November 21, 2018

Leeteuk was jumping up and down, whooping like a kid who just got free candy. Yesung and Siwon were both laughing with excitement, and even Heechul was smiling from ear to ear.

After months of meeting and proposals, Label SJ finally got approval from SM Entertainment to begin gathering trainees of their own.

It was a long process, unbelievably so. At least, it felt that way to the group. They had made their first presentation in May, and got shot down halfway into their idea. Time and time again, they wrote up proposals, made powerpoints and graphs, detailed out each of their roles and how finances would be dealt with. But, time and time again, they were denied, SM saying they didn’t have time for it, or that details were missing.

“In the end, they wanted a slice of the pie,” Leeteuk told the rest of the members, gathered in their practice room later that night. “They’ll receive twenty percent of the profits made by any promotions of a future group, and they’ll own twenty percent of the shares.”

“I have to admit, I’m surprised..” Shindong frowned a little, stretching his legs out over the floor. “I would have thought they wanted more than twenty percent.”

Yesung waved a hand. “The caveat is that we have to pay for everything we do. Getting a building, trainers, all of that is on our shoulders.”

“But we saw that coming, didn’t we?” Eunhyuk spoke up after setting down his water bottle. “We’ve had that added into our proposal since August.”

“At first, I was hoping they’d give us a hand on that.” Leeteuk admitted. There were quiet murmurs of agreement amongst the men in the room, though some had their hopes up, they all pretty much saw it coming.

SM was already doing them a big favor by allowing this to happen at all. Sure, Super Junior was a constant money maker, but they weren’t chart toppers. Not like they used to be, at least. Creating Label SJ was just a way to give the boys in Super Junior more responsibility for their own careers, leaving the staff at SM to focus on newer groups, like their latest expansion of the NCT project. If they were being honest, no one ever expected Super Junior to even consider taking on a huge job like forming their own group.

So when the time came that they did in fact want to do it, SM Entertainment couldn’t flat out reject them. There was nothing in the contract of Label SJ explicitly stating they didn’t have that right.

“If Sungmin never found that loophole, I think this never would have gotten off the ground.” Heechul spoke, a look of pride sliding across his face as he looked at Sungmin. They laughed softly, Yesung patting the younger on the back.

“I do what I can.” Sungmin laughed, playing it off like it wasn’t a big deal.

In reality, after their very first presentation, SM higher ups wanted to automatically say no. Dejected but stubborn, the boys didn’t give up right away. They talked to other groups that had gone out on their own, but none of them had created groups like that. Then they talked to people who had created their own labels- they got some helpful information on creating the group itself, but none on how to convince SM to allow it in the first place.

After a week, almost all of them had given up. It was during a detailed reading of their Label SJ contract that Sungmin found the key. Or, rather, the lack-thereof. The huge contract, with all it’s fine print and small details, had never once stated they were limited to producing and promoting their group only.

“First things first, we’ve already decided on our positions in the company, but we’re going to need more than just us,” Ryeowook spoke up, having been otherwise silent. “I’ve talked with a few of my friends from SM, some of them are interested in being part-time trainers. Getting proper idols to help us out will be a step forward compared to average trainers, I think.”

“Besides that, we need to get a building,” There was a quiet groan amongst them, not wanting to think of how much work that would be. “If we go on the outskirts of Gangnam, the buildings will be a bit cheaper, and it’ll be easier for us to work without the madhouse of the main city.” Siwon hummed in agreement, making a note on his pad before tapping his pen against it lightly.

While they chatted amongst themselves, Siwon was typing away at his phone, deep in thought.

“Ah!” He cheered after a few minutes, a dimpled grin on his face. “I already have some investment properties in Apgujeong. It’s not that far away, and I have two buildings already. One of them has been turned into an apartment building, but the other is currently awaiting a lease. If we’re using it for ourselves, I won’t need to lease it out.”

They were all extremely thankful for Siwon’s deep pockets, because now they didn’t have to shell out a ridiculous amount of money to buy a building.

Shindong leaned back in his chair, a proud smile on his lips. “There we go. We’ll have to do some construction on it for practice rooms and whatnot, but we have a building, and we’ve already started gathering employees. Now all we need are trainees.”

Teaser number two! There will be a few trainees in the next chapter, but I haven't decided on who just yet. Also, the next teaser might not come up for a while, since I'm still waiting on more applications.

If you've got any questions or something, comment or pm me!
 

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