I desperately want to win on the peninsula

As time went by, after a series of events, Lin Qianqiao and Li Rongzhen packed their bags and prepared to return to the peninsula, because the recording of "SMTM" was about to begin.

The second episode aired a couple of days ago, and I heard the response from the peninsula was quite good.

However, the company and Lin Qianqiao are in different places, and it is difficult to explain clearly by phone or text message. It is better not to know the specific situation.

So, after finishing his work, he boarded a plane back to the peninsula. By the time he arrived at his dormitory, it was already past midnight. He had been busy all day and was exhausted. He washed up and went to rest.

Lin Qianqiao, who had rushed back to the peninsula from Dongda University, was woken up by his alarm clock in the early morning. He quickly got out of bed, yawning, and went to the bathroom to wash up.

After washing up, I went to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast and then went to the living room. I turned on the TV and randomly picked a morning news program to watch while I ate.

He got off the plane last night and got back to his dorm close to midnight. He was still a little dizzy when he woke up, but luckily the Peninsula University and Dongda University are close by and he doesn't have to deal with jet lag.

Li Rongzhen, who came back with her, had a worse experience. After dropping Lin Qianqiao off at her dormitory, he still had to go to the company to hand over his duties.

Sometimes, seeing how busy this guy is, I sometimes wonder who the real celebrity is.

Is this situation caused by the company or by the artist himself?

Something just doesn't feel right.

After breakfast, Lin Qianqiao went back to her room to change her clothes and prepared to go to the company.

In the lounge, Lin Qianqiao looked up and saw that Li Rongzhen had a rosy complexion and a smile on his lips, as if he had encountered some happy event, and teased him.

"Brother Rongzhen, you look great!"

"It's alright, we've received quite a bit of good news."

Lee Yong-jin's smile remained unchanged as he looked at Lin Qianqiao, who was already dressed neatly, and said, "I checked your schedule last night. The company has taken on some work for you; they are all high-quality cases that have been selected."

"Okay, I'm fine with it." Lin Qianqiao nodded.

This guy started talking about work after only a couple of sentences, which was pretty boring.

"The car is parked downstairs, let's go down first."

"Okay." The two went downstairs from the company and got into the nanny van that was supposed to pick them up. With a start, the vehicle began to drive from the narrow passageway to the main road.

Lin Qianqiao sat in the car, looking at the itinerary that Li Rongzhen had just sent him on his phone. It detailed the routes he had to take.

There are basically no lucrative opening performances or endorsements; instead, there are photo shoots for well-known brands, such as Puma sportswear, Swarovski jewelry, and promotions for the local brand TBJ Nearby, as well as inside pages of the second-tier Peninsula magazine GEEK.

It's obvious at a glance that their fame is inflated, but they don't actually make much money; it's purely for publicity and boosting popularity.

This also fits his current situation. He has some popularity but it's not concentrated, and his fan base is relatively scattered. Brands certainly won't spend money on endorsements. We'll have to wait and see. It's more about getting more out of the market with less money and achieving a win-win situation.

Although the current schedule is not exhausting or non-stop, the time is still very tight.

Suddenly I realized there was a problem.

"Hiong, why are you suddenly so busy?"

"According to the company, after the second season of 'SMTM' aired, your popularity experienced a small surge, breaking into the hip-hop scene. Many casual viewers who didn't follow hip-hop were attracted by that performance and thus started paying attention to you," Lee Yong-jin explained. "As a result, the number of followers on MONSTAX's official SNS and YouTube channels also continued to grow."

"You can do that?" Lin Qianqiao asked, puzzled.

"Of course," Lee Yong-jin said. "SMTM was the first HIPHOP program to be produced, and it has a loyal and engaged audience. You were able to find opportunities to break into both the idol and HIPHOP communities, so you naturally benefited from that." He added, "Furthermore, the company unanimously believes that you have great looks and hopes to increase your exposure in the fashion industry, so they've booked you many magazine photoshoots and pictorials."

"By the way, the hat you wore in the first round of auditions went viral," Lee Yong-jin suddenly remembered and added.

"NEW ERA?" Lin Qianqiao asked in confusion. This hat has been popular for many years, and it is associated with the NBA's Lakers and the MLB's Yankees, two super popular New York teams.

This hat can be seen around clubs of all sizes.

The iconic LA logo on the hat says a lot, so it's quite puzzling that it still needs to become a hot topic. Don't people on the peninsula watch sports?

That doesn't make sense... He often sees baseball bats in his daily life.

This suggests that the people on the peninsula should really like baseball, so it's quite baffling that they don't even recognize the Yankees' hats.

What was the purpose of buying this baseball bat...? It can't be used for standing at attention, can it?

"Yes, quite a few fans are posting pictures on social media of the same hat you wore during the audition," Lee Yong-jin explained with a smile. "That's probably why some brands have started to take notice of you, and our company is still in contact with them."

"Alright..." Lin Qianqiao nodded.

"So you'll have more personal schedules during this period. The company has already made arrangements for you. Magazine photoshoots will be quite important, as this will help with some of the brands you'll be discussing later." Lee Yong-jin spoke quickly, wanting to explain the situation all at once and give Lim Gan-chiao some advance preparation.

"No wonder there are so many magazine cover shoots," Lin Qianqiao replied knowingly.

……

"Um..." Lee Yong-jin paused for a moment, "There's one more thing. The production department asked me to ask you if you've written any songs recently?"

"have."

Lin Qianqiao pondered for a moment, "Does this mean we're going to return?"

"Yes! The management has this idea, and they are still finalizing the title track for the album, which is why they asked me to ask you about the song." Lee Yong-jin nodded.

"I'll give it to EBSEE once I'm done with this."

EBSEE is one of the production team members of MONSTAX, and she is particularly good at writing lyrical pieces.

In terms of skill level, it's not bad.

It certainly can't compare to those well-known studios or renowned independent producers.

But his lyrical pieces are indeed quite good.

It's more than enough to be included in an album.

However, when it comes to the title track, Starship doesn't have any good artists on their own, and even their senior Sistar has to find outside help to buy songs.

The company's production team is not very good at the moment, but for MONSTAX, it's a mixed bag.

On the downside, the company is weak in album production and can hardly offer any help; the songs they buy are largely a matter of luck.

On the positive side, the members can compose their own songs. Lin Qianqiao, Zhou Xian, and LM all have creative talent and have never had a high demand for songs.

The company's management is well aware of the members' creative talent. After all, they are all artists under their management, and there may be other concerns, so they only allow the members to participate in some creative work.

Zhou Xian sometimes boasts when chatting in the dormitory, saying that the company will make him the producer of MONSTAX one day.

However, even if the company and Lee Yong-jin don't say anything about MONSTAX's comeback...

The members of MONSTAX probably anticipated this to some extent, as their recent schedule at the University of Tokyo was quite noticeable.

Others might be going there to make a quick buck, but the MONSTAX group was basically just doing promotional work, running around here and there. Their earnings were only slightly more than what they would make on the peninsula, but not by much.

Therefore, one can guess a thing or two from this.

For this reason, the members took this trip very seriously.

Moreover, the food, clothing, housing and transportation at Dongda University are much better than on the peninsula. Lin Qianqiao even suspects that some of them will gain ten pounds when they come back.

"Due to other considerations, the company recently purchased a song from Giriboy," Lee Yong-jin added.

"It's still this guy..." Lin Qianqiao smiled, not objecting to the company's request for songs from both sides. If the songs were bought directly and used as the title track, Li Rongzhen wouldn't have needed to ask him for them.

"Yes." Seeing that Lin Qianqiao's expression was normal and she did not feel anything unusual about the company's actions, Li Rongzhen was relieved.

To be honest, this is simply a matter of choosing the better one from the two, and Lin Qianqiao doesn't care about the competition in this regard.

Anyone who watches football knows that even the most talented rookies have to compete with veterans for a starting position.

Giriboy is quite talented; he was one of the top six finalists in last year's SMTM, and his creative abilities are solid.

He composed MONSTAX's title track, "Arbitrary Invasion".

Although it didn't make much of a splash, considering the return of popular artists at the time, it seems like there's no fault to be found.

After all, this is not a problem that can be solved simply by having a high-quality song.

Both BIGBANG and EXO have top-notch promotional efforts and their fans' spending power.

For a newly debuted group to want screen time is really wishful thinking.