Chapter Thirty-Nine: Certification and a Dressing Down

t-sleeved tailored suit. He is not wearing a tie or buttoning up his jacket, letting the edges drape loosely on both sides to reveal a pure white shirt underneath.Wu Shixun standing next to him was al...After crying, the emotions calmed down and all that was left was joy. The members celebrated happily with the staff, then took a full-body "first place" certification photo under the guidance of their manager.

In the photo, Kim Jun-myeon is squatting in the center holding a trophy. The other members are standing around him in two rows. Ji Sung-won stands on the left side of the back row, with Wu Shixun standing beside him and putting his hand on his shoulder. They are all smiling happily and making the 'woareone' gesture with their thumbs.

After the photo was uploaded to SNS, it topped the trending list in less than half an hour. The number of likes broke one hundred thousand in a short time, and countless fans commented on the photo

"I watched the whole live stream, and I burst into tears the moment they announced [name]."

"When Suho gave his acceptance speech, I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time..."

"Uuu, after a year and three months, the first one out of 432 days, for half a year blank period, EXO debut to now is really tough, in the future must walk flower road!"

This is our first one, definitely not the last. Sisters, don't forget to vote every day, let's go for it!

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Gaining a first-place win on June 13th was written into the encyclopedia, for EXO it was an extremely significant day, and also kicked off a good start for their upcoming music show promotions this week.

On the afternoon of the 14th, a piece of news topped the trending list: EXO reached number one on the Billboard Global Albums Chart with their first full-length album, "XOXO (KISS HUG)."

This piece of news garnered a lot of attention, and for many Peninsula audiences, being ranked highly on the Billboard charts is a significant honor. It's also undoubtedly boosted EXO's spirits.

On the day's broadcast of Music Bank, EXO defeated veteran artist Cho Yong Pil, who had returned to the music scene after many years, with their title track "Wolf," winning first place once again.

"Today's honorary is... Congratulations EXO!"

"The winner of this week's Inkigayo on the second week of June is... EXO, congrats!"

This week, over the last two days, they achieved a perfect score at Music Center and Inkigayo. With the addition of M! Countdown and three major broadcasting stations' music programs, EXO managed to snag four wins in total this week. There’s a feeling that they are about to become a top group.

However, this momentum was halted the following week.

After winning two first place trophies on M! Countdown Thursday and Music Bank Friday during their fourth week of comeback, EXO was ruthlessly ended by Sistar who had just officially started promoting their second-week comeback.

On June 11, Sistar made their official comeback with their second full-length album, "Give It To Me." The title track of the same name immediately topped major music charts upon its release and shows strong staying power, hinting at a potential chart domination.

Although Sistar doesn't have a massive fanbase or sales figures, they consistently achieve great digital music chart performances. This time, their title track is of high quality and, coupled with their national popularity, gives them a significant advantage on music show stages where digital music charts heavily influence rankings. They are basically guaranteed to win.

When they defeated EXO with an unsurprising score, breaking EXO's consecutive number one streak, and then returned to being a clap-along background dancer, Ji-won couldn't help but sigh in his heart. They didn't know when they would become so popular that upon their return, everyone would step aside and reach the point of 'touch whoever you touch, they die'.

As the digital performance of "Wolf" continues to decline, this week is also about EXO's last two chances for a win on music shows for this comeback. Adding up to last week's four wins, the group has secured a total of six number-one spots during this repackaged album promotion cycle.

This result is already very good, it's the kind of achievement that only a top-tier boy group can have.

Although the chances of winning were slim, for promotional purposes, they would still appear on weekly music shows. However, the focus of their work had subtly shifted.

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As the music from "Roar" faded out, a deathly silence fell over the practice room. The EXO members, who had just finished running through the choreography, stood in two rows, heads hung low, awaiting the impending storm of feedback.

Today the company sent people to check on everyone's practice situation and progress recently. Just now, the members danced Roar in front of the company staff and managers, but...

The VJ who had been filming behind-the-scenes footage all along also appropriately turned off the camera.

"Aren't you guys getting cocky just because you got a few first places Take a look at what you were just doing!"

As expected, within five seconds, the manager's face turned very ugly as he began to berate them harshly:

"Is this the dance you guys have been practicing for several months Ai Si, your unison is not at all neat, everyone doing their own thing. You'd think you were a bunch of trainees who just started practicing."

"Berxian, what on earth are you doing You can't even get up properly after practicing so many times"

"Tao and, you can even bump into each other while moving. Have you guys really put in any effort"

"Also, Kai, why are your movements so exaggerated Are you trying to show off how good you dance You look completely different from the other members, it's very jarring. Can you try to blend in with the team more"

Those who were called out all hung their heads in silence, they all knew their performance just now was terrible.

Finally, Lee Seung-hwan slowed his voice and looked at Ji Kyeong-won: "Kyeong-won, this is your own choreography. You can forget the moves, can you explain it"

"Mmm." Chi Jingyuan lightly nodded and apologized.

This time his performance wasn't good either. When he was dancing, his mind went blank, and he forgot a few beats of the choreography.

Recently, I've been busy with my schedule. Due to fatigue and the surprising results, many people's mindset has become a bit unstable. They haven't been very focused during practice.

In the past few practices, many members have seemed somewhat distracted and occasionally even slacked off.

"You're about to film an MV, and it's a one-shot with extremely high demands for the overall dance. How can you possibly meet these requirements in your current state"

"Don't get cocky just because sales are good and you've achieved a few first place rankings. This comeback only barely met the company's expectations. Do you know what "barely" means"

“The company’s expectation of us is not to hope that EXO becomes some top-tier boy group, there are too many top-tier boy groups on the peninsula, we ** don't look down on them. The company has been from TVXQ to SJ. Every generation of boy groups are all TOP. For EXO who debuted after several years, this is definitely the requirement. You think it's reached now and start getting proud, stop practicing seriously”

And this time around, the company has very high expectations for both the song "Roar" and the re-released album, even higher than the original. So much resources have been invested in making this album, is this how you treat your own future

Lee Seunghwan scolded them, and finally said, "Starting today, you will have overtime practice until you reach the MV filming requirements." Then he left the practice room with several company staff.

Leaving the dance teacher and several members, the scolded members sighed and looked at each other for a few seconds. They shrugged their shoulders, sighed again, and continued to practice.

First published on the Traditional Chinese Novel Networkside, over 15,000 seats were empty. But on stage, it was a hive of activity. Whether it was EXO itself or the team responsible for the concert, every member of staff was checking the scheduled equipme...