Chapter 61

On March 13th, at the SBS headquarters building, this was Li Huale's third time coming here.

"Come on, you guys look so nervous, are you scared?"

In a lounge on the second floor of the recording studio, someone was sprawled out on the sofa, laughing as he watched the five people practicing nervously.

"Li Huale, don't talk nonsense. I don't know who has been forcing us to practice for ten hours every day these past few days. If we don't practice, we don't get food. That's just too cruel!" Quan Baolan, dressed in a black leather jacket and a black T-shirt with a mesh layer, looking punk and cute, turned her head and angrily complained.

Li Huale rubbed his nose slightly awkwardly and then laughed, "Baobao, Uncle is doing this for your own good. You know, if this performance succeeds, your debut will be completely secured. By the way, did your bald president really say he wants to invite me to your company for a chat?"

Quan Baolan turned her head away without answering Li Huale. Although the nickname "Baobao" sounded normal and intimate, she felt annoyed when Li Huale called her that. Recently, she had also noticed a dangerous trend: she would sometimes talk about Li Huale after returning to her dorm. The other day, when she saw Lee Ji-hyeon's strange look, she was startled. What was happening to her? Thinking about the promise the president had given, and that she might debut soon, Quan Baolan immediately suppressed the sprout in her heart.

She had been a bit cold to Li Huale these past two days, which left him puzzled. On the contrary, Lee Ji-hyeon noticed something.

"Bro, after we appear on the show, we won't have to practice anymore, right? If this continues, I'll go crazy!" Jung Joon-young, sitting beside him, asked seriously. He had been spending all his time in the recording studio, missing out on a lot of experience, raids, and guild battles. This was simply, simply, unforgivable.

Li Huale was also fed up with him, though he was grateful in his heart. But this guy had never been on time to the recording studio, and he had even skipped practice twice after staying up all night.

"Don't worry, absolutely not!!" Li Huale promised solemnly, thinking that unless he was crazy, he would never work on such a time-consuming project with this guy again.

"Knock, knock!"

"Come in!" Hearing the knock, Li Huale signaled to the five people and said.

The door opened, and it wasn't anyone special, just some other participants in the show. Li Huale changed his sprawled posture. He didn't mind having so many people in one lounge; it was the same when he accompanied Kang Min-kyung to a music show. Artists always gathered in one place, and it was no different for the ordinary people participating in the show.

However, Li Huale couldn't stand some of the enthusiastic uncles and aunts, so he quickly found an excuse to go to the bathroom and told the five to stop singing and relax.

...

Since STARKING's editing was mixed, the content recorded last week might be spread across several episodes, some even airing a month later. However, the content recorded this week, especially about the rookie band and the Happy Musicians, was still hot, and many netizens were looking forward to it, so it would air next Saturday.

But... but Ahn Jung-hwan felt it was a trap, really a big trap. Of course, it wasn't a trap for himself. He didn't care about the personalities of the 'classmates' participating in the recording, as long as they weren't criminals who could corrupt children.

The host of STARKING was Kang Ho-dong, one of the two most influential MCs in Korea at the moment. Although in the industry, there were three top MCs—Ryu Seung-ryong, Kang Ho-dong, and Kim Je-dong—the reality was that in terms of public influence, Kim Je-dong was far behind the first two. However, Kim Je-dong had good relationships and a wide network in the industry, and many big-name stars considered him a close friend.

Actually, if he were to be honest, this was the kind of person Li Huale most wanted to get to know. However, everyone had different personalities, and not everyone's weaknesses were so obvious.

Compared to Ryu Seung-ryong's humorous and gentle hosting style and Kim Je-dong's wit and humor, Kang Ho-dong's strong and oppressive style seemed to have more weaknesses in Li Huale's eyes.

As Li Huale had guessed, when Kang Ho-dong read the script, he also felt uncomfortable.

The first performance of this episode was Li Huale's group. According to the production team's arrangement, they would start with a big bang, performing the new song "Do Your Best First," followed by some chitchat and introductions, then the performance of "Crescendo," leading to more conversation, and then a performance of "Don't Cross Your Legs" with a certain artist and the Happy Musicians. The rest would follow the live situation.

The script was just a rough outline, and as long as they followed this direction, it would be fine.

However, the script noted that the composer named Li Huale would not answer many personal questions, such as family, current occupation, and other basic questions.

So when Kang Ho-dong first read the script, he felt very uncomfortable. It wasn't that he was temperamental, but it was just that these conditions seemed a bit abnormal. After all, they weren't criminals; why couldn't these basic questions be asked?

Ahn Jung-hwan, seeing Kang Ho-dong frowning as he read the script, felt a bit helpless but didn't say much. Whatever Kang Ho-dong did, he wouldn't go too far, after all, it was just a show. However, whether he would follow the script was another matter.

As for Li Huale, he was at the vending machine in the waiting room corridor, where he met two familiar faces, though he couldn't really call them friends, just people he knew well.

...

"HELLO, are you here for the show too?" Li Huale, holding a cup of cola, smiled and asked the woman in a white dress with her long hair tied up, who looked pure and beautiful.

Then he looked at the woman in a black T-shirt and jeans, who looked a bit tired, standing in front of the vending machine. After some thought, Li Huale didn't say anything, thinking it was better not to since she didn't know him.

However, the woman turned her head and looked at him curiously, "Tae-yeon, do you know him?"

Still surprised, Kim Tae-yeon came to her senses and replied respectfully, "Yes, Senior Shin Ji!"

The slightly fuller woman was Shin Ji, the lead singer of Koyote.

Koyote was a well-known mixed-gender group in Korea, and Shin Ji, who debuted in 1998, had been in the entertainment industry for eleven years, making her a senior figure.

She was known for her straightforward and outspoken personality, often speaking out against things she didn't like, which eventually earned her the nickname of "Sergeant."

So younger artists were usually more cautious around her, but in reality, she wasn't hard to get along with.

"Don't be so tense. I'm not as scary as people say. I just don't like arrogant people. Since you know each other, I'll go back to the lounge. You two chat!" Shin Ji said and turned to walk towards the nearby lounge.

Kim Tae-yeon let out a slight sigh of relief. It wasn't the first time she had seen Shin Ji, and she knew the senior wasn't as scary as rumored. In fact, she was much better than some seniors who put on airs. However, her experiences after debuting had made her more cautious and careful, especially when facing seniors.

She was even more nervous off-stage than on-stage. Seeing Shin Ji leave, Kim Tae-yeon let out a sigh of relief.

Just as she was wondering why she was seeing Li Huale again at the TV station, her eyes suddenly widened. She quickly turned around and looked at Li Huale in disbelief, staring at him for several seconds. Kim Tae-yeon confirmed her guess. Although Li Huale had changed a lot, the changes weren't so drastic that she couldn't recognize him.