Chapter 16 – Turn the Tide

Stop the performance?! Are you crazy, this is a national live broadcast!

--

He was now the C position, and the person responsible for kicking off their performance.

He had no other choice.

When the stage lights came on, Fang Juexia raised his head just as the drumbeats started, and began his performance with the most perfect expression and state of mind, as if nothing had happened. He convinced himself to not panic; as long as his internal clock was accurate enough, there was nothing for him to worry about. This was a song that they had practiced countless times. The accompanying music would come to him naturally and automatically.

"Never go for survival of the fittest, the law is trapped within a grimace, the rules are up to me to prove, and the door of life will be broken through with one move."

After singing his part, Ling Yi and Jiang Miao quickly took up the song and continued to sing. Their rhythm was right, so Fang Juexia didn't know if he and Lu Yuan were the only ones having problems with the music coming through their earpieces.

[Life is a game of adventure, with rewards and costs for conservative ventures]

The electronic disturbance in his ear piece was growing even louder. Fang Juexia continued dancing while glancing at the back-stage and pointing to his ear piece, trying to seek help from them.

[However cold reality may be, is how sincere towards your dreams you must be]

Jiang Miao finished this sentence and subconsciously looked at He Ziyan, who just slightly nodded his chin. These details were quickly noticed by Fang Juexia, and he quickly understood the situation.

At worst, all of them may be having problems with their earpieces.

If this was a performance that was just being recorded, then they could have completely stopped the performance directly and recorded it again after the earpieces had been repaired or replaced. However, right now, they were performing a live show, in front of the entire country. Stopping the performance mid-way would be tantamount to self destruction.

Fang Juexia, accustomed to the harshness of the Internet, was the person most clear of this fact. If they stopped now, this live broadcast would then be recorded, edited, and spread on various social networks. Even if they released a message saying that the real reason for doing so was because their earpieces were malfunctioning, with their current rising popularity, they would all be pinned with the stigma of possessing poor professional ability. Originally, not many audience members really understood the point of wearing ear-pieces on the stage anyway.

So the group members tactically chose to continue their performance.

Connecting the main song and the side song were a few lines in English by Pei Tingsong, which had been pre-recorded and then had been processed to sound like a loudspeaker announcement—

[Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to flight KALEIDO.

Next station is

Future]

It never rains, but it pours.

This monologue suddenly started to cut in and out, and mixed into it was the sound of interfering static. But these were the electronic sounds that went with the song's accompanying music, so was even the sound system in the venue having problems now?

Fang Juexia was suspicious, but he continued to dance with a calm expression, with each movement being clean and neat. Although he couldn't hear the accompaniment, he still hit his mark at the right moment and moved to the very front. The chorus was going to start immediately, and after Ling Yi finished singing, it would be his part again.

The audio system's failure became more and more obvious, and the background music kept cutting in and out, just like a broken tape, leading the audience below to start an uproar. Although Ling Yi persisted in singing, he was obviously a bit flustered. Fang Juexia could hear the hesitance in his breath.

[Unwilling to be mediocre, the pulse of my heart has endlessly argued on setting myself apart]

All of a sudden, anxious cursing from the director sounded out through the earpiece, but there was no accompanying music.

"Cut to the panoramic view! What is the sound department doing?! If you really can't do anything else, replace the audio!"

"Stop the performance ba!"

"Stop the performance?! Are you crazy, this is a national live broadcast!"

"Get the sound engineers to deal with this quickly!"

He Ziyan was about to open his mouth to start his rap for Ling Yi, when suddenly, all the music completely stopped.

The audience below, who were waving glowsticks and lamps, halted their motions in midair, and everyone started talking about the accident with the sound system. Only the accompaniment music onstage had gone silent, but even if it was so only for one second, the silence in this second was enough to destroy the countless late hours they had spent in the practice rooms.

Just when everyone thought their group's performance was going to die here—

Fang Juexia's crystal clear voice broke through this challenge.

"The soul has been burning, scorching with desire," He directly pulled his earpiece off, holding tightly onto the hand mic they had brought themselves, while still performing every dance action in his best condition, without the beats of the accompaniment, and sang "And at this moment, it bursts into flames roaring."

He knew the value of a stage better than anyone else in the world.

Even if everyone else had chosen to give up, he couldn't just let it end like this.

The option of giving up was one that he did not have from the beginning.

Fang Juexia's voice was steady and accurate. His pure voice, without any accompaniment, made the advantages of his timbre even clearer, and this strong pressure radiating from his sound quickly suppressed the noise and uneasiness that had spread throughout the venue. The audience burst out into loud applause and cheers, which came not only from their fans, but also from the many other fans there.

"Holy shit, he's really singing, awesome!"

"What a wonderful voice ah!"

"No wonder they're all holding mics ah."

Even so, if he was the only one who persisted in continuing on, this performance couldn't be maintained. Although Fang Juexia's face was calm, and not even the slightest flaw could be seen in his dancing and performance, internally, his anxiety had reached its peak.

He was afraid that there would be no one behind him.

"Say hello to my ego."

While spinning around for one of the dance movements, Fang Juexia was surprised to see Pei Tingsong, who had also taken off his earpiece. He didn't expect to hear Pei Tingsong start to rap from behind him the moment his high note ended.

With a crackle of electricity, the corners of Pei Tingsong's mouth quirked up as he looked at him.

Fang Juexia's heart, which had been at the peak of its anxiety, was firmly caught by this bright smile. He couldn't describe what it felt like, just that it was as if he had been teetering on the edge of a dangerously deep suspension bridge when suddenly, another person had firmly grasped his hand.

—Don't worry, I'm behind you.

His heartbeat finally settled down.

At exactly the right time, Ling Yi's voice also appeared, and without the accompanying music, his strong singing skills were displayed at their full potential.

The disappearance of the accompaniment track failed to stop them from performing. Whether it was the proper stage expressions they should be wearing on their faces or the intensity of their dance movements, not even the slightest bit was left to go lax. Fans close to the stage tried their utmost best to sing for them. These 60 or 70 girls worked very hard to sing with the presence of hundreds of people.

Even if it was just for the sake of these children, they couldn't accept losing.

[It's me who's ever-changing, unpredictable and free

A myriad colored dream, casting this kaleidoscope]

The sharp-as-a-knife group dance during the chorus part took place neatly and straightforwardly beneath the harmony created by the fans and the lead singers. The dance for this song contained complicated positions and a lot of changes. Although everyone's rhythm was in place, and their strength was being exerted as required, still, their movements would seem strange if there was no accompaniment. Taking advantage of the opportunity offered by the group dance to move to a position behind the rest of the group, Pei Tingsong covered the top of his microphone with his left palm, then motioned to He Ziyan who was about to start rapping, to which He Ziyan nodded in response.

At this moment, the sound of a powerful beat appeared in the venue, which was Pei Tingsong beatboxing.

The appearance of this sound was akin to a blast of thunder, and the venue started boiling over. The unexpected sound accident, their strong resilience, as well as their daring and courage to turn the tide—all these factors undoubtedly turned this accidental live performance into a powerful adrenaline-rush like stimulant. Every heart in this venue was beating hard at this moment, fighting with this powerful improvised beat.

Although these big boys on the stage had been nervous at the start of their performance, they had started to accept their reality and had already come to accept this imperfect stage.

It didn't really matter. For only imperfect things could surprise you.

With Pei Tingsong's assistance, He Ziyan also started spitting out words like a machine gun. "Never concealing my ambitions, disdain in telling you my origins. No matter how high, how fly you sing, your high still can't match the beat I try."

Using the cue given by the words being rapped, Ling Yi placed his hands on his hips and let out a dramatic, "What?"

Everyone began to enjoy the performance on the stage, and the smooth but varied rhythm gave the performers room to display their abilities to the full.

He Ziyan stopped Ling Yi with one hand, and with a smile on his face, continued to rap, "Very sorry the road ahead is just one way, if you refuse to obey, that's not okay, right now just listen to my voice and command hey, and your heartbeat I'll hold here to stay." He turned around after this, and stuck close to Jiang Miao, and then the two of them spun around in a circle to complete the exchange of their positions. He Ziyan held up his right hand and pointed to the sky. "Hey baby, remember our names. This world has nothing new, it's so boring, just look around, so why don't you come see a miracle brew."

After finishing his part, he also joined in on Pei Tingsong's impromptu beatboxing, and the other four members sang the climax of the chorus. The beat was accurate and strong, with each beat perfectly in step with each movement of Kaleido's dance, and everyone in the audience was trying to quickly capture all this on camera. The effect this brought about on the stage was so good that it was far beyond the director's imagination.

"Group dance! No. 4 go for a long shot!"

"No. 1, pull in, grab their expressions!"

[We gonna fight! Fight! Fight!

with the face in the mirror

Yes we'll fight! Fight! Fight!

Never flinch, standing shoulder to shoulder]

These words were really in line with the current situation. Originally, it was just a standard hot-blooded boyband song, but with this sound accident, the song felt more heroic and full of momentum and vitality going against the trend.

[Fight! Fight! Fight!]

The repeated syllables of the chorus sounded like war drums, decisive and powerful. Jiang Miao held his hands up high and led the audience into clapping with them.

[Enjoy falling in the wild wind]

Ling Yi's high notes remained as high as ever. He was originally already a high-performance vocalist who had strong resonance and could pull off his own mix of sounds perfectly. Even if he only had a beatboxing accompaniment, he didn't sound sloppy at all.

[Fight! Fight! Fight!]

Fang Juexia clenched his hand, and the two lead singers started to sing the high notes together.

"You will remember me after the storm."

Kaleido's popularity wasn't very high; most of the people sitting beneath the stage hadn't even heard of the group before. What's more, prior to their performance, the stage had just been filled with act after act of lip-synching, which had worn away at the audience's goodwill. Their performance time was close to 11 o'clock, and going on-stage at that time already counted as being at a great disadvantage for the group. Then, adding on the very difficult to control large stage, the pressure of a multi-platform national live broadcast, and finally, the damaged ear pieces and loss of accompanying music.

This was definitely the worst situation.

This small boyband, which no one was looking forward to or even cared about, had really drawn the card for the most hellish scenario.

However now, this audience that had been paralyzed by frustration and disappointment by the previous acts had now reaped a surprise. No one had expected that it would be under the worst circumstances that the best performance would appear. No, they had already forgotten that this was just a performance. The gala venue had turned into a live house with a warm atmosphere, with the cheers almost drowning out the voice of the fans who were diligently chanting out the response lines.

The rhythm of the beatboxing was now controlled by He Ziyan, and it started to change. The six people changed their dance formation to match the beat, and Pei Tingsong, with one hand in his pocket, strode on his long legs up to the camera amidst the screams, before raising an eyebrow and starting in on his home turf.

"Welcome to the start of the gorgeous Kaleido, what are you afraid of, don't rush to go, from this competitive auction show, haters aren't qualified to raise their hands, yo. Baby focus on my voice, all my money rising tall."

He took off his gold glasses, placed them in his suit pocket, and temporarily changed the lyrics. "I am rich, oh, I am fresh. Your little bitches love me so."

When Fang Juexia heard the word 'bitches', he nearly lost control over his expression, but it was only for that moment. In the past, whenever Pei Tingsong wrote lyrics, he would completely copy the style of most black artists, but the company had concerns about the songs meeting the standards of distribution, so they could only modify and delete certain words. Therefore, it was normal for Pei Tingsong to change the words temporarily when singing live. Because of this, they were often ridiculed by fans—K's CDs go through a lot of processing, and the only way to test if their mics were live was by listening to Xiao Pei.

"China swag, China dope. See the sound system mess up the perfect show. The original lyrics have been thrown below, and we're singing right into the mic, do you have any woes?" All of them finished the kicking movement of their dance cleanly, and only Pei Tingsong pulled at the collar of his shirt from his position near the front of the stage. "Fakers have all been kicked away by me. Please, when picking opponents your standards are too carefree."

"Next stop is my universe," Pei Tingsong opened his right arm, his aura deft and full of provocation as he continued, "You have one second to escape and curse."

As soon as he turned around, he and Fang Juexia looked at each other again. To his surprise, Fang Juexia, who had started singing the following part of the song, also stretched out his hand and patted his right palm.

This brief collision was like a handover ceremony between comrades-in-arms.

The lead singers started in on the chorus and stirred up the crowd again, their perfect triple harmony controlling the whole audience. Just after this part of the chorus, when repeating the lyrics, they wouldn't perform that uniform knifelike dance again. Pei Tingsong walked to the very front of the stage, sweeping through it in an absolutely gangster-like manner. He led his Geges in dispersing to various places on the huge stage, and then took the audience into singing along with them, "We gonna fight! Fight! Fight! Sing together!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The venue was boiling over, and all of the audience beneath the stage joined in. Following their rhythm and constantly repeating these syllables, the atmosphere kept climbing, and the thrilling scene of the sound accident turned into a concert chorus.

The whole scene was boiling, and tens of thousands of glowsticks were waving frantically and flashing for them, for the very first time.

They finished their final dance under the high-pitched harmony of Ling Yi and Juexia, turning around and switching into their ending formation as they waited for their two lead singers to finish the last bar.

Everyone thought it was about to end. But in that instant, the accompaniment track, which had been absent this entire time, buzzed and then returned to normal, playing the last few seconds of the original accompaniment.

Completely and absolutely, the dance of all the K members was to the beat of the track, including the last lyrics that came from Fang Juexia.

[Just born for passion]

As he put down the microphone, he and Pei Tingsong collided and looked up side-by-side in the double C position that was the ending movement of the dance, coming to a stop at the exact moment the last drumbeat of the track ended.

The audience was stunned at first, then burst into applause and cheers, looking like a tide surging all around them!

This was an imperfect live feast.

"Thank you everyone!"

Fang Juexia's chest heaved violently, and sweat from his forehead was about to drip into his eyes. The stage lighting dazzled his eyes. The audience chanted 'Kaleido' and 'Encore' repeatedly, with each chant growing louder than the one before, and this tide covered up his trembling breath.

Finally, they were also like the other groups, now possessing the qualifications to have their name be called out with pride.

Everything was like a dream.

A complete and wonderful dream.

"Thank you! Thank you Kaleido for your wonderful performance! It was really such a shock!"

Their nerves, which had been stretched taut, loosened under the control of the host's voice, and the six of them bowed deeply towards the audience, not straightening up for a long time.

Pei Tingsong's hand tightly held Fang Juexia's hand, all ten fingers intertwined, as if they had miraculously survived something.

It was not until they straightened up that Pei Tingsong slowly let go. He didn't know why he was so excited. This felt like a flashpoint in his life, and it was also the first time that he felt the satisfaction that an idol stage would bring. He was so excited that he wanted to embrace every teammate, including Fang Juexia.

While his thoughts were turning and churning, Pei Tingsong heard Fang Juexia's very quietly spoken words.

Glancing to the side, he saw that this person's face that was covered with sweat, was smiling, panting and smiling at him.

"Now I think the lyrics you wrote are really good."

You will remember me after the storm.