The two walked out of the office, through the long corridor, and soon arrived at the company's practice room door.
*Knock knock!*
Lee Kyung chose not to enter directly, but instead raised his hand to knock on the practice room door.
A young girl opened the door.
The girl had obvious baby fat on her face, with facial features leaning toward an oval shape, a slightly upturned nose tip, naturally pink lips, and a pair of round, sparkling eyes staring at Lee Kyung.
This was one of the company's trainees – Jang Wonyoung (14 years old).
Truly worthy of being called an ace.
Although she looked slightly immature, her looks, height, and star quality seemed to radiate from her very bones.
"Little Won, are you girls practicing?" Lee Kyung looked at Jang Wonyoung, whose forehead was still damp with sweat, appearing completely unaffected by the company's crisis.
"President-nim, Director Kim..." Jang Wonyoung saw the two people standing outside the door and quickly straightened her posture.
"Won-young, who is it?" Just as Jang Wonyoung was about to bow and speak, a somewhat familiar voice came from inside the practice room.
Lee Kyung immediately recognized it – this was An Yu-jin's voice.
"It's President-nim and Director Kim!"
Jang Wonyoung turned her head and called out, followed by rustling sounds from inside the practice room, probably the others hurriedly tidying up.
The three entered the practice room together, where An Yu-jin, Kim Gaeul, and Kim Ji-min were standing respectfully in a row.
"President-nim!" x3
"Don't be so nervous, I just came to see how you're doing." Lee Kyung raised his hand, gesturing for the four to relax.
The current atmosphere inside LY Entertainment was unsettled, and he didn't want these four to be disturbed by the negative vibes.
"Yes." After hearing Lee Kyung's words, not only did the four not relax, but they became even more tense.
The company's only group had just disbanded, and they'd heard that even the producer had fled.
Now the president was personally visiting the practice room – could it be that he was going to let them go and then shut down the company?
Thinking this, Jang Wonyoung glanced at An Yu-jin.
If we get dismissed, I'll take the unnies to Starship.
Originally, Jang Wonyoung had planned to become a trainee at Starship.
But since An Yu-jin's sister was a member of LY's girl group, and the company's benefits and treatment were decent, Jang Wonyoung had joined LY together with An Yu-jin.
It's just that their trainee contracts hadn't expired yet, and she didn't know if Lee Kyung would sell them to other companies to relieve some of the company's financial pressure.
"Starlight Girls has now disbanded, so the company is preparing to launch a new group."
Lee Kyung's opening words made all four girls' eyes light up.
The company now only had these four trainees – did this mean...
"President-nim, are we entering the debut preparation team?" An Yu-jin (15 years old) stared at Lee Kyung with wide eyes, being the first to ask.
Trainees who entered the debut preparation team basically secured their debut qualification.
Unless there were major incidents, they wouldn't easily be removed.
"That's right, tentatively you four. I'm currently writing the related planning." Lee Kyung spoke off the cuff.
"So you need to practice hard and face the challenges with perfect preparation."
Getting a definitive answer, the smiles on the faces of the four girls could no longer be contained, and An Yu-jin even laughed out a "hehe" sound.
"Don't relax though."
"After becoming debut candidates, it will definitely be much more demanding than now. You need to adapt quickly."
"Yes, we're ready!" Jang Wonyoung was now full of energy, wishing she could debut immediately.
"The debut planning will come out soon, and I'll write the debut song in the next couple of days."
"The songs you write, President..." Kim Gaeul (19 years old) had a somewhat complex expression.
The last group that used Lee Kyung's self-composed songs had just disbanded today, hadn't they?
The other three also had some understanding of Lee Kyung's creative abilities.
Now hearing him say this, their previously uncontainable excitement instantly turned into a masterclass in facial expressions.
"That look you're giving me..." Lee Kyung saw the four's expressions and knew his predecessor had left too deep an impression on them.
"How about this – after the demo comes out, you can listen to it." He was also afraid of scaring the four away.
"If you all think it's not good, the company can buy songs!"
After saying this, the four finally felt relieved.
Lee Kyung then chatted casually with the four for a while before leaving the practice room with Kim Soo-yeon, leaving behind four excited girls.
"Little Won, we can finally debut!" After Lee Kyung left, An Yu-jin excitedly picked up Jang Wonyoung.
"But President-nim said he'd use songs he wrote, could it be..." Kim Gaeul didn't continue, but the other three understood her meaning.
"President-nim also said he'd buy songs if needed, so it should be fine." Jang Wonyoung was being held by An Yu-jin with a resigned expression, struggling a few times without breaking free.
"Besides, with the company's current situation, President-nim probably won't be stubborn anymore."
"I hope so." Kim Gaeul had just joined the company recently and encountered this situation, leaving her with no sense of security.
"I'm curious what kind of song President-nim will write for us."
Kim Ji-min (18 years old), as the person with the highest vocal level among the four, was more concerned about song quality.
"Whatever! Whatever style of song, Ji-min unnie can handle it, right Ji-min unnie!"
An Yu-jin released Jang Wonyoung and turned to pounce on Kim Ji-min who was lying on the sofa,
"An Yu-jin! You're heavy, you should lose weight..." Kim Ji-min struggled to speak while being pressed down.
"How can unnie say that about me?!" Ahn Yu-jin was somewhat hurt.
...
Back in his office, Lee Kyung was pondering an important question.
In the game, there was an extremely core gameplay mechanic – every girl group member possessed an attribute called "bonds."
Just like pieces in Teamfight Tactics, when certain characters were combined together, they would trigger bonds with magical effects.
Take Jang Wonyoung as an example.
In the game, she was a top-tier S-rank character with five bonds:
{Jang Won-young (S)}: Core center of both IZ*ONE and IVE, two top-tier girl groups.
{Bonds}:
[Visual]:IVE group exclusive bond
*Effect: When activated, increases stage visual performance but decreases stage skill level. Visual fans increase, skill-based fans decrease, negative public opinion about abilities increases.*
[Center Dominance]
*Effect: When activated, greatly improves stage presence, rapidly reaching top-tier popularity levels. Significantly weakens other members' performance. Negative effects don't apply to similar bonds.*
[Ace]: Jang Wonyoung exclusive bond
*Effect: When activated, suitable styling greatly enhances visual performance; conversely, visual performance decreases and appearance controversies increase.*
[Twin Towers]: Jang Wonyoung and An Yu-jin exclusive bond
*Effect: When activated, both members' stage presence improves, team popularity increases, other members' appeal decreases. When bond negative effects conflict, they cancel out. Increases appeal to luxury brands.*
[Limited Dynasty: Fantasy Fairytale]: IZ*ONE exclusive bond (Cannot be activated)
If bonds existed in reality, even just having Center Dominance could allow the company to quickly escape its current situation.
If they didn't exist, then he'd have to focus on promotion strategies.
With Jang Wonyoung and the other girls plus the hit songs he planned to "borrow," bullying these parallel world's girl groups should be as easy as taking candy from a baby.
So even without the existence of bonds, Lee Kyung didn't need to worry too much about the company's crisis.