Chapter 23: The Dictator

Time in "Creating Idols" passed very quickly; in the blink of an eye, a week had gone by.

During this week, Luo Mo did not do anything out of the ordinary; he simply followed the crowd of trainees to participate in training, and he did not miss a single music or dance class.

During this time, he seemed to have become a plain and unremarkable handsome guy.

In class, he rarely showed off.

Many times, he would even suddenly zone out, not knowing what he was thinking about.

It was as if he had become that wage earner again, slacking off while collecting double the salary, once again openly goofing off in front of the cameras.

The several celebrity mentors had each come to teach two classes in these past few days; the rest of the time, the classes were taught by professional teachers hired by the production team.

But what was most infuriating was that although Luo Mo clearly looked like a slacker, he could always complete the assignments and tasks set by the professional teachers very well.

His performance was not stunning, but one could not pick out any faults either.

No one knew that Luo Mo was spending this time adapting to everything he was currently facing.

He often zoned out, not because he was slacking off, but because he had some new ideas that he was pondering in his mind.

As for the assignments set by the professional teachers, he did not use his full strength to perform them, because at this moment, he was actually still exploring.

Whether it was his singing style or his dance movements, this was the case for all of them.

And this week of adjustment made him clearly feel his own progress.

He felt that he had already found the right path.

During this time, Shen Mingliu and Ji Kangdong, who were also in A Class, had actually been secretly competing with Luo Mo.

They had long since regarded Luo Mo as a rival, and they were also thinking of finding an opportunity to vent their anger for their own Xingshi Entertainment and for their teammate Meng Yangguang.

But they just couldn't find an opportunity!

This Luo Mo was like an incredibly contradictory person; he clearly often looked listless, but no matter how bitter or tiring the training was, he simply never complained of being tired.

His mood had also been very stable these past few days, as if he didn't take anything to heart.

Shen Mingliu and Ji Kangdong had been watching him for a long time; he had clearly chosen the 【Original Stage】, yet Luo Mo had simply not done any creating these days!

"What is he up to?" the two expressed their confusion.

When eating, they pulled Meng Yangguang over to discuss it, and the final conclusion they reached was that it was very likely that Luo Mo wasn't doing any creating at all; he might be preparing to bring out some stock material for the first public performance.

After all, for the first public performance stage, the production team did not use a set theme for original works, so any stock material of one's own could be adapted to fit!

In fact, Ji Kangdong had also chosen the 【Original Stage】, and Meng Yangguang had even directly joined his team; these two fellows also hadn't thought about coming up with a song and choreographing a dance during these days.

"Stock material isn't something only you have!" This was the source of Ji Kangdong and Meng Yangguang's confidence.

Their confidence came from the big company behind them—Xingshi Entertainment!

Long before they participated in the show, the company had actually prepared several songs for them.

These songs couldn't even be considered their own creations.

The songs were created by top-tier songwriters in the industry, and the company had paid a high fee to buy them for them to use on the show.

Like Ji Kangdong and Meng Yangguang, they did possess a certain amount of creative talent, but compared to those big-shot songwriters, they were too immature and far behind!

However, as long as the company was willing to throw money at it, couldn't this 【Creative Talent】 persona be established easily?

As long as the money was there, was it hard to find a ghostwriter?

Therefore, they were very confident that they would definitely be able to win back the stage at the first public performance!

"You, Luo Mo, have a bit of talent, but can you be stronger than those songwriter teachers?"

"You are just all alone, while behind us, there is an entire massive company; this is a behemoth you cannot fight against!"

The power of capital is beyond your imagination!

They were already looking forward to the arrival of the first public performance.

………

And our Brother Mo, naturally, had not considered the thoughts of the Xingshi Entertainment trainees.

His thoughts were very simple, and that was to let his few teammates fill themselves up more without distraction during these days.

"Too weak, really too weak!" This was Luo Mo's evaluation of them.

Because everyone was in different classes, they didn't have classes together.

The class schedules were also different.

Sometimes during the break, Luo Mo would wander around outside the practice room of Tong Shu and the others, and then watch from outside the transparent glass.

Under his instructor-level gaze, Tong Shu and the others buried their heads in hard practice, using twelve percent of their strength; not a single one dared to slack off.

Later on, they all privately referred to Luo Mo as the instructor.

The production team spent double the salary to stuff him into the trainees' ranks just to torture us and drill us!

Time pushed forward another three days before Luo Mo finally gathered everyone together at night to begin closed-door practice.

The practice track—"Big Fish"!

"Tong Shu, you take a good look first; for this whole song, when others are singing, you also have to provide harmony for them, including for my part," Luo Mo said.

After these words came out, the other four trainees' expressions changed immediately.

This meant that they could only sing a few lines, while Tong Shu was singing from beginning to end!

Although in their parts, Tong Shu was only responsible for adding the finishing touches, that was still outrageous!

This allocation had absolutely no fairness to speak of.

Even though from the very beginning, Luo Mo had displayed a thick aura of a dictator, this was still too biased.

Luo Mo swept his gaze over everyone; he seemed not to see their complex and strange expressions, or rather, he directly ignored them.

Tong Shu also didn't expect that the heavy responsibility Brother Mo spoke of would be heavy to this extent.

Without waiting for anyone to speak, Luo Mo stood up alone and then sat down in front of the piano in the vocal practice room.

"I'll sing a few lines first; you all feel the overall tone and emotion of this song and try to find the feel for it." After finishing, his slender fingers began to play on the piano keys.

When the first line of lyrics was sung, everyone briefly forgot about the excessiveness and absurdity of this dictator.

"【The ocean waves silently drown the night sky deep,

Sweeping over the Corner at the end of the sky.】"

This song is incredible!

Just one line out, and it was incredibly catchy!

Luo Mo only sang four lines before stopping and said, "Now, everyone take turns singing these four lines."

"Tong Shu, you sing last." Luo Mo pointed at him.

At this moment, Luo Mo possessed an extremely powerful sense of oppression.

These young trainees felt he was even more terrifying than their professional instructors.

Everyone immediately followed suit; after the first four finished singing, they all lowered their heads, feeling somewhat at a loss.

They could feel the gap in singing ability between themselves and Luo Mo.

Or rather, they couldn't sing this song with any feeling at all.

"Tong Shu, it's your turn." Luo Mo stared at him.

Tong Shu took a deep breath, calming the slight nervousness in his heart.

He recalled the flavor of Brother Mo's singing just now and kept Luo Mo's words in mind: he had to reveal his most authentic vocal timbre.

Tong Shu cleared his throat and, accompanied by simple piano, sang the first line.

"【The ocean waves silently drown the night sky deep……..】"

In an instant, the pupils of the other four trainees dilated sharply.

"This, this!"

"Catchy, this is so catchy!"

This song was simply tailor-made for him.

It displayed all of Tong Shu's strengths to the fullest!

Ethereal! Clear!

Compared to Tong Shu, he was a Big Fish roaming in the sea of clouds, while they were nothing but loaches in a mud puddle.

Unexpectedly, Luo Mo frowned deeply.

"Too poor," Luo Mo said. "Again."

"This is still poor!?" The four were shocked.

Then what are we?

Tong Shu was so startled he shuddered, and only after taking several deep breaths did he begin his second attempt.

"Even worse, again!"

"Still not working! Again!"

"A little bit of feeling now, but it's still not enough!"

After time and again, Tong Shu gradually began to immerse himself in it.

As for the other four trainees, they were already stunned by his talent!

Luo Mo's hands on the piano keys stopped, and after Tong Shu sang it again, the displeasure on his face gradually eased.

"Next, you four sing, and Tong Shu will provide the harmony for you," he said.

With Tong Shu's help, the four of them sang it once and felt goosebumps all over their bodies!

"This effect... is this an effect I could achieve!?"

Hacken Lee once evaluated Zhou Shen, saying that his voice and singing style, when providing harmony for others, were like a versatile, all-matching straight man in crosstalk—no matter who he sang with, he could add a lot of color!

Now, although Tong Shu still had a gap, the overall result was consistent.

Luo Mo rose from the piano and said, "I have a rough idea of which section everyone is suited for; I will distribute the lyrics now."

Actually, if conditions allowed, Luo Mo felt these four should just be backup dancers and not sing, but unfortunately, the rules didn't allow it.

"After the show ends, I must get a duet version of 'Big Fish' done," Luo Mo said to himself again in his heart.

After he finished distributing the lyrics, he asked, "Does anyone have any objections?"

The objections here included the fact that Tong Shu had to sing from beginning to end.

From beginning to end, no one made a sound.

……

(PS: Seeking monthly votes~)

(End of this chapter)