Chapter 176 Extra 1: First meeting Li Zhien
No. 151 Fengeunsa Road, Lunjiandong, Gangnam District.
Several high-end commercial vehicles stopped slowly in front of a seven-story building.
Lin Qiguang opened the car door and felt a cold breeze blowing in, making him shrink back.
It’s still quite cold in Seoul in the winter. If I had known better, I should have worn thicker clothes.
"Mom, is this LOEN?" He walked to his mother and looked up at the English words "LOEN Entertainment" on the door. Lin Qiguang's eyes revealed an expectant look.
Compared to LOEN, he is more familiar with the names of entertainment companies such as S.M, YG, and JYP, but there is his favorite artist, or singer, IU Lee Ji-eun in the LOEN company.
Zhang Linxin smiled and nodded, "Yes, this is LOEN. Haven't you always liked that IU? You can meet her today."
While mother and son were having a conversation, several people in suits walked over quickly to the downstairs gate of LOEN Company.
After briefly checking with the assistant in the team, a man in his forties came to Zhang Linxin. He first bowed at a 90° angle, and then said in Chinese with a somewhat poor accent but still fluently:
"Hello, President Zhang! I am Park Yonghao. On behalf of all the staff of LOEN Entertainment, I would like to welcome you!"
Zhang Linxin smiled and nodded at him, "President Park, you don't have to be so polite. I'm just here for a visit. The specific company operations are up to you."
A flattering smile appeared on Park Yonghao's face, he bowed slightly, then made a "please" gesture and led a group of people into the LOEN company building.
It's not enough to be flattering. Although he is the president of LOEN Company and is in charge of the company's affairs, he is still a part-timer in the final analysis.
Originally LOEN was a subsidiary of SK Telecom Group, but at the end of 2009, the Korean Fair Trade Commission issued a requirement: If SK Group wants to own its subsidiary LOEN, it needs to buy all of it or own less than 20% of its shares.
Because LOEN is a listed company, it is not easy for SK to buy it completely. The deadline given by the Korean Fair Trade Commission is October 2012, so SK held an internal meeting and decided to sell the shares to less than 20%.
SK Group sold 52.6% of its 67.6% stake, of which 36% was purchased by Jiasheng Entertainment, a Chinese company that has entered the South Korean market for nearly four years. SK still holds 15% of the shares to participate in operations.
At the same time, Jiasheng Entertainment also continued to increase its holdings of LOEN through private equity shares. Today, more than two months later, Jiasheng Entertainment has mastered 67.9% of LOEN's shares and has full control.
Lin Qiguang followed his mother silently, looking at LOEN, a Korean entertainment company that has been on the market since 2000 but has been ridiculed as a "little transparent Korean entertainment company" that "depends entirely on IU to support the family."
He thought so in the past. After all, compared to entertainment companies such as S.M, YG, and JYP, LOEN is indeed a bit transparent and has no sense of existence.
But after his mother's explanation on the plane, he realized that although the company's "top" artist IU was famous, her revenue was far from the scale of LOEN's revenue.
Jiasheng Entertainment spent 265.9 billion won directly to acquire 36% of the shares from SK. Based on this calculation alone, LOEN's market value is already around 740 billion won.
As for S.M, YG, and JYP, which are known as the "three major star-making companies in Korean entertainment", S.M exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time on July 6 this year and remained so for 4 months. In addition, the market value of YG is slightly higher than that of LOEN, while the market value of JYP is slightly lower than that of LOEN.
However, these three companies have countless artists. Once their top artists/groups have contract problems and their contracts are suddenly terminated, it is inevitable that their market value will quickly evaporate and plummet.
The LOEN company is different because it doesn't have many artists at all - its main business is record distribution.
Of course, records began to decline 10 years ago, so LOEN’s most profitable business is MelOn, South Korea’s largest music website.
In general, the market value of LOEN is much more stable than that of entertainment companies such as S.M. The profit model is also easier, and artist training is more incidental.
After all, it is an entertainment company. If it doesn't even have a good artist, it would be a bit embarrassing, right?
Under the guidance of Park Yonghao, Lin Qiguang followed the Jiasheng team through the company's office area and came to a conference room.
She said she wanted to visit, but in fact, her mother had no intention of doing so. After all, she had learned very clearly how much money LOEN had from top to bottom in the past two months.
Today is the first day that Jiasheng officially takes over LOEN. As the so-called "three things to do when a new official takes office", there are some company articles that Jiasheng must make modifications to. Let's wait until the meeting is over before visiting.
Lin Qiguang listened in the conference room for a while, feeling bored and a little restless.
After Zhang Linxin finished speaking, she paused and said to her son: "Qingguang, I don't know how long this meeting will take. You should go around and visit by yourself first."
Park Yonghao immediately followed: "I will arrange a tour guide for your young master. Although LOEN is not big, it is still worth visiting."
"No, I don't want to be surrounded by people. Just give me a pass card or something and I can go shopping." Lin Qiguang said this in Korean, for fear that Park Yonghao wouldn't understand.
"Ah this." Park Yonghao glanced at the new boss.
"Just do what he said. It's really boring to have a group of people around to visit." Zhang Linxin smiled slightly, seeming to understand deeply, "And he can speak Korean pretty well, so he can't get lost in his company, right? ?”
The boss had spoken, and Park Yonghao naturally would not refuse, but he did not have any access cards prepared. After all, the original plan was for him, the president of the company, to take the Jiasheng team around.
After communicating with his subordinates, a director named Li Zaihao took out a trainee ID card and handed over his business card.
"Just use this. A trainee happened to quit today. This ID card can travel through most areas of the company. If you encounter any obstruction, Mr. Lin can just call me."
"Then thank you, Minister Li." Lin Qiguang took the ID card and business card with a smile, said hello to his mother, and walked out of the conference room with brisk steps.
LOEN company, a certain training room.
A girl who looked to be less than twenty years old had just finished practicing. A few strands of hair were still wet on her face, and her cheeks still had obvious baby fat. She was very cute.
"Rina Oni, what are you doing?" The girl asked while wiping her sweat and looking at the phone.
"What else can I do, of course, stay at home and watch TV and surf the Internet."
"How about staying at home all day? Ernie, why don't you come out and take a walk with me in the evening? How about having a cup of coffee together?"
Yoo In Na smiled and said, "Hey, Lee Ji Eun, do you have a lot of time? You are going to be the host of SBS's "Galaxy Awards" at the end of the month. If you don't take the time to study now, something will go wrong during the live broadcast. I'll see how you end up!"
Li Zhien pouted and said nothing.
"Okay, don't keep thinking about it. In two days, the TV series that Ernie and I are starring in will also be broadcast. Remember to contribute to the ratings."
"Oh? Is it that "My Love from the Star"?" When it comes to TV dramas, Lee Ji-eun immediately became interested, especially after hosting the SBS "Gayo Daejeon" at the end of the month, she will also star in the weekend drama with Yoo In-na. "The Best Lee Soon-shin".
"Onie, me."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"It's okay. I have a little situation here. I'll call you later."
Li Zhien hung up the phone, stood up with some doubts, and looked at the door of the practice room.
A boy she had never seen in the company seemed to have gone to the wrong place and accidentally entered her practice room.
"Um, who are you?" Li Zhien walked towards him slowly, looking at him carefully.
The boy who suddenly broke into his practice room looked young. He looked a little more youthful than his baby-faced self. He should be under eighteen years old.
She is dressed like a high school student and looks quite handsome, but her eyes are a bit dull. However, Li Zhien has seen this situation many times. After all, she is now a national-level singer. What little boy would not be confused when he sees her?
Then Li Zhien saw the trainee ID card on his chest, "Ah~ maybe you are a new trainee in the company?"
There are only so many artists in the LOEN company, and there are not many trainees. Li Zhien has seen more or less of them, so the unfamiliar boy in front of him must be a newcomer.
Walking closer, Li Zhien found that the boy was quite tall, and she almost only reached his chin. She lowered her head slightly and looked at the trainee card.
"Is your name Jin Minjun? Kim Minjun. Why does it sound familiar?"
As she spoke, she tucked her hair that was falling and scattered behind her ears because she lowered her head slightly, revealing her iconic, slightly baby-fat, white, cute, and gentle face.
Their eyes faced each other, and they were all startled.
Li Zhien blinked his eyes.
Although Lin Qiguang liked watching Korean dramas due to the influence of his childhood sweetheart Noona Zhao Enjing, he never believed in love at first sight.
But it's strange.
Is the face in front of you beautiful?
She should be considered beautiful, but her appearance does not go well with the word "stunning". "Come and pretty" is a more appropriate description.
It's not much different from the face I saw on the screen. Cute is the first word that comes to mind, and then there are those cute big eyes, which are very smart.
"I" Lin Qiguang subconsciously took a step back. The back of his head hit the photo frame on the wall behind him, and he immediately hugged his head.
"Clang!"
"Hiss."
His reaction also left Li Zhien at a loss.
Looking at the boy in front of her who was covering her head and squatting down to gasp for air, as well as the photo frame with her photo on it that fell to the ground and broke, she didn't know which one to feel sorry for.
But after all, people are more important. Li Zhien also squatted down and asked with concern: "Are you okay? Is your head broken?"
"I" Lin Qiguang wanted to dig a hole and crawl in.
Why are you moving back?
Why does the scene when you meet Li Zhien look like this? !
Although there is definitely no magical scene like "a young man from a wealthy family shows off his domineering aura and arouses the admiration of young girls", but it should be okay to introduce yourself with a confident smile and leave a good impression on others, right?
However, the current scene is really embarrassing for grandma's house.
Lin Qiguang took a deep breath and ignored the pain in the back of his head. He quickly stood up and said, "I'm fine! I accidentally went to the wrong place. I'm sorry, let's go now!"
After saying this, Lin Qiguang quickly opened the door to the practice room and hurried away.
"Wait a minute!" Li Zhien was stunned for two seconds, then chased out and called out to the boy who looked a little frizzy.
Lin Qiguang stopped honestly, covered the back of his head and looked back at Li Zhien, his heart beating fast.
Li Zhien walked up to him, raised his hand to hold Lin Qiguang's hand covering the back of his head, and said very gently: "I'm sorry for scaring you. Let me help you take a look. It wouldn't be good if you get a cut."< br>
After the words fell, Lin Qiguang was stunned again. His right hand was very relaxed and Li Zhien removed it, and stood motionless on the spot.
Sure enough, Li Zhien is a kind person.
Lin Qiguang smiled unconsciously as he felt Li Zhien's hand caressing the back of his head, carefully tossing his hair to check for wounds.
"Sure enough, there was a tear. It must have hit the corner of the photo frame. Fortunately it wasn't deep, otherwise I would have to go to the hospital."
After the investigation was completed, Li Zhien breathed a sigh of relief and came to the front of the boy. When he saw the smile on his face, he felt strange.
"Why are you laughing? Shouldn't it hurt if you hit a hole in the back of your head?"
"I laughed when I thought of happy things." Lin Qiguang smiled and looked at Li Zhien in front of him, "Besides, it is said that when people laugh, the pain will lessen."
"Ah? Really?" Li Zhien always felt that this boy's character was a bit naive, so he also laughed. "Although laughter can relieve the pain, it is best to deal with it quickly."
"Follow me. You are a new trainee. You probably don't know where the infirmary is yet." Li Zhien waved his hand and walked in front.
"Yeah." Lin Qiguang followed up with three steps and two steps at a time, walking beside Li Zhien. Because his legs were much longer than hers, he could only control his steps as much as possible.
"This is the first time we meet. My name is Li Zhien, and my stage name is IU. Judging from your reaction just now, you should know me, right?" Li Zhien asked with some expectation.
"Well, I didn't expect to meet on that occasion, so... haha, I made you laugh." Lin Qiguang replied with a smile, and made fun of his stupid behavior.
Hearing his answer, Li Zhien frowned immediately, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
"Well. Kim Min Junxi, although I don't care about those etiquettes, I still want to remind you. As a junior, it is better to use honorifics when talking to seniors, otherwise it will be easy"
"Are you being bullied?" Lin Qiguang turned around and smiled, "I heard that in the entertainment industry, bullying is even worse than on campus."
Unexpectedly, he was so straightforward, and Li Zhien was surprised.
"It's good that you understand, so learn to speak honorifics from now on. It seems that you are younger than me, right?"
Lin Qiguang nodded: "Well, I was born in 1996, three years younger than you."
The corners of Li Zhien's mouth immediately raised, and he said with a smile: "Ah~ Although he is very tall, he is still a younger brother. Come on, call Nuna!"
Hearing this, Lin Qiguang stopped, stretched out his hand to Li Zhien and said with a smile:
"Sorry, the name "Nuna" has its own person. Also, my name is not Kim Minjun, and this trainee ID is temporarily borrowed. ”
"My name is Lin Qiguang, from China. Nice to meet you, Li Zhienxi."
"China?" Li Zhien murmured softly.
Although there are no Chinese trainees in LOEN, there are still many in S.M and other companies. She has also heard of some "rebellious" rumors about Chinese artists and trainees.
Now, a real Chinese boy stood in front of her, neither humble nor arrogant, exuding confidence and extending his hand to her. It seemed that he was indeed very different from the Chinese boys she had known in the past.
"If you don't want to call me Noona, why don't you at least call me Senior?"
"Okay, Li Zhienxi."
"."
"Ah! Is it so difficult to call me Noona or Senior?"
"Who gave you a baby face? You look younger than me."
"Is it my fault that I'm so tender? I don't care, I'm three years older than you, scream!"
"Okay, Li Zhienxi."
"."(End of this chapter)