John Park: Infinite's The Golden Voice

Finding New Talent

Woolim Entertainment: A small subsidiary of the larger conglomerate SM Entertainment, well known for producing high quality musical acts and innovating the industry.

Lee Jongyeop has minor experiences working at SM as a manager. With the permission of SM, he was able to create this company: Woolim in hopes of finding independent artists. The first artist he signed was hip hop trio Epik High. They proved to be a success helping his company grow. He then later debut rock band Nell with also a moderate success.

But moderate success wasn't enough for the young CEO. He wanted more. After seeing the massive success of Super Junior, he knew he wanted to debut his own idol group. But debuting an idol group was easier said than done. It was too costly of a journey for him scout random talent so he let his independent acts thrive.

Until his acts had to serve the military. Now he was in a dire situation. It's up to him to maintain profits. Currently the board was discussing on their next decision.

"I have called you in here because we need to discuss our next course of action. With our main group serving the military, we need an extra source of income to keep us afloat. My main suggestion is to find some young talent and debut an idol group, possibly next year. I want to hear your suggestion." Jongyeop began.

"I say it's a great idea!"

"It's about time we expand our agency!"

"They'll be much more money to be made!"

The directors all nodded in agreement.

"I appreciate the thought. Of course, I'm not naive to believe this will be happen overnight. We must work hard to find these talents. Patience is key. If we can find our value group to debut. Not only our company can be saved, but we be able to break off our dependence on SM." Jongyeop said getting everyone to applaud at the last sentence.

So that is what the CEO did. He didn't have the luxury to send other people to promote auditions so he did it himself. Throughout the streets he would he wave posters for a Woolim Entertainment audition. If scouting didn't work, then he would host auditions.

Throughout 2009 he tried to get young boys to audition with limited success. Most preferred bigger agencies with more prestige like the big three. Jongyeop realized how difficult it actually was to scout talent. He was just about to give until he saw a young boy performing by himself. He was playing an old folk song with an acoustic. His voice sounded soothing to hear and he could tell the boy loves music.

Out of curiosity Jongyeop watched his performance.

"That was an incredible my boy. What is your name?" Asked the CEO.

"Me? I'm just someone performing in the streets. I just got kicked out of home so I'm trying to perform in hopes I can find a place to live." The boy explained.

"How about you come sing for me. My agency is expecting talents and I can see you clearly have one. We may not be the biggest agency, but I'll guarantee to do everything I can to train you into a professional artist." Jongyeop explained.

"The offer sounds very inciting... Very well I'm in. My name is Sungkyu and I'm a leader of a local band. I'll sure to let them know afterwards. What is your name ajusshi?" The boy named Sungyu introduced himself.

"I'm Jongyeop, the CEO of Woolim Entertainment."

"CEO? What are you doing outside by yourself? Shouldn't you be in an office?" Sungkyu asked.

"I thought you would've said so!! When I say we're a small agency I wholeheartedly mean it. If I don't work hard to find talent who would?
Sometimes you have to put yourself before others." Jongyeop replied.