Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

At the photography studio in Cheongdam-dong, which collaborates with the program "SIXTEEN", sixteen trainees will be shooting a pictorial today.

The trainees arrived at the dressing room early in the morning and got their makeup done with the help of the production team.

Yoo Jeongyeon, who had already finished her makeup, checked her phone while waiting for the other trainees.

Her fingers swiped rapidly across the phone screen, seemingly browsing some kind of ranking list.

Park Jihyo, who was sitting next to her, noticed her movement and leaned over to ask, "Unnie, what are you looking at?"

Yoo Jeongyeon stopped what she was doing and replied, "I'm looking at the Melon charts. Oppa is really amazing, he's already ranked 21st."

Park Jihyo nodded in agreement, saying, "Yeah, oppa's song is really popular right now. You can hear it on so many variety shows lately."

"It's a bit of a shame, though. Oppa only went on music shows for two weeks, otherwise he could definitely have won a few more number one spots, right?"

"Definitely! If oppa goes this week, we'll definitely get two more."

Yu Dingyan looked somewhat regretful as she spoke.

Although Jiang Yan didn't attend this week's THESHOW and Champion Show, she is still a candidate.

However, if Xiao Tai wants to win a spot, he must be present on the day of the event.

This can be considered a protective regulation for non-mainstream groups or singers.

Since Jiang Yan has stopped performing this week, these two smaller stations naturally won't give him the first spot; they've only included him in the list of candidates.

The noise from their conversation attracted Lim Nayeon, who was sitting opposite them. She came over as if to join in the fun and suddenly sat down on Yoo Jeongyeon's lap.

But Yoo Jeongyeon had already become desensitized to this somewhat childish unnie and let her sit on her lap.

"What are you guys talking about?" Lim Nayeon asked with a grin, hooking her arm around Yoo Jeongyeon's neck after sitting down.

"Unnie, we're talking about Kang Yeon oppa," Park Jihyo said with a smile.

"Oh, so you were talking about him. How boring." Lim Nayeon immediately pouted when she heard that the two of them were talking about something related to Kang Yeon.

"Unnie, you still have a problem with oppa? It's just that he scolded you a few times back then, right?" Yoo Jeongyeon looked at Lim Nayeon's face, which fell down in a second, and was not surprised at all.

"Oh! Is it a matter of how many times? He scolded me in front of so many juniors back then, didn't I have any dignity?"

It would have been better if Yoo Jeongyeon hadn't mentioned it, because mentioning it made Lim Nayeon angry again.

She considered herself to be the company's star trainee, but Jiang Yan, who was an instructor at the time, scolded her several times when she underperformed.

He went on and on with her saying things like, "A top trainee shouldn't make such a basic mistake."

Lim Nayeon knew it was her fault, but why did she have to say it in front of others when she could have just spoken to her privately? It made her lose all authority as a senior trainee at the time.

"Unnie, you only dare to say things like that to me and Jeongyeon unnie. Why don't you just go and confront oppa directly?" Park Jihyo said with a smug laugh.

"Oh, I was just trying not to stoop to his level!" Lim Nayeon forced a magnanimous expression, but the other two saw through her pretense immediately.

The two knew all too well that Lin Na-yeon, who looked fierce at the moment, would speak at half the volume when she was actually talking to Jiang Yan.

But Yoo Jeongyeon and Park Jihyo didn't say anything, they just secretly chuckled to themselves.

However, as if she had thought of something, Yoo Jeongyeon asked, "But it seems like unnie hasn't seen oppa in a long time, right? Should I ask oppa when he'll be free next time so we can all get together?"

"Let's talk about it after the show is over," Lim Nayeon said decisively, shaking her head.

She has absolutely no desire to see Jiang Yan right now.

The first episode of "SIXTEEN" has already aired, and given the relationship between Yoo Jeongyeon and Kang Eon, he will definitely watch it.

Lim Nayeon is certain that after watching the first episode, Kang Yeon will definitely say things like, "Is this all the performance you've got as JYP's ace trainee?", "Nayeon, you've disappointed me," and "What have you been training for the past five years?" when they meet, putting pressure on her.

She, Lim Na-yeon, absolutely cannot give the other party the chance to say those words!

"Oh, then let's talk about it later."

Yoo Jeongyeon only mentioned it briefly when she thought of it, and when she saw that Lim Nayeon didn't seem to have any interest, she ended the topic.

Then, the three of them chatted for a while.

Park Jihyo looked at Yoo Jeongyeon with a hint of envy and said, "Speaking of which, Jeongyeon unnie has also gained a lot of attention because of oppa."

Park Ji-hyo's words were not unfounded.

As one of the singers of "All I Wanna Do", Yoo Jeongyeon benefited from the song's popularity.

Many passersby started paying attention to Yu Jeong-yeon, who was participating in a debut talent show, through this song.

In the most recent round of voting, Yoo Jeong-yeon ranked first with 13.5% of the votes.

Of the sixteen individual short videos of the contestants in "SIXTEEN" that were originally released on YouTube, Lim Nayeon's video had the highest number of views.

However, Yoo Jeongyeon's personal short video has now surpassed Lim Nayeon's in views, ranking second among the sixteen.

As for why it's not number one, it's because the number one spot has already been taken by Mina.

As the female lead in Jiang Yan's main music video, Mina naturally garnered a lot of attention.

Furthermore, in the most recent round of public voting, Mina Mina, with 13.1% of the votes, rose from outside the top 7 to 2nd place, second only to Yoo Jeong-yeon.

"Aigoo, I didn't expect that song to become a hit either, even though it was just a non-single from the album."

Yu Dingyan didn't show any smugness this time. Instead, she spoke very carefully, afraid of touching the sensitive nerves of her two sisters.

However, Park Jihyo didn't think much of it and continued to chat with Yoo Jeongyeon, saying, "It's no wonder that oppa is so popular. The other day, there was that video of him performing at Konkuk University's anniversary celebration. Wow—his skills were truly undeniable."

Her words resonated with the other two.

Yoo Jeongyeon echoed, "Yeah, oppa's live performance was really amazing. I wonder if I'll be able to do that in the future."

Lim Nayeon nodded silently in agreement. Even though she had some reservations about Kang Yeon, she still recognized his abilities.

She didn't really hate Jiang Yan; she was just annoyed that he had been so harsh and unforgiving towards her.

"Unnie, maybe we should think about how to avoid being eliminated first," Park Jihyo practically added.

She felt that Yoo Jeong-yeon was thinking a bit too far ahead; that was something to consider after her debut.

"That's true..."

Reminded by Park Jihyo, Yoo Jeongyeon's nervousness returned.

Afterwards, the three of them ended their brief chat and went their separate ways to adjust their state and wait for the official recording of the program.

……