The next day, at BKL Entertainment headquarters, Ji Xu walked out of the recording studio after finishing his vocal recording. Walking beside him was a student with an extremely delicate appearance.
This student didn’t seem to talk much. Ji Xu was the one greeting the senior artists they encountered along the way. It wasn’t until they returned to the empty practice room that he glanced at Ji Xu listlessly.
“Aren’t you tired of all this fuss every day?”
Ji Xu looked over in surprise: “What’s there to be tired about? Just saying hello and chatting, it doesn’t take much time.”
Jian Yu snorted softly, walked over to the sound system to adjust the music, and said casually, “Stop pretending. Don’t you just want to build good relationships with everyone? Have you ever thought about what the point of doing all this is?”
His features were on the softer, harmless side, but when he wasn’t smiling, he looked quite arrogant: “We are the company’s most valued artists right now. If anyone needs to build relationships, it should be those ‘seniors’ making the first move.”
“They’re old, past their prime, each one more washed up than the last. They can’t even sell out concert tickets even at discounted prices. Do you think you know why they’ve been coming to the company so often lately? It’s simply because they’re jealous that our group is releasing another album.”
Ji Xu scratched his cheek: “What nonsense are you talking about? Jian Yu, say less. They are all senior brothers and sisters.”
“Ji Xu, don’t be so naive. Do you think that just because you willingly plaster on a smile and call them a few times ‘senior,’ they will truly treat you as a junior? No matter how well you maintain your relationship, in their eyes, you will always be that damned trainee who stole the company’s favor and encroached on their living space.”
Jian Yu pressed the play button on the sound system. The familiar melody, etched in his memory, slowly flowed out…it was the title track of their group’s debut album.
His voice blended with the music, his volume unconsciously rising: “The more popular you get, the more jealous they become, the more they will fantasize about all sorts of unrealistic things in their hearts.”
“For example, if these resources were given to them, they would definitely do better.”
“Another example, you hold the title of ‘ace,’ but your skills are so lacking that they can’t even be bothered to pay attention. They just privately lament, ‘Kids these days, each generation is worse than the last.’ Besides being lucky enough to catch a good era, what right does this junior have to be mentioned in the same breath as them?”
Ji Xu silently stared at him: “If you’re going to talk, just talk. Why sneak in your own insults and secretly curse me?”
Jian Yu rolled his eyes: “Who’s cursing you? I’m just quoting what I saw online. Don’t you know that as soon as we debuted, we were compared to all our predecessors? You, as the ace, have long been cursed out to the heavens.”
“Isn’t it normal not to match up to our seniors? Otherwise, why would they be called seniors?”
Ji Xu had a good mentality. He spread his hands and said, “Besides, aren’t you the one who knows best about our skills? What does one debut album prove? That was the company’s marketing failure; it doesn’t have much to do with us. It was just an unfavorable situation. What’s there to be afraid of? Just because we failed once, do we have to admit defeat every time?”
“The problem is, we’re not just inferior to the seniors,” Jian Yu sneered. “Even a survival show group can ride over us. What the hell is that crappy show worth? They’re all the inferiors BKL didn’t want. Even that eliminated guy Yan Qiao can rank second. And this kind of group dares to compare with us?”
Ji Xu coughed: “Ahem, Yan Qiao’s skills are still decent. Besides, survival show groups are inherently uneven, peaking at their debut. Don’t get hung up on them. Their high popularity is because of their popular variety show. Once the show ends, that’s it. We still have the future to consider.”
“Am I the one hung up on them? Haven’t you seen what their fans say about us? A bunch of laymen with no understanding of music, where do they get the confidence to say we’re worse than those survival show trainees! The difficulty of forming a group and debuting from BKL is way, way greater than becoming 7 out of 100 on a mere survival show!”
The more Jian Yu spoke, the louder his voice got. If it weren’t for the loud speakers playing and the practice room’s good soundproofing, people passing by in the hallway probably would have heard.
Ji Xu rubbed his face, thinking to himself, ‘What the hell has this guy been reading online? Where’s all this anger coming from? No wonder he was quiet as a mouse in the recording studio except for singing. He’s been holding this in for a long time, why is he taking it out on me…’
Probably those forum posts… some of them were indeed quite harsh, but it goes both ways, doesn’t it? Which fandoms don’t fight?
Their group, Inferno, had just debuted not long ago, and even the fans within their own group would fight among themselves over small things, let alone fighting with fans of a popular variety show.
Leaving aside the question of whether they could win or not, just looking at the intensity of the confrontation, even the artists themselves could only retreat and sincerely sigh at their dominance.
Besides, arguments are arguments. Sometimes the truth is just that harsh.
For example, if those “NS” fans said their visual could beat Inferno’s visual by nine streets, who would be shameless enough to argue?
At most, they’d stubbornly say, “I prefer delicate features,” “I like Jian Yu’s face better,” “I don’t get Quentin’s appeal”…
Tsk, the more they say it, the more guilty they look.
But Ji Xu also knew how to poke at the heart of the matter. He was a master of motivational speeches, best at comforting people. His thoughts were the same as Jian Yu’s. A mere survival show group couldn’t compare to them.
“NS” just has inflated popularity; it was flashy but not substantial, with few characters worthy of their vigilance.
Qi Yang wasn’t proficient in singing and dancing. He would eventually go back to acting. Wen Xinyi had to follow the path arranged by Xinda Media; they couldn’t possibly let him be a boy group idol. For trainees like Cui Yan and Fang Xu, BKL has many of them…
As for Xue Mingzhu? Don’t joke. Their group’s rapper could sing and dance and had the best rap, he was not someone who could only rap.
The only ones that caught Ji Xu’s attention were Yan Qiao, who had come from BKL, and Quentin, whom he didn’t know how to describe.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help muttering to himself: “Did Yan Qiao voluntarily withdraw from our group’s debut selection back then because he predicted this survival show would become very popular?”
“…What nonsense are you talking about?”
Jian Yu stopped mid-tantrum, drawn in by Ji Xu’s words, and refused without hesitation: “How is that possible? Only an idiot would choose a survival show over a BKL debut opportunity. Yan Qiao simply had self awareness. He knew he couldn’t survive the selection, so he actively sought another opportunity.”
Ji Xu didn’t quite agree: “Yan Qiao’s score is very high. How could he not pass?”
Jian Yu looked at him strangely: “Haven’t you noticed yet? Yan Qiao’s style is different from our group’s. The company wants idols like us. He was destined to have no hope from the start.”
“Is that so?”
Ji Xu suddenly understood. For some reason, he felt much more relaxed. He had always been puzzled by Yan Qiao’s sudden withdrawal and had suspected something was wrong.
If it was a style clash… then there really wasn’t much to do. Withdrawing voluntarily was also a way to give himself a dignified ending.
Jian Yu reviewed the dance moves along with the music as he spoke: “If I were you, I wouldn’t focus my attention on Yan Qiao, nor would I waste extra energy on that meaningless socializing.”
“Can you just look at your position as ace and then look at Quentin? Let me tell you, remember that we are from BKL. You absolutely cannot lose to him.”
‘Great, he’s now rubbing it in.’
Ji Xu laughed: “Don’t worry, I’m very focused on Quentin. I even asked Senior sister Zhang Fu to help get Quentin’s contact information…”
Jian Yu’s eyes widened: “Are you sick?”
“Hey, wait, my phone is vibrating. Senior sister isn’t that efficient, is she…”
Ji Xu stepped back a few paces, pretending to receive a message, and took out his phone: “Let me see, hmm, got it. I asked for it on behalf of our whole group. So, do you want me to send it to you?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a recommended notification popped up on his phone’s home screen. It was a forum post. The title immediately caught his attention.
Ji Xu subconsciously clicked in. Oh wow, Quentin was trending again. Why wasn’t he surprised at all?
But what was it for this time? If he remembered correctly, the sixth episode of “Next Stage” that aired last week featured the second public performance of subsequent groups. There was no chance for Quentin to appear.
And from the preview, the seventh episode seemed to be the ranking announcement for the 72nd to 36th trainees and eliminations. Besides that, there were also scenes of the trainees going out for a team-building event. He didn’t know where they went; he hadn’t heard any related news.
“Today is Saturday. The seventh episode airs tomorrow…”
He thought, ‘Today’s update seems to be that ‘Game Party’?’
