Chapter 17 Chapter 17

The door clicked shut, and Lia realized the day was finally over. She didn't turn on the main lights, only the small desk lamp by her desk. A warm, yellow glow spread, gently enveloping the walls, the tabletop, and her fingertips.

She took off her coat and draped it over the back of a chair. The image of the rehearsal was still fresh in her mind. That short video was originally just to set the mood for the performance and make the fans laugh. The plot and images switched quickly, and it wasn't a particularly well-made piece.

The person on the screen made an exaggerated expression, a stark contrast to the carefree demeanor in front of her, yet it slowly began to overlap. The touch of her cold fingertips seemed to still linger on her skin, and she subconsciously held her breath, afraid that even a breath would betray her inner thoughts.

She sat down, pulled out a drawer, and took out a black-covered notebook from the bottom layer - it was his birthday gift.

The first page of the notebook had been neatly torn out, leaving only traces of truncation. The torn page was now perfectly hidden in the body of the felt figurine. She flipped through a few pages.

The paper bulges slightly where the pen has crossed it, and the writing is spread diagonally across the page, interspersed with notes, doodles, and some half-finished melodies. — There's no pattern, no system, yet one can clearly see a certain mood repeatedly mentioned within.

She wasn't consciously writing songs about "him." Whenever she felt an emotion that was difficult to express, she would subconsciously put it in this notebook.

Looking through it again now, she suddenly realized that this notebook, in some ways, no longer felt like a creative journal. It was more like... her diary. It was just that she had used melodies, rhythms, and fragments of dialogue to hide what she wanted to say.

She pursed her lips, picked up a pen, and wrote a melody on the blank page. Her pressure was very gentle, as if she didn't want to disturb anything. After writing for a while, she stopped, tapped her finger on the paper, and changed a note.

She finished writing the melody, without lyrics. She closed her eyes, replayed it in her mind, then looked down for a moment before writing a small time mark in the lower right corner.

The scent of citrus still seemed to linger in the air, sour and astringent, yet with a hint of sweetness. Lia gently closed the notebook and lowered her head to put it back in the drawer, pressing it to the bottom. The night gradually deepened... *

As the end of the semester approached, the atmosphere at school became increasingly tense. In the classroom, even the laziest boys began to look down at their books.

During breaks between classes, no one discussed new plays or talent shows anymore, the noise of fighting in the hallways decreased significantly, and even rehearsals for the New Year's Gala were temporarily suspended. Lia also tried to increase her study time.

After a semester of hard work, she has adapted to the learning pace of Korean high schools. She tries to digest the daily classroom content in class and review it at any time during practice after class.

In addition, she hardly needed to spend extra time on English, so even though she didn't have much time, she managed to maintain a mid-level grade.

She wasn't the type to get anxious. With her usual accumulation, if she put in a little more effort now, her results wouldn't be too bad. "Eh... I'm really screwed this time..." Beside her, Xia Qing sighed.

"Why is it all over?" Lia asked, tilting her head. "My mom said if I get 80 points in every subject at the end of the semester, I'll go to the concert. 80...?" She wailed, buried her head in the table, and sighed again.

Ever since Bigbang officially announced that they would hold a concert at the end of the year, Xia Qing took out her New Year's money and grabbed tickets early.

Unfortunately, she was eventually discovered by her family, and now her performance tickets are locked away in a safe, waiting for her to exchange them for her final report card. Lia gave her a sympathetic look.

This guy usually doesn't pay any attention to studying. Even if he tries to cram now, it's probably difficult for him to make any progress.

"I say, you're really abnormal." Xia Qing said, glaring at her angrily, "You obviously don't have much time to study, how come you can still study so well..."

"Please sit on my body during the exam, Master Lia!" As she said this, she bowed to Lia in a very formal manner, which made Lia laugh.

"You should start by paying attention in class." Lia patted her head, speaking gently. "It's okay, there's always someone at the bottom of the class!" Xia Qing glanced back at the back row, feeling reassured.

Lia followed her gaze and saw the person she mentioned as the last one in the group, sleeping on the table. Speaking of being busy, Lia was still far behind Yu Seungho.

Trainees can squeeze their schedules into after school, but actors often spend a month or two on set. Throughout the semester, Yoo Seung-ho's appearances at school were few and far between.

He didn't seem to care much about his grades, and basically just managed to pass. Of course, considering his minimal study frequency, such a result was already amazing.

Perhaps sensing Lia's gaze, he slowly raised his head and glanced in her direction. Lia nodded at him, a greeting. * Meanwhile, in the YG company building, the year-end meeting was being held in the conference room on the third floor.

The conference room was small, with a dozen or so people sitting in a circle. Folders, printed paper, and a pot of cold coffee lay on the table. Year-end meetings are usually not easy, as they determine the overall business direction for the coming year. The pace is fast, and there's no room for nonsense.

At the head of the round table sat CEO Yang Hyun-seok, who had just returned from Incheon Airport and looked a bit exhausted. "Let's get straight to the point," he said, clearing his throat. "The planning team first."

"Yes." The planning team leader responded, and passed around the table handing out the pre-prepared plans. "Next year, we plan to follow up on the activities of five groups of artists—"

"First of all, Gummy has signed two film and television OSTs, and is in talks for three more. As for Seven, he plans to go to the United States next year to receive language and music training. If all goes well, he will also start preparing for an album release in the US..."

Yang Hyun-suk listened quietly, his expression noncommittal. The operating model for established artists was essentially set, and as long as the general direction was sound, he generally didn't interfere too much.

"The third group is Bigbang. Next year, in addition to their regular domestic activities, they plan to release a full-length album. Zhilong is already preparing the tracks, and we'll discuss the concept and music video shooting with him further..."

"Ask Zhilong to find some time to come over. I want to confirm the album concept and progress." Yang Xianshi briefly interjected.

Bigbang is currently one of the company's most important artists. If they develop well, they may become YG's trump card. Although Zhilong has performed well, he is still young, so he will naturally have to pay extra attention to him.

"Yes, President." The head of the planning team responded respectfully. Seeing that he didn't continue, he continued, "The fourth group is Bigbang member Yongbae. He will release the group's first solo album next year."

"The album concept and title song have been basically finalized, and we are now communicating the MV shooting schedule and the overall visual design." "Hmm... the concept of the title song is 'Bad Man', right?" Yang Hyun-seok pondered.

"Yes, this was decided by Yongpei himself." "This concept...isn't it more suitable for Zhilong?" Yang Xianshi looked at the head of the planning team.

"Uh..." The other party was unsure of what he meant and could only respond vaguely. "Go on." Yang Xianshi didn't pursue the question further and just nodded.

"Finally, and this is our focus for next year, we're planning a program for our new girl group. We're currently envisioning a format similar to Big Bang's debut survival show, but the previous show focused primarily on Big Bang's daily training and lives. For the new girl group, we're planning a competition format."

"Compared to boy groups, girl groups have less appeal to die-hard fans, so the more brutal the survival battle, the higher the fan loyalty..." The team leader said as he secretly glanced at everyone's reactions. Seeing some people nodding in agreement, he felt a little relieved.

He actually submitted the relevant plan a few months ago, and originally wanted to directly link the activities with Bigbang.

But the president was reluctant to approve it, probably because he had some concerns about this bundling, so they revised the plan again. When he brought it up at this meeting, he couldn't help feeling nervous.

"The program is expected to be released in the second quarter. While Groups A and B will continue to progress, there will be another round of screening this year – another round of screening from the entire trainee pool, with a focus on evaluating their training performance in recent months."

"If all goes well, we need to start shooting the first episode of warm-up materials in early January, including personal images of trainees, interview clips, and demo recordings." "What about the ratings guarantee?" Yang Hyun-seok asked directly.

It is obviously far from enough to rely solely on the name "YG Company".

Although it has successfully launched artists such as Seven and Bigbang, the YG brand's ability to mobilize the public is far from enough to support the ratings of a program.

The team leader had been prepared and was now confident: "Some of the trainees have already appeared in front of the public, such as Bao En and Lia. We will buy some press releases in advance to warm up."

"In addition, regarding the program settings, we will coordinate with artists from other companies to participate as mentors or judges to attract traffic to the program. We will also arrange some male-female interaction segments when necessary. We will handle it vaguely in the early stages, and then clarify it with a 'junior-senior relationship' when it becomes popular."

"Yeah." Yang Xianshi nodded rarely, "I have also read the previous plan. The current direction is better. Let's proceed in this way." "Yes." The head of the planning team felt relieved.

"By the way, for Yongpei's MV shooting, let him pick one from the trainees." "Huh? Ah, yes, yes..." The team leader was a little surprised. Although the previous plan was rejected, it seemed that the president was also a radical in some aspects.

The meeting continued. The funding team, marketing team, and human resources team reported in turn... While the artist's operations revolved around the planning team, backup support was essential at every stage.

The meeting lasted nearly five hours, as everyone worked on finalizing the details for the upcoming year's plan. Soon, Yongpei received a list of trainees.

"The president told you to pick a suitable one yourself." A staff member handed him a thin document. "Because Zhilong's previous variety show was quite successful, we're planning to do some collaborations this time. This will also help promote your album and your new girl group program."

Yongpei leaned back in his chair, saying nothing as he flipped through the list. This list had been shortlisted, with only trainees who were both good-looking, talented, and potentially interesting.

More than ten pages of information were neatly arranged, with each name followed by a photo, training time, and specialty label. His finger paused on one of the columns.

Kim. Practice time: 18 months. Arrangement direction. Language notes: English and Korean. Sure enough, she was on the list. "Take a look first. I'll post practice videos later..."

The staff member was still talking, but Yongpei had already pulled out the page and pushed it towards the table. "She," he said, "this is it." "Uh... no need to watch the practice video again, just to confirm it?"

The staff member was stunned and leaned his head out to look at the place where his finger was pointing: "Eh...Lia?" "Well, what's wrong? Is there a problem?" Yongpei looked up at him.

"It's not that there's a problem," the other person scratched his head, "It's just that Zhilong was in the same group with her in the previous variety show, although it was just a coincidence..."

"So, it's more interesting, isn't it?" Yongpei smiled. "It should be very interesting." "That's right... I'll report to the team leader. If there is no problem, I will coordinate the time with the trainee management team."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Yongpei patted his shoulder to express his gratitude and slowly put the list away. He wondered how that guy would react when the time came. He was very much looking forward to it.

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