Chapter 404: The Empress Begins
“DM Entertainment truly has some interesting stuff,” Jiang Shu thought, looking at the slow-moving traffic ahead on his way back, as the few scoops Li Mingjiu had revealed to him flashed through his mind.
“iKON member B.I has been using drugs for over five years.”
“Kim Sae-ron has been under Kim Soo-hyun's mental control since she was a minor.”
Li Mingjiu only revealed two major scoops, but for Jiang Shu, it was already enough.
“iKON, huh,” Jiang Shu's eyes narrowed. This was one of YG’s top groups. To say that YG didn't know about this matter internally was pure nonsense.
Every entertainment company conducts regular physical examinations for its artists, and B.I's condition would definitely show up in the medical reports.
Even if he could get away with it once or twice, could he really get away with it every time for five years?
You could guess the conclusion without even thinking.
Having this lead meant that Jiang Shu once again had leverage over YG.
Jiang Shu: “…”
Honestly, this time he really didn't do it on purpose.
Li Mingjiu was practically rushing to give it to him. It really had nothing to do with him, buddy.
They had practically spoon-fed him the big scoop; he couldn't just not take it.
This situation with YG…
Uh, what could he do? It just happened.
“Yang Hyun-suk probably doesn't know that DM Entertainment knows about this… No, he knows.” After a brief moment of thought, Jiang Shu realized his mistake.
How could DM Entertainment know about something like this and not tell Yang Hyun-suk? The fact that it was being kept secret now simply meant the price had been agreed upon, and it was used to collect hush money every year.
And now, Li Mingjiu was giving him this big scoop because he believed that YG had changed its leadership.
Since YG was no longer Yang Hyun-suk’s personal domain and Park Hongjun was now in charge, why should he continue to abide by the original agreement with Yang Hyun-suk?
Thinking this way, the logic made sense.
As for the Kim Sae-ron news, it wasn't very useful. Neither Kim Sae-ron nor Kim Soo-hyun had any relation to him.
He'd just hold onto it for now. Maybe it would be useful later?
Who could say?
Beep beep beep.
A sharp honk pulled Jiang Shu's thoughts back. He looked up and saw that the car in front had already moved quite a distance.
He quickly released the brake, and his car moved forward.
Evening in Seoul is rush hour, when people with cars, who have worked hard all day, get off work and go home.
Those without cars usually get off work even later.
This is data compiled by the Korean Statistical Office.
Koreans always compile data on strange things, which is quite… interesting.
…
Jiang Shu did not convert the two scoops Li Mingjiu sent into resources. Instead, he created a folder and kept them, along with the photos and timeline Li Mingjiu provided, in a filing cabinet in Jiang Shu's office.
The paper copies ensured that no one other than Jiang Shu could access them.
Before activation, these two scoops did not need to be accessed by anyone other than him.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Please come in.” Choi Ji-yeon pushed open the door and entered.
“What is it?” Jiang Shu looked up at Choi Ji-yeon.
“This is the list of candidates for Girls' Generation's manager.” Choi Ji-yeon held an open folder and presented it to Jiang Shu. “President Li has selected two candidates. Please take a look.”
Jiang Shu took the folder and glanced at it.
“The manager candidates don't matter. Have all nine members of Girls' Generation been notified?”
“They have all been notified personally. Currently, everyone except Yuan Ying, who just debuted… um, returned, is already in place.”
Not only was the public unaccustomed to it, but even Choi Ji-yeon was not very used to calling the new IVE's debut a 'return'.
“Coordinate their schedules. I need to see all nine of them.”
“They have time this afternoon,” Choi Ji-yeon immediately replied.
She had long anticipated that Jiang Shu would gather all nine of them for a meeting soon to discuss the debut song. For this, Choi Ji-yeon had kept a record of their overlapping free time recently.
“Then this afternoon it is.” Jiang Shu glanced at Choi Ji-yeon. A capable secretary was much less troublesome than a 'capable' secretary.
He reached into the folder, pulled out a document, and handed it to Choi Ji-yeon.
“Girls' Generation's debut song, 'Genie (Tell Me Your Wish),' take it to the recording studio.”
“Understood.” Choi Ji-yeon took the folder with both hands, already accustomed to Jiang Shu's trick of conjuring a debut song out of thin air.
“You may go,” Jiang Shu said, waving his hand.
“Yes.” Choi Ji-yeon bowed to Jiang Shu, then exited the office.
“It's coming,” Jiang Shu's eyes showed deep anticipation.
Around 3 PM, on the third floor of DM Entertainment, in the Girls' Generation practice room.
It would have been perfect to just use the IZONE practice room, but Jiang Shu informed the company about Girls' Generation too late, so the IZONE practice room had already been divided into three, creating new practice rooms.
The current Girls' Generation practice room was newly put into use.
Click.
The practice room door opened, and a cold gust of wind blew through the crack directly onto Kim Tae-yeon's face. Although Kim Tae-yeon was wearing a sweater after taking off her down jacket, she still shivered from the sudden cold.
“Is no one here?” Kim Tae-yeon looked at the slightly dark room and the air that lacked warmth. Although it faced the sun, the room was large enough that it wasn't fully bathed in sunlight, still appearing somewhat dim.
Using the sunlight, she turned on the practice room lights and the air conditioner's warm air.
“Looks like I'm the first one,” Kim Tae-yeon muttered. After receiving the notification to gather in the practice room this afternoon, as the Chairman wanted to see them, Kim Tae-yeon had rushed over excitedly.
She also wanted to be in a girl group. Among those most excited about this limited-time group, she was undoubtedly the most thrilled.
From solo to a limited-time group, she was, of course, extremely excited.
She hung her down jacket aside and scanned the layout of the practice room.
It was identical to a regular practice room, just scaled up proportionally. If anything, there were several more sofas, perhaps a special feature of a girl group's practice room?
Her practice room only had two sofas in total, one single and one long. For a girl group, that might indeed not be enough.
Nine people would definitely need at least three long sofas to sit comfortably.
Thinking this, she casually closed the practice room door and quickly walked to the sofa, picking up her phone and excitedly taking pictures.
Just as Kim Tae-yeon was happily taking photos, the practice room door opened again.
Xue Yun cautiously poked her head out, glanced into the practice room, and easily spotted Kim Tae-yeon happily snapping pictures.
She instinctively pulled her head back.
She recognized Kim Tae-yeon.
Is she the leader as soon as she arrives?
Xue Yun stood at the doorway, her big eyes blinking, her emotions fluctuating.
