Chapter 33: Congratulations

gyuan is on the ninth floor of an office building in Seoul, filming a commercial for student milk that a company has hired him for.This is already the third commercial he has filmed this week, so he's..."Bro, how's it going"

Catching their breath back in the waiting room, before they could even take a sip of water, the members were bombarding their manager with questions.

“No errors, very good, I am very successful.”

Li Chenghuan smiled and gave them a thumbs-up, very pleased with the children's performance.

He watched the entire performance from below the stage, and he could clearly feel the shift in the audience's emotions from indifference to passion.

This proves that EXO's comeback stage this time was effective, and it allows people to feel their charm and fall in love with them.

Those who watched the program on TV should have a good number of people starting to support EXO.

"Everyone take a break, have some water, we'll be going on stage again soon."

"That's it."

They didn't pre-record their stage performance today. Instead, it was live broadcast. When they went on stage, the M! Countdown had already been airing for almost fifty minutes, and there was about half an hour left of the program.

At the final round of voting, all the artists had to go on stage and record a performance video.

Ji Jingyuan took a sip of water passed by his assistant, sat back in his seat, shook his head, and let out a sigh.

They have put in the effort, practiced diligently, and successfully returned to the stage. Now, what kind of harvest they will reap depends entirely on the audience's response.

He turned his gaze to the television screen in the waiting room. This was EXO's stage afterward, and at this time, the TaraN4 sub-unit, which had just debuted in May, was performing. The song was "Diary of a Village".

Just now when they went off the field, the other team was waiting in the wings. They even waved to each other and said a word of encouragement as they passed by.

After a while, his phone rang. He picked it up and saw that congratulations messages from his friends were coming in one after another.

From the time of the text message, it can be seen that many of his relatives are paying attention to EXO's comeback stage. After their stage ended, he estimated the time and immediately sent a message over.

"Wow, you guys really came back with a bang this time! Your new style is amazing too, I think you're going to do great!"

"Ooh, Jingyuan, your comeback styling is totally Nuna's cup of tea! Your face shape is perfect for this rainbow hair, Zzzang!! My phone wallpaper needs a change. However, kkkkkk, I don't think your song is really my style, but the dancing is good."

"Congratulations on your comeback! Jingyuan, you guys are finally back. The stage was really amazing, oh my god! EXO's group dance is so synchronized! Your new hairstyle is also especially dazzling, EXO FIGHTING!"

A few close friends had all sent messages, Chi Jingyuan smiled and finished reading them, then replied once to express his gratitude.

After seeing IU's message, he replied with "IU's birthday is coming up!".

Interestingly, he also received a congratulatory text message from Zhou Tzuyu: "Jinyuan xi, congratulations on your comeback, I watched your comeback stage, it's really cool, and the song is very good. Keep up the good work!"

Yi Shui's complex Traditional Chinese text made Chi Jingyuan's head spin. It took him a long time to understand it.

After that night, Zhou Ziyu would send him a few text messages from time to time. At first, they were just polite greetings, but after a few days of getting to know each other, they would start talking about things happening around them in life and chat casually.

Ji-yeong could tell that Tzuyu hadn't integrated into life on the peninsula yet. She didn't have any friends at school or JYP, and she was often lonely.

So even though he finds it somewhat difficult to read Traditional Chinese, if he has time, he will reply and occasionally retort a few things back.

For some reason, he recalled Zhou Tzuyu's photo. Though beautiful, her expression was wooden and meek, like a pushover. He felt an urge to bully her, something like pinching her face or saying a couple of mean things.

He is pretty young, making it hard to resist wanting to tease him.

At first, he thought Zhou Tzuyu was a very introverted girl who didn't like to talk. However, after getting to know her better, he realized that these perceptions were somewhat one-sided. This girl was more reserved and disliked interacting with unfamiliar people. In fact, she was quite lively inside and would stubbornly retort a few words when teased.

Just like when Ji-yeong sarcastically called her "miss" because she got lost while walking, Tzuyu also started adding "xi" after Ji-yeong's name after her refusal.

This kind of retort is hilarious, but it also speaks volumes about her personality.

"Thank you for your attention, Tzuyu-xi, but... can you understand me"

Ji Jingyuan smiled and casually replied. Then, while browsing his phone, he chatted with the members in the waiting room.

The successful first stage was a relief, and it's a good start for EXO's comeback. After such a long time returning to music shows, the members were all excited, with all sorts of topics ready to share. The atmosphere in the waiting room was especially lively.

"The awards ceremony is about to begin, EXO is preparing to go on stage."

About twenty minutes later, the staff came again.

After hearing this, the members reluctantly stood up and followed Kim Jun-myeon out of the waiting room. Meanwhile, several other waiting rooms nearby also opened their doors at almost the same time, with many groups coming out from inside.

Some greeted each other with smiles and waves, while others reacted with indifference and walked away directly. The crowd gathered together and made their way toward the stage.

At the final awards ceremony, all the artists gathered on stage. At the front were today's special MC, with one candidate from this season, the Myth group, and Lee Hyori on either side.

And the recently returned EXO once again appeared at the back of the crowd. As a newly returned group with low seniority and average historical achievements, they could only stand here.

Standing at the very last row, looking at the two or three rows of artists densely packed in front, Chi Kyung-won, whose view was completely blocked by everyone else, suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity.

He seemed to be back to the days when he was promoting his debut song last year.

The first place in today's honor goes to…

"Myth, Carmilla."

As the music began, a shower of confetti erupted. Today, one member was taken away by the myth, and all the artists started laughing and applauding, congratulating the senior group on gaining one new member.

When Myth received their award, some EXO members moved a few steps to the second row in order to get more screen time. As the camera panned across them, they flashed bright smiles, appearing genuinely happy for Myth's achievement.

The pool view behind him remained motionless, still standing there smiling and clapping. He inexplicably found it rather amusing, because this feeling of standing at the back and applauding was also strangely familiar.

I also wonder when EXO will be able to stand at the front openly and receive cheers and applause from others.

First published on the Traditional Chinese Novel Networky. Unsurprisingly, she's doing this to match Chi Jingyuan when they stand together. She'll probably wear this at every awards ceremony for the rest of the year.It's really hard being a female artist.C...