Chapter 90: Is It a Troupe? (422)
As Jiang Shu arrived on the fifth floor, before he even reached his office, he ran into Kim Young-joo, the company's Human Resources Director.
"President nim!" Upon seeing Jiang Shu, Kim Young-joo's eyes lit up, and she walked over to greet him.
"Good morning, Director Young-joo," Jiang Shu replied with a smile.
"President nim, I was just looking for you," Kim Young-joo said, stopping in front of Jiang Shu.
"What do you need me for?"
"It's about the exclusive trainees. I'll go get the information. Are you heading back to your office?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll come to your office later."
"Alright."
With Jiang Shu's permission, Kim Young-joo turned and left. Watching her bustling figure, Jiang Shu couldn't help but sigh.
It's good to have capable people working for you.
Back in his office, he took a bottle of chilled mineral water from the fridge. There was iced cola in the fridge, but he couldn't drink it every day; a can every two days was enough.
Chilled mineral water was just as good for cooling down.
Just as he twisted open the cap, a knock came from the door.
"Come in."
Kim Young-joo pushed the door open.
"President nim, yesterday you and Minister Kim signed four trainees at the audition, Shin Yuna, Hwang Yeji, Cao Rouli, and Kim Minju. Is it too many to make them all exclusive trainees?"
Kim Young-joo was the company's HR Director, and the entry and exit of trainees were also within her purview.
"Counting these four, the company already has thirteen exclusive trainees."
"Only thirteen," Jiang Shu said indifferently.
"But the company only has nineteen trainees in total," Kim Young-joo said softly.
"Huh?" Jiang Shu was stunned, then reacted with a bit of embarrassment.
It seems... that's really the case?
Out of DM Entertainment's nineteen trainees, thirteen were brought in by Jiang Shu, and only six were scouted by the company's own scouts. It was simply outrageous.
But he couldn't blame the company's scouts. Kim Young-joo had seen the trainees' profiles.
Their own scouts generally followed the most common market principles—looks, dance foundation, and vocal talent—and searched for trainees based on these principles.
But what about their President nim?
These exclusive trainees he brought in, aside from being good-looking, were, to put it mildly, a motley crew in other aspects.
She wouldn't mention the others; they were more or less acceptable, but this Jiang Huiyuan... she couldn't sing, couldn't dance, wasn't she just pure trash besides being good-looking?
Now, he had added four more, among them Shin Yuna, an obvious beauty at first glance.
And the other one, Kim Minju, had a unique aura about her. Kim Young-joo had never seen anyone like her in all her years in the industry.
But the problem was, trainees weren't just about beauty pageants.
Suddenly, Kim Young-joo seemed to realize something. She looked up at Jiang Shu with a hint of suspicion, but due to the President nim's authority, she hesitated to speak.
"Just say what's on your mind," Jiang Shu noticed Kim Young-joo's hesitant expression and spoke up.
"Then I'll really say it," Kim Young-joo coughed and said.
"Speak."
"These exclusive trainees of yours, you're not choosing partners, are you?"
Kim Young-joo was already very tactful, not using the word 'playthings'.
Mainly, Jiang Shu's behavior looked exactly like an ancient emperor choosing concubines. The exclusive trainees he recruited had varying levels of skill, but were uniformly high in Appearance, and he didn't allow the trainee department to interfere with their entry or exit.
Isn't this just DM Entertainment's own troupe?
When Jiang Shu heard Kim Young-joo's words, his face instantly darkened.
"In Director Young-joo's mind, I started an entertainment company just to open a harem for myself?"
"No, no!" Kim Young-joo waved her hands repeatedly. Seeing Jiang Shu's dark face, she also regretted it a little.
Not regretting misunderstanding Jiang Shu, but regretting why she had to say it out loud.
"It's normal for Director Young-joo to misunderstand," Jiang Shu said with a dark face, "But has Director Young-joo ever considered that Xiao Yuan and Xiao Liu's skill levels aren't high either?"
Although Kim Young-joo had gossiped a bit, she was ultimately capable. After Jiang Shu said that, she finally realized something.
"Are you saying... these exclusive trainees all have the potential of Karina and Yuan Ying?"
"How could that be?" Seeing Kim Young-joo react, Jiang Shu's expression softened a little. "There aren't many dual Cs like Xiao Liu and Xiao Yuan, but in my opinion, these exclusive trainees all have the potential to become the backbone of the girl group industry."
Upon hearing this, Kim Young-joo no longer cared about the DM troupe and immediately said, "You mean, these exclusive trainees are actually a talent pool you're preparing for the company?"
"To be precise, some of them will be the core members of the new girl group the company will launch in the future."
Kim Young-joo understood, but she didn't quite believe it.
Jiang Shu spoke well, but there was only one successful case, IVE, which could be entirely attributed to a blind cat catching a dead mouse.
Jiang Shu had talent as a producer, but in terms of judging people, it was pending.
However, Kim Young-joo had already offended Jiang Shu once, and she dared not offend him again.
"Yes, I understand, President nim," Kim Young-joo nodded in response.
You understand nothing!
Jiang Shu glared at her in annoyance. This woman was amazing; he hadn't even thought of it that way.
Boss Xu has a troupe, and I do too?
What the hell, how could he, a mere mortal, be compared to 2.6 trillion?
However...
Jiang Shu blinked. His troupe... bah! Among his exclusive trainees, there were indeed a few trainees he coveted.
What a sin!
Jiang Shu quickly shook his head.
He had just 'eaten' Xiao Liu last night, and today he was already thinking about other women. What a scumbag!
No!
He had to punish himself!
Since that's the case, he would punish himself by cultivating the willow tree a few more times tonight.
Jiang Shu looked at Kim Young-joo opposite him.
"If there's nothing else, Director Young-joo, you can go back to your work."
Kim Young-joo gave a dry laugh and bowed to Jiang Shu.
"Goodbye, President nim."
"Go on, go on, stop gossiping about me," Jiang Shu waved his hand and said.
Kim Young-joo chuckled awkwardly again and quickly walked out of the office as if fleeing for her life.
Aish, this auntie!
Jiang Shu shook his head speechlessly.
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
"What's wrong with Director Young-joo? Did you scold her?" Yin Huilin walked in and asked Jiang Shu curiously.
"How dare I scold her," Jiang Shu said in annoyance. "I'd be grateful if she didn't gossip about me."
"What did she say about you?" Yin Huilin immediately became gossipy, sensing there was some juicy news.
"When did Director Yun become so gossipy?" Jiang Shu asked, looking at Yin Huilin with dead fish eyes.
Yin Huilin smiled slightly.
"Women are made of gossip, President nim."
Jiang Shu couldn't help but rub his forehead.
"I really want to kick all of you out."
All the current executives of the company, besides him, were women, and he had personally recruited them all.
Yin Huilin chuckled softly and began to speak of serious matters.