Peninsula Platinum Era

Chapter 10 The Awkwardness of Meiyan

"Did you buy a new necklace, unnie? It's so pretty!"

Zhao Meiyan returned to her dormitory, looking somewhat tired, carrying a large bag. Her roommate, Shu Hua, stared curiously at her older sister who hadn't returned all night. Just then, the sparkling diamonds under the light almost blinded her.

"This looks expensive. Where did you get the money, Unnie? We haven't settled the bill yet."

Although the two are closer than the other members, this guy's fast talk is really frustrating. Miyeon hurriedly covered the necklace with her sweater.

"This is a genuine product. Fake ones are very cheap, costing less than 20,000 Korean won."

She squeezed into the bedroom with her bag in hand. At this moment, the other members had already been drawn to her. As the eldest sister closed the bedroom door, she felt as if a knife was stabbing her from behind.

She let out a long sigh and plopped down on the ground. Looking at the hickey on her neck in the makeup mirror, she patted her cheeks helplessly and curled her legs up into a ball.

"Seriously, what a bad guy, but it's alright, I guess."

Although it would be a serious matter if a female idol who has debuted were caught having lingering ties with her ex-boyfriend, she gritted her teeth and said yesterday in the face of Chen Shijun's teasing that he didn't need to worry about it.

"It's a small mistake that anyone could make."

The man was even more surprised by this statement. If this was considered a minor mistake, then what would be a major mistake for a female idol? As a senior executive of an entertainment company, Chen Shijun felt it was necessary to delve into the lives of female idols to understand their true feelings.

"Getting caught is a big mistake, don't you understand that?"

Meiyan's idea was simple and straightforward, but it seemed to make sense. Love between men and women is a natural human emotion and cannot be controlled by high pressure.

Just like students in school, the heavy workload of practice and the competitive environment keep trainees in a state of tension for a long time, and dating is often used as a way to relieve stress.

The company's ban may leave this emotional connection as the only outlet for feelings. It's perfectly normal for teenage boys and girls to get together and not study, and sparks to fly.

Chen Shijun's final conclusion was to give them a severe crackdown. If making an example of them wasn't effective, then it meant they hadn't done enough. The company didn't have the time or energy to focus on differentiation.

Everyone knows it's impossible to completely eliminate dating among idols, but it's possible to gain more leverage in the power struggle between employers and employees.

This is why Chen Shijun suddenly had the idea of ​​a "rapid elimination mechanism." Although he was a man dating a trainee, as a professional, he had to change his perspective and stance.

These trainees, and even the idols who debut, must be instilled with a sense of insecurity, a feeling of being constantly eliminated, as if they were all just cogs in a machine.

In fact, all companies do this, but as the group gradually becomes popular, it inevitably leads to a situation where the group becomes too big to handle. Idols rely on the favor of fans to build their influence, forming an ecosystem that is tied to the group.

Idols use their fans to put pressure on investors. If they forcefully suppress these investors, it will harm the company's interests. Therefore, they can only compromise to a certain extent.

His previous discussion with Bang Si-hyuk went far beyond the surface-level issues. By using the "global talent search + data-driven training" model, idols that meet market preferences can be mass-produced, which can greatly shorten the training time for trainees.

Define idols as "performance executors," purchase external works in bulk to fill the music library, avoid resource waste caused by differences in creative concepts, and ideally, any type of music can be used immediately.

A standardized persona also facilitates the mass production of merchandise and advertising materials, with diminishing marginal costs, allowing the success path of the previous successful group to be quickly replicated.

As for the hollowing out of artists' value and their over-reliance on company packaging, that's a good thing, folks, it allows companies to better control the situation.

As for the future of this industry, Chen Shijun thinks that's overthinking it. Look at Fang Shihe, does he care about K-pop? He just wants to use this industry to realize his vision.

As someone working in blockchain, what does she care about the Korean wave? She even let him raise her like a son and then sell her like a pig, all because Big Hit showed her some exciting prospects. Chen Shijun's ideas terrified Meiyan, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. All she knew was that she needed to make as much money as possible now so she could buy some assets later to secure her future.

"Seriously, I'm going crazy. What am I going to do about this on my neck? I can only cover it up with powder."

Meiyan does have feelings for her ex-boyfriend Chen Shijun, but as an adult, she has to weigh things, and the current situation is not bad.

Since she's already debuted, maintaining this relationship with Chen Shijun doesn't seem to have any downsides, except that he seems to already have other women around him.

When I was with him, I could only swallow my anger towards all these women. I never thought that one day I would become one of them. But this guy meant to put an end to it all.

However, things didn't turn out badly. Perhaps in the future, the other party might still help out out of consideration for past ties. Ms. Zhao felt no guilt about going back to her ex.

"Oh dear! Zhao Meiyan, Zhao Meiyan, how did you become like this? You have no backbone at all."

The girl was a little discouraged. She had run away in a disgraceful way back then, and now she still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend Chen Shijun. She felt like a gold digger!

He slapped his cheeks hard, threw his travel bag under the bed. He still had a trip to take care of that night, so getting some rest was the most important thing.

"Is Mi-yeon unnie sick? She didn't come back all night, she went to rest this morning."

The captain's words were unintentional, but they made the other members think deeply. Even Ye Shuhua, who wanted to go in and take a look, stopped and awkwardly withdrew her hand from the door.

Although I didn't get a clear look at that necklace, it was obviously a high-end item. I'd never seen this woman wear one before, but the moment I casually mentioned it, she immediately became agitated and tried to defend herself. It would be strange if there wasn't something fishy going on.

"Stop guessing, Unnie might just be feeling unwell."

It was the Thai girl, who was second only to Zhao Meiyan in age in the team, who spoke up: "We're all girls, who doesn't know who? Who can guarantee there won't be a day when they need their teammates to keep secrets from them?"

Let alone dating during one's rise to fame, when I was a trainee, I was also flirting with the same male trainee as Song Yuqi. If we hadn't found out by chance, it would have been a huge deal.

However, given her wealthy background, she had just caught a glimpse of the diamond necklace and realized it was definitely a high-end item. Given that she hadn't settled her accounts after more than a year since her debut, Zhao Meiyan would never buy it, considering her personality.

Looking around, everyone had the same expression, and the atmosphere in the dormitory became a bit strange, while Mianmian was sleeping soundly in her bedroom.

"Please forgive me! Se-joon oppa, I was wrong! I'll never run away again."

Chen Shijun naturally couldn't hear the girl's pleas for mercy. Although she wasn't tall or athletic and didn't have the height of 172cm like Eun-chae, she was still quite well-proportioned.

Especially when idols have incredible flexibility, they don't have the high intelligence and melancholy of older sisters, but rather a kind of ethereal beauty.

Who could have imagined that this seemingly empty-headed beauty would gradually grow under his influence and form a logic she considered a closed loop?

However, I haven't had the mind to deal with her lately. The names Su Chengzhen and Min Xizhen have been lingering in my mind. The chaos at Source Music is quite a headache. I should meet with them one by one tomorrow to understand their demands.

My phone rang, and Yuan Ying called via video. Her big profile picture and the way she was holding her face looked adorable.

She never felt any distance or alienation from herself; she was always so confident.

(End of this chapter)