Popping a handful of pills into his mouth, Bai Huanji downed a bottle of water in one go. The bitterness of the medicine seeped into every corner of his mouth, and the hard edges seemed to scratch his throat on the way down. When he felt the pills settle in his stomach, he exhaled deeply before silently lying down on his dorm bed.
’I’m still not used to these drugs.’
His roommates had long since gone to bed, except for one who was still busily tapping away on his laptop.
After staring at the darkness for a few minutes, Bai Huanji decided to pass the time by watching useless videos of K-pop idols on UCube. It had become his usual pastime since six years ago.
He lazily grasped his phone under his pillow beside him. As the screen illuminated his face, loud music noise echoed across the silent room, disturbing one of his mates.
"You’re watching K-pop again?" his mate asked with a teasing smile.
This roommate of his thought he was always watching K-pop because he liked cute dancing girls, but Bai Huanji’s reason was far from it.
Bai Huanji laughed apologetically. "Can you lend me your earphones? Mine’s broken."
With a teasing sigh, his roommate handed over a pair of earphones before returning to his work.
Bai Huanji quickly connected the earphones to his phone and opened UCube again. He started rewatching a video he had already seen countless times but never seemed to get tired of.
When the video ended, his finger accidentally tapped on a suggested video that suddenly popped up.
Bai Huanji clicked his tongue in annoyance.
[3rd episode Idol:Revive (Flower Garden Entertainment)]
Exactly as Bai Huanji was about to go back to the previous video, the show finally began. A preview highlight of the auditions opened the third episode, briefly showcasing the remarkable participants.
Then, one person caught Bai Huanji’s eyes, making him freeze in place. He instinctively reached for the pause button but was too late — the frame had already passed.
Even so, just that fleeting glimpse left a deep impression on him. He wasn’t sure why, but when he saw that figure, a blurry image suddenly emerged from the depths of his memory.
Now sitting upright, Bai Huanji stared intently at his phone, waiting for the contestant to appear again. He hadn’t been able to make out the person’s face clearly, but their body build and aura tugged at something deep into him.
His gaze briefly landed on a small portrait on his study table, barely visible in the dim light. His heart raced.
The blurry image was different to the portrait, but it reminded him of her...
The person with a pixie cut in the photo was his twin sister, Bai Huanshen. She seemed a bit more manly, and he even thought her name didn’t quite match her cute personality from his memories. Sometimes, Bai Huanji even questioned himself if "Huanshen" was really her name and if she really looked like that.
As the preview highlights quickly passed, Bai Huanji’s attention snapped back to the screen.
The ranking list appeared, starting with the last-ranked participant at 34th place. Bai Huanji scanned the headshots with sharp eyes.
’Not here... Still not here...’
Even as the rankings climbed into the top 10, the figure he was searching for didn’t appear. The idea that this person might have been eliminated never even crossed Bai Huanji’s mind. If they were featured in the highlights, surely they were a popular participant in the show and wouldn’t be easily eliminated.
After all, idol survival shows thrived on popular participants. What he didn’t know was that the participants of this show were just pulled out from somewhere unknown.
When the rankings reached the top five, the display suddenly switched.
"What the hell," Bai Huanji blurted out.
Just as he was about to curse out more, a beautiful voice started to talk.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen. We’re gonna introduce you the top 5 participants!"
The fifth-ranked participant appeared on the screen, waving joyfully and posing with every step. Then, the scene changed into snippets of Yeo Haru’s audition, including the highlight where he earned sponsorship from the famous group Immortals.
’Oh, so the top five gets a different way of introduction...’
Bai Huanji realized, refocusing on the screen.
’Well, yeah... If it’s her, she’d definitely rank higher with her skills.’
Ridiculous as it is, Bai Huanji had convinced himself that the person he saw earlier was his sister, Bai Huanshen.
When the rankings reached the top two, a beautiful, feminine boy was shown. Even his stage name had a delicate sound. In reality though, Iris hadn’t set her stage name.
But Bai Huanji wasn’t a fan of boy groups, especially feminine-looking ones. He only followed K-pop because of his sister, who had once been a trainee before her untimely death.
Even among the girl groups, Bai Huanji was a bit picky. Even though his sister had a cute and gentle personality, but onstage, she had a fierce aura — it was quite a contrast.
So, he mostly watched girl groups that reminded him of her, especially those with fierce, badass concepts similar to her style.
The only participant left was the first-ranked. Bai Huanji had already been at the edge of his seat. His eyes were glued on the screen intently, as though he would drill a hole on it.
Finally, the ranked 1 participant was announced.
"Top 1, Xu Jiji!" the hidden emcee declared.
As the name echoed in Bai Huanji’s ears, his excited gaze fell. This person was different from the highlights.
’Did she really fail?’
The person on the screen had short hair compared to the one he saw on the highlights. His face was also different from the portrait Bai Huanji had seen everyday for the past six years. Moreover, this person wasn’t even a girl.
But strangely, seeing Xu Jiji made Bai Huanji’s chest ache. There was something familiar about him. Clutching his chest, Bai Huanji tried to ease the pain was feeling.
His roommate noticed his action and immediately asked, "Hey, what happened to you?"
Bai Huanji shook his head. "Nothing."
’I should probably see my doctor tomorrow.’
Just as he was about to set his phone down in disappointment, a familiar clip played during Xu Jiji’s introduction. It was the same highlight he had seen earlier.
Bai Huanji stared at the breathtaking performance. The way this Xu Jiji moved, his giant aura... It was too similar. Even if the face and the gender didn’t match, it felt eerily similar.
’Huanshen? No... Jiji?’
The pain in his chest flared once again, and his phone slipped from his hand, falling hardly on the floor. Bai Huanji struggled to reach for it, even falling from his bed, but when he got it, he saw that its screen was broken.
"Dude, what happened to you?" his roommate asked. "You look pale."
Looking up at him, Bai Huanji’s mind was in a daze. Just then, his roommate’s laptop behind him registered on his vision. Without waiting for permission, he walked over and began typing on the keyboard.
"Let me borrow your laptop for a bit," Bai Huanji said.
Bai Huanji hastily typed Xu Jiji’s name on UCube. Various clips popped out, including his audition clips and fan edits of his cute expressions from the solo interview.
He played the audition video first, watching it from start to finish. His roommate, now curious, watched from behind him and was equally captivated by the performer.
’It’s similar. All too similar...’
When the clip ended, Bai Huanji scrolled down to Xu Jiji’s introduction video and clicked on it.
"Hello! I’m Xu Jiji! Nice to meet you! Today, I’ll be cooking stir-fried vegetables!" he said, adding another line. "I’ve been assigned as the pure cauliflower, so I guess I’m chopping myself!"
Xu Jiji chopped the cauliflower with a smile then the cabbage, and other vegetables with ease as he told the viewers about himself. But there was a missing ingredient that’s suppose to add color to the greens.
"I will skip carrots because I hate it," Xu Jiji laughed shyly and proceeded to start frying.
Bai Huanji’s breath halted.
His sister hated carrots too...