Genius Idol’s Strategy to Conquer the Entertainment Industry

Chapter 228

According to the explanation we heard before, Seed is a company that settles accounts every six months.

Since we debuted at the end of November last year, naturally, there was no profit for the second half of last year.

As our second album sales surpassed 100,000 copies, we finally generated some profit in the first half of this year.

Thanks to reviewing the settlement statement in advance and receiving explanations item by item, I knew how much we would be paid and for what reasons.

Fortunately, Seed didn’t separately charge us for the training expenses incurred during our trainee days, so the settlement was quick.

To be precise, Seed, as a company, was not one that never charged training fees like the four major agencies such as AJ or CY.

In the case of me, Kang Ji-woo, and Ban Yo-han, who were highly coveted talents after the survival program ended and our stock price soared, Seed signed a contract stating that the company would cover all expenses incurred during our trainee period until debut.

It seemed that Seo Moon-gyeol and Gyun Seong-ha were fully exempted from training fees as compensation for the previous bullying incident.

If new trainees join after us, unless there are special circumstances, the company would accurately calculate and charge training fees, the staff explained.

Anyway, maybe because there was a representative’s nephew among our members, or because we were the first idols the company debuted, they seemed to have paid a lot of attention to us.

Of course, the bold representative’s nephew, who had somehow heard about agencies that settle accounts monthly, was protesting to the powerless office worker, Gwak Sang-hyun.

“Give us monthly payments too.”

“Is it you again? Talk to the representative!”

“I obviously told my aunt too, but she ignored me.”

“Then why are you telling me! My paycheck comes from the representative! Do you want to see me get fired?”

“Fired? Why would you say something so upsetting? There’s no one like you. You’re an irreplaceable talent, so don’t worry about that.”

“Hey… I think I saw somewhere in a group chat that this is one of the top three things you shouldn’t hear at work…”

“You’re mistaken.”

At that moment, Kang Ji-woo’s phone vibrated with a ‘buzz’.

Checking his phone, Kang Ji-woo spoke cheerfully.

“It’s deposited!”

“What? Me too.”

“They must be depositing to everyone in turn now.”

Just as he said, soon all five of us received the settlement payment.

Given that in the first half of this year, due to the timing and circumstances, we couldn’t do many large-scale activities like overseas tours, concerts, or events, which are considered main sources of income for idols,

We didn’t receive an astronomical amount in our first settlement like idols who often say they bought a house for their parents or paid off billion-won debts after their first big break.

It was a realistically reasonable amount, not so overwhelming that we wouldn’t know what to do with it, so everyone was comfortably happy.

“Didn’t Ji-woo hyung receive more during ‘Thousand Eyes’?”

Gyun Seong-ha, who was looking at his phone for a long time and got emotional, asked. Kang Ji-woo shook his head with a slightly flushed face, saying he received more now.

“Back then, I only got the prize money and a few appearance fees from TV shows. I didn’t do any events. The digital sales did quite well, but as you saw this time, the digital income isn’t that huge…. And this time, it’s better because I did it with you guys!”

“Let’s earn more and build our own building!”

“Let’s do it!”

“Do you still remember that? Winter sunbae will build it faster than us.”

Seeing everyone grinning and laughing like kids made me feel even better than when I first earned revenue from YouTube in my original world.

Ah, on a day like this, it’s time for a drink.

As I was lamenting why I was still only nineteen, Kang Ji-woo suddenly stood up.

“I can’t stand it. Let’s go out.”

“Go out and do what?”

“Do anything!”

“Didn’t you say you were going to save money? How much have you earned to immediately go spend it?”

To Ban Yo-han’s words, Kang Ji-woo, with a cool expression, gave a thumbs-up and said,

“My mom always told me that money is saved whether you save it or not, but it accumulates more when you earn a lot first.”

His expression and pose were odd, but it somehow felt more convincing because it was Kang Ji-woo, who had experienced real financial difficulties, saying it.

Anyway, following Kang Ji-woo’s grand declaration that we should play and spend when we need to and that now was the time, we decided to go out and have fun for the first time in a while.

Even skipping group practice schedules, no less.

Even Seo Moon-gyeol, the strictest among us, didn’t strongly oppose Kang Ji-woo’s decision.

“But skipping practice….”

“Gyeol hyung, come with us. We can make up for today’s missed practice with a late-night session.”

“…Okay.”

In hindsight, I should have omitted the part about making up the missed practice later.

The company staff, including Gwak Sang-hyun, seeing the members’ excited faces about going out rather than the settlement itself, laughed and granted us a group outing on vacation.

“If you’re going out, at least film something.”

They handed us each a self-cam, without saying much about skipping practice.

Thinking about it, it seemed like we hadn’t had a proper outing together since filming the reality show last year.

Despite our enthusiastic departure, nothing particularly special happened.

We went out as the sun started to set, rented tandem bikes and electric scooters, and leisurely wandered around Hangang Park.

“Hey, slow down… Huff… a bit, will you!”

“That’s why I told you to exercise regularly!”

“Wow, that team has Seong-ha doing 1.8 people’s worth of work and Raon doing about 0.15.”

“Why don’t they add up to 2 people even combined?”

After buying waffles on the street for 8,000 won each, we went to an escape room café, where Ban Yo-han and I broke the record for the shortest escape time.

“How did you escape so quickly…?”

“I just figured it out.”

“The clock looked suspicious.”

“Ugh, my pride, with 40 years of experience in escape rooms, is utterly crushed…”

“…Has the escape room café culture even been around for 40 years?”

Then we went to a department store to pick out clothes according to our tastes, only to have Gyun Seong-ha criticize and advise us.

“You already have enough training clothes at the dorm.”

“The more practice clothes, the better.”

“That’s true, but… does it have to be that color?”

“Yeah. It’s a healthy color!”

“I’m getting this.”

“Raon, stop buying plain T-shirts!”

When we got hungry from wandering around, we went to a well-known restaurant and indulged in Korean beef. After that, we played table tennis at the restaurant’s ping-pong table until we were exhausted.

“I, Kang Ji-woo, have been playing ping-pong since I could walk.”

“Do you really enjoy playing against beginners?”

“Yes! It’s totally fun… Ow! Maknae!”

“Sorry, sorry. It was a mistake.”

“It didn’t seem like a mistake… it looked like Raon aimed at your head on purpose…”

“Well done.”

“Gyeol, what do you mean by well done? You’re not saying it was good that he hit my head, right?”

“For a beginner, he’s doing well.”

“Seo Moon-gyeol…”

Unlike filming ‘Get Close, Orca’, we didn’t go to an amusement park or do anything special, but somehow, today felt like a day I’d remember for a long time.

“That was fun.”

“But we went out to spend money, and we don’t seem to know how to spend it…”

Except for Gyun Seong-ha, who always complained about having no clothes to wear, the rest of us thought we already had enough clothes and that the stylist picked out what we needed, so we spent hardly any money at the department store.

In the end, the highest expense was for the beef.

“We do spend time well, though.”

“Agreed.”

“You know, when I’m with you guys…”

“Stop it.”

“Time seems to fly faster than usual.”

“Kang Ji-woo, please stop saying things like that?”

Of course, my spending didn’t end there.

Back at the dorm, I spent about 500,000 won on random box items in the cash shop to strengthen my game character’s equipment and dress them up in pretty clothes.

Previously, I hadn’t spent money on the game because it didn’t feel like my money, but now that the settlement payment had come in, I had no reservations.

“Raon, what is this?”

It would have been great if Kang Ji-woo, who thought spending money on games was a waste, hadn’t caught my last expenditure.

“Hyung, if you spent 50 to get back 250,000 won, it’s a break-even.”

“Spending 50 to get back 25 is breaking even… Our kid is bad at math…”

“Anyway, it’s break-even, and he spent 300,000 won too.”

Gyun Seong-ha, who was nervously watching us, suddenly got angry at my words.

“Why did you say that, you idiot!”

“And he totally lost. He only got a bunch of junk items and didn’t even recover 10 percent. I stopped him from buying more, so give him a break.”

“Hey! I got good stuff for you!”

“Both of you, come here…”

Kang Ji-woo gave me and Gyun Seong-ha a long lecture about not spending money recklessly and needing to be financially responsible, and as punishment, we were told to go out and exercise during our usual game time for the next week.

“Starting today?”

“Starting today! Go run in the park.”

“This is tough…”

Of course, instead of running diligently as Ji-woo hoped, we wandered slowly around the nearby trail.

“Let’s sit there.”

We sat side by side on a bench we found midway, spinning the gacha to get a new character in a mobile game.

“No matter what, it’s a secret from Ji-woo hyung.”

“Of course.”

A little later, after we both blew 100,000 won, we had to chug canned drinks from a nearby vending machine like they were alcohol.

“Oh, looks like Yo-han hyung started this game too.”

“What?”

Seeing Gyun Seong-ha cautiously looking at me, I checked the friend list linked to my SNS and saw Ban Yo-han’s name newly added.

I checked my nickname.

[Ha Jae]

I frowned slightly.

“…”

Since it was a game that allowed duplicate nicknames, I had set it without thinking when I first started.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter…’

I stood up.

“Let’s go.”

“Already? If we go back too early, Ji-woo hyung will send us out again.”

“I have something to talk about.”