Memphis Entertainment.
Miss Shin handed her the Notebook with an in-depth review of all the members of ECHO, including a detailed report on the background of each member as soon as she was seated. Kim Ae-ri quickly scanned through the basic details of the group, stopping as she got to the members' records. "What is it?"
He glanced at the envelope before passing it to her, "I received this from a reporter an hour ago".
Kim Ae-Ri took the envelope from him, unsealed the flap and took out the pictures inside the envelope. Her expression darkened as she went through each photo, Each of which showed different angles of ECHO's lead dancer Jiho, punching a man at a club.
They all showed a clear view of Ji-Ho's face and gave no wiggle room. She flipped the picture over and slapped them on the table, "What an idiot! like I don't have enough problems!"
She picked up the notebook and scrolled to Eun Ji-ho's profile, Miss Shin's assessment of him was very detailed, her face darkened as she read that he had gotten into a fight as a trainee with his current group mate and was fond of walking out of practice when he disagreed with the instructors.
"How was an unruly artist like him even allowed to debut in a group? Why has no one ever tried to discipline him? Don't an artist that leaves a practice session midway more than four times, deserves a hefty punishment? Why is he still allowed to hold the centre position in the group? Just get rid of him", she muttered reading through Ji-ho's long list of offences.
"About that, it was all in the past. Miss Kim, Ji-Ho is not like that anymore. it was four years ago back then he was a teenager, a kid! Kids do silly things".
She looked up from the notebook and held his gaze, "he was a kid? This was six months ago! Do you think I am stupid?"
He opened his mouth but closed it as she glared at him. He looked down at his knees, "I was wrong, I will discipline him as soon as I get back to the_"
"No need, he off all the upcoming group activities. Apart from the album, he will not be taking on any personal gigs or be allowed out of the apartment for the next month.
'If he has any complaints, send him the pictures and the cost of buying them, that should calm him down. As for the reporter, let the Legal department take care of the rest. That's why we pay them so much!".
"Yes Ma'am"
"Get out", she whispered rubbing her temple. Chief Ko left without needing to be told twice, he did not want to get into her bad books and more than he had.
*****
2 and a half hours later at Memphis Entertainment, Board room 3
Everyone from teams 1 and 2 was already seated when Kim Ae-ri walked in with her assistant in toe. They all stood and bowed, only seating after she was seated. Kim Ae-ri glanced at every single one of their faces, which made them nervous, her gaze stopped at Chief Yoo who was seated next to Team leader Ma, five seats away from Kim Ae-ri.
"Chief Yoo, how is Hwang Nari settling in with the other girls"
Miss Yoo jumped a little as her name was called, she looked up at her boss and nodded. Clearing her throat she replied, "Nari is settling in well with the girls, ma'am".
"Good, They are going to be working closely together. I don't need them to be best friends but they should get along well enough not to become the next day's news" Kim Ae-ri replied looking intently at Chief Ko, a plump middle-aged man with oily hair.
Chief Ko felt like digging a grave and burying himself, the heat of her gaze was unnerving. He was sweating buckets, her forehead knitted as she watched him dab his face with a handkerchief for the sixth time since she arrived.
"You are sweating so much, Chief Ko. Should we reduce the temperature?"
Her face heated up as he brought down his handkerchief and smiled nervously, "no, no, I am good. There is no need for that ma'am".
"if you say so, I guess your current condition is not natural. it must be because of the envelope filled with detrimental photos of Ji-Ho, an artist that is under your care getting into a brawl at a club.
"It is a miracle no one caught it on camera and released it online. it cost me thousands of dollars to get those photographs. I better not see any on the front page news tomorrow".
"You won't ma'am. I spoke with Ji-Ho and he assured me that there were no videos of the incident. It is a club frequented by celebrities so the owner makes the guests drop their phones at the door", he replied quickly.
"and yet, you came running to me as soon as I arrived with pictures from that 'exclusive' club. Since when do managers just take the artist's word for it, you have until tomorrow morning to find out if there are any other videos", she glared at him which sucked the cool air out of the room.
Chief Ko spread out the handkerchief and wipes his sweat-dripping face, "Yes ma'am".
Most of the other managers and the high-ranking team leaders were aware of the Pictures and supported the steps Kim Ae-ri took. No matter how one looked at it, Ji-Ho was a ticking time bomb.
Echo was doing very well on the music charts, with their company's fragile reputation. Any scandal could deter the group's growth and as such, they cannot afford any scandals. Director Oh who was in charge of management group 1, glared at his subordinate.
Kim Ae-ri noticed his actions but ignored him, Director Oh was among the group of higher-ranking officials that do not support her. She did not care for him a barely tolerated him. Director Ma who could be considered Director Oh's natural enemy smiled at that exchange.
"CEO Kim, since the Final lineup for VIXEN is set, we should begin promotion of the group. if we intend to debut them by September", Director Ma said smiling smugly at Director Oh. As is saying, look my group has well-behaved members while yours only have trouble makers.
Kim Ae-Ri's lips twitched but she kept her expression blank as she replied, "debuting in September will put their promotion too close to ECHO'S comeback. Their debut will be shifted to October 13th, that way they would escape the new group debuting from GK entertainment.
"Since the tracks for ECHO'S mini-album are set, we can start teasing their comeback". She glanced at the head of the company's PR team, as she continued, "Their comeback has been rumoured for months, it is time to get serious. Meanwhile, Miss Lim, you and your team should come up with some good promotion strategy for Vixen"
Director Lim had a lot of experience in the business, she was the youngest PR manager in the company because of her ability to think ahead.
She clicked on the folder titled vixen and said. "Ma'am, we could use the most conventional methods of featuring the new members in ECHO's music videos. we should use the most visually appealing members which are Nari and Chung-ae. Chung-ae is well known so Nari appearing with their in a music video will get netizens talking."
Kim Ae-ri nodded, "netizens 'talk' could be useful or harmful depending on the situation. The fans may not take well with us putting a well-known member like Chung-ae. Using only Nari will be better, her visuals will get them talking.
"Especially if we put in a dance scene with Hak-Yeon, her technique is nearly as good as Yumi. She will compliment Hak-Yeon and get the netizens on the edge of their seats. Snippets of their dance scene would be used as part of the teaser for the music video since the concept is Love and war. Let's go with that route".