Chapter 107: Ice Cream

s is your EXO concept, you are from planets outside the solar system, um... This part of knowledge and things to pay attention to after your debut, I will have the teacher tell you." 。Li Xiuman hesit..."Variety show"

After glancing at the beginning, Chi Jingyuan knew what kind of case this was. The data on the surface clearly stated it at the beginning:

"Infinite Challenge"

"Well, BC's 'Infinite Challenge', it's not an ordinary flying guest, it's a 'Music Festival' special that happens once every two years." Li Chenghuan sat down opposite me and opened up a completely identical document.

"I remember, had some sort of issue a while back, right" While looking at the data, Ji-sung recalled news he'd seen before and asked hesitantly, lowering his head.

"Well, the 'Tu Tu Ge' special episode of at the beginning of the year was quite popular. However, when they selected the sixth member in April, candidate Zhang Dongmin was exposed for his derogatory remarks towards women."

Even though Zhang Dongmin later apologized and withdrew from the program, "Infinite Challenge" still received a lot of criticism afterwards. The production team quickly added Huang Guanghee as the sixth member, but the audience's acceptance of him was still not high. Moreover, recent episodes might lack fun, and viewership ratings and reputation have been steadily declining recently. Even the long-held guarantee of being in the top four for simultaneous viewership has become unreliable.

Lee Seung-hwan obviously did some research beforehand and gave Park Kyung-won a brief rundown, hitting the key points: "It's probably because of the current situation not being great that the production team thought about holding a Gayo Festival. The Gayo Festival is a very famous special episode of Infinite Challenge, held every two years since 2007. Each time, they invite popular guests to collaborate with c and create songs for a performance. You should know about this, Kyung-won, so I won't go into detail…"

"Well, I've seen two episodes, it's pretty interesting." Chi Jingyuan nodded in agreement.

"Nowadays, the Music Festival has a very good reputation. Every time it is held, not only does the viewership ratings steadily increase but it also causes a huge response. Not only does the performance of the participating guests become a hot topic, but the music born in the program also becomes a guarantee of popularity that occupies the top spot in the music market..."

"This year's song festival is the best way for Infinite Challenge to improve its current unfavorable situation. According to the program team, this year's event is the largest ever held, with the invited guests boasting both popularity and top-tier talent."

Saying that, Lee Seung-hwan looked at Ji Kyeong-won with a slightly smug smile and said, "Well, you invited us here."

"Am I the only one who received an invitation"

Because the requirements involve collaboration between guests and c, guests need to have knowledge of song writing, so…

"That's right, isn't it Well, never mind."

Hearing this, Chi Jingyuan reflexively cracked a joke, but halfway through he stopped, feeling it was a bit too much. He looked up and met Li Chenghuan's gaze, and the two of them burst out laughing together.

“The program team places great importance on us, and I've also reviewed the lineup of guests they are planning to invite. It includes popular singers, veteran artists, and talented singing groups. In terms of popularity, heat, and overall quality, the lineup is well-balanced in every aspect. Overall, it looks very good and promising.”

Listening to the other party's explanation and looking at some lists on the data, Ki Jung-won nodded in acknowledgment, then suddenly raised his head and asked, "Brother, which faction do you think we belong to"

"Of course, both popularity and strength are on our side." Lee Seong-hwan shrugged nonchalantly.

"Haha."

Both of them laughed a few times. Li Chenghuan seemed to remember something: "By the way, it's not written in the materials, but I heard that besides you, the program group is also planning to invite BIGBANG, probably G-D."

"Ah" Hearing this, Chi Jingyuan was a little surprised: "So creative"

Although the recent comeback battle between EXO and BIGBANG in June has shown some signs of a winner emerging, the competition and hype between them are still very intense. It remains one of the hottest topics in the K-pop world today. The Infinite Challenge production team even wants to invite the core members of both groups, which is truly ambitious.

"Yeah, but it's not confirmed yet. However, considering the current situation with our XO and Big Bang, if YG knew you were going to participate, he probably wouldn't let you go."

Lee Seung-hwan also laughed, finding the program crew really interesting: "But if there are principle conflicts between the guests on both sides, the program team leans towards our side. With EXO's current popularity, you becoming a guest would definitely cause a lot of discussion... And GD has already participated several times before."

"Hmm."

Chi Jingyuan skimmed through the materials from beginning to end and, after listening to Li Chenghuan's introduction, didn't give it much thought. He closed the documents in front of him and gestured at Li Chenghuan with his chin: "Company arrangements are fine, I don't have any objections."

Although special circumstances allowed Ji Jingyuan to receive better treatment than other members in s, and some personal schedules would be discussed with him before being accepted, Ji Jingyuan generally wouldn't specifically refuse a schedule unless he particularly disliked it.

After all, although it comes with privileges, using it frequently can be inappropriate.

And compared to the variety show and radio programs, Park Jeong-won seems quite interested in this program.

I understand.

Lee Seung-hwan nodded and smiled, as if he had expected Chi Kyung-won's opinion. He didn't take back the data and even handed it to the other side: "Take this data back, Kyung-won, and have a look when you have time... This year's Music Festival is scheduled for five to six episodes. The first episode will air in early July, so after it's finalized, we'll probably start recording the first episode soon."

"It's still the format of six guests and six Cs pairing up, but I heard that one of the Cs, Park Min-hwi, might be absent due to health reasons. That would mean an extra guest group... But nothing is confirmed yet."

"Ok, I understand." Ji Jingyuan made a gesture to Li Chenghuan, picked up the documents in front of him and stood up: "I'll do my preparation beforehand. Brother, you can communicate with them about the recording time. Is there anything else"

Seeing Chi Jingyuan's somewhat anxious look as he hurried back to take a vacation, Li Chenghuan also smiled and shook his head: "It's gone, you go back first... By the way, remember to come back early tomorrow night."

"Don't worry, brother. I'm not... Cosmos! "

……

Because tomorrow was a holiday, it clearly hit a nerve with many members, and today's dismissal time was also earlier than usual. When Ji-seong returned to the dorm, there were hardly any people around. People like Park Chan-yeol and Kim Jong-in had long since disappeared, and even those who seemed more honest didn't know where they had gone.

I heard he's gotten pretty close to a non-celebrity lately.

But it's fine, we are all adults anyway. As long as they don't come back too late at night or stay out all night, the manager actually won't restrict them too much.

Wu Shixun, unusually, stayed in the dorm. Seeing him, Ji Jingyuan was a bit surprised: "Didn't you go out Where's your girlfriend"

"No, too lazy to go. I've been a bit tired lately, and she's not in Seoul either." Woo Shihun lay on the sofa, watching TV listlessly before replying with a yawn. Then he turned his head to look at you, "Are you going tomorrow or not"

He said that he had made an appointment with Kim Jun-myeon to watch a movie and have dinner together tomorrow. Kim Jun-myeon found a good restaurant again, and he had invited Park Ji-sung twice before, but he never got a clear answer.

"Let's go to that hotpot place together tomorrow, it's pretty good. I heard it's opened by people from Xia Guó, the taste is very authentic."

At this time, Kim Jun-myeon, who had just finished showering, came out wiping his hair and also enthusiastically invited him.

"Just a moment, let me think."

Instead of answering directly, Chi Jingyuan took out his phone to glance at it and then gave a perfunctory response.

I guess Jennie is busy, the text message I just sent her hasn't been replied to yet.

"Cut."

Ignoring Wu Shixun's grumbles, Ji Jingyuan sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and started watching TV.

"By the way, the B-list will be updated early tomorrow morning. Do you think it will directly reach the top this week"

"I don't think so, I feel like we could still move up a few places."

While watching TV and chatting casually, Ji-yeong occasionally chimed in with a few words. As they were talking, his phone buzzed, and a reply from Jeon Hye-joo came through.

Exo has a day off tomorrow, and Ji-seong was thinking that with the free time, he could ask Joo-hyuk out to watch a movie together. It would be fulfilling a previous promise they made, so he just sent her a message. when everyone was catching their breath back in the rehearsal room, waiting for the next run-through, Ji Jingyuan took the program schedule given by the organizer and frowned. He carefully looked it...