star of the peninsula

On March 9, Namoo Actors announced that its contract with actress Kim Hyang-gi had expired.

When Chen Chen saw the news, he suddenly felt nervous. Not only because this was the most important target of C headquarters at the moment, but also because Ma Benzhang had not sent back any news since that text message.

"At least let me know what the result is. Even if there is no definite answer, it would be good if you can tell me whether I should be optimistic or pessimistic."

Chen Chen was a little uneasy when he got off work, and he was still the same now that he was home.

"What's wrong with you? It's rare to come home with this expression."

Bae Joo-hyun hung up his coat for him and asked curiously.

"Do you know Jin Xiangqi?" Chen Chen sat down and drank a sip of water.

"I know, she's a very famous actress, and she's been very popular since she was a child star." Pei Zhuxuan took her own water bottle and added warm water to Chen Chen's cup, "It's not that she made you become like this, you two can't get close."

"I was depressed because I couldn't get close to her. Now I'm grinning from ear to ear if I could." Chen Chen replied: "Jin Xiangqi's contract with Namoo Actors expires today, and C headquarters hopes to get her."

"Oh, then I understand what you are worried about. You are worried about missing out on Kim Hyang-ki just like you missed out on Kim Da-mi." Bae Joo-hyun said venomously, "It just so happens that both of you have the last name Kim. It's a bit of fate."

"Come on, there's a big difference!" Chen Chen suddenly became anxious, "So the results for the two people will definitely be different!"

"Then tell me what the difference is?" Pei Zhuxuan deliberately angered him, "I just think there is no difference, they mean the same thing!"

"Jin Duomei had already signed a long-term contract with the company when I noticed her, and Jin Xiangqi is currently without a contract." Chen Chen said unhappily, "One is impossible, and the other is very likely, do you understand?!"

"That's right." Pei Zhuxuan kissed Chen Chen on the face fiercely, "Since the possibility is very high, let's not act like this and be happy."

"..."

"Correct, to the point." Chen Chen gave her a thumbs up, "You're right, I should think about something happy now."

"For example?"

Bae Joo-hyun tilted her head.

"For example, the Shorty King will disband in five days." Chen Chen happily talked about adding members, "In about a week, Cho Yuri will report to C headquarters, and all members of the new girl group will be assembled."

"Have you thought of a name for your new girl group? Isn't it bad to keep calling them the new girl group?" Bae Joo Hyun asked a bunch of questions. "Also, when is the new girl group going to debut? How long will Cho Yuri have to practice with the existing members to meet your requirements?"

"Ah~" Chen Chen covered his head and lay down on the sofa, "My head hurts so much, why do so many troubles come to me?!"

"This shows that C headquarters is developing very well and is moving forward very quickly!" Bae Joo Hyun thought about the problem from another perspective, "Only by moving forward can we encounter new problems. If C headquarters stays where it is, then no new problems will arise."

"What you said makes sense." Chen Chen pulled Pei Zhuxuan into his arms, "Let's take it one step at a time. We can decide on a name three months before debut."

"What about the trainees?" Bae Joo Hyun pinched her boyfriend's chin. "Now that we have the building, should we start recruiting trainees?"

"The second, third, fourth and fifth steps of the trainee recruitment plan have all been planned, but we are stuck at the first step now." Chen Chen pouted, "To recruit trainees, you first need to know what kind of trainees you want to receive. I don't know this yet."

"Boss Hong and President Jin are right. I will be stuck here for a long time."

“I know clearly that perfection is an almost impossible requirement to achieve, but my habits of doing things make it difficult for me to give up this idea.”

"And the trainee recruitment criteria must be very detailed. We can't just give a vague range or simply exclude the types we don't want."

"Allowing others to become trainees is giving them a dream, especially for C headquarters." Chen Chen sighed, "But the people who realize their dreams are always a minority among the minority. I know this very well, so I will not allow C headquarters to give people dreams casually."

Of course they can afford to support trainees. Even if C headquarters has one or two times more trainees than other entertainment companies, it has the ability to take good care of them.

It is cruel to give people hope and then let their dreams be shattered. The bigger and brighter the hope, the crueler it is.

Unfortunately, among all the entertainment companies, C Headquarters may be the one that offers the greatest hope in South Korea right now.

Therefore, the standards for recruiting trainees at C headquarters must be so detailed that they would like to let Chen Chen directly set up a specific image so that talents can be accurately recruited based on the image.

However, even with a specific image, many people who meet the requirements will still be found in the process of searching for trainees. There are no two identical flowers in this world, but there are indeed many similar flowers.

"If they are hurt, then they are hurt. They asked to be hurt."

Chen Chen couldn't say such words. He hadn't yet cultivated his heart of stone to such an extent, especially since most of the trainees now were young children.

"Then you have to set the standard carefully." Bae Joo Hyun climbed out of her boyfriend's arms. "C Headquarters is well-known now, and there must be a lot of people signing up to be trainees, so you will definitely have a lot of trainees in the end. The responsibility is heavy."

"But let me give you an idea." Pei Zhuxuan seemed to have a flash of inspiration, "First, you can fix a slightly more specific image, then extract and purify the characteristics that you value most, and then create a new image based on these characteristics."

"This new image exists almost entirely in the imagination, and it must be very difficult to find trainees based on this image."

"But the trainees you find through this image must have the qualities you really like. As long as they are carefully polished later, they will not be 100% sure to debut as a star, but at least they will be good enough."

"It not only reduces the number of trainees who can pass the screening, but also accurately targets the characteristics that C headquarters wants. Isn't my idea great?!" Bae Joo Hyun looked proud, "Praise me now!"

"Yeah, great, very great!" Chen Chen sat up suddenly. He didn't care about praising anyone now. All he could think about was following Pei Zhuxuan's line of thought. "Once we have common characteristics, it will be easy to combine the trainees into a group."

“These wonderful qualities will have the opportunity to be recognized by everyone as the inheritance of C headquarters. Even if I am no longer in charge of the company in the future, the company’s idol section will still be loved by everyone as it is now.”

"As for whether there will be a cookie-cutter idol group, there is absolutely no need to worry about that." "Everyone's appearance and figure are unique, and each member has different strengths, not to mention everyone's unique personality. These different things will definitely give the group a different look."

“In other words, this approach can radiate out products with different performances but all good in essence, with a few core points as the axis.”

"Then the problem is back to the starting point." Chen Chen's expression returned to a bitter smile, "Finding the image, extracting the characteristics, and reconstructing the image are still things that I have to take the lead in completing. What needs to be done is still so difficult!"

"It's different!" Bae Joo Hyun reminded, "Being completely responsible for something and being the leader are two different things. At least in the latter case, you can bring in others to help you share the pressure!"

"That's right." Chen Chen pulled his girlfriend into his arms and exhaled deeply, "I feel much more relaxed all of a sudden!"

"It will definitely be easier if someone helps you." Pei Zhuxuan said with a smile: "President Jin and Boss Hong can help you, and you can also chat with President Park from a distance."

"President Park, no." Chen Chen blocked her mouth with his fingers, "Brother Zhenying probably doesn't want to hear these things recently."

"Why?" Bae Joo-hyun asked curiously.

"All the members of GOT7 did not renew their contracts and left the company. It's strange that he can be in a good mood." Chen Chen said with a suppressed smile: "Although it has been two months since this happened, I don't think he can let it go easily because the process was quite tortuous."

"Hey, so I mean you know it, tell me now!" Bae Joo-hyun wanted to gossip.

"There's not much to say, actually. The big problem is that the company's position and the members' own position cannot be unified, and there are some misunderstandings in the small problems." Chen Chen said casually: "Anyway, we just need to know that the difference between the input and the output is too big, and if this cannot be resolved, there is no way to complete the contract renewal."

"You know what I want to hear is not the big problems that cannot be adjusted, but the misunderstandings among the small problems!" Pei Zhuxuan complained: "How come you don't understand human nature at all?!"

"The small problem is that Jinyoung unfollowed some GOT7 members on his social media account." Chen Chen explained the matter in a few words. "During the period of negotiating the contract renewal, some members contacted other entertainment companies. Jinyoung felt betrayed. It's that simple."

"In his opinion, it's not good for him to contact other companies before the contract ends. And from a human perspective, Jinyoung doesn't like this kind of thing either."

“So even though he knew this was a common occurrence in the industry, he still got upset.” Chen Chen said with a smile, “The specific manifestation of his upset was that he unfollowed several GOT7 members.”

"Wow~ JYP senior's behavior..." Bae Joo Hyun couldn't find any good adjectives, so she could only smile awkwardly and said, "It's very human."

"What a compliment!" Chen Chen was suddenly happy. "But it's really okay. Brother Zhenying did this in a way that made him look like an ordinary person instead of a boss."

"So do you think it is a good thing or a bad thing that all GOT7 members will not renew their contracts?" asked Bae Joo-hyun.

"I don't know what they think personally, so I can't give you an answer." Chen Chen sighed, "But from a purely business perspective, it's a bad thing."

"Tell me more!" Pei Zhuxuan's eyes widened, "I'm very interested!"

"If you were to make the judgment, do you think GOT7 as a whole or individuals are capable of surpassing the company Soy Sauce Bottle?" Chen Chen asked a question first.

"No." Bae Joo Hyun shook her head. "GOT7 is popular, but it's not the most popular group, and it's not even as popular as Soy Sauce Bottle."

"That's right. If you say you have grown to the limit of the soy sauce bottle, then it's definitely okay to leave the soy sauce bottle. If you find a better place or have a stronger backer as a background, it's okay to leave." Chen Chen couldn't help but smack his lips. "The current situation is that there are only two or three people moving up, and the others are all falling. At the same time, they have lost the GOT7 group brand that has been operating for seven years and can bring huge benefits."

"Those who fail to reach higher places are miserable." Chen Chen looked at his girlfriend, "Isn't that right?"

"Is it possible that the two or three people who are moving up the ladder don't want to renew their contracts?" Bae Joo-hyun speculated.

"It's possible, and the possibility is not small." Chen Chen replied: "This can't be considered a conspiracy theory, because pursuing one's own interests is definitely greater than pursuing the interests of the group."

They are already mature artists who have debuted for seven years. Giving up their hopes, future and huge benefits because of a word of team spirit is something that will only happen in the hearts of fans and will never happen in reality.

"It is also possible that everyone feels that it is better for them to develop on their own and that it can better protect their own interests." Chen Chen interrupted the topic, "But I also said that I don't know what GOT7 thinks, so let's stop discussing them here. Anything more will just become a fabrication based on imagination."

"Okay, let's stop talking." Bae Joo Hyun stood up, "I'm going to cook, you sort out the ideas of the C headquarters trainees and come up with a more specific image first."

"You don't need to look for a specific image. The A-level trainee is right next to you. Why would you need to look for another image?" Chen Chen made a camera gesture with his hands and observed Bae Joo-hyun. "She has balanced abilities without any shortcomings. She has a flexible mind and can handle most situations in the industry. She has a pretty face, stable emotions, and good luck."

"Well, it would be perfect if they had a little more ambition." Chen Chen nodded to himself, "Idols who don't have strong enough ambition always feel like something is missing."

"Are you saying that my idol didn't do a good job?!" Bae Joo-hyun said dissatisfiedly.

"Are you qualified?" Chen Chen almost laughed out loud, "I'm such a big tree, but I can't make your ambition grow even if you rely on me. Is this normal in the entertainment industry?"

"Go ahead and be happy!" Pei Zhuxuan threw her apron at Chen Chen's face in frustration, "I didn't ask you for resources, but you can just go for it. Do you know how much trouble I saved you?!"

"Of course I know." Chen Chen slowly unfolded the apron and wrapped it around himself. "I am happy for artists to show their ambition to move up and achieve it through legitimate means, but I am more happy to see my woman being herself."

"Besides, people have double standards when it comes to things that happen to them, and I am no exception."

"You can make your fans happier by rushing to higher places, but staying at this height and staying by my side will make me happier, so I, a double-standard person, would prefer you to stay by my side."

"Of course, I will respect your choice and I will do my best to support you wherever you plan to go."

"But you just happened to choose a method that would make me happier. So I have no choice but to smile secretly and grin from ear to ear." Chen Chen smiled gently, "Let's go and cook together."

"Okay." Bae Joo Hyun muttered as they walked towards the kitchen together, "I chose the option that would make me happier."

...(End of chapter)