Chapter 138:

Chapter 138:

After 30 minutes, the guys who had a good breakfast took care of the dishes and cleaning while I got ready to go out.

When I stepped outside, I was greeted by the midday sun that I hadn’t seen in a while.

Lately, I had been leaving early in the morning. I enjoyed the rare leisure, but I ended up arriving at the meeting just in time.

“Hello!”

As we arrived at the designated conference room with the manager’s guidance, the Team Leader Ye gave us a greeting.

I thought about sarcastically saying that I owed him a lot for choosing the song last time, but my eyes were drawn to the middle-aged man sitting next to him.

He looked like he was at the level of a head of department...

“This is Mr. Park, the executive director of our planning department.”

‘Hmm...’

He was the head of the department, after all. He didn’t seem like he would be of any help to us. I felt uneasy and sat down.

“Hello, you all must have had a hard time coming all this way today!”

I didn’t like his smug smile. I had a bad feeling that he wouldn’t let us go easily.

“Come on, sit down first! We have coffee and juice ready, so drink whatever you like.”

The team leader who had ignored us last time, saying that we would be mediocre at best, was now acting friendly and offering us snacks.

Anyway, business is like that. You’re an emperor when you do well, and a beggar when you don’t.

I hated people who changed their attitude so blatantly. I had no choice but to work with them for business, but they were not the type I could trust or rely on.

“Oh, then I’ll have juice.”

Yi-jun picked up an orange juice without hesitation, and Kyunghwa relaxed a bit and grabbed a latte.

“I’ll drink well.”

As Kyunghwa inserted a straw and sipped, Seon-woo rolled his eyes and looked at me.

“I’ll allow you to have tomato juice.”

“...!”

Seon-woo smiled like a rodent who had found a sunflower seed and reached for the tomato juice.

I wondered if he was expecting the yogurt-mixed juice that I sometimes made at home.

‘That’s sugar-free.’

I liked tomato juice myself, but sugar-free was a bit of an acquired taste. The key to tomato juice was to drink its unique viscosity with sugar.

Seon-woo took a happy sip and then put down the juice bottle with a disappointed expression.

“Ugh, what is this?”

At Seon-woo’s dramatic reaction, Seong-won turned his head and quietly shook his shoulder. He was 100% laughing.

I wished he would get along with the other guys a little more, now that he had opened up to me.

But what can I do about it? I shook my head and brought up the main point to the head of the department.

“Did you receive the message that I sent you through my father?”

He said he would talk to Hong, the CEO, so there must have been a decision made on their side. It should have been notified to the head of department by now.

“Ah, yes. Hmm... Can I ask you what part of our support was unsatisfactory to you?”

He had treated us like spoiled brats from a rich family before. It was ridiculous how his treatment changed after one meeting with Chairman Cheon.

If he was going to change his attitude now, it would have been better to treat us like important clients that he had to persuade.

He shouldn’t act like he could fool us with words.

“Yes!”

This idiot was ecstatic about the fact that we would be tightly bound by a new contract and run our own company.

The director smirked confidently, as if he could easily refute my logic.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. We can just hire more people. I understand you might have felt some difficulties lately, since we had to adjust our staff according to Climax’s hiatus. But we’ll fix that soon.”

I cut him off, not wanting to hear any more.

“No. We need a separate support team. That’s what I’m saying. When our activities slow down and we have more staff available for Climax, we’ll consider expanding our business to other areas as well.”

The director’s face darkened slightly before I even finished my sentence.

“So you’re saying that in the future, you might want to work with other artists besides Climax...”

“Maybe. We don’t have any plans right now.”

I didn’t give the director a chance to argue.

“As you’ve already heard from Mr. Hong, the operating costs will be covered by the Cheon Soo Group’s investment. What we want is an independent team and company, and unlimited use of Climax’s IP.”

The director’s expression crumpled even more when I demanded more specific conditions than he expected. The manager and the supervisor sitting next to him also looked unhappy.

“Unlimited use? That sounds a bit excessive. You don’t seem to know much about the business, Ise...”

“Isn’t it more strange that you’re limiting the use of IP when we’re joining WePlanet as a subsidiary? All the members are signed to an independent label. Why would the parent company, which doesn’t have a single member left, restrict the use of IP?”

It was suspicious that they wouldn’t allow it. Unless they were planning to use some weird names like Little Climax or Climax Reboot, and debut a second group with the same concept as Climax,

There was no reason for them to deny IP exclusive use to their own subsidiary.

“Don’t be so cold. We’re still family, even if you split off as a label...”

“We’re family, so we should clear this up. The IP license will go to WePlanet’s investment, right?”

While the director and I were having a tug-of-war, the rest of the members kept quiet, as if they knew they had to.

“What about the other members? Do you agree with him?”

The director gave up on convincing me and tried to sway the others.

“Seong-won, you’ve been with us for so long. Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable working with different people all of a sudden?”

The director reached out to Seong-won first, who had been a trainee for the longest among us.

But that was a foolish hope. This guy... He had always acted indifferent towards the members who left, until six months ago.

He only started to bond with us a little bit after we filmed the crisis show, and we helped him take care of his cat.

“I don’t care.”

Seong-won answered emotionlessly.

“Hmm... But you’ve spent so much time with our vocal team and trainers. Aren’t you sad to leave them?”

The manager quickly jumped in to try to persuade him, but it was useless.

“Do you think I’ll have more opportunities to collaborate with you in the future, when I can’t even get your help for guide recordings?”

He had been going to the company’s recording studio alone for a while. So that’s what he was doing. He was recording guides. I felt a slight sympathy for Seong-won, as I realized what he had been through.

No one wanted him as a singer, but he was given the role of a supporter who helped other singers. A shadow vocalist.

But after winning second place in Star Discovery and doing some activities, Seong-won was no longer a shadow.

“What about the other members? Do you feel the same way?”

The manager asked bitterly, and our idiot answered cheerfully without any hesitation.

As I followed Seong-won across the threshold, I saw his room was a mess of clothes thrown around carelessly. It looked like someone had broken in and ransacked the place. And in the corner of the chaotic room, a cat was hissing and crouching in fear.

“Did someone rob you or something?”

We all widened our eyes and scanned Seong-won’s room.

This can’t be...

“Everyone, check your own room closets.”