As Jun was looking at each expense, he heard sighs from the other four of them while their maknae, Hwa Dohyun reacted the biggest, "Holy mot*** f****** s*** d.a.m.n, what a rip-off." Jun frowned and said, "Dohyun, language..." Realizing there are people around him, Dohyun bowed, "Ah, Hyung, sorry about that. I was just too surprised about the debt." Minho asked, "oh, how much of it"s yours that you have such a reaction? I have around 214 Million won, so around 175K U.S dollars. What about you, Minsu?"
Minsu replied, "108 million won, so around 88K dollars." Minho was amazed at such a low amount, which is only like 40% of his, and asked, "how long did you train for?" Minsu thought and replied, "hmm, around 15 months?" Then, the hyperactive maknae said, "wow, you both are really lucky, I guess? You can pay off your debts quickly within 3-5 years, even if we performed averagely. I, on the hand, sigh... 435 Million won."
Hearing the amount, even Jun was shaken to the core. He asked curiously, "just how many years you trained that they invested this much of money on you? 435 Million? That"s like 356K U.S. dollars" The maknae replied, "since I trained here for little more than 4years and took advantage of the benefits the most, whether its the accommodation or the coaching cla.s.ses or my school fees. Well, if we don"t debut soon and become popular soon enough, it would take at least 8-10 years for me to start earning."
After listening to him, Jun thought, "I guess Kpop is more popular than I thought. I never cared about it before but now realizing that even an average group can generate that much money and looking at the expenses, combining with the trainees in the acting department, just how much money, the company spends on them?
If even a number five company like Echo is like this, then, what about the big three, who have more trainees? I guess the entertainment companies are also richer and way bigger than the ones in my previous world. No wonder, Mom is full of stress. Having two kids, just working hard to pay back the debts without having any back up to quit, I think it"s reasonable.
But the most important thing is, what about Mom, now? I can"t live with her, neither can Yungja. Should I persuade her to move to the countryside and live with our grandfather and grandmother? Hmm, first I need to talk to Yungja about it..." "Hyung, Hyung..." Jun suddenly came off his thoughts as he was being called repeatedly. Looking at Dohyun, he apologized, "Sorry, I was lost in some thoughts. Tell me, what is it?"
Dohyun said, "I"m asking what"s your debt, right now. Minsu Hyung said yours might be the lowest." Jun then replied, "mine? It"s around 39 Million won, so, nearly 31K Dollars."
"What!"
As the four of them reacted in a shock at the same time, Jun replied, "I"m only a trainee for 8 months. And I come from home daily. Not to mention, I didn"t opt for rapping cla.s.ses along with the fact that I never took skincare. I neither bought any product here nor did I go for sessions, except for haircuts. So, it saved me a lot of debt. In fact, if you see your debts, a few thousands of dollars per year went into skincare products or sessions, as top companies like these would only recommend the best."
Minsu laughed, "C"mon, Hyung, don"t kid around. Without proper skincare, how can your skin looks that smooth and great." Since Jun can"t say that he has 8 points of natural appearance, Jun replied with a smile, "well, it"s not that I never put makeup on my skin. I do keep things like face packs or facemasks or applying light creams from time to time, I have at my home. That"s it." While Dohyun and Minsu were amazed looking at their leader, Jun looked at Pak Hae-Seong, who just sat in the corner silently from the start and called out to him, "Hae-Seong," "yes, Hyung?" The third oldest of the group, 17-year-old HaeSeong, immediately replied after being called.
Jun then asked, "so, how much is your debt?" He replied, "well, 138K dollars, I mean, 169 million won." Dohyun sighed, "everyone"s debt her is a lot lesser than me. But, Sungjun-Hyung you are amazing here. You only trained for 8 months and is already debuting where I have to train for 4 hours."
Jun smiled and replied at this maknae, "I also don"t have it easier. I also trained 3 years before joining this company." Curious Minsu asked, "Oh, what happened? With your talent, your previous company"s chairman will be a fool if you were kicked out. So, no chance of it. Did you quit?"
Jun just smiled and just stayed silent. Thinking it must be some hard experience, the other four also didn"t probe him further about it and started reading the terms of the Idol contract.
Looking at the terms of the contract, Jun nodded in understanding as it was just mostly the same thing, Director Jiyoung explained them. And they also mentioned the same things stated in the old trainee contract.
The only surprising thing for him is that the company is indeed providing them a three-bedroom flat at Haseo street in the city of Incheon, which is a bit near to their agency but it was kind of an expensive area, which explains how much the chairman is looking forward to their debut.
Then, as he proceeded further, he read, "after debut, first the production, promotion costs of the alb.u.m will be deducted first, then, after complete deduction, the profits will be split between the agency and the idols as follows."
Physical sales: Agency - 75%, Artist - 25%
Physical sales (renewed): Agency - 30%, Artist - 70%
Digital sales: Agency: 50%, Artist - 50%
Events: Agency - 50%, Artist - 50%
Overseas Promotions: Agency - 20%, Artist - 80%
"All the profits the Artist/Group received their cut will be equally distributed among the Idols in the group.
If any individual Idol in the group appears in any commercial, the revenue will be split equally among the group.
If any individual Idol in the group appears in any variety show program, 50% of the revenue will be received by the Idol and the rest will be split equally for the rest of the group.
If any individual Idol in the group appears in a television drama or play as a host or a guest at official events, then 100% of the revenue will be received the Idol."
At the end of the contract it was stated, "the old trainee contract will be nullified and the new contract will be valid for four years."
Looking at this contract, which is neither too unfair nor was it fair to the Artist, all the five of them sighed, Dohyun commented, "with a contract like this, I wonder how many years would pa.s.s away before I start earning. After all, even if we make money, the first thing we have to pay the debts after all. No wonder the company can maintain this many trainees like us. I bet Sungjun-Hyung will be the first one to earn money."
Jun smiled bitterly, "Dohyun, I"m older than you by 4 years, which means I also have less amount of time as an Idol than you all." After looking at the rest of the terms, Jun signed it as they wouldn"t change these terms for the rookies, anyway.
After signing it, Minho commented, "so, this is why we have been given the details of our debts because the old contract was nullified and our debt added to this contract. That means it won"t be easy to earn money. With our past debt on our head, our new expenses will also increase."