Seeing Chi Jingyuan walking into the conference room, many people cast their gaze over. Chi Jingyuan also walked inside while squeezing out a smile and bowing lightly to the director and representatives he knew. Under their warm greetings,
Nodding in return, he walked over to the XO members and found an empty seat in the middle.
It was obvious that the members had specially reserved a seat for him in the middle. Sitting on his left were Park Chanyeol and Kim Junmyeon, on the right was Oh Sehun, and several other people sat in the row directly behind them.
He was not the last one to arrive, and some staff members did not come because they were preparing documents. At this time, the company employees in the room had been quietly communicating and discussing something in twos and threes.
After Chi Jingyuan sat down, he glanced at each other and the members next to him. They looked at each other but did not speak. The ten people just sat there quietly without making any sound, and there was a low pressure visible to the naked eye.
With Tao leaving this time, it is obvious that the members of EXO, including Chi Jingyuan, are not as angry and excited as when Luhan left before. It is just that everyone seems very worried, very silent, and has no desire to communicate.
On the one hand, this is because Tao's popularity and influence in the team are far less than Luhan's, and his interpersonal relationships and social interactions are not as popular as Luhan's, and the discomfort he brings to others is not that great.
On the other hand, people at XO had actually anticipated that such a day would come.
Chi Jingyuan tilted his head slightly and glanced to the left out of the corner of his eye.
When he entered the door just now, he discovered that Lay, the last member of Xia Guo Line in the group, was sitting on the far left edge of the row behind him. Although the five members were side by side, he was obviously far away from the others.
, and the nearest xiumin sitting next to him was half a meter away.
He sat there in silence like everyone else, lowering his head and playing with his fingers, but the focus of his eyes was a little blurry, and he was obviously thinking about something.
Although the distance of half a meter is not long, it looks very obvious and dazzling, like a cut-off natural chasm.
I don’t know if he pulled the stool himself or if xiumin pulled it.
According to Chi Jingyuan's understanding of xiumin...
In fact, Y has been trying to communicate and negotiate with the company after Luhan left, asking for more resources and opening a personal studio, and paying more attention to Xia Guo's activities. All other members of EXO are aware of these things.
Although these matters are very private and the company has not announced to the public that they have been carried out privately, the members of XO are not fools. They have their own channels for information after being in the company for so long. Even if the specific details are not known,
Rough news can still be obtained.
I heard that in order to retain the two members of Xia Guo line, SM company made a lot of promises, including resources, and made some concessions on key issues such as opening a personal studio in Xia Guo. After all, they wanted to
Xia Kingdom continues to develop and move, and these two remaining Xia Kingdom lines are quite important.
Although they were only verbal concessions and promises, and many things were not implemented in practice, this kind of differential treatment has clearly occurred.
We can't compare to a royal family like Chi Jingyuan, forget it. After all, he has a background and is very capable and talented. We don't want to compete with him, but why are these two not very popular and not very conspicuous?
Can everyone get such special treatment? They had never dared to think of such a thing as a personal studio before.
This incident made many members very dissatisfied, and the estrangement that had been hard to cover up before resurfaced.
In addition, because they had always been secretly concerned about him, they also knew that Luhan had flourished in the Xia Kingdom after leaving. In a short period of time, he had been filming TV series and movies, and became one of the hottest new generation stars. Originally,
His popularity and popularity in the Mainland are much lower than Chi Jingyuan's, but he is slowly catching up.
Seeing that my former teammates have developed better after leaving, I think about it from my perspective, what would they choose if they were Y?
After waiting for about ten minutes for everyone to arrive, this rather hasty meeting finally began, with a report and discussion on Tao's lawsuit and withdrawal from the group.
However, after he made a big push, Chi Jingyuan still heard that Luhan still left the same set of plans and rhetoric, asking members not to express their opinions. The company was preparing to issue a statement to control public opinion and see how the outside world reacted.
.
It is almost exactly the same as before, except that because of the different impact, some aspects are even not as strict as last time.
Moreover, looking at the expressions and tone of Lee Soo Man and the room chief representatives, they are not as angry and rushed as they were three months ago. It is obvious that she and the others, like the EXO members, seemed to have expected this incident to happen.
Li Xiuman, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, didn't say much. He just sat there listening and nodding. He seemed to be quite satisfied with the solution given by the staff.
To be honest, SM has relatively good experience in dealing with the issue of members quitting the group. From H.O.T. to TVXQ to SJ, this has happened to every mainstay boy group.
The closest ones are EXO's Luhan and Girls' Generation's Jessica. Even if SM didn't have any good solutions at first, it's time for a long-term illness to become a good doctor.
It is nothing more than showing the innocence of the company, placing all the blame on the departing members, and at the same time guiding the online trend to discredit the other party and reduce the negative impact.
Speaking later, someone mentioned Tao’s article on Xia Guo’s scarf insinuating that the company favors ‘popular members’.
Who this "popular member" is talking about is very clear to fans, SM and even XO members themselves.
In front of Chi Jingyuan, no one else in EXO dares to say that he is a popular member.
In fact, when I saw the content of Tao's article just now, Chi Jingyuan was a little speechless and didn't know what to say.
Why do you still have to say this kind of thing after you've already left? Will saying this step on him and damage Chi Jingyuan's image in the hearts of Yuan fans? Or will it make his departure more legitimate?
At this time, Li Xiuman, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke:
"Public opinion in this area must be controlled well, and it cannot have a worse impact on Jingyuan, other members, and the entire EXO. You must pay attention and direction when guiding online, and control it yourself."
After seeing several heads of the publicity department respond, Lee Soo Man nodded and looked to the other side. He no longer talked about Tao, but talked about EXO's next comeback: "XO's comeback plan must be done quickly.
Come out and be more detailed. This return is very important to both XO and the company, and I believe you all know it."
"Don't be as mediocre as last time."
"Make it as soon as possible and bring it to me." He knocked on the table hard, looking a little dissatisfied.
"I know." The more serious attitude made several room directors who were subjective about this matter quickly stand up and respond.
After talking for a while, the meeting came to an end. Lee Soo Man briefly summarized it and declared it over. He stood up, glanced at the EXO members, and finally said: "Lay, your matter will be discussed at the artist department's meeting later.
Jingyuan, come with me, the other members will go back to the practice room first."
"..." Lay and Chi Jingyuan stood up and nodded. The other members didn't pay much attention to Li Xiuman calling Chi Jingyuan over. Anyway, this kind of thing is too common and they have long been used to it. And they also talked about returning just now, Chi Jingyuan
Participation is also normal.
They all looked at Lay, and several of them made eye contact with each other, as if they were wondering what happened to him.
After nodding goodbye to the staff and other members, Chi Jingyuan followed Li Xiuman and walked into his office while talking.
It is still the luxurious and spacious director's office, and the general decoration has not changed much from the last time Chi Jingyuan came.
Li Xiuman has not been to the company for several months due to family matters, and Chi Jingyuan has not entered the office for a long time because the owner did not hinder her.
"sit."
Li Xiuman smiled and pointed to the sofa next to the desk. After putting the document bag in his hand on the table, he went to the coffee machine next to him and picked up two cups of coffee. He slowly walked over with the cup and handed it to Chi Jingyuan.
He had just sat down and quickly stood up, took it with both hands and thanked him.
However, Lee Soo Man didn't look at all panicked or unhappy about the EXO members leaving the group. Instead, he looked very calm, as if nothing happened during the drama today.
"How's it going? Did you feel a familiar feeling when you came in, and suddenly you miss this place?"
Sitting on the boss's chair, Li Xiuman blew on the hot coffee and took a sip of enjoyment. Her small eyes under the black-rimmed glasses were slitted. Her tone was easy-going and natural, and she chatted about home affairs with Chi Jingyuan.
"It's true that I just unconsciously remembered the last time I came to your office."
Chi Jingyuan put the coffee on the table without drinking it, looked around and then responded.
"Yes, me too." Li Xiuman also looked around the office he had used for several years, touched the soft and tactile armrests of the chair and sighed: "I have been here for so long, it's really hard to move.
I’m reluctant to give it up.”
Chi Jingyuan nodded lightly. This news had spread within the company for a long time. He had long heard that SM Company was about to change its building. The new address was not far from here, and it was also in Jiangnan District, over Samseongdong.
EXO also had this reason for changing to a new dormitory.
"But the new building and office will be much better than here, and we will definitely be satisfied." Li Xiuman patted the armrest, and the feeling of reluctance just now was gone, and his tone was flat with a hint of defiance: "Just
Just like changing to a new building, everything is moving in a good direction, SM is still SM, and EXO is still EXO."
Chi Jingyuan knew that the other party wanted him not to worry about Tao's departure and to let him take a longer view, so he smiled in agreement.
Li Xiuman also hadn’t communicated much with Ji Jingyuan for a long time due to family matters. He was not in a hurry to talk about business. Instead, he asked him to talk about some recent developments, and while chatting, he talked about "Misheng": "You choose
This drama is really popular, I couldn’t help but watch one episode yesterday.”
As he said that, he squinted his eyes and nodded, and gave a thumbs up: "Jing Yuan, your performance in it is really good. I thought it was great after watching it. Those companies that praised you on the Internet really didn't say much."
Participate in the guidance...and the script was chosen with great discernment. I heard it was your own idea?"
"At that time, I felt that the script and setting were very attractive to me, and I also really wanted to try a workplace drama." Chi Jingyuan nodded and explained.
Li Xiuman burst out laughing when he heard this, and stretched out his hand to lift his glasses frame: "Haha... By the way, Jingyuan, you have such a good eye for selecting scripts, do you want to take up a position in the SM film and television department, or SMc&c, to help with some writing?
Opinion?"
SMc&c is one of the subsidiaries of SM. It was renamed from the AM company that acquired Jang Dong Gun a few years ago. It mainly contracts MCs, comedians and actors.
This subsidiary has many well-known actors, including Jang Dong Gun, Kim Ha Neul, Kong Hyung Jin, Kim Soo Ro, etc.
The lineup of hosts is not overly generous either. Kang Ho-dong, Shin Dong-yeop, Kim Byung-man, who retired from the entertainment industry for a year due to the tax incident and returned to the show, as well as the MC who previously served as EXO's group variety show, and Jun Hyun-moo, who has worked with them many times, are among them.
Chi Jingyuan did not refuse, he squinted his eyes with a smile and looked forward to it: "Okay, then senior Zhang Dongjian is going to call me Director Chi?"
"Hahaha..." Li Xiuman became happy when he heard this, and he stretched out his hand to point at Chi Jingyuan and laughed out loud.
Both of them knew they were joking. SM couldn't ask him to give any opinions. The company's operations naturally have their own processes, and the contracted actors also have their own teams. They wouldn't pick a few popular drama scripts because of his good taste.
Just like that.
Moreover, Chi Jingyuan actually has no interest in this.
The two of them squinted and laughed together, and the laughter circled around the office. The atmosphere suddenly became warm, and the previous negative emotions due to the members leaving the group seemed to be dispelled at once.
After finishing the casual chat, Lee Soo Man laughed for a while. He took a sip of coffee and took the initiative to bring up the topic: "The matter of EXO's next comeback has been put on the agenda. I have been paying attention to this matter since I came back. The planning department before
There was a plan proposed there, but after reading it, I thought it was not feasible and rejected it.”
As he spoke, he seemed to feel that his vision was a little blurry. He took off his glasses and took out the glasses cloth to wipe the lenses. At the same time, he asked: "Jingyuan, you should know the company's situation and situation this year, right?"
"Inside." Of course Chi Jingyuan knows that there have been a lot of bad things from the beginning of the year to now, including SNSD, EXO and other leading groups all having troubles, the new girl group red velvet being criticized after their debut, and everything in the company
When something goes wrong and the stock price plummets, it's like what the Internet says is Mercury retrograde.
"The end of the year is coming soon. There will definitely be no chance this year...but next year is very important for both the company and EXO."
Li Xiuman put on his glasses again and nodded: "The company needs to satisfy shareholders and investors and rekindle confidence. It needs to stabilize and raise the stock price again. In order to achieve this goal, it will definitely carry out a lot of planning and arrange for the return of many of its portfolios... But even if
Other groups will also return, but in my mind only EXO is the best weapon to stimulate stock prices."
"And you must also know that the return of this regular album is very crucial for XO."
Lee Soo Man is right, the next regular second album comeback is very important for EXO.
Since last year's regular album follow-up "Roar", EXO has had a sky-breaking momentum, breaking the long-standing million sales. At the end of the year, all the winter special ballads sold very well, and this year's mini-2 "Addicted" is even more popular.
Hitting new highs again, several songs became hits, and the group was about to officially reach the top spot.
But things started to take a turn for the worse in June. First, Byun Baekhyun's relationship was exposed, then Luhan, a popular top line member, quit the group, and today Tao quit the group again. A series of blows made the originally unstoppable EXO's prospects suddenly no longer clear.
A little darker.
In order to make up for this, the next comeback is really crucial. It is related to whether XO can wash away the negative effects of this year and stabilize the fan base that has been hit hard by the storm.
Whether we can even return to the grand situation before the members left the group, or even go further, depends on this comeback.
The company will definitely attach great importance to EXO's comeback and invest a lot of resources. The members have also been looking forward to it for a long time. Countless Ariel's hearts are sad after several rounds of blows, but they are also holding back their emotions.
I hope EXO proves that they will not sink like the outsiders and passers-by who are looking down upon them, and they will definitely open their wallets and provide crazy support.
If this comeback fails, then EXO may really lose the possibility of reaching the top as many people expected, and can only be reduced to an ordinary top or first-line boy group, but this is definitely not what the company, members and fans want.
.
And there is no telling what will happen in the future. The competition among idols in the Peninsula music industry is so fierce. Even if EXO can have another hit song and become famous in the future, the market no longer wants to benefit them as it is now. Who knows whether it will happen in the next two years?
Then a second 'exo' comes out and knocks out EXO just like they did last year when they defeated the older boy groups at an unimaginable speed?
So I still have to focus all my energy on my next comeback.
"This time around EXO's return, I will personally oversee the overall situation and act as the chief producer. The company is also planning to hire professional and well-known European and American musicians to participate in the production. At the same time, Jingyuan, you will also join in as a producer."
Looking at Chi Jingyuan who was nodding and lost in thought, Li Xiuman stood up and leaned over to pat him on the shoulder, as if he valued him very much: "I have listened to some of the songs you put in the music library, and some of them are very good."
It is suitable for XO, but the specifics will depend on the style choice after planning. You have also come up with a plan in the past two days, including the method of comeback, the overall style and the selection of songs. I will focus on it for reference.
your opinion."
"hurry up."
Feeling the strength on his shoulders, Chi Jingyuan pursed his lips and nodded.
Although the amplitude was very slight, Li Xiuman could feel the seriousness in his heart.
"The other thing is about the winter special in December. The company's original plan for EXO was to have a winter special return every December. The response and sales of "December Miracle" last year were also very good."
Then Lee Soo Man said another thing: "But this year's situation is very special. XO has a lot of things going on during this period, and the time is not right. At the same time, the next comeback is too important, and all fans will definitely be looking forward to it."
Support, if a winter special is released, it will weaken or waste the enthusiasm of fans to some extent, and have a bad impact on the official comeback next year."
When Chi Jingyuan heard this, he looked at him with approval. He also felt that what Li Xiuman said was quite reasonable.
"The current plan is to cancel the winter special this year and not release a physical album but release a winter digital single. The song is currently tentatively titled "December, 2014" and is expected to be produced through the company "Super Star SMTOWN'"
The open format in the game can also provide some publicity for the game, what do you think?"
"I don't think it's very good."
After hearing this, he pondered for a few seconds. Chi Jingyuan did not shy away but looked at the other party and told the truth: "Even if a single is released, there should be a matching MV and more publicity. It should not be for the purpose of promoting the game.
It’s public and a bit perfunctory.”
SM is really a big business. In addition to the entertainment industry, it is also involved in many industries. Now I don’t know why I went to develop games.
As soon as you think about it, it comes out.
"It's true, I'm considering it." Seeing Chi Jingyuan's blunt words, Li Xiuman also smiled and agreed. He waved his hand casually: "It's not confirmed yet, Jingyuan, you can think about what plans you have.
, or if there are any suitable songs provided, I will adopt your opinion if it is beneficial to the company and the group. But if it is to be released in December, this matter must be completed quickly within these two days."
"By the way, please go to the music room to listen to the demo of the song "December, 2014" sometime, and I will say hello."
"Now that I know Teacher Li Xiuman, I will think about it."
Compared with next year's regular second album, the winter special is not that important, but Chi Jingyuan doesn't want to deal with fans too much.
He was in a bad mood after seeing various messages from Ariel online, and felt that even when posting songs, he should be more serious and at least express some of XO's mood and attitude at this time.
"Very good, I'm very interested in your performance in the future..." Li Xiuman looked at him with a smile, and comforted him kindly: "It must be very tiring filming, thank you for your hard work."
"Kang Sang Mida." Chi Jingyuan also smiled and saluted to express his thanks.
At the end of the chat, it seemed that they had finished talking about business. After casually chatting about some family matters, Lee Soo Man suddenly mentioned the last member of EXO's Xia Kingdom:
"By the way, what do you think about lay?"
He pushed up the frames of his glasses again and looked at Chi Jingyuan with twinkling eyes, as if he wanted to hear the other person's opinion as a reference.
"If you lay..."
When it comes to this, Chi Jingyuan is a little silent.
Now everyone knows very well that after Luhan and Tao left one after another, it will be a matter of time or later for lay. If Tao develops better and better like Luhan, maybe this time will still pass.
Very close.
He thought about it for a long time, and finally sighed in his heart, raised his head and said to Li Xiuman: "I think it is best to come out with all these bad things at once. Even if it may have a big impact on us and the fans, at least there will be no more in the future.
There are hidden dangers. If we work hard next time we come back, it is possible to seal all the previous holes. But if we run one today, one tomorrow, and another two days or the next time we come back, then...
"
He spread his hands and didn't finish, but Li Xiuman obviously understood what he meant, and nodded slightly in agreement, making a promise: "I will consider it."
…………
Chi Jingyuan and Li Xiuman chatted for a long time, put forward several opinions and received several tasks before leaving the office where he was assigned, got into the nanny car and rushed to the crew in Seoul Plaza.
Today's events are really happening one after another. After Tao's departure from the group, there will be things like his return next year and the winter special. All of these things require Chi Jingyuan to be involved.
However, both Lee Soo Man and SM really value him enough. This level of participation is unimaginable for other members at this time.
Therefore, Chi Jingyuan also feels that the task on his shoulders is quite heavy, and he needs to carefully consider what kind of charter it should be.
Although there are a lot of things going on in the company, as the leading actor, he certainly cannot delay filming. "Misborn" has always had great momentum, and he cannot let the things here affect the crew and himself.
After rushing back in the afternoon, I was busy until about ten o'clock in the evening when Chi Jingyuan got off work from the crew and returned to the company.
The filming progress has been very fast in the past few days, and the accumulated amount has gradually increased, and the end time is relatively early.
Moreover, Kim Won-seok may have known that Chi Kyung-yuan had a lot of things going on recently, so he specially planned the filming of the male protagonist's scenes ahead of time so that Chi Kyung-yuan could get off work earlier.
He really took good care of him, and Chi Jingyuan was very grateful to him in his heart.
After returning to the company, he went to the music room. Regarding his return next year, he had made some preparations in private. This time he needed to organize and improve the information he had prepared before. He worked overtime in the past few days to write out a
The planning plan is submitted to the company.
Regarding next year's regular second album, he already has some ideas and drafts.
After being busy until almost early in the morning, Chi Jingyuan stretched out and packed up the things in the music room and prepared to go back to the dormitory. He had to get up early to go to the crew for filming tomorrow, so he had to ensure his rest time for efficiency.
After putting his bag on his back and closing the door, he got on the elevator and prepared to go downstairs, but the elevator stopped at the third floor just after descending one floor.
The elevator door opened with a 'ding' sound, and Chi Jingyuan looked outside the door in surprise. At this time, a familiar figure stood outside with his head lowered. After hearing the sound of the door opening, he also raised his head and met his eyes.
