peninsula asteroid.

"Rough Camida..."

After finishing his testimonials, EXO turned around and saluted the other idols. Even though they were a little disappointed in their hearts, the members of red velvet quickly came out with bright smiles and congratulated their seniors for getting the first place. Facing EXO, they kept bowing and saluting. Whether it is expression management or etiquette, it is very good.

This is also a point that the SM family has always been praised.

Yesterday, the advertisement was filmed in the follow-up. Pei Zhuxuan, who obviously felt a little uncomfortable because of her height, kept bowing with a smile on her face. When she was facing Chi Jingyuan, she deliberately looked over. When the front camera was blocked, under the blond hair, the whites of the eyes were slightly condensed, and he gave him a slight look, then turned away immediately, and then walked towards the bottom of the stage with the team.

From the corner of his eye, Chi Jingyuan glanced at her walking movement with her upper body still and her buttocks twisting and twisting, and secretly pursed her lips.

Today's bangs are so thick, and the sides of the hair are turned away from the cheeks, which looks as ugly as a pile of weeds.Don't hurry up and think about how to please Cody is still there, what's the matter?
I don't know which cody in the company made Pei Zhuxuan's look today, but it can make an otherwise pretty person look so ordinary. He feels that he needs to avoid the thunder.

At the same time, Chi Jingyuan also noticed that in the rap part on the red velvet stage today, the strange choreography of four people doing sit-ups on the floor has been changed. Perhaps SM also noticed that the choreography here looks very strange. .

When he turned around, the business smile returned to his face in an instant, he helped the headset and started today's encore stage with the members.

After the broadcast of "M!countdown" ended, EXO left Mnet without staying. First, they went back to the dormitory to remove their make-up and changed into their private clothes. After a short rest, the nine members took two nanny cars and headed towards the nearby Cheongdam-dong. drive away.

Today is the 26th, the birthday of the eldest brother Kim Min-seok of the group. When I looked at the schedule, I found that there is no extra arrangement for tonight. I have been busy for more than 20 days in a row. Now it is approaching the end of the singing period and some activities are less. I started to prepare The upcoming new album is coming back, and several members decided to celebrate together after a few discussions.

Originally, I was going to eat a famous barbecue nearby, but Jin Junmian said that a very good hot pot restaurant opened nearby. After eating it once with my friends, I thought the taste was better than what they ate at the Xiaguo event. How much difference, strongly recommend to try together.

With Chi Jingyuan's timely support, they finally decided to have dinner here at night.

"Thanks, bro."

The nanny's car drove to the underground parking lot. Chi Jingyuan and the others thanked the assistant driver who was driving, and then walked out.

They came in two nanny cars, but because of red lights and traffic jams in the middle, they didn't arrive together. The four people in Chi Jingyuan's car were nearly 10 minutes later than the previous one.

This hotpot restaurant, translated as Shangguo, is located on the upper floor of a shopping mall in Cheongdam-dong, where four people stand wearing hats and waiting for the elevator.

Because there are a lot of people, it is better not to wear a mask if it is very conspicuous if they all wear a mask. Therefore, during group activities, they usually wear their own hats, baseball caps, knitted hats, etc., keep their heads down and keep a low profile. Those super diehard EXO fans who can recognize who is who just by looking at the neck can still play a concealed role.

"The decoration here is quite luxurious. I haven't been here so recently."

"It's normal for Cheongdam-dong. This shopping mall has a lot of big brands, all of which are relatively high-end brands. I have visited a few times with my friends before."

Cheongdam-dong is one of the famous wealthy districts in Seoul. There are many international luxury, fashion brands and department stores here. The decoration of the shopping mall is also unique. Of course, the price is far from what ordinary income can consume.

A few years ago, among the EXO members who had just debuted, except Chi Jingyuan, Jin Junmian, and Tao, who had a good family background, most of the other members had very average consumption levels and family conditions. I just choose some ordinary barbecue restaurants, Han Dingshi and other places, and I don’t have any high price requirements for clothing and fashion taste in private.

Even when Chi Jingyuan was filming "Reply 1997" for the first time, other members needed to come to the team to raise funds if they wanted to send a support car to support it.

However, with the explosion of EXO, especially after last year’s concert tour, each member’s settlement from the company can be regarded as generous, plus their own personal information and endorsement income, today’s EXO members are in most industries on the peninsula. The middle class can already be regarded as a high-income group. Many people have bought a lot of brand-name clothes and watches in private, and some even plan to buy luxury cars and real estate directly. They can easily eat and play with high consumption. commitment.

The youthful newcomers who used to have little money have long been reborn, and now they all look like young hipsters and successful people.

With such a high income at their age, it's no wonder so many people yearn for the entertainment industry.

"How many floors are there?"

"Didn't you say it before, the seventh floor, there are all kinds of places to eat on the whole floor."

"Actually, I prefer Sichuan cuisine from Xiaguo to hot pot. Do you still remember the Malatang that Jingyuan brought back last time? It's really delicious."

"Remember, it's really okay...but you're saying it's useless now?"

At this time, there were only the four of them waiting in front of the elevator. After taking a look at the elevator slowly going up from the second floor, Chi Jingyuan also scanned the surrounding decorations with interest, while listening to Park Chanyeol and Oh Sehun's, and Do Kyungsoo's conversations that interrupted from time to time.

It may be because the location and brand are relatively high-end, the consumption is a bit expensive, or it may be the wrong time, but there are not many people here, and the surrounding looks a little deserted.

Chi Jingyuan doesn't have any special preference or dislike for things like shopping malls, but because he is lazy, he rarely comes here.

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

"arrive".

Following Park Chanyeol's reminding voice, the elevator door opened with a "ding", and Chi Jingyuan raised his head and took a casual look inside, then he naturally opened his legs and was about to walk in, but when his eyes swept over, he suddenly saw Seeing a seemingly familiar face in the elevator, the whole person paused for a while.

At this time, there were only two women in the elevator, both carrying bags, about the same height, one was younger and the other was older, and the younger one was carrying a few shopping bags, apparently she had just been shopping here, judging from their Some matching temperament and holding hands together seem to look like a pair of mother and daughter.

And all the pauses were because he had seen the long-haired young girl in a black dress standing directly opposite Chi Jingyuan.

I have seen it more than once, that JYP female trainee named mina.

The middle-aged woman who looks like a mother is obviously very well-educated. When the elevator door opened, there were three tall men and a shorter boy, so she took the initiative to pull Mina and stood back for two steps, giving up the space. .

Although I was a little surprised to meet someone I had met in this place by such a coincidence, but after all, he was not an acquaintance. Chi Jingyuan returned to normal in an instant, and the leader and the members walked into the elevator. Najing Nan, who hadn't recovered from his senses, pursed his lips very lightly and didn't care whether the other party saw it or not, it was a greeting, and then he didn't pay attention, but turned around and was about to press the floor, but found that the 7th floor had been blocked. After pressing it, he blinked his eyes and understood it, and stood with his back to them.

Mingjing Nan obviously recognized Chi Jingyuan and the EXO members who were not wearing masks in an instant. First, his pupils contracted and he stared at his face in shock for a second. Passed by the other three XO people next to him, then retracted his eyes and lowered his head a little unnaturally, clearly feeling his heartbeat start to speed up.

"I saw the sign just now. The basement floor seems to be a large food court. It looks pretty good..."

"I'm interested in taking your female ticket next time..."

Except for Ji Jingyuan, the other members did not have any abnormalities at all, and they were still chatting casually after entering the elevator, but when talking about the topic of "female ticket", Park Chanyeol suddenly realized that there was an outsider next to him, and halfway through the conversation It came to an abrupt end, and several other people also understood in their hearts and all closed their mouths tacitly. For a while, there was only a dull silence in the elevator, and only the sound of the elevator's rising engine could be heard.

The lighting of the elevator was partially blocked by the standing figure in front of her, and the remaining shadow covered Mingjing Nan's head, making her face look a little blurry at this moment. After the elevator started to ascend, she couldn't help but look up at the nearby Chi Jingyuan, who was close to him, and several other members of EXO, scanned back and forth several times, and finally fixed on the back of the person in front of him.

A light-colored hooded jacket and jeans, a very common outfit, but it makes people feel very comfortable on him, with a white baseball cap on his head. When Minami just looked at each other, he saw the center of the hat The printed pattern is that of the "Pokémon" member Squirtle that she is very familiar with, and the black hair that has been dyed back to its original color is exposed from the brim of the hat, and the neck can be clearly seen under the not-so-long hair.

After staring at it for a while, as if he was worried about being sensed by Chi Jingyuan, Mingjing Nan looked away again, and looked at the lines on the elevator floor as if nothing had happened.

The face-to-face meeting on this occasion was too sudden, which made her a little unexpected. The joy and joyful thoughts when she was shopping with her mother just now suddenly became a little complicated.

But Chi Jingyuan didn't think so much, he stood there quietly waiting for the elevator to go up, there were no other guests in the middle, so there was no pause, not long after the elevator door reached the seventh floor and reopened, he put his baseball cap on He pulled down the brim of his hat a little, and after sniffing the faint fragrance coming from behind him, he followed the members out of the elevator without a pause, and at the same time there was a sound of light footsteps behind him.

"Didn't we set off together, why are you so slow?"

Guided by the waiter into the box of the hot pot restaurant, Bian Boxian complained loudly as soon as he entered the door.

But Park Chanyeol was not used to him, so he directly opened his mouth and turned back: "What's the rush, we can slow down a bit, do you want to watch?"

"Assi..."

"I've ordered some dishes, you guys can see what you want to eat and order some more yourself." As tonight's protagonist Kim Min-seok was very handsomely dressed, Chi Jingyuan felt that he didn't take off his makeup much.With a childlike smile, he greeted them to take their seats quickly, then picked up the menu and handed it over.

"Brother, you can just order, anyway, you are the one who pays the bill, you are the protagonist today." The air conditioner was turned on a bit, Chi Jingyuan took off his coat and hung it on the back of the chair, took the menu but didn't look at it, and smiled He waved his hand and made a joke.

"Hahaha……"

"Let's take an authentication photo first..."

……

On the other side, Minami Nai and her mother, Sachiko Nai, were sitting opposite each other in a western restaurant and eating, but she seemed to be a little preoccupied, although she tried her best to look natural, she would still be a little distracted from time to time.

In fact, I am more worried about my daughter being a trainee alone on the peninsula, so after Meijing Nango came to JYP at the beginning of the year, my mother often came to visit her from time to time, caring about her practice and life.

Knowing that she was recently selected for the survival talent show held by the company for her debut, and the day before yesterday was her birthday, Mingjing Nan’s mother also came to Seoul to visit her daughter this time, and helped her have a warm birthday the day before yesterday , and because she is going to return to Neon tomorrow, so today I specially let my daughter take some time from the busy practice to buy some clothes for her, and have a meal at the same time as a farewell.

"Do you know that boy just now?"

Feeling that the atmosphere was a bit wrong, the mother had been keeping her daughter's appearance in her eyes from just now, and now she wiped her mouth lightly and asked a question.

"Well, that's a member of one of the most popular boy groups on the peninsula, and they're very famous here."

Minami put down the knife and fork, nodded without denying it, and introduced it to her mother.

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

Sachiko laughed. When she looked at her daughter, the wrinkles on her face were tender: "I mean the boy who walked into the elevator first, the one with the white hat, you should have a private conversation with him." Let’s get to know each other, not the kind of people who know celebrities.”

She has felt this since just now, especially when she got on the elevator, her daughter was obviously holding her hand a little harder, and after that, she kept looking at her a little unnaturally, and she obviously had something on her mind when she was absent-minded.

"It's an acquaintance..."

After hesitating for a few seconds and thinking about it many times, fresh memories emerged in my heart. The feet under the dining table lightly rubbed against the floor. Minami pursed her lips and nodded: "He helped me by accident before. busy."

She paused for a few seconds, then opened her mouth to give a brief introduction, but she didn't reveal the details of what happened in the club that night. Although she was very close to her mother and could confide most of her innermost thoughts, it would be very troublesome to speak out. Najing Nan still doesn't want his family to know about things that will worry his family.

After all, it has been so long.

"Really……"

Seeing her daughter's tone and expression when she spoke, as well as the look in her eyes that clearly contained some memories, the mother looked at her child and echoed a sentence, but she felt a little clear in her heart.

However, she did not carefully explore the cause and effect, but asked naturally and curiously: "Then he helped you, did you formally thank him?"

"...Yes, I don't know if it's official or not."

Speaking of this, the scene of being rejected at that time seemed to appear in front of my eyes again. Mingjing Nan couldn't help curling his lips slightly, looking at his mother with a bit of complaints and a coquettish tone: "And it was a coincidence at that time. Just forget about it."

Feeling her daughter's intimacy and somewhat unhappy mood, her mother smiled happily. At the same time, she recalled how Chi Jingyuan paused when he saw Mingjing Nan in the elevator just now, but Instead of saying what he observed, he nodded and agreed:

"Maybe..."

…………

After the birthday party, there was still time to spare, but after a brief discussion, the members rejected Park Chanyeol's idea of ​​singing on the grounds of 'too many nine people' and 'all men are too boring'.

To be honest, this time because of the comeback of "E", the results are very good. No matter the data, popularity and popularity have rebounded significantly, it seems that EXO has come out of the haze because of the continuous withdrawal of members, but at the same time, it is also The energy that made the members grit their teeth and persist before the comeback vented a lot.

But it's a very normal thing, Chi Jingyuan has been a little slack these days, after all, he has worked so hard preparing the album for so long, and because the outside world has been suppressed for so long, he always needs to relax.

And the results of this return are indeed somewhat unexpected.

After beating red velvet ruthlessly twice again, and winning two days on the 27th and 28th, without a graduation mechanism, even if they won three consecutive championships, they can still participate in "Music Bank" and "Music Center". The "call me baby" singing activity is over.

From the official return on March 3 to the 1th, starting from the second Saturday of "Music Bank", EXO has won all the trophies of all mainstream music shows except "the show".

"show champion", "M! countdown", "Inkigayo" and graduated with three consecutive championships.

"Music Bank" and "Inkigayo" voluntarily ended playing songs after each won the fourth championship.

There are a total of 2013 hit songs, tying the record of the second most male artists created by EXO relying on "Roar" in [-].

"Call me baby" and "Roar" tied for second with 17 crowns, second only to "Gangnam Style" with 19.

In fact, with the popularity of "call me baby" and the current momentum of EXO, there is a great possibility that I can continue to win songs after playing, or I can get better song playing data if I go to "the show" a few times , but to be honest, it really doesn't mean much to them, now it's just a kind of proof of their own achievements and status.

Kim Jun-myeon almost couldn’t say his acceptance speech this week. Li Xiuman didn’t know how many times he was thanked this month. Those words were repeated over and over again. In fact, even the fans got tired of hearing them. In the past few days His acceptance speech will basically end within ten seconds at the speed of light.

Apart from playing songs, other data are also very gratifying. Although the initial pre-sales were not satisfactory in terms of sales, the sales have been growing against the trend for two consecutive weeks after the official comeback, even if it may be because of the single album. It has reached the million heights of the previous two years, but it is still a terrifying number that is difficult for other combinations to touch.

In terms of music sources, after the astonishing burst of first-day airborne on all charts, the stamina did not disappoint. Although it quickly fell from the first position, even after a month, the two songs of "E" still Hovering around the inner circle of the list.

The sales volume has dropped slightly, the sound source has stabilized and improved, and the number of passers-by has increased significantly, and the YouTube MV hits have increased. This time, with the release of the first single album "E", EXO can be said to have fully rejuvenated.

As for whether it can go further, it still depends on the response of the subsequent single albums to see if they can play a greater role in promoting.

After playing songs, Chi Jingyuan and the others also put all their energy and work focus on the second wave of comeback in April, the single album "X".

At 3:29 noon on March [-], SM Entertainment also released the teaser video for the title song "spring Day" of "X" on its official account.

……

"A ballad?"

In YG's president's office, Yang Hyun-suk turned on his laptop in surprise after hearing the report from his assistant, and then clicked on the page and play. When he heard the melody in the preview, it was obviously not a dance song but a lyrical melody. A slight expression appeared on his face. Weird smile.

There seemed to be some disdain and some surprise.

Idol groups, especially male idol groups, rarely release ballads. Even if they release most of them, the results will be very average, and it is difficult to produce too much splash.

Because in the minds of many people on the peninsula, there is an instinctive prejudice against idol groups. They subconsciously don’t think that idols can sing well. The stage is OK.

This kind of prejudice generally exists among most ordinary passer-by listeners, which has also led to the fact that even if an idol group releases a ballad song, no passer-by will actively listen to it except their fans, and the stage effect of the ballad song itself is weaker than that of mainstream dance music. , If no one listens to the sound source, it can be said that it will be confused.

So now it’s rare to see boy groups releasing ballads. In the entire peninsula music industry, people listen to any song they release. Whether it’s Kpop, hip-hop or even lyrics, there is only one boy group with a good reputation, and that is bigbang.

However, EXO’s performance in winter specials and winter singles in 13 and 14 is not bad, plus the vocal strength is outstanding and the lead singer is active in the OST of many TV dramas, so it can barely be regarded as a small half.

"The momentum of their comeback this time is so good, if the next few singles can achieve this kind of results, it really can't be stopped, and then they released a lyric, or the title song... SM is so confident? "

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

Because the comeback methods are the same, and half of the comeback dates overlap, and the company is not very careful, YG has been very concerned about the various statistics and achievements of EXO, which is the main opponent of bigbang, since a month ago.

"Although it has won a lot of hit songs, it seems that the momentum is good, but in fact, according to the analysis of the marketing department, EXO's comeback this time is actually not as good as it appears."

"For their comeback this time, SM has invested quite a lot of resources. We can clearly see through the channels and contacts that there are traces of artificial operations in many aspects, such as publicity, ranking, broadcasting, and clicks. They have achieved The real gains are not as much as shown."

Under Yang Xianshuo's gesture, an intermediate director began to report: "The most intuitive thing is the sales volume. This is EXO's official comeback after ten months and nearly a year. According to the market logic and the expectations of their fans To a certain extent, considering the purchasing power that has been held back for so long, there should be a very obvious explosion in sales."

"However, one month after the release of the single album "E", the sales volume of the single album "E" still has not exceeded one million, and it is still far behind, far below their average level. Generally speaking, I think the decline of EXO has become quite obvious.”

"After SM opened the pre-sale channel for the second single "X" a week ago, although the pre-sale has increased compared with "E", the rate is not as high as expected, which is lower than our popularity for them. The expected increase made."

"So according to our analysis, we carry out bigbang's publicity, preheating and comeback according to the original plan. EXO will not have much influence on us. Even if everything goes well, their popularity and attention will still be in a certain level It was transferred to us to a certain extent, and it acted as a stepping stone."

"..."

Yang Xianshuo was wearing a baseball cap and sitting on the boss's chair, holding a steel lighter in his hand and tapping the table with a muffled sound, thinking about the employee's report.

In fact, he was still a little worried. No matter whether it was true or not, or whether it was the company's water injection and operation, the momentum of "call me baby" this month can be seen by everyone. On the surface, the results completely surpassed their company's previous results. Oh expected.

I just watched the preview of "Spring Day" and found out that it was a lyric song, and the whole person suddenly became a lot easier.

Not only him, but many YG employees who are in charge of this aspect are like this.

Only those who work in the industry know how terrible the prejudice of the masses really is.

Just when Yang Xianshuo nodded lightly, and the atmosphere in the room was relaxed, Cui Shengxuan who was sitting beside him listened for a long time, and suddenly asked curiously: "The sales volume is far below the average level? How much is their sales volume now?" ?”

He hated Chi Jingyuan a little. Although the sales data was on several lists, he would not take the initiative to check it.

Moreover, Choi Seung-hyun actually regards this junior group as a competitor, but he suddenly became interested when he heard the word 'much lower', and wanted to know how low it is.

"Well... as of yesterday, the G-list data shows that EXO's first single album "E" sold... 654421 copies, which is far lower than last year's second mini-album "overdose" and also far lower than their average .”

Excluding this time, EXO has released three mini-albums and one full-length album since its debut, because the regular one and the third mini-album have reached the million-selling level for two consecutive times, so even if the debut album "MAMA" and the winter special "Ten The Miracle of February has been a bit of a hindrance, but it is still a very high number on average.

The 65 of "E" pales in comparison.

But after hearing this data, the voice in the office became strangely quiet.

Because the last big bang group came back was "ALIVE" in 2012. That album with excellent results in all aspects only sold 26 copies in the end.

Cui Sheng blinked his eyes, and chewed the word "far below" in his heart, and suddenly felt a little awkward.

As the pillar of YG company, although bigbang has a good reputation, from the second generation until now, whether it is music source, popularity or income, all achievements are extremely good, but the sales that are very important to the boy group have always been It's their biggest shortcoming.

It can’t be said that it’s not good, after all, 20 is already very powerful for a men’s team, a number that can only be achieved by first-line and even top teams, but compared to their other statistics, it is obviously lagging behind.

After a strange silence for a while, Yang Xianshuo knocked on the table again to attract the attention of the surroundings. He finally set the tone with his shrill voice:
"Since this is the case, the plan will remain unchanged. We will officially announce Big Bang's comeback on April 4st."

"Continue to prepare for..."