Chapter 46: Rejection

Li Yunzai stood up and walked to the entrance to open the door. Outside, it was already completely dark, and a cold wind was blowing. A middle-aged man dressed in a suit and overcoat stood at the door, but his appearance didn't seem to match that of a talent scout.

"Excuse me... Who are you looking for?" Li Yunzai asked uncertainly. Could this be a talent scout from S.M? It seemed unlikely. Talent scouts were usually freelancers who didn't even need to clock in, so how could they have such good treatment?

"You must be Li Yunzai! Hello, my name is Bae Songjin. Here's my business card!" Bae Songjin said, pulling out a card from his card holder and handing it to Li Yunzai. Li Yunzai took the card and his eyes widened when he saw "LOEN Company President—Bae Songjin" written on it.

Li Yunzai was now a bit flustered, feeling honored. Other agencies usually sent a talent scout, but LOEN had sent the president himself. This made Li Yunzai feel a deep sense of the company's sincerity.

"Can we go inside to talk?" Bae Songjin asked.

"Ah... Of course, please come in!" Li Yunzai recovered from his shock and quickly invited Bae Songjin inside. It would be impolite not to offer him a cup of tea, given that the president of an agency had come to his door.

"Yunzai, who is this?!"

Park Soyeon looked at Bae Songjin, who was also sizing up the young girl in front of him. He frowned slightly, feeling a bit uneasy, wondering if she might be Li Yunzai's girlfriend, which would complicate things.

"Sister, this is President Bae from LOEN. President Bae, this is my sister, Park Soyeon!" Li Yunzai introduced them.

Bae Songjin felt relieved that she wasn't his girlfriend. Park Soyeon, on the other hand, was surprised to see the president of an agency at their door and felt a bit nervous.

Although LOEN was only a mid-tier agency in Korea, far behind S.M, JYP, YG, DSP, and CCM, and didn't have any notable stars, it had a strong backing as a subsidiary of SK Telecom, the main telecommunications company in Korea.

Park Soyeon hurried to make coffee, while Li Yunzai and Bae Songjin sat on opposite ends of the sofa. Soon, Park Soyeon brought a cup of coffee to Bae Songjin and sat down next to Li Yunzai.

Bae Songjin took a sip and nodded, praising the coffee. Park Soyeon chuckled at his compliment.

"Li Yunzai, I'll call you Yunzai. I'm older than your father!"

"Please, feel free..."

Bae Songjin didn't waste time on pleasantries and got straight to the point. "Yunzai, I believe you know why I'm here. To be blunt, are you willing to join our LOEN company?"

Li Yunzai and Park Soyeon exchanged a glance. They were deeply moved by the president's personal visit and the sincerity shown, but Li Yunzai remained silent.

"President Bae, do you really have such high hopes for me?" Li Yunzai asked, not rushing to give an answer.

Bae Songjin smiled bitterly and shook his head inwardly. It wasn't that he had such high hopes, but that he had to have them...

From the outside, LOEN, as a subsidiary of SK Telecom, seemed to be a powerful company with substantial resources and connections, ranking among the top three agencies in Korea. However, few knew that, apart from its extensive network, it lacked the financial resources to compete with S.M, JYP, and YG, not to mention even smaller agencies.

LOEN was founded in 1978 and was one of the oldest agencies in Korea. It had transformed from producing LPs and cassettes to CDs and digital music, competing in the industry for 30 years.

Its proudest achievement wasn't the number of excellent artists it had launched, but the diverse music it had cultivated over 30 years, covering K-pop, pop, rock, hip-hop, jazz, classical CCM, and traditional Korean music, Kookak.

It sounded impressive, but in reality, it was of little use. It was like a singer having a state-of-the-art recording studio but being mute and unable to sing.

LOEN had been heading in the wrong direction from the beginning, focusing on music production rather than artist development. It only started recruiting trainees in recent years. In an increasingly competitive market, new agencies sprang up like mushrooms after rain, and anyone with some money and connections could start one. The industry was becoming more and more difficult to navigate.

Although LOEN was relatively well-funded, it had failed in artist development. The few singers it had launched early on were largely unknown.

Under LOEN, there was a girl group, but in an era dominated by pop music, LOEN launched a group that performed traditional Korean music, using instruments like the gayageum, geomungo, daegeum, haegeum, junggeum, and saenghwang. Despite LOEN's connections, which helped the group, named MIJI, gain the title "The Girls' Generation of Traditional Music," it was a bitter irony.

In this era, who would listen to traditional music? It was a niche that didn't appeal to the masses. Only those who considered themselves superior and sought artistic value would listen to it. The group was better suited for concert halls than music shows like "Popular Song" or "Music Bank." This was a fatal mistake in LOEN's strategy.

In 2007, LOEN launched a new female singer, Zia. Leveraging its connections, Zia debuted smoothly and was praised as a strong new female artist in the second half of 2007, with many record production companies offering contracts before her album was even released. However, this was just a publicity stunt, similar to a pyramid scheme, to boost Zia's popularity and sell more records. In reality, Zia remained a third-tier artist in the Korean music industry, quietly contributing to the K-pop culture's internationalization.

Another group, SunnyHill, also debuted in 2007. LOEN tried to follow the trend of forming groups and created a unique mixed-gender group with four women and one man. Despite the novelty, SunnyHill, like other third-tier artists, disappeared from the stage after a few months.

Although the company had a few promising trainees, Bae Songjin couldn't guarantee they wouldn't follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and become third-tier artists. He was afraid, not just because of the financial losses from failed groups and poor record sales, but also because of the embarrassment. As the president of a subsidiary of SK Telecom, he couldn't afford to lose face. If the company didn't improve, Bae Songjin could see his career coming to an end, with someone else taking his place.

Reflecting on LOEN's recent development and the artists and groups it had launched, Bae Songjin could only describe it as a series of missteps.

With a lack of promising trainees and a gap in the artist lineup, Bae Songjin desperately needed a star like Rain to boost the company's image and secure his position as president.

However, there was only one Rain, and even though he had left JYP this year, Bae Songjin couldn't think of any reason why Rain would join LOEN, which was far less established than JYP. The only way to attract Rain would be to offer him the president's position... So, he turned his attention to Li Yunzai.

After watching Li Yunzai's videos and investigating his background, Bae Songjin found that Li Yunzai possessed the best qualities of S.M, including singing, dancing, and songwriting. Although four years had passed, it was unclear how much he had retained. To show sincerity, Bae Songjin personally visited Li Yunzai, hoping to secure him for LOEN and prevent other agencies from getting a chance.

Earlier, he had seen several talent scouts visit Li Yunzai, but they all left after a brief conversation. This gave Bae Songjin confidence to wait until the last moment, even as the sky grew dark.

"Yunzai, LOEN is actually a very powerful agency with extensive connections. Why don't you join LOEN?" Park Soyeon, who had been researching agencies, suggested.

Li Yunzai remained silent, his head lowered, deep in thought. Bae Songjin looked at him with hopeful eyes, hoping for a nod. But in the end, under his hopeful gaze, Li Yunzai slowly shook his head...