MC Bookstore Chapter 19 Signing the Trainee Contract
Chapter 19 Signing the Trainee Contract
The Human Resources Department is on the fourth floor.
When the elevator doors opened, there were already several young people around Kim Minjung's age waiting in the corridor.
Some sat on benches, heads down, scrolling through their phones; others leaned against the wall, eyes closed, resting. Each person had a transparent file folder on their lap.
It contained photocopies of ID cards, household registration books, and guardian consent forms.
Kim Minjung found a seat at the far end of the bench, took out his file folder from his backpack, and repeatedly opened and closed the plastic snap seal with his fingers, making a soft clicking sound.
A middle-aged woman wearing glasses poked her head out of the office, holding a whiteboard in her hand. Her gaze swept around the corridor before finally landing on Kim Min-jung. "Kim Min-jung?"
"Inside!"
"Come in, has your guardian arrived? If so, they can come in too."
Jiang Yan paused for a moment, then nodded, took his onboarding file, and accompanied Jin Minzheng into the office.
The human resources department's office was small, with folders piled on the desks and various internal notices and fire evacuation maps pasted on the walls.
The middle-aged woman wearing glasses gestured for Kim Minjung to sit down in the empty chair opposite her, while Kang Yeon stood half a step behind her.
The middle-aged woman opened the document on the whiteboard and read it line by line with the tip of her pen.
"Kim Minjung was born on January 1, 2001, in Busan Metropolitan City. He currently resides in Yangsan City, Gyeongsangnam-do Province, and is a student at Yangsan Samseong Middle School. He was discovered by a talent scout at the Yangsan Dance Festival last month and received an A grade in the final audition."
She looked up and glanced at the girl with the high ponytail in front of her over her glasses. "A-level is rare. Singing or dancing?"
"I...I know a little bit of everything." Kim Minjung stood up straight, his whole body radiating tension.
"Zhang Zhenying, a senior vocal instructor, commented that your tone is clean and your mid-to-high range has penetrating power, but your breath support is weak and you need systematic training."
The middle-aged woman closed her writing board, took out three copies of the contract from the drawer, laid them flat on the table, and pushed them in front of her. "This is SM Entertainment's standard trainee contract. You and your guardian can read it carefully first. If you don't understand anything, you can ask."
Kim Minjung took the contract with both hands, his fingers trembling slightly.
The densely packed terms on the paper looked like a swarm of ants crawling across it. She tried to focus her gaze on each line of text, but after reading less than half a page, just as she was about to turn the page, a hand reached out from behind her and gently pressed down on a corner of the contract.
"I'll do it."
Jiang Yan walked around to her side, took the three contracts, and started reading them line by line from the first page.
He read very slowly, his gaze lingering on each clause for a considerable time, his lips moving slightly as he silently pondered the meaning of each clause.
When he encounters ambiguous wording, he will go back and read it again.
His finger stopped when he turned to the third page.
"Could you please explain this one?"
He turned the contract to the middle-aged woman, his fingertip pointing to the middle of the clauses, "During the trainee period, the company has the exclusive right to use her image rights, name rights, and copyrights of her performance works. What is the scope of this exclusivity? Is it global? What is the duration?"
The middle-aged woman clearly hadn't expected a young man who looked to be in his early twenties to ask such detailed questions.
She put the whiteboard aside, crossed her hands on the table, and explained routinely, "It's an exclusive right to use it worldwide, valid for five years after the contract expires. During the contract period, the company can use it freely according to its promotional needs without signing any supplementary agreements."
After listening, Jiang Yan neither nodded nor shook his head, but continued reading. When he reached the fee terms, his brows furrowed.
"It says here that the company provides free training courses for trainees, but there is a small line of text that says that the relevant fees will be deducted from the artist's income after the artist's debut."
"What items are included in these related fees? Is there a detailed list? Are vocal lessons, dance lessons, and physical training lessons standardized or do they vary from person to person?"
"Also, if she doesn't ultimately debut, will these expenses need to be repaid?"
Kim Minjung sat in the chair, looking up at Kang Yeon as he asked her questions one by one, all of which were things she hadn't noticed when she was looking at the page. She hadn't even seen the small print hidden in the footer.
The middle-aged woman's answers became increasingly detailed, and her tone gradually shifted from routine to more serious.
"All training-related expenses are included, as well as the cost of clothing, makeup, and filming materials provided by the company. If you don't debut, you don't need to repay these expenses personally."
Jiang Yan nodded and continued flipping through the pages, but stopped when he reached the compensation clause.
"Regarding the penalty for breach of contract, it's three times the total training costs invested by the company plus the expected loss of revenue for the remaining contract period. How is this expected loss of revenue calculated? Is there an upper limit?"
"Based on the average income of artists debuting in the same category, there is no clear upper limit." The middle-aged woman paused, then added, "However, the Fair Trade Commission issued a rectification notice last year, and the company is adjusting the new version of the contract."
After asking the last question, Jiang Yan flipped through the contract again from beginning to end to make sure nothing was missing before putting it back in front of Jin Minzheng.
He bent down and whispered in her ear, "These are the terms. Trainee contracts from all the big companies are pretty much the same. You can sign them, but from now on, for any document you need to sign, whether it's from the company or someone else, let me see it first before you put pen to paper. Got it?"
"Okay! I got it." Kim Minjung nodded vigorously.
"Sign it."
The middle-aged woman took a black pen from the pen holder and handed it to him, but she did not ask Kim Minjung to sign it immediately. Instead, she flipped through the notes page on the back of the writing board and changed the subject.
"There's something I need to make clear to you beforehand: you're currently a student at Sancheng Middle School, and you haven't graduated yet."
"According to the law and company regulations, if underage trainees are still in junior high or high school, they must prioritize their studies and cannot delay their compulsory education because of training."
"So your training schedule will be different from other trainees in Seoul until you graduate from middle school."
She picked up the whiteboard and read aloud the note: "The opinion signed by vocal department teacher Zhang Zhenying is that trainee Kim Minjung's training time is tentatively scheduled for Friday evenings, all day Saturday, and Sunday mornings until noon. The return trip will be arranged after dinner on Sunday. The round-trip transportation and accommodation from Yangsan to Seoul are to be arranged by the individual."
Upon hearing these words, Kim Minjung was stunned.
Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday until dinner.
That's all the time we have.
She thought about it and realized that it was similar to what she had been thinking. If she were to take a break from school or transfer to a school in Seoul, the pressure on her family would be too great.
She opened her mouth, about to say "I'll sign," but Jiang Yan spoke first.
Did Mr. Zhang Zhenying's approval comments mention the process of becoming a full-time trainee after graduating from junior high school?
"If not, I suggest adding a note that trainees can submit a full-time trainee application to the company after graduating from junior high school. The company will give priority to their application based on their training performance and academic progress. If this is not included now, it may take several months to go through the process again later."
The middle-aged woman looked at him, remained silent for two seconds, then picked up a pen and quickly jotted down a few lines on the whiteboard. "You're quite interesting. Don't worry, we've considered it. But are you sure this child can transfer to a school in Seoul after graduation? Transferring isn't a simple process."
Jiang Yan glanced at Kim Minjung, then shut his mouth and took a step back, giving Kim Minjung the space he needed.
Kim Minjung took a deep breath and placed the pen tip in the signature column for Party B on the last page of the contract.
Gold, Min, Gang.
The three characters were written neatly and carefully, more so than any other signature she ever made.
She pushed the three signed contracts back, looked up, and stared at the middle-aged woman with glasses opposite her.
"Teacher, I've signed up. It's enough for Friday night to Sunday before dinner. While others are practicing, I can practice on my own during my free time at Liangshan. I practice dancing in front of the mirror at home, practice singing in the school's music room, and memorize music theory on KTX. I'm not afraid of traveling back and forth."