"Can you two stop wearing such thick-soled shoes?"
Chen Wu, who was usually good-tempered and had never commented on his teammates' fashion choices before, couldn't hold back anymore. He felt deeply wounded while standing at the entrance earlier.
Sang Mo, who was reading on the side, lifted his foot to look at his shoes. "They're not that thick."
Jiang Wangran, touching up his makeup in front of the mirror, also replied, "We're just wearing sneakers."
Chen Wu: "..."
He felt wounded again.
These days, men's sneakers were designed with thicker soles to accommodate shorter people, especially the more stylish ones.
It wasn't surprising that these two fashion-forward individuals would wear such shoes, but Chen Wu's ankles were suffering for it.
Usually, when Chen Wu appeared on shows, he would be looking down at others' heads, but within the team, he became the one looking up, making fans think he was petite when in reality he was 184 cm tall.
Just as Chen Wu was compromising and searching for heel inserts on his phone, their manager, who had gone out at some point, pushed open the door and whispered to everyone inside: "The CEO is here, quick, all three of you stand up!"
After speaking, she stepped aside by the door. Whether it was Jiang Wangran sitting at the makeup mirror or Sang Mo and Chen Wu on the sofa, they all quickly stood up and adjusted their clothes.
Once the door opened, the bustling sounds from outside filtered in, including staff members greeting Jiang Juyou.
The footsteps outside were chaotic, sounding like many people walking together. Their manager peeked outside and then turned back to say, "She's almost here."
In the hallway, Jiang Juyou walked in front, followed by some staff members. The show's director seemed to be among them, engaged in conversation with her.
Li Yao heard the commotion from afar and was about to turn away when she made eye contact with Jiang Juyou.
She curled her toes nervously and bit her lip, while Jiang Juyou in the distance merely nodded at her before turning back to continue her conversation with the director.
In those few seconds, Li Yao quickly slipped back to their waiting room.
With over a dozen groups of artists, plus staff and equipment storage, the Galaxy Venue's backstage waiting rooms were clearly insufficient. Most rooms were used for props, and except for a small number of high-profile artists, the remaining groups shared waiting rooms.
Li Yao's group shared a large waiting room with several other groups.
She ran back, carefully avoiding people sitting on the floor. Her hurried and flustered appearance drew glances from her groupmates.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Xu saw her urgency and thought the show's team had suddenly announced something.
Li Yao just shook her head and quickly sat down. "Nothing, it's just cold outside."
She didn't mention running into Jiang Juyou in the hallway.
By this time, Jiang Juyou had said goodbye to the show's team and arrived at Equals3's waiting room with her assistant.
"How are you feeling today?" She scanned the three people standing straight, then fixed her gaze on Chen Wu in the middle, glancing at his head and then his shoes.
Since the big boss asked, Jiang Wangran naturally shared everything, "Very good! I slept for ten hours last night."
The reason for sleeping ten hours was because they had been filming overnight for the past two days, and he was so tired he could have dented the bed.
Every time Jiang Juyou saw Jiang Wangran, she was inspired by his abundant energy, wondering how he maintained such vitality throughout the day.
She smiled, "Getting plenty of sleep is good, means you still have room to grow taller." Then she looked at the other two, "How about you?"
"Pretty good."
"Same as him, slept for a long time."
They were still somewhat nervous when facing Jiang Juyou.
"Alright, perform well on stage today. Although the audience won't see your live broadcast performance, there are many fans in the venue. I hope you won't slack off just because they're playing your pre-recorded footage."
Jiang Juyou had just come from the stage area where fans were already entering. Unlike foreign venues with capacities of two or three hundred, their live broadcast environment accommodated over a thousand fans.
Jiang Wangran assured her again, "Definitely won't, boss, don't worry!"
Hearing the term "boss," both Sang Mo and Chen Wu couldn't help but glance at him.
Jiang Juyou nodded with a smile, "Well, if any posts appear online saying you were lazy during the live broadcast, remember to write me an apology letter." She joked.
"That won't happen! I won't leave the stage today until I've played some proper guitar!" Jiang Wangran started bragging.
With Jiang Wangran around, Jiang Juyou's smile never faded.
She found it both amusing and helpless that such a serious company as Random Entertainment had produced such a free spirit as Jiang Wangran.
Jiang Juyou chatted with a few other people from their operations team until her assistant reminded her it was time to go.
Before leaving, she turned back to look at Chen Wu one more time and said to their stylist, "See if you can get Chen Wu different shoes or some insoles. The height difference between them doesn't look good."
"Yes, of course," the team agreed, regardless of Chen Wu's feelings.
The petrified Chen Wu couldn't even explain to the CEO before she left.
Jiang Wangran added fuel to the fire, patting Chen Wu's shoulder consolingly, "It's okay, brother."
Sang Mo also chuckled quietly, muttering, "Height difference... pfft..."
Chen Wu: "..."
His mood and state were both compromised now.
Random Entertainment had launched three groups in one year, and while people expected them to be similar types competing with each other, their fan bases were actually quite different.
Of AIcho's high popularity, casual fans accounted for sixty percent, while Timetrain was the opposite, being a fan-powered group.
Equals3 leaned more towards niche culture, with data showing they were more popular in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai region. They didn't have many die-hard fans, but many music lovers paid to see their live performances.
In the two months since their debut, excluding music festival stages and promotional self-produced music stages, they averaged one Livehouse performance per week.
They didn't perform in venues that could hold thousands, but rather in underground rooms that could only accommodate three to four hundred people. Their Livehouse application requirements were also unique - those who hadn't seen their Livehouse performances before had a higher chance of being selected.
The Livehouse shows at 10 PM, with one-and-a-half-hour performances, indeed attracted many artistic youth.
This explained why there was little discussion about the three of them in fan circles, and why they were rarely seen in online news, despite their music performing well.
The three of them had previously performed mainly for their own fans and artistic youth in closed, private venues.
Even at music festivals with audiences of hundreds of millions, the three of them were easily overlooked, not because they weren't eye-catching, but because AIcho and Timetrain were more discussion-worthy.
But today was different - today they were the stars.
"Idol New Museum" started broadcasting on time, the looping advertisements ended, and the opening animation began.
Sang Mo stood between two unfamiliar women, holding a cue card, and without any hesitation, spoke the show's slogan when the camera focused on his face.
"Idol New Museum!" Sang Mo said into the microphone.
"The newest music library--" the two women continued.
Their outfits were deliberately coordinated, all featuring touches of Klein blue.
Sang Mo wore a black leather jacket, a white shirt with a Klein blue tie - the entire visual focus centered on his tie, making it hard to look away.
As this was the country's first live music show, curious netizens outnumbered fans.
Though the opening introduction was just a few ordinary lines, it sent the bullet comments into chaos.
"The guy in the middle is definitely going to be famous, I'm betting on it."
"What a stunning opening! Where did they find this host? He's so good-looking, hasn't any agency signed him yet?"
"He made eye contact with me for ten seconds - he loves me, I'm telling you!"
These genuine comments from netizens broke through Sang Mo's fans' defenses, as apparently many people didn't know who Sang Mo was.
"Without further ado, let's check out the opening performance of the Idol New Museum," Sang Mo finished his introduction, and it was the two girls' turn beside him.
The two girls glanced down at their cue cards and announced, "Please welcome the group Klein performing—"
"Klein Blue!"
This opening segment lasted only about ten seconds, but it was live content. The three hosts stood at the side of the stage, with cameras focused on them, while the seven members of Klein had already taken their positions and struck their poses, just waiting for the music to start.
Those ten seconds were enough to make their hearts, along with Yang Siyu and others', clench with anxiety.
"I'm dying... the livestream has reached seven million viewers..." Zhao Xu clutched her chest, feeling like her heart might explode any second.
The staff members were all watching the screen backstage, especially Klein's team. The seven or eight of them were practically on their knees praying.
Half a year of hard work, running around everywhere, begging for resources - none of it compared to these three and a half minutes today.
Just as they finished speaking, the moment the music started, the livestream viewers suddenly jumped to thirty-six million.
They stared at the numbers in the upper right corner, panicking collectively.
"Please, wheels of fate! I'm begging you!"
"Oh my god, oh my god! Suddenly there are thirty-six million viewers! My heart can't take it, someone save me!"
"Dear heavens, I'm not asking for much, just a little discussion would be fine. Just two or three threads after the show ends would be enough - our kids are really good kids."
At this moment, Yang Siyu clenched her fists, feeling nervous both for the seven of them and ashamed for herself.
Chen Wu: Who will speak for me?
