Chapter 33: Transforming into an Idol 4

Mu Yin snapped back to her senses and looked at Luo Qing. "You want to become a top idol?"

"Of course, it's been my lifelong dream." Luo Qing nodded.

Mu Yin sized Luo Qing up. Well, this person definitely had the raw talent to be an idol. What if she pushed her to the top, thereby blocking the female protagonist's path? Wouldn't that allow her to complete her mission?

"By the way, what is the theme for this month-end performance?" Acting on her sudden thought, Mu Yin knew that once she had a plan, she needed to train Luo Qing properly. However, upon reflection, she realized the original host had left behind zero information regarding the performance themes. Every month featured a specific theme, and students had to base their performances around it.

"The theme? I remember it's romantic duets." Luo Qing paused. Knowing that Mu Yin frequently skipped classes, she wasn't surprised that Mu Yin was unaware of the monthly theme, which was announced at the start of every month.

"Romantic duets? That means there shouldn't be any overly strict dance requirements. You should be able to pass. By the way, have you found a partner yet?" Mu Yin raised an eyebrow. Generally speaking, romantic duets didn't place excessive demands on choreography, so it should be relatively easy for Luo Qing to clear this hurdle.

"No, nobody is willing to team up with me." Luo Qing wore a woeful expression.

"Ah," Mu Yin mentally calculated the ratio of male to female students in the school, realizing that the female student population happened to exceed the male population by two. Among the bottom-tier students at the very end of the rankings, there were precisely three girls and two boys. Therefore, no matter how poorly skilled the boys were, they wouldn't lack partners, leaving exactly two girls stranded without a pair.

Considering that she still needed to push Luo Qing forward to block the female protagonist's path, she certainly couldn't just casually drop out of school. Thus, she would also need to put in real effort for this upcoming performance. It seemed that now, only she and Luo Qing were left over. Did that mean the two of them would have to perform a romantic duet together?

Mu Yin pondered. Students at the Idol Academy were allowed to select songs from the national music library for their performances. The school's music repository contained every piece of music in the country, specially opened by the state for the students. Available across all schools, it could be used free of charge by anyone currently enrolled, without needing to worry about copyright issues.

Well, there happened to be quite a few songs related to same-sex romance. That would work just fine; nowhere did it state that love songs strictly required a heterosexual pairing. Besides, if all else failed, she could always cross-dress. After all, standing at 1.75 meters tall, she wasn't any shorter than many of the boys in the school.

"How about the two of us team up?" Mu Yin suggested. "There are a few decent girl-love songs. If that doesn't work, I can also—"

"Girl-love? I especially love *Twin Lotus Flowers*..." Before Mu Yin could finish, Luo Qing's eyes lit up as she looked at Mu Yin, starting to talk endlessly about the merits of a specific girl-love song titled *Twin Lotus Flowers*.

"Since you like it that much, let's go with this one then. But *Twin Lotus Flowers* has choreography, doesn't it?" Mu Yin was left speechless, then began searching for information related to *Twin Lotus Flowers* and frowned upon reading it.

*Twin Lotus Flowers* wasn't a story about the forbidden love of twin sisters; rather, it was a tale of two women deeply in love who could not be together, choosing to commit double suicide and transforming into a pair of twin lotus flowers. Originating from a ghost and spirit legend, the story was actually adapted from a true historical event in this world.

Legend had it that the two female protagonists were concubines in a certain inner court. Because they were neglected, they found solace in each other's company and eventually fell in love. After their relationship was discovered, they chose to leap into a lake together. Afterwards, the entire pond bloomed with twin lotus flowers, giving rise to the legend.

According to historical records, those two women did indeed exist, though the twin lotus flowers were embellishments added later when the tale spread among the common folk. Ancient people were actually quite open-minded and readily accepted concepts like same-sex romance.

*Twin Lotus Flowers* was a dance track composed by a certain idol girl group consisting of four members. When performing live, the members paired up to sing, intertwining in a lingering, intimate dance. The choreography was the sort of close-contact face-to-face dance featuring large, sweeping movements, with the two performers' hands constantly linked and intertwined.

It could be said that this dance was quite difficult, and Luo Qing might not be able to adapt to it. Sure enough, hearing Mu Yin's words, Luo Qing also wore a troubled expression. Then she suddenly looked up at Mu Yin, pleading, "Teach me how to dance. I promise I'll practice hard."

Mu Yin's mouth twitched. My dear girl, a sense of balance isn't something you can simply acquire just by studying hard. However, seeing the hopeful look in the other girl's eyes—and keeping her own objective in mind—she took a deep breath. Fine, for the sake of the mission, she would just have to force herself.

"Alright then, I'll do my best." What else could Mu Yin say? Idols nowadays were expected to excel in both singing and dancing. Someone who could only sing and not dance was merely a singer—well, actually, some singers excelled at both; while someone who could only dance and not sing was a dancer.

Tch, being an idol wasn't easy either. She told Luo Qing to head back first so they could start rehearsing in the practice room tomorrow. Returning to her dormitory, she bumped into Cheng Xiao and her friends. Upon seeing Mu Yin, Cheng Xiao spoke loudly to her companions, "Did you hear? The school rules changed. Anyone who fails to reach Level 10 for two consecutive months is going to be expelled."

"It was broadcasted school-wide this morning. I heard it even made the top trending headlines." The headlines here referred to a local entertainment industry website specifically dedicated to publishing various showbiz news.

"Some people probably won't be able to coast through anymore from now on," Cheng Xiao said loudly, casting a sidelong glance at Mu Yin.

Mu Yin directly ignored them, thinking she should apply to the school to switch roommates—perhaps rooming with Luo Qing, since she would need to supervise her in the future. She just didn't know who the female protagonist was yet. Returning to her room, she went online to check the current landscape of the entertainment industry, but didn't find anyone particularly striking standing out.

Where on earth was the female protagonist this time? Had she not appeared yet? That shouldn't be the case. Well, regardless, she would first secure the peak of this world's plotline. Oh right, there was also the male protagonist. Following the pattern of the previous two female protagonists, the male protagonist should belong to the combat department.

A quick search soon revealed the Super Academy's most outstanding combat genius currently: Xie Yun. After transforming, Xie Yun not only possessed a handsome appearance rivaling the Sun God (though he looked equally handsome untransformed, resembling Satan), but he also wielded an ability akin to the Sun God's divine light. That's right, this fellow possessed light-attribute combat powers, and rather than being a support type, he was purely offensive.

Clearly, this was the male protagonist. Since the entertainment industry route was pushing Luo Qing forward, the male protagonist naturally had to be snatched away for Luo Qing as well, which would successfully complete the mission. With this thought in mind, Mu Yin turned her attention to this young man.

The following day, after eating her homemade breakfast and attending academic classes, she headed straight to the practice rooms after lunch. There were numerous practice rooms of varying sizes here, as some monthly themes involved group competitions.

However, small practice rooms were limited and required advance reservation; if one couldn't book in advance, they had no choice but to use the large practice rooms. With plenty of space available, it didn't matter if there were many people around. Neither Mu Yin nor Luo Qing had made a reservation, so they had no option other than to practice in a large practice room.