Chapter 80: The Card Pool Exploded!
Morning of September 5th.
Cheongdam-dong, K-pop Trainee Audition.
Today was the first day, so the Directors of Trainees from all the major entertainment companies were present.
Jiang Shu had also arrived very early, and the Directors of Trainees from several entertainment companies greeted Jiang Shu warmly. The Director of Trainees from S.M. Entertainment also came over; the spot for DM Entertainment was secured by Director Min, and the Director of Trainees was quite curious about the relationship between Jiang Shu and his own Director Min.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Jiang Shu sat down and picked up the information of the contestants who had passed the preliminary auditions.
Seeing Jiang Shu's eager demeanor, the Director of Trainees from YG Entertainment showed a look of disdain in his eyes.
As expected of a company that constantly “begs for scraps,” even with the stroke of luck that produced IVE, they still couldn't shake off their begging habits.
Minister Kim, seeing his Chairman sit down, also followed suit and sat beside him.
"Chairman, what do you need me to do?" Minister Kim inquired.
"Whatever you want."
Jiang Shu said without lifting his head, his eyes quickly scanning the lists filled with names, his right hand clutching a pen, occasionally marking familiar names.
Minister Kim looked at his CEO's action of marking names on the list with confusion, completely bewildered.
What's this, checking names to see if there's a good first impression, and then meeting the contestant?
Is such a metaphysical approach really suitable for finding trainees?
But then, thinking of the exclusive trainees his Chairman brought, if it was him... it seemed quite reasonable after all.
Even the contestant list, which only contained names, was more than ten sheets of A4 paper. Jiang Shu had only gone through half of it when the first day's audition already began.
The Directors of Trainees from more than a dozen entertainment companies sat on the judging panel. On the stage in front, the first contestant had already stepped up and began their performance.
Minister Kim glanced at his Chairman, who was still diligently marking names, and could only helplessly watch the contestant performing on stage.
After a while, while the third contestant was still performing, Jiang Shu finally finished marking all the names.
"Bring me the profiles of the contestants whose names I've marked," Jiang Shu said, handing the contestant list to the audition staff behind him.
"Yes," the staff member took the list and responded, then turned to retrieve the detailed profiles.
While waiting, Jiang Shu looked at contestant number three, a male, with '003' pasted on him, who was currently performing.
This was a male, vigorously dancing, and as soon as Jiang Shu saw it was a male, he lost interest.
As a company dedicated solely to girl groups, boy groups were completely outside his consideration.
He watched the contestant's performance boredly for about a few minutes, then the staff member returned with a large stack of profiles.
This action naturally attracted the attention of many people.
Minister Kim was to Jiang Shu's right, and to his left was the Director of Trainees from S.M. Entertainment.
Seeing this scene, he couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked, "Chairman Jiang, what is this?"
"Oh, just looking at some profiles," Jiang Shu replied casually.
"I see." The Director didn't ask further, as the next contestant had already arrived.
Several contestants had already performed, but none of them caught their eye. This batch wasn't very good.
Jiang Shu ignored them, had the staff bring over the profiles, and began to flip through them.
It turned out that there really were duplicate names.
It was due to the same reason: Korean is phonetic, so the probability of duplicate names just by looking at them is too high.
Fortunately, the number wasn't too large, and Jiang Shu quickly found what he wanted to see.
"Remember this contestant, call me when she appears," Jiang Shu said, placing a profile sheet in front of Minister Kim, while Jiang Shu's words rang in his ear.
Before Minister Kim could react, Jiang Shu's voice came again.
"And this one."
Then, one sheet, two sheets, three sheets...
Minister Kim also transitioned from his leisurely state to being forced into busyness.
More than ten minutes later...
"Chairman, this Shin Yuna, it's almost her turn," Minister Kim's voice interrupted Jiang Shu's action of looking at the profiles.
"Shin Yuna?" Jiang Shu looked up at the male performing on stage, then picked up the performance order list to his front right.
The next one was Shin Yuna.
After the male finished his performance, none of the Directors of Trainees reacted, which meant he was eliminated.
The staff led the male away, and then a girl wearing casual clothes, with '017' on the upper left of her pants, followed the staff in.
As soon as she entered, the drowsy Directors of Trainees immediately perked up.
【What an exquisite girl!】
After watching over half an hour of plain-looking individuals, they finally saw a beautiful child. One by one, they picked up the profiles that the staff had just delivered and began to read them.
Shin Yuna, December 9, 2003...
The age of fourteen, almost fifteen, was just right; it was the perfect age for a trainee!
"Hello everyone, my name is Shin Yuna."
The girl stood in front of more than ten people and nervously introduced herself.
"Begin your performance," said the Director of Trainees from JYP Entertainment, who was sitting in the middle.
"Yes!" Shin Yuna responded, took a deep breath, and began her performance.
Jiang Shu stared at Shin Yuna, who was dancing, and information related to her appeared in his mind.
Shin Yuna (A)
Bonds: Special Forces (1), Wangdao Passion (5).
A wild high-tier card, and she's even the visual of ITZY. Must get her! Absolutely must get her!
As soon as Shin Yuna finished her performance, Jiang Shu eagerly spoke up.
"Yuna, I'm the Chairman of DM Entertainment. I really like your performance. Would you like to join our DM Entertainment?"
Jiang Shu's sudden outburst caused others to look sideways.
This guy had been silently flipping through profiles since he arrived, why did he suddenly speak up?
The Director of Trainees from JYP Entertainment, who had some thoughts about Shin Yuna, gave up on competing when he heard Jiang Shu speak.
She was just a trainee with good looks; there was no need to compete with DM Entertainment, which was currently on a roll.
"Our YG Entertainment is also willing to give you a chance," the Director of Trainees from YG suddenly said.
Jiang Shu frowned, turned his head, and found the other party looking at him provocatively.
Jiang Shu: "..."
Did he transmigrate into a game world or a face-slapping novel world?
This plot wasn't quite right, was it?
Shin Yuna looked at Jiang Shu, then at the Director of Trainees from YG. As one of the Three Greats, YG's reputation was undoubtedly much higher than DM Entertainment's, but the other party's condescending tone made her uncomfortable.
And...
Compared to that unpleasant-speaking ahjussi, this Chairman Oppa's looks are really good!
Shin Yuna blinked, having already made her decision.
"I choose DM Entertainment!"