star of the peninsula

Chapter 1156 It can rain inside the house

At the April meeting of C headquarters, Hong Seung-sung, Kim Shidai, Sulli, and Chen Chen sat around a table drinking tea, with a young assistant carefully taking notes.

Jinshidai spoke first and said a lot in a very eloquent way.

"Integrate's return this time can be said to be a great success. It has set records in all aspects of data."

"On the whole, the girls have been confirmed as the top girl group at the moment, without any competitors."

"China is undoubtedly number one. Waiji's marketing of BLACKPINK failed due to President Chen's personal influence, and the girls have inherited President Chen's influence very well, and they are directly a dominant Kpop girl group."

"We also have to thank China for organizing so many talent shows that let people know what idol groups are. The actions of others have inadvertently become a driving force for Integrate to develop further."

"In addition, the idol groups produced by Chinese talent shows have also been compared with us. Regardless of winning or losing, it is true that our influence has spread more widely."

“It’s hard for us to estimate the influence in Europe and America, but with Universal Music helping with promotion some time ago and the fact that Good 4 U has been on the charts since its release, I think we are at least in second place.”

"No. 1 among girl groups, only behind BTS among all Kpop idol groups."

"Southeast Asia ranks poorly because there are no Southeast Asian members, but the backwardness of places with low commercial value is nothing."

"Fans in China, Europe, America, and South Korea don't look down on Southeast Asia, so we don't need to pay too much attention to it."

"Finally, the most important thing is South Korea itself."

"I'm not saying that other regions are unimportant, but what K-pop girl groups need most is influence in South Korea. If you don't have influence in your home country, no matter how impressive you are abroad, people may not buy into it."

"I would like to say that we are number one in South Korea, but the problem is that it is difficult to say it."

"The new generation girl groups are not on the same level as us. Not to mention being a threat, they would have to crane their necks high even to look at us."

"The previous generation of girl groups was not a problem. Red Velvet had many mistakes in operation. TWICE has focused on making money in the country of cherry blossoms in the past two years. BLACKPINK has always focused on the overseas market. The shorty king has disbanded."

"The problem is that the South Korean market is too crowded. South Korean fans are all slippery and old-fashioned. It's hard to decide who is the best in this environment."

"Also, if you want to be the number one in South Korea, you have to compete with boy bands. It's quite difficult for us at Integrate to compete with boy bands."

"In summary, we are the first in the overall ranking. Due to the complicated situation in South Korea, it is difficult to determine the first place. We cannot calculate it for the time being."

This meeting got off to a good start.

“What changes have there been in business cooperation compared to before?”

Chen Chen asked with concern.

It is common knowledge that the operation of Integrate is managed by Starship, so Golden Era knows more about business cooperation with Integrate than Chen Chen.

"Nothing has changed, except that the prices are higher and the treatment is better." Jin Shidai replied with a smile: "The brands have always been the same. The brands that can be obtained by first-line girl groups and top girl groups are the same. If Integrate continues to move up, it will still be these brands."

"Cosmetics, luxury goods, fashion brands, each major category is divided into different subcategories or specific products, but it's still the same thing."

"If Integrate wants to seek endorsements in these areas, it will be taking over or snatching them from its predecessors, which is a normal renewal for the brand."

"If your idea is to break through the hierarchy and get higher-level endorsements from these brands, I personally think that is impossible."

"The size of the South Korean market determines that it is impossible for brands to give higher-level endorsements to Kpop artists, unless..." Jin Shidai glanced at Chen Chen's face and said carefully: "Unless we really get back into the Chinese market, thoroughly, instead of just floating on the surface like we are now."

"Oh, do I need these endorsements if I can really penetrate the Chinese market? I don't need these brands to contribute to my brand awareness or make money!" Chen Chen snorted coldly, "Just hold it in for now and wait for these overseas brands to continue raising prices!"

"We can put up the local brands in South Korea now." Chen Chen continued, "Since we need to strengthen our local influence, local brands are a perfect match."

"Like fried chicken, coffee, candy, all good stuff! I remember Gong Yoo has coffee on him, right? We can get one too."

"Anyway, we can arrange these if there is a suitable one. We can accept lower endorsement fees for things we see often in our daily lives."

"Don't consider Soju. It's not easy for one of our own to take action." Chen Chen waved his hand, "President Jin, please arrange the other brands yourself."

"Okay." President Jin nodded. "Do you have anything else to tell me?"

"After the return in August, Integrate will acquire all the top luxury brands within one month." Chen Chen gave a brief explanation, "For the last return of this year, I will show the brands what it means to get great value for money!"

"Have you already made a plan?" Jin Shidai felt a little restless and asked excitedly, "Can you tell me a little bit about it in advance so that Starship can be mentally prepared?!"

"Not really. I haven't thought about it yet. I just set a goal to make a big one by the end of the year." Chen Chen shook his head slightly, "And by then it should be C headquarters that will be in charge, and the starship can only do some auxiliary work."

"The starship is at your command."

Jin Shidai lowered his eyes in obedience.

"Okay, okay, let's move on to the next topic." Chen Chen knocked on the table. "The deal between me and Chairman Fang has been completed, so I have a lot of money on hand. The funds that Starship and Cube Entertainment paid some time ago can be taken back in the next few days. Which method do you prefer?"

"They are all subsidiaries that are fully controlled by the C headquarters. The parent company can just inject capital directly." Hong Shengcheng finally said the first sentence, "Excuse me, how many shares did you sell?"

"It was originally one point, but later it became two points." Chen Chen leaned back in his chair and smiled. "It's going to be sold anyway, and it's not bad to get some working capital for C headquarters. I don't want to go through everything I've been through recently again."

"That's great." Hong Shengcheng said with a hint of envy: "Hybe's stock has nearly tripled in the few months since it went public. Not only did you make some cash from your entry and exit, but you also got three shares in your hands. That's great."

"Don't say that." Chen Chen teased, "Didn't you buy Hybe's stock when it went public? That's impossible, right? I just happened to have money at the time so I made a little more. Boss Hong, don't be envious."

"Of course Boss Hong has it. He had even sold it for money when you were talking about selling Hybe shares!" Jin Shidai laughed and exposed Hong Shengcheng.

"If a major shareholder like Boss Chen reduces his holdings, Hybe's stock price will definitely fall. I'm doing this to reduce my losses." Hong Shengcheng was a little embarrassed. "You're still blaming me? You didn't sell?!"

“I really haven’t sold it yet.” Jin Shidai grinned, “I’ll wait until the news about Hybe’s new girl group comes out before selling it. The price will be higher then.”

"The right choice." Chen Chen's words made the smile on his face grow a little bigger, "Hybe will have a comfortable life in the next period of time." "Do you have any inside information?"

Golden Era sincerely seeks advice.

"BTS is going to have activities soon." Chen Chen dropped a bombshell, "I heard it from Speaker Fang."

Hybe has too many things to do and they are huge in scale, but the core of Hybe is always BTS.

Whether Chen Chen reduces his holdings or Gfriend disbands, all these negative impacts on the company will disappear when BTS comes out for activities.

"Hey, then I'll keep it for a while. You must remind me when the time comes to sell it!" Jin Shidai suddenly thought of something else. "So you're still at a loss when you sell your shares. What a pity."

"It's not a pity. It's always a good thing to exchange some working capital for C headquarters." Chen Chen looked at Hong Shengcheng, "Boss Hong, how about we talk about the new girl group?"

"I was just about to talk to you about this." Hong Shengcheng's face was filled with smiles. "The new girl group is well prepared and can debut at any time!"

"You're so good at it?"

Chen Chen was a little surprised.

"The only difficulty is accepting Cho Yuri into the team. If we can overcome it smoothly, the training will be very good." Hong Seung-sung replied: "I don't think there is much to say about the members' abilities. With the training resources and extremely high requirements of C headquarters, it is impossible to train unqualified trainees."

"What about body management?" Chen Chen glanced at him, "Jin Zhiyuan is almost the same as Ye Shuhua in this regard."

"Well, both of them did a great job." Hong Shengcheng was sweating a little, "Shuhua has changed a lot since coming to C headquarters and receiving training from C headquarters."

"I hope so." Chen Chen did not comment. "How is (G)I-DLE doing? Has it been affected by the incident with Soojin?"

"It definitely had an impact. It's not like the members don't go online, so they must have seen all the nasty things online." Hong Seung-sung smiled bitterly, "There was a period of time when I couldn't concentrate even during normal work, and I even wanted to hide them in the company."

"It was only after several police notices that we felt relieved, otherwise I would have worried that they would not have been able to hold on." Hong Shengcheng still had lingering fears, "The Internet is still too scary. People can spread malice towards others without any reason or evidence."

"It's OK as long as we get through it. It can be considered a tempering." Chen Chen nodded with satisfaction. "After this rhythm, the girls of (G)I-DLE must have grown a lot, and their trust in each other and the company will increase."

With the endorsement of C headquarters and Cube Entertainment stepping out to take the initiative to withstand the pressure, Chen Chen is somewhat worried that the pressure brought by the Soojin bullying controversy will not be enough to affect (G)I-DLE's transformation, so the idea is to ask them to continue their activities despite the controversy.

If the pressure here is not enough, I will make up for it for you myself. Who says it can't rain inside the house? !
"But this matter is not completely over yet." Chen Chen reminded: "It will not be over until the police close the case."

"I know, but..." Hong Shengcheng's face suddenly darkened. "Should we fight back and make this a false accusation?"

"Don't make trouble. Once it's over, it's over. Everyone will automatically think of it as a false accusation. It doesn't matter whether there is an official definition or not." Chen Chen stopped him. "But if you fight back, it will prolong the matter. If something goes wrong in the middle, it will be bad for everyone."

"The most important thing is," Chen Chen said with a playful expression, "Is there definitely no bullying? What if we really just don't find any evidence? What if the public's definition of bullying changes during the investigation? This is all troublesome, so don't give the police any chance to continue their investigation."

"Understood." Hong Shengcheng exhaled, "Let's end this matter here."

"Okay, let's talk about something good. I've thought of a name for the new girl group." Chen Chen's words attracted everyone's attention. "It's called LIGHTSUM, which means to gather bright lights into one."

"Finally figured it out?"

The most surprised one was Shirley, because she knew how long Chen Chen had been struggling.

"It's not that I've thought it through, it's that I've messed up."

Chen Chen was just too lazy to think about it, so he just took the name that Cube Entertainment used "before".

"Oh, very good!" Hong Shengcheng was extremely satisfied. "The name sounds nice and has a good meaning. I think the members will like it too."

"That's why you think too much, Boss Hong." Chen Chen curled his lips, "Those real young people don't like the names we come up with. Others have their own ideas."

"Hahaha, that seems to be the case." Hong Shengcheng laughed, "But the name is decided by us. We can't do anything about whether they like it or not."

"So when will LIGHTSUM debut?"

Hong Shengcheng stared at Chen Chen with eager eyes. He was the one who was most looking forward to LIGHTSUM's debut among everyone present.

"Around October." Chen Chen did not use vague answers to fool around. "I thought about it later. No matter how much I want to target Hybe, I shouldn't mess with the future of these girls. So it's best to proceed normally."

"If you can snipe Hybe, then snipe him. If you can't snipe him, then forget it. There will be many opportunities to fight each other in the future. There's no need to rush."

"In fact, the debut of Hybe's new girl group only has two months left: June and July, and October and November, right? There is still a high probability that it can be snipe."

April and May are obviously too late. Integrate is waiting in August and September. There are too many things to do and the situation is too chaotic in December at the end of the year. Only October and November are suitable for debut.

It's not just Hybe that has no choice. This year, all the slightly larger entertainment companies have no choice when it comes to launching girl groups.

"Boss Chen is wise!"

Everyone present gave thumbs up.

"Okay, last item."

Chen Chen’s last task was to set a time.

"C headquarters trainee recruitment will begin in July. Thank you for your help."

Although the requirements for recruiting trainees have not yet reached the level of being concrete enough to be written down, this has nothing to do with setting a time limit.

The purpose of setting a time is to allow everyone to prepare in advance. The company will prepare various matters, and those who are interested in applying for interns will prepare for registration and interview in advance, so that neither side will be delayed.

……

(End of this chapter)