Peninsula Platinum Era

Chapter 254 I Must Win Her Loyalty
Although Chen Shijun received a message from Captain Shaoqing before going abroad, he forgot about it as soon as he returned and didn't even remember that there was such a promise.

After signing a settlement agreement with MBC, Chen Shijun had to deal with the matter of separating Team N from Source Music, and he was also gradually divesting himself of some of Levvels' affairs.

A manager who had defected from Kakao's financial department successfully caught Fang Shihe's eye. Chen Shijun sometimes couldn't quite understand it, considering that this manager held a fairly high position at Kakao.

This only shows that he and Fang Shihe had some differences of opinion on the Levvels issue. As the one who built this framework, he was not optimistic about the company's prospects, while Fang Shihe had high hopes for it.

However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, the higher Levvels' status rises, the more benefits Bang Si-hyuk will need to provide in return.

Despite this environment, Chen Shih-Chun still had to oversee the separation of the new label from Source Music. After this month, it will become an independent label on par with Source Music and P-Disc.

The newly registered trademark, ADOR, has a very special position within HYBE. It is the first internally incubated brand under the company's multi-brand system, not one acquired or formed through a joint venture.

The current operation involves signing all members of Team N who debuted under this label, and Ms. Min has become the company's first CEO, stating that she will integrate her personal aesthetics and planning concepts into the soul of this label.

“Representative Su’s request to retain 30% of the profits from ‘Attention’ is quite reasonable, as compensation for the divestiture of Project N, since he had prepared this debut song long ago.”

This shows that Team N had already achieved a high level of completion by the time they worked on Source Music, and Representative Su actually contributed a lot to the music.

Overall, this group plan is not as Min Hee-jin has always boasted, that she contributed almost all of the effort to it. At least in Chen Shijun's opinion, it seems that she is somewhat reaping the benefits.

However, after laying the groundwork, Representative Su finally agreed to hand over the entire plan and stated that all the individual contracts of the debut group members would be transferred, but some copyright royalties from early songs would need to be retained.

Although it's still springtime, Chen Shijun likes to turn the air conditioning up quite cold during work hours, as he feels it helps him clear his head.

Ms. Min, rubbing her hands from the cold, slowly took a sip of tea, clearly somewhat dissatisfied with Representative Su's suggestion.

She even threatened to re-record the songs, completely get rid of the shadow of Source Music, and create an ADOR with only Min Hee-jin elements.

"If we were to scrap all the planned music and start over, firstly, the cost would be too high, and secondly, it would take too much time. Perhaps we should add an additional condition."

Chen Shijun firmly disagreed with this idea, as it might delay the debut date again. He proposed that if the streaming revenue growth within a year after the debut exceeded a certain expectation, the profit-sharing ratio could be adjusted accordingly.

As the saying goes, good news makes people feel refreshed, and ADOR's new CEO was extremely happy today, not rejecting some of the proposals on the spot.

During this period of negotiations, Ms. Min seemed to increasingly demand of herself the standards of an artist, constantly talking about "aesthetics," but in reality, she was using these aesthetics to package her commercial demands.

Chen Shijun suddenly realized something and understood why Fatty Fang admired this woman so much; ultimately, the two were like-minded people.

Some of the terms revealed her calculating nature. She kept talking about being an artist, and Fatty Fang always touted himself as a music producer, while this woman was clearly moving in that direction as well.

Fatty Fang probably liked this woman because she was somewhat "like him." People are often narcissistic; they tend to admire those who resemble themselves and indulge them. But in reality, both of them were quite insidious. At least Chen Shijun felt he was more upright, especially towards children, where Min Xizhen relied too much on mental control.

“What Director Chen said makes a lot of sense. Completely overturning the existing musical foundation would be too costly in terms of both time and opportunity, but the integrity of the aesthetics cannot be compromised.”

Min Hee-jin continued her shrewd bargaining, indicating that she was willing to retain her share of the profits, but that under her leadership, the group's musical direction and image development could bring commercial value far exceeding expectations.

In this situation, the contribution of the earlier works should be reassessed. This statement was presented in a grand manner, without refuting Chen Shijun's opinion, and successfully leaving room for negotiation.

The specific growth expectations and the pullback ratio are another point that requires some wrangling, so the legal team has to refine those details. Chen Shijun doesn't want to get bogged down in the details and insists that the divestiture procedures be completed within the stipulated time.

“ADOR will be the most unique entity in the HYBE system. I will prove this to Chairman Fang and everyone else. Director Chen will also witness the history of KPOP.”

This woman had become very arrogant, her voice slow and deliberately solemn, as if she were contemplating an artistic proposition, which made Chen Shijun feel that she was really pretentious.

While Fang Pangzi claimed he wanted to restrict Min Xizhen, he actually granted her almost unrestricted power. Although Chen Shijun had the power to monitor and ultimately veto, he was completely ignorant about music.

Chen Shijun thought this fat guy was hopeless. He spent a long time figuring out how to restrict him in the details, but in the end he just went all in. And so, his indulgence of Min Xizhen has begun.

"Of course, we will definitely push for the success of this project, but the premise is to complete the process as soon as possible. Representative Min, please don't let everyone down."

After responding calmly and seeing off the satisfied Min Hee-jin, Chen Shijun stood alone in front of the French windows, where the scenery outside looked vibrant in the spring sunshine.

Whether it's Fatty Fang's fervor for Levvels or his unconditional support for Min Hee-jin, Chen Shijun feels that this rapidly moving giant ship has long since deviated in some directions that he cannot agree with.

The image of a young girl appeared before Chen Shijun's eyes. Xiao Chi was indeed a good girl, and Eunhye was cultivating her loyalty step by step.

She didn't feel guilty about using her scheming against girls. In contrast, Min Hee-jin had an even stronger desire to control her trainees, which she called family-style management, but it was actually a more refined and covert form of mental control.

Shaking his head to shake off these distracting thoughts, he knew that the separation of Team N was a predetermined strategy. As for where ADOR would go under Ms. Ming's leadership, only time would tell.

Chen Shijun naturally had high expectations for this brand. Like Min Xizhen, he hoped to make the project a success and then exercise his options to make the assets even larger.

As for Xiaochi, Chen Shijun must gain her loyalty, and Min Hee-jin will undoubtedly tie all the value of the group and individuals to her project.

If this ship really gets out of control, Koike might become the most crucial anchor, playing a pivotal role in keeping things in check.

However, it seems that he has forgotten something. Chen Shijun even wondered if it was because he was getting old, and he felt that some strange things had not left any trace in his busy mind.

(End of this chapter)