<Episode 76>
The A-Pen members arrived first at the location sent by CEO John Raid Lombardi and were waiting for him.
“This is making me kind of nervous.”
“Yeah, same.”
To calm their nerves, they kept gulping down water.
“At this rate, you’re going to end up going to the bathroom right when we’re talking about something important.”
“I know. But what am I supposed to do when my hands keep shaking?”
“Ha… let’s stay calm. Let’s absolutely not get excited, okay?”
At the leader’s words, the members nodded.
They tried to stay composed, but it wasn’t as easy as they thought.
Click.
At that moment, John Raid Lombardi appeared.
The A-Pen members were briefly flustered upon seeing him in person.
After appearing on variety shows, he had been described as a businessman who could have succeeded even as a celebrity. But they had assumed that was just exaggeration… never imagining he had visuals good enough to become an actor right away.
“Hello. I’m John Raid Lombardi, CEO of Ramos Entertainment.”
“As you know, we’re A-Pen. But wow, you’re really tall.”
“Thank you.”
As soon as he sat down, John Raid Lombardi took out his tablet.
“Oh, I’m not recording or filming. I just think I’ll need to take some notes, so there’s no need to worry.”
“Yes.”
Without any small talk, John Raid Lombardi immediately got to the point.
“First of all, have you given it a lot of thought?”
“Yes.”
The leader, Park Juchan, answered on behalf of the group.
“Please feel free to share your thoughts.”
Faced with John Raid Lombardi’s calm and polite demeanor, A-Pen straightened their backs and sat properly.
They had always endured people like Joo Youngjun, who were oppressive, so John Raid Lombardi’s courteous attitude felt even more unfamiliar.
“We really thought a lot after hearing your proposal.”
Park Juchan began speaking in a trembling voice.
“To be honest, more than going to the place you recommended, we want to join your company.”
The A-Pen members didn’t notice it, but for a moment, John Raid Lombardi’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
“I see.”
However, he responded in a calm voice.
“But you know our CEO. If we did that, he wouldn’t stay still. We don’t know what he might do to Ramos Entertainment. No matter where we go, it’s obvious he’ll cling to us until the end.”
Park Juchan said with a bitter smile.
“To be honest, there were many agencies that wanted to take us. They all roughly know the contract conditions with our current agency. But maybe because of that, they offered us terms that weren’t exactly normal.”
John Raid Lombardi nodded as if he understood.
“After going through the worst of the worst, we thought nothing could be worse than that… but the world doesn’t work that way.”
A-Pen honestly revealed their situation.
“We’re in a situation where we could lose everything… our group name, fandom name, even our social media accounts… And unless it’s a company with stronger industry influence than our current agency, transferring agencies seems impossible.”
It was almost like venting their grievances.
“So if you could help us, we’d like to establish our own agency and become independent.”
At Park Juchan’s words, John Raid Lombardi seemed somehow relieved.
“I’ll help you as much as I can.”
At that answer, the A-Pen members’ faces brightened.
“These are documents I prepared just in case.”
John Raid Lombardi handed them documents he had prepared in advance from his bag. These outlined what A-Pen needed to do from now on.
“First, you’ll need to decide on a group name and fandom name. On the last page, I’ve left contact information for people who can help you besides myself. Just say you were referred by me and feel free to get assistance.”
“Thank you.”
A-Pen quickly skimmed through the documents.
“It might be a bit much to go through in just one day.”
“Yes, it looks that way.”
That meant they would have to start moving quickly.
“If I may give you one piece of advice, even if your group name and fandom name change completely, make sure they carry meaning. That would be better.”
“Something meaningful?”
“Yes. Since the group’s name will completely change, the deeper the meaning, the better.”
“Rather than making it similar to our current name?”
The A-Pen members had originally thought they should make it similar to their current group name.
‘Even if the damage from changing the group name isn’t zero, we’re not a rookie group that debuted just one or two years ago… we’re a veteran group that has already gone through a contract renewal. Do we really need to do that?’
And this was a group where not only the name but also the members’ names were widely known.
“Using a vaguely similar name would be worse. It wouldn’t be easy for fans to search for either. If you can’t use the original anyway, it’s better to go with a completely different name. Of course, this is just my personal opinion, so feel free to choose what you prefer.”
“Then we’ll think it over carefully.”
“Ah, and none of you can compose, right?”
“No.”
John Raid Lombardi already knew that, but he asked just to be sure and moved on casually.
However, A-Pen did not.
“Do we absolutely need to have a member who can compose or something?”
“That’s not it. I was just asking. Since CEO Joo Youngjun has such poor judgment, I wondered if there might have been a member capable of composing who wasn’t being utilized at all. He always put good songs in the B-sides and pushed strange concepts and songs as title tracks, didn’t he?”
At John Raid Lombardi’s blunt remark, the A-Pen members felt as if something that had been blocked inside them was finally clear.
“You’ll have to receive songs yourselves going forward, and it won’t be easy. Since you have the name A-Pen, you’ll receive a lot of songs, but you’ll have to choose which ones are good yourselves. But since you’re already in your 10th year since your debut, selecting them shouldn’t be difficult, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s enough, then.”
John Raid Lombardi shared his business know-how without holding anything back.
“Ah, and in front of CEO Joo Youngjun, it would be best to act as if you’re going to renew your contracts as usual. If you show any signs, there’s no telling what he might do.”
“We know better than anyone how sly our CEO is. You don’t need to worry about that. We won’t show it at all. If we did, rumors about us would start spreading immediately.”
Considering CEO Joo Youngjun’s past behavior, it was hard to deny.
‘Well, this level of warning should be enough.’
If A-Pen kept coming to find him, it would be obvious they’d get tracked and things would become troublesome, so he intended to wrap everything up in one day and told them everything they needed.
“Is there anything you don’t understand?”
Fortunately, the A-Pen members shook their heads.
“But there’s something I really want to ask.”
The youngest member of A-Pen, Haeseong, carefully spoke up.
“Yes.”
“What exactly did our CEO do for you to dislike him this much?”
At that question, he hesitated for a moment.
“…My kids have weak mental strength.”
“…What?”
A-Pen looked puzzled.
“I mean the Spade Joker members. They think a lot and are delicate. They’re probably still under a lot of stress because of the group.”
At his words, A-Pen showed blank expressions.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s just… well…”
Park Juchan stammered awkwardly.
It seemed they were surprised that he brushed it off by saying the Spade Joker members had weak mental strength.
They probably expected something much worse.
‘It’s not like I want to go through the hundreds of things that man has done one by one.’
It would be exhausting to explain everything, and since those events hadn’t happened in this timeline, he chose to hold back.
However, A-Pen seemed to take it seriously. Since it was one of Joo Youngjun’s visible wrongdoings, there was no reason for them to doubt it.
But he didn’t feel the need to correct them.
‘It’s better if they think of it that way. Eventually, it’ll come out that I helped A-Pen become independent anyway.’
Joo Youngjun was still a businessman. He lacked ability as a producer, but that didn’t mean he was completely incompetent as a manager.
There was no way he would believe A-Pen had established their own agency entirely on their own.
So he would look for the person who helped them.
Perhaps because they were set as rival companies in the game, JM Entertainment, like Ramos Entertainment, had plenty of cash reserves.
‘If it’s Joo Youngjun, he’ll spend money like water and even use illegal routes to figure out that it was me.’
When he first realized that not only the player but also the rival company benefited from the game system, he had been dumbfounded.
Moreover, as mentioned earlier, even if Joo Youngjun was a terrible entertainment CEO, he wasn’t completely incompetent as a businessman, so he managed his assets thoroughly.
That might have been his real key to success.
“Shall we wrap things up here? I need to head back and take care of some piled-up work.”
“Ah, yes. Of course. Thank you.”
The A-Pen members expressed their gratitude.
“It’s nothing much. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me. Then, I’ll be on my way.”
After giving a light farewell, he stood up from his seat.
‘Once A-Pen leaves the agency, Joo Youngjun’s expression will be something to see.’
The thought of landing a blow on him lifted his mood.
For some reason, his steps felt lighter.
***
“Hey.”
As Park Juchan spoke, the other members naturally turned their attention to him.
“Maybe we should’ve insisted and tried to join Ramos Entertainment after all.”
“You thought that too? Same here. Did you hear what John Raid Lombardi said earlier?”
“Yeah.”
They began to reflect on his earlier words.
“Saying that the mental strength of the kids he raised is weak…”
“He must really care about them.”
“Exactly.”
“Honestly, just the fact that he’s willing to share business know-how with us and introduce people who can help us without asking for anything in return is already amazing. That’s why I thought CEO Joo Youngjun must have done something even worse.”
They all had similar thoughts.
“Of course, CEO Joo Youngjun has made plenty of smaller mistakes… but still, in a way, I envy them.”
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