240: Get a team

“Ach-choo~” Lee Ji-eun rubbed her nose. “I wonder who’s talking about me… Ach-choo~”

Jung Han-teok casually tossed her the tissue box: “Wipe your snot first before you get all high and mighty.”

“Aigoo! Han-teok Oppa, I don’t ask you to treat me like a girl, but at least treat me like a human, okay?”

“Where’s all this nonsense coming from?”

Jung Han-teok ignored her resentful little gaze and pulled out the collaboration project between her and Park Chaeyoung.

“Again, sigh!” Lee Ji-eun thought it was a new schedule. “Can’t you wait until I’m off work to bring this out, really.”

“You took the job yourself, what’s it got to do with me?” He directly tossed the document to her. “Take a look and see if there’s anything that needs changing.”

“Hmm?” Lee Ji-eun took it, seeing it was the collaboration with Park Chaeyoung. “Is YG that fast?”

Jung Han-teok thought of Xu Zhiyou finishing the collaboration in one night: “Well, some people don’t hit writer’s block.”

Mentioning Xu Zhiyou, she thought of Bae Suzy, who had played with her feelings: “Suzy should be back, right!”

“Can’t you ask her yourself? I’m not her manager,” Jung Han-teok said, exasperated.

Clenching her fist, she said resentfully: “Don’t let me catch her, or I’ll beat her to death.”

The thought of Bae Suzy leading her on made her furious.

“Pfft~” Jung Han-teok found it amusing looking at the resentful Lee Ji-eun.

“Zhien-ah, next time you want to meet someone, just go. It’s not like you’re not presentable.”

“I don’t want to either, it’s just because Ji-yeon hit a wall with her, plus Suzy hyped her up as aloof, so I was afraid of making a fool of myself.”

“It’s not me saying this, but you can throw off a bra pad at a concert, yet you still care about this 'face' thing.”

“Ya!” Lee Ji-eun’s face turned crimson, instantly becoming a cooked crab.

“Pfft ha ha ha~” Jung Han-teok couldn’t hold back his laughter when he saw her red face.

“Aish!”

“Mianhae, my bad.” Jung Han-teok quickly raised his hand to stop her as he saw her about to explode.

He pointed at the document in her hand: “Let’s get to business first. Once the time is set, they can send the song over.”

“I’m not looking, I’m not in the mood.” Lee Ji-eun threw the document back at him, crossing her arms, looking like she couldn’t be appeased without a lollipop.

“Alright then!” Jung Han-teok shrugged. “If you don’t want to look, then don’t. I’ll set it for you.”

“Hmph~” Lee Ji-eun turned her head away, not wanting to look at him.

Managers are very busy; he only came for this matter, and now that it was done, he had to go back to his own business.

“I’m leaving, you can slowly digest it yourself.”

As Jung Han-teok walked out of the lounge, her phone rang. She picked it up and saw it was Park Jiyeon.

She pressed accept and immediately started complaining: “Ji-yeon, do you know? Han-teok Oppa is bringing up that accident at my concert again.”

“What accident?” Lee Ji-eun had so many accidents that she didn’t immediately recall which one.

“The one where I accidentally threw off my bra pad.” She didn’t feel anything about telling Park Jiyeon this.

“Cough cough~” Park Jiyeon, hearing it was that matter, quickly coughed to interrupt. “I have something to tell you.”

“Your business can wait, let me complain first…”

Park Jiyeon’s mouth twitched as she listened, then she turned to look at the other T-ara members who were trying hard to hold back their laughter.

“Zhien, I’m on speakerphone, so take it easy!”

“I… you…, Park Jiyeon, are you crazy? Why are you on speakerphone for a call, shibal… beep beep…”

“Uh???”

Park Jiyeon looked at the hung-up phone screen, then looked at Park Soyeon, unsure: “Was I just scolded?”

“Mhm!” Park Soyeon nodded, stifling a laugh.

“Pfft ha ha ha~” Ham Eun-jung was the first to burst out laughing.

“Aish, Lee Ji-eun has some nerve, daring to scold me.” She found her in her contacts and called her back.

It connected only at the last second: “Where are you?”

“Why do you care where I am, Lee Ji-eun, you…”

“First, tell me who you’re with?” Lee Ji-eun just wanted to define the scope of her embarrassment now.

“Where else could I be besides with Lee Juri, Unnie and them?”

Lee Ji-eun secretly breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that: “As long as there are no men, what do you want?”

“Ya!” Park Jiyeon saw her change the subject so smoothly. “Is it appropriate for you to scold me and then run off?”

“Are you going to talk or not? If not, I’m going to work.”

“I… mm mm~”

Lee Juri physically muted her and snatched the phone: “Zhien, we called you because we wanted to ask for your opinion.”

“Opinion?”

“Mhm, you know our situation,” Lee Juri said, not playing coy. “We just want to ask how to choose what’s best.”

Lee Ji-eun’s mind flashed through various agencies: reliable, capable, and trustworthy ones were truly nonexistent.

“Zhien.” Lee Juri saw her not speaking. “Are you still listening?”

Lee Ji-eun’s thoughts were interrupted. She shook her head and replied: “I am, Lee Juri, Unnie.”

“So what’s your opinion?”

Thinking of Park Jiyeon’s hardships during this time: “I think you should wait. Didn’t Zoe promise to write songs for you?”

“Wait until you regain popularity before deciding whether to establish a studio or join a company. Thinking about these things now is unnecessary.”

Ham Eun-jung interjected: “But we don’t have an operations team. How can we regain popularity purely relying on fans?”

They had thought about this too; without an operations team, album production and promotion would be impossible.

“Mhm!” The others nodded in agreement.

Upon hearing about a team, Lee Ji-eun took charge: “If it’s because of a team, have you forgotten who I am?”

“Uh???”

Park Jiyeon pulled Lee Juri’s hand away, took the phone, and said seriously: “Zhien, stop messing around, you haven’t left the company yet.”

“The team is assembled by me, and I’m paying the salaries. The company won’t say anything, don’t worry!”

“That still won’t do…”

“Araso, this is really a small matter for me. Your biggest hurdle is the songs.”

“But you…”

“Hold on, Park Jiyeon.” Lee Ji-eun stopped her. “Let me ask you one thing: if I encounter difficulties, will you help me?”

“Isn’t that just nonsense?”

“There you go, then. When you go see Zoe, take me with you, understand?” Lee Ji-eun hadn’t met Xu Zhiyou in person yet, which was a bit of a regret.

“Alright then!” Park Jiyeon no longer procrastinated. “I’ll take you when she returns to the Peninsula.”

“Then it’s settled.” Thinking of Bae Suzy, “Suzy should be back tomorrow. Call me when you beat her up.”

“Don’t you have a schedule?”

Lee Ji-eun gritted her teeth and said: “It’s not as important as beating her up. Remember to call me. I have to hang up, I have to work.”

“OK!”

After hanging up, the T-ara members looked at each other. They had originally just wanted to ask for an opinion, but ended up getting an operations team, which made the six of them quite embarrassed.

After a while, Park Jiyeon finally spoke: “It seems we can’t hold back when we beat up Suzy, otherwise we’ll feel guilty.”

“Uh???”

Lee Juri and the other five all looked at Park Jiyeon, marveling at her unique thought process.

Park Jiyeon shrugged: “Don’t look at me like that. We owe too much, so I have no choice, okay?”