Chapter 136: Sounds Better

th a white headband, wearing student sportswear and carrying a small schoolbag, was standing in front of the JYP right building. She stared blankly at the closed entrance, her hands clasped tightly in..."Hisssss..."

In the weightless state, his knee made a dull thud against the stage floor without any restraint. The pain that came instantly made Ji Jingyuan grit his teeth and take a shallow breath of cool air.

"Oh!"

Although the dance move itself requires bending down to a half-squat, his situation and the error weren't immediately obvious. However, many fans watching intently noticed something was wrong right away and let out a loud gasp of surprise and concern. This caught some viewers who hadn't noticed or were too far away to see clearly off guard, leaving them confused about what had happened.

While the impact of Chi Jingyuan's fall was painful, it seemed he hadn't injured his bones. As he still had control of his right leg, he immediately reacted within a second, standing up and continuing to dance to the rhythm after Thomas's dance part ended.

Standing next to him, they were the first to notice he slipped. The person closest beside him immediately saw that it was EXO's Bian Baekhyun and Wu Shixun who had just fallen. They were about to stop and help him up, but before they could even move, Ji Chang Wook had already stood back up. They looked at him in surprise for a moment, then exchanged glances before quickly getting back into position and continuing with the performance.

After finishing the dance, Chi Jingyuan followed along, feeling his right knee bumping against something.

He's been an idol for several years and has fallen and gotten injured more than once or twice. He's quite experienced with this sort of thing. After moving around a bit, he realized this time the impact wasn't light. It probably hurt him a little, but it was likely just a common concussion. Although the feeling of weightlessness when he hit the ground was intense, he probably didn't break any bones.

It's common for accidents and mistakes to happen onstage, such as trips and falls. Companies generally address these situations, and as a rule, unless there are major issues, the priority remains completing the performance.

Because this is their job.

Unless it's a serious injury that affects movement, or a direct fainting spell or other severe sudden accident, the stage performance won't be interrupted.

However, we haven't reached that point yet. Although there are some influences on the activities, we are still able to carry on.

Although he continued the performance, Ji Jingyuan's range of motion and intensity were significantly reduced. This was due to two reasons: first, the floor was too slippery, and he had already fallen once, which made him a little scared; second, his knee was indeed quite painful during exercise.

To his dismay, after the roar there was a whole-body half-kneeling dance move. As the center of the team, he couldn't hide at the back and just wave his hands around. He could only half squat and prop himself up with his hands on the ground as a makeshift substitute to get by.

Even though it hurts, you can't show that you're in pain. You have to control your expression and try your best to look happy, even if you can't smile as brightly. But don't frown or look sad either.

Finally, after that dreadful song "Roar" had finished its performance, the middle segment for a brief chat and introductions arrived. Ji Jingyuan could finally stand to the side and rest for a moment.

When he introduced himself, he didn't show any abnormalities either. After the introduction, he even grinned and

Even with heavy rain pouring down and the sound of thunder drowning out much of the music, the audience's enthusiastic cheers and calls couldn't be silenced. So, despite having to squint their eyes open due to the rain, the EXO members were still very excited to chat with fans for a while.

Today EXO had a five-song stage performance, plus two breaks in between for chatting and rest to recuperate their energy. The entire performance lasted twenty minutes. Compared to the average idol group's concert, this is almost one-third to one-fourth the length, so it's no wonder so many fans came today.

It's possible that to give members and Park Se-won a little break, Beomgyu really talked a lot. This segment's chat went on for almost 3 minutes, he talked for over a minute by himself.

He managed to chat for the length of a whole song and the atmosphere on stage was still very lively. He's pretty good!

"Roar" was the second song, followed by three more songs on stage. Then the music of "Call Baby" started, and the performance continued. Park Ji-won took a deep breath, gently shook his right leg, and began to dance along.

Fans who saw Ji Jingyuan slip were a bit worried just now, but seeing that he still finished the performance and his expression didn't seem out of place, they probably let go of their worries. After all, slips like this are pretty common and it's not so unlucky to actually fall and get hurt.

However, some fans who were closer and the members around him noticed that Ji-sung's movements were obviously off, and they could tell that he had probably been hurt just now.

In the midst of heavy rain, the stage for the five songs ended. EXO bowed to the audience, and Ji-sung's shoulders relaxed visibly. His face was indistinguishable from whether it was rain or sweat.

Under the dim lights, as he turned to walk offstage, his knee started hurting badly. He stumbled, and Beomgyu and Chan-wook rushed over to help him up. The group quickly walked off the stage together and back to the backstage area.

"Jingyuan bumped her knee, didn't she"

"Let's take a look and see what's going on. How bad is it"

"Wipe your face dry."

Just got down, similar to other groups. The managers and assistants who were already waiting here rushed over with towels. They also saw Chi Jingyuan appear from the backstage exit earlier and his movements worried them just now. At this time, besides the assistants wiping down the other members, everyone else surrounded him.

"I bumped my right knee."

Pool-view source shook his head, letting the water dripping from his drooping bangs fall onto his face. He frowned and nodded, then glanced around. Besides **'s assistants, he found that many other artists in this large lounge were also paying attention to him. The five members of redvelvet were even peering from a few meters away, watching intently.

"It must have hurt quite a bit. The thud he made when he hit his head, I heard it from over here." Wu Shixun rubbed his own head, remembering the sound he'd just heard, and let out a wince as if he felt it himself.

"The floor... it's a bit too slippery."

Park Chan-wook also nodded, glancing around at the same time.

He probably wanted to curse, but considering there were organizers around, he kept his mouth shut and didn't say anything.

"This isn't a convenient place, Jingyuan. Let's go to the private lounge first and check what's going on. For the final chorus later, you better not participate... The other members should wipe off the water first, and after it's over, change your clothes quickly."

The manager first gave some instructions, then led two assistants to help Chi Jingyuan towards a separate lounge not far away. The other members stayed here wiping their sweat with towels, and there was about to be a full-guest onstage thank you segment.

As Pool Jingyuan was walking to the resting room, he happened to walk past a few members of Red Velvet. Several familiar faces in his line of sight were wearing worried expressions, especially when he brushed shoulders with Bae Joo-hyun.

I feel like this young lady would probably be interested in coming up and talking right now, but unfortunately there are too many people around.

Chi Jingyuan and she made a brief eye contact, lightly pursed her lips, didn't say anything, and followed her assistant into the private rest room next to them.

After closing the door, he took off his tight pants. A purple bruise on his right knee was visible to the eye and looked painful.

"The bruise from the bump has already turned purplish, go get something to apply a cold compress."

Lee Seung-hwan clearly had experience, and at a glance he knew the situation. He directly instructed an assistant beside him, and after the assistant left, he lightly touched the swollen area with his hand, frowning and worriedly asking: "It looks like it's not a light bump, but it should only be a common bruise and didn't hurt the bones."

Although it hurts quite a bit, I guess it's probably nothing. It feels much like previous sprains, just a little more painful because I pushed myself to perform this time.

Lee Seung-hwan's touch on his fingers made Ji Kyeong-yuan feel itchy and a little awkward. After thinking about their previous few bumps, it didn't seem like the other party was that worried.

“It’s possible it was just a normal collision at first, but the subsequent stage performance definitely aggravated the injury. I wonder if he injured his ligaments. If so, that's going to be a problem.” At this point, the manager looked over and complained, “Jingyuan, you should have stopped the performance immediately when you slipped earlier, or waited until after ‘Roar’ finished.”

"No need, I don't think it's that serious... Before when the others in the group fell, we never stopped."

"You are different."

"Actually..."

Hearing this, Chi Jingyuan chuckled softly and shook his head, as if thinking of something. "It's nothing different," he said.

"... "

"

Ji Jingyuan's words made Li Chenghuan hesitate. After a moment of silence, he also shook his head and chuckled lightly, no longer dwelling on what he had just said. Instead, he took out his phone and said, "I'll contact the company first. I'll apply a cold compress for now... Although it doesn't seem like a big deal, I'll still go to the hospital for a check-up later, mainly to see if my ligaments or bones are injured."

"Speaking of which, he added. “But even if you’re not injured, it's best to avoid any strenuous activities for the next two days.”

Chi Jingyuan nodded in agreement. "Hmm."

After waiting for about twenty minutes, the impressive rain-soaked concert finally came to an end. EXO members returned and chatted briefly with Ji Chang Wook, inquiring about his well-being before parting ways. Other members went off to fulfill other schedules, while Ji Chang Wook followed his manager to Seoul Samsung Hospital.

After finishing the CT scan and checkup with the director, it turns out as what I felt before, it's just a common bruise. It didn't injure any tendons or bones, so there's no need for bed rest.

He's feeling pretty accurate because this kind of injury is something that most idols who dance for most of the time encounter frequently, he's fallen a lot before. And this isn't the first time Ji-seong has slipped on stage, it's just that his luck was bad this time, it looks like the worst one.

This kind of bruising comes and goes quickly, but because he continued to perform on stage after the impact, it's possible that the injury was aggravated. The swelling and bruising are more severe than usual. Considering the possibility of further damage or even ligament strain, ** decided, after consulting with doctors, to cancel all of Ji Chang-wook's scheduled activities for the next two days to allow the bruising to subside.

"Are you okay"

As soon as Ji-sung returned to the dorm from the hospital, he received a message from Park Soo-young. Around the same time, messages also came from Kang Seul-gi, Son Seung-wan, and a few others. It seemed like Red Velvet was free at the moment.

After telling a few people that it wasn't a big deal, Ji Jingyuan naturally started chatting with Pei Zhuxuan.

"Are you really alright I was watching you backstage just now, and it looked pretty scary."

"It's really scary looking, his knee is all swollen. He needs to rest for a couple of days."

"Then you should take a good rest. You've been so busy lately... But your knee must have hurt a lot after you fell, and you still insisted on dancing for three or four songs"

"Isn't that normal What would you do in this situation"

"Well... same as you! kkkkkkkkk"

"Well, I knew it. Yuan and Irene are idols to look up to, we... Ugh, something feels off. My head is spinning, am I coming down with a cold..."

…………

The next morning, ** released a brief statement: EXO member Yuan will be suspending activities for two days due to personal health reasons and will miss the **TOWN family concert held at Osaka Dome on the 25th. However, he is confirmed to attend the family concert on the 26th.

Upon hearing the news, some people were left wondering what had happened, while others immediately understood.

Because many fan-taken videos from the rain concert at LOTTE yesterday have already been posted online by fans after it ended, and many groups contributed impressive performances in the rain. Besides Red Velvet's Joy and Seulgi pointing at each other and interacting sweetly, EXO's eye-catching all-pink suits, also pool Jingyuan slipping and kneeling halfway on stage during the performance has become a hot topic. Videos of him have been widely watched, and some people even edited together every move he made throughout the performance into a video, which remains popular.

Through the close-up shots from fan recordings, you can clearly see the moment he slipped during his performance on "Roar" stage. You can also see him lightly frown in surprise and quickly get back up, as well as the final curtain call where he walks backstage being surrounded by his members.

Many people at the time saw it and thought something must have gone wrong.

Actually, there were quite a few audience fans who discovered that Ji Chang Wook was missing during the final segment where all guests took the stage yesterday. They began spreading online that Ji Chang Wook was injured, and today's statement released by ** confirmed this news.

However, seeing that it was only a two-day rest, it was clear that there was nothing serious. Besides many fans expressing their concern for the idol and attacking the organizers, more discussion centered on 'the idol's dedication'.

Although it didn't look too serious, the fact that she needed help getting up afterwards means she must have been pretty hurt. And these kinds of hard impacts are actually the most painful. Especially having to dance through it! I can only say Yuan is really amazing.

"A qjia, now the hottest boy group is probably EXO, right With Yuan's popularity, being able to achieve this level is really great, it has changed my impression of male idols quite a bit."

"And the most important thing is that even after he fell and got injured, he didn't show any other expressions throughout the whole performance. Although his movements were a bit less intense, he always had a smile on his face, and his interactions with the audience were still very natural and casual. He must have been in pain at that moment, right"

“An idol is a profession that needs to convey happiness and joy to fans. They shouldn't spread negative emotions on the stage of life! So even though Oppa was in pain, he still tried his best to sit and manage his expression. Ah, being able to stan XO and Yuan Oppa, I am so lucky.”

"What's so big of a deal, there are many artists and idols who have fallen on stage, got injured and still persisted in finishing their performance. It's just that without the spotlight, people don't pay attention, making it seem like he's the only one who is dedicated. Besides, his injury healed in a few days, it's obvious it wasn't serious. It's just ** hyping it up..."

Unconsciously, he became the epitome of diligence in the industry. Chi Jingyuan was actually quite helpless about it. While browsing online comments on his bed in the dormitory, he saw some rainbow farts praising him and couldn't help but feel goosebumps.

After looking at it for a long time, he felt that the most objective comment was actually the last one. That one clearly came from a black fan...

…………

"Well, is your leg better now"

Behind the scenes of the Osaka Dome, Chi Jingyuan was sitting on a sofa in the public rest area, listening to music with headphones and looking at news on his phone. At this time, Sunny walked over from somewhere and sat down beside him, crossing her legs and poking him with her hand.

"No"

Seeing the familiar sister, Chi Jingyuan first raised his head to scan the surroundings to see if there were any other people from their childhood. After not seeing anyone, he turned back, took off one earphone, and shrugged helplessly: "It's still swollen, and it hurts quite a bit... However, no one came yesterday, so if I can't make it today, the fans who bought tickets specifically for me will definitely have something to say... Besides, the company has already made an announcement..."

Today is the 26th, and although Ji-seong arrived in Osaka yesterday evening and missed yesterday's ** Town, he doesn't plan on resting today despite his knee still not being fully healed. He has already rejoined the members this morning for rehearsals.

"Oh, you're really unlucky, you just tripped and fell once and injured your knee like this... But a sprain can stop you from moving for two or three days of rest. You're the only one in the company who can do that."

Sunny hugged her arms and looked up and down at Chi Jingyuan, who was dressed in casual clothes and smiling. Her tone sounded a little strange.

Mingming texted to express her concern when she heard the news the day before yesterday.

"No matter who it is, in place of Princess Soon-Gui's words, the outcome would be the same." Ji Jingyuan narrowed his eyes and chuckled, replying, "Perhaps two days won't be enough; maybe two months would do."

"Careful now, watch your step so you don't slip again, and remember to be light on your feet during the performance today..."

Sunny let out a snort of laughter, too lazy to argue with him. She gave a quick reminder and then turned her attention to the headphones that Pool Jingyuan had taken off and was letting dangle by his side: "What song are you listening to"

"Did you say this"

Chi Jingyuan looked at the headphones and naturally handed them over: "A new song from a girl group, Nu Na, do you want to listen"

The song he's listening to right now is called "Today We Begin". It's the title track from the new mini album released by the rookie girl group Gfriend on the 23rd. They debuted at the beginning of this year.

Actually, he just discovered it too. The song had been out for three days and he hadn't noticed it. He was browsing the forum on his phone just now and saw someone recommending it. The comment was very sincere and earnest. After seeing it, he went to search and listen to it, and unexpectedly, it was really good. It's a high-quality song with a sunny and pure girl next door vibe.

He remembered this girl group, Gfriend, quite clearly. He had seen them several times backstage at television stations and music shows, but they hadn't really interacted much.

...because this girl group was quite controversial when they just debuted at the beginning of the year.

First of all, it's because the title song "Glass Beads" from their debut album. This song landed at 96 on the melon chart upon release and almost reached the top but for a rookie girl group, it's still acceptable.

However, the problem arose immediately after its release, falling into plagiarism controversy. Many people, including fans of Girls' Generation (Sone), felt that the song was very similar to Girls' Generation's debut song "Into The New World," in terms of both musical style, choreography, and costumes. This resulted in criticism and attacks online, causing quite a stir and controversy.

After being accused of plagiarism, naturally some black fans started attacking their appearance according to the process. As a result, several members of GFriend fell into plastic surgery controversy and were attacked online quite badly.

A newly debuted girl group with not many fans, their fan base is quite small. They are surrounded by controversies and scandals, which is a rather unfortunate situation for them.

But the entertainment industry isn't afraid of controversy; it's afraid of being forgotten. Whether it's plagiarism, imitation, or plastic surgery, at least having a topic to discuss right after debuting is already quite good.

It's likely that Ji Jingyuan remembers this not-so-famous girl group so vividly because of these reasons.

And although they are a small company girl group, their resources aren't bad either. After their debut, they appeared on quite a few variety shows, such as "Idol of the Week". One member even became a guest on "Runngan" two months after her debut, setting the record for the fastest idol to appear on "Runngan".

However, overall, GFriend is not considered a very popular girl group right now. There are still controversies surrounding their debut, and they don't have many fans.

Their comeback title track is the one that Ji-yeong is listening to right now. After listening to it, Ji-yeong even went to check it out. The audio source of this song "Today We Start" is actually pretty good. Genie and Bugs chart rankings were 4th and 8th on the day of release, but Melon's debut was only 42nd. Just when Ji-yeong checked Melon recently, the ranking has dropped a lot after a few days.

Although this source result is already quite good for a second-comeback rookie girl group, he feels that considering the quality of the song, it shouldn't be this ranking, it should be even higher.

If the source is still OK, then sales are appalling. Ji Jingyuan just checked and looked through a lot of charts before seeing GFriend's name. Their second mini album "FlowerBud" first-day sales were actually less than 30.

It is thirty, not three hundred, nor three thousand.

When Chi Jingyuan saw it just now, he thought he was seeing things.

But as of today, the 26th, after more than three days on sale, sales have surged to six hundred. Although it still looks a bit pitiful, at least it's not as heartbreaking as the sales figures on the first day.

Alas, the title track of this girl group's comeback is actually quite good quality.

I have some feelings. When Chi Jingyuan heard this song just now, he went online to check GFRIEND's information. After reading it, he listened to the song again and couldn't help but feel a bit sorry.

"I'm listening…"

Sunny put the earbuds in, but after just a few dozen seconds, she took them out and gave them back to him. She didn't seem interested at all in this innocent, girly style of music, her taste was clearly different from Ji-seong's.

"What song is this from... why aren't we listening to our *Party*"

Sunny crossed her arms, tilted her head, and squinted at him. "What"

No, Nuna...

The questioned Chi Jingyuan blinked, seeming a little surprised and also innocent:

"I don't think this is very normal, right This song sounds a lot better than your 《party》."

(The End)

First Release on Taiwan Novels Network he felt a wave of stifling heat surrounding him. After standing there for a while, he started to sweat. Fortunately, several assistants behind them held up a few parasols, which provided some shade.H...