peninsula asteroid.

Chapter 1487, Day 2

Chapter 1487, Day Two

"Aigoo... Jingyuan, I really love your song this time."

"Nuna, your Starry Night this time was really amazing. I've been listening to it for the past two days and I've even set it as my ringtone."

On March 11th, the day after EXO's comeback, backstage at SBS Inkigayo, Ji Kyung-won was chatting and laughing with MAMAmoo's Kim Yong-sun in the hallway, their words full of sincere mutual praise.

MAMAMOO is a group that Ji Kyung-won is very familiar with. Kim Yong-sun is a genuine EXO fan, not the kind who's just doing marketing or trying to ride the wave, but someone who really likes EXO or Ji Kyung-won's songs and often recommends them on her live streams and social media.

When Ji Kyung-won's "Horizon of Events" was first released and wasn't very popular, he was one of the first to recommend it on live streams and social media, not much later than Tzuyu. He listened to songs that weren't popular so early, which shows that he really likes their songs.

They were so warm and sincere, and Ji Kyung-won appreciated it, so he naturally had a good impression of them. The two groups happened to be making comebacks at the same time, and they just happened to run into each other backstage.

"Ah, Qingjia?"

Kim Yong-sun's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing Ji Kyung-won's words.

"Of course, if you don't believe me, then call me."

Chi Jingyuan immediately realized that the woman thought he was praising her, so he took out his phone and waved it.

He wasn't just casually praising him.

MAMAMOO released a mini-album a few days before EXO's comeback, on March 7th, and the album achieved great popularity and success after the comeback.

In his spare time, Ji Jingyuan also listens to their new album. The title track, "Starry Night," happens to be to his liking, and he has been listening to it a lot these past few days. He even set it as his ringtone.

Anyway, his phone ringtone changes frequently; if he comes across a song he really likes, he'll set it as his ringtone and listen to it for a while.

The last song that Ji Kyung-won really liked was "It's Still Raining" from last year.

Seeing his serious expression, Kim Yong-sun became interested and immediately took out her phone to dial Ji Kyung-won's number. The next second, a familiar melody rang out from Ji Kyung-won's phone.

As expected, it was "Starry Night." Kim Yong-sun instantly beamed, her eyes crinkling into crescents, unable to hide her joy, and exclaimed repeatedly, "It really is! Hahaha~"

She laughed so hard she covered her mouth.

"This song is so ethereal~"

Chi Jingyuan hung up the phone with a smile and asked curiously, "Nuna, I heard that the music video for your song was filmed in New Zealand?"

"Yes, in Auckland."

Kim Yong-sun nodded: "The scenery over there is especially beautiful, and the footage produced is also very evocative. Look at the blue skies and grasslands in the music video; they were all filmed on location."

"I was saying that some of the backgrounds in the music video looked familiar."

Ji Kyung-won suddenly realized... He felt the scenery looked familiar when he watched MAMAMOO's MV, and sure enough, it was in New Zealand, where he had previously filmed the MV for Kim Tae-yeon's "I".

The two chatted for a few more minutes, from songs to anecdotes from filming, creating a very pleasant atmosphere. When the conversation got lively, Kim Yong-sun didn't hold back: "Kyung-won, do you have any autographed albums? Could I have one?"

“Nuna, of course, no problem. I’ll send it to you when I get back.”

Chi Jingyuan nodded without thinking, and as soon as he finished speaking, his gaze inadvertently swept over a spot not far away.

CLC's Zhuang Dingxin was standing there. When she saw him, she smiled and waved. Chi Jingyuan nodded back to her, then turned to Kim Yongsun and said, "Senior, I'll go over there first. A friend is looking for me. I'll send you the signed album later."

"Fighting!"

Kim Yong-sun smiled and waved her hand, "Good luck on your comeback!"

"Fighting!"

After exchanging words of encouragement, Chi Jingyuan turned and walked towards Zhuang Dingxin.

March, the spring season, is typically a peak time for idol comebacks in the music industry, especially for girl groups, where the competition is particularly fierce.

Ji Kyung-won had just walked backstage and encountered many girl groups that were making comebacks at the same time, including MAMAMOO, gugudan, WJSN, and CLC. They were all dressed up with exquisite makeup and had upright postures, busy preparing their stage outfits and rehearsals.

Besides them, there's Momoland, who made their comeback at the beginning of the year with "BBoom BBoom" and are still active, truly living off one song. While they didn't win many awards, their popularity is unmatched; you can hear the song everywhere.

In contrast, fewer boy groups made comebacks around the same time. This is probably because EXO's comeback announcement scared off many boy groups that were originally planning to make comebacks during that period.

At this point in time, besides GOT7 and Wanna One, who are about to make their comebacks, there's only NCT ​​Dream.

Using NCT Dream to directly clash with EXO, having their own artists fight each other... this is a long-standing tradition at SM Entertainment.

"...Ah, damn it."

Meanwhile, Kim Yong-sun returned to MAMAMOO's waiting room. As soon as she opened the door, she heard Hwasa's impatient complaint, her tone full of annoyance: "Why did I run into EXO again~"

"Damn it, what bad luck!"

As she spoke, Hwasa casually slammed the lighter in her hand. The lighter landed on the table with a dull thud, and her annoyance was undisguised.

The amount of attention and buzz in the music industry is limited. When top groups like EXO make a comeback, they almost dominate all the topics and buzz, leaving less for other groups to share.

MAMAMOO placed great importance on this comeback and were hoping to achieve even better results. However, they unexpectedly ran into EXO, which inevitably made them feel frustrated and annoyed.

"Aren't some people online saying EXO is no longer good?"

Ding Huiren crossed his legs and leaned back on the sofa, his tone slightly teasing: "Wanna One even specifically targeted EXO to avoid scheduling conflicts, so we just happened to be in this situation."

"Who said that?"

Upon hearing this, Hwasa's anger flared even more, and her voice rose several decibels, "It's all because of those idiotic boy band fans! They don't know anything about the situation and just keep shouting nonsense, a bunch of..."

"Hwasa!" Before Hwasa could finish speaking, her manager glared at her.

"..."

After being yelled at by her manager, Hwasa pursed her lips but didn't continue cursing, though she muttered a couple of curses under her breath.

Those idiot Wanna One fans are always saying online that EXO is no good and has faded away, acting like it's true.

You don't understand anything at all. Look at the popularity and momentum of their comeback yesterday. That's not what being washed up means.

Haha, so she probably wants to be out of favor too.

She took out a cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and couldn't help but complain: "They say it's no good, but look at the online buzz today. The album they released yesterday has completely dominated the charts and is still in the top ten. Our daily chart has been pushed down, and there's a group of fans who are like an army of idiots, refreshing the charts 24/7. Is this what you call no good?"

She complained as she angrily exhaled a smoke ring, her tone full of helplessness: "Let whoever wants to touch me touch me. I'll see how amazing Wanna One really is."

"Alright, alright, stop complaining."

After listening for a while, the manager reluctantly stepped in to smooth things over, his tone softening somewhat: "EXO and SM are indeed powerful, but they don't affect us much."

"Besides, our target audience is different from theirs. They're boy groups, we're girl groups. Our fan bases are different. Those boy groups aren't in a hurry, so why should we? We just need to prepare well for our performance."

Her manager's words calmed Hwasa down a bit. She finished her cigarette, stubbed it out, and stopped complaining.

But just then, she glanced at Kim Yong-sun sitting next to her, and a frown instantly appeared on her forehead. She was furious.

Kim Yong-sun sat on a stool, her body swaying gently to a certain rhythm. She made a wave motion with her arms, quickly extending her left hand and placing two fingers of her right hand together on her wrist. She did it in a very precise and professional manner, clearly imitating a dance move.

Hwasa recognized her instantly...

This is clearly the dance part from EXO's title track "DNA" released yesterday, the one that Ji Kyung-won has been praised by so many people!

Not only that, Kim Yong-sun's mouth was moving back and forth, and she could tell at a glance that she was saying:

"...DNA!"

Seeing this, Hwasa felt a surge of anger and silently cursed.

Damn it!

…………

Meanwhile, the atmosphere in EXO's dressing room was relaxed and lively.

"Jingyuan is back."

When he saw Ji Kyung-won push the door open and come in, Kim Jun-myeon looked up and greeted him with a smile.

Byun Baekhyun leaned over, his eyes full of curiosity, and asked gossipily, "Jingyuan, I just saw you chatting with a girl in the hallway. She seemed to be a member of CLC. Who is she? Why were you chatting for so long?"

“Chuang Ting-hsin from CLC, a friend I know, we ran into each other and chatted for a while.”

Chi Jingyuan greeted him with a smile and casually explained.

"You two are that close?"

"is acceptable."

As he spoke, Chi Jingyuan found an empty seat on the sofa and sat down.

He wasn't actually very familiar with her, but Chou Tzu-yu and Chuang Ting-hsin were good friends, and Chou had even introduced them to him before. With this dark-skinned girl in the middle, Chi Ching-yuan would naturally treat her differently.

"What are you looking at?"

Chi Jingyuan glanced at Wu Shixun sitting next to him and saw him looking down at his phone, his fingers rapidly swiping the screen. He asked curiously.

"Look at the rankings on various music charts, and the comments online."

Wu Sehun shrugged and looked up: "You just made your comeback yesterday, and you don't care at all about the online comments?"

"Of course I care."

Chi Jingyuan smiled and took out his phone, unlocking the screen: "I've been looking at it on the way here, and the online reviews are pretty good."

As he spoke, he opened a social media platform, and the screen was filled with comments about EXO's new album.

"Help! EXO's comeback is amazing! I was instantly captivated by the whistle in 'DNA,' and their dance is absolutely stunning!"

"Power really makes you feel like you've gone back to spring 12. Longtime EXO fans cried their eyes out."

"Every song on the album is fantastic, everyone! Every single one is amazing, I can't stop listening to them on repeat!"

"Yuan is the king of close-up shots; every time he appears on screen, it's a killing part! I could watch his whistling scenes on repeat for a lifetime!"

Chi Jingyuan actually read many comments, and besides the fans' compliments, one comment made him particularly happy:

"Although I feel that this comeback is not much of an improvement compared to the previous ones, watching EXO's songs and music videos, I feel that they are a level above other boy groups."

This comment doesn't overpraise, but it's a very direct recognition of EXO's talent, popularity, and SM's production standards.

What is the current music chart ranking?

Chi Jingyuan put away his phone and casually asked.

EXO hasn't made a comeback in a long time. Although they inevitably lost some popularity during that time, their accumulated popularity and national recognition over the years are still there. Their comeback after more than a year has directly ignited the entire K-pop scene, and almost everyone is paying attention.

After the album was released yesterday, it topped the hourly and daily charts on major music platforms in just over an hour. All the songs from the album flooded the charts, and the top spots on various charts were basically dominated by the eleven songs from EXO's fourth full-length album.

"Can't you see for yourself?"

Wu Sehun retorted as usual, but with a smile on his lips, "DNA and Power are still in the top two on all the charts. They're on a strong upward trend. I feel like DNA will take the daily crown today. The other songs are also at the top of the charts and haven't been pushed down."

At this point, Oh Sehun couldn't help but exclaim, "This is generating a lot of buzz!"

"The main thing is that the songs are very good."

Hearing this, Byun Baekhyun, who was standing next to him, also came over and said with a smile, "I saw that Jingyuan and PDOGG's song 'DNA' has received very high reviews online, and fans really like the superpower concept of 'Power'."

The results on the first day were outstanding, and the other members gathered around, chatting amongst themselves.

After chatting for a while, we prepared to start applying makeup and styling.

When it was Chi Kyung-won's turn to get his hair and makeup done, a small problem arose.

"Jingyuan."

The stylist in charge of his look looked at Chi Jingyuan in the mirror, hesitated for a moment, and tentatively asked, "Jingyuan, do you want to wear a wig?"

The style of this comeback was decided long ago. In the MV, Ji Kyung-won has long hair with a light brown color, giving him a youthful look.

However, at this time, Ji Kyung-won had already cut his hair very short, almost to a buzz cut, because of filming "The Spy". With such a length, it was inevitable that the stage look he had previously decided on would be a bit abrupt and would not fit well with the overall youthful style.

"Um……"

Chi Jingyuan looked at himself in the mirror, gently touched his short hair with his fingertips, hesitated for a moment, and slowly shook his head: "I'd better not. Now many people know that I cut my hair short. If I wear a wig, it will be too obvious and seem deliberate."

He paused for a moment, then said, "No need to dye it, let's just keep it black. I think short black hair looks good, it's refreshing and neat."

If all else fails, just wear a hat; it fits the youthful style quite well this time.

The light brown long hair in the MV is indeed very beautiful, exuding both gentleness and youthful charm.

But now that he has almost a buzz cut, dyeing his hair a bright color would only look awkward. Even if he's handsome, he'd inevitably give off a bit of a thug vibe.

"also."

Cody looked at Chi Jingyuan in the mirror, nodded, and did not object.

EXO now has a lot of say in stage styling, let alone Ji Kyung-won, whose ideas are naturally respected by the stylist.

"Don't say it..."

Following Chi Jingyuan's suggestion, the stylist quickly styled his hair, giving it a simple fix to his short black hair. This made his features even more refined, and while his youthful charm remained, he gained a more refreshing and neat look. Looking at Chi Jingyuan in the mirror, the stylist couldn't help but smile.

“Our Jingyuan looks good in any style.”

Next, Cody found a few more hats for Chi Jingyuan to try on, but after trying them all, none of them felt quite right.

Finally, Chi Jingyuan thought for a moment and simply took out his bag and put on his personal Pokémon baseball cap.

Looking in the mirror, Chi Jingyuan nodded in satisfaction: "This is it."

After a while, the door to the dressing room was pushed open, and three MCs walked in to go over the interview lines with the EXO members.

Because today is EXO's comeback day, the program team specially invited EXO members to be guest MCs. After discussions between the company and the members, Kim Jong-in and Park Chan-yeol were ultimately chosen.

Besides Kim Jong-in and Park Chan-yeol, who are guest MCs, there is also a regular MC, Jung Chae-yeon from the girl group DIA. She used to be a member of IOI and re-debuted with DIA after IOI disbanded.

After exchanging greetings, Chi Jingyuan chatted with her for a few minutes at close range.

Although the group wasn't very popular, she was quite good-looking.

Just as Ji Kyung-won and Jung Chae-yeon were chatting and laughing, he felt Kim Jong-in's eyes drifting over to them, lingering on Jung Chae-yeon beside him.

Chi Jingyuan could tell at a glance that this guy seemed to have some ideas, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly.

Why wasn't this person eliminated by 'me too'?

…………

Meanwhile, on the streets of Seoul, the warm orange glow of the setting sun bathed the streets as two little girls in middle school uniforms walked home from school, carrying their backpacks.

Their conversation revolved entirely around EXO's comeback yesterday, their tone filled with fervor and joy.

"Zhiya, how late did you keep scrolling through the views yesterday? I was scrolling with the other girls in the group until after 1 a.m., and my eyes were almost too tired to keep open."

Lee Eun-hee rubbed her eyes, her voice tinged with fatigue but still brimming with excitement: "When we get back later, we'll keep grinding tonight. We have to help our oppas stay on number one on the charts!"

"Me too! Me too!"

Kim Ji-ah nodded vigorously, her face full of excitement: "I stayed up until 2 a.m., and my mom scolded me for staying up so late, but I was just so happy that I couldn't sleep at all! EXO's comeback this time was so cool, and every song was so good!"

"Yes, yes, yes! The look in 'DNA' is really super cool."

Lee Eun-hee's eyes lit up, and she spoke faster: "Yuan oppa is the most handsome, and Chanyeol oppa and Baekhyun oppa's looks are also amazing!"

"And the choreography for 'DNA' is super cool too!"

As Kim Ji-ah spoke, she couldn't help but imitate the nine-person linking gesture: "It's that gesture where everyone holds hands and links together. Aigoo, I was so excited when I saw that scene yesterday that I was sweating. It was so amazing!"

"And those last few shots, 'LA la la la la la'"

Lee Eun-hee hummed the chorus of "DNA": "I've already written down the lyrics in my notebook, and I even secretly memorized them during morning reading this morning!"

"I want to learn the dance from 'DNA' too!"

Kim Ji-ah clenched her fist, her tone firm.

The two little girls chatted excitedly, from songs to dances, from outfits to the members' performances. They could already hum the songs that were just released yesterday, and they could also roughly imitate the dance moves.

"...Let's see how arrogant Jin Zhihui in our class can be. She used to say that XO was outdated every day. I really want to tear her face off."

Halfway through the conversation, Lee Eun-hee's tone suddenly turned indignant, and she lowered her voice to speak.

"That's it!"

Kim Ji-ah nodded in agreement, her tone full of dissatisfaction: "Look at her, she's had a long face all day, like someone in her family died. I guess she's seeing how popular EXO's comeback is, dominating all the charts, and she's resentful but helpless. It's made me laugh all day!"

The two of them took turns complaining about their classmates who liked Wanna One and often badmouthed EXO, their tone full of a sense of satisfaction at finally getting revenge.

"Oh dear, it's already past five o'clock!"

Lee Eun-hee suddenly glanced at her watch and exclaimed in surprise:

"Today is EXO's first stage performance on Inkigayo, and it's about to begin!"

Two little girls held hands and skipped and hopped towards home, their footsteps light and quick as if stepping on the faces of rival fans.