IDEI Ch12

[“I Am the Light”! It sounds so good!]

[The theme song truly is the soul of a survival show.]

[So synchronized! Way more in sync than the show next door!]

……

In the live chat, viewers marvelled over how synchronized the stage was, while the on-site audience had already dissolved into wild ecstasy.

Experiencing a performance live in person was entirely different; the surging vitality of one hundred boys dancing in unison rolled over the arena like a tidal wave, moving everyone to their core.

With pure sincerity and reckless abandon, the trainees poured all their hopes for the future into their dance. The sheer infectious energy felt ready to set the entire arena ablaze.

Their vocals punched through the backing track and instrumental, raw vocal textures washing into every listener’s ears like a surging torrent.

The scrolling bullet comments gradually slowed.

Everyone was fully absorbed, savoring the joy delivered by the stage.

[Such a sincere stage…]

A single comment drifted slowly across the screen, echoing the silent thoughts of everyone watching.

Yes, such a genuine performance: live singing, live dancing, with utterly unpretentious camerawork that highlighted the trainees’ hard work and true capability to the fullest.

How wonderful.

Wasn’t this the very meaning of a survival show?

The public performance drew to a swift close amid the audience’s reluctant farewells. While the official edited broadcast would not air until tomorrow, Your Star‘s first public performance was already setting the trending search list on fire.

#YourStarFirstPerformance#

#XiaoYingyi#

#WeiMingzheSoHandsome#

#YourStarDarkAgeStage#

#YourStarXiaoYingyiInjured#

……

It was Saturday evening, a night without major entertainment industry headlines. Consequently, Your Star‘s hot search topics completely dominated the entertainment charts, with only a legacy variety show able to contend against it.

Under the hashtags, fans and casual viewers engaged in heated discussions.

@XingchengEntertainment: #YourStarFirstPerformance# Tonight, the first public performance of Your Star was broadcast live. Which team’s performance did you enjoy the most?

In the poll results, Team B of “Dark Age” led by a landslide, and even the comments from casual passersby overwhelmingly referenced this group.

Because Your Star had only surged in popularity a few days ago, the trainees’ fandom infrastructure had not yet stabilized. Without fans aggressively policing the comments, casual netizens had a rare chance to speak freely.

[Nobody objects to Wei Mingzhe’s group being the best tonight, right!]

[Everyone in both “Dark Age” teams was amazing, and the styling was so fitting. But Wei Mingzhe! My heart skipped so many beats!]

[Wei Mingzhe looks like an older schoolmate stepping straight out of a hot-blooded shonen manga!]

[Wei Mingzhe! What a magnificent face. What was he even doing with that face before?]

[Exactly. His previous styling didn’t suit him at all, making him look so artificial and plastic. Every time I saw him, I wanted to punch him twice!]

[Red hair! Canine tooth! Headband! He knows how to tease hearts way too well, I swear.]

[Give the stylist a chicken leg! No, give them a whole chicken! Give them a family bucket!]

……

Yu Zhi was a third-year student at University A and an avid gossip connoisseur. Lately, however, she had joined a professor’s research team, leaving her swamped in dizzying work with zero time to follow celebrity drama. Tonight, finally catching a break, she nestled in bed clutching a cup of milk tea, opened Xingbo, and browsed over to the entertainment rankings.

Her brow furrowed.

“Why is it all Your Star? Has this ugly trainwreck of a show not flopped into oblivion yet?” she muttered.

Filled with skepticism, she clicked into the top-ranking hashtag: #YourStarFirstPerformance#.

The video of the “Dark Age” stage was pinned right at the very top.

“The thumbnail looks decent…” Yu Zhi clicked the video with casual indifference.

Ten seconds later, she put down her milk tea.

Thirty seconds later, she sat bolt upright.

A minute later, her eyes began to sparkle.

“Holy shit, does domestic entertainment even deserve a stage of this caliber!”

“Is this styling something domestic entertainment is actually capable of having?!”

“Wei Mingzhe is ridiculously handsome!”

Gasping in awe, she dragged the progress bar back to the start without hesitation, replaying the video from the beginning.

Only after watching it five consecutive times did Yu Zhi reluctantly pause the loop.

“If this stage is so incredible, the others shouldn’t be too bad either, right?” With high hopes, Yu Zhi clicked on the other stage videos.

After one video, she was confused. After three, she understood.

Turns out, “Dark Age” was the absolute peak, not the show’s average.

It was not that the other performances were terrible; the trainees possessed genuine talent and delivered solid showings.

The issue lay in the styling. With the cautionary tale of the previous stylist fresh in their minds, the current stylists on the crew were not remarkably brilliant, but at least avoided glaring mistakes.

Yet standard, safe styling was worlds apart from looks that captured each member’s temperament to perfection while harmonizing with the group.

The difference was between “Oh, decent skills” and “Whoa, what a breathtaking stage!”

Mediocre styling sparked no desire for a rewatch, even if the trainees’ talent was commendable.

Therefore, after skimming through the other stages once, Yu Zhi promptly returned to “Dark Age.”

After rewatching both Team A and Team B two more times, she put Team B’s performance on continuous loop.

While countless people fell under the spell of Wei Mingzhe’s stage, Xiao Yingyi’s hashtag was similarly ablaze with passion.

@StarNewsLetMeSee: #XiaoYingyiInjured# Did anyone notice the cuts on Xiao Yingyi’s face and neck? They weren’t there when he walked off after his group stage; he must have been injured during the costume change!

[What is Your Star doing? In just a few minutes, the Center’s face gets injured?]

[Does Your Star not care about Xiao Yingyi?!]

[What is the production team good for? Letting an idol get his face scratched!]

Amidst the indignant outcries of Xiao Yingyi’s fans, some netizens’ attention drifted rather delightfully astray.

@HandsomeGuyDoYouHaveAGirlfriend: #XiaoYingyiInjured# Holy shit holy shit holy shit! If I hadn’t seen actual blood trickling from the cut, I would’ve thought it was deliberate battle-damaged makeup! So sexy, my saliva has antiseptic properties, let me lick it!

The comments section was completely overrun with unhinged thirst.

[And the ribbon around his neck! I originally thought it was a special perk accessory for the Center, because the placement was too immaculate! Half-covering his Adam’s apple, half-concealed and half-revealed, making his neck look so pale, his neck so big…]

[What does “neck so big” even mean, hhhhh! But at the end when the ribbon loosened and Xiao-ge caught it, wrapping it around his hand… hiss! All I can say is, I’m in trouble, Xiao-ge tie… I mean, help me!]

[I want to blindfold his eyes with that ribbon so badly.]

[The beads of blood seeping from the scratch on his cheek are so suggestive too, making you want to apply medicine for him, but also kind of wanting to give him a few more scratches, hhhhh.]

[Seriously, Xiao Yingyi’s aura used to be too upright and noble, making me feel a bit intimidated every time I looked at him. But today’s cut was too perfect! The fragile, broken aesthetic hit in an instant.]

[What is this? Battle-damaged Xiao-ge! Let me ravish him! What is this? Battle-damaged Xiao-ge! Let me ravish him! What is this? Battle-damaged Xiao-ge! Let me ravish him! What is this? Battle-damaged Xiao-ge! Let me ravish him!]

……

Because Wei Mingzhe’s performance and Xiao Yingyi’s injury went viral, discussions regarding the disastrous stage accident in Team A of “Let’s DISCO” remained relatively muted. This made the director breathe a sigh of relief, while simultaneously fueling his incandescent fury.

A stage accident like that was a catastrophic blunder!

Naturally, it had little to do with the trainees, but as for the stylists…

The chubby Director Lin narrowed his eyes, completely devoid of his usual jovial, approachable demeanor.

Seeing that public sentiment online had stabilized, he gave a final instruction to the promotion team to monitor social media around the clock, before turning and heading toward the styling department.

At that moment, the styling office was dead silent.

Or rather, not entirely silent.

Qi Yanning was leaning back on the small sofa in the office, analyzing this season’s haute couture runway shows alongside a few stylists and styling assistants.

The other stylists went about their own tasks, barely exchanging words. Li Qing and Lin He in particular huddled in a corner, casting bitter, resentful glances at Qi Yanning from time to time.

Qi Yanning could feel the malicious stares, but paid them no mind. The fate of these two was already sealed; he couldn’t be bothered to kick them while they were down.

The director stood at the doorway, his eyes narrowed in deep contemplation.

“Director Lin,” Qi Yanning turned his head, catching sight of the director, and offered a polite nod in greeting.

“Mm.” Hearing Qi Yanning’s voice, the director ceased his thoughts and strode into the styling office.

All the stylists stood up to greet the director. Li Qing and Lin He cowered at the very back of the group. Li Qing bit his lip hard, his eyes darting between unease and spite as he glared at Qi Yanning.

“Li Qing,” the director called out.

Li Qing jolted with a violent start. Pale-faced, he stepped out of the lineup. “Director, you were looking for me?”

“You nearly ruined the show today.” Director Lin’s voice was not particularly loud; it was flat and understated, as if the matter were not severe at all.

“I’m sorry, Director. I focused only on outfit coordination and overlooked the practical demands of the stage. I promise to correct this in my future work. Director Lin, please give me one more chance…”

Li Qing bowed deeply, his expression haggard. Always proud, he had never lost face so thoroughly in front of so many people. Yet right now, he had no choice but to swallow his pride for his job.

“A chance? If I give you a chance, who gives the trainees a chance? Who gives the production team a chance?” Director Lin’s voice steadily rose, pressing down on Li Qing like a boulder, forcing his bow lower and lower.

“Before this performance began, you came to me requesting separate responsibility over individual stages. Out of respect for your seniority on the crew, I agreed. I knew you resented Xiao Qi, but I never expected your methods to be so low and underhanded…”

“Li Qing, I’ll give you one courtesy: resign on your own.”

Director Lin’s words, laden with disappointment, struck heavily against Li Qing’s chest.

He knew there was no room left to plead his case.

Straightening his back, he looked even more defeated than before. While the director had preserved a shred of his dignity by letting him resign, getting ousted from the production at this critical juncture would tell any perceptive industry insider exactly what had happened.

Just to vent a moment of petty jealousy, he had ruined the better part of his career prospects.

Regret came too late. Gathering his belongings in a daze, he trudged toward the door.

“Wait,” Qi Yanning’s voice rang out.

Li Qing shuddered all over, looking at Qi Yanning with a mixture of terror and sudden, desperate hope.

Reason told him Qi Yanning would never plead on his behalf, yet an ill-timed flicker of expectation arose in his heart.

“There’s also Lin He,” Qi Yanning’s cool voice sliced through the air. “Lin He, what about you?”

Lin He violently trembled.

The stylists parted, creating an empty space that exposed Lin He, who had been hiding in the crowd.

“I… I…” Lin He stammered, twisting the hem of his shirt almost to shreds.

“In my eyes, mediocrity is equally unforgivable.” Qi Yanning arched an eyebrow, looking at Lin He with a mocking smirk.

“Li Qing made an error, but his conceptual styling ideas were solid.”

Li Qing, who had not yet stepped through the door, jerked his head up toward Qi Yanning, an intensely conflicted expression across his face.

Qi Yanning shifted his gaze back to Lin He, completely poised.

“And what about you? Sweeping blush paired with a white dress shirt… ignoring the contestants’ unique traits and stage cohesion, blindly copying a viral styling from another survival show…”

“Utterly pathetic. And to top it off, that look was merely a half-finished concept.”

Qi Yanning shook his head softly.

Veins bulged along Lin He’s temples. He snapped his head up, glaring at Qi Yanning with pure hatred.

“What do you know! A single look pulled someone on the brink of elimination straight into the top ranks! You dare call such flawless styling a half-finished concept?!”

“You’re just jealous! Jealous of that master stylist’s talent!”

Lin He screamed in borderline hysteria.

“Admit it, Qi Yanning! You’re just as jealous as I am!”

Qi Yanning tilted his head, watching him.

After a long moment, he let out a quiet, amused laugh.