Chapter 16

That summer night, the five girls officially debuted as a group called Shining Five.

The six-month-long survival show livestream had come to an end. The competition, billed as “the people’s selection,” had its final results tonight, and the Shining Five, chosen by the audience’s votes, finally left the training camp that had been soaked in their sweat and tears, heading to the dormitory the company had already arranged.

As Zhao Yu dragged her suitcase to the car, she felt like every step she took was floating.

The exhilaration from the live stage had subsided. Now, walking in the silence outside the camp, with only the sound of suitcase wheels rolling across the ground around her, it felt like she had suddenly fallen from the clouds back to earth—a thick sense of unreality washing over her.

So… this was it? She’d debuted?

From her freshman year at Muyi to debuting as a group now—two years had passed in the blink of an eye. It felt like just yesterday she’d been kicking up a fuss about becoming a trainee.

She looked down at the pink crown cradled in her arms.

She’d really done it.

Of the ten thousand steps toward him, had she already walked half the distance?

Her burning hot phone vibrated again. Ever since she’d gotten her phone back after the competition ended, she’d taken no fewer than twenty calls. She’d just finished a half-hour video call with her family, and the phone was still scalding.

Zhao Yu pulled out her phone as she walked. When she saw the name in her notifications, her steps suddenly halted.

Shen Junyi: Congratulations on your debut! /grin

He knew!

He’d seen it!

Her heart pounded violently in the sweltering night.

Was he paying attention to her?

No—the show had been trending domestically too. He might have just stumbled across the news by chance. Would he think she was strange, following his lead into becoming an idol? He wouldn’t… guess her real motive, would he?!

Her brain churned like a malfunctioning machine, clattering through a dozen wild thoughts in an instant.

In the end, she just took a deep breath and typed back two words: Thank you.

The message sent successfully. Zhao Yu stood there staring at the chat window for a long while. He didn’t reply. Part of her felt disappointed, but another part knew that was exactly how it should be.

Not far away, she could hear Lin Zhinan and Kristen chatting and laughing. They waved at her. “Yuyu, we’ve already loaded our luggage. Why are you so slow?”

She put her phone away, tucked away her melancholy, and dragged her suitcase toward them.

The five gathered, the car pulled away from the camp, and laughter filled the vehicle.

Within Shining Five, Zhao Yu was naturally closest to Lin Zhinan and Kristen. Heya, who had ranked fourth, was cool and quiet in private, not one for many words. Lin Xiuxi, who came in second, was great at livening things up—very outgoing.

Zhao Yu had heard before that Lin Xiuxi was apparently the heiress to some conglomerate, incredibly wealthy, with a very high status in Korea. Growing up in that kind of family, she’d seen it all, learned it all, and carried herself with an aristocratic air.

Zhao Yu hadn’t had much contact with either of them, but from what she’d seen during their training camp days, neither seemed difficult to get along with.

Still, even though Kristen was from the same company as Lin Xiuxi, the two didn’t seem particularly close. Kristen much preferred sticking by Zhao Yu.

The company’s arranged dormitory was in a mid-range residential complex—a split-level duplex with bedrooms upstairs and common areas downstairs.

The place wasn’t luxurious, but at least everyone had their own space, and it was clean with all the daily necessities provided. Zhao Yu had heard Kristen mention that seniors in the company had to share bunk beds in cramped rooms. Compared to that, she felt more than satisfied.

The company had already assigned rooms. After the tension of finals night, everyone was exhausted. They didn’t even bother unpacking—just washed up and went straight to sleep.

Zhao Yu hadn’t had a good night’s rest in the six months at the training camp. She’d thought she could finally sleep in, but at exactly eight the next morning, the assistant the company assigned to them came knocking to wake her up.

The five girls washed up and went downstairs for a meeting.

The agent, assistants, and representatives from each of their companies were already there for the official signing of the limited-group contract.

The show Shining Stars was a Sino-Korean co-production, but the Chinese side only held a small stake—the Korean side had the majority. Although Zhao Yu was a trainee under Muyi, now that she’d debuted as part of the group, she still had to sign a three-year limited contract with the Korean side.

Even though their group had debuted, in the K-pop industry, where girl groups were everywhere, Shining Five’s future popularity was still uncertain. If they reached the top within three years, the contract would be renewed. If their popularity fizzled, they’d disband as originally planned.

Since they’d just debuted, the company only assigned them one agent and two assistants. After signing the contracts, the assistant handed over overseas social media accounts, already registered, to each of the five.

When Zhao Yu logged in, she saw that her solo stage from finals night had already been posted on her account, with over a million views.

Under the video were tens of thousands of comments and likes. She opened the comment section and saw countless passionate confessions in a mix of Chinese, Korean, English, and more. For the first time facing so many people’s unabashed adoration, she felt a little overwhelmed.

Lin Zhinan stared at her own phone for a while, then looked up at Zhao Yu in disbelief. “I have over two million followers.”

She suddenly slapped herself on the forehead.

Zhao Yu: “…What are you doing?”

Lin Zhinan: “Checking if I’m dreaming.” She looked at her phone, then back at Zhao Yu. “Is this really real? Am I really not dreaming?”

Zhao Yu shoved her phone back in her pocket, grabbed Lin Zhinan by the shoulders, and shook her hard.

Lin Zhinan’s brain nearly rattled loose.

Zhao Yu yelled right next to her ear, at maximum volume: “WAKE. UP.”

Lin Zhinan: “Mmph. Not dreaming. It’s real. QAQ”

Lin Xiuxi casually replied to a few comments, then looked up and said to Heya with a smile, “They’re speaking Chinese again.” She suddenly turned to Kristen, who was scrolling through her phone nearby. “Zhang Huiying, can you understand what they’re saying?”

Kristen’s body stiffened. She didn’t speak for a long moment.

Zhao Yu had been taking one-on-one Korean lessons for six months at the camp, and with the language environment, her Korean had improved significantly—she could handle daily conversations fluently now.

She’d heard everything Lin Xiuxi said. She turned and explained first: “Nan Nan and I were talking about our follower counts on INS.” Then she asked, “Who were you just calling?”

Lin Xiuxi toyed with her phone, still smiling. “Kristen. Her real name is Zhang Huiying—didn’t you know?”

Zhao Yu glanced at Kristen, who remained silent, and smiled warmly. “Tingting, so you have two names? Both are so cute. Tingting, Yingying—in Chinese, those two sound really similar!”

Tingting was the nickname she’d given Kristen. Because she’d used it so often during training camp, the audience had picked up on it, and many fans called her that too.

Kristen looked at her with a hint of gratitude in her eyes.

Lin Zhinan, taking advantage of the fact that the others didn’t understand Chinese, said with a perfectly pleasant smile, “She did that on purpose, didn’t she? Tingting already took an stage name, and she still drags out her real name to mock her.”

Zhao Yu smiled back. “Shut up.”

Lin Xiuxi feigned anger. “Hey, you two—no more Chinese. We need to make a rule: anyone caught secretly communicating in Chinese has to clean the dorm for a week!”

Everyone laughed and joked around for a bit, letting the matter slide.

After reviewing the contracts, the agent drove the five of them to the company’s headquarters for a meeting with the artist management executives.

The meeting ran until the afternoon.

It mainly covered refining each member’s persona, as well as outlining their upcoming image packaging plans and schedules.

Based on their performances during the six months in training camp, Zhao Yu was designated as the group’s main dancer and visual. Lin Xiuxi was the leader, Heya the main rapper, Lin Zhinan the main vocalist, and Kristen—the youngest with the softest personality—became the group’s beloved princess.

Kristen’s family background wasn’t well-off. In reality, she was far from the pampered princess the audience saw. But her appearance fit the mold, and since the company wanted to package her that way, she had no choice but to go along.

Fortunately, Zhao Yu’s own personality was already likable enough, so the company didn’t impose too many demands on her.

They’d debuted through a survival show and already had a certain level of popularity, but they were only at the “moderately well-known” stage. There was still a long way to go before reaching the level of a top-tier national girl group.

Shining Five’s first single was already produced. Along with the four original songs they’d performed in the final stages of training camp, the company would release Shining Five’s first EP in a month.

So next up: rehearsals.

One month was short, but for these five, learning one new song was more than manageable. Besides rehearsals, they also had to appear on some promotional events.

After all, they were at the peak of their debut buzz and needed a certain amount of exposure.

Zhao Yu hadn’t even fully processed the fact that she’d debuted before she was thrown headfirst into a busy idol schedule.

For now, all their schedules were in the Korean entertainment industry. The company didn’t seem eager to break into the Chinese market just yet, and the social media accounts they’d registered were all overseas platforms.

Zhao Yu and Lin Zhinan, of course, couldn’t ignore their domestic fans.

After applying with the company, they set up verified Weibo accounts and posted their first messages since debuting:

– Shining Five-Zhao Yu: I’m here.
– Shining Five-Lin Zhinan: I’m here.

The moment the accounts went live, their starving fans swarmed the comments.

– Baby baby baby welcome to Weibo!
– Finally don’t have to use a VPN to see our girl. Tears of joy from this old mom.
– Girl, come check Weibo often! Post more selfies!
– Baby, repost the solo stage you put on INS over here. We’ll send it viral so everyone can see your gorgeous fairy performance!

On INS, almost everything was in Korean and English—maybe five out of a hundred comments were in Chinese, and just reading them took forever.

Now, looking at the familiar mother tongue under their Weibo posts, it felt so much easier. The two sat together, replying to fans and chatting.

Lin Zhinan said, “I followed Mengmeng and the others. Did you?”

Zhao Yu said, “Not yet. Find them all first, and I’ll just go through your follow list later.”

Lin Zhinan: “…Lazy much?”

Mengmeng was one of their fellow trainees at Muyi, still just a trainee. After they’d been at it for a while, Lin Zhinan suddenly snorted with laughter. “Feng You actually followed me! Oh my, should I follow her back?”

She propped her chin up thoughtfully. “She didn’t care back then, and now she can’t reach my level.”

Zhao Yu ignored her, happily interacting with her “Yu Meiren” fans.

Lin Zhinan suddenly said, “Are you going to follow Shen Junyi?”

Zhao Yu’s hand twitched. “No, no, no!”

Lin Zhinan grew more excited. “Hey, you’ve debuted now! You’re a big star too! You’re a lot of people’s idol now! If you told him you’re his fan, wouldn’t he be shocked? Hahaha. I wonder when we’ll have domestic events—maybe we’ll even run into him!”

She nudged Zhao Yu’s arm. “Hey, don’t be a coward then, okay? Make sure you ask for a photo, got it? Tell him how much you like him—that you only got through training by secretly looking at his photos under your blanket!”

Seeing Zhao Yu glare at her, she quickly added, “Don’t deny it! I saw it!”

Zhao Yu turned and yelled, “Xiuxi! Heya! Nan Nan is secretly speaking Chinese behind your backs again!”

From the other room came Lin Xiuxi’s voice: “Perfect. Nan Nan’s on dorm cleaning duty for the week.”

Lin Zhinan: “…………?”