In Chapter 6, for the first public selection and group assignment, I chose a slightly suggestive song (Red Dress...).
"Coldy, are you practicing with Kany today?"
Jiang Tinghan turned her head and found that Pei Xiumin was very close to her. Although the first episode of "Shining World" had just aired, the initial stage evaluation was already a matter of last week for them.
Bae Soo-min hadn't given her a kind look all week. Every time she saw her, her face would contort in disgust. Ever since she caught her going to see Teacher Kim Yoon, she was even more certain that Bae Soo-min had gotten in through connections. Since they weren't in the same group, they never met on camera, and Bae Soo-min practically wore her dislike on her sleeve.
It's okay to be ugly, but if you're ugly on the inside, then you're hopeless. And Bae Soo-min happens to have both.
I've only seen him three or four times a week, and I haven't seen him in the last two days. Could it be that he attained enlightenment in Longchang during these last two days?
Which of the Thirty-Six Stratagems is this today? Is it a smile hiding a dagger?
Jiang Tinghan decided to wait and see: "Okay."
Bae Soo-min then said, "I have a gift, I wonder if you could deliver it to me on your way?"
Could it be some prohibited item that caused her to break the rules and be kicked off the show? Jiang Tinghan glanced at the long guns and cannons not far away, but then thought it was impossible.
Could it be that Bae Soo-min noticed her fans couldn't beat Jiang Ting-han's fans these past few days, so she changed her strategy and tried to improve her relationship with her? Is this a pre-arranged CP (couple pairing) thing?
Jiang Tinghan reached out her hand, deciding to see what the gift was first, so she could respond accordingly.
With a smile, Pei Xiumin placed a whole strip of colorful candy into Jiang Tinghan's hand: "Mentor Kany has hypoglycemia, and I am also a hypoglycemic patient, so I brought a lot of candy. We originally agreed to send it over a couple of days ago, but we just didn't have the chance."
When talking about her own hypoglycemia, Bae Soo-min's lips drooped slightly, making her appear somewhat vulnerable.
What she said seemed like a tip for Jiang Tinghan on how to build a good relationship with her mentor, Kany, but it was actually an implication that she and her mentor were closer. "Look, I know a lot more than you do," she was giving Jiang Tinghan a hard time.
Jiang Tinghan accepted the candy and asked businesslike, "What's in it for me to help you?"
Bae Soo-min seemed somewhat surprised, and even a little annoyed. Asking for a reward for such a small thing? That's too stingy!
“You and Anri Tsukichi are close, right? I was in the same group as her in the first performance. If you do me this favor, I will give up competing with her for the import part.”
"That benefits Xingli, not me," Jiang Tinghan said calmly.
She saw right through Bae Soo-min's little scheme. Since Bae Soo-min could give up on this introduction, it meant it wasn't a particularly outstanding part. Perhaps she never intended for this part in the first place; it was just something made up out of nothing, just spouting useless nonsense.
"I..." Pei Xiuwen couldn't think of anything else that could tempt Jiang Tinghan, but since the candy had already been given and the fan site admin had definitely taken pictures, she couldn't take it back.
Jiang Tinghan: "Then I'll owe you for now."
Bae Soo-min gritted her teeth and said, "Fine."
In the talent show she participated in last time, a contestant who was originally ranked behind her suddenly became popular due to their love-hate relationship with a contestant ranked higher, which boosted her popularity and pushed her down.
This time, she will definitely not repeat the same mistake.
Jiang Tinghan felt that Pei Xiuwen didn't seem like a person who would keep her word; she was just teasing her and felt good seeing Pei Xiuwen's gritted teeth.
As soon as she stepped outside, the intense sunlight hit her in the face. Jiang Tinghan quickly opened her umbrella, and Pei Xiuwen, like an eel, eagerly slipped under it, sweetly saying "thank you," as if she knew that she wouldn't refuse a smiling face.
She miscalculated.
Jiang Tinghan had no interest in creating a romantic pairing with her, so he simply put the umbrella away again.
Let's sunbathe together then. It's almost nine o'clock, and it's time for our sunscreens to go to work too.
If you really want to create a CP (couple pairing), why not pair her with Anri Tsukichi? She's seen several videos of her and Anri as a couple, which fans call "Cold Moon in the Sky" and "First Love CP".
It seems like she's always on the left in every couple pairing, what a lucky charm!
"Hmm?" G-sister and Moon, whose hearts were in turmoil, were puzzled again.
"Why did you put the umbrella away?"
G was also a little confused: "Maybe they just wanted to bask in the warmth of the sun together..."
Whether the relationship is good or not is not the most important thing. Sister G looked down at the photo she had taken. The lighting was just right, as if it were snowing, which added a strong sense of atmosphere. She looked at her, her eyes as loyal and sincere as a puppy's. She looked back at her, lowered her head slightly, and her long hair fell down the side of her face, giving her a mature and tolerant older sister vibe.
She has the feel of a Korean drama heroine.
All it takes is a little editing to Sumin's face before it's released, and it's bound to cause a sensation among fans. Then the traffic will naturally surge, and Sister G will make a fortune again.
Moon is completely different from Sister G. Although she was also hurt, she remained steadfast in her belief that "Only Coldy" would never change. The only person in the shot was Jiang Tinghan, and Moon captured the moment she raised her hand to hold up the umbrella.
The umbrella was a solid color, now filled with sunlight, its edges becoming transparent. All the colors seemed to converge on the person under the umbrella: black hair, black eyes, and raven-black eyelashes. Today, she was wearing a beige tracksuit, as if she had become a black and white ink wash painting.
The fansite admins no longer had time to argue; they immediately rushed back, already skillfully editing photos on the way. They needed to produce the photos quickly so that the traffic wouldn't slip away.
*
There is still one month until the first public competition, which is divided into team competitions and individual competitions.
First, there's the team competition. The five contestants from Group S and the top five contestants from Group A become ten captains, each leading a team of ten to compete in head-to-head battles. The winner is determined by the number of votes cast by the mentors. All members of the winning team survive, while the five members with the lowest popularity in the losing team are eliminated. Fifty contestants will be eliminated in the first round.
This competition format means that even if someone is less popular, they may not be eliminated. This allows the lower-ranked contestants and those with lower popularity to persevere and work hard, as long as they win in the PK rounds!
Secondly, there are also extra solo stages for the team leaders, which is meant to motivate everyone to strive for S and maintain A, giving them more opportunities to showcase themselves. So there are a total of twenty stages to watch in the first performance. I wonder if it will be a visual feast or a trap.
A week ago, the day after the initial evaluation ended, the contestants had already selected their songs and been grouped.
"The song selection for the first performance is as follows!" Lee Seung-gi turned around and looked at the big screen behind him.
First up is a K-pop hit single—
""Fearless"LE SSERAFM"
"Nexl Level" Aespa
""Tomboy"(G)i-dle"
"Fine" Taeyeon
""Summer night" Gray (Ft. Hoody)"
Secondly, there are international pieces.
""Bang Bang" Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj"
"Physical Dua Lipa"
"Easy On Me" by Adele
"Liability" Lorde
The last one is a "?" that allows you to choose your own song. Everyone wants this wild card, and their eyes are burning with desire.
The order of song selection was based on ranking. Jiang Tinghan was unsurprisingly the last in S, meaning she was the fifth to select a song, which meant she probably wouldn't be able to get "".
For other contestants, choosing a song isn't as difficult, because those who are good at rap will choose songs with a lot of rap, those who are good at dance will choose dance music, and those who are good at vocals will choose songs that are difficult to sing.
However, Jiang Tinghan excels at creating an immersive story on stage, which is completely unrelated to the above, thus significantly increasing the difficulty of song selection.
Why was she given the important task of being a team leader in the very first round of competition?
Jiang Tinghan could actually handle all ten songs. Her artistic genes were kicking in, and she still preferred healing and melancholic songs. However, since there were too many people, it would definitely be better to choose a K-pop song to showcase the group dance.
There were quite a few captains who thought the same way as her. The first in Group S was Yoon Ji-chae, a trainee from Hybe. She was only 17 years old but had been training for 6 years. She had no weaknesses in terms of skills and had a cute, cat-like appearance.
She glanced at the song list and selected "" without hesitation, thus gaining the right to choose her own song.
The second place in Group S is Skye Miller from the United States. She dances and sings with great energy and is already showing signs of becoming a diva in the West. She has been uploading her cover videos on YouTube and TikTok since she was a child, and she is a top performer in both popularity and talent.
Ska chose "Bang Bang," a world-famous song that everyone knows.
The third person in Group S was Putuo Qian. To Jiang Tinghan's surprise, she did not choose an international song, but instead chose "Next Level". Combining her own style, it felt like a caveman traveling to a cyberpunk world. She probably wanted to challenge herself.
If this were Aspea's "Black Mamba," it would probably be perfect for Little Grape.
Jiang Tinghan rushed back and Putuo Qian gave her a thumbs up, and Putuo Qian returned her a big smile.
The fourth is Audrey Dupont from France, promoted by Universal Music. Her voice sounds like she'd be good at dancing "Swan Lake," but she's actually a great vocalist. When she opens her mouth, it's like being in Vienna's Golden Hall.
She chose Adele's "Easy on Me," which was expected.
When it was Jiang Tinghan's turn, there were actually quite a few songs to choose from.
Jiang Tinghan thought about it and decided to give up on choosing a K-pop song, as it would make it too easy to create a stage comparison with the original singer. She wanted a song that was more flexible and adaptable.
Now all that's left are "Physical" and "Liability," two songs with completely opposite styles. The former is a high-energy dance track that's all about bouncing around, while the latter is a very broken and heartbreaking ballad.
Jiang Tinghan initially leaned towards "Liability," but felt that the song was somewhat similar to her first stage performance, which also involved encountering a scumbag boyfriend, although this song leaned towards self-loathing.
She went outside, took down the "Physical" sign, and placed it under her own name tag on the next board.
Then let's challenge her to some hot dance music. It's more fun to do something different. Anyway, if she can't dance well, she can just dance to it and make the song "Liability" that she gave up become her memorial song.
The lyrics of this song are the kind of suggestive lyrics that can pass censorship, and the melody has a dark vibe. Jiang Tinghan has been spending several weeks with so many enthusiastic foreigners, and now she's going to be a hit in the first public performance.
The teams were formed based on rankings, and Jiang Tinghan's initial performance seemed to have inspired many people. Those who joined her team were not necessarily the worst performers; there were also quite a few talented contestants.
For example, Kim Seo-hee actually chose to join her group, and her good friend Kong Yeon-seo also came. Meanwhile, Wolchi Anri, who was also the team leader, could only look at her from afar, pouting like a little duck.
To make matters worse, Bae Soo-min joined her group and liked her song choice, "Tomboy."
Back to the present, Jiang Tinghan and her teammates have arrived at the practice room. Today is the weekly dance test for "Physical", and the examiner is Kany.
Jiang Tinghan relayed Pei Xiuwen's words to Kany verbatim, without changing a single word.
Mentor Kany accepted the candy and said enthusiastically, "Thanks. I'm really looking forward to your performance today!"
Jiang Tinghan's eyes gleamed slightly: "I won't let you down."
Their approach to this enthusiastic little erotic song was to start with Jiang Tinghan alone, and then she would throw herself into the arms of one person, two people, three people... some people would receive her affectionate hugs, some would be teased by her touching their faces or tapping their foreheads, some would only receive her smiles, and some would be ruthlessly pushed away by her.
Then everyone gathered and danced in unison to the beat of the drums.
It's a bit like "The Emperor's Harem" has started airing, but I'm not sure, I'll have to wait and see.
A note from the author:
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