Theme Song

Lai Yudong shook his head.

Su Junzhe rubbed his chin. "But you pick up the moves really fast. You must have quite a talent for dancing, right?"

Disbelief was written all over Lai Yudong's face. "Really?"

Even without the bullet comments mocking him, he could tell he danced like a fool who couldn't coordinate his limbs.

"Yeah. Every time the moves are taught and put together, you get them in one go. Being quick to learn is a good thing. When you first start dancing, you begin by copying the moves. It's like throwing a dry sponge into a pool: the faster you absorb, the faster you improve."

[Susu sounds so serious. I believe him]

[To be fair, if You Shu has never danced before, he did pretty well in the practice room]

[An idol we get to watch grow?]

Su Junzhe changed tack. "But having a good memory alone isn't enough. A sense of rhythm and a feel for dance are important too, along with physical fitness, flexibility, expressiveness, and so on. There are lots of deciding factors."

Lai Yudong: "..."

Which one of those did he have? Physical fitness?

The elevator descended quickly, and by the time they'd exchanged a few words, it had reached the second floor.

Before Lai Yudong could figure out how to answer, the doors slowly opened, and Su Junzhe strode out.

"Even taking ten thousand steps back, this is an idol survival show, not a world-class dance competition. Hard work matters more than talent. As long as you grind your proficiency to the max, you won't be all that bad, no matter how bad you are. It just depends on whether you're willing to practice."

The curly-haired boy with chocolate-colored hair looked back and smiled, a pair of adorable dimples appearing on his cheeks. "Keep it up. I look forward to seeing you on the theme song stage, future main dancer."

The teasing, both playful and encouraging, made Lai Yudong laugh. "I'll work hard."

Actually, with Su Junzhe's real personality, there's no need for him to deliberately act cute, is there?

So thought the man who had long since seen through the truth.

Chapter 18: Theme Song

They had missed the mealtime rush, and there were only a few people in the cafeteria. Before Lai Yudong could feel happy about it, a crueler reality shattered his defenses.

He took his tray for a lap around the counters and discovered to his despair that lunch was just as bland as breakfast.

A light breakfast was one thing; greasy food wasn't suitable so early in the morning. But he hadn't expected lunch to be the same. Almost everything in sight was steamed, poached, or served cold, prepared with little oil or salt and no spice. The only exception was red-braised tofu; there wasn't a fried dish in sight.

At first glance, the food looked good, and there was plenty of variety. He didn't mind lightly seasoned food, but if he had to eat this every day without being able to order takeout, he might not be far from a breakdown.

Lai Yudong suddenly missed his university cafeteria terribly.

Especially the diced chili chicken rice from the stall on the second floor, where the lady always gave him two extra pieces of meat.

Well, this was a show for training idols, after all. He should be grateful it wasn't weight-loss and fitness food.

Lai Yudong got a serving of stir-fried lotus root and steamed pork ribs with pumpkin, then ladled himself a bowl of corn and winter melon soup. He sat down with his tray and caught sight of Su Junzhe at the next table, whose exceptionally healthy meal gave him a fright.

A bowl of chicken breast, a vegetable salad, and an iced Americano.

Isn't that a little too simple?

Won't he faint from hunger?

Lai Yudong recalled that Su Junzhe's breakfast had been the same: he'd only taken a banana and an iced Americano. He didn't know whether it was for personal reasons or whether trainees in Korea were all that strict.

He found it hard to accept such a devilish diet that tormented both body and mind. Leaving everything else aside, a cup of iced Americano at every meal would be enough to kill him. To him, iced coffee without sugar or milk was practically a bowl of Chinese herbal medicine with ice cubes in it.

The gaze from the next table was too intense. Su Junzhe turned his head in puzzlement, his eyes as clear as black grapes and wide with surprise. "What's up?"

Lai Yudong opened his mouth slightly. "..."

[Why are you opening your mouth without saying anything again lol]

[Me when I take an extra look at a classmate and don't expect them to talk to me: Yuzu.jpg]

[Cut him some slack, that's how people with social anxiety are]

[Cut him some slack, that's how aloof people are]

[I suggest starting a poll on the forum]

Faced with the choice between striking up a conversation to ask him and lying that nothing was wrong, Lai Yudong was torn. Then he suddenly remembered the advice Liang Zhisheng had given him—

"If you're quiet and don't talk much, you won't get much screen time. If you want to stay for a few more rounds, you'd better try to socialize."

To be honest, he had been thinking about it all along, but his tendency to look back and forth before taking a step had kept him from acting.

His current situation reminded him that he had to take it into consideration.

Although Lai Yudong knew little about idol survival shows, it wasn't hard to analyze his situation and future based on variety show conventions and his observations of the bullet comments.

If he was unlucky enough to end up in Class F again at the evaluation in three days, even the possibility of scraping by through showing his face would probably be snuffed out.

No matter how painful to watch his theme song dance was, the camera would at least sweep over him. Only with exposure could he be noticed. Even good wine fears a deep alley, let alone when he had the stacked debuffs of having no skills and a withdrawn personality. There was a strong chance he'd be a complete nobody.

If he forcibly switched on social mode then to gain attention, it would feel rather like the futile act of treating a dead horse as though it were still alive.

Unless he pulled some stunt that blew up across the internet.

But unless he had no other choice, he didn't want to go down the route of becoming famous through scandal. He was neither a professional nor did he have a marketing team. The odds of grabbing a wave of attention and then clearing his name to soar to new heights were slim; being eliminated in the next round as a sacrifice was more likely.

Thus, the conclusion was that he needed to take the initiative when the right opportunity arose.

If I accidentally give myself away, I can pretend to be a little foreigner who doesn't understand Chinese...

That should work, right?

Only two seconds had passed in reality. Lai Yudong's brain had worked at high speed to sort out his thoughts, and he'd even laid out a clear escape route behind him. He had no reason to keep shrinking back like a foreigner who had just learned Chinese.

It was one thing to fool his bro, but he shouldn't fool himself too.

So he immediately simplified the question on his mind into as concise a sentence as he could:

"So little again?"

[I want to ask too]

[What Susu eats in a whole day isn't enough to fill the gaps between my teeth]

[Can that little bit of food fill him up? Doesn't he still have to practice dancing?]