Brian Bennett valued Lauren Carter even more deeply. Because he was not only the president of SM, but also the executive director who turned Girls’ Generation into an Asian top group. No matter how many detours were taken along the way, the facts proved that his management was ultimately successful.

“President Carter, hello. What can I do for you?” Brian Bennett smiled and said, “Could it be that SM wants to sign me as an artist?”

On the other end, Lauren Carter was sweating on his forehead: “Ben Bennett, you must be joking. Actually, I greatly admire Ben Bennett’s worldwide achievements, and I wonder if I might have the honor of buying you a drink…”

“Oh?” Brian Bennett pondered for a moment, then suddenly showed a strange smile: “If President Carter can get Girls’ Generation to join me for drinks, then maybe I could consider it.”

Sophie Carter rolled her eyes at him, while on the other end of the phone, Lauren Carter laughed awkwardly: “Girls’ Generation is just a failed group on the verge of disbanding, how could Ben Bennett be interested?”

Brian Bennett burst out laughing: “President Carter, are you kidding me? I don’t believe this call has nothing to do with Girls’ Generation.”

What could Lauren Carter want from Brian Bennett? Was he really going to invite a wolf into the house and let him get involved in SM? Did he still want to keep his management authority? Or was it really just out of admiration? Could it get any more ridiculous?

The only explanation was the Girls’ Generation group, which had fallen to its lowest point. This group was Lauren Carter’s ambitious project, meant to show the world that SM could create a successful group without Lee Soo-man, and also to prove to Lee Soo-man that shifting focus to girl groups was the right move. If this group failed, it would be a huge blow to Lauren Carter. But now, the group really was on the verge of failure, thanks to some of his own ridiculous planning. The company’s board had already proposed disbanding Girls’ Generation several times, but he had forcibly suppressed it. If he couldn’t come up with a solid plan soon, his days as president would be over.

So at this point, the only thing that could make Lauren Carter so desperate as to turn to the An family’s second son was, without a doubt, Girls’ Generation.

Lauren Carter hadn’t expected Brian Bennett to see through his intentions after just a few words. After a long silence, he finally gritted his teeth and said, “Ben Bennett truly has sharp eyes, I’m impressed. I’ll be frank—this time, I really do have something I’d like to ask Ben Bennett for help with.”

Brian Bennett smiled and said, “My appearance fee isn’t cheap. How does President Carter plan to settle it?”

Lauren Carter replied decisively, “SM’s resource network, within my authority, can be shared with LOEN.”

Hearing this, Brian Bennett understood where this call was coming from. With such terms, no wonder his big brother was tempted. After all, he couldn’t openly use the An family’s power in the entertainment industry, so SM’s cooperation was a timely help.

So Brian Bennett stopped being coy: “What does President Carter want me to do?”

Lauren Carter let out a long sigh of relief, releasing his sweat-soaked grip, and said, “Ben Bennett is a Grammy Award winner, world-renowned for your music composition. I hope to purchase a song from Ben Bennett.”

“MO? You want to commission a song from me?” Brian Bennett was dumbfounded.

To be fair, Lauren Carter’s idea was quite reasonable. Brian Bennett’s songwriting ability had already been proven by the Grammys. Although it was unclear whether he could grasp the style of the Korean market, as a native Korean, he couldn’t be too far off. More importantly, with the current sky-high popularity of Brian Bennett, just the hype of him composing a song would almost guarantee a hit, no matter who sang it. In Lauren Carter’s plan, a hit song at this moment was more important than anything else. There were many talented musicians, but in all of Korea, only Brian Bennett could guarantee a surefire hit, so Lauren Carter had no choice but to take a big risk and make a heavy promise to seek out Brian Bennett.

From Brian Bennett’s perspective, he almost wondered if Lauren Carter was some kind of immortal—how did he know he could write a song in five minutes that would let Girls’ Generation win nine consecutive championships?!

Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud. Brian Bennett pretended to think for a while and said, “I need to see their style in person before I can decide.”

Lauren Carter agreed with delight. The two exchanged a few pleasantries, set a meeting time, and hung up.

Sophie Carter asked in confusion, “You’re going to write a song for SM? If their group becomes popular, it’ll be direct competition for LOEN’s artists…”

Brian Bennett sighed, “You don’t understand. Even if I don’t write this song, it’ll still appear. I might as well get some benefits out of it.”

…

In the afternoon, Brian Bennett fully armed, walked into the SM company building, which looked much like a migrant workers’ dormitory. Lauren Carter, leading a group of employees, stood at the entrance in a grand welcoming pose, so the DV flashes in the hands of the sasaeng fans squatting outside SM immediately dazzled the eyes of Tyler, who was following behind.

There were whispers in the crowd: “Who is that? Such a big entourage, even has a black bodyguard.”

“No idea, those sunglasses cover half his face, he must be really ugly.”

“I think he looks a bit like Brian Bennett OPPA…”

“No way! Is SM going to sign Brian Bennett?”

“Even if it’s Brian Bennett, why does he get better treatment than our oppas…”

“…Brian Bennett’s single hair is thicker than all five members of TVXQ combined, are you Cassiopeia fans brainless or what?”