157: Chapter 156 Crazy Steve

Manager Oppa caught the captain's look of despair in the rearview mirror and pulled his neck back, pretending to be engrossed in studying his fingernails. He had secretly asked Jiang Zhiyu about this in the morning, but Jiang Zhiyu only replied with a smiley face. He now deeply regretted not pressing for more details. This scene... forget the kids, even he wanted to turn the car around and leave just looking at it.

Jang Wonyoung was the quietest one. She just silently looked out the window at the noisy, ridiculous stage, the laughing passersby placing bets, and the words "twelve star envoys" on the LED sign. There was no expression on her face; she was even calmer than when she was covering her ears in the car earlier. But this calmness was more like a blank state after one's perception of reality had been completely destroyed—a sort of ultimate compromise of "Fine, whatever, the world is crazy, and I'm crazy too."

She even felt that compared to being the "Orion spokesperson," the title of "Star Envoy about to participate in a doll gambling match on the streets of Myeong-dong" didn't seem that hard to accept anymore.

(After all, the latter sounded more like a mental health issue, while the former was just shameful.)

Miyawaki Sakura closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. As a veteran idol who had weathered many storms, her endurance was relatively strong. But even so, the scene before her exceeded her range of experience. She could only silently recite in her heart: This is work, this is for variety effect, this is for team exposure, this is... Jiang Zhiyu's brain-child, just bear with it and it'll pass... But can she really bear with it?

Lee Chaeyeon shrank into her seat, wishing she could become invisible right now. She began to seriously consider if it was too late to pretend she had a sudden illness and needed to be sent to the hospital.

Kim Minju was still tidying her bangs, but her movements had become completely stiff, her eyes staring blankly. After the Purple Cabbage Court, was the Just Judgment of libra going to evolve into being a referee at a street gambling den?

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the van from the outside.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The crisp sound sent a shiver through everyone inside the car.

Then, the door was pulled open, and a smiling face they least wanted to see but had to face appeared outside.

Jiang Zhiyu leaned in slightly, his face bearing a cloudless, sunshine-bright smile that was almost blinding. His tone was filled with extreme enthusiasm and anticipation:

"Kids! Welcome to the 'Astral Colosseum: Mortal World Warm-up Edition'!"

"How is it? The atmosphere outside is great, right? Everyone has been waiting for you for a long time!"

"Get out, get out! The warm-up activities are about to reach their climax!"

"Today, you will be the most dazzling protagonists here!"

Behind him was the noisy background noise of Myeong-dong, the scene of Kitty and the Golden Retriever "intensely" fighting (tapping each other lightly with plastic weapons) on the stage, the hoarse shouts of the commentator at the betting station, and the curious gazes of passersby.

Inside the car, the twelve "Star Envoys" looked at PD Jiang's face, which was written all over with "Surprised? Happy? Come play!", and collectively fell into a three-second petrified silence.

Then, someone—it was unclear who—let out an extremely faint sigh that seemed to represent everyone's inner voice, thin as a thread:

"Sigh..."

It's over.

The "colosseum" was really about to begin.

The door opened, and the twelve members of IZ*ONE stepped out of the van one by one, feeling as tragic as warriors heading into a hopeless battle. The afternoon sun was a bit blinding, and the unique bustle of Myeong-dong streets, mixed with the ridiculous sound effects and exaggerated commentary from the "Astral Colosseum," instantly surrounded them.

The expected scene of being immediately dragged onto the stage for a "duel" didn't happen right away. Although Jiang Zhiyu looked excited, he still arranged for staff to lead them to a nearby, relatively hidden "preparation area" that had been temporarily set up.

In the preparation area, a row of clothes hangers held the "battle robes" they were to wear today.

The moment they saw those outfits, the expressions on the members' faces became colorful once again.

These were no longer gorgeous dresses in the style of "Star Goddesses," but... a "mix-and-match battle suit" that combined sportswear, stage outfits, and various meaningless decorations. The basic style was a uniform slim-fit sports set, but the colors varied according to their "constellation" settings, with their respective constellation symbols and the words "Star Envoy · [Name]" printed on them in sequins and fluorescent paint. Most absurdly, each outfit was paired with extremely exaggerated "exclusive props" or headgear.

For example, on the back of Kwon Eunbi's (leo) sportswear was a furry, wagging golden lion tail, and a large, plastic "Lionheart Sovereign" medal (looking like a child's toy medal) hung around her neck.

Besides the pisces pattern, Choi Yena (pisces) had two wagging, shiny plastic fish charms hanging from her waist and colorful bracelets shaped like swim rings on her wrists.

For Miyawaki Sakura's (virgo) "Saintess of Sakura" outfit, two huge, pink foam cherry blossoms were stuck to her shoulders, and some shiny "dango" (plastic balls) were attached to the hem of her skirt.

The others each had their own "features": An Yujin (capricorn) had a small backpack with several small flags printed with rock patterns sticking out; Yabuki Nako (taurus) wore a bull horn headband; Lee Chaeyeon (sagittarius) carried a toy bow and arrow...

As for Jang Wonyoung's (aquarius) "battle suit," it was overall aqua blue and dotted with starlight-like sequins, which looked relatively refreshing. But when she saw the matching headgear, her breath hitched.

It wasn't a simple headband, but a rather "exquisitely" designed crown. The main body of the crown was a transparent acrylic ring carved into the shapes of waves and water droplets, and in the center... a miniature, golden bottle cap-shaped decoration was firmly fixed. In the center of that decoration was a mini model of that exorbitantly priced mineral water from the investor! The bottle was only the size of a thumb, but the logo was clearly visible, reflecting expensive (and jarring) light in the sun.

This was simply putting a "walking billboard" on her head! And a crown version at that!

Jang Wonyoung picked up that "Crown Aquarius," her fingers trembling slightly. She looked up at Jiang Zhiyu, who was rubbing his hands together nearby with an expectant face waiting for their reaction. She forced an extremely stiff, almost "terrifying" smile and squeezed out a voice from between her teeth:

"Thank... you... so... much... PD Jiang."

She spoke one word at a time, each sounding like it was wrapped in ice shards.

"From a tiny water bottle charm... it's been upgraded... to a Crown Aquarius."

Her eyes clearly said, "How do you want to die?"