Chapter 10
101 Days: Omega Idol Cultivation Plan — as the name suggested, it was a fan-driven idol talent show in which whether a trainee debuted depended entirely on the fighting strength of their fanbase.
In the past, idols were typically packaged and trained by talent agencies before being launched as a group. After debuting, they would build their fanbase through variety shows, music stages, and similar activities. Only with a large enough fanbase could an idol hope to secure further opportunities and resources.
101 Days: Omega Idol Cultivation Plan took an almost entirely different approach. The vast majority of its contestants were blank slates — their futures created jointly by their own individual talent and effort, alongside the dedication of their fans.
The production team had cleverly tapped into the sense of fulfillment that fans derive from nurturing an idol from scratch, and had assembled 101 aspiring young men, each with their own distinct character, all hungry to debut.
Three months later, the top five trainees with the strongest combination of ability and fan influence would successfully form a group and debut, and would subsequently receive a range of resources provided by the production team.
Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing followed the staff's directions, turning through several pure white corridors carved with European-style relief sculptures, and pushed open the door to the recording hall.
Twenty or thirty trainees were already seated inside in scattered clusters. Hearing new arrivals, they paused their conversations and turned toward the entrance.
When they saw Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing, the trainees instinctively held their breath.
Yun Zhi was wearing a white sweater paired with light camel-colored suit shorts, a stretch of even, slender pale legs on display — dazzling white. His skin was immaculate, his un-glossed lips a natural vivid red, his almond eyes shimmering with a dewy luster.
That beautiful, soft appearance satisfied every possible aesthetic preference in the room.
Beside him, Fang Yixing was dressed in a deep blue silk shirt, the top two buttons undone, his long neck made even more striking by the contrast of the deep blue fabric. The shirt hem hung loose, and his black suit trousers below hugged a pair of cleanly long legs.
His silver medium-length hair was tied loosely behind his head, a few strands not quite long enough falling loose against the sides of his face.
The beauty of the two looked as though a partial deity had sculpted them with particular care — one beautiful in a way that made you want to cherish him, the other beautiful in a way that knocked the breath out of you.
The other trainees began to wonder if they had walked into the wrong place. They weren't fit to stand in the same room as two people with looks that bordered on the divine.
By the time they snapped out of it, a unanimous impulse had already risen in their hearts — to pick up their luggage before even setting it down and just go home.
A red-haired Omega sitting in the middle of the tiered seating blurted out a curse. "Holy shit, aren't you two just completely breaking the rules?! What's even the point of me competing — I'm going home to farm!"
The people around him nodded in enthusiastic agreement. The sheer impact of the two new arrivals' looks had struck them so hard that even their plastered-on smiles had collapsed.
By this point Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing had already made their way to the bottom row of the tiered seats.
Hearing the red-haired boy's outburst, Yun Zhi felt a little shy, the tips of his ears gradually flushing pink. He smiled and greeted everyone. "Hi everyone, I'm Yun Zhi."
He looked over at Fang Yixing.
Fang Yixing's cool voice followed immediately. "I'm Fang Yixing."
"Hi, hi, hi!" Jokes aside, the vast majority of people were friendly at heart.
Yun Zhi happened to sit right next to the red-haired boy.
Seeing Yun Zhi's profile up close, the red-haired boy felt his heart take a direct hit.
Sensing him staring, Yun Zhi turned his head and looked at him with a curious expression. Those amber eyes opened and closed gently, his long raven-dark lashes sweeping down then quickly back up.
Another devastating blow to the senses. So cute!
The red-haired boy, barely twenty years old, had unilaterally decided on the spot to claim Yun Zhi as his baby.
"Want some candy?" The red-haired boy felt around in his pocket and produced a sweet, holding it out to Yun Zhi on his palm.
Yun Zhi instinctively glanced over at Fang Yixing, then politely declined. "Thank you, but it's okay."
His girl-friend was sitting right next to him — if he accepted someone else's snacks, what if the girl-friend got jealous?
"Oh, oh," the red-haired boy caught on quickly, rummaged through his pockets again for a while, and produced two more sweets — taking one for himself and extending the remaining two.
This time, Yun Zhi thanked him with a smile and took them without hesitation.
"Here." Yun Zhi turned and placed one of the sweets in front of Fang Yixing. "From the friend sitting next to me."
Fang Yixing, who had his earphones in and had been looking at a virtual piano keyboard on his phone screen, lifted his gaze and let it settle on the small fruit candy.
He picked it up, tore open the wrapper — and the next second, turned and pressed the unwrapped sweet against Yun Zhi's mouth.
Yun Zhi stared at him with wide eyes, momentarily frozen, as a faint strawberry sweetness and tartness seeped in through the seam of his lips.
"Hm? I wasn't——" Yun Zhi opened his mouth to say something, and Fang Yixing fed the candy right in.
His fingers had grazed that soft lower lip. Fang Yixing withdrew his hand and unconsciously closed his fist around the candy wrapper. The faint crinkle of the plastic wrapper carried clearly into his ears through the noise of dozens of people chatting and laughing around them.
His throat bobbed once. As if possessed, he slipped the wrapper into his other pocket.
Yun Zhi, candy wedged in his cheek, pulled one of Fang Yixing's earphones out and told him in an exasperated, half-amused tone, "That candy was for you — I wasn't asking you to unwrap it for me."
"It's not like you're a little kid." He muttered with a small laugh.
Fang Yixing caught himself, blinked slightly, and couldn't help letting out a quiet, wry laugh.
With the sweet strawberry flavor melting in his mouth, Yun Zhi happily sucked on his candy and bowed his head to unwrap the second one, then held it up to Fang Yixing's mouth and told him to open up. "Aah——"
His soft voice urged him on.
Fang Yixing gave a helpless smile and opened his mouth to take the candy.
Yun Zhi's smile grew even happier.
The red-haired boy beside them, having witnessed the whole exchange, was left hanging jaw-open with an expression of obvious shock.
They were both Omega girl-friends — so why was he picking up such a subtly peculiar atmosphere from their interaction? It didn't feel like the dynamic between close friends. It felt more like the hazy, sweet, indulgent feeling of a first love.
In the director's booth, the camera operator whose monitor happened to be trained on that section of the room broke into a wide, maternal smile.
The sharp-nosed director immediately turned and leaned in to watch alongside him, then excitedly turned to the editor. "That segment — put it in the broadcast! Even an old man like me got a cavity from watching that. Those young girls out there are going to lose their minds. Their names are Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing, right? Looks like that in the industry and they're already top-tier. Shove the camera right in their faces and get me plenty of close-ups. Film every interaction, all of it!"
The director, who had just had his investors poached by a rival competition show, felt his confidence surge back. He announced, "Let Nation's Singer and their little punks try to compete with us for sponsors. I refuse to believe we won't blow up with the very first episode."