Chapter 95 The show starts (Part 2)

The arrival of the Kansai man instantly saved the SEXYcode members who were feeling at a loss due to language barriers.

Perhaps because they were from the same country, or perhaps because some members of both sides knew each other, the atmosphere quickly became lively the moment they met.

After that, Freez also appeared.

As the most popular idol group in the world among the six participating guests, Freez was greeted with cheers and screams as soon as they appeared on the stage, not only by barrages of comments, but also by other guests in the video.

Being able to reach the top in an industry, the appearance and aura of the Freez members are naturally not to be underestimated.

Especially when the group's face, Quan Minyu, appeared, Zheng Xingye, who is straightforward, couldn't help but sigh: "Oh my god... he is so handsome!"

For a moment, the barrage was full of hahaha.

[Our Minwoo hyung has a handsome face that embodies the aesthetics of the Three Kingdoms! He's so handsome, needless to say!]

[By the way, this Kwon Min-woo looks a little familiar. Did he appear in "My Prince Charming"?]

[Yes! He also played the male lead in last year’s hit drama “The Witch Living Next Door to Me”!]

[Holy crap! I've seen this drama, and he's actually in it?!]

[Welcome to Freez Kwon Min-woo, a natural idol with no scandals or negative news in his 7 years of debut, handsome and charming! Investing is a sure win!]

Fans on the barrage were busy promoting the show. In the video, with the help of two groups of Chinese guests, the rest of the foreign guests also found their own dormitories.

The first episode of the program came to an abrupt end here, and Cai Shumin couldn't wait to click on the next episode.

Skipping the opening commercial, the scene progressed to all the groups gathering in the studio, and the program team began to announce the competition rules.

Upon learning that the order of the first round of performances would be determined by the number of followers of the group's official social media accounts, all the guests present were stunned. The audience was also buzzing with discussion on the barrage.

[Don't even think about it. There's a good chance our mine won't be able to pick a good spot this round.]

[I just checked the official Weibo account and saw that it only has 3.72 million followers. So shabby (facepalm).]

This is also a common problem among domestic talent shows. The proportion of group fans in the fan circle is too small, and most of them are fans of only one person.

[It would be great if the production team counted the followers of each member's individual account. Over half of our team have tens of millions of followers. Nannan is almost at 20 million.]

[We at Forrest aren't afraid of individual followers. The group's official account has over 57 million followers, and Kwon Minwoo's account has 62 million, even higher than the group. Leader Song Kangha has 50 million, and the other members each have an average of 30 to 40 million followers on Instagram.]

[Anyway, no matter what kind of ranking method you choose, we Freez will always get the best position.]

Even those Chinese entertainment fans who don't follow K-pop can't help but sigh after hearing this data. It seems that Freez is even more popular than they imagined.

Compared with this, the number of fans of other official accounts is pitifully small.

Faced with such a huge popularity gap, will the outcome of this stage competition change?

For a moment, except for the fans of Freez, the fans of the remaining five groups were secretly worried.

Cai Shumin doesn't care as much about Originore's win or loss as other fans do.

After all, letting a group of new idols who have just debuted for less than a month compete on the same stage with an international top boy band that has debuted for seven years is an extremely unequal competition in itself.

But all ten members had previously come to the public's attention through stage competitions. If it weren't for their outstanding performances, they wouldn't have been able to attract fans and eventually debut as a group.

Maybe they can't go head-to-head with Freez, who has a huge fan base, but she believes that they will not lose to others on stage.

The rankings came out quickly, and as expected, Freez, who had the most followers, was the last to appear. SEXYcode was the first to appear, and Originore was the third to appear.

After announcing the competition rules and performance order, the production team gave each group of guests some time to practice or rest freely. However, the production team did not show too many practice clips, but instead showed the content of Originore proposing a hot pot party.

To be honest, most of the fans who follow this show not only want to see the performances themselves, but also want to see the friendly interactions between the guest groups within and outside the group.

It has to be said that Originore's move was exactly what the program crew wanted.

There was a bustling commotion coming from the open kitchen. Lei Lie, Mo Bei, Sheng Yanyu and the others were busy preparing food in the kitchen. Meanwhile, the other members were busy clearing the table and dishes.

When we were halfway through packing, members of FOREVER and SEXYcode who had received invitations came to visit us one after another.

After seeing the members busy in the kitchen, Jiang Xincheng and others came over to help.

SEXYcode, feeling embarrassed to show up empty-handed, arrived with a bag of food she'd found in their dorm kitchen. Arriving to see everyone busy at work, Yamashita Takashi volunteered to use the kitchen sink and began washing the bok choy.

[What's going on with this harmonious yet strange scene?]

[It's probably because of the different styles. They're all washing and preparing food, but Uncle Takashi looks like a retired □□ (doge)]

[Hahahaha, god, you’ve retired from the business of gold basin □□]

[No problem, having a basin and □□ (not) doesn't count as retiring from the business?]

[In the front, is that his hands? That's clearly cabbage!]

Uncle Takaya is alright, he can cook so he's found something to do. Look at the guy next door named Yamada, he's almost scrubbing the table to avoid looking idle.

[Hahahahahaha…]

If Uncle Yamada wasn't funny enough, Naoto Okayama and Shuichi Kazama looked frozen in time, not daring to move. The word "restraint" was written all over their faces.

[There's nothing we can do. There's only so much work to do, and even if they go to help, they don't know what to do.]

[To clarify, our sexy uncles are definitely not being lazy, they just have nothing to do and are socially anxious.]

The lack of work became more serious as members of several other teams arrived at the Originore dormitory.

After all, hot pot is no different from other big dishes. As long as you prepare the ingredients, the soup base and dipping sauce, you can just put it in the pot and cook it.

Even if we just wash and cut the vegetables, we don't need that many people. Even if they come to help, there won't be enough room in the kitchen.

Therefore, the groups that arrived later had to give up the idea of ​​helping out.

After a short day of getting along, the guests gradually relaxed from their initial feeling of being at a loss in the unfamiliar environment. Since they had nothing to do, they started to communicate with each other.

Because K-pop groups need to expand into overseas markets, some members also learn foreign languages. In addition to the common English, Japanese is also included.

When Naoto Okayama heard Freez's youngest member Baek Soo Min greet him in Japanese, he was stunned.

Freez has also developed in Japan, so naturally it has heard of the name SEXYcode.

As a lead dancer, Bai Xiumin has always admired talented dancers. Okayama Naoto has won numerous awards in international dance competitions, and Bai Xiumin has long been a close friend of his, so the opportunity to connect with him was something she wouldn't let slip.

At first, both sides were a little reserved, but once they started talking about dance, they immediately opened up.

With a topic to start with, the guests who originally felt at a loss gradually relaxed.

By the time they started eating, the relationship between them had become much more natural than when they first met in the morning.

Seeing these glamorous idol singers on the stage sitting on the ground or chatting around the hot pot, the fans felt extremely healed.

[I'm getting hungry just looking at this...]

[Shit! Why am I watching their food shows in the middle of the night?! I can’t even order takeout!]

[No, I'm craving pig food. I'm going to go make some instant noodles.]

Fortunately, the poisonous scenes late at night did not continue, and the following content was the behind-the-scenes footage of each group preparing for the first round of performances.

Because it was the first performance of the show, everyone was extremely serious.

Since the song selection is decided by each group, this process is not easy for those groups that debuted a little longer.

On the contrary, Originore, who released only one digital single less than a month after their debut, does not have such worries.

While other groups were still struggling to choose which song to sing, they had already started practicing.

The members have performed the song "Lemonade" on domestic and international programs before. In order to avoid causing aesthetic fatigue to fans, this time they decided to make some minor adaptations to the original song.

The task of arranging the music, choreography, and lyrics naturally fell to Mo Bei, Zhong Gaoyi, and Zheng Xingye, the team's three main members. As team leader, Sheng Yanyu was responsible for controlling the overall style, with the other members also offering feedback.

Unlike Originore, who had a relatively light workload, SEXYcode and Freez, who debuted the longest, spent considerable time selecting their songs. Fortunately, both groups are professional singers and dancers with extensive touring experience, so they seemed quite comfortable handling the upcoming stage performances.

In comparison, the Kansai men who looked the most outgoing and casual and the FOREVERs who had the youngest average age were actually the hardest-working of all the participants. They practiced until one or two in the morning every day and got up at six in the morning.

The former seemed to have prepared a secret weapon for this competition, while the latter realized that his predecessors were too strong and had to work harder.

Since LEVELUP, like Originore, had just returned with a new song not long ago, they also wanted to use the show as an opportunity to promote their new song, so preparations became much easier.

Each group's preparations proceeded methodically. The production team only included a few clips in the main film. The six groups' behind-the-scenes practice footage combined already amounted to a considerable length. Interspersed with some interactions within and outside the groups, the episode concluded.

The show was three hours long, but fans still felt unsatisfied.

Some people even clamored for more episodes in the official comment section of the program.

Is it reasonable to only update once a week? The daily interactions between the members are simply not enough! They could even watch another 100 episodes!

However, despite the fans' noise, it did not affect the program team's arrangements.

Since the previous hotpot dinner, the 37 people who were originally strangers have gradually become familiar with each other.

Even Freez, who seemed the most difficult to approach, gradually revealed his true nature from his initial politeness and distance.

The so-called cool appearance is all an illusion, after all, idols also have to poop and fart.

Although fans already know what their idols are like in private, for passers-by and other juniors who are unaware of the situation, the shock it brings is not small.

However, it is precisely this "human touch" that can bring people closer together.

Saturday arrived in the blink of an eye. Since the official performance was the next day, the participating guests had to go to the venue in advance to complete the rehearsal.

After a simple breakfast in the dormitory, each group member took turns to board a business car and head to the performance venue.

All the tickets for the performance were sold out long before the show was officially aired.

Normally, there's no such opportunity to see all these groups perform at the same time. But now, "Idol Battle" has brought together six popular groups from three countries. Such a performance is like a luxurious seafood platter—how could it not be exciting?

As soon as the ticket purchase link was opened, it was sold out within a minute.

Each fan base was busy scrambling to get tickets. Those who got tickets showed off their good looks, while those who didn't were scorning the winners in the comments section.

Similar situations occur every time fans follow the show offline, and they are no longer surprised.

After all, chasing popular idols offline is not always possible just by having money. Luck is also needed.

This is especially true recently because of the launch of "Idol Battle", which has led to a surge in the number of fans on Originore's super topic and members' Weibo accounts.

At the same time, the fans who had been waiting near the recording location had already picked up their "guns and cannons" and were ready to take pictures of their own rehearsals at the first opportunity.

Looking at the black business car approaching from a distance in the viewfinder, Sun Pei Ni narrowed her eyes.

Here we come!