed their tone from insults to various “hahahahas,” “watch again,” and “Yuan Shen of Light,” but even more common were four words:
“Came for the reputation.”
This left Jiang Shu bewildered, but on the screen, Liu Zhimin had already found Jiang Shu's number and dialed it. Accompanied by the music of “A Thousand Years Later,” the camera focused on Liu Zhimin's phone screen.