Chapter 84: 084

Chapter 84

Everyone knew that before the third public performance, there was an off-stage competition: the sales figures of each group's pop-up store. The group with the highest sales would win a month-long exclusive themed pop-up store.

This alone wasn't enough to attract fans, but there was an additional reward: fans of the winning group would receive a free commemorative victory medal.

It even came with a mini photo card.

For the fans, whether their idols debuted or not was no longer important. What mattered was that they couldn't lose.

Because of this rule, everyone was buying with all their might. After the SSR cards were released, they had gone into a frenzy and couldn't be reasoned with.

Last time, there were full-amount peripherals dangled in front as a carrot, but this time nothing was needed. They might have been brainwashing themselves.

Random Entertainment's sales figures were very transparent, to the extent that each group loved to pull up spreadsheets for discussion. This time, the mini card sales broke 100 million yuan, leaving fans of other companies stunned and labeling the "Little Jasmines" as [crazy].

Today was the day of the third public performance, and related discussions quickly occupied various platforms. Dedicated groups weren't enough for them to chat, so they even ran to public groups to start threads.

Bystanders weren't interested in the performance stages or which trainee was the TOP, but they didn't miss a single thing related to Random Entertainment's business operations.

Threads related to the pop-up stores were all building high-rises.

"Title: Gossip discussion / Pop-up store settlement is out, mini cards sold a small target."

"Fifty-yuan mini cards sold a small target."

"Mini cards plus peripherals, a total of more than three small targets, Jasmine sisters went on a killing spree."

"You guys really... I'm crying to death, can you call me next time when you're printing Money?"

Comments section:

"Who won?"

"The mini cards sold about 2 million units, feels like we can go head-to-head with K-pop now."

"Wait for it, C-pop, we're coming to shatter you. If we don't shatter you, pretend I never said this."

"Sales figures for each group aren't public, but there's a 70% chance it's the Circle Center group."

"Fifty yuan per card, but in the second-hand market, the lowest price is eighty yuan, and it's still in short supply. If they had kept it open for longer, sales might have been even higher."

"Bystander here, don't quite understand, why is the second-hand price higher than the original price? Can't you just buy directly?"

"Does that mean next month's peripherals and mini cards will only sell C group's? Will it be new card designs?"

"Reply: Because Random Entertainment's mini cards can only be bought offline, if you're not in one of those pop-up store cities, you have to find a purchasing agent, and even agents might not be able to squeeze in, so it's always in a state of short supply."

"The company that treats card flippers the best in the world: Random Entertainment."

"Not just card flippers, right? Any fan wouldn't want their high-priced cards to depreciate."

"It should be C group that won, Pei Luming's SSR was hyped up to 200,000 yuan and no one was selling, the last few cards only came out this week, guess they bought quite a lot during that period."

"So how is this calculated? By sales?"

"Mini cards are individual sales, peripherals are group sales. No matter whose card you draw, it can be counted as one person's. For example, if I bought ten cards, and they include everyone, but I record it as Pei Luming's sales, then this becomes Pei Luming's achievement. The winner is determined by group sales, which means peripheral sales plus mini card sales is the final result."

"You guys are making it unnecessarily complicated."

"Wait a bit, after the commercial break, they'll announce the pop-up store sales rankings! Go! Watch it while it's hot!!!"

After the Cover dance stages of the third public performance ended, it was time to announce the results of the off-stage competition. Jiang Juyou and the trainees were all standing on the stage, with all the lights focused on them. Jiang Juyou, in a white formal dress, was particularly dazzling.

Every time Jiang Juyou appeared on stage, there would be a commotion below. Her usual makeup was very light, with her lipstick having only a moisturizing effect. Today, however, Jiang Juyou changed her usual image, wearing a strawberry-colored lip gloss. Under the stage lights, her lips shone like glass beads, attracting everyone's gaze.

Even though it was a tense and serious moment, and Jiang Juyou wasn't even smiling, everyone was still intoxicated by her beauty. The audience below seemed drunk, their bodies soft, with satisfied grins on their faces.

After the promotional video for the pop-up store ended, Jiang Juyou picked up the cue card and glanced at it, then raised the microphone and said, "After nearly a month of competition, the sales rankings for the Time Train domestic Pop-up Stores have been determined."

"The winning group will receive an exclusive Pop-up Store theme, with the entire store featuring displays related to the winning group, and exclusive peripherals and previously unreleased mini cards will be launched."

"Fans will also receive commemorative medals and complimentary mini cards along with the winning group, sharing in the glory together."

Jiang Juyou had memorized the entire introduction. After she finished speaking and lowered the microphone, a fan in front immediately shouted, "Sister, you're so beautiful, ahhhh―"

Her shout was heard by the entire venue, and due to the indoor acoustics, even the audience watching the live stream heard it.

Both the venue and the bullet screen comments erupted in laughter, which also helped alleviate some of the tension among the trainees.

Jiang Juyou could only cough lightly a few times to suppress her embarrassment, while the big screen began to announce the rankings at this moment.

Instead of directly telling everyone who won, it started by announcing individual sales figures in order of ranking.

Without warning.

The name of a member from Group A appeared, with [1] marked on the left side of the ranking.

The venue erupted in commotion, because in everyone's impression, he was a trainee with relatively low popularity.

Just as everyone was shocked by this result, another name from Group A appeared, pushing him down and becoming the new number one.

At the beginning of the ranking, everyone was still confused, but after seeing a few more, they understood. It was being announced in group order, currently showing the rankings within the group.

When it came to Group B's turn, the audience thought the rankings for Group A would be cleared and start anew, but it directly operated on top of Group A's rankings.

The first person announced from Group B ranked third among the entire Group A.

"Wow..."

"We were just laughing stupidly, now I'm terrified."

"As beautiful as Jiang Juyou is, this show's competition system is equally frightening..."

"This is too cruel!"

After the entire Group B was announced, the members of Groups A and B were intertwined on the leaderboard. The highest-ranked was the popularity TOP from Group A, but every member of Group B had similar popularity, so several at the bottom were members of Group A.

After Group B was announced, it was Group C's turn.

The first to be announced was Sang Mo.

"Circlecenter-Sang Mo: 120,980"

Sales of 120,000 units took the first place position.

The venue responded with a sound:

"Wow―"

In the Korean entertainment circle, 2 million sales for a boy group wouldn't be impressive and might not even make the top of the charts. But Random Entertainment's figures were only for domestic sales, and could only be purchased offline.

Considering these sales figures in a country where idol culture hasn't taken off, it was already at the top.

Fans of other groups and group fans were watching the excitement, while the solo fans of C group entered battle mode. This ranking might be the source of their voice in the fandom for the foreseeable future, so everyone was very concerned.

The second to be revealed was Chen Wu, with sales just over 110,000, not managing to snatch a position.

Next was Chi Qiao, also over 110,000, also unsuccessful.

The next was Yao Shuo―

"Circlecenter-Yao Shuo: 120,970"

Standing on the sub-stage marked the real beginning.

There were quite a few freestyle parts in the entire performance. Whenever he sang "oh-whoa," Sang Mo would fall towards the backup dancers on either side. The area around the stage had already been surrounded by quick-moving fans, all grinning widely and wanting to reach out and catch him.

While everyone was enjoying the show, Jiang Juyou, who was watching the screen intently, furrowed her brows. She could sense the pressure Sang Mo was under for this performance. It was evident that he was trying to appear relaxed, but it was still quite obvious.

But Jiang Juyou could understand why he was like this. Sang Mo's was the last cover dance stage, and after he finished, it would be time for each group's original stage. With pressure from both before and after, it was inevitable to feel nervous.

The original song didn't have many high notes, but after rearrangement, many impromptu high notes were added to the last chorus part. Sang Mo sang with his arms spread wide, seeming to have let go of that fearful emotion.

Jiang Juyou turned around, preparing for her turn on stage.

Just as she was about to check her microphone status, she suddenly heard a very clear voice crack through her in-ear monitor.

The group backstage who had already put on their in-ear monitors probably heard it too.

Pei Luming, watching the screen, couldn't help but shrink back when he heard that voice crack. "It's over..."

Everyone was drawn to look over at the sound, standing still in front of the screen.

Gao Xiayu also clenched his fists.

In two seasons of the show, this was the first stage mistake.

One can imagine how serious this mistake was.

But Sang Mo on stage acted as if nothing had happened, completed the last part, bowed to the fans in the audience, and quickly ran off stage.

"Did he just crack his voice?"

"Very good, it's live singing, and the microphone volume is high. I like this sincerity."

"I can't really tell the difference."

"Singing and dancing at the same time like this is already quite impressive."

"Ah—this is the downside of live streaming. I want to see Jiang's expression when she hears this part!"

The bullet comments flew by with reactions to Sang Mo's voice crack. After leaving the stage, Sang Mo quickly returned backstage, while Jiang Juyou stepped onto the stage, holding up her dress. She had a smile on her lips, not at all as serious as everyone had expected.

As she spoke her transition lines on stage, the bullet comments began to discuss:

"Is this Sang Mo's first mistake in two seasons?"

"It's just one voice crack. Which singer hasn't made a mistake? It's better than lip-syncing and auto-tuning."

"But I think he handled it well after the voice crack. If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed."

"You're talking as if Sang Mo cracked his voice throughout the entire performance. It was just one high note, what's the big deal? He's not even the main vocalist."

"Huh? Weren't you all fighting over the title of visual and main vocalist a few days ago? Now he's not the main vocalist?"

The arguments in the bullet comments only subsided when Group C's VCR appeared.

The preparation process for the third public performance had already been broadcast before. The VCRs shown during each performance mainly focused on clips of their practice sessions.

The big screen turned black, but an audio clip that didn't sound like it was recorded with professional equipment played—

The screen converted the speech to text to help the fans in the audience hear clearly.

"Teacher! Something's happened!"

"Teacher! Teacher!"

"What's wrong?"

The urgent voices of Pei Luming and Sang Mo came through, capturing everyone's attention in just three sentences.

The screen lit up, and the shaky camera work showed how suddenly this camera had been turned on.

The staff followed Pei Luming and Sang Mo upstairs to Gao Xiayu's dormitory. Gao Xiayu appeared in his pajamas, looking haggard for the first time in public view.

His hair was messy, his eyes were red, and the other team members stood around him, all turning towards the camera as it recorded the scene.

Chen Wu looked at the teacher with a grave expression, "Teacher, Brother Xiayu has lost his voice."

A collective gasp rose from the audience. It was only then that everyone realized why in last week's episode, Chen Wu had been leading the practice while Gao Xiayu stood to the side holding a cup and watching. They had assumed Gao Xiayu had a sore throat from a cold, and the production team had asked him to rest his voice.

"My heart just got stabbed suddenly..."

"Please don't do this every time, my heart can't take it."

"How did he suddenly lose his voice?"

"Does this mean Gao Xiayu won't perform today?"

"He didn't even practice with them in last week's show! How can he perform?"

"He won't be eliminated, will he..."

The entire VCR revolved around Gao Xiayu. He went to the hospital for a check-up and was diagnosed with voice loss due to excessive stress. The burden of managing the entire team fell on Chen Wu's shoulders.

The tasks originally handled by Gao Xiayu were transferred to Chen Wu, allowing all the fans to experience firsthand how much Gao Xiayu usually had to worry about for the team.

"If it were me, I'd be stressed too."

"If Gao Xiayu doesn't debut, it would be a travesty, even if the producer is Jiang Juyou..."

"I can't take it anymore, I'm going into heart failure."

The scene changed, and the screen showed the time as 3 AM.

When the lights came back on, Chen Wu and Gao Xiayu appeared in the practice room. The two were silent, practicing over and over as if they would dance until their bones broke.

The fans in the audience bit their lips, holding back tears.

Just when the fans thought they had reached the limit of emotional turmoil, they suddenly saw Chen Wu lift his head. He seemed to be crying.

He said, "...I can't. I have to debut."

Aliali: 6720f5192bffb2b7bc4c09c9

"I must debut."

The scene suddenly cut to the post-interview room. Yao Shuo pressed his lips together and said, "Chen Wu is under a lot of pressure too. Before the second public performance, his grandmother was hospitalized. Maybe..."

The scene switched to Pei Luming. His eyes were red as if he had been crying. "Brother Wu doesn't say anything. He keeps everything bottled up inside. I'm really worried he'll make himself sick. I hope the two older brothers can rely on us a bit too."

The fans really hated Random Entertainment. They always left the suspense until the last moment, catching people off guard.

But from this video, the fans also understood why Chen Wu had been doing all the talking today, and they learned where Chen Wu had suddenly disappeared to in last month's episode.

The screen faded to black, and the VCR ended.

The fans in the audience hadn't yet recovered from their emotional turmoil.

But someone, oblivious to the mood, suddenly asked the person next to them in the midst of this silence—

"So, is Gao Xiayu performing today?"

Fans: You big meanie, toying with my emotions like this!