Peninsula Platinum Era

Chapter 248 Royal Porridge
"No problem, I will arrive on time. Please give my regards to Vice President Kwon Jae-hong. I will definitely pay him a visit."

Chen Shijun answered the phone. On the other end was Yoon Mi-hyun, the head of MBC's content business. There were still some minor details to be finalized before the memorandum of understanding was signed.

"Times have changed. A few years ago, Big Hit was just a small company, far from the power of the traditional Big Three. Who would have thought that in just a few years, they would be able to force television stations to sign unequal treaties?"

Secretary Eun-hye couldn't help but sigh at the shift in power. Just last month, MBC, one of South Korea's three major television networks, held a high-level meeting with President Ahn Hyung-joon and Fatty Fang. During the meeting, President Ahn almost completely admitted to all the network's long-standing problems.

They even claimed that to improve the long-standing flawed production culture of television stations and entertainment companies, it is necessary to create a creative environment of mutual respect and care. Regardless of whether they are being sincere or not, this attitude speaks volumes.

They expressed regret for the damage caused to the artists by past mistakes and suggested establishing an advanced production model with HYBE, showing an extremely humble attitude.

Although HYBE is a controversial company, Chen Shijun felt that they had been tolerant enough in their dealings with the TV station, as no entertainment company would willingly offend a TV station.

The feud between MBC and HYBE has a long history. In the early years, BTS suffered unfair treatment on "Music Core". In the most serious case, MBC was accused of driving BTS fans who had already bought tickets away from the front row and giving the seats to people with connections who entered through special channels.

Furthermore, the arrangement for these audience members to take photos with the members backstage without the company's consent sparked a huge protest from the fan base, while the TV station remained completely out of the loop at the time.

Until the end of that year, BTS was unable to attend MBC's "Gayo Daejejeon" due to their already confirmed overseas schedules. MBC subsequently canceled the performance qualifications of fellow HYBE artists TXT and GFRIEND.

This was clearly an act of retaliation, and Bang Si-hyuk did not back down, announcing that all his artists would cease participating in any MBC music programs, a decision that continues to this day.

However, as HYBE continued to acquire companies and expand its artist portfolio at an extremely rapid pace, MBC became somewhat uneasy. Almost half of the more well-known boy groups fell into HYBE's hands, and they also had ambitious plans to launch two girl groups. At this time, reconciliation was undoubtedly the best option.

So, the reason why Chen Shijun insisted on getting Minju to redeem a contract briefcase with MBC some time ago was because of this. Even some of Eunbi's variety show resources were negotiable details.

"It feels like Kim Min-ju got a great deal. This production is quite large, and she's the second female lead."

Eunhye thought that girl was really lucky. She originally just wanted MBC to give her a minor resource, since it wouldn't be appropriate to give her something too good right away when she first arrived, as it would make it more difficult to continue investing resources later. But the other party obviously took this matter seriously.

She received such a huge benefit before even achieving anything. She originally just planned to casually get some roles to get by, but she ended up getting the part.

Is this what it means to be born with royal destiny? In IZ*ONE, they were already royalty, so can they replicate that miracle in HYBE?
"That's settled then. Since we made that promise to her back then, we should naturally show her our sincerity."

Chen Shijun didn't see anything wrong with it. Since he had already promised this cunning and soft-hearted girl, there was no need to play any tricks on her or renege on his promise.

Moreover, at that time, Yuan Ying and An An acted as guarantors together, so how could they let their two younger sisters break their promise?
……

Meanwhile, MBC was taking this dinner, which was arranged in advance, very seriously, clearly valuing this opportunity to reconcile past grievances.

"Tell that female celebrity to come to dinner tonight. You know, this young director specifically asked someone to get her a role."

Vice President Kwon Jae-hong was rather dismissive, but the young Director Chen Shijun had specifically added this condition, since it was just a role and not a very important matter.

Because the incident happened suddenly, this demand was not included in the initial negotiation terms, but was a new condition proposed later.

During Chen Shijun's conversation with Fang Shihe, the fat man didn't think it was necessary to discuss the terms again, nor did he think it was a very important matter.

In this situation, letting Chen Shijun handle it himself seemed to the TV station that the young director was using his position to benefit the female idol—surely letting her have dinner with her benefactor wasn't a problem?
Sitting in the back seat of the Yakoshi, Chen Shijun was calculating in his mind that this was indeed the best time to reconcile with MBC. After all, both girl groups were in the preparation stage, and "Music Core" was a decent stage for them to perform. "I met a very promising talent in Europe. She is very beautiful and has a great presence. I think she is the kind of girl that S-team should focus on promoting."

Chen Shijun turned off his phone screen. Nakamura Ichiyo had already dealt with the school matters as quickly as possible and planned to return to Japan first, and then come to South Korea next month to train with the debut group.

In comparison, this transition is not easy, but with her ballet background, Chen Shijun feels she can definitely adapt, and the company will also give her some help.

"Pretty? How pretty? Is she prettier than Kim Min-ji? I don't think so."

Secretary Eunhye felt that in terms of beauty, Koike was definitely worthy of the role of visual center, and she was also very capable, truly outstanding among the trainees.

“You don’t understand. I think she’s very talented. You know, even though I’m an outsider, Representative Su also said she’s excellent.”

There was still some distance to go on the way to the hotel, but fortunately there was nothing else to do, so Se-jun even had time to let Secretary Eun-hye take a look at Nakamura Ichiyo's talent.

If Secretary Li continues to work within the entertainment company, she will inevitably need to become familiar with more of the business, which will allow her to better share Chen Shijun's burdens.

"Hmm...she has delicate features, but not the kind that's stunning at first glance, which is quite similar to Koike..."

Secretary Li kept commenting while stroking her chin. The girl in the video was introducing herself and seemed quite elegant; perhaps she would be even more outstanding as she grew up.

However, she still thought Koike was prettier. If she didn't still have a great use in Team N, she really wanted Chen Shijun to put her in Source Music.

After all, Min Hee-jin is a bad woman with an extremely unstable mental state, and there are some bad rumors about her on the internet. Although they are unconfirmed, there may be some truth to them.

In comparison, both she and Chen Shijun were definitely good people who would never harm her and would be of great help to her growth.

Chen Shijun didn't answer. He was currently preparing to separate the N Project from the new label and hoped that Min Xizhen could do her job well and not cause any more trouble.

"This is Vice President Kwon Jae-hong..."

"This is Lee Joo-hwan, the head of the drama series division..."

"This is the head of Variety Show Division 5 of the Variety Show Headquarters..."

Under the guidance of Yoon Mi-hyun, head of the content business division, Chen Shijun also greeted several leaders in turn. In previous interactions, this female executive, who rose from documentary director to head of the division, demonstrated considerable skill.

"The name 'Infinite Challenge' is legendary. MBC truly has a wealth of talent, which is admirable."

They had done their homework beforehand, having a general understanding of the resumes of these TV station executives, so they were particularly confident in their mutual flattery.

However, it must be said that most of these executives started from the state or department level, rising from the ranks. A significant portion of them worked their way up from ordinary PDs or journalists.

For example, the man I just shook hands with, Kim Tae-ho, was the head PD of the once-famous variety show "Infinite Challenge".

(End of this chapter)