Peninsula: I'm the Top Streamer

Chapter 518 Getting angry over a man

Jin Dongtian just felt a bit stuffy in the conference room. Liu Zhimin was sitting next to her, and the air between them was subtly tense, which made her feel uncomfortable, so she temporarily left to get some fresh air.

I had just come out of the restroom and was strolling leisurely down the corridor toward the conference room when, as I passed the elevator, the doors opened and I was surprised to see Quan Xuanhe walking out right in front of me.

Jin Dongtian was caught off guard and his eyes met Quan Xuanhe, who was stepping out of the elevator.

He was still wearing the dark-patterned suit he wore to the Blue Dragon Film Awards, with the unbuttoned collar revealing glimpses of his collarbone. His hair was also styled with hair gel, making him look exceptionally neat and handsome.

After a slight moment of surprise, Jin Dongtian's face broke into a bright, sunny smile.

"Xuanhe oppa," she said, her fingertips tugging at the frayed edge of her sleeve, her earlobes flushing slightly, her smile carrying a hint of infatuation.

Quan Xuanhe glanced at her pale yellow cardigan and said with a smile, "I just finished my trip to the Blue Dragon Awards, so I rushed over here."

"What, aren't you ready yet?"

"Ani, you're already in the meeting room. I'm going to the restroom."

Kim Dong-won pointed to one side with her slender finger, glanced over Kwon Hyun-hyuk at the staff beside him, and then refocused her gaze on him.

I didn't expect to run into him.

Upon thinking of this, Jin Dongtian immediately slowed down and stood beside Quan Xuanhe, walking together with him in a seemingly distant manner, displaying a very positive attitude.

"I'll take oppa to the meeting room."

Actually, today is the day Kwon Heonhyuk is coming to SM Entertainment after attending the Blue Dragon Film Awards to discuss the MAMA year-end stage.

Kwon Heonhyuk was pressed for time and didn't have much free time, so in the end he could only squeeze out time to discuss it that night. It didn't matter if it was a little late, since Koreans don't go to bed early anyway, and everyone was used to the artists being busy.

The group followed Jin Dongtian, who in turn followed Quan Xuanhe. They arrived at the conference room door after exchanging only a few words.

"right here."

Jin Dongdong looked up at Quan Xuanhe again before pushing open the door, a bright smile spreading across his face.

When the meeting room door was pushed open, Liu Zhimin was casually stroking the edge of her phone case with her fingertips, waiting for Quan Xuanhe to arrive.

When she heard the commotion from the door opening, she looked up and saw Jin Dongtian smiling broadly. Quan Xuanhe was standing beside her as they walked in together, his fingernails instantly making a sharp scratching sound on the plastic casing.

Hey Jin Dongtian, what are you doing?
Liu Zhimin tightened her grip, staring at Jin Dongtian with a somewhat unfriendly gaze, her chest heaving, and she exhaled heavily through her nose.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting." Quan Xuanhe loosened his tie, seemingly unaware of the sudden tension in the air, and greeted everyone in the conference room with a smile.

As soon as the person in charge arrived, everyone stood up to welcome him, and all eyes fell on him and Jin Dongtian standing next to him.

When Liu Zhimin saw Jin Dongtian, she keenly noticed that Jin Dongtian's fingers were secretly twisting the hem of her cardigan behind her back, and their eyes met.

Ning Yizhuo's gaze swept across the three-person room before he suddenly reached out and pressed down on Liu Zhimin's knee. Meanwhile, Gisele had already pulled out her phone and was rapidly typing something under the table.

"Welcome. I just saw Xuanhe on TV at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. I didn't expect him to be here just an hour later."

The host, the department head, greeted everyone with a smile and gestured for them to sit down. Also present were the MAMA organizers' personnel specifically responsible for planning and liaison.

Kwon So-hyuk and his manager Park Jung-jung sat down, with Kwon So-hyuk sitting directly opposite Yoo Jimin.

He glanced at the table, where several small cameras were placed, probably intended for broadcasting as behind-the-scenes footage.

Jin Dongdong took the opportunity to sneak back to his seat, but no matter how light his footsteps were, he couldn't escape Liu Zhimin's attention. Liu Zhimin turned her head slightly and watched Jin Dongdong pull out a seat and sit down.

In her view, it was Jin Dongtian's deliberate act of sneaking out to greet Quan Xuanhe without any prior notice that annoyed her.

"Now that we're here, I hope we can confirm the general direction of our cooperation."

"Because both Aespa and Xuanhexi have very busy schedules, it's exhausting to meet them. So it's best to finalize the general direction first, and then we won't need to meet and discuss the details too many times."

"That's what the agent from Aespa said."

Park Jung-jung nodded and spoke first: "First of all, for this stage performance, we hope to avoid using elements directly related to the squid game as much as possible."

A representative from MAMA addressed the issue, stating, "Regarding this matter, we contacted the copyright holder of Squid Games a few days ago to inquire whether we could obtain authorization."

"After discussions, we obtained the license for the Squid Game and were able to use related elements on stage."

Compared to ITZY and Heo Sung-tae's collaboration stage, to be honest, the collaboration between aespa and Kwon Hyun-hyuk is more highly anticipated and valued. MAMA is also willing to put in more effort to create a better stage effect.

"In that case, the problem is solved, and we have no objections."

Upon hearing this, Park Jung-jung nodded slightly, not denying the idea.

MAMA is the most watched stage in the entire Korean Wave, attracting millions of viewers. With such a high level of viewership and attention, it's no problem to create a big splash and grab attention, especially with the collaboration with Squid Game. This is a powerful alliance that maximizes the hype.

Kwon Hyun-hyuk's side naturally knew that bringing in elements of the squid game would be more eye-catching, so once the MAMA organizers resolved this issue, they had no further objections.

"Xuanhe is mainly responsible for the intro, recording a short video or appearing on stage first, and then our members take over to complete the performance."

Kwon Heonhyuk is there as a gimmick for the collaboration stage; collaborations always make people more eager to participate.

After the general outline was finalized and the rough process was determined, the on-site team began to discuss the specific details.

Quan Xuanhe no longer cared about listening to these things carefully; they were all pretty much correct, and he just needed to cooperate.

His gaze fell on Liu Zhimin, who was sitting opposite him. He watched her listen intently to the team's discussion and winked at her.

At this moment, Liu Zhimin seemed to notice something, turned her head slightly, looked at Quan Xuanhe, blinked, and met his gaze.

Their eyes met. Liu Zhimin glanced at him, then quietly looked away to continue listening to the team's proposal.

"We've finalized the intro, but the rest of the performance, the stage design, and all that will be handled by the stage design team in coordination with Xuanhe."

He was mentioned again at this moment, and Kwon Hyun-hyuk nodded to indicate that he understood.

Collaboration stages are very expensive, with stage design teams and various other expenses. A professionally choreographed stage can easily cost hundreds of millions of Korean won. Therefore, the most important events are usually the MAMA or MMA, which are basically the two most important award ceremonies at the end of the year and have the largest audience.

Other award ceremonies generally don't spend a lot of money on stage preparations. They achieve results with less money, such as collaboration stages, covers, and solo stages by group members, which are relatively more cost-effective.

Every intro needs a transition. Kwon Heonhyuk is the opening act, so he will definitely need to connect with the members of aespa to enter the main stage.

So the question is, which member should we connect with?
First, we can exclude foreign members. This kind of treatment is only for the main members of the group or Korean members. It shouldn't be given to foreigners.

This eliminated two people for Aespa, leaving them with only two choices: Yoo Jimin and Kim Dong-won.

So the most classic problem is the allocation of resources within the group. The meat is not available to foreigners, and how to distribute it among the members is also a complicated issue.

SM Entertainment has always valued top vocalists, but unfortunately, Kim Dong-won doesn't seem to be a top vocalist, so they had to choose a foreigner instead.

The biggest reason Kim Dong-won benefits from the uneven distribution of resources within the group is probably because Yoo Jimin is so popular. To avoid an over-concentration of popularity, the company promotes Kim Dong-won more, preventing a situation like that of Bae Suzy and Kim Hyun-ah. Promoting Yoo Jimin is routine, while promoting Kim Dong-won is a way to maintain balance. As for the two foreigners?
That's secondary.

Liu Zhimin really wanted this opportunity to perform, and the reason was obvious.

However, Kim Dong-won also wanted to perform better on special stages and gain more fans, and the more screen time he got, the more fans he would gain. That was without a doubt. Wouldn't being able to connect with Kwon Heon-hyuk in the intro be widely recognized as a highlight?
So she wanted it too.

The two foreigners tacitly fell silent at this point, probably knowing that this had nothing to do with them and that they were just sitting there watching the show.

Let's see what interesting things happen when two women compete for such an opportunity.

"As for the intro... we'll wait until the stage design team comes up with a plan, and then we'll see how the specific effects affect the final selection."

The somewhat delicate atmosphere vanished with a single sentence from the room leader, and what was about to become a storm turned into a calm sea.

The members nodded, but all seemed somewhat indifferent. Ning Yizhuo and Gisele didn't care. For Ning Ning, maintaining fair and just treatment was enough. She wanted to fight for more opportunities, but SM didn't give her the chance.

Besides, the subtle demeanor that Liu Zhimin and Jin Dongtian were giving off was enough to make the two of them stay away.

Quan Xuanhe naturally noticed this as well, glancing left and right at the two of them before exchanging a glance.

Kim Dong-won's lips seemed to be pursed in displeasure, but when he saw Kwon Hyun-hyuk, he showed a somewhat helpless smile, looking a little troubled.

Liu Zhimin's reaction was different from hers. She just stared at him with unusual focus, her expression carrying a hint of stubbornness and a persistence that could be felt in her eyes.

This…

It inexplicably gave the impression that the two girls were competing for him, which could easily lead to a misunderstanding.

"There are still twenty days until MAMA. We will come up with a specific plan and start rehearsals as soon as possible, no, within five days."

Because of the unexpected nature of this proposal, the preparation time was somewhat rushed, which is why SM Entertainment made such a statement.

Quan Xuanhe naturally had no objections and agreed to the suggestion.

After that, Park Jung-jung was responsible for thoroughly investigating and communicating about matters outside of the stage.

It was past midnight, and the night was getting deeper. The scene outside the building was becoming increasingly desolate. The number of passersby gradually decreased, and the building lights were going out one by one, like white pieces being captured one by one on a chessboard.

The pandemic has not been completely declared over, so the flow of people outside remains at a low level.

End of the meeting.

"Let's stop here for today. If we need to contact each other later, we can have an online meeting if it's not absolutely necessary to meet in person. After all, it's quite troublesome for Xuanhe to come all the way here."

Park Jung-jung then spoke up.

The others had no objections and nodded in agreement.

The meeting adjourned.

The atmosphere in the meeting room immediately relaxed, and one or two people stood up to leave.

Where are you going later?

Quan Xuanhe looked at the group of them, finally fixing his gaze on Liu Zhimin, and smiled as he looked around.

"We should go back to the dorm to rest, and then we have to get up at five in the morning to run our schedule."

Liu Zhimin then spoke up in response, her small face showing serious thought as she spoke.

"So busy..."

"Never mind then. I was thinking we could grab a late-night snack together if we had time."

Upon hearing this, Quan Xuanhe was a little surprised, then shook his head and gave up the idea.

"Sure, no problem. There's plenty of time to rest along the way anyway."

By the time I get back to the dorm, it'll be almost 2 a.m., and I have to leave again at 5 p.m. So I only have an hour or two to lie down in bed when I get back to the dorm.

So when Liu Zhimin heard him say that, she immediately gave up her precious rest time and eagerly stepped forward.

Jin Dongtian rolled his eyes at her anxious expression, thinking she was a bit stupid.

Do people with big breasts always lack something in their brains?
"Do you have time?"

Seeing this, Quan Xuanhe looked at the group of them and extended an invitation.

Ning Yizhuo glanced at him, then at Liu Zhimin, and gave Quan Xuanhe an awkward yet polite smile.

Are we going there?

It's clearly Liu Zhimin who wants to meet you. Is it appropriate for us to go?

"Okay."

On the other side, Jin Dongtian readily agreed, nodding with a normal expression, showing no sign of surprise, as if it were perfectly normal.

Liu Zhimin didn't turn her head to look at her, pretending not to have heard.

It would be strange if no one could tell that there was a conflict between the two.

"Did you two have a fight?"

Quan Xuanhe looked around at the others who had all left, leaving only the few of them in the meeting room. He didn't hold back at all and spoke quite bluntly, bringing the veiled matters into the open.

These words startled the two of them, leaving them speechless for a moment. They opened their mouths, then fell into an awkward silence.

Liu Zhimin looked a little awkward, pursed her lips, and didn't want to speak.

Jin Dongtian had a speechless expression, his eyes wide, somewhat helpless as to why Jin Dongtian didn't try to hide anything and just said it directly.

"Ani."

Liu Zhimin didn't even look at Jin Dongtian, but glanced at the other two members, then took a deep breath and looked at Quan Xuanhe as if nothing was wrong.

Jin Dongtian didn't say anything, but simply turned his face away silently, looking like he didn't want to talk either.

Only Liu Zhimin's words echoed in the meeting room; otherwise, an awkward silence fell over it.

The two seemed to be holding a grudge and neither wanted to talk to the other.

(End of this chapter)