Chapter 17: The Loser (Second Update Seeking Recommendations)

  The plot of this chapter was originally in the outline, but I thought about deleting it later. However, I still wrote it out to serve the plot for later... I tried my best to simplify it, so it might look a bit rushed; just bear with it!

  Thanks for royyi's reward!

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  An Junhe returned to Hanzhong at noon and had lunch with his sister outside before receiving a call from Quan Baogen, informing him of the online situation.

  "I didn't know about this matter, at that time there were dozens of people under the stage, and many secretly took photos and videos, I really can't remember who uploaded these video screenshots." In Quan Baogen's office, An Junhe hastily returned, after looking at those posts online, he helplessly spread his hands and bitterly smiled.

  He seems to have a knack for causing trouble lately, first provoking Ha Ji-won and now provoking Bao Er. The hardcore fans of the two must hate him to death now. Of course, more importantly, his collaboration with Bao Er on this song might be ruined.

  This is the company's consistent strategy, whether or not it is true. As long as the artists under its umbrella are involved in a scandal, it immediately cuts off the relationship between the two parties involved in the scandal and does not allow them to contact each other. If necessary, it will even take action to suppress one of the parties involved.

  Quan Bao Gen didn't seem worried at all, and laughed: "Can't remember? No big deal. This time it's not necessarily a bad thing. Unlike with Hae Soo Young, you and Bao Er are from the same company. Even if something gets out, the relationship between colleagues can be exaggerated, and besides, you two only collaborated on one song, no need to make a big deal out of it."

  As he spoke, his expression was somewhat meaningful: "Even if there were rumors about Bao'er and me, it would only be beneficial to you!"

  An Junhe furrowed his brow, feeling that he was thinking of something. Just as he was about to ask, Quan Baogen waved his hand: "Forget it, let's not talk about this. Tell me about your song. You little scamp, you wrote such a great song, why didn't you tell me?"

  "I'll tell you after a while." An Junhe chuckled and said, of course, he couldn't understand what he had hastily copied last night...

  "Alas, I've told you countless times, I'm your agent! You have to inform me in advance about anything that's going on, so I can be prepared. Every time, you catch me off guard and I end up being no different from an assistant. Have you ever seen an agent as miserable as me? Jun-hyuk, it's not that I want to force you into anything, but sometimes you have to consider my situation too..."

  Blah blah blah, blah blah blah.

  It was another long and tedious lecture, An Junhe listened with a smile, occasionally nodding his head, but in reality, both of them knew that the next time would be the same as before. Quan Baogen's ramblings for half a day yielded no results, leaving him to sigh with a resentful expression.

  He then dropped the subject and changed the topic to what happened that morning when Bao's assistant came to his office to cause trouble:

  "...Never mind, that idiot really stirred up trouble all the way to the president's office, haha, that's why you're called here, it's an emergency meeting convened by the president to discuss countermeasures with the management team. You and Bao'er are parties involved, so you'll be attending as well."

  An Junhe was taken aback. Was it necessary to convene a management meeting for this matter? It seemed like making a big deal out of nothing. Li Xiuman wouldn't be so impatient.

  Seeing his expression, Guan Bao Gen knew he was puzzled and smiled slightly: "The president had already made a decision to cut off your contact with Bao Er, but the other directors' representatives did not agree with this decision, so they had to hold a meeting to vote."

  When he said this sentence, although he was smiling, his expression was very complicated. Similarly, An Junhe also showed a complex look after a slight astonishment.

  The management team had differing opinions on a decision, and a meeting was held to put it to a vote. On the surface, this seemed like a normal procedure, but in reality, different companies have different situations. For S·M, a company founded and run by Li Xiūmǎn for many years, going through the voting process meant that his control over the company had already hit rock bottom. The vast majority of the management team no longer followed his will, and some even began to secretly resist him. Otherwise, even if there were differing opinions on a decision, it wouldn't have escalated to the point where a vote was necessary. Li Xiūmǎn, who knew his control was weakening, would not have held a meeting to further humiliate himself after his proposal was rejected. This meeting was actually a counterattack by the other management team members.

  As someone who "used to" host a listed company and also fought against external capital, An Junhe can empathize with Li Xiuman's current feelings, which must be frustrating and indignant.

  An Junhe gazed at Quan Baogen with a complex expression, believing that Quan Baogen was also playing some role in it, otherwise those directors would not have reacted so quickly.

  Thinking of this, An Junhe then suppressed the thoughts in his mind. This was actually a good thing for him, because he had long been on the opposing side of Li Xiufull's conflicts. Weakening the enemy was strengthening himself, and there was no room for sympathy on the battlefield.

  Not long after waiting in the office, there was a call to inform him and Quan Baogen to go to the conference room for a meeting. The two adjusted their emotions and rushed over, only to find that Bao'er and her assistant had already arrived.

  When he saw Bao'er, An Junhe smiled apologetically at her. To say that this time she was innocent and got entangled in it, no matter how things developed online, whether the result was good or bad, she wouldn't get any benefit from it, but instead might suffer losses from fans leaving.

  Unexpectedly, Bao'er didn't mind at all. Seeing him apologize with a smile, he leaned in and whispered: "It's okay, the assistant thought you were using me for publicity, but I know it's not true. Xī Zhāo jie guaranteed this afternoon that you're not that kind of person!"

  "Uh... Hee-chul's sister?"

  "Hehe, you don't know? I've always called Xi Ze 'sister', and he said you two have a good relationship?"

  "Ah, yes!" An Junhe laughed and was about to say something else when he saw Bao'er's assistant walking over with a displeased expression, seemingly wanting to pull her away. Bao'er turned around and glared at him without saying a word, but the implication of dissatisfaction was extremely strong.

  Then she said to An Junhe, "Let's talk later," and she returned to the opposite side with her assistant, speaking in a low voice. An Junhe, who had extremely good hearing, heard that it was a subtle warning from her to her assistant: "...causing trouble is not enough, you want to interfere more...if you continue like this, you'll be fired..."

  "It seems she also sensed it, if not for this assistant reporting, the fact that Li Xiuman's control over the company has weakened would not have been exposed now." An Junhe thought, he had always heard that Bao'er had very deep feelings for Li Xiuman, and today's meeting must have made her very dissatisfied. But he didn't expect this girl under 20 to be able to distinguish right from wrong, and instead of venting her anger on him, she was chatting with him.

  Not long after the two finished their conversation, those who received notifications to attend the meeting began to arrive one by one. Li Xiuzhen was the last to arrive, still with his usual cold expression, but people with discerning eyes could see the resentment he hid beneath his indifference.

  "Before the meeting begins, let me clarify the topic...". Seeing that everyone was present, Li Xiufan, with a cold face, began to read out the purpose of convening this meeting and pointed out his own controversial handling opinions, asking all participants to participate in the vote.

  "It's no big deal!"

  As soon as Li Xiūmǎn's words fell, a young man in his thirties opened his mouth and laughed: "It's just a exposed chorus, no need to handle it so seriously, breaking off relations is too inhumane. We have always been committed to creating a harmonious family atmosphere, such a small matter also makes a big fuss, how can we make the artists get along with each other? How to strengthen their sense of belonging? Of course, President Li, I'm not targeting you, it's just that your decision goes against the company's principles!"

  Others nodded in agreement one after another.

  This young man, Ahn Jun-hyuk, is known as Kim Young-min, a very capable person. According to Kwon Bo-geun's introduction, he joined the company in '99 and was in charge of overseas affairs, became the CEO of Fandang-Korea, an affiliate of SM, in '01, and has now obtained proxy authority from multiple shareholders, leading the opposition against Lee Soo-man as a key figure. The establishment of The Grace is closely related to him. Lee Soo-man thinks that boy groups are currently trending, having created TVXQ and The Trax, but he took an opposing approach, preparing a girl group to compete for artist resources.

  Of course, the rumors that followed were just rumors and did not hinder An Junhe's high evaluation of him. Such a person with great political acumen is worthy of attention, and he was also the first to accept Quan Baogen's surrender.

  Having heard his speech and the echoes of approval from the management, Li Xiufull still flashed a hint of anger, he lowered his eyelids and said indifferently: "So what does Jin Lishi mean?"

  "Hehe, my idea is simple. Since it's already been exposed, let's just deepen it and really make it a scandal to hype up. We have Jun He's songwriting and singing abilities, but what we lack now is popularity! Popularity is based on the public's recognition of a star. In the past, our company has only accumulated recognition through posters and TV ads, which cost a lot and take a long time. But actually, we also have existing resources that can help us quickly gain popularity! For example, having seniors like Bao Er and Kangta, who are popular and influential, bring along some juniors to participate in a few stages and activities, spread some rumors that are seemingly true but not quite, get the media's attention, and easily increase the public's recognition. Then, naturally, popularity will come."

  As soon as the words came out, someone nodded slightly, and this was indeed a good idea. If it could be successful, it would greatly shorten the initial accumulation period when launching new artists and save a lot of publicity expenses. However, some people also sensed the hidden danger - using scandals to boost popularity and attract attention would also bring in anti-fans, which is a double-edged sword!

  But no matter what others think, they all know that the main purpose of today's meeting is to thoroughly suppress Li Xiufull's prestige, and everything else is secondary. Therefore, even if those who sense the hidden danger hesitate for a moment, they nod slightly afterwards, indicating their consent.

  Seeing this scene, Gwon Baek-hyun, sitting next to Ahn Jun-hee, couldn't help but smile. When Ahn Jun-hee caught him smiling out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly remembered what Gwon Baek-hyun had said in the office earlier, which seemed to imply that he already knew Kim Young-min would suggest creating a scandal, or perhaps it was even his idea...

  Seeing everyone except Lee Soo-man nodding in agreement, Kim Young-min's smile became even warmer: "Of course, this idea of mine is still immature for now, and there must be some shortcomings. So let's take this opportunity to have Jun-hyuk and Bomi try it out first to see if it's feasible. If it really doesn't have any problems, then in the future when we debut new people, we can follow this pattern..."

  The subsequent meeting time passed in a chorus of assent, with Li Xiufull, who sat in the symbolic position of power but had lost his authority, looking lonely and helpless. An Junhe watched coldly from the sidelines, although he was present at the meeting, he had no right to speak, he looked at Bao'er, who also had no right to speak, the other side seemed to notice his gaze, and also looked back at him, in those bright eyes, a hint of helpless sorrow...

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