star of the peninsula

"Why did All Night make it to the Billboard charts? Did Universal secretly buy the data?"

"I never thought that a man like you with thick eyebrows and big eyes would start doing such things!"

One week after the release of "All Night", it suddenly soared to around 70th place on the Billboard Hot 100 at an extremely fast speed and was still rising. Chen Chen could only suspect that Universal Music did something to save face, otherwise it would not be scientific.

So Chen's girlfriend saw everything in her life as he was shouting and screaming on the sofa with his bare chest.

"Watch the news, big brother. How come you don't know something I know?"

While Bae Joo-hyun was fixing her hair, she turned around and uttered a mocking sound, which made Chen Chen feel even more humiliated.

"Even you know this?!" Chen Chen's eyes widened suddenly, and he pressed, "Then tell me why?!"

"It seems that a certain overseas music festival used 'All Night', and then it became popular in the Tik Tok community." Bae Joo-hyun skillfully recounted the content of the marketing account she saw this morning, "It's similar to the way your song 'Old Town Road' became popular, both are related to Tik Tok, but this time 'All Night' is slightly less popular."

"So that's how it is. Now I understand." Chen Chen let out a sigh of relief and lay back on the sofa. "'All Night' is indeed suitable for being performed at music festivals. It's normal for those foreigners to be able to get on the billboard if they start playing it themselves."

"It's normal for one person to be good. You know, the others are almost biting their teeth." Pei Zhuxuan tied her hair and kicked Chen Chen to make room for her on the sofa. "If the bulletin board was so good, they would have gone there in the morning!"

"Okay, let me talk about you first. Why are you here again?"

Chen Chen said with a squint.

"You ate what I made and bullied me on the sofa, and now you ask me why I'm here?" Pei Zhuxuan spat at him, "Bah, scumbag!"

"I just didn't think you would have the time." Chen Chen held his girlfriend's soft calf and squeezed it twice. "Isn't everyone busy at this time? You should be even busier, right?"

"It's normal. After being busy for a while, I suddenly became free." Pei Zhuxuan replied: "I don't know why. There is no new news yet."

"Hmm," Chen Chen thought for a moment and asked, "Do you think the time of your return could change?"

"That's a possibility." Pei Zhuxuan was not so sure, "The time mentioned before was all internal information. The company has never announced our return to the public."

"But why do you ask that?" Bae Joo-hyun asked curiously.

"I feel like this is the only reason you can suddenly be free." Chen Chen also made his own guess, "Switching you from returning at the end of the year to returning after the family concert is over, this may be more beneficial to the company."

"Oh, I see." Pei Zhuxuan suddenly realized, "It's still your problem."

"It's my fault again. I only go home and work, how can it be me?" Chen Chen's tone was aggrieved, and the dog wanted to cry after hearing it. "People should speak according to their conscience, Pei Zhuxuan, this is really not my fault!"

"Who can you blame for the bad promotion of the new SM band? The company is in a slump because of this." Bae Joo Hyun snorted, "Tell me honestly, this has nothing to do with you?"

C headquarters caught hold of an important mouthpiece of S.A.I. Company and gave it a beating, which indeed greatly affected the promotion of their new group. There is no getting around it.

"Okay, that's indeed my fault." Chen Chen dragged others into the water, "But the root of everything is that SMART is not clean. It's all their own fault."

"Whatever, anything is fine." Pei Zhuxuan poked Chen Chen's waist with her foot, "What have you been busy with recently?"

"What do you think I'm busy with?" Chen Chenle asked in a friendly manner, "Did your huge intelligence network provide you with any new information?"

"I heard that you are busy with (G)I-DLE's affairs?" Bae Joo-hyun said: "It seems that people in the industry are saying that you will be responsible for (G)I-DLE's next comeback."

"The marketing account you read this time was not so professional. The news was wrong in a very important place." Chen Chen shook his finger. "The correct answer is to change the subject in this paragraph from "I" to "C Headquarters". We did spend some time on (G)I-DLE in the past two days, but it was C Headquarters that was responsible for the comeback, not me."

"I knew it would be like this." Bae Joo Hyun was very calm, "How can the marketing account get traffic if it doesn't write like this? After all, you being in charge of the comeback and C headquarters being in charge of the comeback are completely two different levels of things."

"And you even let the Golden Era couple handle Integrate's comeback, so how could you possibly handle (G)I-DLE yourself?"

"But what is your purpose in doing this?" Pei Zhuxuan asked curiously: "Is C headquarters bored?"

"C Headquarters has a lot of work to do every day, so it won't be too idle." Chen Chen shook his head and explained, "The main purpose is to break Boss Hong's arrogance. I want him to experience what it feels like to get help from C Headquarters, rather than letting him continue to stubbornly operate Cube Entertainment as an independent entity."

"You are so weird. You want people to maintain the ability to operate independently but also want them to rely on you. This is too demanding." Bae Joo-hyun complained.

"That's why I need to do things slowly to win people's hearts." Chen Chen rolled his eyes. "If I had just sucked a subsidiary company dry like Dahei did, I wouldn't have so much to do."

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this, let's watch TV." Bae Joo Hyun picked up the TV remote control with great interest, "Actually, I've been watching 'The Penthouse' recently. I'm having a lot of fun watching it after I clear my mind. I feel like all the bad energy accumulated in my body after a day of work has been released!"

"But the ratings of 'The Penthouse' seem to be dropping. Now it's only 15 points." Pei Zhuxuan said with a hint of regret: "In the beginning, it was over 20 points!"

"You know how the ratings came to be over 20 points. It's good as long as the ratings are dropping more and more slowly." Chen Chen didn't feel sorry at all. "The slow drop means that the speed at which we attract new viewers is catching up with the speed at which those who join in the fun leave. This is actually a good sign."

"Because there is an endless stream of people who can increase their viewership, but those who reduce their viewership are only the first ones, and they will reach the end."

"Once all those onlookers have left, The Penthouse will get the results it deserves."

"It will definitely not be bad." Chen Chen is optimistic about the future of this TV series. "Even if the script of "The Penthouse" may make some people dissatisfied, the sincerity of the production team and the performances of the actors have done almost the best."

"..."

Bae Joo-hyun did not express her opinion on "The Penthouse" because she had already forgotten her mind and was enjoying it.

Chen Chen was not interested in this TV series. He played with his phone for a while and then went to cook.

……

"Integrate is now qualified to hold a concert."

Bae Joo-hyun carefully scraped away the grease floating on the surface of her soup with a spoon, and asked Chen Chen who was playing with his mobile phone at his seat.

"The number of songs is enough." Chen Chen put down his phone immediately after hearing this, but his expression showed a lot of hesitation, "But President Jin has never mentioned this to me. He must have other ideas."

"Is there a possibility?" Pei Zhuxuan proposed a hypothesis, "President Jin is waiting for you to raise it. He thinks such a big matter must be decided by you."

"..."

Chen Chen was silent. He realized that this possibility was not small at all.

Concerts are not just some jokes. For smaller entertainment companies, it is a major event where they have to gamble half of their life on it. Even large companies have to be cautious when holding concerts for their artists. Cube Entertainment is a lesson learned from the past, so there is a reason why Golden Era does not dare to bring it up.

"I'll ask President Jin to come over tomorrow to discuss it." Chen Chen exhaled, "Three albums plus the stuff we did before our debut will be more than enough for a concert."

"Yeah, there's no way we can use it all up." Pei Zhuxuan thought it was a little funny, but she felt ashamed for her boyfriend for doing this, so she couldn't laugh at all. "I think other people might also be curious about why Integrate hasn't held concerts, but they would never have thought that it was a mistake caused by the boss's lack of communication with the operations team!" "Don't say it, it gives me a headache." Chen Chen's face was wrinkled, "I feel like I've lost 100 million now."

"It's okay. Even though your concert didn't start, the girls from Integrate don't have any endorsements." Bae Joo Hyun teased, "A normal idol group that has been in the top tier for more than a year after debuting will have at least a few endorsements."

"That's also a problem." Chen Chen would not easily give up when talking about endorsements. "But this question can be put aside for now. After all, Integrate's official English single hasn't been released yet. Let's see the effect first."

"Hmm?" Pei Zhuxuan's expression became serious and asked, "Are you confident about Integrate's English single? Do you think it can help Integrate become famous in the European and American markets?"

Chen Chen's meaning was so obvious that even though Pei Zhuxuan was not very good at this, she could still understand what he meant.

"Although I know it's useless in theory, and I don't understand why I always want to wait like this." Chen Chen spread his hands and replied, "But I just feel that it would be better to do this."

"Then you wait." Pei Zhuxuan never spoils the fun, "Your feelings are always quite accurate, and you are trustworthy."

"Maybe." Pei Zhuxuan guessed, "Is it simply because they want to stand higher in the European and American markets and pick more delicious fruits to eat?"

"Baby, this idea is the useless theory I mentioned." Chen Chen threw away his phone and picked up his chopsticks to enjoy the food. "It sounds reasonable, right? But in fact, it's not like that at all."

"The reason why brands choose an artist as their spokesperson is because they see the artist's influence in the region, and their ultimate goal is to promote their products in that region."

"Then the question is, other brands must have found Integrate to use their influence to promote their products in South Korea and China. The popularity we have increased in Europe and the United States is completely useless."

"They can choose better spokespersons in their own territory, or simply not have a spokesperson at all."

"So I said that this time the theory and my feelings are in great conflict." Chen Chen picked up a piece of food and put it in his mouth, "It makes me a little confused."

"Uh," Pei Zhuxuan's head itched, as if she was going to grow a brain, "That seems to be true, but fame must be useful, right?"

"It's useful. It can help you do better in the European and American markets and then come back to South Korea to brag about yourself. I can't think of anything else you can do." Chen Chen had something he wanted to complain about. "Aren't US dollars and Korean won both money? Why do I always feel that earning US dollars is more noble than earning Korean won? Your products are sold at the same price everywhere. If you are closer, you can save a few cents."

"This is an idea that only President Chen can have. The obsession of the presidents of other entertainment companies is beyond your imagination. What's more, you have the Chinese market that others can see but cannot touch."

Bae Joo-hyun had finished eating and obediently put her remaining food next to her boyfriend waiting for him to deal with it.

"I'll go cut some fruit. What do you want to eat?"

The topic was interesting, but Bae Joo-hyun didn't plan to continue chatting.

"No need to cut it, just give it to me whole." Chen Chen suddenly said something a little old-fashioned, "The weather is dry, eating more fruits can supplement vitamins."

Bae Joo-hyun didn't listen to him and cut the fruit before bringing it over.

"Eat."

Bae Joo-hyun pushed the plate towards Chen Chen.

"..."

Chen Chen ate it and added another sentence after finishing it.

"It's easier to eat cut fruit."

It sounds cheap.

……

……

"Oppa~"

When Tian Xiaojuan came to headquarters C for a meeting, she happened to see Chen Chen and hurriedly called out to him.

"Yeah." Chen Chen turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Can I take a moment of your time to chat?" Tian Xiaojuan's smile was a little awkward. "It will be quick. My question is very simple."

"Okay, come with me."

Chen Chen agreed readily, and he had no intention of refusing.

Chen Chen randomly found a corner and planned to start a conversation here.

Some of it was sloppy, but apparently no one cared.

"That's right, Oppa." Tian Xiaojuan swallowed and said, "I'm a little uncomfortable with the role I play in this comeback."

"Hey~ This is a bit strange." Chen Chen asked with a smile, "Weren't you qualified to speak in the comeback plan before? Why are you not used to it here at C headquarters?"

"When I was at Cube Entertainment, I didn't have such a big say. I had to fight for a long time before I could do what I wanted." Tian Xiaojuan's expression became even more embarrassed. "The people here at C headquarters are too easy to talk to. I'm not used to it."

Wow, there is such an unfamiliar law!

But
"The more opinions that are adopted in the comeback plan, the more responsibility you will have for the plan."

"Xiaojuan, are you scared?"

Chen Chen's voice was soft, but Tian Xiaojuan's body trembled violently.

Planning is not easy to do. Any decision made affects the fate of everyone in the group. It is a very stressful job.

When she was at Cube Entertainment, Tian Xiaojuan probably took on about 10% of the responsibility. But when she came to C headquarters, the proportion suddenly increased to 50%. This is a huge change.

But Chen Chen hopes that she can hold on, so that she can grow faster and pay less.

Tian Xiaojuan's growth has always been watched by everyone. Everyone knows that her growth is exaggerated, but who can say for sure that the departure of Xu Suzhen is not one of the prices of Tian Xiaojuan's growth?

"Please understand this as a test I set for you. You must have the determination to shoulder the responsibility of the members in order to better lead them forward."

"I believe you will win."

...(End of chapter)