162: Chapter 161 The company food is terrible!!!

The five-minute preparation time flew by amidst tension, panic, and frantic brainstorming. As the first group, Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin felt the most pressure. With almost no time to hesitate, they quickly finalized a plan—a two-person hip-hop dance battle. This was a genre they were both relatively skilled in and could choreograph quickly, with a strong sense of power and interactivity that would easily heat up the atmosphere. As for the product placement...

Kwon Eunbi's gaze fell on that giant, inflatable Lion King toy hammer by the ring (an upgraded version of the one used at the amusement park yesterday, with a larger and softer head, a longer handle, and a more "mighty" paint job). Jiang Zhiyu had mentioned before that this hammer was one of the "Constellation Exclusive Props" sponsored by a certain toy brand. Gritting her teeth, she walked over and hoisted the air hammer, which was almost as tall as half her height, onto her shoulder. It felt heavy, but it shouldn't be too difficult to swing.

An Yujin was stealthily handed a large, bulging transparent plastic bag by a staff member. It was filled with colorful, individually wrapped gummy candies—the same brand of fruit gummies that had appeared in the "Midway Resupply" segment of yesterday's TikTok challenge. The sponsor clearly wanted more exposure.

"Stage props," the staff member said succinctly.

An Yujin watched the large bag of candy, her lips twitching. So, while dancing hip-hop, one of them would be swinging a toy hammer, and the other would be... scattering candy?

"Whatever," Kwon Eunbi said, thumping the air hammer onto the ground. She took a deep breath, her eyes turning sharp. "We'll just treat it as a special duo battle, just... with slightly strange props. Yujin, can you control the timing and direction of the candy scattering? It's best if it can coordinate with my hammer's movements."

An Yujin weighed the candy bag and nodded, her expression becoming serious. "I'll try, Unnie. Let's design a few coordination points. For example, when you swing the hammer upward, I'll scatter them up; when you sweep across, I'll scatter them to both sides. I'll try to make the candy... fly beautifully, like streamers?"

"Good! Also, facial expression management! Even with these things, we are still IZ*ONE's Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin! We can't lose our aura!" Kwon Eunbi encouraged her.

The two quickly went through a few moves and designed some simple coordination points. With time being so tight, this was the best they could do.

On the other side, behind the sausage cart, Choi Yena was carefully flipping the sausages. She watched them sizzle on the rollers, turning an inviting golden-brown as a rich meaty aroma continuously wafted out. She was full of passion for her "Sausage Enterprise," but to be honest, the sausage machine was basically automatic. She only needed to flip them occasionally to prevent burning, then brush on sauce and bag them according to customer needs. Most of the time, she was actually... a bit idle.

Just as she was wondering if she should grill one for herself first to check the seasoning, a staff member quietly approached and, without a word, shoved a wireless microphone connected to a headset into her hand.

Choi Yena: "???"

The staff member lowered their voice: "Yena-xi, the PD has instructed that as the sausage stall owner, you can't just bury your head in grilling. You need to serve as the live commentator and sausage stall promotional ambassador for this 'Charm Combat'!"

"Commentator? Promotion?" Choi Yena was stunned, looking at the microphone in her hand and then at Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin, who were already preparing to take the stage. "Me? How do I commentate? I don't know how!"

"It's simple!" the staff member guided her quickly. "Just watch their performance, describe it in your own words, praise them, boost the atmosphere, and then mention our sausages from time to time. For example, 'They're dancing so hard, they must be hungry, come buy a sausage to recharge.' Just be natural and lively! You are the Pisces Sausage Saintess; you need to have the passion of a host!"

Holding the microphone, Choi Yena felt it was even hotter than her sausage tongs. To improvise a commentary in front of so many people? And do commercials too? This was harder than making her grill a hundred sausages! She instinctively wanted to look for Jiang Zhiyu for help, but saw PD Jiang standing behind the monitor, giving her a "fighting" gesture with an encouraging (and non-negotiable) smile on his face.

Choi Yena: "..."

Fine, she'd just go for it! For the prosperity of the sausage stall! For the survival funds of the Saintess Group!

She cleared her throat, awkwardly put on the headset, and adjusted the microphone's position. The aroma of sausages mixed with her current nervous mood.

On the stage, Jiang Zhiyu's voice came through the main speakers: "Time's up! Let's use our warmest applause and cheers to welcome the first charm display team—'leo & capricorn', Kwon Eunbi! An Yujin!"

"Ahhhh! Eunbi Unnie! Yujin!!"

A massive wave of sound erupted from the fans below.

Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin looked at each other and nodded, their eyes conveying the determination to "go for it." Kwon Eunbi shouldered the giant Lion King air hammer, while An Yujin carried the conspicuous bag of colorful gummies. One after the other, they stepped onto the ring named the "Street Charm Overlord Combat Arena."

The lights focused on them. Today, Kwon Eunbi wore a golden-brown tracksuit representing leo, the lion tail on her back swaying gently with her steps, and the "Lionheart Sovereign" medal around her neck reflecting the light. An Yujin wore a dark grey capricorn outfit, the small flag backpack on her back making her look a bit like a hiker, but right now she kept a straight face, trying to create a cool vibe.

The two stood in the center of the ring, striking a back-to-back starting pose. Kwon Eunbi stood the air hammer by her side, while An Yujin held the candy bag to her chest.

The music started!

It was a hip-hop accompaniment with a strong rhythm and clear drum beats, carrying a bit of the tension and surging energy of a street fight.

Almost the instant the music started, Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin moved simultaneously!

Without hesitation or shyness (at least on the surface), the two immediately entered the zone. Kwon Eunbi took the initiative with a sharp turn. Following the drum beat, she swung the giant Lion King air hammer with her right arm, drawing a powerful arc. The hammer head smashed toward the ground beside An Yujin with the sound of wind (sound effects)—a feint, of course. Her footwork was solid, her body grooving with the music, and her eyes sharp, instantly radiating the powerful aura of a leader and the majesty of the "Lionheart Sovereign."

An Yujin was not to be outdone. Almost at the same time Kwon Eunbi moved, she tossed the candy bag into the air (without letting go) and used the momentum to perform a low-profile sliding step backward, skillfully avoiding the hammer's wind (imaginary). Simultaneously, her left hand caught the falling candy bag while her right hand pointed at Kwon Eunbi in rhythm with the music. With her chin slightly tilted and a provocative look in her eyes, combined with the clean footwork switches, she perfectly blended the steadiness of the capricorn "Firm Rock Guardian" with the aggressiveness required for this battle.

"Wow! It's starting, it's starting!" Choi Yena's voice rang out through her microphone, nervous but trying to project loudly, mixing into the live music and cheers. "Eunbi Unnie has brought out her... uh... super big hammer! Wow, it looks so powerful! Yujin Unnie isn't backing down either; she's holding... is that candy? So much colorful candy!"

Her commentary was still a bit raw, more like a real-time broadcast of what she was seeing, but that sense of novelty and her effort to get into the spirit actually made the audience find it interesting, resulting in good-natured laughter.

On stage, the two entered an interactive mode similar to street dancing. They didn't choreograph a complex synchronized duo dance, but instead used a call & response format. One would make a move, and the other would immediately respond with a more aggressive or clever counter-move, interspersed with positioning and eye contact that matched the rhythm of the music.

Kwon Eunbi performed a swift chest pop combined with shoulder rolling, the air hammer swinging in a small arc by her side as if it were an extension of her power. An Yujin immediately responded with a smooth sequence of footwork followed by a body wave. The candy bag in her hand rattled with her movements, actually becoming part of the rhythm.

"Look! Eunbi Unnie's movements are so powerful! Just like a real lion!" Choi Yena's commentary was gradually getting into the flow, her voice getting louder. "Yujin Unnie's defense is also so flexible! Like a rock... ah no, like an agile goat (capricorn is the goat constellation)! They're dancing so well!"

The audience's cheers rose higher and higher with the two's intense "clash," and the decibel meter on the sound control equipment jumped frequently.

About thirty seconds into the dance, they reached the first designed "prop coordination" segment.

The music rhythm suddenly intensified, the drum beats like a heartbeat.

An Yujin seized a gap in the beat and suddenly grabbed a large handful of colorful, individually wrapped gummies from the bag. She didn't just scatter them randomly, but aimed for the trajectory of Kwon Eunbi's next move—

Kwon Eunbi was just performing a large-scale turn, gripping the end of the air hammer's handle with both hands. Using centrifugal force, she swung the air hammer vigorously from the bottom right to the top left, making a cool upward strike like a golf tee-off! The movement was expansive and full of power!

Now!

An Yujin timed the moment the hammer head reached its highest point and was about to trace a parabola, and forcefully threw the handful of gummies upward in the direction of the hammer's swing!

The colorful candy pieces traced countless small arcs under the sunlight.