Chapter 93: Removal

evel of a professional player, is still considered a small-time gamer. You think he'd agree""Jia" Kim Hyo-yeon widened her eyes in surprise, somewhat incredulous. "You look so good when you smile, I n...Y isn't like the other two who left EXO directly. She's still technically in the group, but she hasn't been returning to the dorm often lately. She spends her days in meetings and negotiations with the company. It's clear that her mind is no longer focused here.

Just like this EXO single they are practicing right now, just go with the flow.

"The main verses of this song are not very high-pitched. When singing, the voice must not be too deep because the tune itself is relatively low. If it's too deep, the audience will easily feel a sense of 'sadness' or 'despondency'."

"But the meaning of the song "Go With The Flow" is completely opposite. It expresses a feeling of transformation, like emerging from a cocoon. It's about breaking free from darkness on a cold and bleak winter night, under the stars and moon, and returning anew."

Under the guidance of their music teacher, Ji Jingyuan is explaining to the members the singing points of this song "Go with the Flow," as well as his ideas and settings for the theme of the song.

After officially confirming the winter single project, ** decided to entrust a significant portion of the practice and recording work directly to Ji Seong-won upon the suggestion of Lee Soo-man. After reviewing his submitted MV shooting ideas and concepts, they found them very good and expressed their satisfaction. The company made some minor adjustments and modifications to the proposal, and it was almost ready to be implemented as planned.

It is unknown whether it is truly valuing and believing in Chi Jingyuan's abilities, or not taking this winter single seriously. Either way, before becoming one of the producers for next year's regular second album, he will also participate in a large amount of production work for this winter song.

While Chi Jingyuan was explaining, the music teacher beside him occasionally chimed in with a few words of supplement. The two of them cooperated very well, and the members were also listening attentively, some even looking directly at the sheet music and lowering their voices to try humming a few notes.

It's possible that XO has been suppressing their feelings for a long time because of the recent consecutive challenges they've faced. Even though it's just a winter single, every member is very serious and focused.

Moreover, many people really like the melody and lyrics of this song, even its meaning. Some of the emotions expressed in the song also happen to coincide with what they are thinking in their hearts.

After Chi Jingyuan gave a detailed explanation, they began to practice together. The entire room was filled with a passionate and lively atmosphere of work.

EXO's immense popularity over the past two years has set a new standard for newly debuted male groups. Their sales figures have broken records, driving up the overall market share. A significant factor behind their success is their high popularity in mainland China. Each comeback album release sees a significant portion of sales coming from Chinese fans, making their contribution to EXO's overall achievements substantial.

And the current situation of M team directly impacted EXO's consistently maintained unit activities. The domestic Chinese market can currently be said to have directly collapsed.

This also severely affected ** Company's plans for EXO. From XO's debut, the setting was a male group from the two countries of Xia Guo Peninsula. Basically, all their comeback albums were in both Chinese and Korean, with dual versions. M team even debuted directly in Xia Guo, which showed how much they valued it. Now that three members have left, the company needs to make drastic adjustments to EXO's future development direction.

Should the M Team disband After losing the Xia Guo member, should EXO still prioritize the Xia Guo market Does it need to change its development direction and focus on activities in Japan or even Europe and America besides the peninsula in the future

These are all things the company urgently needs to consider.

Next is the dance issue. The choreography of all EXO's title tracks is almost entirely in the form of K and M teams taking turns performing in the main and chorus sections, with a final full-group performance for everyone to dance together. From "MAMA" to "Growl" to "Overdose," this pattern remains consistent.

Let's get one more person to come in as a guest, like Chi Jingyuan. With two more people, we could still manage. But now that all three are gone, M team is down to just three people. This kind of choreography won't work anymore.

The future is uncertain, and the most important thing right now is that EXO needs to re-choreograph all of their past songs for a 9-member format. Otherwise, they would have trouble even getting on stage now.

Instead of performing separately and then combining as a team, they've changed to a nine-person formation. Although the specific choreography movements might not change, both the part allocation and the changes in positioning and movement are significant. Considering the number of songs they have, the workload is immense.

It's no wonder that the company statement said they would only focus on domestic activities after completing this month's Neon Tour, giving the remaining nine members some buffer time. Otherwise, unless they arranged a backup dancer to wear a mask and stand in y's position on stage, the upcoming Fukuoka concert wouldn't even know how to proceed.

Last but not least, the impact and influence on fans can't be ignored. Continuous member departures are incredibly difficult for any EXO fan to bear...

It's okay, I've been watching too much and it's really affecting my mood.

Chi Jingyuan shook his head and swiped the webpage away from his phone.

He's the type who, when he sees negative comments about himself online, just laughs them off. Sometimes he even finds them amusing and shares them with the members proactively.

Negative comments didn't affect him much, but seeing their fans, the "aili," disappointed and heartbroken because of these things made Chi Jingyuan feel uncomfortable. Especially when he saw many familiar fan IDs he had seen before, or those who had unfollowed him, or climbed over the wall, it made him feel even worse.

Fans are an idol's lifeline, and one of the most important reasons why they love this profession and work hard at it.

Although EXO has experienced continuous member departures, which can significantly impact both the fandom and the overall team spirit, they have ultimately avoided any serious scandals. At most, there have been rumors of "royalty struggles for resources," which are trivial and inconsequential. There hasn't been any concrete evidence that has caused a complete collapse of their image.

Like Tara, the bullying news from BTS, and all kinds of drug abuse rumors from YG, these are the real blows that make it hard for idol groups to recover.

Withdrawing from a group can have serious negative consequences, but it doesn't actually involve any legal issues or impact morality.

It's reassuring that neither Han nor Tao brought up such issues when they left. At most, they hinted at the unfair distribution of company resources or mentioned that "popular members are too privileged," but they didn't mention anything about "bullying" at all.

Although there is no such situation within the XO team itself.

But if you delve a little deeper, after Han left, many members did show some exclusionary behavior towards the remaining two Xia Guo Le. They weren't exactly big or small about it.

On the bright side, compared to them, EXO's members leaving consecutively isn't necessarily irretrievable.

At the end of the day, idol groups still rely on their work, the quality of their songs and the charm they exude on stage. What they say at a time when fans are panicking is actually not very effective. What's needed is a successful comeback to salvage EXO, which is currently weathering some storms.

As long as they can have another big hit next year, maybe all those fans who left will come back. All the people who underestimated them would change their minds. The keyboard warriors and other fans of male groups who were so vocal before would immediately shut up and disappear. EXO might even have room for further improvement.

Just like the past "The Roar".

"Hey, do you think that individual studio over there is a collaboration between ** and an economic company in China"

"I didn't notice that, but it probably is the case. He himself definitely has shares in it."

He put down his phone, and heard the conversation between his assistant Choi Ji-chang and Park Jae-hyun sitting beside him. The two hadn't finished their meal yet, they chatted as they ate, and ended up talking about EXO.

They were quite fast at running away. After returning, they all developed well individually. I wonder what kind of impact they had on the other Chinese trainees. Really…

Cui Zhichang was obviously unhappy with a few people, and his tone was noticeably critical of the departing members.

"What's wrong"

After hearing this, Ji Jingyuan became interested and turned his head to ask a question.

"Jingyuan, you've been too busy these days to notice. Because of the several EXO members who have left the group recently, the company has purged most Chinese trainees this past week. They only kept a few with connections and those they really see potential in. The others were just let go without any room for negotiation."

These two days, it's common to see people crying and leaving with things. Some parents of trainees who were laid off even went to the company to cause a scene these two days.

He hurriedly swallowed what was in his mouth and replied to Choi Ji-chang as if delivering a report, shaking his head while speaking. It was unclear whether it was disapproval of **'s decision or disgust towards those people.

"Is that even possible"

Chi Jingyuan was initially a little surprised, but he quickly understood and felt enlightened.

Wu Seuke, and the case with EXO are a good example. They had cultivated members from Xia Guo for years, pouring many resources into them, but when they wanted to sue, one after another just bolted. ** company didn't have much of a way to stop it, except to angrily smear them and file responses. They couldn't come up with much else.

Even if we win the lawsuit in the future and can get a share from the other party's profits, it seems to be a loss outweighing the gain for the company's overall planning and the promotion of the combination.

It's because the Xia Nation's economy is booming and its market is huge. They earn much more money there than here. After Xia Nation idols become famous, they all have their own backup plans. ** has no room to fight back, so they simply cleared out most of the Xia Nation trainees and stopped cultivating them.

As for whether I will accept them in the future, it depends on the circumstances at that time.

This resolute approach also demonstrates that ** Entertainment was significantly impacted by this EXO situation, and even the company's overall future strategy has begun to adjust.

Although it does seem a bit biased, objectively speaking, one can understand Chi Jingyuan's actions.

However, these people can't stay in ** and they won't be unemployed either. They can try other companies again because trainees who leave big companies are always highly qualified and sought-after in the industry.

And it's not just our company, I heard that many other companies in the industry have also laid off a number of Chinese trainees because of the XO thing, and some groups that are close to their debut have been affected.

Park Jin-hyun also chimed in at this time: "After all, ** Entertainment doesn't have much of a way to deal with this kind of thing, let alone smaller companies. It must be an unacceptable loss for them when a popular member they carefully cultivated suddenly leaves the group."

"...Chi Jingyuan silently nodded, his words made sense."

He hesitated for a moment, as if he remembered something. He quickly picked up his phone from the table, swiped it open, and started typing out a message.

…………

"What's going on with EXO How did they suddenly only have 9 members"

"He was so popular when he returned a few months ago, I really loved his stage presence and that fancam back then. I watched it over and over again."

I also really like this, Yuan's police uniform look is so cool!

"It's a shame."

Just as Tzuyu returned to the practice room after dinner at the JYP building, she heard several female trainees discussing something heatedly not far away. Their voices were loud and clear enough for her to hear snippets of their conversation. She caught a couple of words and realized they were talking about EXO.

After Yixing's departure, EXO with only 9 members instantly became the center of online discussion, and in reality, especially within the music industry, many people were buzzing about it. Many trainees privately have been talking about this a lot these past few days.

Her Korean progress is neither too fast nor too slow. To this day, it wouldn't be accurate to say she's fluent. However, as long as we don't talk too quickly and avoid obscure words, everyday conversations or even eavesdropping wouldn't be a problem.

She had also heard about what was going on with EXO and proactively sent a message to Ji-sung to check in on him. However, his replies were sporadic; sometimes he would take a long time to respond, or he wouldn't reply at all, as if ignoring her. Especially the text she sent two days ago - there hasn't been any response today, it was like he completely ignored her.

However, she also knew that Chi Jingyuan was very busy recently. Last time she heard him say that besides filming the TV series, he had to go back to the company for overtime every day, it seemed like he was preparing for his comeback. It's understandable that he doesn't have time or is too lazy to reply to these unimportant messages.

And she was actually already used to it, but even so, Chou Tzu-yu was a little unhappy in her heart about the other person always ignoring her text messages.

While she can't voice her dissatisfaction directly, Tzuyu expresses her frustration by keeping it bottled up inside and suffering silently.

"With EXO taking the top spot, who knows who will be the next boy group to reach number one Now that this has happened, XO's chances are pretty much gone."

They could hear the murmurs of disapproval surrounding them, a chorus of doubt.

Even so, their fanbase is still a gap compared to boy groups, especially the amount and fervor of fans from Alice and Yuanwei. You're not unaware of this, it's well-known in the industry.

“One withdrawal has already caused a big impact, and no amount of fans can withstand the continuous departures.”

“I also feel that EXO doesn't have much room to grow anymore. There has never been a group that topped charts before a member left, so I estimate that EXO's next comeback will be slightly more stable, and they will maintain their position as a top-tier boy group, that's about it. Further progress is unlikely... It's a pity, they used to have such great momentum.”

"That's not bad, right With EXO coming down, our company GOT7's seniors can catch up and have a chance to become TOP."

After this last sentence was spoken, the scene immediately fell into an eerie silence. The trainees who had been participating in the discussion looked at the girl who had spoken those words with strange expressions, exchanging odd glances with each other.

Just as Chou Tzu-yu also felt a bit ridiculous, her pocket suddenly vibrated. She hurriedly took it out and glanced at it, her eyes sparkling. It was a message from Ji Jingyuan:

"Have you been influenced by anything during your time at JYP"

First release on the Traditional Chinese Novel Network enjoying the view. It’s no wonder his female fans are so numerous and enthusiastic (I wonder why he isn't an official face). However, there are too many other issues...Looking at the recently returne...