Chapter 39: Early Fame

When Li Yunzai finished recording the song and was preparing to find a place to eat, the internet was already in an uproar.

This morning at 8 o'clock, a few of the Xianhous and Fengzis casually logged into the personal space page of "Yunzai in the Wind." What was originally just a casual action turned out to have unexpected results. The ID—Yunzai in the Wind—finally had a reply. After four years, the idol they once adored finally reappeared.

Under the message "I'm back," the IDs of TVXQ,神话 (Myth), HOT, Girls' Generation, S.E.S,天上智喜 (Shinye), Super Junior, BoA, and others appeared one by one, all asking where Li Yunzai was and how he was doing. At this moment, the Xianhous and Fengzis realized that even though their former idol had been away for four years, many people still remembered and cared about him.

The news of Li Yunzai's return spread to the fan forums of TVXQ, Girls' Generation, Myth, Shinye, BoA, and Super Junior, causing a huge stir.

Apart from the true idols of the early days like HOT, S.E.S, Myth, and Sechskies, Li Yunzai might be the earliest to become famous, even earlier than the fourth group of S.M. Entertainment, Shinye. However, his fame was very different from other idols. He didn't release a single album or a proper single, but from 2001 to 2003, he was very popular online. During that time, people aged 15 to 30 were all fond of him.

Perhaps this was also due to the gradual prosperity of the internet in the early 21st century, which entered thousands of households. Li Yunzai caught this good era and was the first to benefit from it. Initially, he just had a whim and recorded a video of himself covering "Loving You." He then created an ID named "Yunzai in the Wind" on the Hat website and uploaded the video.

A few days later, the administrator of the Hat website discovered Li Yunzai's cover video. After listening to it a few times, they felt it was good and recommended it to the homepage. This led to an unstoppable situation.

Within a day, the video's view count reached 68,000, and it broke 100,000 in two days. This video broke the record for the highest view count within two days on the Hat website, and the number continued to increase. This record was eventually broken by Li Yunzai himself.

In the video, in a recording studio with a warm and bright light, Li Yunzai played and sang "Loving You" on his guitar. The triple high notes and the light, clear voice left a deep impression on everyone. At that time, he was just over ten years old, with a head of bangs and a chubby, cute face. His charming appearance quickly won over many young men and women, as well as many middle-aged women.

Although there were other children who uploaded their singing videos online, compared to Li Yunzai, they were no match. One was professionally trained, while the other was amateur. They had already lost at the starting line to Li Yunzai.

Brokers from companies like YG, JYP, C-JeS, LOEN, and DSP also noticed this seemingly overnight sensation, a powerful young singer. They all had the idea of signing him, but after some investigation, they found out he was a trainee under S.M. Entertainment and a favorite of Yoo Young-jin. They all gave up on the idea. To compete with Lee Soo-man for a trainee, one would need to offer something that would make Lee Soo-man's heart skip a beat. Otherwise, it was impossible to succeed. The managers of these companies were not foolish and would not willingly let Lee Soo-man treat them like pigs. Thus, the matter was dropped.

However, seeing Li Yunzai's attention on the Hat website and his ranking second on the real-time search list, it was truly frustrating. The feeling of being able to see but not obtain was truly heart-wrenching.

After that, Li Yunzai seemed to disappear from the internet. People often refreshed his homepage, but it always showed only one empty video. This disappointed many of his new fans.

However, three months later, Li Yunzai uploaded another self-recorded video, this time a cover of the English song "Sometimes When We Touch."

Those who knew a bit about music could tell that Li Yunzai's singing skills had improved significantly in those three months. The progress was truly "frightening," though the word "frightening" might be an exaggeration, but his improvement was clearly audible.

The cover of "Sometimes When We Touch" broke Li Yunzai's own record. In just one day, it had 90,000 views, and in two days, it broke 150,000. In the early 2000s, it was already quite good if three out of ten households in Korea had computers. At that time, 150,000 views were equivalent to 300,000 views in 2007, or even more.

After Li Yunzai released his second video, his fans spontaneously formed a fan club called "Fengzi." This was the first time a trainee who hadn't debuted yet had a fan club. Li Yunzai was deeply moved and took it as motivation, determined to go further on this path.

From then on, Li Yunzai occasionally interacted with his fans on the "Yunzai in the Wind" homepage, answering their questions and responding to their messages.

It can be said that during the latter half of his trainee period, many people witnessed Li Yunzai's growth. Unconsciously, after a year, the number of people following his homepage reached 110,000.

110,000, this number was not large. Compared to the millions of fans of Myth, Li Yunzai's 110,000 fans were just a fraction. But no one dared to easily overlook these 110,000 fans. In Myth, no one had 110,000 fans before debuting, not even 110. This was a record set by Li Yunzai, a record that no one had broken.

Later, Li Yunzai carefully crafted two sad love songs for his "silly sister" Baek Ji-young. Before the songs were officially released, Li Yunzai first uploaded the original versions to the "Yunzai in the Wind" homepage and called on fans to support Baek Ji-young.

"Like Being Shot" and "No Longer in Love," these two sad love songs were almost clicked to death in those few days, with the view count rising exponentially. This was Li Yunzai's first release in half a year, showcasing his songwriting skills and his loyalty to his friends.

Even though the video incident involving Baek Ji-young had been over for two years, she was still a deeply buried, pitiful artist and woman. Li Yunzai's relentless help moved many fans. This also cleared many obstacles for Baek Ji-young's return to the stage.

That year, Li Yunzai was defined by his online fans as a talented, creative, and powerful singer. However, he himself did not dare to call himself a genius; this was the achievement he had worked hard for nearly half his life (he entered S.M. at age 10 and trained for seven years).

At the same time, the number of followers on Li Yunzai's homepage had reached 250,000. In half a year, the number of followers on his homepage increased from 110,000 to 180,000. After uploading "Like Being Shot" and "No Longer in Love," not only did the view count of these two videos rise exponentially, but the number of followers on his homepage also increased by 70,000, the fastest increase ever.

250,000 followers undoubtedly meant that Li Yunzai had 250,000 fans. Even if some were general fans, there were at least 200,000. This made many brokerage companies envious. In their eyes, this not only represented the number of Li Yunzai's fans but also a business opportunity, a huge business opportunity. If Li Yunzai could release a mini album at this time, the sales might reach 200,000 copies. As long as the quality of the songs was good, the subsequent sales would be even more. In the increasingly bleak music market, a debut rookie selling 200,000 albums was destined to become a superstar.

Lee Soo-man naturally would not miss this opportunity. He decided to launch S.M. Entertainment's third boy group after HOT and Myth at the end of the year, filling the gap left by HOT's dissolution and Myth's collective departure. He was determined to make it a new Asian supergroup to replace HOT and Myth.

The most experienced trainee, Li Yunzai, naturally became the leader, with members Jung Yun-ho, Shim Chang-min, Park Yu-jeong, Kim Jae-jung, and Kim Jun-su. The group was named "TVXQ."

Li Yunzai also posted this news on the "Yunzai in the Wind" homepage, stating that the lead song of the first album after debut would be personally created by him. This immediately sparked strong enthusiasm among the Fengzis, who all expressed their willingness to buy the album as soon as it was released to support Li Yunzai.

However, when the song was recorded and the MV was completed, Li Yunzai's nightmare began.

An accident severely damaged Li Yunzai's vocal cords. For a singer, this was undoubtedly a fatal blow. Everyone felt a deep sense of loss for Li Yunzai, who was so close to debuting but suffered such a devastating blow.

The other brokerage company presidents, who were already on edge due to S.M. launching a new boy group, felt a sense of relief. After all, the loss of Li Yunzai was a fatal blow to TVXQ. Although they didn't know the capabilities of the other members, they believed that S.M. Entertainment could not have five trainees with skills comparable to Li Yunzai. The overall strength of TVXQ would naturally decline. However, they also felt sorry for Li Yunzai's misfortune.

That year, the Fengzis did not break their promise. Each of them bought a copy of TVXQ's new album. The lead song, "Spell," personally created by Li Yunzai, became a popular hit. In the MV, fans also saw Li Yunzai's deep dance skills, but in the music shows like Music Center, Inkigayo, and Music Bank, the six-member group only had five members performing.

......

The regret of that year, Li Yunzai quietly disappeared from the public eye, with no news for four years. Now that Li Yunzai announced his return, the Fengzis were all moved. After four years of waiting, they had become fans of other singers, but for Li Yunzai, they still had an unbreakable love.