"Hyung, is this really going to be okay?"

"Of course. What, do you think it would’ve been better to refuse?"

"No···it’s not that."

Yoon Byeongcheol, the CEO of Dion Music, still wasn’t sure whether he had made the right call.

-Thank you. Once discussions with the members are finished, we’ll send the contract renewal documents to your company.

The contract renewal meeting that had just taken place at KJ Entertainment.

Byeongcheol was on his way back after ultimately agreeing to Iam’s contract renewal.

Although it was only a preliminary agreement for now, since contracts with the members themselves had not yet been finalized, a preliminary agreement was still a contract, which meant it would be hard to take his word back later.

"The only reason I did it was because this is the first time you’ve ever told me this firmly to just follow your lead."

"You won’t regret it. Let’s be blunt—do you or I really look like we could take better care of the Iam members than KJ Entertainment can right now if they came back?"

"That’s true."

The biggest reason Byeongcheol accepted KJ Entertainment’s renewal proposal was the urging of Park Daesu, the CEO of Daewon Planning, whom he was usually close with.

-Daewon Planning agrees to Iam contract renewal for our artist Im Yunkyung.

Right after CEO Kim Sanghyeok finished his explanation, CEO Park Daesu had said he would agree to the renewal without adding anything else.

At first, Byeongcheol had been startled by Daesu’s behavior and was about to ask why he was making such a hasty decision, but then—

-Just follow me on this.

In the end, still unsure, he agreed to the renewal after Daesu whispered for him to trust him and follow along.

Of course, it wasn’t a choice he made just because he followed Daesu.

-One of the factors behind Iam’s current popularity is the content team’s YouTube channel, which began with KJ Entertainment’s full-scale support. Thanks to that, people with no interest in idols at all, as well as overseas fans, are flowing in through Iam’s YouTube channel.

Content of a quality that could only come from supporting Iam and Iam alone, unlike other agencies that couldn’t devote themselves entirely to a single group.

On top of that, the skill of Raon and Lucas Ryuberi, who were handling Iam’s producing, had already been proven through the previous Skull album, so honestly, unless it was one of the Big 3 agencies, there was nowhere that could support Iam better than KJ Entertainment right now.

Above all else—

-This is still confidential, so I hope you absolutely won’t leak it. A week ago, KJ Entertainment signed a three-year exclusive contract with Lee Sion, a member of Iam.

What had been decisive was Sanghyeok’s statement that Lee Sion had already renewed.

'We were all chasing a mirage.'

Lee Sion.

She was the prize every major agency wanted, not just the original agencies of the Iam members.

That made sense. There was no place that wouldn’t covet someone who ranked No. 1 in buzz, No. 1 in popularity, and No. 1 in likability among celebrities, never mind idols.

In fact, the best-case scenario the Iam members’ original agencies had been aiming for was to take the members after Iam disbanded, scatter them back out, then add Lee Sion and debut a new girl group.

Of course, with so many places after Lee Sion, it wouldn’t have been easy, but if they succeeded, they could have ridden Iam’s halo and hit it big.

Even if it was cruel to the other members, Lee Sion’s presence really was that overwhelming.

So Byeongcheol, too, had held a slight hope that he might be able to recruit Lee Sion.

Since Lee Gahyeon of Dion Music had seemed particularly close to Lee Sion, he’d indulged in the dreamlike fantasy that maybe if he persuaded Gahyeon well enough, he could somehow lure Lee Sion over.

But once he heard that Lee Sion’s renewal was already complete, he had no choice but to abandon that fantasy.

'Honestly, if Gahyeon comes out alone, it’s awkward. Rather than a new girl group, it’d have to be solo activities.'

Gahyeon had already been on the older side for an idol, and once Iam’s activities ended, age would become an issue if she were to debut in a new girl group with younger members.

That meant the only thing left was solo activities, and that wouldn’t be easy either.

Lee Gahyeon had improved, but not to the point of captivating the public and fans on her own as a solo act.

In the end, she would have to move into variety or acting, but there was no guarantee either of those would work out, and there was a high chance she would wind up stuck in an awkward position instead.

Faced with that, Byeongcheol had decided that staying with Iam was the best option after all.

"Oh, are you two just coming out now?"

"Ah, CEO Kim."

As they came out of the KJ Entertainment building while talking with Park Daesu about the renewal, they saw Kim Jeongsu, the CEO of Dudurim Entertainment, who had left earlier.

Kim Jeongsu, who had been smoking by a utility pole across from the building, hurriedly put out the cigarette, then came over to Byeongcheol and Daesu with a smile.

"Looks like the three of us are the only ones who came out after agreeing to the renewal?"

"Yes, we just came out too, so we’ve got no idea what the rest are going to do."

"Well, unlike small fry like us, the others have more weight behind them, so of course they’d have more to think about."

Small fry.

At Kim Jeongsu’s overly blunt wording, Daesu and Byeongcheol’s faces twisted slightly.

It was true that Daewon, Dion, and Dudurim, the three that had already decided on renewal and walked out, were agencies on the smaller side, but even so, it didn’t feel good hearing someone else say small fry out loud.

"Come to think of it, why were you the first one to support the renewal, CEO Kim?"

"Ah. It wasn’t anything big."

"What?"

"Yuri called me a little while ago and said she wanted to keep doing Iam."

"What?! You renewed just because of that?"

"Oh, you just don’t know. If things don’t go Yuri’s way, that kid will bolt in an instant. During the last break, Yuri came to the company and threw a fit, saying Yuri had become talent that SY and TSP would go after, so Yuri ought to be treated with extra care···."

CEO Kim Jeongsu vividly explained just how terrifying Kurosawa Yuri was.

Byeongcheol, who had been listening almost entranced to CEO Kim Jeongsu’s surprisingly engaging story, suddenly had a thought cross his mind.

'Kurosawa Yuri, Im Yunkyung, and even our Gahyeon.'

If you added Lee Sion, whom KJ Entertainment had already successfully renewed with, more than half of Iam’s seven members had already agreed to renew.

Of course, the rest wouldn’t be easy, but at this rate, Byeongcheol found himself thinking that a full-group renewal, which had seemed impossible at first, might actually be possible after all.

***

"Our UI Entertainment does not agree to Geum Shinyu’s renewal with Iam."

"Is that so?"

"Thank you for bringing us all the way here and explaining everything, but contract renewal is something that has to be approached carefully."

Sanghyeok quietly stared at the CEO of UI Entertainment, whose words were polite but whose face held a sneer.

-UI is openly just trying to pull Shinyu out.

One of the places Sanghyeok had paid the most attention to during this Iam renewal process was UI Entertainment.

Unlike the agencies of the other members, UI had constantly been trying to push Geum Shinyu into solo activities under one excuse or another.

They had even tried to interfere in album production and broadcast activities.

Of course, KJ Entertainment and Sanghyeok hadn’t even bothered to entertain those little tricks, but now that the UI CEO seemed to think he had the upper hand, he was being even more blatant.

"At UI, we’ve never spared support for Shinyu. From producing to special training we didn’t even provide for the other trainees···you could say Shinyu was treated a little specially."

"Yes, I see."

"It’s not that I’m saying absolutely no matter what. It’s just that, naturally, I think we need to be shown a little more consideration."

A cheap threat demanding they hand over something extra if they wanted to renew with Geum Shinyu.

Heh.

A laugh slipped out of Sanghyeok at that threat.

"What is it?"

"As it happens, I did have something prepared separately for CEO Park Sangmun."

"Is that so? Well, I suppose this kind of thing would’ve been awkward to discuss in front of everyone, right? No matter what, treating our UI the same as the others, and Logic or TSP the same as the rest, would be a bit improper."

Slide.

When Sanghyeok said he had something prepared separately and handed over a document, UI’s CEO Park Sangmun immediately brightened with a smile.

'While the tiger and the lion are keeping quiet, the wolf that just sits there is the one acting the boldest.'

TSP was one of the Big 3 agencies. Logic wasn’t part of that Big 3, but it was still firmly a tier below them at worst—a clear top-tier agency.

UI was a fairly established agency in the entertainment industry too, but compared to those two, it fell far short.

If anything, UI Entertainment was closer to the three agencies that had already expressed renewal support and left earlier, yet among the three companies that still hadn’t accepted the renewal, UI was acting the most puffed up.

Apparently the man didn’t think that made him look ridiculous.

"What is this?! Are you trying to joke around with me right now? A trainee contract termination notice? Have you lost your mind?!"

"I haven’t."

"You’re trying to poach Shinyu after luring her over, aren’t you! This is a violation of an exclusive trainee contract!"

"That’s right. A violation of an exclusive trainee contract. Just not by us—by UI."

"What?"

Thunk.

After speaking, Sanghyeok all but tossed the prepared documents toward CEO Park Sangmun.

"I heard that after the first month, the company stopped paying the producing costs, so Ms. Shinyu had to work part-time to cover them herself. The teacher who taught Ms. Shinyu composition testified to that, so this is a failure by the company to fulfill its contractual obligations."

"This is···."

"If it were only that, it might still be a little ambiguous. But you knew about the bullying and ostracism among the trainees inside the company and stood by doing nothing, didn’t you?"

"That never happened!"

"Park Soyeon. She may not belong to UI Entertainment now, but even after Ms. Shinyu reported that Park Soyeon and some of the trainees who followed Park Soyeon were continuously bullying her, the company not only stood by and did nothing, it actually told Park Soyeon about it."

"···."

"Normally that would be hard to prove, but thanks to Ms. Shinyu carrying a recorder around all the time, things got much easier. I’m actually very curious to see how UI will react when this case becomes public."

At Sanghyeok’s words, CEO Park Sangmun’s face gradually drained blue.

No wonder. UI Entertainment had spent half a year struggling to erase Park Soyeon’s image after Park Soyeon got tangled up in the Agbaek school violence scandal.

'It really was an ugly sight.'

By nature, Sanghyeok was closer to cold than hot.

He believed mixing emotion into work was dangerous, so as a rule, he avoided letting personal feelings get involved whenever possible.

But even Sanghyeok had been left speechless the more he investigated UI Entertainment.

Pocketing the training costs listed in the trainees’ contracts, then folding them into settlement statements anyway, was just the beginning. They had also shamelessly done vicious things like passing dorm costs onto the trainees.

Above all, when he learned that they had not only knowingly tolerated Park Soyeon’s behavior, but had actually supported Park Soyeon behind the scenes, Sanghyeok could feel something boiling inside him.

-CEO, have you eaten?

The things Sanghyeok had learned about Geum Shinyu’s family circumstances and what Geum Shinyu had gone through during trainee life while interviewing the Iam members as part of managing them as their CEO.

Once he learned those things, Sanghyeok thought the fact that Shinyu was now promoting brightly as part of Iam was practically a miracle.

-There’s no legal problem with terminating the contract. At this level of evidence, we might even be able to get compensation instead.

That was why, unlike with the other members’ original agencies, Sanghyeok didn’t want to give UI Entertainment a single concession.

If anything, he wanted to strip them for everything he could.

But if he did that, it would inevitably turn into a legal battle, so for Shinyu’s image’s sake, Sanghyeok had held himself back.

"As of today, Ms. Shinyu’s trainee contract with UI Entertainment is terminated."

"W-What did you just say?"

"Given everything that’s happened so far, there’s more than enough basis for termination with a penalty fee attached, and the costs that would have arisen from Shinyu being a trainee should be more than covered up through the second-quarter settlement, don’t you think?"

Now completely at a loss for words, UI’s CEO Park Sangmun could only tremble and work his lips soundlessly.

"Quietly sign that termination document and leave. Of course, if you want to make things complicated, I welcome that too. To be honest, what I really want is not to settle this quietly, but to make an example out of you in public."

At Sanghyeok’s words, CEO Park Sangmun, hands shaking, signed the contract Sanghyeok had thrown at him without saying a word, then left the conference room like a zombie.

"···."

And now the only ones left in the conference room were Sanghyeok, TSP’s CEO Park Taesu, and Logic’s CEO Choi Hyunwoo.

"TSP agrees to Ryu Ayeon’s renewal with Iam."

"Is that really true?"

"Yes. We were actually planning Ayeon’s solo activities, but since the member herself wants to continue with Iam, we decided to respect that."

Clench.

After the somewhat shocking exchange just before, the one to break the heavy atmosphere in the conference room was Park Taesu’s agreement to the renewal.

When Taesu said TSP would agree to the renewal of Ayeon’s Iam activities out of respect for Ayeon’s wishes, Sanghyeok couldn’t help clenching his fist under the table.

TSP, one of the difficult opponents he had expected trouble from, had agreed to Ayeon’s renewal without imposing any real conditions, which meant the Iam renewal project was now practically right in front of its ending.

"Hoo···so the situation has turned into every Iam member gathering together except our Ryujin."

But at that moment, the sighing voice of Logic Entertainment CEO Choi Hyunwoo rang out.

There was still one problem left.

***

'This doesn’t feel great.'

It was like being dealt your opening hand in poker and feeling good because you already had a pair, only to lay the cards out and find out the other side had made a straight.

For Hyunwoo, who had clearly believed he held the initiative going into today’s meeting, the current situation was not satisfying.

-Then I’ll be heading out first.

Even TSP, the last bastion, had ended up supporting Iam’s renewal.

In a situation like this, what would happen if Logic refused to allow Seo Ryujin’s contract?

'We’d probably be the only bastards left holding the bag.'

Idol fandoms were fiercely loyal, but once they turned on you, they became terrifying enemies.

If they pulled Seo Ryujin out like this and debuted a new girl group, it was obvious that fans who felt betrayed would become countless ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) obstacles blocking the road ahead.

But if Logic agreed without resistance, Logic stood to lose a lot.

Starting with the problem of what to do with the trainees whose debut would become awkward without Seo Ryujin, and then there was the issue of KJ Entertainment itself making a leap through this Iam renewal and potentially becoming Logic’s competitor.

For Logic, it was a maddening situation where renewing was a problem and not renewing was also a problem.

"CEO Choi."

"Yes, go ahead."

"Are you aware that MPlay is planning a survival program?"

"If you mean Agbaek Season 2, our trainees are already scheduled to appear on it."

"No. Not Agbaek. They’re planning a new survival program."

"A new survival program?"

Lost in thought like that, Hyunwoo snapped to attention at CEO Kim Sanghyeok’s question about whether he knew of this new survival program.

"It’s smaller in support and scale than Agbaek, but MPlay is planning another survival show of its own to select a new project girl group."

"How do you know that···ah. KJ."

"Yes. We learned it in advance as confidential information through our position as a subsidiary, and since it’s still in the planning stage, no other company knows yet."

A survival program.

The same kind of variety format that had raised Iam to a status comparable to a national girl group was being planned again in another version. That was unquestionably huge information.

"So MPlay is considering agencies to cooperate with them. Agencies that could handle everything from trainees to the management of the debuted group."

"Even though KJ Entertainment exists?"

"We already have Iam, and we also have to take charge of the boy group that will debut through Agbaek Season 2, so we’re stretched thin. KJ Entertainment still isn’t large enough for that."

"Then···."

"Naturally, one of the Big 3 isn’t going to step in, so wouldn’t a company with a solid system in place, like Logic, be the right fit?"

At Sanghyeok’s final words, Hyunwoo was finally able to show, for the first time today, a sincere smile.

Grip.

The two men stood, faced each other, and shook hands.

It was the moment a miracle happened—one neither of them had thought possible when today’s meeting first began.