Royal Ch.32

Chapter 32: Rêverie & Désincarné

[Hot Post on Korean Web: Has everyone seen that Chinese trainee Cha’s performance of “Crazy Girl”? Damn, he dances so well.]

[He’s everywhere on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. Damn it, I was completely blown away.]

[Upvotes: 1174 / Downvotes: 308]

[Is that really Cha? Well, close enough I guess. Anyway, I watched TikToks of him all night and couldn’t sleep. Dancing well is one thing, but that face—it’s legendary-level good-looking. TT]

[Is he on a survival show? Damn, that face is so beautiful it feels like I’m drowning in air. I want to go watch the show now kkkkkkkk]

[Episode 1 is already on YouTube. Just search “Shine for You” and you’ll find it.]

[I watched it, but he didn’t appear in the episode. So I looked up his first evaluation. It was amazing—better than our country’s center.]

— [So how did our country end up choosing that flat-nosed, pig-chinned center? It’s like we’re embarrassing ourselves internationally.]

[Westerners on TikTok are all praising the song he sang in his first evaluation. Barely anyone’s mentioning our “Crazy Girl,” sigh.]

[Korean companies keep making idols release English albums and go on foreign radio shows trying to please Westerners, and yet this guy gets more hype from just one performance. kkkkk]

[This guy was already viral on TikTok before, with nearly ten million likes. Now it’s just that more people know his name.]

— [His name, romanized, is Weol Jo Rim. Kinda hard to pronounce. Westerners just call him Moon, or Moonzl.]

[Heard his name comes from a poem—something about the moon, snowflakes, and trees. Chinese naming conventions are still as poetic as ever.]

…

[A thousand upvotes? Seriously? It’s been ages since a forum post got this much attention, and the main character is actually Chinese?!]

[Makes sense—he’s Chinese, that’s why there are 300 downvotes too.]

…

[I heard the Chinese show is suppressing him. Damn it, shake it—do they not realize how precious natural beauty is as a resource?]

[Can this guy fly over to Korea like a dove? I’d happily let him become a citizen.]

…

When Wei Lai read that “citizenship” comment, he couldn’t hold back and sharply commented: “In broad daylight, and they’re dreaming like that?”

Shu Yang elbowed him with a click of the tongue: “Keep it down, will you!”

There were a lot of people with phones around. The show crew turned a blind eye and didn’t strictly enforce the rules, but that didn’t mean they could just blurt things out in public.

Wei Lai coughed: “Your elbow’s sharp as hell—almost knocked the air out of me.”

Today, Li Ying was coming to check on their training progress. Wei Lai had gotten up too early out of nerves and had to wait until the dorm across from his finally woke up so they could head out together. Unexpectedly, he ran into Shu Yang.

Their eyes met, and the two of them silently and naturally crouched in the corner of the hallway to whisper gossip.

This trending post on Korean web forums had been reposted to Bilibili by an uploader, and Shu Yang happened to come across it.

Suddenly, Shu Yang noticed someone coming out of room 504: “Hey, Meng Yu just came out.”

Wei Lai looked up—it really was Meng Yu. He immediately stood up: “My group members are probably awake too. I’ll go wash my face.”

With cold water—to snap himself out of it.

—

Room 504.

Meng Yu always got up the earliest, trying to leave an impression of being hardworking and diligent on camera. Chu Li had an internal clock and was used to waking up early too.

So when Yue Zhaolin opened his eyes, the dorm would usually have only two people left—Cen Chi and Fu Xunying.

Today was no exception.

After waking up, Yue Zhaolin spent a moment collecting himself, then went to shower. Cen Chi was tidying up his things, while Fu Xunying stood nearby with his arms crossed.

Normally, the two of them wouldn’t exchange a single word when left alone like this.

But today, Fu Xunying spoke first: “Cen Chi, don’t you think you should tone it down a bit?”

Cen Chi: “What do you mean?”

Fu Xunying met Cen Chi’s gaze and said with a smile: “The more you try to be nice to Yue Zhaolin, the more people online are saying he’s b*llying you.”

“I think the smart move is for you to keep your distance for now. Don’t you agree?”

Cen Chi kept moving his hands.

His tone was flat, yet his words carried a unique sharpness: “By your logic, I’m not the only one who should stay away from him—shouldn’t you be doing the same?”

Fu Xunying: “I’m not the same as you.”

“What’s different?”

“I don’t need to—”

The sound of running water in the bathroom stopped. Both of them instantly went quiet.

Yue Zhaolin opened the bathroom door, letting steam roll out as he stepped out, towel in hand, drying his dripping hair. He looked around.

Catching the movement, Fu Xunying spotted the hair dryer on the desk and casually handed it over.

“Thanks.”

After blow-drying his hair, Yue Zhaolin put on his down jacket: “Let’s go. Gotta find Wei Lai and Mao Ding first.”

Team A and F were on the first floor, and Team B’s Chen Fei was downstairs.

When Yue Zhaolin and his group arrived at the Starlight building, a staff member called out to him and led both teams into an empty room.

“We’ll be reviewing your training progress here today. Zhaolin, Xunying—you’re the first group. You can start warming up now.”

The room had a row of desks and chairs set up, along with cameras placed at multiple angles.

Yue Zhaolin had originally planned to squeeze in one more practice run with his five teammates, but before he could, a staff member came over with an apologetic look.

“Zhaolin, both of your groups need to apply base makeup.”

Because the marks on Wei Lai’s face hadn’t fully faded yet, letting only him wear makeup would’ve been too obvious—so both groups had to do it.

Due to limited staff, half the trainees had to do it themselves.

Soon, the practice room was filled with the sounds of powder puffs tapping against faces—it sounded like a group of seals slapping their bellies.

At that moment, Yue Zhaolin was called out.

The trainee coordinator led him to an empty room, handed him a phone, and left. From the way it was done, it was likely a call from Xingqiong Entertainment.

Sure enough, once Yue Zhaolin picked up, a familiar voice came through the receiver.

“Zhaolin, it’s Liu Li.”

Liu Li didn’t waste time and got straight to the point: “Do you want to do a magazine shoot? One of the Big Four in China—R.E.”

The fashion industry was a strange world. If a celebrity wasn’t popular, they were dismissed; if they were popular, they might still not be respected.

In truth, though, the industry worshiped power and looked down on the weak to an extreme.

As long as a celebrity had strong backing—or proven achievements, like a blockbuster film—magazines would come knocking. But those kinds of people were rare.

That’s why, to the public, landing a feature in one of the Big Four was seen as incredibly difficult. No matter how popular a star was, they wouldn’t easily be granted a cover.

Even though print media had declined, the fashion world still clung to the prestige of the Big Four.

The reason the “Big Four” were called that was because all four were Chinese editions of prestigious international magazines—high-end and notoriously difficult to land.

—After all, it required a luxury brand to personally recommend an artist for the cover and also take on the costs of wardrobe and production.

“Is a brand backing the cover?”

Liu Li let out a soft laugh.

“That’s right. It’s a French luxury brand—R.D.”

Just hearing the brand name might not ring a bell for Yue Zhaolin, but once the founder’s surname was mentioned, he would understand.

— He shared a surname with Delorme, the legendary designer who had served as chief creative director for three of the top-tier luxury houses in the West.

In the fashion world, Delorme was practically a godfather. At seventy-eight, he had long since retreated from the public eye.

Étienne Delorme—he inherited his father’s talent and went on to found his own brand: R.D.

Over the years, Étienne had also inherited a significant portion of his father’s influence and resources in the fashion world.

“The one who personally nominated you for the cover is Étienne Delorme. He’s already flown to China,” Liu Li continued, “He said he wants to photograph you himself.”

Then she added, more carefully: “But Zhaolin, you have the right to decline.”

The nature of the brand was evident in its name—”Rêverie & Désincarné”—fantasy and detachment from the physical body.

Étienne Delorme himself was much like his brand: ethereal yet intense, sentimental yet cold, rebellious, unrestrained, and gender-fluid.

And it was precisely because of this nature that Étienne had cast aside his various lovers and flown directly to China—for the sole purpose of meeting Yue Zhaolin.

Liu Li laid all of this out clearly for him.

“……”

After a brief silence, Yue Zhaolin’s voice came through the phone—gentle but resolute: “Director Liu, I want to do it.”

Liu Li had made everything clear, and Yue Zhaolin had thought it through as well—R.E would be a perfect starting point for him in the fashion world.

An opportunity like this—he had to seize it.

Liu Li responded simply: “Alright.”

“Next week, once the first public performance is over, the show will let the top nine trainees from the pre-round vote attend a fan meeting.”

Once Yue Zhaolin left the venue, Xingqiong would coordinate with Starlight to have him picked up.

—

When Yue Zhaolin returned to the practice room, most of the trainees had already finished their makeup. Some even used hairspray to style their hair.

Seeing him come back, Fu Xunying raised the can of spray in his hand and spoke in a mock-hairstylist tone: “Want me to style your hair?”

Yue Zhaolin looked at him: “…What hairstyle is that supposed to be?”

“…Comma bangs?” Fu Xunying instantly lost confidence. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. It didn’t look that bad, right?

Yue Zhaolin replied calmly: “Step back.”

Fu Xunying obediently took a step back.

His hair was parted 3:7, with the heavier side carrying more volume. Instinctively, he gave his head a light shake. The bangs followed and flopped dramatically.

Thanks to the hairspray, a chunk of hair whipped upward in one go.

That chunk was completely disconnected from the rest of his hairstyle, exposing a patch of forehead and hairline near the temple.

Yue Zhaolin: “…”

Fu Xunying: “Hey, I saw you laugh!”

That one flying chunk had hit Yue Zhaolin’s funny bone squarely—he laughed so hard his lower stomach trembled.

Fu Xunying’s face flushed red in an instant. He looked like he was about to leap forward and physically stop Yue Zhaolin from laughing. But just then, a staff member received a message:

“PD Li and the mentors are arriving soon. Everyone, get ready.”

Fu Xunying: “…”

Wait—what was he supposed to do now?!

Five minutes later, when Li Ying walked into the room, he didn’t notice anything off and simply invited the mentors to take their seats.

The first performance was Team A’s “Cold Lover.”

After watching, Li Ying felt it was a strong opener.

From choreography to vocals, the overall effect exceeded his expectations. However…

Li Ying asked, intrigued: “The center’s smile was really infectious. Were you thinking of something happy?”

“…Yes.”

Facing away from the group, Fu Xunying was using cold water to desperately flatten his bangs, ears burning red.

Yue Zhaolin, to his credit, hadn’t embarrassed him in front of everyone.

He was forgiven.

…

Inside the Starlight building, the atmosphere was lively—and it was no less chaotic outside. Today was the release day for the first round of public performance tickets, and countless fans were anxiously waiting.

Xu Mingmei was practically praying to every deity she could think of: “Please bless this humble fan with a ticket!”

She wasn’t just praying to Chinese gods—she added foreign ones too.

Peng Tao raised an eyebrow: “Do foreign gods even handle our local matters?”

Xu Mingmei: “Probably not, but hey, can’t hurt to ask. Tickets open at 3 p.m., and I’m freaking out.”

She knew, realistically, that she probably wouldn’t get one—the fan group on Super Topic already had over 200,000 check-ins.

But still, she couldn’t help but hope: What if she got lucky?

Peng Tao decided to distract herself and smoothly grabbed Xu Mingmei’s tablet. She opened Bilibili and searched: “Yue Zhaolin.”

For the Nth time, Peng Tao rewatched Yue Zhaolin’s initial evaluation performance, the Nth reaction video, and another round of fan edits set to thrilling background music.

—With so little raw material, Bilibili creators still managed to craft entire story arcs!

Peng Tao had never been a fangirl before. She’d never experienced such a feast of content—rich, non-stop, and addictive. She couldn’t stop laughing like a goofball for half an hour, completely sucked into the Bilibili vortex.

“Ding.”

Suddenly, a notification popped up on the screen.

Peng Tao assumed it was an ad and was about to swipe it away—so annoying and in the way—but with a quick glance—

[Congratulations! You’ve won a ticket in the [First Public Performance] lottery! Please confirm as soon as possible…]

“…Xu Mingmei, you won?!”

“…?”

Xu Mingmei looked up from her phone, still a bit dazed, until she heard Peng Tao calling out:

“Xu Mingmei, you won!”

“You’re way too lucky! First you ran into Yue Zhaolin at the mall, and now you win the lottery on your first try!”

“Ahhhhhh?!”

Xu Mingmei’s face turned bright red—a full-body reaction that started at her toes and zinged all the way to the back of her scalp.

It took her a long time to calm down. Afterward, she noticed her best friend seemed a little down.

When she asked, Peng Tao didn’t hide it:

“Honestly, yeah… I’m kind of jealous. I really wanted to see Yue Zhaolin too.”

“At first I just thought he had a nice voice, but somewhere along the way I got hooked. I voted online, and now I want to see him in person.”

“Maybe Yue Zhaolin really is a siren or something—he bewitched me through the screen.”

Then Peng Tao smiled and lifted her chin: “On performance day, I’ll take you there myself. But when you come out, you have to tell me everything. Every. Single. Detail!”

Xu Mingmei: “I swear!”

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