Chapter 19: The Unusual Use of a Bowl

That night, Li Yunzai slept very deeply and soundly. Although the night air was still slightly warm, and the electric fan in the room hummed loudly, his sore legs trembled slightly with every turn. However, none of this seemed to affect Li Yunzai, as he was too exhausted, exhausted to the point where he could ignore all external factors and fall into a deep sleep.

Ding Ling Ling..... Ding Ling Ling.....

At 6 AM, the alarm clock Li Yunzai set rang on time, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet room. He opened his eyes slightly and saw an unfamiliar ceiling, which made him pause for a moment. In the next second, he suddenly opened his eyes wide.

"Ah, it's time to get up!"

Li Yunzai remembered that the previous day, Moon Joon-ho had told him to get up early and practice vocalization with the other six. Instantly, all his sleepiness vanished, and he got out of bed, but couldn't help groaning. Yesterday was his first time practicing basic skills, and his legs were extremely sore today. It was like a person who never exercises running 5000 meters; the next day would definitely be tough.

Biting his lip, Li Yunzai got out of bed. His legs trembled slightly as he walked out of the room and saw Moon Joon-ho and the other five standing on the balcony, making "ah ah" sounds while practicing vocalization.

"Brother, you guys got up so early!" Li Yunzai greeted them as he walked onto the balcony. Li Yunzai had returned at 11:30 PM the previous night, but when he came back, the dorm was still quiet, indicating that Moon Joon-ho and the others had returned after midnight. Li Yunzai marveled inwardly; although they were about to debut, their training was still rigorous, and despite going to bed late, they got up so early, which was truly remarkable.

"Oh, Yunzai, good morning! That... Joonjae, teach Yunzai the most basic vocalization techniques!" Moon Joon-ho instructed.

"Sure... no problem!" Park Joonjae responded, waving Li Yunzai over, who excitedly walked up.

"Yunzai, today I'll teach you the most basic step in vocalization training—breathing.

The breathing used in singing is very different from the breathing we use in daily life. In daily life, we use our voices to communicate emotions, and since the distance is usually close, the volume needed is small, and the breath is shallow, requiring little effort and not needing to carry far. If we use this kind of breathing for singing, it won't be sufficient.

Singing is about expressing emotions and singing for others to hear. Often, it's in front of a large audience, and the voice needs to reach every corner. Therefore, the voice must have a certain volume, a certain degree of strength, and the ability to sing for a long time. It must also be able to control the breath, making it long or short, high or low, strong or weak, as needed. Achieving these things is not easy and requires years of formal training.

During training and singing, we often use a method called slow inhalation and slow exhalation. This means naturally expanding the chest cavity, slowly inhaling through the mouth and nose to the lower part of the lungs, expanding the waist, and slightly contracting the lower abdomen. This inhalation should be natural, relaxed, and smooth, like when we smell a flower. The feeling of smelling a flower makes us inhale deeply, similar to deep breathing. However, be careful not to use too much force; just gently hold the chest and upper abdomen, then exhale slowly. When exhaling, maintain the inhalation state, control the ribs and diaphragm, and thus control the breath, making it steady, even, continuous, and smooth."

Although Park Joonjae explained it clearly, Li Yunzai still felt like he was in a fog and asked, "Brother Joonjae, what is the state of maintaining the lower ribs and diaphragm during breathing, and what does this feeling feel like?"

Li Yunzai's question was quite challenging, but Park Joonjae smiled and said, "Beginners are all like this. I'll tell you a little trick. After slowly inhaling, try the action of blowing dust off a table, which requires a long breath, also known as long breath practice. This will help you understand the state of maintaining the lower ribs and diaphragm during breathing. We often describe this feeling as 'long breath like blowing dust, short breath like blowing out a candle.'"

Li Yunzai nodded, somewhat understanding. Blowing dust is something everyone has done; if the breath is quick, the air in the chest and abdomen is quickly used up. If the breath is slow, the air becomes long-lasting. Perhaps this is the feeling, Li Yunzai thought to himself.

"Brother Joonjae, sometimes, when singing, there isn't enough time for me to slowly inhale and exhale. What should I do?" Li Yunzai asked, thinking ahead.

Moon Joon-ho and the others exchanged smiles, thinking, this kid has a good understanding.

Park Joonjae smiled and continued, "Of course, besides the slow inhalation and exhalation method, there is another breathing method—quick inhalation and quick exhalation.

Quick inhalation involves rapidly inhaling through the mouth and nose into the lower part of the lungs and holding the breath, then exhaling according to the requirements of slow exhalation. This is also frequently used in singing, especially between sentences and words in a song, where there isn't much time to pause. In such cases, a 'stealth inhalation' method is used, where the inhalation is done quickly and unnoticed. This is the role of quick inhalation and slow exhalation.

The flexible use of breathing is very important. Those who can breathe well can sing well. Breath control is the foundation of singing.

Breathing in singing is an artistic technique with its own set of rules and methods, and it is a technical issue that can be trained."

Park Joonjae explained thoroughly, and Li Yunzai listened attentively, memorizing it. He then asked, "How should I train?"

Park Joonjae smiled mysteriously and said, "Alright, today I'll teach you a secret. If you run up and down the stairs every day, in a month, you'll have a basic grasp of breathing, and in a year, you'll have made significant progress!"

Li Yunzai was taken aback, wondering if running up and down the stairs could really help with breathing. He looked at Park Joonjae with doubt.

Park Joonjae smiled with a hint of mischief and said, "From now on, you'll climb the stairs every day. The feeling of being out of breath will help you understand! We climbed stairs for two years!"

Li Yunzai was speechless, thinking, seven floors, that's a lot...

"Actually, your teachers will also teach you how to breathe, but their methods are too textbook. To grow faster, you need to take shortcuts. Torturing yourself a bit more each day is beneficial. The more you push yourself now, the less you'll suffer later!"

At this moment, Moon Joon-ho and the others finished their daily morning vocalization practice and gave Li Yunzai some advice. Li Yunzai nodded heavily. Being able to achieve twice the results with half the effort would be the best, and even if it was tiring, he could manage to run up and down the stairs three or four times a day by gritting his teeth.

Thus, in this old apartment, a silly boy who could take the elevator but chose to run up and down the stairs appeared...

In the following days, Li Yunzai fully experienced the monotony and tedium. Every day, he did the same training, stretching his legs and shoulders, and pulling his muscles. Fortunately, he was still young, and his bones hadn't fully formed, so the pain wasn't as severe as it was for 15-16-year-old trainees. After a week, he gradually got used to this level of soreness. However, the training volume increased significantly.

Teacher Han saw that Li Yunzai was gradually becoming proficient in stretching his legs and shoulders, so he increased the number of repetitions from 250 to 400 per set. Originally, Li Yunzai could complete 20 minutes per set, but now it increased to 40 minutes per set.

The training time was 15 hours a day, with 8 hours for dance training, 5 hours for vocal training, and the remaining 2 hours for rest.

Although Li Yunzai was young, neither Dance Teacher Han nor Vocal Teacher Song showed any leniency. Every day, under their "unintentional" supervision, he completed the required training with quality and quantity.

The monotonous and tedious training life passed quickly, and before he knew it, half a month had passed. During this half month, he didn't return to Anyang once. He thought that on weekends, he would have half a day off, enough time to go back and forth, but after starting the training, he realized that this precious half day was not enough for the female trainees to go shopping, and the male trainees would just sleep in the dorm to rest.

One could say that this half month was Li Yunzai's adaptation period. He gradually adapted to the heavy training, the soreness from stretching his legs, the dry and sore throat from vocal training, and life in the "strength-based" basement.

During this half month, Li Yunzai also won the admiration of Dance Teacher Han and Vocal Teacher Song with his actions. Both teachers couldn't help but look at him with new eyes, amazed that such a young boy didn't complain about the pain and just focused on training. Although it was just basic training, it showed Li Yunzai's resilience and determination.

Because of the heavy training load, he was always the last to leave Class C every night, which gave him an additional task—cleaning the practice room every night.

The trainees would sweat profusely in the practice room, making the floor dirty and wet with sweat. Therefore, there was an unwritten rule that the last trainee to leave each night had to clean the floor. Unfortunately, since Li Yunzai joined Class C, this task seemed to fall on him. With Li Yunzai, the other Class C trainees never touched a mop again.

For half a month, Li Yunzai trained basic skills in the underground practice room, while BoA trained in the spacious and bright practice room on the second floor. Lee Soo-man provided her with the best training conditions, the best teachers, and occasionally let her attend A Class lessons, where the elite trainees of A Class helped her improve her dance and singing skills.

One could say that Lee Soo-man was all in, placing a heavy bet on BoA, just as he had done when he used all his savings to start S.M. Entertainment with a partner.

Li Yunzai and BoA entered the company at the same time, but their "fates" were vastly different. In the same company, they didn't see each other for days, and when they did, it was just a brief encounter in the cafeteria, with no time for more than a few words. The last time they met was at the end of July during the monthly trainee assessment.

At S.M. Entertainment, trainees needed their teacher's approval to participate in the monthly assessment. Without approval, it meant their skills were not sufficient to stand on the stage.

The only person in Class C who didn't participate in the monthly assessment was Li Yunzai, and he was the only trainee in the entire company who didn't participate. He had only been training for half a month, and even compared to the other Class C trainees in vocalization and leg stretching, he probably wouldn't win. He had no capital to compete with others and could only be a spectator.

During the monthly assessment, Li Yunzai saw the gap between himself and others and felt ashamed. Watching others' dances, the mechanical dance, hip-hop, and jazz, which showcased perfect body language, left Li Yunzai in awe.

BoA also participated in this monthly assessment. After half a month of intensive training, BoA made significant progress. Several teachers worked on her comprehensively, and with her initial foundation in dance and singing, her improvement was evident.

At the monthly assessment, although BoA was not a member of Class A, B, or C, her skills were on par with the top trainee in Class B. Lee Soo-man was delighted, but he only gave BoA a few words of encouragement, urging her to keep up the good work.

Besides BoA's outstanding performance, another person also shone brightly, and that was Yoo Myung-dong.

Although Yoo Myung-dong had a bad character, his skills were undeniable. In this monthly assessment, Yoo Myung-dong once again secured the top spot in Class B, his fourth consecutive first place. As expected, he was chosen by Lee Soo-man to join Class A, bringing him one step closer to debut and becoming a reserve artist.

Although Li Yunzai disapproved of Yoo Myung-dong's character, his skills were genuinely impressive. Li Yunzai, despite his hard work, couldn't catch up in a short time. After all, there was a year's gap, and Yoo Myung-dong had trained hard, combined with his talent, to achieve his current level. Li Yunzai, at ten years old, couldn't match the physical and endurance capabilities of a fifteen-year-old Yoo Myung-dong.

"Hmph... In two years, I'll definitely surpass you!" Li Yunzai clenched his fists and vowed silently.

Before he knew it, August arrived, the hottest month of the summer. Li Yunzai had just completed his first monthly assessment at S.M. Entertainment, but he didn't participate.

Finally, on August 1st, Li Yunzai's training was no longer just the monotonous leg stretching and muscle pulling.

That day, Li Yunzai stood in the corner, quietly doing the same thing he had been doing for half a month. Leg stretching was no longer difficult for him, although it was easier, the number of repetitions increased, and he had to spend five hours a day on it.

Teacher Han walked into the practice room, first checking the other trainees' progress, then walked up to Li Yunzai. He stood there for a few minutes, watching Li Yunzai finish a set of leg stretches, and then said, "Li Yunzai, after you finish the leg stretches today, I'll teach you something new!"

Li Yunzai was instantly delighted. After half a month of monotonous leg stretching, he was already fed up but had to keep training. Now, hearing Teacher Han's words, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples.

"Teacher... What will you teach me? Hip-hop, Breaking, mechanical dance, reggae, or jazz?" Li Yunzai rubbed his hands together, excitedly asking.

Teacher Han smiled faintly and said, "With your current basic skills, it's too early to learn these dances... First, you need to build a solid foundation, and then learning these dances will be easier. Today, I'll teach you a simple move in street dance."

After saying that, Teacher Han demonstrated the move. It was a simple shaking movement in street dance. To Li Yunzai, it looked very simple, like a drunk person's movements, but Teacher Han's next words made him realize that making simple things difficult was the mark of a genius.

"This move looks simple, but it's actually very difficult to do well. The shaking movement involves shaking every part of the body, which is a challenge for a beginner like you. However, practice makes perfect, and the more you do it, the better you'll get!"

Li Yunzai asked hesitantly, "Teacher... How many times do I need to do it to get good at it?"

"Go over there and get a plastic bowl!" Teacher Han pointed to the plastic bowls stacked in another corner.

Li Yunzai was taken aback but still obediently brought a bowl. He had no idea what these bowls were for before, even thinking they were for late-night snacks. After a few days, he realized how wrong he was. Now, he truly understood what these bowls were—demons.

"Generally, someone with a foundation can master this move in about a month, but for you, it might take longer. I don't require you to do a certain number of sets or repetitions. I just require you to keep going until your clothes are wet, and then wring the sweat into the bowl. When the bowl is one-third full, your task for the day is complete!"

Li Yunzai shivered but felt relieved. The other trainees had to train for 8 hours and fill the bowl to two-thirds.

Whoever came up with this crazy training method was a genius... Li Yunzai had already seen how the other Class C trainees squeezed their sweat. Every time they were drenched in sweat, they would take off their clothes and wring the sweat into the bowl. For those who didn't sweat enough, they would use saliva to fill the bowl.

Such a crazy training method could only be devised by a genius...