Chapter 6 Those Who Are Still Green (Part 2)

  Today there is only one more update of 4,000 words, no way, it's a disaster!

  I don't know how many places near the city are burning straw, today the whole sky is foggy. At first, I thought it was normal fog, but later when it thickened slowly, I smelled that increasingly strong smell of smoke and fire... It still hasn't dissipated now, closing doors and windows doesn't work, it's suffocating, my eyes keep tearing up, it's so uncomfortable...

  =================

  Although An Junhe didn't have a chance to communicate with his seniors due to the tight schedule, he knew that the trainees were actually divided into many small groups.

  The most important reason is that the competitive relationship between each other leads to it, and the second is the irreconcilable personality conflict during daily interactions.

  These two factors first divided the trainees into two major factions, one with strong strength and the other with weak strength. This is a competitive relationship that determines which ones are more likely to be selected by the company's scarce debut resources, while those with weaker strength naturally have even slimmer chances.

  Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents. In such a large environment, even if there are people who have good private relationships between the two factions, they must clearly draw boundaries on the surface. Over time, their emotional ties will fade away.

  Under the larger faction, those with similar personalities became friends and formed small groups. These groups were much more solid, not only because of friendship ties but also because of the tacit understanding that developed from these friendships, which companies encouraged. After all, companies are good at promoting combinations, and such self-formed teams usually practice dance and song together, even participating in internal assessments as a team. This approach allows companies to intuitively observe from a combination perspective who has shining points and is worth continuing or increasing cultivation value.

  Every day when the cafeteria is open for meals is the moment when small groups can be observed.

  An Junhe followed Park Jeong-soo to the cafeteria, just in time for dinner. A crowd of people were packed in front of the window, queuing up and rubbing shoulders with each other, making a loud noise. On the empty tables at the back, there were piles of books, CD players and other small items used to reserve seats. Park Jeong-soo searched through the queue for a while before shouting out to a tall and sturdy-looking boy: "Yeong-woon! Yeong-woon!"

  The boy turned his head and mouthed "what's up".

  "Get another one!" Park Jeong-soo shouted, pointing at Ahn Jun-hee beside him.

  The boy looked at An Junhe with a glance, didn't ask much, and responded with an OK gesture.

  "Haha, his name is Kim Yeong-yeon." Park Jeong-soo put his arm around Ahn Jun-hee's shoulder and led him to a corner table in the large cafeteria, introducing him in a low voice: "He's a very manly guy, but he talks a bit too much and can be impulsive. Once you get used to it, though, you'll find out that he's actually a really good person and easy to get along with."

  When he arrived, the person who was lying on the table with no energy looked up at Park Jeong-soo and groaned: "Brother, why are you just coming now? I'm starving to death."

  "Nonsense, I arrived early enough to have dinner already?" Park Jeong-soo cursed with a smile, and then introduced: "Brother's new friend, Ahn Jun-hee."

  He stretched out his hand and pointed at the boy, laughing: "This is He Zai I mentioned earlier to you, full name Li Hezai. You two introduce yourselves, both of you are guys who practice as if your lives depend on it."

  Ignoring his joke, Ahn Jun-hee greeted him respectfully, "Hello, Lee Hyeok-jae sunbaenim. Nice to meet you for the first time. Please give me a lot of advice."

  "Oh, you too......" Li Hezai hadn't paid much attention to An Junhe before, but now that he was being greeted so respectfully, he felt a bit flustered and only managed to hastily return the greeting after a moment's pause. He took another look at An Junhe and suddenly his eyes widened as he exclaimed to Pu Zhengsu, "Hey, brother, isn't this the guy you said was an idiot......"

  The words hadn't been spoken yet, when Park Jeong-soo stepped forward and covered his mouth with one hand, holding him down tightly. He turned his head back and dryly laughed: "What nonsense is this? This guy's starving to death! I'll take him to the bathroom to sober up a bit, Joon-hee don't mind!" As he spoke, he dragged Lee Hyeok-jae, who was struggling nonstop, away quickly.

  In the noisy environment, Ahn Jun-hee, who had extremely good hearing, faintly heard Park Jeong-soo's low-voiced reprimand: "...How can you say such things in front of others...how embarrassing..."

  Lee Hye-jae strongly refuted, "But that's what you yourself said, I didn't say anything wrong."

  "Speak softly... At that time, I didn't know him either, so I just casually teased you with a sentence. You remembered it very clearly, but I taught you to speak more carefully, how can you never remember?"

  “……”

  The two of them gradually walked away, their voices getting smaller and smaller, and An Junhe didn't pay attention to listening anymore. It was probably just a few people who had discussed him privately before, and Park Jeong-soo might have given him some unpleasant nickname behind his back. This kind of small matter is too common, whoever talks about strangers in private, there are times like this, after all, they didn't know each other at the time, and it was just a joke behind their backs, no need to worry so much.

  It's not worth putting your mind to it, of course, if Park Jeong-soo hadn't stopped Lee Hyeok-jae earlier, the result would have been different, at least the atmosphere would have been awkward.

  An Jun-heo, pretending not to have heard anything, sat in his seat for a while and called Ji-soo during that time, telling her that he would be late coming back and asking her to wait a bit, not to try to make herself something hot to eat.

  Zhi Xiu obediently agreed.

  In the past few days, perhaps because Ahn Jun-hee often shares what he learns - such as breathing and singing practice that don't require exercise - with Ji-soo, she has something to do and her mood is much better than before. Although when alone at home, she still feels lonely, occasionally when Ahn Jun-hee gets up in the morning, he can still see the traces of tears on her pillowcase.

  At least he won't be like the one in his dream, who wouldn't say a word all day, staring blankly at one place for a long time, and sometimes suddenly losing control of his emotions, worrying him to death.

  After hanging up the phone, those two still hadn't returned, but instead, Jin Yunyun, who had been seen earlier, came back first with four dinner plates in her hands.

  An Junhe hastily stepped forward, asking and greeting: "Hello senior, I'm An Junhe, please take care of me." While helping him put the dinner plate on the table.

  "Hello!" Jin Yeong-yeon bowed politely and sat down beside Ahn Jun-hee, "Where are Jeong-soo hyung and the others?"

  "He said he was going to the bathroom and walked off for a bit." An Junhe shrugged and replied.

  Jin Ying's eyebrows slightly furrowed, she whispered a sentence "These two guys......", then turned her head to call out to An Junhe: "Don't wait for them, let's eat first."

  Although he said so, he didn't start eating first, but instead wiped the tableware with a paper towel one by one, and then arranged each dish neatly. His familiar and serious appearance made it clear that this was not his first time doing so, making it impossible for people to see that he had a delicate side completely opposite of his physique.

  No wonder Park Jeong-soo said that people are very good, with such a delicate personality, taking care of others, even if they have a hot temper, it's harmless, indeed belonging to the type of person who is easy to get along with, making friends is quite suitable.

  An Junhe silently evaluated that everyone needs friends, and the environment they are in will make friends with people in that environment. Those who feel good about themselves and disdain to understand others' pride, even if they succeed later, are still living a lonely and failed life.

  "Come to think of it, I always feel like I've seen him somewhere before..."

  An Junhe thought, when he saw Park Jeong-soo before, he had this feeling, always thinking that it was familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere. Because at the time, Park Jeong-soo interrupted and dragged him to the cafeteria, there was no time to think about it, now seeing Kim Yeong-yeon up close again, that sense of familiarity floated back into his mind.

  He ate while trying to recall, and even when Park Jeong-soo and Lee Hyeok-jae returned, they just exchanged a casual greeting. The two guilty men thought he was sulking about what happened earlier and didn't dare say much. Under Kim Yeong-won's puzzled gaze, they slowly sat down across from Ahn Jun-hyuk, feeling like they were sitting on pins and needles.

  It wasn't until half a day later that Ahn Jun-ho finally found the clue from his memories of the dream. In the dream, he seemed to have seen Park Jung-soo and Lee Hye-jae on a "future" TV show, and had a vague impression of Kim Young-un, but couldn't figure out why, and after thinking about it for half a day, it seemed that among the celebrities he knew, there were no names like Park Jung-soo, Lee Hye-jae, and Kim Young-un.

  Such memories suggest that either these three people finally came out but did not become popular, or they all used stage names, so they could not match themselves.

  After all, he is a man, and he has nothing to do with male idols since birth. At that time, he had also passed the age of chasing stars. Even if he saw which artist when paying attention to the entertainment circle, at most, he would just take a glance, remember the name, as for whether it was a stage name or a real name, or what his real name was, he didn't have the interest to understand so much.

  "If it's a stage name... Could these three people be joining the company's 13-member boy group that's debuting next year? I can only remember who's who because there are too many members..."

  As he thought about it, Ahn Jun-hee suddenly understood why Park Jeong-soo wanted to rely on himself and get close to Kwon Bo-geun. The 13-member group that was supposed to debut next year must have already been secretly selecting members, and perhaps he had sensed something and couldn't hold back his desire to sound out Kwon Bo-geun.

  It's really true that as a trainee here, there isn't a single simple thing, and people are very sensitive about this kind of thing.

  An Junhe lost his smile, but this had nothing to do with him. He had no intention of telling Park Jeong-soo about the three-person company's plans. It was a troublesome thing to get involved in someone else's affairs, and he knew he wasn't a gentleman, but still...

  After dinner, Ahn Jun-hee, the youngest in age and generation, voluntarily picked up a messy plate and took it to the water tank to wash.

  When he came back, the position of their original dining table had been occupied by several girls. Park Jeong-soo and his friends stood helplessly beside the table, with one girl holding a DV camera aimed at them, and another rolling up a book into a makeshift microphone, imitating a reporter's tone, asking seriously: "Park Jeong-soo, as you entered the company in the same year, spent 4 years together, and formed deep friendships, on the eve of Zheng Xiuyan's 16th birthday, what do you want to say to her?"

  "Hmm... a close friend?" Park Jeong-soo scratched his face in embarrassment and muttered, "This... Soo-young, ah... hey, is it okay if I call her that? She's not very familiar with me, what if I offend her..."

  Before she could finish speaking, the girl took back the raised "microphone" and said seriously in front of the camera: "Park Jeong-su said that he and Jung Soo-young have a very cold relationship and do not plan to issue birthday greetings."

  "Ah, Choi Soo-young, are you trying to get me killed?"

  Choi Soo-young said sternly in front of the camera, "Park Jeong-soo said that if he was forced to say a birthday wish, he would rather die."

  "You..."

  Park Jeong-soo was speechless, while the other girls were already laughing together. Meanwhile, Lee Hyeok-jae, who was standing next to him, was greatly admiring Choi Soo-young's ability to stir up trouble and chuckled as he approached: "Interview me, interview me, I have something to say to Jung Soo-young."

  Choi Soo-young completely ignored him, put away the "microphone", and beckoned to those girls, "Let's go, take the belt to show it to Soo-hyun, let her see the true face of some people, haha!"

  As soon as the words fell, she saw a few steps away, An Junhe, who was smiling and looking over here. His big eyes suddenly widened in surprise, and after a moment of stunned silence, he let out a sharp cry: "Xiao Xian, quickly take his picture, take it!"

  The little girl holding the DV immediately focused the lens in the direction she was pointing, and Ahn Jun-hee's face appeared on the DV screen. The little girl let out a low cry: "Omo... even more handsome than Hishi-teo oppa..."

  The next moment, Choi Soo-young's figure holding a "microphone" appeared in the camera.

  "Hey handsome, we're the interview team for 'Zheng Xiuyan's 16th Birthday Public Opinion Survey'. As Zheng Xiuyan is about to turn 16, do you have anything to say to her?"

  I didn't expect Ahn Jun-hee, who was quietly watching from the sidelines, to suffer an unexpected disaster. With Park Jeong-soo's precedent in mind, he didn't dare say anything and could only stare blankly with wide eyes.

  Choi Soo-young sighed: "It seems that this handsome guy is proud of his good looks and doesn't care about Jung Soo-yeon at all."

  An Junhe didn't think that even if he didn't speak, he couldn't escape the poisonous tongue. Now he had experienced the sharp wit of this girl named Choi Soo-young. He hastily raised his hands in surrender: "Okay, okay, I'm afraid of you. I'll say it... But you have to promise not to misinterpret my words like you did with Jeong Sook."

  After considering for a moment, Cui Xiuying reluctantly nodded, "Alright, I'll let it pass since you're a handsome guy."

  "Even I am a handsome guy, why are you treating me like that!"

  Unfortunately, everyone ignored him. Facing the camera, Ahn Jun-hee cleared his throat and said, "That... Senior Jung Soo-young, maybe you don't know me... Of course, I don't know you either, hehe. But that doesn't stop me from saying some words of blessing to you."

  He paused for a moment, seeing that Cui Xiuying hadn't come to disturb him, and then organized his thoughts before speaking seriously: "I don't know if you've heard this or not, but some people consider 16 years old to be the 'flower season', implying that girls of this age are as beautiful and captivating as a hundred flowers blooming in the same season, pure and innocent. But in my opinion, it represents a girl's transition from adolescence to maturity. At this age, you will start to learn how to be sentimental, and some life troubles will quietly enter your previously carefree thoughts. The responsibilities of career and emotions will also accompany the arrival of this season, silently planting a sprout in your heart. These unfamiliar emotions may make you feel scared and lost as you suddenly enter an unfamiliar world, but please don't give up. Be strong and brave in facing all the shocks that come to you, just like the spring rain that surprises the hibernating insects. Although it will weigh down the tender shoots of the newly sprouted seedlings, making them appear weak, it is also what nourishes them, allowing them to grow and bloom into the most beautiful flowers."

  "Jung Soo-yeon, fighting!"