Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

When He Xu said "I'm done practicing," it was as if it were something perfectly natural.

Wang Yijun glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

But Lu Yiming couldn't help but ask, "Brother He Xu, when did you start practicing? Weren't you in the hospital these past few days?"

He Xu didn't answer the question. Instead, he walked to the center of the practice room, took the player from Wang Yijun, and dragged the progress bar a few times.

"First, let's assign positions," he said, speaking quickly with an undeniable sense of efficiency. "This song has six people: two vocalists, two rappers, and two dancers. Who's going to be the center?"

"You." The other five people spoke almost simultaneously.

He Xu glanced at them.

"I'm in Class B," he said. "The center position is usually for Class A."

"There's no such rule." Wang Yijun leaned against the mirror, arms crossed, her tone flat. "Besides, you're in Class B because of vocal music, not dance."

He Xu paused for a second, then shook his head.

"You'll be the center," he said, his tone more like an arrangement than a suggestion. "You're the captain and from Class A, so standing in the middle is convincing—I'll stand next to you, a symmetrical double position for the chorus."

Wang Yijun frowned, wanting to say something, but when she met He Xu's eyes that seemed to say "I'm done speaking," she swallowed her words.

The positions were assigned very quickly.

Vocals: Lu Yiming, Yan Chen.

Rap: Lin Siyuan, Zhao Tianyu.

Dance: He Xu, Wang Yijun.

The six people had clearly defined roles, and no one had any questions.

He Xu turned on the music and dragged the progress bar to the beginning.

"Let's walk through the empty space first," he said. "No movements needed, just the positions. I'll call out the beat from the beginning, and everyone should remember their own path."

The six people spread out and stood in the practice room.

He Xu stood to the left of the center position and started clapping his hands: "One, two, three, go—"

In the first eight beats, all six people moved at the same time.

He Xu called out as he walked, "Wang Yijun, take half a step to the left and avoid me. Lu Yiming, go around from behind, don't walk in a straight line. Lin Siyuan and Zhao Tianyu, you two keep more distance, don't bump into each other—"

After walking through the area once, the six people returned to their original positions.

"Is there a problem?" He Xu asked.

"During the second chorus, when I went around from the back to the front, Yan Chen was still in front," Lu Yiming raised his hand. "I was going to bump into him."

"Yan Chen, move your position forward two steps to make way for Lu Yiming," He Xu said. "Come on, let's do it again from the second chorus."

The second time, there were still problems.

Zhao Tianyu and Lin Siyuan's rap part required them to move to the front row, but their positions overlapped, and they bumped into each other in the middle.

He Xu took a deep breath.

"Zhao Tianyu, you go first. Lin Siyuan, wait two beats before you move, then go around him from behind." He walked between the two men, gesturing the trajectory with his hand. "See it clearly?"

The two nodded.

"Again."

On the third try, the positioning finally went smoothly.

He Xu glanced at his watch; less than twenty minutes had passed since he entered the room.

The progress is astonishingly fast.

"Okay, now let's add some moves," he said, his voice even hoarser than before. "Dance along with the music once, without stopping or correcting any mistakes, and we'll talk about it after we're done."

The music is ringing.

Six people started moving at the same time.

While dancing, He Xu's gaze kept following the movements of the other five people in the mirror.

Lu Yiming's dance had a few moves where he didn't engage his core properly, causing his body to sway excessively.

Yan Chen was a bit better than him, but he clearly struggled with the floor work in the chorus, and his knees buckled inward when he landed.

Lin Siyuan and Zhao Tianyu had a good sense of rhythm, but their movements were too exaggerated.

Wang Yijun danced the best.

This was exactly what He Xu had expected.

Wang Yijun is in Class A. She has a solid foundation, clean movements, and precise timing.

The only problem is that he has almost no control over his facial expressions.

He Xu kept these questions in mind and only spoke after the music ended.

"Lu Yiming, the first verse of the chorus, that's your core." He Xu walked up to him, placed his hand on his waist, and said, "Start with this, not your shoulders. Your shoulders are too tense, and your whole body is swaying."

Lu Yiming's body stiffened as He Xu pressed down on him, then he slowly relaxed and adjusted the position of his force according to He Xu's gestures.

"Can you feel it?"

"I can feel it..."

"Let's do this one more time."

Lu Yiming jumped it again, and this time he was a bit more stable.

"Not good yet, continue."

It was barely watchable on the third viewing.

He Xu didn't waste any more time and turned to Yan Chen: "In the chorus floor work, your knees are buckling inward. Shift your weight forward and transfer the power from your knees to your feet—look at me."

He gave a demonstration, his movements so slow it was as if they were being sped up by 0.5x.

Yan Chen did as instructed, but it still wasn't right.

He Xu squatted down, pressed his hand on his calf, and corrected his position: "Here, the point of force is here. Can you feel it?"

Yan Chen nodded.

"Do it again."

Once, twice, three times.

By the fourth time, Yan Chen's floor movements finally looked decent.

He Xu stood up and turned to Lin Siyuan and Zhao Tianyu.

"Your movements are too exaggerated," he said. "The choreography for this song is clean and crisp, not street freestyle. Each movement should be executed perfectly and then stopped; there shouldn't be any unnecessary swaying."

Lin Siyuan scratched his head: "But I think a bigger gesture would be more impressive..."

"You think it's useless," He Xu said bluntly. "It's only useful if the audience thinks it's useful. Follow the demo, don't do things your own way."

Lin Siyuan shut his mouth.

Zhao Tianyu was chuckling to himself, but He Xu glanced at him and his smile immediately vanished.

Finally, He Xu walked up to Wang Yijun.

Wang Yijun leaned against the mirror, arms crossed, waiting for him to speak with a cold expression.

"You jumped perfectly," He Xu said.

Wang Yijun raised an eyebrow, clearly not expecting this evaluation.

"But there's something wrong with your expression," He Xu continued. "You had the same expression the whole time, like someone owed you money. The audience is looking at stage presence, not your technical skills."

Wang Yijun frowned slightly.

"I'm not here to sell smiles," he said.

"Nobody's telling you to smile for show," He Xu said softly. "Are you telling me to manage my expressions? Didn't any of the trainees come out of training with acting lessons?"

Wang Yijun remained silent for two seconds.

"Then teach me," he said.

He Xu glanced at him, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

"Okay," he said. "Let's dance first, we'll talk about expressions later."

An hour later.

In front of the mirror in the practice room, the six people were already able to perform the entire dance.

The "completeness" is that every eight beats are perfectly timed, every movement avoids collisions, and every action is basically in place.

Lu Yiming sat on the floor, panting, his T-shirt collar soaked with sweat.

"Brother He Xu, you're amazing! We practiced the dance for so long the other day and it still wasn't going well, but as soon as you came, it was perfect all over again!"

He Xu ignored him, picked up the water bottle and took a sip.

Wang Yijun stood in front of the mirror and went over the chorus movements again.

His expression remained indifferent, but the details of his movements were more precise than an hour ago.

At that moment, the door to the practice room was pushed open.

Shen Yiheng stood at the door, holding a stack of papers in his hand, followed by Zheng Zaiyuan and Zhou Wei.

Mentorship.

This is a standard part of the first performance – each group is assigned a different mentor who provides targeted guidance on vocals, dance, stage presence, and other aspects.

When Shen Yiheng walked in, his gaze lingered on He Xu for a moment before sweeping across the entire practice room.

All six people, except He Xu, were covered in sweat, and some even collapsed on the floor.

"How's your training going?" Shen Yiheng asked, his tone a typical PD's concern.

"Brother He Xu led us through the entire dance!" Yan Chen jumped up from the ground, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

Shen Yiheng's lips twitched slightly.

He glanced at He Xu, who was looking down at the water bottle cap, with an expression that said, "It's none of my business."

"Finished?" Zheng Zaiyuan peeked out from behind Shen Yiheng, his voice clearly tinged with disbelief. "The whole dance? From beginning to end?"

"Yes!" Lu Yiming nodded vigorously, "The positioning, movements, and formation changes are all perfect!"

Zheng Zaiyuan looked at Wang Yijun.

Wang Yijun nodded.

Zheng Zaiyuan then looked at He Xu.

He Xu finally raised his head and glanced at him: "Hmm."

Jung Jae-won opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

He walked to the center of the practice room, took out his phone, and connected it to the speaker.

"Then you guys try it once and let me see," he said, his voice carrying a scrutinizing tone that implied, "I don't believe you can actually finish it smoothly."

The music is ringing.

The six people got moving.

Jung Jae-won's mouth hadn't closed since the first eight beats.

The dance was not perfect.

But the overall framework has already been established.

Positioning, formation, interaction, and timing—these most basic yet most tedious things were all correct.

The music ended.

Zheng Zaiyuan was silent for about five seconds, then turned to look at Shen Yiheng.

"How long did they practice?" he asked.

Shen Yiheng glanced at his watch, then at He Xu.

"...If you start counting from the beginning of the joint practice, it's less than two hours," he said.

Jung Jae-won's brows furrowed at an unbelievable angle.

"Less than two hours?" he repeated, raising his voice an octave. "I choreographed this dance myself. The six dancers have at least four different movement variations, and there's a new formation every eight counts..."

He suddenly stopped talking.

Oh, by the way, this dance was choreographed by He Xu.

He glanced at He Xu—the man was leaning against the wall drinking water, his expression indifferent as if none of this concerned him.

Jung Jae-won mentally cursed.

This person is a real psychopath.

She choreographed the dance herself, taught it herself, and danced it herself, all while pretending it was a "demo provided by the production team."

The key point is that he was quite good at pretending.

What are you pretending for?

A choreographer blends into the group of contestants, brings his own choreography, teaches others to dance, and then stands aside pretending to be innocent.

Is he even human?!

Jung Jae-won suppressed his sarcasm and turned to walk to Shen Yi-heng's side.

"PD," he said in a low voice, "Are you sure you don't want to reveal his identity? He choreographed this dance, he taught it, he performed it—how are the other groups supposed to compete?"

Shen Yiheng was silent for two seconds.

"He doesn't want to go public," he said, his voice low. "Besides, it wouldn't be fair to the other groups."

"It's not fair now," Zheng Zaiyuan said. "His group is a day ahead of the other groups because of him—Yang Sheng's group hasn't even finished their positioning yet."

Shen Yiheng's lips curved slightly, then he quickly suppressed it.

"That's Yang Sheng's problem," he said. "He's the team leader; he has to figure it out himself."

Jung Jae-won glanced at him but didn't say anything more.