novelraw Chapter 36 Just kidding
Chapter 36 Just kidding
After dinner, Hwang Ye-ji went to JYP, while Lee Won headed to SM Entertainment.
On the way, he walked while thinking about what to cook for dinner.
Lost in thought, I found myself standing in front of the SM building.
Because he doesn't come to SM Entertainment very often, he usually communicates directly with his manager or spends most of the day in the recording studio, rarely going through the main entrance. So, following protocol, Li Yuan gave his name to the receptionist and said he had an appointment with the CEO's office.
The receptionist glanced down at the reservation records, then picked up the phone, dialed an internal number, and whispered a few words.
When she hung up the phone, she looked up and her gaze towards Li Yuan was completely different, filled with a cautious respect: "Li Yuan-xi, you can go directly to the president's office on the X floor. President Li is waiting for you there."
"Next time you come, you can go straight up without going through the front desk."
"Okay, thanks." Li Yuan waved his hand, then turned and walked towards the elevator.
The receptionist stared blankly at his retreating figure.
Where did this young master come from, that he can go directly to Lee Soo-man's office?
Lee Won walked through the corridor with practiced ease and arrived at Lee Soo-man's office door. He didn't even knock much before pushing the door open and going in.
"Hey, you don't even knock before entering the president's office?" Lee Soo-man sat behind his desk, his tone not harsh, even with a hint of amusement. "Watch out for your little bit of shares."
"Shall I leave?" Li Yuan pointed to the door and made a gesture as if to turn around.
"No, no, no!" Lee Soo-man hurriedly took two steps around from behind the desk and grabbed Lee Won's arm. "It was just a joke. How can a young man have no sense of humor at all?"
"Young people are joking with other young people, of course. Which young person in the company would joke with an old man like you?" Li Yuan rolled his eyes at him.
Lee Soo-man wasn't angry; instead, he smiled.
"No young person in the company dares to call me an old man," Lee Soo-man said, pulling him to sit down at the coffee table next to him. "What would you like to drink?"
"Iced Coke," Li Yuan said casually.
"You..." Lee Soo-man paused in his teacup, looked up at Lee Won, and his lips twitched.
He picked up the landline on his desk and made a call. Shortly after, a woman walked in with a glass of Coke.
"President!" she said with a slight bow.
Lee Soo-man pointed in Lee Won's direction, and the woman turned around, placed the cola in front of Lee Won, bowed again, and then quietly withdrew without saying a word.
"Actually, I didn't really want to drink it." Li Yuan picked it up and took two sips. "It was just a joke."
"Your joke went a bit too far," Lee Soo-man said casually.
"Can that be as big as what SM Entertainment does?" Li Yuan's tone changed. "They're practically opening a box for me."
Lee Soo-man paused for a moment, holding his teacup, then forced a smile: "Isn't this for the company? Your shares have increased quite a bit too."
This dating scandal has indeed boosted Red Velvet's popularity, providing a strong boost for their upcoming comeback.
"Alright, let's stop chatting and start recording the demo." Li Yuan finished his Coke in two gulps.
"So rushed?" Lee Soo-man asked. "Which girl are you going to see?"
"What girl? She's going to buy equipment for shooting videos and live streaming this afternoon."
"I forgot you're also a video blogger." Lee Soo-man stood up and led Lee Won out of the office. "How many followers do you have? Want us at SM Entertainment to give you a boost?"
"Not many fans, you know, K-pop is definitely a niche genre in China." Li Yuan said, taking out his phone. "Well... holy crap! How come it's 11?"
He hadn't checked for two days, and his followers had already increased from over 9 to 11.
"Oh, that's quite a lot." Lee Soo-man was also a little surprised.
He originally thought it was just Li Yuan's small-scale operation, but he didn't expect it to have already exceeded 100,000.
Keep in mind that's the number of fans on just one platform in China, and K-pop is a niche genre in China, so he has some understanding of that.
Many songs are familiar to them if you play them individually, but if you ask them which K-pop group they belong to, they might ask in return, "What is K-pop?"
Li Yuan was unaware that the reason his account's number of followers was growing so rapidly was because people were coming to watch his and Hong Beibei's videos.
"Who do you want to record for you?"
"Who else could it be?" Li Yuan shrugged. "Son Seung-wan, of course."
Son Seungwan has almost become Lee Won's go-to demo recorder. If his songs end up in SM Entertainment's hands, she'll almost always be the one recording them.
"Why don't you and Taeyeon talk much anymore?" Lee Soo-man looked at Lee Won with a meaningful gaze.
"This isn't...this isn't a Red Velvet song," Li Yuan said, pausing for a moment. "And doesn't Taeyeon have a schedule?"
Lee Soo-man did not continue speaking.
It would be impolite to continue. Just mentioning it briefly, and stopping there, is enough.
Then Son Seungwan came over and finished recording "RBB".
After recording "RBB", Son Seung-wan took off her headphones, bowed slightly to Lee Soo-man, said "I'll be going now", and quickly left the recording studio.
Being around the company's top leaders can feel a little uncomfortable.
The recording studio door closed, leaving only the two people in the room.
"Let's sign the contract." Li Yuan took off his headphones.
"At the original price?" Lee Soo-man walked to the opposite side of the mixing console, sat down, and took out two blank contracts from the drawer.
"Standardize the original amount... plus 10%," Li Yuan corrected, looking calmly at the other person.
"Why?" Lee Soo-man's pen hovered above the paper, not falling.
"Consider it an appearance fee." Li Yuan's tone wasn't harsh. "I helped you create a viral moment, and SM Entertainment just used me as a scapegoat, without spending a penny, while you profited entirely from the hype. Now you want me to write songs and record demos, and still pay the original price?"
"President Li, that's not how business is done."
The atmosphere in the recording studio suddenly became subtle.
"This wasn't done by SM Entertainment," Lee Soo-man said, his tone softening slightly.
"If you don't agree, I'm leaving." Li Yuan stood up, making a move to grab his bag.
Lee Soo-man remained silent for a few seconds, watching Lee Won's retreating figure, before finally sighing and nodding: "Okay."
He listened to the song and thought it was very suitable.
From melody to arrangement, from rhythm to atmosphere, every aspect perfectly captures the concept of Red Velvet's comeback.
The reason Lee Won didn't mention this matter in Taiwan was because his agent couldn't make the decision—only Lee Soo-man himself could make the final decision on matters like adjusting the contract amount.
I am not someone who will be used by SM without saying a word.
What is rightfully ours, we shall not take away a single penny.
"And..." Li Yuan sat down again, "I need Red Velvet to film a video with me. It's for promotion. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?"
The video he mentioned was the "collaboration" he had previously discussed with his fans: all members of Red Velvet appeared in the video, interacting with him and playing some games. The content was lighthearted and fun, avoiding any sensitive topics while naturally promoting the new song.
This type of collaboration is common in K-pop; it's essentially just a different form of marketing.
Lee Soo-man nodded, almost without hesitation.
Li Yuan is, after all, a blogger with 110,000 followers, and all of those followers are in the Chinese market, which he has always valued highly.
You can conduct a precise fan engagement campaign without spending any money, and at the same time, you can get closer to this talented producer. Isn't that a win-win situation?
SM won twice.