Chapter 2: Selection (Part 1) (First update, seeking recommendations and collections)

  "Bang"

  "Ouch..."

  It started with a dull thud, like the sound of something hard colliding, followed immediately by a soft and tender cry of pain that was unmistakably a young girl's. The cry wasn't from An Junhe, whose body didn't move at all; he had only instinctively tensed up his thick, hard chest muscles in the moment the girl crashed into him.

  In the midst of a trembling "aiyo" sound, the girl was like she had run into a wall, her whole body leaning back and landing on her buttocks with a thud. Another muffled sound followed, and for a moment, both her head and buttocks hurt. Her two small hands were waving around, unsure where to start rubbing first.

  At this time, another dark-skinned girl who was chasing after her saw that she had fallen to the ground and was stunned. She then saw two people standing at the door, one of whom was Quan Baogen, whose face was black with anger.

  The dark-skinned girl screamed and threw away her slippers, turning around to run.

  Gwon Beom's angry shout came crashing down like a tsunami: "Kwon Yu-ri, come back!"

  At this time, Gwon Bo-geon felt like his lungs were going to burst. He scolded the black-skinned girl named Kwon Yu-ri and then turned to the little girl who was still lying on the ground, "And you, Lim Yoon-ah, get up."

  An Junhe, who was standing aside, couldn't help but laugh at the two little girls, who were now standing in a row in front of Quan Baogen, looking like naughty students who had done something wrong, hanging their heads and putting their hands behind their backs, completely gone was the energetic and playful atmosphere from just before.

  In fact, they were not very old either. An Junhe took a few glances and felt that they were probably around 14 or 15 years old. To him, who was 1.83 meters tall and already 19 years old this year, at this moment, looking down on them like this, they seemed truly childlike, cute, and full of mischievous vitality. Although they had just carelessly given him a headlock, it made him unable to get angry.

  But obviously, Quan Baogen didn't have that feeling. This middle-aged uncle pushed his glasses and roared at the two with a fierce tone: "Speak up! What are you two doing?! Don't you know the rules of the practice room? The etiquette management I usually teach you, the image management I teach you, were they all eaten by dogs?"

  Two people hung their heads, looking listless. Among them, the girl named Lin Yuner occasionally raised her head, pouted, and opened wide a pair of sparkling, crystal-clear big eyes, making various pitiful expressions to elicit sympathy, which made An Junhe, who was watching from the side, burst out laughing "pfft".

  The serious atmosphere that had been barely maintained was suddenly ruined by his laughter, and the two girls also followed with silly smiles. Quan Baogen frowned and glanced at An Junhe, finally sighing helplessly and waving his hand in a lackluster manner: "Go back and reflect on your mistakes, next time I find out you're causing trouble again, I won't let you off."

  The two girls suddenly smiled and laughed, calling out "See you later, Director Kwon! See you later, senior!" as they skipped and jumped back to the practice room. Behind the door that hadn't been fully closed, a faint voice of Kwon Yu-ri's complaint could be heard: "It's all your fault, putting an earthworm in my shoe! I should have told Director Kwon earlier, so he could punish you properly."

  "It's sister's fault anyway, who made her chase me."

  "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

  "Help! Kwon Yu-ri is a murderer!"

  They scattered in all directions.

  Quan Baogen's mouth twitched, his eyebrows were about to knot together, looking very annoyed, but An Junhe keenly sensed the hidden smile and tolerance in the other's eyes. He thought for a moment, then suddenly asked: "Uncle Baogen, you care deeply about these two girls?"

  Quan Baogen was taken aback, looking at An Junhe with a mixture of surprise and curiosity, seemingly astonished by his perceptiveness. However, he didn't think it necessary to hide this point, so he nodded in acknowledgement: "It's not just me, many instructors, including my colleagues who are also in charge of the trainees, have high hopes for them. Do you know why?"

  "Huh, how would I know?"

  "You look great!" Quan Baogen patted his shoulder, "For the company, as long as you're good-looking and willing to work hard, everything else is secondary... Let's go, I'll take you on a tour."

  "Hmm!"

  An Junhe narrowed his eyes, looking at the figure walking in front of him, and a faint, inexplicable smile appeared on his face: "Appearance? Effort? Quan Baogen, are you comforting me or unconsciously expressing your own thoughts?"

  An Junhe was never a fool, in his dreams, he could start from scratch, taking care of his paralyzed sister on one hand and fighting in the business world on the other. His small travel agency with only 5 people had been operated by him to become a large enterprise with an annual reception of 500,000 customers within a few years. Although this was inseparable from the government's support for the tourism industry, being able to make a way out and expand in the increasingly fierce competition, and finally stand firm in the even more cruel catering industry, undoubtedly proved his wisdom and ability far beyond others.

  Although he is not very clear about the current situation of Quan Baogen due to limited information, it can be inferred from Quan Baogen's occasional irritability that his status in S·M Corporation or in Li Xiuman's mind is no longer as good as before.

  This is an expected thing, after all, Jiang Yuan appeared "unexpectedly" during his nursing period. Although it has nothing to do with him, the superior will not care if you are wronged or not. In order to appease the people of the Jiang family, Li Xiuman did not drive him out completely and let him continue to stay in his original position, which is still considered a heavy emotional debt between them.

  Now, Quan Baogen must be thinking of ways to raise his weight in the eyes of the company's boss again!

  "No wonder he's been so enthusiastic towards me since I contacted him, in a company like this, what can prove one's ability more than bringing out a popular idol?"

  An Junhe smiled, everyone took what they needed, he needed was such a guide to re-emerge, who could suppress all the chips - if not, he wouldn't have given up on participating in the best selection contest and instead ran to join a team leader who seemed to be at the end of his rope.

  Thinking of this, he slowly followed the footsteps of Quan Baogen...

  …………

  The two of them strolled around until it was time for dinner in the cafeteria.

  SM Entertainment has many trainees, with over a hundred people according to Kwangbae. Before this, Ahn Jun-hee didn't have much of an idea about the number, but when it was time for dinner and he saw the crowded cafeteria, he felt sad for the first time as a group of trainees. It can be said that nearly 90% of them will not get any return after years of hard work. The company's promise to debut is ultimately just a shattered dream. As for what happens to them in the end, some become dance or vocal instructors and continue to cultivate the next generation of young people who waste their youth chasing dreams. Those who are worse off completely fade out of this circle and get further and further away from the stage they once desperately wanted to climb onto.

  This sorrow is not about being heavy or pitiful, An Junhe just felt that it was not worth it. Originally, if they hadn't taken this path, maybe they would have had a better future, but they chose to gamble with their youth - the most important and beautiful time in a person's life.

  The low mood didn't bother An Junhe for long, as I said before, that was their own choice, and the bitter consequences were also theirs to taste.

  In the meantime, he and Gwon Baek-ho met Lin Yoon-ah and Kwon Yu-ri again. They formed a small group with several other lively girls, occupying a table in the corner, excitedly discussing something. As soon as he heard their names, he felt familiar, and later at some point, he suddenly recalled that three years from now, SM Entertainment would launch a 9-member girl group that would sweep the world, and if he wasn't mistaken, those two girls were among them.

  "Is this fate?" He thought strangely, among the more than 100 trainees, he happened to have had contact with them first - although the process didn't have any romantic or beautiful elements worth remembering.

  After dinner, An Junhe went to the rest room alone to wait, while Quan Baogen went to prepare for the selection. This selection for An Junhe was a special case that Quan Baogen had fought hard to get, as An Junhe had guessed. His current position was indeed very embarrassing. On the one hand, Li Xiufull had cold-shouldered him, and on the other hand, the other directors who held real power were not too friendly towards him because of their growing contradictions with Li Xiufull and his previous stance. If he hadn't been careful about his relationships with colleagues in the past, the rumors behind his back would have driven him crazy. Even so, every day he could hear many people who used to be jealous of him, those gloating voices.

  Now in order to regain his own power and dignity, he can indeed stake everything!

  Perhaps it was the rare enthusiasm of Quan Baogen that played a role, and An Junhe didn't have to wait for long in the rest room. At around 2 o'clock, a young man with a work card hanging from his chest pushed open the door and called out: "An Junhe, Director Quan wants you to go to the dance studio for an assessment, get ready and come with me!"

  "Yes!"

  He smoothed out his short hair, making himself look more spirited, and An Junhe was led by the young man to the large dance studio he had seen before.

  A young man knocked on the door, and a deep, somewhat flat but majestic voice came from inside:

  "Come in!"

  The young man gestured for An Junhe to go in himself, then retreated to the side. An Junhe took a deep breath and pushed open the door to enter.

  The dance studio was as spacious and grand as he had imagined, with several large windows that were not blocked by curtains at this time. The afternoon sunlight shone in from the west side, illuminating the interior brightly. The floating fibers under the light seemed to be lively little elves dancing up and down. Under the window sill, there were also several potted plants, with flowers blooming, matching the light, bright and dazzling.

  In the center of the dance room, a temporarily moved table was placed there, behind which sat a middle-aged man wearing glasses with a cold and unsmiling face. Quan Baogen, who should have been sitting in another chair, stood respectfully behind the middle-aged man at this time.

  Such an attitude immediately made An Junhe understand the identity of this middle-aged man.

  He stepped on the hard and elastic rubber floor, walked forward slowly, and before the middle-aged man who was flipping through a few pages of materials spoke, he bowed respectfully and said: "Hello, Teacher Li Xiufan, my name is An Junhe, I am a student participating in the selection test today, please give me more guidance."

  As soon as the words came out, Li Xiufull, who had not even looked at him before, suddenly raised his eyes and stared over, his gaze cold and piercing. If someone slightly timid were to encounter this, they would probably be scared stiff immediately. But such a reaction did not scare the two people present, An Junhe was intentionally doing so, of course he wouldn't be scared, Quan Baogen even cheered silently for An Junhe in his heart.

  Li Xiufull's previous actions were clearly careless, and he didn't take the selection examination seriously at all. At this time, the most important thing is to attract his attention first, otherwise, facing an inattentive examiner, even if you have full marks for your talent, you will still be at a disadvantage.

  After staring for a while, seeing An Junhe's calm and composed expression in the face of his gaze, Li Xiufull adjusted her glasses and flipped through the materials in her hand, then asked: "You didn't fill out the form, tell me, what are you good at?"

  "Sing, dance!"

  "Well, don't waste time then, let's dance first!"

  "Yes."

  An Junhe nodded, his legs spread apart, his heels lifted and then forcefully put down, the soles of his shoes striking the rubber floor with a loud "thud" sound, repeating this motion several times. Suddenly, he sprang into action, his powerful limbs stretching out in a dynamic rhythm that was both explosive and handsome. After a brief moment, he bowed to conclude.

  Li Xiūmǎn looked at him, silent for a moment, then nodded and said: "Power jazz, can you do anything else?"

  "This is the only one I know." An Junhe was not modest about this, whether in reality or in dreams. He hadn't learned much dance before, and his breakdancing skills were also self-taught from playing with fellow soldiers who knew how to dance after joining the army. Fortunately, he had a good sense of rhythm and grasped the dance moves quite well.

  Li Xiufull didn't say anything else, took a pen and wrote some words on the paper in his hand. Judging from the relieved look on Quan Baogen's face behind him, it shouldn't be a bad review.

  "Go on, sing a song for me to listen."

  An Junhe didn't start immediately, looked around and suddenly asked: "Is there a piano? I want to accompany myself."

  "Oh?" Li Xiūmǎn finally showed some interest, looking up at him, "Can play the piano?"

  "Yes, I can play the piano and guitar."

  "Like that..." Li Xiufull thought for a moment, then waved his hand, "Forget it for today, this dance studio is still urgently needed, let's see your piano and guitar skills another day, just sing first!"

  An Junhe cleared his throat a few times, he himself liked to sing, this habit of clearing his throat was used every time before singing. After preparing, he nodded slightly towards the two people in front of him, his eyes narrowed, and his head tilted slightly to one side, as if listening to some kind of silent accompaniment. A moment later, a melody composed of deep low notes and thick nasal breathing flowed gently from his lips, sad yet soothing, like the soft whispers of an autumn afternoon.

  But in just one or two sentences, Li Xiufang's expression across from him became focused, and behind him, Quan Baogen's eyes grew brighter and brighter, the anxiety on his face disappearing instantly as a smile rapidly spread, like the flowers blooming under the window.

  ;