Chapter 32 Perhaps

as difficult to meet unless it was scheduled or by chance.This time it was just a coincidence."Ginger, you rascal!"Ji Jingyuan chuckled lightly, walked to Jiang Sheqi's side, and patted her gently."Oh...“Carbida…”

After finishing his speech, EXO turned to greet the other idols. Even though they were a little disappointed inside, Red Velvet members quickly smiled brightly and congratulated their senior for winning first place. Facing EXO's continuous bows, both their facial expressions and manners were impeccable.

This is also one point that has always been praised by people about the S family.

Yesterday, after filming the advertisement, Seulgi seemed a little uncomfortable because of her height. She smiled and kept bowing. When she faced Jiungwon, she purposely looked away for a second. After their brief glance, when the camera in front was blocked, the golden-haired girl's eyes narrowed slightly, gave him a quick glare, then immediately turned away. Then she followed the rest of the group towards the stage.

Ji Jingyuan glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He noticed how her upper body remained still while her hips swayed rhythmically with each step. He secretly curled his lips in disapproval.

Today Liu Hai'er's bangs are so thick, and his hair on both sides is even curling outwards towards his cheeks. It looks like a pile of weeds, so ugly. Don't hurry up and think about how to please dy who is still twisting there What's the point of being so smug

I don't know who at the company did today's styling for PBE but they actually made someone who was already pretty look so plain. He felt like he needed to avoid any trouble.

At the same time, Chi Jingyuan also noticed that the rap part of Red Velvet's stage today had a different choreography where four people were lying on the floor doing sit-ups. Maybe S also noticed that the choreography looked strange here.

As he turned around, his business smile instantly returned to his face. He adjusted his earpiece and, along with the other members, began today's encore performance.

After the broadcast of "《!》" ended, EXO didn't linger and left directly. They returned to the dormitory to remove their makeup, changed into casual clothes, took a short break to freshen up, and then nine members boarded two vans and drove towards nearby Cheongdam-dong.

Today is the 26th, which happens to be the birthday of Kim Gukjin, the eldest brother of the group. When I was looking at the schedule earlier, I found that there were no other arrangements in the evening today. We've been busy for over 20 days in a row and are nearing the end of the song promotion period. Some activities have also decreased as we begin preparing for the upcoming new album comeback. After discussing it with a few members, we decided to celebrate together.

We were originally planning to go to a well-known barbecue place nearby, but Kim Jun Myeon said there's a new hot pot restaurant that just opened near us. He and his friends ate there once and thought the taste was really good, not much different from what they had in Korea during their activities. He highly recommends we try it together.

Under Ji Jingyuan's timely support, the final decision was made to have the evening dinner here.

Thanks, bro.

The nanny car drove into the underground parking lot. Ji Jingyuan and a few others thanked the driver assistant after getting out of the car.

They arrived in two vans, but due to a red light and traffic congestion, they missed each other. Ji Jingyuan's van, with four people, was about ten minutes behind the first one.

This hot pot restaurant, translated as Shanggu, is located on a high floor of a shopping mall in Cheongdam-dong. Four people are standing there wearing hats and waiting for the elevator.

Because there are more people, if everyone wears masks it's very obvious and might be better not to wear them. So, generally during group activities, they all wear hats like baseball caps or knitted hats, keeping their heads down low-key. If you don't run into those super hardcore fans who can recognize EXO members just by looking at their necks, it still helps with some level of concealment.

"The decoration here is really luxurious, I haven't been here much even though it's so close."

"Cheongdam-dong is normal, this shopping mall has a lot of big brands, they are all relatively high-end brands. I have been here with friends several times before."

Cheongdam-dong is one of Seoul's most famous affluent districts, with a concentration of international luxury brands, fashion boutiques, and department stores. The malls are uniquely decorated, and of course, the prices are far beyond the reach of ordinary incomes.

In the past few years, among the EXO members who had just debuted, besides Xiumin, Jinwoo, and Tao who came from wealthy families, most others had average spending habits and family backgrounds. Back then, when they ate out together, they would choose ordinary barbecue restaurants or Korean-style restaurants. Privately, they didn't have particularly high expectations for their clothing and fashion choices in terms of price.

Even when Ji Chang-wook first filmed "Reply 1997," the other members wanted to send a support truck and needed to hold an internal fund drive.

But with the rise in popularity of EXO, especially after their tour last year, each member has received a substantial settlement from the company. Coupled with their individual incomes and endorsements, EXO members are now considered high-income earners in most industries on the peninsula. Many of them privately purchase various luxury clothing and watches, and some even plan to buy luxury cars and properties directly. They can easily afford expensive dining and entertainment.

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Once penniless and inexperienced, these young people have undergone a remarkable transformation. They now exude the confidence and style of successful trendsetters.

Given their age, it's no wonder so many people aspire to be in the entertainment industry with such high incomes.

"How many floors is it"

"Didn't I say before, seven floors That whole floor is filled with places to eat."

Actually, compared to hot pot, I prefer Sichuan cuisine from Xia Guo. Remember that spicy hotpot Jingyuan brought back last time That was really delicious.

"Remember, it could still work... But what good is that now"

Only the four of them were waiting for the elevator at this time. Taking a glance at the elevator that slowly ascended from the second floor below, Ji Jingyuan's gaze also swept around the surrounding decorations with interest, while listening to the conversation between Park Chan-wook and Wu Sehun next to him, as well as Do Kyung-soo who occasionally chimed in.

It's possible that the prices are high because of the location and brand, or perhaps it's just the wrong time. There aren't many people here, and the area seems a bit deserted.

Chi Jingyuan doesn't particularly like or dislike going to shopping malls. He just doesn't go often because he's rather lazy.

Compared to shopping, he is more interested in food, games, and even animation.

"Here we are."

As Park Chan-lyeol's reminder rang out, the elevator door opened with a "ding." Ji-seong looked inside casually before naturally stepping forward. However, as his gaze swept across the interior, he suddenly saw a face that seemed somewhat familiar. He paused for a moment.

Only two women were in the elevator at this time. They both had bags, were about the same height, one young and one older. The younger one was also carrying several shopping bags, clearly having just finished shopping here. Judging from their somewhat similar temperament and the fact that they were holding hands together, they seemed like a mother and daughter.

...The reason for the pause was a young girl with long black hair standing opposite Chi Jingyuan, wearing a black dress. He had seen her before.

I've seen her more than once, that JYP female trainee named a.

Like the middle-aged woman, who seemed to be a mother, was very well-mannered. When she saw the elevator door open and there were three tall men and one shorter boy inside, she proactively pulled back two steps to make space for them.

Although surprised to coincidentally meet someone he knew here, since it wasn't exactly a close acquaintance, Chi Jingyuan instantly regained his composure. He walked towards the elevator with the members and glanced at Minami Namikai who seemed to be still dazed. He lightly pursed his lips without caring if she noticed or not, even if it was a greeting. Afterward, he turned away to press the floor button, only to discover that the 7th floor had already been pressed. He blinked, understanding instantly, and stood behind them directly.

...and Minami Namiki apparently recognized the maskless Keiji Ike and EXO members instantly. First, her pupils contracted, she stared at his face in some shock for a second, then after their gazes met, she seemed to flinch and quickly scanned over the other three EXO members before looking away, slightly unnaturally lowering her head. You could clearly feel her heart starting to race.

"I just looked at the signs, and it seems like the basement level is also a large food court. It looks pretty good..."

“I’m interested in taking you and your girlfriend next time…”

Apart from Ji Jingyuan, the other members showed no abnormalities whatsoever. They continued chatting casually after entering the elevator. However, when they reached the topic of "girlfriends," Park Chan-yeol suddenly reacted to the presence of outsiders and abruptly stopped mid-sentence. The others understood the situation and tacitly closed their mouths. For a moment, the elevator was filled with an awkward silence, broken only by the engine sound as it ascended.

The elevator's lighting was partially blocked by the figure standing in front. The remaining shadow fell over Minami's head, making her face appear somewhat blurry at this moment. After the elevator began to ascend, she couldn't help but look up at Ji-yeong and the other EXO members who were close by. She scanned back and forth a few times before finally settling her gaze on the figure in front of her.

A light-colored hooded jacket and jeans, a very ordinary outfit, but on him it felt very comfortable. He was wearing a white baseball cap, and when they made eye contact, Minami noticed the pattern in the center of the hat was Squirtle, a Pokémon character she was very familiar with. His hair had been dyed back to its original black color and peeked out from under the brim, not too long, revealing his neck clearly.

After staring for a while, as if worried that Chi Jingyuan would notice, Nami Minami retracted her gaze and feigned indifference, looking at the patterns on the elevator floor.

This sudden appearance really caught her off guard. The joy and excitement she felt just moments ago while shopping with her mother had been replaced by a sense of confusion.

However, Chi Jingyuan didn't think that much. He stood quietly waiting for the elevator to ascend. It so happened that there were no other passengers, so it didn't stop at all. After a while, the elevator door reached the seventh floor and opened again. He pulled his baseball cap brim down a little, lightly sniffed the faint fragrance coming from behind him, and then followed the members out of the elevator without stopping. At the same time, there was also a light footstep sound coming from behind.

"Didn't we set off together Why are you so slow"

He was led into the private room of the hot pot restaurant by a waiter. As soon as he entered, he heard Bian Berhen complaining loudly.

"What's the rush We can take our time, do you want to see"

"Oh, damn..."

"I ordered some dishes, take a look and order some more if you like," said Kim Si-beok, the protagonist of tonight's dinner, looking very handsome. Ji-yeong felt that he hadn't taken off much makeup. He grinned with a youthful smile, beckoning everyone to take their seats quickly, then picked up the menu and handed it over.

"Just order whatever you want, anyway, you're the one paying. You're the star of the show today," With the air conditioning a bit strong, Ji Jingyuan took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair. He took the menu but didn't look at it, waving his hand with a smile and making a playful remark.

"Hahaha..."

"Let's take a photo for verification first..."

……

On the other side, Naomi Naitō and her mother Naomi Naitō were sitting in a Western restaurant having dinner. However, it seemed like she was troubled. Although she tried to act natural, she would occasionally drift off for a moment.

Actually, she was quite worried about her daughter being alone on the peninsula as a trainee. So after Naminori joined JYP at the beginning of the year, her mother often came to visit her, checking on her practice and life.

Because she knows that her daughter recently participated in the survival show organized by the company for her debut, and it was also her birthday the day before yesterday, Nami's mother came to Seoul this time to visit her daughter. She celebrated a warm birthday for her the day before yesterday. Since she will be returning to Japan tomorrow, today she specially allowed her daughter to take some time out from her busy practice to buy some clothes and have a meal together as a farewell.

"Do you know that boy from just now"

Feeling that something was off, Mom had been staring at me, her own daughter, ever since we started talking. I lightly wiped my mouth and took the initiative to ask a question.

"Well, he's a member of the most popular boy band on the peninsula right now, and he's very well-known here."

Namie placed her cutlery down and nodded without denying it as she introduced herself to her mother.

"That's not what I asked..."

Kiko smiled, and when she looked at her daughter, the wrinkles on her face seemed gentle: "I'm talking about the boy who walked into the elevator first, the one wearing a white hat. You should get to know him privately, not as a fan meeting a celebrity."

She had sensed it from just a moment ago, especially when they were taking the elevator. Her daughter's hand holding hers was noticeably tighter, and afterward, her gaze seemed off, distracted and preoccupied with something on her mind.

"...I guess we know each other..."

After a few seconds of hesitation, recalling many times over, the fresh memory surged in her heart. Her feet under the table lightly scraped the floor. Minami Nan mumbled and nodded: "He happened to help me before."

She paused for a few seconds before speaking, giving a brief introduction but not revealing the details of what happened at the CB that night. Though she was very close to her mother and could confide in her about most things, Nanami still hesitated to tell her family about this because it would cause trouble and worry them.

After all, it's been so long.

"Is that so..."

Seeing her daughter's tone and expressions when speaking, and the distinct look of reminiscence in her eyes, Mom watched her own child murmur agreement with her lips, but in her heart, she had a certain understanding.

However, she didn't carefully consider the consequences, but out of natural curiosity, she asked: "Did you formally thank him for his help"

"...I guess so, I don't know if it counts as formal."

"Speaking of which, the scene where I was rejected back then seems to appear in front of my eyes again. Nan Minami couldn't help but purse her lips slightly, with a hint of complaint and coquettishness in her tone as she looked at her mother: "Besides, it was just a coincidence at the time, they probably forgot about it long ago."

Feeling her daughter's affection and a hint of melancholy, the mother smiled happily. At the same time, she recalled how Ji Jingyuan had hesitated for a moment when he saw Ming Wei Nan in the elevator earlier. However, instead of voicing his observation, he simply nodded in agreement:

Maybe...

…………

Although there was still time left after the birthday dinner, members rejected Park Chan-yeol's suggestion to go singing after a brief discussion, citing reasons such as "Nine people are too many" and "It's too boring with all guys."

To be honest, this comeback was a huge success thanks to the return of . All aspects, from data and popularity to buzz, saw a significant increase. It seems that EXO, which had previously looked gloomy due to consecutive member departures, has finally emerged from the shadows. However, it also somewhat dampened the determination the members had been maintaining leading up to the comeback.

But that's understandable. Chi Jingyuan has been a bit relaxed these days, after all, preparing for the album has been hard work for so long. Because of the outside world's pessimism and suppression for so long, he needs to relax a little.

And the results of this return were indeed a bit unexpected.

After ruthlessly defeating their fellow girl group Red Velvet for two consecutive weeks, winning the number one spots on both days 27 and 28, EXO officially concluded their promotions for "Call Baby" from the music shows "Music Bank" and "Music Center." Despite having no graduation system, allowing them to participate even after a three-peat win.

From March 1st to the 28th, starting with the second Saturday's Music Bank, EXO bagged all first place trophies on all major music shows except for The Show.

Shoion, !, and Uta no Prince-sama ALL STAR AFTER PARTY have all achieved a three-consecutive-win graduation.

Then, both "Music Bank" and "Inkigayo" voluntarily ended their promotional activities after achieving their fourth win each.

A total of 17 members participated in the singing competition, tying the record for the second-highest number of male artists ever achieved by EXO with "Growl" in 2013.

Both "Call Baby" and "The Roar" are tied for second place with 17 crowns, only second to "Gangnam Style" with 19 number-one hits.

Actually, given the popularity of "Call Baby" and EXO's current momentum, it's highly likely they could continue winning music show awards or participate in a few episodes of "The Show" to boost their chart performance even further. However, honestly speaking, the significance of a first place win for them has diminished. It's more about proving their achievements and status now.

Kim Jun-myeon must have been running out of award acceptance speech lines this week, and Lee Soo Man probably couldn't count how many times he'd been thanked this month. Those few sentences repeated over and over again were getting even the fans a little tired of hearing them. Lately, the awards ceremony acceptance speech section has basically ended in under ten seconds.

Apart from the song sales, other data are also very encouraging. Although the pre-orders weren't ideal at first, after the official comeback, sales have been growing against the trend for two consecutive weeks. Even though it might be because of the single album that it didn't reach the million-copy height of the previous two years, it's still a terrifying number that other groups can't touch.

And on the audio front, after the astonishing debut of topping all charts on the first day, the momentum hasn't disappointed. Although it quickly dropped from the top spot, even a month later, the two songs from 《e》 are still hovering within the inner circle of the charts.

Sales saw a slight decrease, but sound source performance remained stable and progressed. The general public's interest significantly increased, YouTube views also improved. This time, through the pre-release single album "e", EXO can be said to have experienced a full revival.

As for whether it can go further, it depends on the response to the next few singles and albums. We'll see if they can have a greater driving effect.

After finishing their latest song, Ji Jingyuan and the others focused all their energy and work on their second comeback in April. They were working hard on their upcoming single album, 《x》.

At 12 noon on March 29th, company s also released a preview video for the title song "sprgday (Spring Day)" of "x" on its official account.

……

"A lyric piece"

In yg's president's office, Yang Xianxu was astonished after hearing his assistant's report. He opened his laptop and clicked on a page to play it. Hearing the melody in the trailer, which was more lyrical than a dance track, a slightly strange smile appeared on his face.

There seems to be a hint of disdain, and also a touch of astonishment.

Idol groups, especially male idol groups, rarely release ballad songs. Even if they do, most of the time the results are mediocre and rarely create a big splash.

Because in many people's minds on the peninsula, there exists an instinctive prejudice against idol groups. Subconsciously, they don't believe idols can sing ballads well; these songs should be performed by singers with substance. Idols should just stick to singing and dancing, showcasing their stage presence is enough.

This prejudice is prevalent among most ordinary passerby listeners. This also leads to the fact that even if an idol group releases a ballad, besides their fans, few passersby will actively listen to it. Ballads themselves have weaker stage effects compared to mainstream dance tracks, and with no one listening to them online, they essentially go unnoticed.

Therefore, it's rare to see boy bands releasing ballads nowadays. The entire Korean music scene has an audience for all kinds of genres, be it Kpop, hip-hop, or even ballads. The only male group with a good reputation for ballads is BIGBANG.

However, EXO can be considered half-popular because the results of their winter specials and winter singles in 2013 and 2014 were quite good, and plus their vocal skills are outstanding and the main vocalist actively participates in many OSTs for television dramas.

They've returned with such momentum this time around, if their next few singles can also achieve these results, they really won't be able to stop them. To follow up with a ballad, and even as the main track... so confident

Yang Xianxu took one last look at the s company logo frozen on his laptop screen, shook his head and smiled.

Because the comeback methods were similar and the comeback dates overlapped by half, coupled with the fact that the companies weren't on good terms to begin with, YG has been paying very close attention to all of EXO's data and achievements as BIGBANG's main rival for a month now.

Although EXO has achieved many number one spots on music charts and seems to be doing well, according to market analysis from the marketing department, their comeback this time wasn't as successful as it appeared.

“For their comeback this time, they invested a lot of resources. Through channels and connections, we can clearly see that there are traces of artificial operation in many aspects, such as promotion, charting, broadcasting, and click-through rate. The actual gains they achieved are not as much as they seem.”

An assistant manager, at the suggestion of Yang Xian-shuo, began the report: "The most intuitive aspect is sales. This is EXO's formal comeback after a gap of nearly ten months. According to market logic, given the level of anticipation from their fans and the purchasing power they have been building up, there should be a very obvious surge in sales."

But even a month after the release of the single album "e", sales have not exceeded one million and are far behind, significantly lower than their average level. This reflects the phenomenon of fans leaving because of the members' departure and the decline in public perception. Overall, I believe EXO's downturn is already quite apparent.

"A week ago, we opened pre-sale channels for their second single album 'x'. Although the pre-sale figures are higher than for 'e', the increase is not as significant as we had anticipated, falling short of the expected surge in popularity."

"So according to our analysis, we will proceed with the original plan for the bigbang promotion, warm-up and comeback. EXO will not have too much of an impact on us, and even if everything goes smoothly, their heat and attention might transfer to us to some extent, acting as a stepping stone."

…"

Yang Xienshuo sat in the boss's chair wearing a baseball cap, holding a steel lighter and tapping it lightly on the table, making a dull sound. He was thinking about the staff's report.

Although he still had some concerns, whether true or false, whether it was the company's investment or operation, everyone could see the momentum of 《callbaby》 this month. The surface results completely exceeded their previous expectations.

I felt a lot lighter after watching the trailer for "Spring Day" and realizing it was a ballad.

It's not just him; many of the YG staff members responsible for this side are like that.

Only industry insiders truly know how frighteningly profound the biases of the masses can be.

Just as Yang Xianshuo lightly nodded, easing the tension in the room, Choi Seong-hyun, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly spoke up out of curiosity: "Sales are far below average Then how much are they selling now"

He already disliked Chi Jingyuan, even though his sales figures were plastered all over several charts. He wouldn't bother checking them himself.

Moreover, Choi Sung-hyun actually considered this junior group as a competitor. He was just interested to hear the phrase "far lower," wanting to know exactly how low they were.

"Well... As of yesterday, according to the g chart data, EXO's debut single album 《e》 sold ... copies, which is far lower than last year's mini album 《overdose》, and also significantly lower than their average."

Excluding this one, EXO has released three mini albums and one full-length album since their debut. Because the first full-length album and the third mini album both reached sales of over a million units consecutively, even though the debut album "aa" and the winter special album "Miracle of December" somewhat dragged down the average, it's still a very high number overall.

In contrast, the 650,000 of 《e》 pales in comparison.

But after hearing this data, the office fell eerily silent.

Because the last comeback of the BIGBANG group was in 2012 with "Alive," an album that achieved excellent results across all categories, it ultimately only sold 260,000 copies.

Cui Sheng blinked, his mind chewing hard on the words "far below." For a moment, he felt rather awkward.

As the pillar of YG company, although Big Bang has gained widespread recognition from their second generation debut until now, they have achieved remarkable success in terms of music charts, popularity, and income. However, for a boy group, album sales have always been their biggest weakness.

It can't be said to be bad, after all, 20 million is already very impressive for a boy group, a number that only top-tier groups can achieve. However, compared to their other data, it's noticeably lagging behind. leaving only six.The program team also put a lot of effort into increasing viewership, trying all sorts of methods, but they yielded little to no results.During the shoot today, a group of MCs played...