"Shin Hye Jin..."

Repeating the name over and over again, Song Ki-beom took out his mobile phone and found the phone number of Li Yuanmin, the representative of WM Entertainment, in the address book where thousands of people's phones were stored.

Recently, it has been rumored in the circle that this company and Woollim are preparing to launch a new girl group, and since both companies are launching girl groups for the first time, they have attracted the attention of some small media.

In fact, there is no need to say hello by himself at all, if Li Yuanmin knows that among the trainees of his company, there is an uncle in his family who is the vice president of CJEM and the representative of the M department, even if his strength is not good, he will be classified into the debut group.

A small company like WM Entertainment is simply not enough in the eyes of a behemoth like CJEM.

"Why don't you stuff it......?"

Seoul City, Seocho-gu, 3rd floor of a building somewhere in Bangbae-dong, where WM Entertainment is located.

Among the surrounding buildings, the WM Entertainment building is just an inconspicuous sign, and passers-by don't stop by and take out their phones to take pictures just because this is a brokerage company that has cultivated idols.

People who live in the neighborhood every day, or who pass by here, have long been familiar with such places.

But the reason for this is that WM Entertainment is not very famous, so at this time, there are only two or three squatting fans nearby, holding supporters that look very low-grade.

"How's the construction of the company's new building?"

At this moment, in the president's office at the end of the third floor, President Li Yuanmin lowered his head to sign some daily documents, looked up at the secretary in front of him and asked.

"It's time to put the finishing touches on it, and now it's time to move in just after the formaldehyde smell inside is purified. ”

"Hmm~ But I still have to keep an eye on it, this is the first new building that our company has bought over the years, and it is going to move to this place next year, which is very important. ”

Signing his name at the end of the document, Li Yuanmin took a deep breath.

This year, WM Entertainment bought a newly built independent building on the side of World Cup Road in Wangwon-dong, Mapo-gu, and plans to move here next year.

"Okay president, I'll do it. ”

"Hmm~~ You go out first. ”

After sending the secretary away, Li Yuanmin leaned back in the office chair and closed his eyes in contemplation.

Since the establishment of WM Entertainment in 2008 and the launch of its first boy group B1A4 in 2011, it has taken three years of hard work.

Up and down the company, all regard the new building as a new starting point for the company, although the annual benefit is not as good as the three major societies, but in the small and medium-sized companies, it can be regarded as having its own satisfactory answer.

Of course, the reason why WM was able to change the new building was that last year, B1A4 won the first place at the MBC Music Center with "What'sgoingon".

For a small company like them, it's no less like the only athlete from a country to win an Olympic gold medal.

Since then, the second album "Whoi" released by B1A4 this year has allowed them to win eight places in 4 singing shows such as "Popular Songs".

It was at that time that Li Yuanmin and other high-level executives decided to buy new land to build the building, no longer living on the dilapidated third floor.

As the president, Lee Won-min himself was not only personally involved in the design of the company building, but also wrote on the wall of the new company, "The original stones have their own characteristics and personalities, and this is a place where they are discovered and turned into gemstones."

Highlight his desire to discover talent, talent and become a star.

In Li Yuanmin's eyes, WM Entertainment's philosophy is to treat idols as ordinary people rather than commodities.

And position the agency itself as a protective shield, trust each other through continuous communication, and give timely support and cheer to idols.

However, on the surface, WM Entertainment has risen among many small and medium-sized planning companies in Seoul, but in fact, the internal crisis is only clear to him.

In fact, a year ago, there were many high-level executives in the company who wanted to give up the group because B1A4 couldn't get a place and made a name for themselves in the boy band.

In the eyes of some people, the three-year golden period for newcomers, if there is no breakthrough in popularity and influence during this time, the group is basically in a mess.

But after all, B1A4 is the company's first group, and these people are all trainees who have suffered all the way with Li Yuanmin before their debut, even if they are businessmen, they are a little emotional.

Fortunately, this group is still competitive, and under the protection of his two-layer identity as president and largest shareholder, B1A4 successfully won one of the major programs, and once became a good story of "counterattack" in the circle.

However, now it is not as good as before, the idol group won the first place in the music charting show, which does not prove that the group will take off from now on, nor does it mean that it will be able to make a lot of money, and it will be easy to sit back and relax.

Compared with most men's groups of the same period, B1A4's style is more lyrical, which is a lyrical + dance style.

This is not the type that the mainstream group in the current market likes, those young female fans prefer the strong knife group dance of exo, beast, and infinite.

Just the ability of B1A4 to attract money is far from satisfying the funding gap of WM Entertainment.

When some shareholders began to suggest that Li Yuanmin find foreign help, sell some of his shares, and relieve the company's financial strain by injecting capital, Li Yuanmin refused.

may think that the current WM has not yet reached the extent that it has to be acquired by other companies, so with the gradual start of B1A4 and the stimulation of the company's employees by winning one after another, Li Yuanmin decided to prepare for the launch of the company's first girl group.

After more than a year of selection, OHGIRL is the name of WM's new girl group, just by hearing this name, you can imagine the style of this girl group.

"Old man, although your company is s. M bought it, but it just made you a little more money, fundamentally your woollim still hasn't changed, it's still that poor and sour inside, now I'm going to see if it's your lovelyz strong, or my ohgirl strong. ”

Lovelyz, this is the group that Woollim is preparing to launch soon, the time of the group's debut, and the list of members have been sent to Lee Wonmin's desk.

In November, it seemed that it would be tomorrow in a blink of an eye, Li Yuanmin looked at the date and laughed silently.

It seemed that his old friend was in a more anxious hurry than he thought.

Generally, large companies will not choose to let their rookie groups debut at the end of the year, and the grand occasion in the entertainment industry during this period is no less than the idol collective return war in the summer.

Probably from the end of October, or the beginning of November, many seniors in the circle who failed to return in the second half of the year, or trending idol groups, will choose to return one after another.

Others are busy attending year-end music awards and awards ceremonies of the nature of MAMA.

And the public's attention is basically focused on the three major TV stations' performing arts awards, song awards, variety show awards, and major variety shows are busy launching year-end specials to grab ratings.

In such a lively period, who would pay attention to the newcomer girl group launched by a small and medium-sized company.

Even if the quality of Lovelyz's debut song passes, it can only be used as a companion for the seniors, because when it comes back, will it hit the fog of sound sources one day.

It's just that both Woollim and WM seem to regard this new group as a competition, and the number of groups launched by both sides is finally set at eight people.