Huayu: Starting from the top talent show

Chapter 407 Four people can play mahjong now

Zhao Meiyan hooked her arm around Shen Juan's neck and kissed him as they walked toward the bedroom.

"It doesn't give anyone a moment to breathe." The alluring blush on her cheeks gradually spread to her neck and earlobes.

The next morning, Shen Juan, who was woken up by his alarm clock, took the opportunity to go for a morning run with Zhao Meiyan, who was also woken up, to revitalize their bodies. Afterwards, they left the hotel to meet up with the team members who had already gathered, and boarded the RM program's special car to head to the recording location for today's episode.

When this pop superstar, who has recently caused a stir in East Asia, appeared at the recording site, he unsurprisingly caused a commotion. Many program crew members who were temporarily unemployed rushed over to ask for photos, including many old acquaintances he had met when he came to South Korea last year to record Running Man.

Therefore, Shen Juan would naturally not refuse these reasonable little requests.

Actually...
He always treated ordinary staff members very well.

Unfortunately, before the release of the second patent, Vitan, and before its global explosion and government endorsement, the domestic news media was still controlled by the big capital in the entertainment industry. Therefore, his assertive behavior of "being arrogant but not humiliating" was directly defined as "acting like a big shot" by the rival capital.

Shen Juan's cold face was always meant for those idiots, but they insisted it was because they looked down on the staff.

What can be done?
In addition, his background as a South Korean idol and his hip-hop debut were not popular with the mainstream public, which allowed his rivals to continuously incite ordinary people to attack him by guiding public opinion, causing him to lose a lot of goodwill from the general public outside of the fandom during that period.

It can only be said that there are still too many Sword Tomb members who have made it to the upper levels.

They are like an enhanced version of Huang Lei, conducting round after round of obedience tests on the artists through various means.

Fortunately, Shen Juan had ample experience in confronting Huang Lei, and fortunately, he had just become a top star through "The Rap of China," entering the vision of capital and the public. He then took his fresh popularity to North America to explore overseas markets, without giving them any chance to get in touch with him or "tame" him.

Otherwise, there are only two possible scenarios:

She became an enhanced version of Xiao Zhan, possessing the largest fan base in the Chinese entertainment industry, but her share of the profits was quite limited. By the time she was able to become independent, she was already old and faded.

or.
Because he refused to bow down to these capitalists and become their tool, he became a disgraced celebrity with a ruined reputation.

Don't say anything else.

The fact that he juggles multiple relationships and enjoys raising fish with amateur women around the world is enough to make him infamous online.

I worked for about ten minutes.

The staff members left, satisfied.

Shen Juan went to the dressing room again to start getting her hair and makeup done.

However, Shen Juan's return to South Korea and his participation in Running Man again are undoubtedly major news stories with high public interest.

So not long after, the other guest stars who had heard the news also rushed over and knocked on the door to pay their respects.

With her short, ear-length hair and impeccable makeup, Lisa greeted everyone with a smile: "Alex, long time no see!"

Because she was putting on makeup, Shen Juan didn't get up. Instead, she sat in front of the makeup mirror and replied, "Long time no see."

To be honest, their relationship was just so-so.

To be precise, Shen Juan only maintained a "friend" relationship with Jisoo and Jennie in BLACKPINK.

Of course, the former refers to true friends who would fight in bed.

The latter is Jin Zhenni's unilateral belief that Shen Juan is her friend, and she often boasts to others that she knows Shen Juan.

But this doesn't stop Lisa from wanting to take this opportunity to become familiar to Shen Juan and become a member of his circle of friends.

After all, whether it's his achievements in his career as an artist (the media calls him the King of Pop of Generation Z, and fans call him the No. 1 Man in the World), or his status and influence in the fashion industry (the unofficial heir of the LVMH Group), Shen Juan is someone that all East Asian artists need to curry favor with at this stage.

Especially Lisa.

As a native-born Thai, she, like her compatriots, is extremely drawn to Western culture!
Therefore, she would naturally not miss any opportunity that might help her break into the European and American markets and gain recognition from white people!

And there is another important reason:
YG Entertainment plans to exploit a loophole in the restrictions on winter talent shows, sending this Thai woman, who works in South Korea, to conquer the Chinese market by taking advantage of the current talent show craze. As a result, they have arranged for her to join the talent show "Youth With You 2," which is scheduled to launch early next year, as a dance mentor for this season.

This is similar to the reason why Shen Juan, this powerful dragon, makes many local connections in every country he visits.

If possible, she would certainly like to build a good relationship with Shen Juan in advance, which would help her quickly gain popularity in China, facilitate the smooth progress of the company's plans, and gain a large number of Chinese fans and the sales volume they represent in China.

The second person to arrive at Shen Juan's room was Bae Joo-hyun, the most popular member of Red Velvet, a girl group under SM Entertainment.

"Shen Juan-xi, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Bae Joo-hyun from Red Velvet." This South Korean beauty, who was several years older than Shen Juan and debuted a few years earlier, not only used honorifics when she entered the room, but also bowed slightly to her junior in the South Korean workplace culture, showing that she was quite polite.

It's time to act a little humble.

After all, Red Velvet isn't even among the most popular K-pop stars, let alone trying to compete with the world's leading man.

It just seemed a bit indifferent.

She also has a rather aloof and arrogant appearance.

Coupled with the recent rumors of bullying staff, it seems like they really are a bit difficult to get along with.

However, Shen Juan didn't pay much attention to it.

Whether she's genuinely indifferent to me or it's just her personality—she's naturally quiet—it doesn't matter.

After all, he's not Mane; how could he expect everyone to like him? How could he expect everyone to fawn over him?
Moreover, as another "victim of public opinion" who was also labeled as "acting like a diva" by the media and knew how deep the waters of journalism were, Shen Juan preferred to get to know a person based on his personal experiences rather than news reports.

After Bae Joo-hyun said goodbye and left, about a minute or two later, the door to the dressing room was gently knocked on again.

TWICE's Sana Minatozaki leaned half her body in, her chestnut-brown hair with slightly curled ends swaying gently with her movements.

"Arno, I hope I didn't disturb your rest?"

She walked in with a slight smile at the corners of her eyes and her signature energetic smile, followed by her team of staff.

Shen Juan glanced casually at the doorway twice, then smiled and replied, "Why are you suddenly greeting me in Japanese?"

"I heard that you speak Japanese very well, Shen Juan, so I wanted to come and verify it for myself." Minatozaki Sana walked up to Shen Juan with a smile and stood down next to him, her voice tinged with a playful sweetness. "Now it seems that you really live up to your reputation. No wonder you can write so many Japanese songs that are popular all over the streets."

"Thank you, your Japanese is quite good too."

“I don’t know what kind of expression I should make when I compliment a Japanese person on their good Japanese.” Minatozaki Sana’s eyes curved into crescent moons, clearly sensing the joke. “Actually, when I saw you backstage at MAMA last year, I wanted to talk to you, but unfortunately there were too many people and you were too busy, so I didn’t find a suitable opportunity.”

Shen Juan appeared on stage with them as an award presenter, and this scene of breaking the fourth wall was judged by netizens. Many people said that the TWICE members standing next to Shen Juan looked like his maids.

They had certainly heard about this matter.

However, there really wasn't any reason to refute it.

After all, Shen Juan is really handsome, and their outfits that day were really ugly; they were fully aware of that.

They even discussed Shen Juan's looks in private.

Without exception.

All nine members felt very sorry about Shen Juan's sudden announcement of his withdrawal from the competition and his departure from South Korea to return to China to develop his career. They all felt that K-pop had missed out on a male idol with unparalleled good looks.

The next time
Although Shen Juan and Minatozaki Sana were not very familiar with each other, they still chatted briefly about topics that interested them.

Sana said she loves baseball and that Shen Juan's theme song "Destiny" for Koshien this year was really well written! She never imagined that Koshien would have a foreigner sing the theme song, and sing it so well!

As it turned out, Shen Juan's scumbag genes quietly took hold, and he casually invited her to play baseball together sometime.

As he had predicted, Sana not only didn't feel embarrassed, but also happily agreed and even added Shen Juan's Kakao.

It's rare to meet such a big-name world-class superstar. No matter what, it would be great to get to know him.

After chatting for a while, the RM staff came over to call the guests in, ready to start today's recording.

As for the content of this episode's recording...
The production team had already explained the situation to the guests in advance; it was said to be a special episode featuring foreign artists prepared specifically for Shen Juan.

Shen Juan, Lisa, Bae Joo-hyun, and Minatozaki Sana, four artists from different countries, were divided into four teams to compete.

To put it bluntly, it means that SM, JYP, and YG each sent an artist to ride on Shen Juan's popularity.

As a leading man with immense commercial value, Shen Juan is undoubtedly the center of attention wherever he goes, and a glittering cash cow in the eyes of capital. At least in the East Asian entertainment industry, he shines like a star, radiating a dazzling light unmatched by anyone else.

This brilliance is not only an absolute dominance in terms of traffic, but also a manifestation of its dominance across film, music, and fashion.

In fact, when an artist's influence transcends industry boundaries and even their breathing becomes a topic of discussion, their very existence constitutes the core of an entire ecosystem.

Therefore, Shen Juan at this stage is well aware of the survival rules: while passively becoming a source of heat and continuously radiating light to the outside world, he must also accurately harvest every bit of value that comes his way.

Just as the sun's gravity captures a planet, he must construct his own closed loop of interests amidst the vortex of public opinion, ensuring that the planet always revolves around him along its predetermined orbit.

They recorded from morning until evening.

The recording experience was pretty much the same as yesterday's recording of "Knowing Bros" on JTBC; the MCs were all serving him.

This is even because a large portion of Running Man's revenue comes from Southeast Asia, outside of South Korea.

Meanwhile, Shen Juan became an overnight sensation in Southeast Asia.

So the treatment they received was even better than that of the "Knowing Brothers"!

Every word he uttered and every action he made became a topic for the eight MCs to write about, making them rack their brains to make stories about Shen Juan, keeping him at the center of the conversation, and easily giving him the most highlights and the highest screen time of the entire episode.

We finished work just in time for lunch.

Just as Shen Juan returned to the lounge to pack his things and leave, Minatozaki Sana, who had just become his Kakao friend that day, sent him a message asking if he was free later. She had organized a dinner party for the four of them who had participated in the recording of the show today: Shen Juan, Bae Joo-hyun, Lisa, and herself.

After thinking about it, Shen Juan decided to keep the appointment.

So she sent over the address of the dinner party.

It's not a barbecue restaurant, which is very common in South Korea, but a Japanese restaurant, and the surrounding area doesn't have a lot of foot traffic.

It's quite suitable for celebrities to have private meals and gatherings.

While waiting for their food, the group started chatting.

"Actually, Shen Juanxi, I also covered your song 'Horizon of Events,' which was really popular and went viral back then!"

After spending the whole day together without any cameras on, Bae Joo-hyun became noticeably more talkative than when they first met.

"I know, I've seen fan-edited versions of K-pop female idols singing this song on Bilibili, and your part was in one of them." Shen Juan asked with a smile, "By the way, what was your reason for making this song a required practice piece for trainees? Was it just because it was popular?"

"The song's huge success on music streaming platforms and its viral performance are partly due to its difficulty in singing, making it a great tool for trainees to practice their singing skills." Sana Minatozaki didn't participate in the cover version, but that didn't stop her from joining the conversation.

"But speaking of which, it was really touching when you returned to South Korea after two months and sang this song to say goodbye to your fans on the PD202 finale stage! Especially the lyrics, which really expressed what you wanted to say to your fans at that time. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for your fans not to be moved."

"Alex, do you know how I felt at that moment?" Lisa joined the conversation: "I was thinking that I wish I could have this kind of creative ability. If I could write such a beautiful song for my fans, they would be so moved!"

As a fourth-generation visual icon who, aside from her looks, has no obvious advantages or highlights, Bae Joo-hyun is clearly qualified to speak on this issue, so she couldn't help but sigh.

"That's the difference between singer-songwriters and idols."

Actually...
Sometimes, besides preventing popular members from going solo, another important reason why companies don't allow them to do so is to protect them.

Because some idols are simply not suited to solo careers.

Their usual role in the team is to be the face and support, and they don't have the ability to handle an entire song. Releasing a solo would only expose their shortcomings, cause them to lose public favor, and shatter the filter that the company had worked so hard to create.

"So sometimes I even envy you guys for being criticized for being arrogant. Because at least you have talent to rely on."

Upon hearing this, Sana Minato couldn't help but transform into a warm-hearted woman and comfort her, saying, "But your face is your weapon!"

“But beautiful shots and pretty faces will eventually fade, won’t they?” Bae Joo-hyun gazed at the gradually darkening street scene outside the window, then suddenly reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She had repeated this gesture a thousand times on stage, but now it carried a hint of self-mockery and loneliness.

To be honest, Shen Juan didn't quite understand why she said that. Was she actually a sentimental person?

It seems unlikely.

Whether it's out of ulterior motives or simply a spontaneous expression of feeling, it doesn't matter.

It's not a loss to say a few words of comfort to them now.

so.
"Is there any possibility?" Shen Juan reached out and filled Bae Joo-hyun's empty glass with orange juice, then looked into her eyes seeking a chance to meet her gaze, and said calmly, "These things that you take for granted are things that others dream of, things they could never get even if they lay on a cold operating table ten thousand times."

Bae Joo-hyun smiled and said, "Is Shen Juan-xi praising me?"

“God is fair. Even someone as great as MJ didn’t have features kissed by God, so how about thinking about it this way?” Shen Juan took a small sip of orange juice, and in the dim light above him, his smile became more relaxed and genuine. “How about putting all your talent points into looks when you were born?”

"And what about you?" She suddenly chuckled softly. "Your creative talent, vocal ability, and stage presence are all maxed out, plus a face that could shoot a perfume ad and a body that could walk the runway at fashion week. How do you explain that? Are you trying to say you're better than Michael Jackson?"

"I'm a cheater, I won't participate in the discussion." Shen Juan shrugged noncommittally, a handsome smile curving his lips.

Bae Joo-hyun couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Perhaps I should thank you for making 'vase' sound like a compliment."

"A vase can at least hold fresh flowers, but some people don't even qualify as containers, so you're welcome."

Four people from different countries ate and chatted in a small private room at this Japanese restaurant until nine o'clock in the evening.

Finally, the four of them posed for a group photo with beaming smiles.

Then, at the request of the group, Shen Juan took individual photos with each of them to share and remember the occasion.

Sana Minatozaki is cheerful and gentle, Joo-hyun Bae is reserved and aloof, and Lisa is outgoing and generous; each of them has a different personality.

After receiving permission from her manager, Lisa, who couldn't wait any longer, posted these photos directly on Instagram.

This immediately attracted a large number of comments from fans.

[Help! What an incredible group of celestial beings! Juanjuan's face seems to glow no matter how many times I look at it, Pei Jie's profile curves like it's about to pierce my phone screen, and Sana and Lisa's smiles are absolutely killer! These four standing together are the epitome of beauty in the Asia-Pacific entertainment industry!]

[Shen Juan, what kind of human reflector are you? No matter who you're photographed with, it's like you have your own built-in lighting technician. Isn't this face too unfair, too supermodel-like, in the entertainment industry? I suggest the United Nations list his features as a World Heritage Site! Every time I see this face, all my unhappiness disappears.]

[Have you noticed? Shen Juan creates a different vibe in every solo photo! With Sister Pei, it's like a high-and-mighty beauty × an ice queen; with Sana, it's like an energetic girl × a gentle senior; with Lisa, it's like a cool, arrogant guy × a sweet, dapper girl. That's the perfect match for a heartthrob! No wonder he can have admirers all over the world!]

[Who understands! Shen Juan and Sister Pei's combined charisma is like Mr. & Mrs. Smith! The impact of these two faces is so strong! Is this the destiny of a pop superstar and a god-like idol? I never thought I'd see my two favorite faces together in my lifetime!]

[I still think Alex and Sana have amazing chemistry, that damn bastard Ahn Joon-young! It's all his fault! If Alex hadn't withdrawn from the competition and had debuted in South Korea, we'd be living the high life now! He deserves to be shot a hundred times over! I suggest sending him straight to the North!]

However, while three female idols posed for a photo with one man, the comments section was full of "The brother is so handsome," "The sisters are so affectionate," and "They have such great chemistry." Have they really considered the professional ethics of idols? The benefits of being a singer are too obvious; you shouldn't be so fond of male idols.

[Stop with the sour grapes. Although Juanjuan has many rumors and loves to keep friends, he maintains a polite distance from every girl. If you don't even like a man who is handsome, talented, and has a good sense of propriety, then do you expect women to like short, Korean men who are all talk and no action?]

[It's rare to see fans of JYP, SM, and YG coexisting so harmoniously! This is the magic of our Shen Juan oppa! Sana and Bae Suzy's appearance together is like a collaboration between the visual powerhouses of Japan and Korea, right? Add BLACKPINK's Lisa and Shen Juan, the world's number one male star, is this dinner a summit of East Asian superstars?]

The battle in the comments section has spread from Instagram to various forums.

Even casual observers who don't usually follow K-pop were drawn to the hashtag "Top stars from four countries appear together."

Many rival fans, though driven by sour grapes, inadvertently fueled the fire and increased the global popularity of the topic.

Shen Juan's team clearly has a deep understanding of marketing.

After the incident trended on Twitter and Weibo in multiple countries, a series of carefully crafted press releases were precisely executed.

Bae Joo-hyun, Minatozaki Sana, and Lisa gained popularity and online traffic beyond South Korea from Shen Juan.

Shen Juan continues to reconstruct public perception with the image of a "popular heartthrob," further solidifying this persona in people's minds.

So perhaps, as insiders jokingly say:
Shen Juan's every smile is adjusted according to the golden ratio, a flawless smile that he has rehearsed thousands of times in private. Every speech he makes can precisely touch the soft spot in the hearts of his fans, hitting the emotional beat of them. Even seemingly accidental dinners are like pre-written musical scores.

And this so-called "popular heartthrob" persona?
It's just another work of art he created himself, using internet traffic as paint and scandals and public opinion as a canvas.

His achievements in being a star and being loved by fans are a level that many artists can never reach in their entire lives.

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(End of this chapter)