Topist Entertainment Agency’s representative meeting room.
Including Kim Wi-dong, the representative, Moon Kyu-cheol, Head of Management Division 1, Lee Jung-hye, Head of Singer Management, Jung So-hyun, Chief Manager of the AR team, and all the staff overseeing the rookie debut, everyone gathered for a meeting.
Kim Wi-dong, with bloodshot eyes, started speaking.
“So, JS, ZY, Haru, and Retro are all participating?”
Lee Jung-hye replied.
“Yes. That’s almost confirmed. However, Retro is still uncertain…”
The representative’s chest puffed up and then deflated repeatedly.
“What the hell are those bastards up to with their backdoor deals?”
“Well, excluding Retro, all three agencies have already launched girl groups in the last three years, so they have the bandwidth to debut a new girl group.”
The representative finally stood up, clearly agitated.
“Who doesn’t know that? It’s the Big Three! The Big Three! What profit do those bastards think they’ll get by entering a survival show? Damn it!”
*
It all started two months ago with an article.
[An article popped up lol Just Choose Your Idol Season 3 lol]
[Exclusive] Mwave announces the birth of the mega project ‘Just Choose Your Idol Season 3’
[Seid Economy = Senior Reporter Seo Jun-won]
The music channel Mwave hinted at the birth of ‘Just Choose Your Idol Season 3’, the so-called ‘Jadol Season 3’, on the evening of the 28th, Korean time.
It’s the follow-up to ‘Jadol Season 2,’ which stirred up the entertainment industry due to manipulation controversies in 2019.
The investment amount for ‘Jadol Season 3’ is expected to be double that of Seasons 1 and 2, promising to be a massive-scale program.
Can ‘Jadol Season 3’ finally shed the stigma of ‘Jadol Season 2’ after three years and make a leap forward?
These bastards are finally doing Season 3 lol
└ Wow damn lol They really are doing Season 3
└ The bastards behind the manipulation are so brazen, like just change that trash title or something lol What even is Jadool damn lol
└ For real, Jadool is crazy lol So this time it’s gonna be Jojdol or what?
└ Looks like the bait is Jojdol
└ Things are different for Jojdol, who’s pretty this time?
└ Season 2 was released proudly, so I guess they thought they could, right? No manipulation allegations came out.
└ Your next manipulation-focused Monorush fangirl lol
└ Ajae-mae lol Your Jojdol can go to your own community to fanboy lol
└ But doubling the scale does pique interest ㅇㅇ
└ lol Your next Mwave intern lol
└ But what did they do to double the investment? Is that even possible for a survival program?
└ Is the Big Four coming out? Bougie
└ Why would they come out lol Just to ruin their image? Let one of the other big agencies get first place, and they’d be downgraded immediately lol
Why do you even show up? Just to get your image shredded? If some other major agency wins first place, you’ll be downgraded immediately, haha!
└ Yeah, showing up will probably only be like season 2, maybe two places at best. But it’s a rigged show—do you think they’ll even participate?
Literally, seasons 1 and 2 hit the jackpot, but in the end, the program ‘Jodoll’ lost its image due to manipulation allegations.
Of course, they were acquitted, but public opinion was that manipulation was pretty evident.
So it was the judgment of major entertainment agencies that there was no need to participate with a rigged image.
Only the smaller agencies wanted to join ‘Jodoll Season 3’.
Topist Entertainment is also a large agency, just below the four major companies.
Refusing Mwave’s offer was only natural.
The only thing to be concerned about was that the investment cost doubled, which felt a bit off.
And a month after the article came out, a rumor started circulating in the entertainment industry.
All four major agencies would participate in ‘Jodoll Season 3’.
At first, it was brushed off as an absurd rumor.
But a few weeks later, it was confirmed that the ‘Jodoll Season 3’ producer, Mwave’s entertainment director, and the representative of Js had met.
It could be seen as just a transaction between Js and Mwave.
Until it was confirmed that they would be selecting participants among the trainees to join ‘Jodoll Season 3’ that very day.
Logically, does it make sense for the four major agencies to take on the stigma of manipulation and join a fading survival program?
But if js and Haru, two agencies, participate, that changes everything.
That means Mwave made a significant decision.
After the manipulation allegations, their presence in the music scene had been slowly diminishing.
It was clear they were sharpening their knives to cut off that flow and showcase themselves as Korea’s biggest music channel again.
Of course, this time there would be no manipulation.
Ultimately, the obvious conclusion drawn from the gossip in the entertainment world was this.
Mwave had planned an unprecedented girl group survival program, and at least three of the four major agencies would participate in this epic-scaled ‘Jodoll Season 3’.
*
Kim Wi-dong took a deep breath and repeated the exhale.
Finally somewhat calm, Kim Wi-dong sat back down.
But his hands were still trembling.
In a cold, sinking voice, Kim Wi-dong said,
“Do-hee Lee, send her to survival.”
Team leader Jung So-hyun, looking flustered, answered,
“What about the debut team…?”
“Is that really what’s important right now?”
The image of the debut team they had worked for years to build flashed through Jung’s mind.
” But… ”
Director Moon Kyu-cheol spoke in a cold tone.
” Team Leader Jung, please follow the representative’s words. You know better than anyone what is important for a girl group. ”
Popularity.
For girl groups, the most important thing was popularity.
It was a phrase well-known among fans.
” Girl groups thrive on popularity, boy groups thrive on fandom. ”
The foundation for boy groups is to target the quasi-romantic feelings of VIP fans who will buy lots of albums.
You can tell just by looking at their activity songs.
First, lyrics that make both domestic and international fandoms obsessed to the point of madness, and outfits that stimulate the senses, such as uniforms or revealing clothes.
Lastly, the business gay performances for chemistry among male members.
Choreography where they gaze at each other dreamily and embrace, plus holding hands in public appearances.
All of these were elements intentionally crafted by the entertainment agency to enhance fandom loyalty.
If they successfully targeted the quasi-romantic feelings of the fans in the manner described above, the next step was to host fan signing events like crazy.
More often than participating in music shows.
Then, the loyal fandom of the boy group bought albums in bulk just to participate in every fan signing event.
As a result, boy groups frequently topped the charts, even if the public didn’t know them, and their profit margins were in a different realm than those of girl groups.
In contrast, girl groups had much lower fandom loyalty compared to the almost fanatical boy group fandom.
Thus, there was only one way for girl groups to make a profit.
The essential essence of being a celebrity: popularity.
That was all there was to it.
Amidst this, “Adventure Season 3” emerged.
Although there were allegations of manipulation, “Adventure Season 1 and 2” were mega-hit programs.
What if at least three of the top four agencies joined in?
For the time being, it was clear that all the attention and public interest would be focused on “Adventure Season 3.”
And in such a time, launching a new girl group?
If one knew how the girl groups born around the same time as “Adventure Season 1″ in 2018 had vanished, it was something not worth pondering.
And Team Leader Jung knew that fact better than anyone.
There was only one answer that was going to come out of Team Leader Jung’s mouth.
” Yes… I understand. ”
Director Moon Kyu-cheol continued.
” After all, only one person can participate in the audition. Let the rest of the debut group audition too. If they have skill, they can join Adventure. ”
*
” Guys. I think we should postpone our debut until the year after next. ”
My heart sank.
” What…? ”
” No, postponing the debut? ”
” Why? Director, what do you mean by that? Postponing the debut? ”
” No, Director, what are you talking about! ”
The sudden news left the members, including myself, in shock.
“Calm down, everyone.”
Especially Na-eun Unni, the oldest, was infuriated by the Director’s words to stay calm.
Getting up from her seat, Na-eun Unni, with bloodshot eyes, raised her voice.
“How can we calm down! We’ve been practicing for years!”
The Team Leader, standing next to her, hugged Na-eun Unni and said,
“Na-eun, just sit down for now.”
“You know how hard we’ve worked, Team Leader. But suddenly, our debut is… canceled? That means it’s basically a complete cancellation of our debut…”
As she spoke, Na-eun Unni began to sob and burst into tears.
The Team Leader bit their lip without a word.
For a moment, only Na-eun Unni’s crying filled the meeting room.
Breaking the silence, Woo-ah Unni spoke in a trembling voice.
“Why…? There must be a reason why our debut is falling through…”
The Director let out a deep sigh and said,
“I’ll explain everything. You all know about the survival show, right?”
How could we not know? We were trainee idols.
“This year, Season 3 will air.”
“I know. But there are accusations of rigging…”
“Just hear me out, Woo-ah. Season 3 of the survival show will be unprecedented. I can guarantee that. All the hype will center around this show—debuting during that period? The fourth-largest entertainment agencies’ idol groups were shaken by the survival project idol group. From the company’s perspective, it’s obvious it would fail, and they can’t debut you at the same time.”
Na-eun Unni gasped for breath and said,
“So what will happen to us…?”
“You five will all participate in the survival audition. If you succeed and make it to the final debut, that would be the best scenario. However, if you fail to participate or don’t want to, you have three options left: wait and practice for the next debut, pay the penalty and leave the company, or switch to the acting department and debut as an actor. The decision is yours. But I can’t guarantee that you’ll be in the debut group for the debut happening in the second half of the year after next. You’ll have to prove your skills again. What will you do?”
I let out a hollow laugh.
Nothing in this world is easy.
“I…”
Honestly, thinking about practicing until this winter was exhausting.
We just need to go on the survival show and win, right?
It’d be great to debut early, anyway.
If we can’t even endure a survival show, then we won’t survive after debuting either.
“I’ll participate.”
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