Chapter Eighty-Nine You Guess

an best understand their own feelings now.EXO bowed deeply to the audience below one last time, amidst the cheers of fans. They left the stage and returned to the artists' seats through a side corrido..."How have you been, Senior Xiuyan"

On a street lined with shops in the alleys of Cheongdam-dong, Ji-sung felt his mouth slightly dry while sitting in the minivan. He picked up the bottled mineral water beside him, took a sip, put it down, and let out a breath as he tightened the cap. At the same time, he turned to Jung Soomin, who was sitting behind him in the car, and asked.

They had made plans to meet up and chat sometime in the evening beforehand. After the live broadcast of the Baeksang Arts Awards, it was already past ten o'clock. Afterwards, they attended a dinner hosted by the organizers. After the dinner ended, Ji-won chatted with old friends from the The Undateables cast and director Kim Won-suk for a while. By the time everything was finished, it was almost midnight.

Bidding farewell to their predecessors and giving their manager a heads-up, Jung Show-jung first went home to change her clothes.池景 also went back to tidy up for a bit before asking Park Jae-hyun to drive and pick her up. While chatting and taking a leisurely drive, they found a spot relatively close to both of their dorms and parked there. Park Jae-hyun opened the door and disappeared automatically, leaving just the two of them in the van. It was very similar to how they looked when they last met.

After finishing his sentence, he reached out and gently rubbed his temples. He had drunk quite a bit of alcohol during the meal with those seniors earlier, especially after the dinner ended and there was another round. This left him slightly tipsy, and the slight intoxication also amplified the fatigue from working hard all day. After parking his car and sitting down, he felt a faint drowsiness creeping up on him.

Actually, after getting his driver's license, Ji Jingyuan rarely took Park Bo-hyun along on these private dates between men and women. After all, he was used to driving alone and felt a little uncomfortable when Park Bo-hyun followed him. However, he just couldn't help it today because he had been drinking.

"It's average, the situation isn't great. Although she has withdrawn for a period of time and unilaterally announced contract termination, in reality, Eoni's contract is still with s, so she can't receive any schedules or appear on shows at the moment while she's on the peninsula."

Hearing about her older sister, Jung Soo-jung put away her fingers which she had been playing with for half the day. She glanced out the window and sighed in a somewhat low voice, clearly worried about her older sister's current situation.

But after a few seconds, as if she had remembered something, she turned her head and said, "However... her own fashion career has developed quite a bit. And because she can't appear on camera on the Peninsula, she has now decided to shift her focus to Xia Guo and Southeast Asia. She just held a fan meeting in Bangkok the day before yesterday, and she told me she has already been invited as a flying guest for a variety show in Xia Guo."

"Hmm..."

Chi Jingyuan opened his eyes and let out a breath. After hearing this, he nodded.

"Senior Xiuyan's fashion career is symbiotic with her fame and exposure. It's good that she still has a development path in this situation. She still has a lot of popularity and die-hard fans from her time in Xia Country and Southeast Asia, and her fan base isn't small either. Developing there would also be a good choice."

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Zheng Xiujing sitting beside him. The little black dress that had been so sexy when she attended the award ceremony earlier was now replaced with casual clothes—ordinary denim shorts and a white shirt. Her pale legs were together, and she wore light-colored canvas shoes. This rather simple outfit looked very suitable and natural on her.

Although a combination of jeans and a shirt may seem ordinary and simple, it's actually quite picky. Jung Soo-jung is one of the few girls that Ji-seong has seen who can pull off this look with style.

If Zhou Tzuyu's skin were a bit lighter, I guess it would be alright...

This afternoon when they were about to meet, Chi Jingyuan still had a little flutter in his heart. He was thinking about whether he should revisit that high-rise apartment building where they used to be together tonight, but after some thought, he decided against it.

Although they were once that kind of relationship, after so long without contact or communication, he felt it was inappropriate for her to drag him away the moment they met. It made him feel like he had never met a woman before.

Since it's been so long, the initial passion has definitely faded. Both of them have new situations and perspectives now. He doesn't know what Jung Soo-jeong thinks, but Park Gyung-won has never really been interested in rekindling their past relationship.

Otherwise, given that Sun Na-eun had expressed her desire to rekindle their relationship on multiple occasions in the past two years, both overtly and subtly, they could have gotten back together long ago.

It's over, it's over. It's really rare for things to end well and peacefully.

Unless the feelings and bonds between them are incredibly deep, with numerous unforgettable experiences and shared memories that make it impossible to separate…

And Zheng Xiujing's performance and reaction also proved that his approach was quite suitable. Although Zheng Xiujing didn't say much when she first got in the car, she seemed to feel a little awkward inside. She appeared restrained and uncomfortable throughout, only visibly relaxing when it became clear that Ji Kyung-won had no ulterior motives.

Maybe she still has other thoughts, but today she probably just wants to chat.

"Hmm…" Hearing Ji Jingyuan's analysis, Zheng Xiujing also nodded.

"And you" he added casually.

However, Zheng Xiujing didn't answer directly. Instead, she glanced at him with a strange smile and said, "Are you asking me, or f(x)"

"...Chi Jingyuan didn't speak, he just shrugged."

He and Sulli would text each other from time to time, but she wasn't very interested in discussing the group anymore. Every time, besides greetings and jokes, they would just casually talk about their recent lives and finances, almost never mentioning f(x). It was clear that her mind was no longer focused on her idol career.

When it started, Park Bo Gum would still occasionally chat with Ji Chang Wook. However, as time went on and he saw the situation, he stopped bringing it up.

Only Ji Jingyuan heard that Jeong Soo-jeong is rather solitary at the company now. Several members of Girls' Generation, who used to get along well with her, as well as some friends she knew in the company, don't contact her much anymore, especially the former. There's a feeling of becoming estranged and wanting to draw a line.

But it's understandable, after all, these ordinary friends and relatives are naturally incomparable to those close ones.

"I'm doing well, although the schedule isn't as busy as before, I feel much more relaxed." After going through half a year of turmoil and change, Jung Soo-jung looks much more mature than before: "The group is doing alright, just like that. These days we're preparing for a special album in Japan, and then there will be a comeback for the Korean version... Oh, by the way, I actually have to thank you for this comeback. I heard that at first the company wasn't planning on investing any resources in f(x)..."

"What does this have to do with me" Qi Jingyuan's eyes widened slightly, feigning innocence as if he hadn't understood what the other person was saying.

"...and Jeong Seo-kyung glanced at him, chuckled softly without saying anything."

"Vibration…"

At this moment, the phone beside Ji Jingyuan suddenly vibrated. He reached out to pick it up and glanced at the screen, discovering that it was a message from Park Chae-hyun.

> Here we go again

Seeing the sender's name, he felt a little strange. After the 《Baeksang Arts Awards》 ended, he had received many congratulatory text messages from friends, but at that time he was busy attending banquets and couldn't be holding his phone all the time, so he only replied to a few people who were not very close to him or those with higher seniority.

But he didn't reply to her congratulatory message.

It wasn't just her; Zhou Tzuyu's message was also glanced at and immediately crossed off.

Since we are already quite familiar with each other, and it's common in the idol industry, if someone doesn't reply to messages, it's probably because they are busy working. They wouldn't usually send a message without a reason.

‘Still busy’

Seeing these words, he vaguely felt a certain emotion hidden within them. Chi Jingyuan pondered for a long time, recalling the awards ceremony this evening, and it seemed he understood something.

"Hee hee…" He blinked, leaned back against the driver's seat, and chuckled softly. His fingers started tapping on the screen, replying: "Guess."

Since her phone buzzed, Jung Soo-jung had been subtly observing Ji-yeong's movements. After seeing the other person's expression and smile, she paused for a moment, then smoothed down her hair casually before asking, “Well Checking up on your girlfriend”

The tone was very calm, as if it was just a casual question.

"Ani..."

Ji Jingyuan lowered her head and tapped on her phone, not looking at her. Her smile remained, she shook her head and denied the statement, while Zheng Xiujing also nodded and smoothed her hair.

However, before she could say anything else, a few seconds after sending the text message, Ji Jingyuan looked up, looked at the ceiling lights of the car, raised his eyes and pursed his lips thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke again: "Well... it counts."

"Hearing this, Zheng Xiujing, who was playing with her hair, suddenly paused, but quickly recovered. She let out an 'oh' and nonchalantly asked, "New one Who is it, an idol"

"Hee hee."

Faced with this question, Chi Jingyuan just smiled and didn't answer.

And Zheng Xiu-jing, seeing his expression, knew he wouldn't speak. After her face shifted several times, she looked out the window:

"It's getting late, take me back home."

Ji Jingyuan glanced at the phone screen. Pei Zhuxuan had just sent another message: "Cut, I won't guess. Good night." He chuckled softly, locked his phone screen, and then turned his gaze to Jung Soo-jung for a moment. After a second's pause, he still nodded.

"Good."

…………

By the next day, 27th, most of the entertainment section's news and trending topics were naturally dominated by yesterday's Baeksang Arts Awards.

"At the 51st Baeksang Arts Awards, Choi Min-sik and Roh Young-seo won Best Film and Best Television Actor respectively.

The film "Flower of Evil" made a stunning debut and took home the award for Best Film."

"The Battle of Mingliang lost to Funeral Flower!"

"The horror influence of "The Untamed" still exists, sweeping four major awards, with Ci En Yuan winning two himself."

Lo Ying-shih won the Grand Prize...

Every time there's a large-scale award ceremony, whether in the film and television industry or the music industry, it always sparks a lot of discussion afterwards. Besides fans bragging about their idols' wins and achievements, the biggest topic is always the fairness of the awards. People argue about who deserved to win, who got undeservedly rewarded, and who stole the award. These debates are always evergreen.

Like the film category, last year's release with 17 million viewings, surpassing Avatar to become the highest-grossing Peninsula film of all time, "The Battle at Myungryang," lost the Best Picture nomination to the little-known, one-month-old romance film "Flower Burial" which only had tens of thousands of viewers. This left many passersby and fans stunned and utterly bewildered.

Most people have not even heard of the drama "Flower Burial", even though it stars Ahn Sung-ki.

>

This caused a lot of dissatisfaction among movie fans. Even though Choi Min-sik won the final grand prize with "Sea Battle of Myungliang", many people still felt this way. Many began to question the fairness of the awards and criticized the judges of this year's Baeksang Awards.

Meanwhile, in the TV drama category, "The Untamed" emerged as the biggest winner, with the entire cast and crew sweeping awards including Best Director, Best Actor, Best Newcomer, and Popular Male Actor.

Excluding awards specifically given to variety show personnel, the drama team captured nearly half of all the awards in the television category, representing about a third of the total. This dominance and influence are undeniable.

Even though the show won many awards, there were no major criticisms. The vast majority of viewers felt that "Unborn" deserved to win, and they reminisced online about the time when it aired last year, lamenting that no other workplace drama had emerged since then to capture their attention.

As for Chi Jingyuan winning two awards single-handedly, and even taking home the Best Newcomer award, it also caused all his fans to erupt in cheers. The widespread acclaim and buzz led to hordes of people who stumbled upon the news joining the discussion.

"Chi Jingyuan has been in the industry for so many years and he's still considered a rookie I remember watching him in "Reply 1997" several years ago. Wasn't that drama popular"

"Of course, I've seen it, but the rules of Baeksang are like this..."

> "池景源 has already acted in several dramas, , , … My goodness, looking at these, they are all hit dramas and one is even hotter than the last! The company really knows how to choose scripts! But why are the other actors under them acting in such mediocre TV shows What kind of and … Look at what terrible scripts they gave our YoonA!"

"How come I feel that with Chi Jingyuan's current status, competing with those nominated candidates for newcomer awards is unfair There's such a huge gap in their development."

"Indeed, Zhang Kulai's performance as the male lead in "The Untamed" is award-worthy. He should be competing for Best Actor, not stealing the newcomer award. It's really shameless…"

"No way, our Yuan Oppa is just this popular, being an idol and acting so successfully!"

From some of the comments, it can be seen that many passersby's views on Chi Jingyuan are already different from those of other new actors. They have all become one of the representatives of the younger generation. It feels strange to see him actually win the Newcomer Award.

It's also a pity for those people who were nominated alongside him this year. They knew from the start that they had little chance of winning, which can't be a pleasant feeling.

It's not that I haven't worked hard enough, it's just that the enemy is too stubborn.

And because of their achievements, the rainbow farts (compliments) blown by fans are particularly confident. Now, two members of EXO have successfully transitioned into actors: Park Kyung-soo goes without saying, and D.O. also started off well. This has become a frequent topic that many EXO-Ls boast about.

As for the several members who starred in "My Neighbor Is EXO," a drama that received mediocre reviews, they naturally wisely skipped it.

No talking!

While the entertainment industry is abuzz with the opening of the Baeksang Arts Awards, the music scene is also heating up.

After s unveiled the news of exo's June comeback and the first batch of promotional photos, yg apparently wasn't going to be outdone. A day later, on the 26th at noon, coinciding with s,

Baeksang

also revealed the poster and related information for bigbang's second single album 《a》. This tit-for-tat, fearless approach to competition immediately went viral under the enthusiastic cheers of fans and the attention of passersby. The title song "bangbangbang" has also sparked quite a bit of discussion.

Two companies also simultaneously opened pre-sale channels for two new compilation albums, "l" and "a". At the same time, s released two versions of the main song "boywithv" MV trailers at 00:00 on the 27th and 28th respectively.

The first version continued the background and actions from the promotional poster, with EXO's nine members scattered on sofas posing while the instrumental intro played.

And the second version quickly gave each member a close-up shot, while also showing a short dance against the stage backdrop. The accompaniment was still background music and no singing, this time switching to the chorus part.

Both trailers are very short, one about twenty seconds and the other thirty, adding up to less than a minute. The song's melody has also been specially altered, so you can't see too much.

But this time, v's styling was showcased. A light pink suit showed a style completely different from before. The nine people's colorful hair colors left many people overwhelmed, calling it directly to the s garden. At first glance,池景源’s blue hair attracted everyone’s attention.

The first version of the teaser wasn't anything special, he was just sitting on the couch with the other members. But the second version was different. Besides giving Ji-seong a backlit close-up shot in the sunlight, it also used his iconic turning back and looking at the camera shot from the beginning of the V, which he had filmed many times to get right.

The segment, from the beginning pose to when he turns halfway and looks at the camera, has the highlight being him sticking out his tongue. However, it wasn't included in the final cut, likely because the company decided to keep this definitely killgpart scene for the official V.

But even so, the scenes and shots in these trailers still captivated fans. Aside from the well-received styling of the other members, Ji Kyeongwon's hair color and those particular shots received the most attention.

池景源 himself felt it was just average, but his somewhat exaggerated blue hair style made many fans and passersby exclaim in surprise. Just a turning scene in the trailer caused various comments like "I've lost my language," "Generational level," "I died," "Too handsome," and so on, with rainbow flattery flying everywhere, as if they truly thought his hair color was very cool.

At the same time, there was also a strong anticipation expressed for this EXO's final title track.

"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up to June! I can't wait after seeing the trailer." This top-commented message also showed fans' current mood.

s and exo took the lead in announcing their comeback, and yg followed suit shortly after. They also released various promotional materials for their upcoming comeback and announced the detailed schedule and pre-release date.

With both companies pushing hard, the previously cooled-down competitive atmosphere in the music industry, which had become much more amicable, suddenly reignited. There were reports and announcements everywhere, and the names of the two boy groups became the hottest topic among Kpop fans.

Both companies are making continuous moves, and the meaning behind each action is very clear. They both clearly have great confidence in their respective groups' comeback this time, adopting a similar "wait and see" attitude, shifting the competition and battle from May to June.

While the May matchup was somewhat inconclusive due to concert schedules, this June return sees both sides supremely confident, having poured significant resources into their preparations. This is truly the final showdown.

First published on the Chinese Novel Networkvy, but Lee Soo-man merely sighed and quickly adjusted his mood. He immediately moved on to the next thing:"By the way, Jingyuan, regarding EXO's next full-group comeback plan, the company has already...