At 6:15 in the morning, the morning mist on Jeju Island had not yet dissipated.
Lee Jae-hoon huddled in a cheap plastic chair in the PC room. He waited by the phone until 2 a.m. last night, but the boy never called. He was also sorting out the intelligence he had collected from various channels. There were several printed papers scattered on the table. The top one was the information he had asked his friends at the hotel last night:
[Graduation tour group of Grade 9 (A) class of Shenzhen Foreign Language School]
Tour Date: July 14-21, Jeju Island - Seoul 7 days tour
Team leader: Zhang Ming (male, 35 years old, class teacher)
Students: 20
Accommodation: Blue Ocean International Hotel
Note: The focus is on four boys with obvious characteristics.
There were four or five web page windows open on the computer screen in front of him - the official website of S City Foreign Language School, a campus forum, and several local news websites.
"Found it." His voice caused a stir in the empty PC room.
The post on the campus forum "Shenwai F4" was buffering and loading. He glanced at the extended document sent by his friend in the hotel, and he repeatedly thickened the words "focus on the target" with a red pen, and the ink was blurred on the printed paper.
The video screen suddenly lit up, and under the spotlights on the stage, four teenagers were like vines emerging from the darkness. Ouyang Guang's hands, wearing black fingerless gloves, were suspended above the drums, and his school uniform tie was hung askew around his neck, shaking violently with the rhythm. When the prelude of "We Will Rock You" sounded, his drums shuttled like silver snakes, and his sweat reflected tiny rays of light under the spotlights, and the screams from the audience instantly drowned out the background music.
While the video was playing, he picked up the already cold iced Americano and took a big gulp.
Recently, because he missed several highly promising trainees in a row, his performance ranking within the company has dropped sharply and he is facing a huge career crisis.
I thought I hadn't had a break for a long time, so I decided to go to Jeju Island to relax. I didn't expect to find these kids. This time I tried my best to get them to the company for an interview and a contract.
This should be a video of a performance at a campus festival celebration, and it shows four teenagers performing passionately on the stage.
The video switched to another angle, and this time the whole band could be clearly seen: Ouyang Guang was controlling the rhythm in the back, Chen Zheng was singing hard in the lead vocal position, He Ziqi and He Zilin were responsible for bass and keyboard respectively. The four of them cooperated well, and it was completely impossible to tell that they were an amateur student band.
Lee Jae-hoon quickly wrote down the key information and clicked on another video. This time it was their live cover of "Numb". Ouyang Guang not only played the drums, but also added a stunning solo performance during the interlude.
The improvisational drum beats hit the tin roof like heavy rain, splashing out hot metallic texture.
When the PC room owner came back shaking his keychain, the electronic clock showed 7:10. Lee Jae-hoon hurriedly stuffed the scattered documents into his briefcase, and his fingertips brushed against Ouyang Guang's photo - it was a snapshot of a festival celebration on the campus official website. The boy wore a baseball cap askew, his amber pupils reflected half of the sunset, and his skin was so white that it was almost transparent. This reminded him of those immature but eager eyes during the Seoul trainee selection, but he also felt that Ouyang Guang had a sense of alienation that kept people away from him.
The dew in the parking lot soaked his leather shoes, and Lee Jae-hoon got into the rented Hyundai sedan. Through the car window, he saw a group of noisy students spit out from the hotel's revolving door.
Li Jae-hoon immediately sat up straight and quickly pressed the recording button of the car recorder hidden on the sun visor.
Ouyang Guang was wearing a distressed black T-shirt, and his cold white knees were faintly visible under his ripped jeans. He yawned while leaning against the handle of his suitcase, and his silver musical note earrings shone coldly in the morning light, making him completely different from the fiery drummer in the video. Lee Jae-hoon's Adam's apple moved, and his professional intuition told him that this unpolished gem might be the key to his regaining a foothold in SM.
"A Guang! Help! My camera has frozen again!" Chen Zheng, with a head of green hair, rushed out, his shirt buttons were all messed up, and his shoelaces were dragging on the ground.
Ouyang took the camera without even raising his head, and swiped his fingers on the buttons twice: "You pressed the release button again, you idiot!" After saying that, he suddenly looked up and glanced at Li Jae-hoon, scaring Li Jae-hoon so much that he almost dropped the car recorder.
Chen Zheng was sharp-eyed and jumped up suddenly: "Hey! It's the scout uncle from yesterday! A Guang, didn't you get the business card? Why didn't you contact him?" Ouyang Guang took out a wrinkled business card from his trouser pocket and shook it, with a smile on the corner of his mouth, "Why are you in such a hurry? Let's take a look at him first." In fact, he was also a little curious in his heart. The persistent look in this Korean man's eyes was different from those who had approached him in the past.
Li Jae-hoon was so nervous that he said, "This kid is hard to deal with..."
At this time, the head teacher Zhang Ming blew the whistle, and his voice was so loud that it penetrated the entire parking lot: "Assemble! Go to Chengshan Sunrise Peak tomorrow, in groups of four, and the team leader comes to get the walkie-talkie!"
Lee Jae-hoon followed three groups of tourists as he climbed the winding steps of Seongsan Sunrise Peak. Chen Zheng bargained with the fruit stand owner in a broken mix of English and Korean, and his exaggerated body movements made his green hair draw strange arcs in the air. "An Ning, haha! This orange... a little less? We are students... no money!", which made Agassi laugh: "Are you trainees? Your hair is so bright!"
"We are——" He Ziqi just opened his mouth
"JYP!" Chen Zheng suddenly interrupted, imitating Rain's signature move. He Ziqi laughed so hard that he squatted on the ground and slapped his thigh. He Zilin silently moved half a step to the side, with a look of "I don't know this person" and disdain: "Don't embarrass us."
Ouyang Guang felt amused in his heart, but on the surface he still maintained a cold look, but his eyes were always on Li Jae-hoon not far away.
Li Zaixun took the opportunity to step forward and pointed at the camera in Ouyang Guang's hand: "Classmate, the photos taken at the east viewing platform are the best. Do you need me to help you adjust the white balance?"
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