[The Editors' Verdict]I Resolve to Live Like Min Hee-jin... But

A competent and confident office worker.

After watching the entire 2-hour press conference video of Min Hee-jin, I wanted to define her in one word like this. I’m not sure if the term 'office worker' is appropriate for the CEO of a company with sales of 110.3 billion KRW and operating profit of 33.5 billion KRW, but that’s the thought I had.

At first, I briefly caught the press conference on public broadcast news on the 25th. The first images were 'agitated,' 'tears,' and 'swearing.' I thought she was unrefined and emphasizing only her position by putting emotions first. I somewhat accepted the media reports, which Min Hee-jin called 'HYBE’s media play,' regarding the suspicions of her management rights takeover.

However, since there was so much favorable public opinion about Min Hee-jin around me, I watched the full press conference video. It was persuasive and felt sincere.

“I think a company is a place to work, not a place to make friends.” “Office workers can complain about their bosses or workplaces when they don’t like them.” “Everyone works to earn money... No one says unpleasant things to please their superiors. I said it because I couldn’t stand it, and they made me end up like this.”

I don’t know if Min Hee-jin’s claims are right or wrong, but they were relatable to most office workers. Especially the talk about '업 (業)' seems like something each of us should keep in mind regardless of what work we do.

“The reason I raised the issue is that everyone can have straight hair. The problem is that the production formula itself was too imitated.”

“The reason I hate this is because when someone easily copies someone else’s work and succeeds, those who don’t have anything feel even more frustrated. Those who have something succeed by copying like that. Those who don’t have anything think, ‘Why bother worrying? Just copy those who succeeded.’ Then everyone becomes NewJeans. It’s bad for NewJeans and bad for them in the long run. This ruins the 업 (業). We have to point this out for the 업 (業) to survive.”

“In the industry, making random cards and pushing out others... I wish they would stop that... All that burden is passed on to the fans... Celebrities are also very tired. They have to keep doing fan sign events... Members who went because they didn’t want others to feel down keep going, and those who bought albums keep buying again and again... I think the current music market is very wrong. I started with NewJeans to fix that. I wanted to show that you can succeed without such tricks.”

Because her words were so right, I quoted Min Hee-jin at length.

Most office workers don’t raise their voices even when something is wrong and just follow the trend. Especially if it reflects the intentions of their superiors. Why risk being targeted by opposing voices? Even when speaking frankly, they try to understand their superiors’ intentions well and speak technically without touching those intentions.

Even if there is unfairness in the industry, they live by thinking, 'Everyone else does it,' 'Don’t stand out,' or 'The nail that sticks out gets hammered.' They think that’s how to survive.

Seeing Min Hee-jin’s confident appearance is so cool. It makes me want to live like Min Hee-jin. But what can I do? I’d have to be as capable as Min Hee-jin...

Min Hee-jin, CEO of ADOR, is making a statement on the 25th at the Korea Conference Center in Seocho-gu, Seoul, regarding the conflict with the parent company HYBE. Earlier, HYBE announced the results of an interim audit on ADOR's management, including CEO Min Hee-jin, and stated that they would file charges against them for breach of duty and other allegations. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@