The largest rehearsal hall of the Little Paw Agency had been temporarily converted into an interview venue for the day.
The air still carried the lingering scent of disinfectant mixed with floor wax, now interwoven with the smell of printer ink and resume paper.
It created a high-pressure “examination room” atmosphere that set everyone’s nerves on edge.
Su Yuqing sat behind a long table draped in deep blue velvet, her central position making her feel an invisible weight of pressure.
On the table, a thick stack of resumes was piled nearly as high as a small mountain.
Each one represented a girl harboring dreams of becoming an Idol, and each felt like an exam paper pressing down on her shoulders, concerning the fate of others and the future of the company.
“Ms. Su Yuqing, all equipment has been tested and calibrated. The applicants are in position in the waiting area. May I ask if we can officially begin?”
a staff member asked in a low voice, their tone respectful yet formulaic.
Su Yuqing took a deep breath.
The air tasted of paper and cold air conditioning, a chill reaching straight to her lungs.
She nodded, her gaze sweeping over the empty stage as she struggled to keep her voice steady and authoritative.
“Yes, let’s begin.”
As soon as she spoke, the double doors of the rehearsal hall were pushed open.
In an instant, a diverse crowd of young girls who had been waiting outside flooded in like a tide.
The sound of high heels clicking against the floor was crisp and chaotic, carrying the restlessness of youth and the urgency of wanting to be seen.
The air was immediately filled with the scents of various perfumes and cosmetics, diluting the previous serious atmosphere and replacing it with an unmanageable, boisterous energy.
Almost immediately, a girl with an exaggerated Pink Bow Hairpin and incredibly bright eyes rushed to the very front of the interview table.
Both her hands gripped the edge of the desk, and she leaned forward until she was almost in Su Yuqing’s face, her tone full of undisguised curiosity and admiration.
“Chief Examiner! Chief Examiner! First, let me ask a side question! I heard rumors online that the currently famous Zhi Ai was personally handpicked by you from a massive crowd because of your unique eye for talent. Is that true? Is it really true?”
Su Yuqing instinctively leaned back to create some distance.
She managed a professional smile and nodded.
“Yes, that part… is not false.”
She hoped this admission would end the topic quickly.
However, this only ignited the girl’s desire for gossip even further.
She followed up with a sharper, more private question, her voice rising an octave in excitement.
“Then… the internet also says that the two of you… well, you have that kind of relationship! They say you actually used performance opportunities and resources to blackmail Zhi Ai, and then forced her to… date you? Is that also true? Is Zhi Ai being controlled by you?”
“Uh — !”
Su Yuqing’s throat tightened, feeling as if she were choking on something.
her cheeks flushed instantly with both embarrassment and irritation.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Using a tone that was as calm as possible but carried a clear sense of distance, she asked in return:
“I believe, young lady, we need to clarify the theme of today. Do you think that the… well, highly imaginative internet rumors you just mentioned have any necessary logical connection to this formal interview intended to select future idols?”
She deliberately slowed her speech, articulating every word clearly.
The girl was stunned by the question.
The excited glow on her face dimmed slightly as she mumbled, “Oh… I guess… there isn’t much of a direct connection, huh…”
“Very well, your time for questions is over. Thank you for participating. Next, please.”
Su Yuqing did not give her another chance to continue.
She pressed the end bell, signaling the staff to escort this “fan,” who was clearly more interested in gossip than talent, out of the room.
The subsequent interviewees did not seem to focus on demonstrating their professional qualities either.
Another girl wearing a puffy skirt, who clearly had a very high opinion of herself, followed a simple, unstable dance routine by confidently asking, “Chief Examiner! Chief Examiner! Do you think that in the future… I might surpass Zhi Ai and become the new Trump Card of Little Paw?”
Su Yuqing looked at the meager training experience on the resume, then thought back to the disastrous dance she had just witnessed.
She could only offer a helpless smile and answer as tactfully as possible.
“Haha… you certainly have ambition. However, based solely on the basic skills and stage presence you’ve shown today, trying to surpass Zhi Ai in the field of professional performance might be… a bit of a stretch.”
The girl was relentless.
She blinked her eyes, which were coated in heavy mascara, and tried a different angle.
“Then… if we don’t talk about professional skills, and only talk about cuteness? I should at least be a bit cuter than Zhi Ai, right?”
Su Yuqing looked at the other girl’s forced innocent expression, which stood in stark contrast to the “specializes in sexy dance music” description on her resume.
She had no choice but to continue speaking the truth.
“Well… that also seems… like a bit of a stretch.”
After all, Zhi Ai’s “cuteness,” which was naturally integrated with a cat-like haughtiness and mystery, was an almost instinctive attraction that could not be reached through deliberate imitation.
“What! You actually said I’m not cute!”
The girl’s face changed instantly, as if she had been greatly insulted.
Her voice became shrill.
“Do you have any idea how many boys in our art school line up to give me love letters? Hey! What kind of taste do you have!”
Su Yuqing’s head began to ache from this sudden emotional outburst.
She finally lost her patience and reached out to ring the bell for security.
“Security? We have someone here who has lost emotional control and is attempting to disrupt the order of the interviews. Please escort her out to rest immediately!”
In fact, throughout the long and exhausting morning interview process, Su Yuqing’s mind was almost in a state of chaos.
Those interviewees — whether they were bizarre, mediocre, or overly enthusiastic — swirled before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
But what tormented her even more was the “ultimatum” Kasahana Chiai had left the previous night while lazily licking pizza residue off her index finger, using that sweet yet cold voice.
Those words were like a curse.
Every time she evaluated an applicant, they would automatically jump out and ring sharply in her ears —
“Let’s get the unpleasantness out of the way first, meow — !”
Zhi Ai’s lapis-colored eyes narrowed in her memory, carrying a feline-like craftiness and cruelty.
“If you dare use this as an excuse to find me a partner who is a Big Idiot with absolutely no idol talent, someone who only holds me back and drags down the quality of the entire performance…”
“Then this cat will absolutely, definitely never, not even once, go on stage to perform with such an idiot! After all — “
She dragged out her words as if stating a most natural truth.
“That kind of shared stage wouldn’t relieve my pressure at all. It would only make me look cheap, and very, very cheap at that! Do you understand?”
This memory made Su Yuqing’s fingers tighten slightly around a resume.
She looked up at the girl currently singing, who was clearly out of tune, and felt her heart turn cold.
Yes, Zhi Ai was a genius, a once-in-a-100-year idol talent.
She couldn’t deny that, just as Zhi Ai had righteously asked —
“Yes… that’s right.”
In the memory, Zhi Ai’s face was overflowing with absolute confidence, even carrying a hint of pity as she looked at Su Yuqing, who was trying to reason with her.
“Back then, I truly was a little newcomer kitty who didn’t understand anything and needed you to take care of me and teach me.”
“But what about now?”
She leaned forward, her gaze burning as if it could pierce through a person’s soul.
“Do you dare to say, with a clear conscience, that I, Kasahana Chiai, am not a once-in-a-100-year, naturally gifted super genius in the idol industry? Hmm?”
‘Yes… a total genius…’
Su Yuqing responded silently in her heart, the corners of her mouth curving into an extremely bitter arc.
She watched as another applicant, out of nervousness, moved her same-side arm and leg and messed up the dance moves.
A massive sense of powerlessness submerged her like ice water.
‘But in the end… you are just a cat, after all.’
She spoke in her mind to the Zhi Ai who was back at the apartment, perhaps lazily watching a livestream or taking a second nap.
A willful, self-centered cat whose way of perceiving the world was entirely different from a Human.
Your talent is built on a certain non-human instinct and obsession; your “cuteness” is similarly mixed with a dangerous possessiveness and a desire for control.
‘But…’
Su Yuqing shifted her gaze from the resume, blankly scanning the youthful, anxious, and longing or already disappointed faces in the waiting area.
Her heart let out a cry of near despair.
‘But, may I ask the great Miss Kasahana Chiai! Where in the world am I supposed to find another “cat” like you, who possesses top-tier idol talent and can also endure or even fit in with your “Cat Logic”…!?’
It was simply an impossible task.
The Board of Directors had thrown a hot potato at Su Yuqing, while Zhi Ai stood to the side, stoking the fires of “perfectionism” and “personal preference.”
She was trapped in the middle, caught in a dilemma.
The various bizarre situations that had occurred during the morning interviews were less of a test and more of a farce, shattering what little wishful thinking she had left.
To put it bluntly, as Su Yuqing looked at these resumes and the massive gap between these girls and what was required, while thinking of Zhi Ai’s critical gaze and the pressure from the Board for results, she felt like she would rather just give up entirely.
She even began to suspect that Zhi Ai’s demand for a “partner” wasn’t actually intended to find a companion, but was instead a cruel joke, or… a more subtle way of binding Su Yuqing to her side.
Because a suitable partner couldn’t be found, Su Yuqing would have to continue serving her alone with all her heart and soul.
If that were true, then this interview was destined from the start to be a futile performance, another of Zhi Ai’s willful games, and she was the hardest working yet most ridiculous clown on the stage.
The lunch bell rang, bringing the morning interviews to a temporary close.
The staff began to tidy the venue, and the applicants gradually dispersed.
Su Yuqing, however, remained frozen in her chair.
The midday sun slanted through the tall windows, casting a lonely shadow over her.
The pile of resumes on the table looked like an insurmountable snow-capped mountain in the sunlight, radiating a freezing chill.
Su Yuqing felt an unprecedented sense of exhaustion and aimlessness…