"My back hurts, ugh wait, it doesn't hurt?"
Zhang Hong woke up from his bed and uttered his usual words in the morning. After all, as a middle-aged man, if your back didn't hurt, what were you doing in your youth.
Zhang Hong opened his eyes and saw a small fan above his head. Suddenly, a waft of stinky feet flew over his bed.
"What the hell is that smell?"
Zhang Hong immediately got up from his bed and tried to look for the source of biological warfare. He then saw a wide hall filled with bunk beds with men snoring and leaking saliva from their mouths.
"What kind of hellscape did I come into? Did I get kidnapped? Am I going to be sold to some rich old woman who is looking for a boytoy to vent her desires into?"
Suddenly, a head-piercing headache seemed to have come out of nowhere. His mind seemed to be filled with the memories of a 25 year old man who had the same name as him. After digesting the memories, Zhang Hong was filled with fear and excitement.
Zhang Hong felt excitement because he had actually transmigrated into another world. Furthermore, the entertainment scene of this world seemed to be quite lacking. From his memories, he noticed that the golden ages for Chinese songs seemed to have not happened, instead the country progressed rapidly in terms of technology, whereby most people were very tech-literate. Most people in the country had flagship smartphones, cutting-edge computers, and insanely fast internet speed, so fast that no live broadcast had ever lagged even in 8k. This phenomenon ushered in an era where all TV broadcasts were all live.
Zhang Hong felt fear because he was exactly in one of those live TV variety shows called 'My Idol'. The first season of this variety show was a national phenomenon where variety shows were severely lacking. Now, with the high-anticipated second season, attention was at an all time high with countless of viewers pouring into the live broadcast just to see handsome men dancing and singing in tune.
This variety show basically gathered 100 handsome idol trainees aged from 18 years old to 25 years old from many different idol companies, which then they would compete with each other in order to obtain the top position so that they would be able to debut, and although other trainees could also debut after being eliminated, they wouldn't be able to cover the shine of the champion, so they would work their best to reach to the top.
However, Zhang Hong did not willingly apply for this variety show. He was actually an intern of HAR, the broadcasting company who created this show. But because two of the variety show contestants who were originally selected were found to have scandals, they were kicked out from the show by the director of the variety show, which then led to Zhang Hong being called up by the director to filled up the numbers. Luckily, Zhang Hong's appearance was equal or better than some of the idols in the show.
"Sigh, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into? I can't even sing or dance." Zhang Hong sat up from his bed and sighed.
Zhang Hong turned to look at the window and saw that sunlight seemed peeped into the eaves of the dorm. Seeing this, Zhang Hong got up and went into the bathroom. As he washed his face, he looked at himself in the mirror and said, "You can do it. You just need to perform decently for one round and get voted off. Moreover, you will also receive a bonus for time spent here. Everything will be fine."
After Zhang Hong washed up, he went to his bedside and started to look around. He then saw a clean set of white T-shirt and black shorts already prepared by his locker. Seeing that it had gone to this point, Zhang Hong gave up and just went along with the flow.
Who cares? Who cares about getting embarrassed in front of the nation you lived in and will have to live in shame for the rest of your life? Who cares about going back home to see your relatives and all they talk about was your embarrassing performance. Ugh, is there a ledge somewhere I can use to visit my deceased grandparents?
As Zhang Hong was lamenting about his fate, slowly, more and more of the trainees got up from their beds and started their daily routine. After washing up, they all opened a cabinet in their lockers and started dumping heaps and heaps of makeup onto their beds. Next, they all started apply makeup on their faces, making them all look like freshly made white tofu. It almost looked like if you just poked their faces, their faces would wiggle as if full of water. After applying their makeup, all of them then started to style their outfits with either cute badges or some stickers. Some even tucked in their T-shirts into their shorts, making them look like toddlers who just came out of kindergarten. Next, they would style their hair which were in various colors in the latest and most trendy style.
Zhang Hong just stood there blankly while everyone around him got busy. One of the trainees who shared the lower half of the bunk bed saw Zhang Hong doing nothing. He kindly reminded, "Are you not going to prepare anything?"
Zhang Hong turned his head and asked, "Why do I need to prepare something?"
The trainee replied, "To stand out of course. Why else would we get up early to dress ourselves? There are 100 men here who are vying for the attention of the camera. If you don't stand out, how will you attract the lens of the camera."
Zhang Hong looked at the trainee who spoke to him. The trainee was wearing with a large chrysanthemum badge in the middle of his shirt. Moreover, he seemed to have sprinkled some brown glitter on his black shorts, coupled with his sky blue hair, if you ignored his bright white face, it would seem as though their a flower swaying around.
Zhang Hong looked at him from top to bottom before centering on the flower in front of him. Then, he felt a tingly sensation in his own chrysanthemum, which he immediately tighten with iron-clad cheeks.
"Ugh, no thanks, I'm fine like this."
"Suit your self." The trainee turned his head and ignored Zhang Hong as if he was air. He seemed to have confirm that Zhang Yang would not be able to last a round.
Soon, clear footsteps were heard coming in from the hallway of the dorm. Hearing the footsteps, all the trainees immediately stopped what they were doing and began to stand at attention in front of their beds. All of them then started to rub their cheeks and began to show their most perfect smile in preparation for what was to come.
Zhang Hong saw this and began to stand at attention blankly. Soon, the source of the footsteps was revealed; it was the director of the show called Lan Ran with a camera crew behind her. She looked very much like a successful career woman who had dominated men all her life.
Lan Ran was a well-known director in entertainment world. Her shows had all had great success, and My Idol was the peak of her career. For such a reason, she was extra attentive when it came to the reputation of the show and headstrong even in the face of capital. Those who tried to go through the back door in order to debut were all kicked out of the show.
Lan Ran walked inside and immediately wrinkled her nose. She wanted to lash out and curse whoever brought a biological weapon into the dorm. But she kept her head cool and began to quick and swallow breaths in order not to suffocate to death.
As she walked through the dormitory, the camera crew behind her immediately started shooting at the trainees present. Whenever a camera would turn to a trainee, he would immediately show the most radiant smile he could squeeze out to show the live broadcast.
[Oh my god! This brother looks handsome. I want to lick the screen.]
[Honey, look at me, your wife. Do you want to wash first, eat dinner or me?]
[I feel like I'm swimming in a field of beautiful men. Prepare yourself boys, I'm diving in.]
As Lan Ran walked across the dorm, she looked at all the trainees and nodded her head at the selection of men present. It could be said all flavors of men were here. There were spicy, sweet, sour, salty, and plain. Huh, wait, plain?
Lan Ran immediately took two steps back and saw Zhang Hong who stood out like a sore thumb amongst the dressed up trainees. His plain T-shirt and black shorts made him seem like a monkey standing amongst peacocks.
Lan Ran immediately ran through her memory to check who Zhang Hong was. Soon, she remembered this intern who she pulled because of his looks. For a moment, Lan Ran felt pity before a gleam of interest shone in her eyes.
[Wow, everyone looks so handsome. Wait, who is that plain brother over there?]