Chapter 56: ITZY Debuts

This place is really nice! And the landlord also accepts a monthly rental setup. Although the rent is a bit more expensive, we don't have to pay such a hefty deposit.

During Prime Minister Moon's administration, the real estate market had been booming like a raging fire. Countless landlords relied on tenants' deposits to continuously expand their territories, but this phenomenon gave him a faint sense of danger.

Driven by the simple instincts of a farming family, despite not having a deep understanding of these financial operation models, he still felt that this system was like flowers blooming on a rotting log—unsustainable. Furthermore, rumors had it that the Prime Minister was about to issue relevant policies to curb the gradually collapsing rental market, which was definitely something worth looking forward to.

After all, unlike Bae Rabbit, Sejeong's hard-earned money could not exactly be called blood money, but it was certainly hard-come-by. Saving it penny by penny, it would be utterly unacceptable if it all went down the drain.

Of course, if it were Bae Rabbit, she wouldn't care about a small deposit like this and would most likely just buy a place outright. Aside from the six-hundred-square-meter luxury mansion she frequently stayed in, her much larger asset was a commercial property in Gangnam District.

Spanning two underground floors and five above-ground floors, it was generally used for commercial purposes, housing shopping spaces and studio spaces. The annual rental income from these properties was quite substantial—so much so that the rent from this single building alone could effortlessly crush that of the vast majority of idols.

A secure investment direction not only brings asset appreciation but also provides a steady stream of cash flow. Therefore, when she expressed her desire to bring him some assistance, he hadn't completely refused, but he had to ensure he could offer her an adequate return in the future.

This place is quite close to your company, the space is nice too, and it can be partitioned into two bedrooms. The kitchen and bathroom are great as well. If your mother comes to visit, she can stay here comfortably.

Although that shabby building of Jellyfish Entertainment was located in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam District, he felt it lacked the grandeur of Suzy's commercial property. It was so small that it didn't even look like the headquarters of an entertainment agency. As a substandard asset spun off by CJ, Sejeong was now practically the pillar holding up the company.

Although this dear younger sister had faced major setbacks in her early childhood due to her parents' divorce, she unexpectedly placed an even higher value on family ties. She reunited with her father during middle school and had maintained a remarkably good relationship with him ever since. In fact, one of her nine savings passbooks was specifically designated for setting aside pocket money to show filial piety to her parents. He had figured out her financial planning more or less, except for the most mysterious passbook she refused to tell him about.

Oppa can also come over to rest. After all, I'm not always here; I have a lot of schedules to run, and most of the time I'll still be going back to the dorm later on.

The Veterans Association wasn't too far from this crappy company—only a few kilometers away—and it wasn't particularly far from this rented apartment either, making it much closer than Suzy's apartment. Yet, for some reason, he couldn't shake the faint feeling of a decadent monarch setting up temporary palaces all over the place.

He had to admit that his job was indeed the kind to make many people envious. The chief didn't hold much suspicion toward him as a mascot; it was obvious they were on completely different career paths. In the chief's eyes, a prominent figure like himself had probably just come to his department to pad his resume, and might even use his influence to achieve some results.

Relatively speaking, his degree of freedom was quite high. He could coordinate plenty of time to handle his own affairs, making his life infinitely more comfortable than Sejeong's, who was worked to the bone. The association had even prepared a generous gift for him—a membership card for the 88 Country Club—though he still hadn't figured out the underlying intention. The chief had simply told him with an air of mystery that having extra skills never hurts, and suggested he could go play a round with Suzy sometime when he was free.

He hadn't made any promises to this girl; he certainly couldn't treat this apartment as casually as his own home. He and Suzy already had too many lice to feel the itch, but Sejeong was currently carrying immense pressure, and she couldn't possibly make a joke of her career. Compared to girls from well-off families of the same generation, her career path left her with virtually no fallback options. She wasn't like Suzy or Jessica, who had already earned enough to retire comfortably for the rest of their lives and could afford to be reckless. Truth be told, Sejeong still harbored a considerable fear of the risk of unemployment.

The risk of unemployment didn't just mean retiring from the industry; losing popularity meant losing the vast majority of her income. Her dream of earning enough money to buy property and take care of Cha Yoon-hoo would be shattered, which was an unbearable prospect for her.

Sejeong was tidying up the apartment's interior with a fair bit of excitement. The space wasn't particularly small, close to forty square meters, and Sejeong was extremely pleased with the cozy little living room. She sprawled out on the small sofa, a look of complete satisfaction washing over her face.

I'm going to stuff my refrigerator full of beer! After getting off work with a tired body, cracking open an ice-cold beer—how wonderful would that be!

As Sejeong thought about it, her eyes lit up. It seemed the oppressive atmosphere in the dorm had truly suffocated her for too long, and the unit's recently launched sub-unit promotion could only be described as a failure. However, the company's planning for her acting career was actually quite decent.

Compared to large agencies that constantly suppressed individual members to keep popularity balanced, a small agency that had finally drawn a rare high-tier card would naturally mobilize all its resources to strengthen her. This inevitably created an extreme imbalance of popularity within the group—though it also had a lot to do with the fact that her fellow members' popularity was virtually on par with ordinary non-celebrities. Aside from Kang Mina, with whom she had been close since IOI, everyone else held a grudge against the ACE for consuming the vast majority of the resources.

Yet those poorly educated girls never paused to think that if this ACE hadn't fought tooth and nail, relying solely on her own popularity to carry the entire group, this girl group would have faded into total obscurity long ago. The simplest truth was that Gugudan still hadn't managed to win first place on any music show, entirely lacking any inherent trait to make them blow up. It was worth noting that this girl's solo single "Flower Road" had actually won first place—truly a profound irony.

Of course, this was also one of the inherent flaws of human nature, a limitation of self-awareness. Very few people were capable of actively searching for faults within themselves, so it was absolute folly not to expect these young girls to hold such thoughts.

Whether it was suppressing members to balance popularity or concentrating forces to forge a flagship product, both were simply means to an end. Different circumstances and different times required adapting to local conditions. For instance, after Suzy, JYP Entertainment paid exceptional attention to balancing popularity, but if time could flow backward and the gorilla were given a hundred choices, he would still pile every single resource onto Suzy in the hope of saving the company.

JYP is debuting a new girl group this month. If Somi hadn't left, she'd probably be appearing on TV right now. I wonder if her choice was right or wrong!

As an insider, Sejeong naturally paid a bit more attention to these things, especially since she used to hear Somi talk about it all the time. In the end, it was quite a pity that she couldn't reach an agreement due to financial issues and ended up leaving.

Who knows? Why are you acting like an old busybody? That girl just signed with a new agency and is probably feeling quite pleased with herself! She even has legendary producers crafting her debut album.

In his heart, he held very high hopes for this new group named ITZY. After all, he had spent a period of time in that old agency; aside from treating artists like beasts of burden, there hadn't been any particularly terrible rumors, and the vast majority of the artists within the company were quite kind-hearted.

At this thought, Cha Yoon-hoo hurriedly sent a debut congratulation message to the cat-eyed girl named Hwang Yeji to express his hometown camaraderie, telling her that they would undoubtedly become exceptional artists, just as glorious as their seniors, TWICE.