star of the peninsula

It took about three days to finalize the general rules for the I Division male trainee audition. The main difficulty lay in coordinating the schedule of the TVXQ duo.

The end of the year and the beginning of the year are very important time nodes for every artist, as they have more important tasks to complete.

However, Lee Sun-kyu and the I Division were no small players, so they had to give due face, and the senior consultant named Chen also made a small contribution, and things finally got a perfect result.

"With this, MODHAUS can be considered to have been completely integrated into Division I." Shirley signed her name on the document. "Isn't it possible that part of your ideal scenario has been realized?"

"It's far from it. If MODHAUS had a few more outstanding idol producers, it would be perfect." Chen Chen suddenly had an idea, "Do you think we should put President Jin and Boss Hong into MODHAUS?"

"In theory, you can. You can control all three companies and do whatever you want." Shirley rolled her eyes. "But in reality, I don't recommend it, because once this idea is implemented, MODHAUS will become a special company that is higher than Starship and Cube Entertainment."

"It's not that this is a bad thing. In fact, it may even make it easier for you to control the two subsidiaries. But MODHAUS is unstable after all. The difficulty of external forces intervening in MODHAUS is completely kindergarten-level compared to intervening in C headquarters."

"Stability is everything." Shirley expressed her opinion, "So let's continue to let MODHAUS be a free man hanging outside."

"Well said, I didn't think it through." Chen Chen admitted his mistake directly, "I was blinded by the images in my mind and lost sight of more important things for a moment."

"What's the picture in your head?" Shirley asked curiously, "Can you tell me about it?"

"It's just an upgraded version of Shine Grocery Store." Chen Chen answered casually, "It's a more comprehensive and powerful continuous version with more production functions and a better staff composition."

"Speaking of 'Shine Grocery Store'." Chen Chen sighed suddenly, "This project should be considered a failure, right?"

"As a program, it is undoubtedly excellent. It has helped us more than once and brought us great fame." Sulli said with a wry smile, "But as a real project to serve idols, it is a complete failure because there are no customers coming to the store we opened."

"But we didn't spend any extra resources. All we spent was the stuff for the variety show." Chen Chen consoled him, "As long as we don't tell the real purpose to the public, no one will know that we have quietly failed once."

"What do you mean by our failure? It's obviously your own failure." Shirley immediately distanced herself from the matter. "You wrote the plan. I and the S Branch are just small executors!"

"Ha, that's fine." Chen Chen didn't take it as an offense but laughed. "I can still take this little blame, and I'm willing to take it. In the future, if you have these things that would be a bit troublesome if they were on me, you can just dump them on me. It's no problem."

"Forget it. A senior leader who always makes mistakes in trivial matters is not a positive character." Shirley curled her lips. "It's better not to make mistakes. If no one knows, then just pretend nothing happened."

"But you still have to give me a definite answer on the future operation direction of Shine Grocery Store." Shirley changed the subject, "Do you want to continue your charity work that no one knows about?"

"There's no cost anyway, so let's just keep doing it." Chen Chen decided to keep it. "Perhaps all it takes for Shine Grocery Store to become a real grocery store is an idol group that actively comes to it."

"Okay." Shirley seemed to have gotten the answer she wanted and smiled happily, "I thought so too. Since we have extra energy and resources now, we can do something to help people."

“Although idol groups sound and look glamorous, we in the industry all know how helpless these people are when facing the company. Letting the grocery store become a small ray of hope in the helplessness and despair may bring psychological help to many people.”

"Don't underestimate spiritual problems." Shirley said seriously: "This society is different from before. Mental health should be on par with physical health."

"I know, I've always known it." Chen Chen tapped the table, his pride almost overflowing, "I have an idol mental health fund."

"..."

"I forgot about yours." Shirley was silent for a while, then said, "Is there any chance to get your fund back? It seems that it has never been used properly."

"It would cost too much to ask the local government to give up the fat meat that has fallen into their hands. I don't want to use up some favors from the Blue House or ruin the relationship with the locals." Chen Chen waved his hand casually, "We can set up another one. Anyway, it's just a drop in the bucket for the size of C headquarters."

"Ah, why not let Integrate return this time!" Chen Chen sat up straight, "Flowers" is actually very suitable!"

"Hmm~ It seems to work." Shirley roughly recalled, her eyes getting brighter and brighter, "I can burn the past and hold on to my dreams. I can write my name on the beach and buy flowers for myself. I can love myself more than anyone else."

"Sure!" Shirley clapped her hands excitedly, "Sure, Chen Chen, the lyrics are well written, let's use them!"

"It was polished by a professional lyricist." Chen Chen did not take credit for it. "I probably gave a few suggestions."

The original lyrics were also excellent, but clearly not suitable for a girl group.

How can nine people in a group express their feelings of being hurt in past relationships? All nine of you dated the same person, right? So Chen Chen thought of changing it to a feeling about life, self-confidence, self-reliance and self-love.

"How do you say that? Take out the audio source income?" Shirley asked eagerly, "Or add something else in?"

"As long as the music source is available, this song will have a good ranking on the Billboard, and the global music source income is expected to be quite good." Chen Chen replied: "We can also add some more money in the name of the girls, so they don't have to pay for it, we can make up for it ourselves."

"OK." Shirley agreed, but was a little hesitant. "The girls will be back tomorrow. It will take a few days for these things to appear in public. It's a bit of a loss if we can't give the bonus right away."

"Girls nowadays don't lack this bonus, and it will be more comfortable to use this kind of popularity later when the overall popularity is about to drop. If we use it directly..." Chen Chen sneered and said, "Will someone say that we even planned charity activities for popularity?!"

"Public opinion is such an annoying thing." Shirley sighed slightly, "Then let's get this done later."

"Then I'll leave it all to you." Chen Chen nodded and said, "The Artist Care Foundation established by Sulli is more convincing than mine."

"Pah, because I can relate to you, right?!" Shirley rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction, "I'm telling you, you can't."

“Tuk-tuk-tuk~”

Shirley was halfway through her words when there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

Chen Chen took a quick glance and saw that Shirley had already gotten ready before calling her in.

"KakaoM Director Lee Hoon-hee hopes to visit this afternoon."

Jin Liuran came in and conveyed a very important message.

"He said I'm busy these two days." Chen Chen didn't even think about it, "Ask him to the weekend."

"Ok."

Jin Liuran didn't ask any more questions and left with the answer.

"KakaoM is here to discuss cooperation." Shirley narrowed her eyes slightly, "If the person who came is Lee Hoon Hee, we can really leave him alone for two days." "Whether to leave Lee Hoon Hee alone is actually a small matter. Integrate will be back on Friday. We will be much more proactive if we go to talk to KakaoM with the power of the girls on the weekend." Chen Chen was deliberately seducing, "KakaoM will probably drool when they see the current Integrate. Now there is an opportunity to create Integrate belonging to KakaoM, they must be very excited."

“So that’s how it is.” Sulli stuck out her tongue awkwardly. “I thought you thought Li Xunxi’s level was not high enough, so you deliberately tried to intimidate KakaoM.”

"I am also looking forward to reaching a cooperation, so there is no need to intimidate the other party." Chen Chen gave a thumbs up. "Although everyone in the industry is well aware of Integrate's power, the impact brought by the past tense and the present continuous tense is completely different."

"Okay, call Zheng Bingji over." Chen Chen ordered: "Let's have a meeting to talk about what we may encounter when cooperating with KakaoM or others, and also talk about where the bottom line we must maintain is."

……

……

On Friday the 17th, Integrate returned with the English single "Flowers".

It was certified as one of the top ten best-selling singles in the world, remained at the top of the Billboard charts for eight weeks, and helped the singer win two Grammy Awards. There is no need to elaborate on the original achievements of "Flowers".

As for the achievements of the Integrate version of "Flowers", Chen Chen has nothing special to say.

Just do your best. Yellow-skinned singers should not try to challenge white-skinned singers. The world will respond to you completely differently. Mr. Chen has a deep understanding of this.

"Oppa, are you still in the company at this time?!"

Zhang Yuanying was surprised to see Chen Chen coming down the stairs.

"The meeting lasted too late. I took a nap in the office before going downstairs to go home." Chen Chen checked the time. "It's past four o'clock. You should really leave for Music Bank. You should do your best to make your comeback today."

"Will Oppa come to see our return today?" Zhang Yuanying asked expectantly.

"I'm afraid I can't go to the scene. I'll support them in front of the TV." Chen Chen yawned, "You guys are more familiar with KBS than I am now. You don't need someone to accompany you."

"Oh, right." Chen Chen thought about what he talked about with Sulli during the day, and planned to let Yuanying pass a message to his teammates here, "All the profits from your comeback this time...ah, it's a bit confusing, it's not yours, that's just a way of saying it, in fact, all the company's profits will be used to create a fund to care for the mental health of artists."

"Because your names will be used, I'm telling you in advance. Tell others when you're free." Chen Chen was afraid that she would misunderstand, so he emphasized it again, "It has nothing to do with you. You don't have to do anything."

"I understand, Oppa." Zhang Yuanying said with concern, "Go home and rest soon, don't get too tired."

"understood."

Chen Chen reached out and pinched Yuanying's soft face, then returned home despite the debuff of fatigue driving.

"Wake me up for afternoon tea."

After pushing the awakened Bae Joo-hyun back into bed, Chen Chen closed his eyes and rested.

"..."

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Chen was awakened by his girlfriend.

"I haven't stayed up this late in a long time. I actually slept for so long." Chen Chen stretched out on the bed. "What shall we have for afternoon tea?"

"Ah, do you really want to eat?" Pei Zhuxuan looked confused, "You only said to call you at this time, but you didn't say you wanted to eat. I didn't prepare anything!"

"What kind of afternoon tea is it if there is nothing to eat during afternoon tea time?" Chen Chen was a little speechless. He pulled the quilt up to cover his head and fell down again. "Then I won't get up. I'll rest for a while."

"Haha, I'm just kidding." Pei Zhuxuan smiled and patted Chen Chen's belly, "Get up, I made soup for you with rice."

"Very good!" Chen Chen jumped up from the bed, "You are worthy of being my dear girlfriend. As a reward, you can watch "Music Bank" with me today!"

"What kind of reward is this? Oh, the girls are coming back, right? I heard that this comeback cost a lot of money." Bae Joo Hyun smiled gently, "Then I really have to take a look and see what the difference is between a comeback that cost a lot of money and ours."

"Compared to you, we are definitely not that far ahead. SMART is stingy when it should be, but it is not stingy when it should spend money." Chen Chen took the opportunity to make fun of Park Jin-young, "Unlike the soy sauce bottle, which is stingy most of the time, so when it occasionally spends money, it looks like a nouveau riche."

"You have such a bad mouth." Pei Zhuxuan smiled dotingly, "Get up and eat, it will get cold soon."

……

After eating, they sat down and talked for a while. They were so engrossed in the conversation that they almost missed "Music Bank".

"We're lucky. The girls were almost the last to appear, and we haven't talked about them yet." Bae Joo-hyun patted her chest, "Watching the replay is different from watching the live broadcast."

"What's the difference?" Chen Chen teased, "Aren't they all videos? And now there are programs with live broadcast logos that also show videos for you."

"Different is different, it's a feeling." Pei Zhuxuan said a few words righteously, and then changed the subject, "Forget it, the girls are out, I don't bother to pay attention to you."

Chen Chen shut up and focused on the stage.

"musical?"

Bae Joo-hyun exclaimed as soon as she saw the first few silhouettes, which made Chen Chen feel very satisfied.

"Go on and look down."

Chen Chen whispered.

Musical instruments and various decorations formed a circle, and Integrate members worked in groups of three in the center of the stage, singing and telling stories in coordination with each other, which was actually the operation of a musical.

The gorgeous costume exaggeratedly puffed up by more than half after a certain strap was torn off, transforming from suppressed elegance to gorgeous bloom, which was a feast for the eyes.

There were very few group dance segments, with only six or seven phrases of "I can love me better" repeated in each section, but their flamboyant temperament made everyone look like queens, stunning the audience.

"You're using the quality of a musical to promote an idol's comeback?" Bae Joo-hyun opened her mouth wide until the last note fell before she came back to her senses. "That's a bit mean."

...(End of chapter)