Chapter 5

As time continued to pass, before he knew it, nearly four hours had gone by.

During these four hours, the nearly one hundred top performers from various regions in South Korea, gathered by DSP Entertainment, gradually left.

When Kim Yoo Fan opened his eyes again and scanned the room, he found that he was the only one left in the entire practice room.

Of course, Kim Yoo Fan knew that this did not mean he was the last participant in DSP Entertainment's nationwide selection event. A practice room could only hold so many people, and Kim Yoo Fan knew that there should be other participants in other practice rooms, as this room was only for the applicants from Busan, Ulsan, and Jeju Island.

"It seems that DSP Entertainment is quite smart. From the current situation, it's clear that they first evaluated and eliminated the participants with average or less promising results, leaving only the outstanding ones from each region or those highly praised by the regional evaluators."

Thinking this, Kim Yoo Fan couldn't help but think lightly, then slowly closed his eyes again to rest.

Since he had decided to impress the upper management of DSP Entertainment with his pure singing ability, although he had undergone a week of intense practice at Park Ji-ju's house, he still did not dare to be the slightest bit careless and decided to face this evaluation with the best mental state.

As Kim Yoo Fan closed his eyes again to rest, the entire practice room became abnormally quiet, almost eerily so.

Although Kim Yoo Fan was very smart, he did not know that he had only guessed the beginning but not the end.

Indeed, DSP Entertainment had kept the most promising and strongest candidates from each region for last, while the others were evaluated first.

The evaluation results were not very satisfactory. Although there were a few good prospects, for the upper management of DSP Entertainment, the significant effort and the grand scale of this event meant that merely finding a few good trainees was clearly not enough to satisfy them.

Now, all the upper management of DSP Entertainment had placed their final hopes and attention on the last four participants who had not yet been evaluated.

According to the evaluations from the regional managers responsible for recruiting trainees, the most likely candidates for the type of trainee DSP Entertainment was looking for were among these last four.

Therefore, the upper management of DSP Entertainment had now focused all their attention on these last four participants. To be more direct, they were looking at the prepared computer screens, which displayed the images from four practice rooms.

Clearly, DSP Entertainment had been well-prepared. In fact, it was quite common for major entertainment companies in South Korea to install cameras in practice rooms to allow the upper management to observe the training of the practice rooms and their artists.

The evaluation had been on hold for nearly half an hour, and during this time, Lee Ho-yeon did not rush to continue the evaluation. Instead, he observed the last four participants in the four practice rooms through the cameras.

Lee Ho-yean's idea was simple: he wanted to see how the remaining four would react as time passed and they were left without instructions or a clear purpose for the evaluation.

Being a singer is not just about singing ability and technique. While these are the most basic and important factors, they are not everything.

In Lee Ho-yeon's mind, he was looking for a well-rounded, highly versatile trainee. Only such a candidate would be worth the effort DSP Entertainment had put into this nationwide selection.

"Does this child not know how to rest? He's so nervous, constantly practicing dance. Isn't he afraid of overexerting himself and not being able to perform well when it counts?"

Lee Hyun-kyung watched one of the candidates continuously practicing dance in the practice room and couldn't help but shake his head.

"Hmph~~~ While his dance skills are quite good for his age, his mental fortitude is lacking. He can't keep his composure after just a little time, and he's choosing the most foolish way to distract and vent himself. It's meaningless!"

Hearing Lee Hyun-kyung's words, Lee Ho-yeon couldn't help but frown, coldly looking at the candidate who was still dancing, and shook his head.

"This is the winner from the Gwangju region, the dance winner!" A staff member, understanding the situation, provided the answer before Lee Ho-yeon could ask.

"Ah~~~" Seeing Lee Ho-yeon's expressionless face, even colder than before, Lee Hyun-kyung sighed helplessly.

Honestly, in Lee Hyun-kyung's view, the child from Gwangju was quite good, even if his mental fortitude was lacking. After all, the children were still young and could be trained and developed over time.

But in Lee Ho-yeon's eyes, the lack of mental fortitude was enough to disqualify the candidate. Lee Hyun-kyung really didn't know what to say or what kind of trainee Lee Ho-yeon was looking for.

"This is the winner from the three double-do regions!" As Lee Ho-yeon turned his attention to the next candidate, the staff member preemptively introduced the next one. (In South Korea, the three double-do regions refer to Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang, each divided into north and south, making six regions in total, often referred to as the three double-do regions.)

After a few glances, Lee Ho-yeon shook his head. "Clearly, this child is good at singing, otherwise, he wouldn't be practicing singing or the song he will perform. But he doesn't realize that without professional training, singing under stress and anxiety can be very harmful to his voice and could have a fatal impact on his upcoming evaluation."

"This is the winner from Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Incheon regions."

"Hmm~~~ This one is slightly better, but it's still clear that he's somewhat nervous!" Looking at the person walking slowly in the practice room on the screen, Lee Ho-yeon's frown was less severe, and his tone was much better than with the previous two.

Lee Hyun-kyung and the others were speechless at Lee Ho-yeon's reaction. Lee Hyun-kyung wanted to tell Lee Ho-yeon that they were just a group of eleven or twelve-year-old children and that he shouldn't judge them by adult standards!

"Hey!" Just as Lee Hyun-kyung was about to speak, he heard a light exclamation from Lee Ho-yeon. Curious, he looked at Lee Ho-yeon and then followed his gaze to the last practice room on the screen. There, an eleven or twelve-year-old boy was lying leisurely on a sofa, rhythmically tapping his right hand on his leg, looking very calm and composed.

"This child has excellent mental fortitude. He's been lying on the sofa like this since the practice room started to empty out, looking very relaxed!" Seeing Kim Yoo Fan's relaxed demeanor, Park Ji-ju couldn't help but smile inwardly and spoke to Lee Ho-yeon in a gentle tone, subtly adding points for Kim Yoo Fan in front of the CEO.

"This is the final winner from Busan, Ulsan, and Jeju Island!" The staff member promptly reported to Lee Ho-yeon.

"Ha ha, this child is good, with excellent mental fortitude. It seems he can handle evaluations and large events. Even performing in front of tens of thousands of fans, I believe he would have no problem."

Looking at the composed and relaxed Kim Yoo Fan, Lee Ho-yeon couldn't help but feel that this child was the one he was looking for this time. Although he hadn't evaluated Kim Yoo Fan yet, becoming the winner of three regions was a testament to his strength and potential.

Especially now, seeing Kim Yoo Fan's demeanor, which clearly demonstrated the mental fortitude Lee Ho-yeon had been emphasizing, he was very satisfied, and a slight smile finally appeared on his lips.

"Hmm~~~ Put this child last!" After a brief thought, Lee Ho-yeon instructed calmly.