❝Chapter VIII;
        

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                           "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much"

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( SM Entertainment; February 1, 2014 )

“Eradicated?” Riso repeated, not believing her ears. She let her phone drop to her lap as she processed what was going on. Their manager decided to slip out, sensing that this particular conversation was only for the girls’ ears.

“You mean, TZJQ has a chance to be removed from doing activities?” Sae asked, looking at JunRi frantically. Normally composed, she began feeling her gut clench at the thought of being removed.

“Nope.” JunRi replied, looking back at her laptop. She began typing away, the clicking of the keys resonating in the suddenly silent room.

“Oh, thank God.... I thought we were in trouble.” CEE said, wiping off the sweat that formed on her brow. She tried hitting her chest to stop her heart from beating way too fast for her liking.

“By eradication, it means the name TZJQ will be removed from the company itself.” JunRi amended, pausing only to erase something from her document. She scratched her cheek as she thought of a way to simplify things further. “In a sense, TZJQ’s gone if we don’t get that award.”

“Thank you, Jinrae. Thank you for making me believe that this was some prank and that we were actually fine.” Joo said sarcastically, clapping her hands slowly. Then, to herself, she muttered “Devil leader..... Satan’s hell-spawn.... Probably praises the devil himself.... Evil incarnate....”

“F-f-f-ired... as in, we’re gone? Like ashes in the wind?” CEE asked, feeling her heartbeat race again.

“Very prosaic of you, Lee, but yes. Exactly like that.” JunRi gave her approval on the word play, and flashed a ‘thumbs up’ to CEE.

“But why?” Riso said, ignoring the incoming text messages from ‘he’. ‘He’ can wait.

“Haven’t you read our contract in full?” JunRi asked, making it known that she was actually asking the question to everyone. They looked at each other, and saw that they all didn’t read it in full, they just skimmed through it. After all, the sweet taste of debuting was just too exciting that it was easy to forget the laws and regulations under it.

“Wait, isn’t our contract a normal contract? The 10 year contract that our company usually gives to its workers?” Sae asked, trying to remember what was in the contract presented to her back then.

“Nope. It is, or was, a 1 year contract.” JunRi said, hitting the ‘Enter’ key swiftly. She re-read through her file, and decided she should revise it, just to be safe.

“.... A 1 YEAR CONTRACT?!?!” Riso said, springing up from her seat, her phone falling unceremoniously to the ground. “What the hell is a 1 year contract?”

“It is what it is. It’s a contract that will only last for 1 year. Simple as that.” JunRi said, eyes not wavering from her work. What in the world was she doing, anyway?

“But why does it only last 1 year?” Joo asked, trying to clear away the fog in her mind. ‘Focus, me, focus.’

“Because TZJQ is an experimental group. We are a group designed to see if we CAN make it big, like TVXQ, by following the footsteps of TVXQ as much as possible.”

“So? I still don’t see why we all have a 1 year contract...” Riso pouted, huffing out an annoyed breath. She looked at Sae, who was just as lost as her.

“Because, if we failed in even getting the first award TVXQ received on their first year, then we essentially failed in our mission of being the 2nd coming of TVXQ.” JunRi clarified, thinking of other juxtaposes to make her current work sound legit. Maybe adding another reason should do it...

“So, when does our contract expire?” CEE asked, rubbing her head. They just started, and now this?

“Right after the MAMA Awards. If we managed to get the award, we get better contracts the following day. If we fail, the name TZJQ will be eliminated from SM’s roster of current idols as quickly as possible. It will be as if it never existed.”

“Harsh.” Sae winced slightly, and then a new question bloomed in her mind. “But I thought you were Lee-seonsaengnim’s favorite trainee?” At the mention of the phrase ‘favorite trainee’, JunRi froze in her place. “If you were his favorite, why would he eliminate the group you are in? Isn’t he the CEO?”

Sighing deeply, she looked at her dongsaeng of 2 months. “Lee-seonsaengnim is not the CEO.”

“Wait... he’s not? And I kept calling him CEO for nothing!” Joo said, scowling at the moments where she actually called him ‘CEO Lee’. Every time they chanced upon each other, she had always greeted him American-style, even if others found it rude.

“The current CEO of SM Entertainment is Kim Youngmin.” JunRi elucidated, going back to typing. There was a slight trace of venom in her words, but her facial expression remained neutral. “Lee-seonsaengnim is just the founder.”

“So why would he only give TZJQ one year to live?” Joo asked, rising from her original position to stand next to JunRi. She kept sneaking a peek as to what she was typing.

“Because, he doesn’t believe that we will succeed in being the 2nd coming of TVXQ.” JunRi replied automatically, shifting in response to Joo’s sneaking about.

“Wow... creating a group that even he doesn’t have faith in. Nice, real nice.” Joo drawled out, and then cursed in English. “This is bat crazy! What kind of would do that?!”

“What do we lose, apart from our jobs as idols, if we don’t get that award in November?” CEE asked, placing her hand over Joo’s mouth. She gave a sidewards glance towards Sae, who was silently mouthing back what Joo was saying.

“And how should she know what we can lose?!” Riso said exasperatedly, pointing at JunRi. “WE don’t even know what’s at stake! How would she know what’s in our separate contracts?”

“I know what is, legally, at stake. I have copies of your contracts in my laptop.” JunRi said offhandedly, shushing them. She looked up and saw the TZJQ members stare at her with a combination of apprehension and fascination.

“You, Jung Jinrae, the incarnation of pure evil and the just plain creepy and mean leader of the abnormal TZJQ, have all our contracts?” Riso clarified, straightening a finger per description she gave without thinking.

“Yes. And I read it and found loopholes.” JunRi said, selecting a different file in her computer’s software. Maximizing it so that it could be seen by everyone, they saw a notepad with some text that was obviously simplified for better understanding.

“1.) Since only the TZJQ name, and not the girls names, were actually in the contract, the girls can still be in the company after the termination. They can either return to become trainees again, or go into different professions in other companies,” Joo said aloud, dragging her finger across the screen. “Not bad.” She said, and then looked at JunRi with obvious mirth in her eyes. “You are one devious little lady.”

“2.) If they choose to be part of the company, they can immediately resume their promotions if they can get a shareholder in their company to approve of their group, provided that they can find a veteran in their industry that is willing to guide them. If they succeed, SM Entertainment will take them back and just let them resume their activities, under a different group name.” Riso read while doing a thinking pose. “Who’s willing to guide us then?” JunRi pointedly ignored her question as she motioned to Sae to read the last loophole.

“3.) Four of the fiv