Trainee Ch.28

Chapter 28: The First Performance (1)

—Fir-Nine, Peppermint.

The moment the group name was announced, it was already shocking enough. But the song title that followed left everyone speechless.

Peppermint was Fir-Nine’s debut track, and also their most popular signature hit—a song bursting with youthful energy and a refreshing summer vibe.

The livestream bullet comments instantly exploded.

[Holy sh*t]

[The Tree Group??????]

[Oh my god did I hear that right? They’re covering Little Peppermint??]

[Sky Video, you’re seriously insane]

[They really know how to emotionally wreck the fans, huh]

[Please stop giving Mo Li any screen time, my heart can’t take it]

The commotion at the venue was no less intense than the bullet comments. Countless surprised gazes turned toward the former Fir-Nine member.

Mo Li froze slightly, his face going blank for a second, then he gave a perfectly poised smile, as if unfazed by hearing his former group mentioned in this way.

The rest of the performance songs were announced.

The second song, Spring Colors, was a gentle and lyrical piece fitting the mood of spring.

The third, All Night, was a retro disco throwback to the 1980s.

The fourth, Charging Up!, was an energetic and bubbly idol-style song.

The fifth, Cheese, was originally in Japanese and re-lyricized for a cute concept.

The sixth, Fairyland, showcased a mature and seductive style.

The seventh, Dormant Fireflies, was a rare, poetic and aesthetic ballad in traditional Chinese style, atypical for boy groups.

After going through all six demo clips in a row, Lai Yudong’s feelings gradually numbed—the more options there were, the more lost he felt.

If he had to pick one he definitely didn’t want, it would probably be Fairyland.

In the video, the seven dance instructors were flipping their bangs and showing off their abs—visually, the choreography was certainly bursting with hormones. But assigning it to trainees who lacked experience and had uneven skill levels might not have the intended effect.

[Cheese is so perfect for Susu]

[I want to see Mo Li join the Little Peppermint group. I don’t mind the emotional damage, but I’m afraid it’ll hurt him and I’ll cry]

[All Night! I love this one!]

[Begging with my life for seven ripped guys to be chosen for Fairyland!]

[I don’t think they can pull off Dormant Fireflies, that song’s all about atmosphere]

[Just please don’t destroy Peppermint in front of Mo Li]

Lai Yudong seriously analyzed the bullet comments and drew some conclusions.

Judging by the audience reactions, All Night was the most popular, Charging Up! the least. Peppermint and Dormant Fireflies were the riskiest to attempt.

The safest move would be to avoid these four and choose from the remaining three.

Spring Colors leaned heavily toward vocals, and the range was probably too high for him to hit—pass.

Cheese had newly written Chinese lyrics, which solved the language barrier, but Sky Video might use his background to stir up drama. Plus, the overall style was too cutesy and didn’t suit his image—pass.

That only left Fairyland.

Did it really have to come to this? He didn’t want to be lifting his shirt!

However, after hearing the rules announced by the show’s producer, Fu Hanyu, Lai Yudong realized the reality was even harsher than he imagined.

The trainees would choose members first, then songs—the group you ended up in wasn’t up to you.

Each group would consist of seven members, and the remaining three trainees would be distributed among the teams based on the final song selection. The order of picking team members would be decided by random draw—one trainee would pick all the members for their team, then another would be drawn to form the next team, and so on.

In other words, the stronger or more popular you were, the sooner you’d get picked—unless you got lucky and were drawn to choose a team yourself.

Lai Yudong felt a chill run down his spine. He had a pessimistic view of his luck. His only wish was not to end up as one of the final three.

“The first trainee who will choose their team has been decided,” Fu Hanyu announced with a smile, looking toward a curly-haired boy with chocolate-brown hair. “As the center of the theme song, Su Junzhe has the privilege of choosing first. Please come forward.”

He asked gently, “Have you thought about who you’d like to choose?”

Su Junzhe nodded obediently. “Yes, I’ve thought it through.”

“Please say their name.”

“The first trainee I choose is…” Su Junzhe arched his brows slightly. “Senior Mo Li.”

[Whoa]

[Susu called Mo Li “senior”! I can’t take this!!!]

[Top ranker x debut center—love this combo]

Amidst the applause, the golden-haired youth stepped out from the crowd, politely bowed to shake hands, and stood next to Su Junzhe.

Next, Su Junzhe selected Jiang Yangfan and Lin Xiao, followed by three more trainees from Class B—completing the full team of seven.

[This lineup is too stacked—4 from Class A, 3 from Class B]

[The team’s popularity is off the charts—3 of the top 7 are here]

[Unless the second team gets an equally stacked draw, no one’s beating this group]

Unfortunately, the second round started off poorly. The trainee drawn to choose next picked a member from Class F first, which meant that from the get-go, they had no chance of outmatching Team One.

The team selection process continued in an orderly fashion. More and more names were called out, and with each one, the torment in Lai Yudong’s heart deepened.

This was pure punishment—like standing in the corner for everyone to see.

He knew very well how slim his chances were of being picked.

He didn’t have strong skills, nor high popularity, so it was only natural that his name wouldn’t be called early. But that didn’t guarantee the later teams would choose him either.

It sounded a bit narcissistic, maybe, but in his situation—lacking standout skills and lagging in popularity—picking a teammate based purely on looks would be strategic suicide. Not to mention, he ranked 55th overall—squarely middle-of-the-road in terms of popularity.

Viewers were realistic. They prioritized good-looking contestants.

But then—hope appeared.

Qu Junwei, who was chosen to form the fourth team, had just finished picking his members. This group already included Xu An, his dormmate, and he was also the first one from Dorm 707 to be called.

Qu Junwei reached into the box filled with trainees’ names, pulled out a ball, and opened it to read the name on the slip: “Zhou Rui.”

The name was all too familiar. Lai Yudong instinctively looked over, and sure enough, the brownish-gray-haired boy from Class B had just stepped forward—and turned to glance back at him.

Their eyes met dead-on, and Zhou Rui responded with a mysterious smile.

Lai Yudong wondered uncertainly—Zhou Rui should pick me… right?

[Zhou Rui is definitely picking Yuzu]

[Early celebration for Real Group’s first on-stage performance!]

[What’s the Real Group?]

[Rui and Yu read together = real]

These netizens were honestly way too good at naming things.

“The first teammate I want to pick is…” Zhou Rui’s gaze lingered on Lai Yudong’s face, but just as he made the announcement, it swiftly shifted to someone else—“Zhao Yifeng.”

Lai Yudong: “…”

He had a pretty good idea of what this guy was up to.

“Second pick,” Zhou Rui repeated his little stunt, “Chu Tianyi.”

This guy was messing with him on purpose.

“Third pick, Shu Tengjie.”

“Fourth, Huang Yueru.”

“Fifth, Zeng Kai.”

Lai Yudong’s eyelid twitched. One of those names didn’t sound too promising.

But it wasn’t surprising—Zhou Rui and Zeng Kai were roommates.

Team Five was now one member short. Zhou Rui paused deliberately, dragging out the suspense for a few seconds. His gaze once again landed on the pale blond-haired boy, and the amusement in his eyes deepened.

This time, his actions finally matched his words. Slowly, he said:

“The last one, also the person I actually wanted to pick first—Miura Yuki.”

[Scared me—I thought Zhou Rui wasn’t going to pick Yuki]

[What were you thinking? Zhou Rui was obviously messing with Yuzu on purpose. Bet Yuzu saw right through him, lol]

[Yuzu: Do I look like I want to entertain you right now]

[Just watching you lose your mind in silence, 2.0 edition]

Lai Yudong walked toward Team Five. The first thing he got was a hug, and when they let go, Zhou Rui grinned mischievously and asked, “You mad?”

“I’m mad.”

“Hahaha, great! That means you’re not mad!”

[He literally said he was mad lmao]

[Aaaaah I’m so jealous! I want to tease Yuzu too!]

Lai Yudong gave a helpless smile. Just a week ago, this new friend had still been treating him with polite courtesy—but now, they’d clearly reached the teasing stage.

He didn’t mind that kind of relationship. In fact, this was exactly the kind of social dynamic he was most familiar with.

The team selection phase had concluded. Fourteen teams stood in rows, leaving behind one trainee from Class C and two from Class F: Lu Zhonghao, Luo Feiran, and Shen Bo.

As the unchosen trainees, all three wore awkward expressions—especially Lu Zhonghao from Class C. He hadn’t expected to be left behind with two F-class members.

“Among the seven songs, Peppermint allows eight members. The two teams that end up choosing this song will each select one of the unchosen trainees as a new member. The remaining trainee will be allowed to join any of the other twelve teams.”

After explaining how the final three would be distributed, the show’s producer, Fu Hanyu, announced the song selection method:

“For the public performance song selection, we’ll be doing a footrace. The representative trainee from each team—the one who picked the members—will race. The top seven finishers will not only get to perform the song they select but also earn the right to choose which team they’ll face.”

[Why is it always a footrace on Star Video]

[If it were me, I’d go full chaos and make the song selection a random draw]

[Calling it now—Qu Junwei’s team is going for Spring Colors]

“You now have two minutes to discuss your song choices,” Fu Hanyu added.

To make sure the host stayed immersed in the experience, the system once again enabled anti-spoiler mode—cutting a third of the bullet comments in an instant.

The one-minute countdown began. Several teams quickly gathered in circles, noisily discussing strategies.

“Is there any song you really want to pick or absolutely want to avoid?” the first to speak was Shu Tengjie from Class C. He pushed up his glasses and said, “Personally, I’d like to avoid Cheese. Our group’s image doesn’t really suit the cute concept. I’m leaning toward All Night.”

“Dormant Fireflies has a section with traditional opera-style vocals. Can anyone handle that?” asked Chu Tianyi, a Class B trainee who had performed a melody-rap hybrid in the initial stage evaluation.

“I can,” Zhao Yifeng chimed in, then quickly shifted the tone. “But the real difficulty with that song isn’t the opera segment. It’s the overall stage effect, which might not come across well live. Personally, I don’t recommend it.”

“I think Fairyland is pretty good…” Zeng Kai muttered.

—What part of it is good, exactly!?

Just as Lai Yudong was trying to figure out how to politely voice his objection, Zhao Yifeng let out a soft laugh. He casually slung an arm around Zeng Kai’s shoulders, using the physical gesture to close the distance.

“You sure everyone here has abs?”

Shu Tengjie: “I don’t.”

Huang Yueru: “I’ve got just one.”

Zeng Kai: “…Alright, I don’t either.”

“Peppermint is probably one to avoid too. That song…” Zhou Rui didn’t finish the sentence, but everyone understood what he left unsaid.

“It’s not that bad—unless we end up with Mo Li’s team,” Zhao Yifeng tilted his head, the small braid at the back of his head swaying to reveal its tips. “We’re not that unlucky, right?”

Shu Tengjie raised an objection: “But that song requires an extra member. Who would we pick? Plus, the buzz around it is too intense—it’s risky. I don’t think our group can handle it.”

“I don’t want to pick Peppermint either,” Zeng Kai agreed.

After a heated discussion, the group settled on All Night as their top choice. The ones to avoid were Fairyland and Dormant Fireflies.

Throughout the whole conversation, Lai Yudong hadn’t said a word—until he suddenly blurted out:

“Is Zhou Rui fast at running?”

[BABY YOU FINALLY SPOKE ]

[Yuzu’s brain really works on a different wavelength]

[Yuzu!! Do you have any opinions about the song choice at all!?]

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