I Became the CEO of an Idol Company in a Game – Chapter 106

Author: Cireng

“I’ll step out to take this call.”

The fact that I had helped A-Pen leave Joo Youngjun’s company was known to no one except Han Suseok.

So I left the meeting room, entered the CEO’s office, and answered the phone.

“Hello.”

[CEO-nim!]

Park Juchan’s urgent voice came through. It seemed he had seen the article about Florence’s debut song leak and called right away.

“Yes.”

[Are you okay? No– I mean, I saw the article, and… this isn’t right. I mean….]

He stammered, unable to properly continue his sentence.

[I just saw the article. But– no, wait a moment.]

I could hear him taking a deep breath.

It seemed he was trying to calm himself down.

[Sorry. I was just too shocked.]

His voice became a bit steadier.

The deep breathing seemed to have worked.

“It’s fine.”

[So what exactly happened? No–could it be… our former CEO?]

His voice had turned somewhat secretive.

He seemed to desperately hope that it wasn’t Joo Youngjun.

‘If I say it is, will they think it’s their fault and drown in guilt?’

Honestly, I couldn’t say there was no causal connection involving them. But at the same time, I couldn’t say it was their fault either.

It was simply that Joo Youngjun was the problem.

To be honest, whether they felt guilty or not wasn’t something I needed to worry about, but the truth still needed to be handled carefully.

If they rushed in trying to help me recklessly, it would likely make things more troublesome.

“We don’t know yet.”

It was an answer that was neither confirmation nor denial.

A long silence followed.

[Haah….]

A deep sigh came through the line.

I didn’t say anything.

I simply waited for Park Juchan to continue.

[He found out that you helped us, didn’t he?]

That part was true.

Joo Youngjun had come storming in and caused a scene, asking if I had taken A-Pen away.

But I chose not to admit it.

“As I said earlier, we still don’t know.”

[I’m sorry. We’ll do whatever we can–]

“No. It’s fine.”

I cut him off before he could finish speaking.

I could feel him stopping mid-sentence.

[This happened because of us, right? Please let us help. Otherwise, I don’t think I can live with myself.]

His voice was almost desperate.

I answered firmly.

“Don’t do anything.”

[But–]

“This is our company’s problem.”

And with that, I unilaterally ended the call.

There wasn’t even time to explain and persuade him that if A-Pen got involved, the situation would only become more complicated.

***

[But the teaser is seriously so pretty…. How should I put it? It feels like watching a video pictorial. The members are so pretty, and the atmosphere is beautiful. It’s just… beautiful.]

↳ I agree with “just beautiful.” I found myself watching it like I was possessed.

↳ It really is pretty.

↳ No, seriously, these girls are a miracle from a small company.

↳↳ The CEO’s eye is insane…. Seriously, where did he find trainees like this? They’re big-agency level.

↳↳ At this point, you can only say John Raid Lombardi’s idol casting ability is absolutely insane.

SNS was exploding with reactions to Florence’s 3-minute teaser.

[They’re seriously so pretty. No, really, what’s John Raid Lombardi’s eyesight? Where does he keep finding these girls? He’s incredible. CEO-nim… you’re not secretly seeing the future of how kids will grow up, right?]

↳ I thought 3 minutes was long, you know? And there aren’t even lyrics. But I was wrong. I just kept staring at their faces, and it flew by.

↳ Agreed, it passes by when you look at their faces.

↳ Their faces are welfare….

↳ No, how were these visuals just ordinary people until now?

↳ I saw the 3-minute runtime and thought, “Wait, did they upload the music video by mistake?” but it’s a teaser. And they made it in a rush because of the leak?

↳↳ The fact that something made in a rush has this quality is honestly shocking.

[When I saw them briefly on that variety show with no makeup, I already thought, “Wow, they’re pretty.” But now that they’re fully styled, it’s even crazier. This is practically a blessing.]

↳ I agree.

↳ It’s truly a blessing. They look like medieval nobles, so elegant. I started having all sorts of fantasies just looking at their faces. This is what idols are about.

↳ No, I was literally watching with my mouth open the whole time.

↳ This is what happens when beautiful visuals meet perfect styling.

↳ The first teaser already showed off Florence’s visuals, but this one goes even further.

All the reactions about Florence were praise for its visuals.

However, for idols, that was a good response.

Partly because you couldn’t evaluate their skills from just a teaser, and also because their abilities had already been somewhat revealed during CEO John Raid Lombardi’s observation variety show.

[What’s really amazing is how they turned a crisis into an opportunity. The moment they confirmed the debut song leak, they planned and released something like this? And the craziest part is, their actual skills haven’t even been fully revealed yet.]

↳ They showed off the visuals perfectly while making people curious about their skills.

↳↳ And I don’t even think their skills will be bad, because what they showed in that observation show was already really good…. If they were like that, they must have prepared their debut stage properly.

↳ “Our girls are pretty, right?” This feels like a showcase video for that. At this point, isn’t CEO John Raid Lombardi just bragging about how pretty his idols are?

[I think this teaser is incredible because it’s about 3 minutes long, has no dialogue, is black-and-white, and doesn’t even have dancing, yet you keep watching just because it’s beautiful. How can they be this complete from their debut? First of all, the styling is insane. For debut groups, styling often fails at first since they’re still figuring things out. But not these girls.]

↳ You can really tell the company prepared properly.

↳ That makes me suddenly curious. CEO-nim… what happened to Spade Joker’s old fashion…? I heard you used to wear really flashy clothes back then?

↳↳ Yeah, the fan cafe said LOL… you apparently wore Hawaiian shirts and even came to work in a full red suit.

↳↳↳ What LOL really?

↳↳↳ Then why did your sense suddenly improve? Did you hire someone else?

[You can really tell how much effort the company put into this. It’s amazing.]

↳ Ramos Entertainment looks like it’s about to outgrow being a small company.

↳ Yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an agency work this well, so I feel proud… even though it’s not my company LOL.

↳↳ Same. I feel like in a year, they’ll be huge. Spade Joker is stable now, and Florence is already like this.

***

At the same time, at JM Entertainment’s office.

Joo Youngjun set down his coffee and turned on his laptop.

He was about to browse SNS and various communities as usual when he noticed Florence’s teaser in the recommended videos.

The phrase on the thumbnail read:

“Company Release – Pre-Debut Film.”

Seeing that, Joo Youngjun frowned slightly.

“Company-led? What is this? What kind of concept is that?”

He clicked it casually.

As soon as the video played, the sound of a turntable and a black-and-white textured screen appeared.

Then the members’ faces.

He briefly held his breath.

By the time the video ended, his fingers gripped the mouse tightly.

His expression hardened.

“They already released that?”

Leaning back in his chair, he gave a bitter smile.

Confusion spread through his mind.

‘Why move it up by a day? There’s nothing but downsides.’

At that moment, a related article caught his eye.

It stated that Ramos Entertainment had reported the debut song leak to the police and that an investigation was underway.

“Ha.”

A short breath escaped his lips.

“Impressive.”

The corner of his mouth slowly twisted.

On the laptop screen, Florence’s teaser continued playing. It had a completely different tone from the plan he had previously created.

The steam rising from the coffee cup in his hand was gradually fading.

“I leaked the debut song and even sent a threatening email….”

He muttered quietly.

The plan had been simple.

Before the teaser release, leaks the debut song to create anxiety and internal confusion.

He thought John Raid Lombardi would naturally act cautiously. If a song leak incident occurred just as the company’s image was improving, it would lose credibility in the industry.

But contrary to his expectations, they reported it to the police.

They took the risk of bad industry rumors and formally brought the case to investigative authorities.

His brow furrowed deeper.

He slowly moved the mouse.

On the portal news tab, headlines filled the screen:

“Ramos Entertainment Requests Investigation into Leak,”

“Florence Teaser Released a Day Earlier Than Expected.”

Reporters were already writing reactions.

“Unprecedented,” “bold,” “signs of success.”

Some even used the phrase “big-agency-level quality.”

“Signs of success, huh….”

Joo Youngjun let out a low laugh.