Chapter 320 (1/2)
“What is it about exactly?” Maru raised the TV volume as he asked.
The reason he was interested in political stories was because it was closely tied to everyday life. What kinds of new laws were passed, what kinds of bills were proposed, as well as what happened - as a citizen of the country he could not help but be interested. The same could be said about the entertainment industry as well. If it was before, he would have just looked at it and thought nothing of it. After all, it was a world he wasn’t involved with. However, right now, he was more closely related to the entertainment industry than politics. If a provocative word such as ‘slave’ was used for a story, then it would be better if he knew about it.
“Oppa. How much do you think a popular idol earns?”
“A lot, probably.”
“I thought so too, but it turns out, that’s not true.”
At that moment, a handsome-faced singer in front of the mic started speaking.
-First, we apologize to all the fans for worrying you.
The three of them stood up and took a deep bow as an apology. A round of flashes burst out again. The man seated in the middle spoke in a heavy voice.
-We, The Five, have endured until now thanks to the love of our fans. Many things have happened, but we have endured while thinking about the fans that looked after us and cheered for us. However, we couldn’t do that anymore. First, we will clear up the situation at hand. The reason we, The Five, split up, is not because of disharmony between the members. It is because of the unfair contract we signed with the agency.
The screen switched to the news studio again. Next to the host was a man in a suit, who seemed to be a legal advisor.
-Yes, that was from the press meeting that occurred this morning. Sir, what is the precise cause of this incident?
-According to the revealed contract, there are a few clauses that are problematic. The first is the clause that states that the singer has to tell the company his position at all times and must be able to be reached by phone. The second is the clause that states that the singer must participate in events the company wants without compensation. There are more, but these two clauses seem to be what triggered this incident.
-Ah, so there’s a clause that states that they have to participate in events for free.
-Yes, while it does state that the event has to be company-related events and events that are aimed at advertising the singer, the interpretation is vague. After all, you can say that every event is related to the company.
-So that means that while they may hold activities as public singers, they will not get paid for their activities.
-In an extreme case, yes.
“The reason we go to their concerts and cheer for them is for them to do well, not for the company behind them to fill their stomach. But now, I found out that only a tiny sliver of the money went to the oppas in the first place. A friend of mine is a fan of The Five, and she told me that she’ll go to a riot in front of the company building. It looks very serious.”
Bada went to his room before calling out to him that he should come.
“Look at this.”
On the monitor was The Five’s official fan café. On the main page was a very ominous-looking line considering the circumstances. ‘We Have To Protect Them’. Below that line was a map and it seemed to be the location of The Five’s agency. Gathering at 7 p.m. There were already over 100 comments that said that they would participate.
“Are you going as well?”
“No. I would have if it was TTO that was like this.”
She was quite cold-minded when it came to things like this. They returned to the living room. There was one more person on the news. The new man seemed to be a journalist. The three of them discussed in depth about this incident.
-So there’s a possibility that unfair contracts between agencies and entertainers might come to the surface.
-I can’t say that for sure.
It was a sensitive topic, so the news host did not ask anymore. Maru sympathized deeply when the journalist said that he couldn’t be sure. It was unexpectedly difficult to scrape out the dead flesh. That was because the dead flesh was always in contact with living flesh. Just deciding on how much to scrape out would take ages. Above all, the pressure on the singers that would leave their agencies was too heavy. While they were still under a contract, they at least got some form of compensation. They might think that little was better than nothing, and while they kept thinking that way, no one would be brave enough to go against their agencies.
“Is Soul Entertainment the agency behind The Five?”
“No, that place seems to be the new company that those three oppas signed a contract with. They get much better treatment there, apparently. There’s no slave contract either.”
“Really? Then the two others are remaining behind in their old company?”
“Probably.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know that much. That’s causing an issue in itself. The Five is supposed to be made up of five people, but now they split up into three-two.”
“They said that it wasn’t due to the disharmony between members, but maybe they actually had a big fight?”
“Those oppas have a really good relationship though.”
“Have you seen them?”
“...No.”
“Then you don’t know for sure.”
“Forget it! You don’t even know them.”
Maru shut his mouth because his sister looked at him coldly. She was scary. He felt like a remote would be hurled at his face if he said any more. Maru narrowed his eyes and looked at the TV. The problem came down to exclusivity contracts in the end. Entertainers could only work through the medium that was their agencies. To put it a bit bluntly, they were the companies’ puppets.
“Are you okay though?”
Bada quietly asked. Her eyes were glued to the TV though. Maru wondered if she was worried about him.
“I’m fine. There weren’t any clauses like that in the contract I signed.”
“If you say so. That’s fortunate.”
“You mean your credit card is?”
“Hey! And here I was worried about you!”
“I’m saying it because it doesn’t suit you. It gives me goosebumps.”
Maru threw a cushion at his sister before standing up. Although he said those words, he was thankful for her. After all, he had thought of her as an immature kid until now.
“Wait, have you done your homework?”
“Ah, that’s right!”
Bada turned off the TV and ran into her room. It seemed that no matter how much she liked those idol oppas, they seemed to be insignificant compared to her homework. Having entered his room, Maru searched ‘The Five’ on the internet. As expected of an idol in their peak of popularity, they took the first through third most searched terms right now. Websites, cafés, and blogs were all talking about stories about The Five.
Browsing through websites, Maru stopped on one. It was an anonymous community, and the writer was supporting the agency. The writer went into detail about the costs associated with creating a 5-man idol band.
-The agency has to take care of the costs of idol consulting fees that may reach hundreds of millions of won. If the idol does not succeed, that becomes the company’s debt. While it is true that the agency ‘Alt’ has signed a malicious contract, honestly speaking, it makes me enraged looking at The Five’s actions when they betrayed the efforts and affection that the company gave them to raise them until now. Advertising costs, education costs, living costs, as well as everything else was probably handled by the company, but they didn’t say anything while they received all those benefits, but now they want equal treatment because they grew up a little? If they really wanted equal treatment, they should have shared the costs starting from their trainee days. But those kinds of trainees don’t exist.
It was a complex matter indeed. There was a need to think about the effects that this incident might bring to his contracts.
Maru took out the contracts he put inside his drawer. He read them over from the beginning once again. Fortunately, all of the clauses included the statement that the involved parties may negotiate again on the contract, so there wasn’t anything that seemed to be a problem.