I desperately want to win on the peninsula

Having not seen each other for a while, Minatozaki Sana was very talkative, chattering away with a lot to say. Mainly, Lin Qianqiao's previous act of confiding in her made her want to confide in him. After all, a few words on the phone are not enough. Seeing him here, she couldn't help but ramble on and on.

Hirai Momo, who had been left out in the cold, became increasingly listless as she listened. She had drunk a lot of ice water and hadn't eaten anything all day. Coupled with her training and exercise, the aroma of food nearby made her stomach ache with hunger, and she was so hungry that she almost fainted while slumped over the table.

Lin Qianqiao and Minatozaki Sana were having a pleasant chat. The girl had high emotional intelligence, spoke very nicely, and would even make small exclamations of surprise when she replied. Naturally, the two of them were very interested in talking.

But when he glanced at Hirai Momo's pale face out of the corner of his eye, looking so haggard that she seemed like she could break at the slightest touch, he could tell that this was a sign of low blood sugar.

After thinking for a while, Lin Qianqiao moved the stir-fried rice cakes next to Hirai Momo and explained to Minatozaki Sana, "You guys probably haven't eaten yet, right? Have some rice cakes to fill your stomachs first."

"No, no..."

Seeing this, Sana Minato waved her hand in refusal. She didn't want to leave the impression of being a freeloader. She still remembered that she had devoured half a bag of his snacks the last time they met. When she returned to the dormitory and reviewed the incident, her mind was in a mess. She felt so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl into a hole.

But Hirai Momo didn't think so. Her nose twitched slightly as she smelled the fragrant food. She thought she was hallucinating, but then she glanced sideways and saw a box of stir-fried rice cakes and grilled sausages that was almost overflowing in front of her.

As her sense of smell returned, her hearing naturally returned as well. Listening to Sana Minatozaki's continued rejections, Momo Hirai propped her chin on her hand, looking at Sana pitifully, and let out a whimper like a small animal: "Sana-chan~".

Upon hearing such a mournful cry, Minatozaki Sana paused in her waving motion, slowly turning her head to look at Hirai Momo. Her distressed face was quite heartbreaking. Before Minatozaki Sana could respond, Lin Qianqiao spoke first.

"If you don't eat something soon, you'll faint from low blood sugar. The starch in rice cakes contains the sugar you need, and the calories will be around 150 kcal. When you walk back after eating, you can digest most of the calories. Don't worry about your weight, just eat."

As soon as she finished speaking, Hirai Momo looked at Minatozaki Sana beside her. Seeing her nod with slight hesitation, she smiled and said, "Momo-chan, eat with peace of mind." She then turned to Lin Qianqiao and asked, "I'm eating your food again this time. Will Qianqiao be angry...?" As she spoke, Hirai Momo had already picked up a bamboo skewer and started eating the mochi. Perhaps it had been too long since she had tasted it, because the girl happily shook her head and smacked her lips, as if peach juice was about to overflow from the corners of her mouth.

Lin Qianqiao couldn't help but laugh at this scene. Seeing that the crying girl had regained some of her spirits, he felt he had done a good deed.

He roughly guessed where the girl's listless state came from, since the agency's weight requirements were very strict. Weight loss usually involved reducing food intake or simply not eating to forcibly lower the weight, and then maintaining the figure by reducing appetite and keeping low intake.

There are many general health problems. As people get older, they are basically riddled with ailments, with the digestive system being a major concern, along with skin health, oral health, and a whole host of other issues.

Another type is the healthy idols that Starship has always promoted, with MONSTAX having an undeniably amazing physique. Furthermore, MONSTAX consistently maintains their fitness levels through workouts. While they may appear unremarkable on the outside, once they take off their clothes, you'll see... well, that goes without saying. In short, a healthy diet combined with moderate exercise yields results no worse than a starved physique; the difference is that they won't become overly thin. After all, the difference between being skin and bones and having a low body fat percentage is like night and day.

But after hearing Sana Minatozaki's words, he immediately shook his head. "It's okay, sharing is never wrong, and besides..."

"I can make it up to you..." Minatozaki Sana interrupted, looking up.

Upon hearing this, Lin Qianqiao and Minatozaki Sana exchanged glances for less than two seconds. Perhaps seeing the sincerity in her eyes, Lin Qianqiao chuckled and shook her head, "How about you treat me to a big meal after you debut and make some money?"

"No problem, if Sana-chan won't treat, I'll treat you!"

Sana Minatozaki didn't answer, but Momo Hirai put down the skewer in her hand and solemnly promised. Her firm tone made the other two laugh, and the atmosphere immediately became lively.

"What are you saying? I'll definitely treat you. You can't shut up with food alone."

Hehe~

After a moment, Sana Minatozaki seemed to sense something was wrong. "Takumi Inui, you said you came with Jooheon oppa, where is he?"

Lin Qianqiao was also a little puzzled when she heard this. According to her usual dawdling pace, she should have come over to eat together by now.

The next second, a voice, neither too loud nor too soft, came from behind the three of them. Lin Qianqiao and Minatozaki Sana turned around and saw Zhou Xian sitting alone at the small table eating. He looked at Lin Qianqiao and gave a speechless twitch of his lips. When his gaze fell on Minatozaki Sana, he forced a smile and then said in a resentful tone.

"Kamsammida, my teammates didn't even remember I was still at the convenience store. I'm so grateful that you still remember me."

"Ani, ani, it's because I disturbed Joo-heon oppa and Inui-chō-ssi's meal that this happened, Choi-san Hamida!" Minatozaki Sana clasped her hands together and sincerely apologized.

"Ani, this has nothing to do with you..."

"It really has nothing to do with Sana. He usually likes to eat alone, so we don't need to worry about him." Lin Qianqiao gave Zhou Xian an excuse, indicating that Minatozaki Sana didn't need to blame herself too much, and pretended not to see Zhou Xian's gritted teeth.

She glanced at Hirai Momo casually and gestured, "We haven't bought the drinks yet, go get them first..." Lin Qianqiao paused here, because when she looked at Hirai Momo, she had no idea what her name was.

"Let's go buy Momo a drink first." After a moment, Lin Qianqiao recalled that when he was chatting with Minatozaki Sana, he mentioned that a girl who looked like a raccoon was named Momo, and then Minatozaki Sana had called out her name in the convenience store just now, so he had a vague impression of it.

"Momo?"

Minatozaki Sana stared at Lin Qianqiao with wide eyes, completely surprised that he could call her by name. When they entered and greeted each other, Lin Qianqiao clearly didn't remember Hirai Momo very well and hesitated when he wanted to say something polite. Minatozaki Sana was thinking of introducing Hirai Momo after they finished eating and when she had recovered her energy, so she was quite surprised that he could call her by name.

He nodded. "Yes, do you know how to make the drinks here? I see some of the finished products on the recipe sheet look delicious."

"Mo? I haven't tried it."

"I'll teach you later. You've come so many times and you still haven't tried it. Be careful not to fall behind the times. You can't be an idol if you don't have anything to talk about."

If you ask Sana Minatozaki for a drink, you'll most likely get a no. But if you mention the crying girl next to her and the prerequisite of being an idol, this childhood friend will wag her tail and be too busy to go into the cage.

This feeling of being in control is somewhat similar to the plot of a Japanese drama.

Unsurprisingly, Sana Minatozaki followed behind Takumi Hayashi with great interest and asked, "Really? This kind of drinking is popular among Generation Z now... I want to try it."

"Of course, young people value novelty and excitement. Look at the drinks above, don't they look like cocktails? They not only look visually appealing, but they also give you the feeling of drinking alcohol, which makes them very popular."

When they arrived at the cold drinks area, Lin Qianqiao picked up a recipe list to show her. The dazzling array of finished products on it was indeed very eye-catching.

"Alcohol-free..."

Sana Minatozaki flipped the bottle over. "This side is for alcoholic drinks..." She looked up at Takumi Hayashi beside her and asked, "Takumi, was what you just drank non-alcoholic or alcoholic?"

"Tea with a non-alcoholic energy drink," Lin Qianqiao replied casually. "Just mix and match whatever you like."

"Then I want to be like you."

"Hmm...Here you go." Lin Qianqiao took two cups of ice, two bottles of drinks, and a bottle of oolong tea from the freezer, put them in the basket, and handed them to her.

"What are you eating out so late?"

"It's usually seaweed rice rolls or instant noodles..."

"Guess, you and Momo split it 50/50?"

"Um?"

Sana Minatozaki looked at Qianqiao Lin with a puzzled expression. "How did you guess that?"

"Your complexion isn't much better than Momo's right now..." Lin Qianqiao pouted. "According to the company's evaluation standards, you should meet the physique requirements for a debut artist. If you still insist on this, you should pay more attention to the edges and corners on the road. It would be terrible if you bumped into something."

He guessed that Sana Minatozaki had taken a lot of damage with Momo, her lips were a little pale, and her eyes had lost much of their luster compared to when they first met. However, she was quite tolerant, and her expression and demeanor remained as "lively" as ever. If you weren't paying attention, you might actually have been fooled.

In addition, she is a bit emotionally sensitive. Compared to her previous liveliness, she is much less lively, has a lot more axial cells, and reacts much more blankly, amplifying a certain uncontrollable emotion. She has completely lost her previous spirituality.

And when we made eye contact just now, I could see the deep weariness in her eyes, so I guess she's been under a lot of pressure lately.

"Oh dear..." Exposed, Minatozaki Sana lightly punched Lin Qianqiao beside her. Her hand was weak from not eating. Lin Qianqiao, who was hit, only felt a scratch. He squatted down and grabbed some food, casually putting it in her basket.

"Maintaining a certain level of food intake and exercise will provide some sustainability for your career. Otherwise, if you debut in your current state, you will most likely be dragged down by physical strength, which will lead to poor mental health and sleep problems. All these factors combined will drag you down as a whole."

"But... I'm so tired after practice, I don't have the energy to exercise."

"Then reduce the amount of practice." Lin Qianqiao wasn't just talking without understanding the situation. Looking at Minatozaki Sana, who seemed hesitant to speak, he knew what she was wondering about.

It's worth mentioning here that many agency staff don't verbally criticize trainees about their practice hours, as they value human kindness.

Furthermore, the surveillance footage can reveal who is slacking off and sleeping, who is late, leaves early, or doesn't practice extra. This information will be reflected in the end-of-month evaluation scores, and can be used to criticize trainees for "not working hard." A brainless adult can't succeed in an agency; many staff members are just making sarcastic remarks and then using some point as a pretext for physical punishment and extra practice.

If there is open bullying of trainees, it means either the company culture is problematic or the training is inadequate. Nowadays, the Peninsula Entertainment has a low tolerance for bullying, especially since it is basically equivalent to ruining an idol's career if it is exposed.

This is also reflected in society; it hasn't been completely eradicated, but there are just more people doing it covertly, which, to put it bluntly, is just using this as an excuse to make trouble.

If Sana Minatozaki understood football, she could explain it even more clearly: when a youth player plays for the first team, they can set aside the teachings of their previous youth coaches and focus on the current head coach and the game.

Because of the different levels, you can't play an official match while thinking about going back to practice according to the training schedule from your youth training period after you leave the field, right?

So, physical exertion is also a lesson. Also, youth training only requires showcasing talent and practicing, while first-team matches are very simple: you just need to score, kick that damn ball into the damn goal, and smash it through the net.

Therefore, the requirements of talent agencies are very simple: as long as you can make money, forget about human beauty.

At first glance, Minatozaki Sana is clearly idol material. If she doesn't completely win over her fans, Lin Qianqiao won't believe it. He doesn't believe JYP can't see this talent.

The main problem is that there are many unspoken rules and regulations on the peninsula, which restricts many trainees to these rules.

As is well known, K-pop agencies employ military-style management, which is relatively easy to understand. One aspect is the constant dance practice, which takes place day and night.

On the other hand, there is obedience. For example, trainees usually have an idol they admire when they enter the company, and the staff usually use the company's famous artists to motivate the trainees to improve.

First, they'll cite examples of idols, such as the grueling things they did before their debut, like practicing while having a fever or training for over ten hours a day until they fainted—exaggerated descriptions that might be true.

Of course, not everyone can do these exaggerated examples, so the staff will take a step back and make the practice requirements more reasonable and humane... relatively speaking.

The trainees will then feel that the company's arrangements are very humane, and thus gradually begin to compromise and accept them.

But once you compromise, you'll find yourself in the same situation over and over again. The staff will make high demands and give in, and the trainees will be stuck in an endless cycle of compromise.

This is the broken window theory proposed by Zhou Shuren. When a demand is too high and difficult to achieve, a compromise will give people a sense of relief, thus forcing them to compromise.

This is also useful in management. For example, if your boss asks you to work an extra day on your day off, you can say no.

Your boss asks you to finish a PowerPoint presentation before you leave work. Even if you don't want to do it, you'll still compromise to some extent. Persuasion and cajoling usually work well. The saying "they respond to gentle persuasion but not force" often means you're being manipulated.

Getting back to the main point, another reason why Lin Qianqiao doesn't support dieting to lose weight is that she doesn't want that crying girl to be used as a positive or negative example. Judging from how much weight she's lost, it's clear she's suffered a lot. If she becomes famous in the future, she'll definitely be used repeatedly to spur on younger generations.

At that time, for every trainee who admires and idolizes her, there will be just as many who hate and despise her. The crying girl who is used as an example seems a bit weak and indecisive. She will probably feel complicated after knowing this, and she will have to maintain her image in order to preserve her persona, which will be really tiring.

This is the multifaceted nature of things; being ruthless to oneself is not necessarily the right thing to do.