I desperately want to win on the peninsula

That very night, various streaming platforms and forums online sparked heated discussions about the "SMTM" performance.

"Needless to say, the champion is Lin Qianqiao."

"To be honest, when I saw Basick's performance, I really thought Kyo would collapse and lose the performance. But when it was his turn to perform, he was on fire. I felt so relieved. His performance was on par with a master.

"Kyo's flow and intonation are so solid, his hardcore beats and rhythms are flawless, it's so explosive! It's a god-level performance that's going to blow the stage away."

"The strongest stage performance in the history of SMTM! ZZANG!"

"Who dares to say Kyo is invisible now?"

"kkkkk~ The whole episode was much more pleasing to the eye without a certain champion's scenes."

Because of Lin Qianqiao's underwater scene in the previous episode of "SMTM", his personal shots were almost completely edited out, and his popularity was diverted. At the same time, he was questioned for his lack of ability and for cooperating with the show to put on a show, and many people said that he had finally shown his true colors.

This led to her being verbally abused and slandered by a group of unknown passersby, almost being trampled on and mocked. Therefore, once the performance of the eighth episode was broadcast, a large number of Lin Qianqiao's fans finally got their revenge, and while they were feeling triumphant, they started digging up old posts to settle scores.

Zhao Meiyan, huddled in bed, was scrolling through comments on a hip-hop forum on her phone.

Posts about Lin Qianqiao tend to get very popular quickly, with the most popular one reaching over 300 replies at a visible speed, demonstrating just how popular this particular post is.

This is not surprising, as he already has a fan base, and whether they are hip-hop fans, fans of his looks, or fans of other fandoms, they all highly approve of him in every aspect.

The "suppressing the initial reaction and then elevating the final result" tactic is a common and effective method in scripts, so its popularity is quite normal.

"Kyo's voice is so soothing, there's a kind of handsomeness you can feel even without seeing his face, are there any other girls who feel the same way as me, hehe~"

In her dorm room, Sana Minatozaki pouted and read the comment aloud, her lips curving slightly upward as she couldn't help but let out a soft hum.

She searched again and found that most of the online discussion focused on Lin Qianqiao, with a small portion on Basick. After all, he had the "dad" factor, so he still had some goodwill from the public.

Both performances were quite brilliant, and many people said that this should be considered a premature final.

……

The other group, Zhou Xian and Blcak Nut, had an even more amazing performance. On the one hand, the composition and stage effects were really good. On the other hand, Zhou Xian crushed Blcak Nut with three times the votes, which no one on major online forums thought was a problem.

It wasn't a matter of a huge difference in skill level, but rather the completely different effects and scenes presented in the entire performance, and even the avant-garde nature of the multiple musical styles was refreshing.

This brings us to the fact that Red Sun was a collaborative work by multiple producers.

First, Gray's soothing intro, like a calm sea, slowly builds to a sudden, somber atmosphere, the air thick with tension. This is followed by Lin Qianqiao's thunderous punch-and-pump rap, a sudden, frenzied roar that ignites the entire stage. The final fast-paced rap pounds down like a barrage of raindrops, its sharp, decisive changes assaulting everyone's eardrums—this part was written by Zhou Xian.

The entire song is structured around the coming storm, so the three of them came together perfectly, with excellent consistency. In addition, the stage was presented in a Cthulhu-esque style, which is evident from the song title. The whole transformation is like the arrival of evil, with a strong visual impact and a very shocking change, which is very fitting.

The main reason is that Zhou Xianzhen really brought out the effect of this song, and the effect he achieved definitely exceeded the recording studio level. The live performance was even more explosive and exciting.

AOMG even guessed the music style that Blcak Nut wanted to perform, because diss is his forte, but it's useless for SMTM performances.

So AOMG followed his recently released work and easily found it. It was the mixtape he released on SoundCloud at the beginning of the year, which means that Blcak Nut had already figured out what he wanted to present, and the targeted performance went straight to it.

Moreover, the villainous image that Blcak Nut wanted to create has long been overshadowed by Lin Qianqiao's more villainous image. After all, Villain's behavior of attacking underground rappers throughout the season has already created a more advantageous image. This is not created by disgusting and conflicting behavior, but by pure strength that overwhelms the audience and is more acceptable to them.

Therefore, this also created the famous scene of Zhou Xian's votes tripling, along with a god-level stage performance. The SMTM audience had a particularly strong discussion tonight and were very satisfied with the performance.

Zhou Xian's storyline ignited the hearts of many viewers. From an unknown follower idol rapper to his comeback and surge into the top four tonight, he made a remarkable debut.

"The background introduction, the stage design, the reactions of the mentors and contestants, the choice of beat, the choreography, and the contestants' explosive performances... Of course, there's also the rap itself. Everyone understands that creating a legendary stage is not easy; it requires the fusion of so many elements. But Zhou Xian did it. Thank you for presenting such an amazing stage..."

"Let the darkness linger; its meager illumination is meaningless. That tiny candlelight cannot be my light. I open my eyes to find the dawn again. I hope my dream, blurred by the fog, will gradually become clearer." The intense rhythm, tight lyrics, and screaming rap have never been my style. As a beginner in hip-hop, I've often not felt particularly excited or invigorated. But tonight, while watching the competition, these were the only lyrics I understood. Based solely on these lines and Zhou Xian's stage performance, I was truly deeply moved. My heart was pounding. I'm going crazy for you! Don't let previous setbacks defeat you! Good luck in the semi-finals!

"When the chorus came on, I felt like I was going to become a cult member! Don't stop me, I'm going to become a cult member!!!! Give Zhou Xian a shout-out! If this were the final stage, he'd probably be the champion!!!"

"These two amazing rappers from Starship Troopers are going to blow SMTM away! They're a million times more impactful than those two from YG last year!"

"It's fine for people upstairs to watch, but don't go overboard with the comparisons!"

Finally, the discussion surrounding Zhou Xian that night was even higher than that surrounding Lin Qianqiao and Basick from the first group. The discussion surrounding the performance in episode seven was less than half that of this episode. Episode eight of SMTM can be considered to have reached its peak.

When the production team was tallying the ratings later, they were surprised to find that SMTM had broken through 4% in this episode, which shows that it has become a hit variety show this summer.

Even some well-known celebrities posted pictures of watching SMTM on their respective SNS, along with their favorite contestants. Joo Heon was mentioned the most, probably because his comeback story was so exciting.

……

The conference room on the fourth floor of Starship.

Jinshidai held another meeting regarding the return of Monstax.

This isn't a discussion about album planning, but rather about the final comeback.

The original intention of choosing the comeback date was to avoid the peak period of Bigbang's new song in August, but unexpectedly, SM's Girls' Generation will make a comeback at the same time.

This made Kim Age extremely upset. If they could return soon, he planned to have Monstax make two comebacks in the second half of the year to build up popularity and officially challenge established groups.

After all, it's normal for a newly debuted group to have three comebacks in a year.

The difficulty lies in the fact that all the major pop groups are making comebacks this year, especially Bigbang, whose album dominated the entire summer, disrupting the entire Golden Age plan and forcing them to try to avoid it.

Fortunately, the public opinion in the past few days has finally shown a glimmer of hope for the Golden Age.

"President-nim, Kyo is really hot this time. His 'Moo' on SMTM is doing very well. It has already climbed to the top 3 on the Melon daily chart, and the number of downloads on the C chart is still climbing. It will probably push Bigbang's new song 'Let's Not Fall in Love' off the charts in about two days."

One of the staff members said excitedly, "In addition, Zhou Xian's 'Red Sun' also performed quite well, reaching seventh place. The momentum is very stable and there is a chance to achieve even better results. With this momentum and the level of discussion, it is not impossible for him to enter the top three."

Compared to Sistar, this music chart performance is incomparable, because these girls hold the record for the most times they've hung up their curtains on various music platforms. No girl group of their generation can match SISTAR's music achievements, including Miss A, who won Song of the Year upon their debut.

However, if you look at the singers on the list, you won't think that way. First is Jinusean and Lil Boi's "Brother's Car", second is Bigbang's "Let's Not Fall in Love Anymore", fourth and ninth are songs from another national variety show, Infinite Challenge's spin-off song festival, "Wiing Wiing" and "Yanghwa Bridge", fifth is Simon D, sixth is "Turtle", and tenth is Wonder Girsl's "I Feel You".

The overall market was driven extremely high, and the songs mentioned above were either hits from variety shows or established trends in the music industry.

The top twenty spots were basically divided up as well.

[YG, MBC, Mnet, and Hip-hop: "The Four Heavenly Kings Dominate the Music Charts."]

This title is the most frequently reported topic in recent news reports.

Next up are some girl group battles during their comeback periods, such as Girls' Generation's pre-release track and Sistar's comeback track.

Stellar, Mamammo, AoA, Girls Day, Gfriend, and Apink are all making comebacks.

This year's summer girl group battle has already gone crazy, and the media reports are quite sensationalist, with headlines like "Major girl groups besiege Girls' Generation"—they can come up with something like that.

Next is the distribution of audio sources for "The Masked Singer". It can be said that this summer, the entire K-pop scene is exploding.

It's worth noting that Lin Qianqiao's "물어" was released without a featured track, so its ability to reach this level is already a remarkable achievement. If it were during a quiet period for the comeback, this number of listens and downloads would have already topped the daily charts.

(Melon currently calculates audio streams based on 40% listening and 60% downloads.)

"We underestimated the two members who participated in SMTM." The person in charge couldn't hide his excitement and leaned closer to him to add, "In addition to their excellent performances on music charts, 'Munyang' and 'Red Sun' have already surpassed one million views on YouTube according to data released by Mnet TV, and the spread is happening at an extremely fast pace. Many fans are spontaneously promoting them on forums."

"It has even attracted the attention of many overseas listeners, who have given him quite positive reviews. This may be related to Kyo's experience living abroad, which has given his rap a touch of foreign influence... making it more in line with the habits of overseas listeners." The person in charge said this with great satisfaction.

"Furthermore, Monstax's official social media and YouTube following is increasing rapidly!"

"Fans have already started urging us to make a comeback." After recounting a series of data analyses, the person in charge finally turned the topic to the main point.

"Today's meeting is about this." Jin Shidai adjusted his glasses and said seriously, "The comeback, taking advantage of this momentum, has been decided."

"Since there are no artists or groups making a comeback in the company recently, I will devote most of my resources to Monstax and will personally oversee the project."

"The publicity department can appropriately release some materials about the upcoming comeback on social media, but they should not use Kyo as a promotional point."

This is not conducive to MONSTAX's long-term development. Too much publicity now could easily attract anti-fans; maintaining a certain level of mystery would be more effective.

"I remember that Monstax has been invited to many variety shows recently. Zhou Xian can handle the promotion for him."

"Yes, President!" The person in charge nodded in response. He actually knew why Zhou Xian was the one running the variety show. He still felt it was a pity. It would have been so much better if they could have advanced together.

Unfortunately, the show's producers won't allow Starship to monopolize the hype surrounding SMTM, especially since this is already the best possible outcome.

The meeting lasted a long time...

The very next day, a large amount of material was released on social media.

In addition to hinting at his comeback, there are also materials such as photos with other artists at Kcon in Los Angeles and group photos with fans at the Idol Star Athletics Championships.

The news of the comeback immediately attracted a large number of eager fans, and many people on the forum had already guessed it.

After all, with materials appearing frequently, the members are no longer like they were just sitting in their dorms picking their toes a month ago, with only one or two live streams occasionally.

The recently announced schedule includes a large number of radio programs and several variety shows. It's clear what Starship is up to.

Until today, the official announcement of the comeback teaser was accompanied by poster materials. This time, Starship really spent money to create a stylish look, which is quite rare. Even Joo Heon looks a little bit more handsome, and the reviews are pretty good.

"Aaaaaah! They're finally coming back!"

"I was right, we'll be seeing the seven little monsters again."

"Why haven't they released any posters or promotional materials for Kyo yet? He has the fewest materials on the entire official channel. How long have they been messing with me? Don't they even know who the main character is?"

"Don't rush, don't rush..."

In the Starship practice room, the other members sat in twos and threes chatting. Lin Qianqiao, who was sitting with LM, leaned against the wall, sat cross-legged on the floor, and was engrossed in reading the comments under the official account on his phone. When he saw the seven little monsters, he couldn't help but laugh.

Where did this name come from? It doesn't seem as cool as the Seven Calabash Brothers; at least they had superpowers.

Godzilla would also work, since it can roar and smash things anywhere, which is Zhou Xian's favorite thing to do.

Lin Qianqiao simply ignored the negative comments about his family; he was a follower of the "Bragging Cult" and had no interest in reading comments that affected his mood.

After flipping through it a couple more times, I didn't pay any more attention and went to eat.