Chapter 742: Project I.O.A. Begins (1)
Project I.O.A. was the name of the audition program designed to select the final members of the global idol group I.O.A under Hoop Entertainment.
Two members had already been chosen. One was Ling Ling, the younger sister of Chinese supermodel Lily and girlfriend of Wang Long. The other was Seo Hee-Joo, daughter of Yeon Hwa-Seon—a Korean intangible cultural heritage holder.
The rest of the members would be selected around these two leads from a pool of 132 candidates: 66 from Korea, and 33 each from China and Japan.
However, those hoping for the failure of this massive project backed by an enormous investment of twenty billion won had leaked stories about Wang Lina and Minamoto Aoi's alleged thefts to reporters.
The articles hadn't gone live yet, but if they did, Wang Lina and Minamoto Aoi's very first image could become that of criminals. That had to be prevented at all costs. So first, I gave instructions to the team in the VIP lounge. Then I stepped out with Ji Yung-Sik alone.
Ding.
The door to the VIP lounge slid open. The reporters waiting outside rushed forward with their cameras, firing off questions.
"Mr. Jung! Is it true one of the contestants is a criminal?"
"PD Ji, we heard some members were banned from entering Korea?"
"They say someone shoplifted during a previous visit to Korea. Is it true?"
"Wait, are they not through immigration yet? Doesn't that mean the tip-off was real?"
"Come on, stop dodging and just answer us already!"