I chatted with Yeji for a while, but in the middle of our conversation, she fell asleep due to tiredness. I let her rest on my chest and closed my eyes as well.
When we woke up, it was 6 in the evening. "I already ordered food. Come eat with me, please put on some clothes or I'll be forced to eat you as dessert again!" I said.
"I don't mind. I enjoy it," Ryujin replied as she stood up and walked to the table. "Wow, there's so much food, and it all looks delicious!"
"Same here! But like I told you earlier, time is already up. Even if we want to stay here with you, the agency will surely ask us where we are," Yuna added.
"When we were making out last night, I saw you all bleed. This is your first time, right? You've already established your name; why are you doing this?" Neo inquired. This was a rare case because once you have a name, you don't need to resort to this kind of entertainment.
"Because so many idols are popping up left and right, our popularity is slowly fading. It's been months, and no new endorsements want to hire us," Yeji explained. As the leader of the group, she understood the struggles of not getting new endorsements.
"We have two more years before our contract ends, and we don't know if JYP Entertainment will renew our contracts. That's also why we asked our manager if we could apply for this kind of entertainment," Chaeryeong said.
"So the reason you five are here is...?" I asked.
"If we don't get renewed, we plan to retire. It's super rare for a group to stay together or be accepted by another company. We plan to gather funds by doing this," Yeji added.
"You guys are so reckless. Deciding to give your purity to strangers like this? You have two more years to save money. I'm sure you're millionaires. Why are you rushing things?" Neo scolded them a little.
"We only decided this last night. We didn't expect to get hired immediately. But I don't regret it; I met you, and you are my first too!" Ryujin replied.
"But our contractor said we only need to stay here for 12 hours, and it's almost 24 hours now," Yuna said just as someone called Yeji's number.
"Are you done with the client? I hope you've rested. Someone already wants to hire you guys," the voice on the line said.
Neo, who was listening, frowned and said, "Yeji, tell him that you won't do this again and remove your group name from the list."
Yeji looked at the others, and they nodded in agreement. "We won't be doing this again. Thank you for accepting our request last night, and sorry for the hassle."
"Okay then. I'll just transfer the money to your account. This won't be known outside, don't worry," the contractor said before hanging up.
"Now what?" Yeji asked her group.
"Nothing. At least we don't need to do this anymore. To be honest, I was scared when we all decided to go through with it last night," Chaeryeong admitted.
"Same here. But luckily, we met Neo. Good trade for our worries, right, Neo?" Yuna said, winking and smiling at me.
"Do you guys want to continue being idols? I will help you. Now that we are like this, I can't let you down," Neo offered.
"Really? How?" Yeji asked, and all eyes turned to Neo. Ryujin, who was munching on food, paused mid-bite.
"How? You just need endorsements, right? My shop will open in a few days, and I can use you guys. I can also invest in your agency to let them know that if you have ITZY, you have me," Neo smiled at them. For him, doing this was basically effortless; all he needed to do was meet with the CEO or someone in charge, and everything would be resolved.
"That would be great! With your help, we can also use your name to boost our fame," Lia said.
"Yeah, that would be fantastic. Thank you, Neo," Yuna added.
"Alright, let's eat and enjoy ourselves. It's already late, and we haven't had anything to eat all day." We gathered around the table and started eating together. Just then, my phone rang. I picked it up and answered it on speakerphone; I couldn't eat while holding the phone.
"Hello, who's this?" I asked.
"Ah, hello Neo, this is Joaquin, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Previously, we had a meeting regarding the medicine you provided us. We produced it according to your formula, and it works. The board decided not to submit a patent for this. Only two people will know the entire formula, and we will separate all production. As you mentioned, it can't be replicated, even though many scientists have tried. That's also why we didn't submit a patent," Joaquin explained.
"Oh, so you decided to keep it a secret. That's a great idea; if you patented it, people could bribe someone to learn the entire formula. So what else do you need?" I inquired.
"I'm calling to inform you that I have already sent $500 billion to your bank account, and I need you to sign the paperwork for the 25% royalty," Joaquin replied.
"Let my charity hold the 25% of the royalty. You can send the papers to my parents for them to sign," I instructed.
"Okay, that's all, Neo. I'll inform your parents later," Joaquin said.
"Wait, I have a favor to ask. You'll need to commercialize this product, right? Please call JYP in Korea and have Itzy be the ambassador for this product," I requested.
"Is that all? I thought you needed something big. Don't worry, only Itzy will be the ambassador for this cure," Joaquin assured me.
"Alright, that's all, Joaquin. If you need anything else, just call me. Take care, bye." I hung up the phone and looked at the girls. "Another endorsement for you girls! This is quite big; your name will be heard for sure."
"Is that how you do business? $500 billion and no signing or anything? That's so much money!" Ryujin said with wide eyes.
"I've only witnessed business deals worth billions where they make sure to sign all the papers," Chaeryeong remarked with a mocking tone.
"I'm curious, though. What is this medicine that will make us so big?" Yeji asked.
"Hmm? It's a cure for cancer," I said, taking a bite of my food.
"What?! A cure for cancer?!" they all shouted at the same time, shocked by the news.
"You're telling me you provided the cure for cancer?" Yeji asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. Is that hard to believe?" I smiled.
"Yes, it is. This is a cure that has tormented many people all over the world," Yuna pointed out.
"With us endorsing it, it will definitely gather a lot of attention," Lia exclaimed.
"That's for sure," Yuna agreed.
"Okay, let's continue eating, hehe. I can't wait to taste all five desserts in front of me," I said with a wide smile.
"I'm almost done, Neo. You can taste me first; I'm chocolate flavor!" Ryujin stood up and posed differently. "What do you like most? This or this? Or maybe this?"
"Stop it, Ryujin. We are eating," Yeji scolded.
—
Sorry, I'm not feeling well, and I forgot to update
Shao🫡