Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

The seven boys of NOVA were probably the last group in the entire base to realize that they had "become famous".

Yang Sheng was the first one to be blocked at the dormitory entrance.

He dragged his suitcase out at 8:30 in the morning, and before he could even sigh, "Finally leaving this awful place," the group of people outside the wrought iron railings erupted—

"Yang Sheng!!! Yang Sheng is out!!!"

"Aa ...

"Honey!!! Honey, you look so handsome in that hoodie today!!!"

Yang Sheng's suitcase wheel got stuck in the door crack, and he froze on the spot. He instinctively took half a step back, trying to retreat inside, but the door was already locked behind him.

So he could only stand there, giving those hundred-odd people a stiff smile that was somewhere between "thank you everyone" and "help me!"

Jiang Yang was in a worse state than him when he came out.

He was wearing a mask and hat, thinking he was perfectly disguised, but he had only walked three meters out the door when someone called out to him from behind—

"Jiang Yang!!! Do you think we won't recognize you because of your underage height?!"

Jiang Yang: "..."

Li Bufan adapted the fastest.

He even waved to the crowd, and then a fan rushed up and gave him a bouquet of flowers, hugging him tightly.

He paused for two seconds, then grinned and made a heart shape with his hands towards the crowd.

As a result, even more people surged forward, blocking him at the door and leaving him in a dilemma. In the end, the election officer rushed out and pulled him into the car.

Wang Yijun, wearing headphones and expressionless, walked through the crowd, ignoring all the voices calling his name.

Song Yingwen followed behind him, dragging his suitcase at a leisurely pace. He nodded slightly to the crowd and even stopped to sign an autograph for a little girl holding a banner.

Qi Xunan entered through the side door, thus avoiding most of the crowd.

But there were also more than a dozen fans squatting outside the side door, and he was surrounded as soon as he came out.

He still had that "do whatever you want, I don't care" expression, and after signing five or six names, people even started stuffing letters into his arms.

Lu Yiming was dragged away by Li Bufan.

He wanted to say goodbye to the fans at the door properly, but as soon as he bowed, the crowd surged forward.

He shrank back halfway, but Li Bufan grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"Why are you running?" Li Bufan was out of breath.

"They...they're so enthusiastic..."

"But you can't run away! If you run, they'll chase you even harder!"

"Then why did you run away too?!"

"You've led me on like this!!"

-

After the finals, the seven members' destinations did not immediately become unified after forming a group.

They come from different agencies and have different contract situations—Yang Sheng, Song Yingwen, and Jiang Yang were originally trainees of Banxing Entertainment, so their contracts are still with Banxing.

Qi Xunan has his own family background, but his personal agency contract has been signed with Jin Xian's Aurora Media;

Wang Yijun, Li Bufan, and Lu Yiming originally did not have a clear agency affiliation; some companies were too small, while others were simply amateurs.

Jin Xian had spoken with them on the night of the finals, and the conditions she gave were very clear—all team activities would be handled by Aurora Media, and for individual contracts, those with their original companies would retain their original contracts, while those without would be signed by Aurora Media, with no conflict between them.

The seven people discussed it all night, and the next day they all nodded in agreement.

So they all moved out of the recording studio of "Absolute Debut" and into the dormitory arranged by Aurora Media.

The dormitories that Aurora Media arranged for NOVA were several levels better than those at the training base.

It has a separate bathroom, a double bed, and even a projector in the living room.

Yang Sheng stood in the center of the living room, looked around, and remained silent for two seconds: "...This is bigger than my house."

Jiang Yang was already rolling around in bed: "I finally don't have to climb to the top bunk anymore—I can finally sleep in a 1.8-meter bed—"

Li Bufan, carrying his suitcase, pushed open his room door and let out a short scream: "Holy crap, this floor-to-ceiling window!!"

Wang Yijun passed by his door, glanced inside, and then said casually, "The view outside the window is indeed quite nice."

Li Bufan: "You actually spoke up first?!"

Wang Yijun: "...I'm not mute."

But the comfortable environment lasted for less than two hours.

At 10:30 a.m., the seven people were still immersed in the happiness of "the new dormitory is so big", "the bed is so soft" and "finally I don't have to get up at six o'clock" when their phones vibrated at the same time.

A new message popped up in NOVA's group chat, sent by "He Xu".

The message read: "At 2 PM, everyone must be present at the dance studio on the third floor of Aurora Media."

Jiang Yang dropped the potato chip from his mouth.

Li Bufan sent a "???" message.

Yang Sheng replied: "Received."

Song Yingwen: "Received."

Qi Xunan: "Received."

Wang Yijun: "Received."

Lu Yiming: "Received."

Jiang Yang rolled halfway on the sofa, then resignedly typed: "Received..."

At 1:50 p.m., the seven people gathered at the entrance of the dance studio on the third floor.

The door was open.

He Xu was already standing inside.

He was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and gray sweatpants, and he was squatting next to the speaker adjusting the volume.

Hearing footsteps, he didn't even look up: "Come in and close the door behind you."

Seven people filed in and stood in a row in front of the mirror.

He Xu stood up, dusted off his hands, and glanced at the seven people.

"You guys are big stars now." He Xu's tone was flat, and it was impossible to tell whether it was a compliment or sarcasm. "People chase after you when you go out, people block your way at the airport, and people are posting your names on the internet every day—that's great."

He paused.

"But don't forget, you're a newly debuted group. You haven't recorded a new song yet, you haven't learned the choreography, and you haven't mastered the stage performance."

"Fans like you now because they've watched you on the show for three months—but if your first album, first stage performance, or first comeback doesn't go well, fans will leave faster than anyone else."

"So—" He Xu walked to the mirror, clapped his hands, and said, "From now on, every afternoon from 2 pm to 6 pm, there will be dance class. In the morning, there will be vocal class, and Teacher Zhou Wei will come. In the evening, you can practice on your own, with no time or content restrictions."

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces.

"Is there a problem?"

All seven people shook their heads in unison, their movements so synchronized as if they had rehearsed.

On the first day of training, He Xu showed them what it meant to "go back to the hellish days of the past".

The first song is the theme song for "Absolute Debut" - "Uncharted".

After the seven people finished their jump, they stood there panting, expecting to receive a "good" or "keep it up."

He Xu paused for two seconds before speaking: "You guys are even worse than when you were being re-evaluated."

The smiles on the faces of all seven people froze simultaneously.

"Yang Sheng, your core was three times tighter back then than it is now."

Qi Xunan, you completely lost the rhythm of that delayed moment in the center position.

Li Bufan, your floor work has gone back to being too soft.

Wang Yijun, where did your focus shift to?

Song Yingwen, your range of motion has shrunk again.

Jiang Yang, you can laugh all you want, but what about your actions?

Lu Yiming, your second verse was a whole beat too slow.

He went from one point to another, speaking slowly but each sentence was sharp and ruthless.

"You could have danced this with your eyes closed three months ago. Now that you've debuted, you can't even maintain the basics."

The seven people lowered their heads, and no one dared to speak.

He Xu turned around and walked back to the speaker: "Start from the beginning, go through it in eight-beat increments."

"Let's do it one more time."

Second time.

The third time.

Fourth time.

By the fifth time, Jiang Yang collapsed to the ground, crying, "Teacher He... I... I can't take it anymore..."

He Xu walked over and looked down at him: "You're not good enough? You're already not good enough at sixteen? What will you do when you hold concerts in the future? Will you lie down on stage after singing just one song?"

Jiang Yang was panting and unable to speak.

He Xu squatted down, looking him straight in the eye: "Get up."

Jiang Yang didn't move.

He Xu didn't scold him, but simply reached out and patted him on the back of the head: "You're a member of NOVA now, not a trainee here to participate in an audition. You have to live up to the position you're in—get up."

Jiang Yang sniffed and stood up, supporting himself on the floor.

The training continued until 7 p.m.

When the seven people were finally able to complete the entire course without making a mistake, He Xu said, "That's it for today."

Seven people collapsed onto the floor at the same time, as if their bones had been removed.

He Xu walked to the wall, unscrewed the thermos, took a sip of water, and then picked up his phone to send a message.

He sent Han Yu a voice message: "I'll start working on your choreography tomorrow. If you're not in a rush, I'll take care of what I'm doing first."

Han Yu replied quickly: "No rush, you take care of NOVA first. My song is still being polished, you just need to decide on the choreography framework."

He Xu replied with an "Mm" and put his phone back in his pocket.

When he walked out of the dance studio, the lights were on in the hallway.

The early autumn night was getting cooler, and the wind blew in from the window at the end of the corridor, making his hair move slightly.

He stood in the corridor, turned his head, and glanced inside through the glass window of the dance studio—

Seven people were still lying on the floor, some with their eyes closed, panting, some turning their heads to talk to the person next to them, and some checking the time on their phones.

He Xu withdrew his gaze and turned to walk to the other end of the corridor.

He still has a lot of work to do—choreographing NOVA's debut song, outlining the choreography for Han Yu's song, and several other collaboration offers awaiting his attention.

But before that, he had to mold the seven NOVA kids into someone who could actually stand on the stage.

After all, this was the last time he would stand before them as a "teacher".

A month later, he was going to the United States.