163: Chapter 162 Oh my god, I don't want to eat water spinach!

At the same time, Kwon Eunbi's air hammer swung into place. Although the hammer was soft and couldn't actually hit the candy, through the coordination of her dance moves and the camera angles—especially under Eunbi's deliberate control, making the hammer head just graze the trajectory of the scattered candy—

The visual effect was created!

To the audience, it looked as if Kwon Eunbi's powerful "Lion Kings Hammer" uppercut had precisely "struck" the "candy formation" thrown by An Yujin! Driven by the "hammer's wind," the colorful candies suddenly scattered like falling flower petals toward the audience area at the side of the ring!

"Ohhhhh!!!"

"The candy is flying over!"

"Look at that hammer!"

"So cool!!"

Greater exclamations and cheers instantly erupted from below the stage. Many audience members instinctively reached out to catch or dodge the fluttering colorful candies, and the atmosphere was immediately pushed to a small climax. The children were especially excited, screaming as they went to pick up the candy.

"Oh my god!!" Choi Yena's exclamation resounded through the venue via the microphone. She was completely stunned by this sudden "special effect," and her commentary was full of genuine shock. "Eunbi Unnie's hammer! It knocked Yujin Unnie's candy away! It's like fireworks! It flew so high and far! Wow! Everyone's scrambling for it! Is this... is this part of the performance? That's too incredible!"

She was incoherent, but her excitement infected many people.

On stage, Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin didn't stop. Taking advantage of the gap created by the shock of this "special effect" and the moment the audience's attention was distracted, the two quickly changed their rhythm.

The music switched to a more melodic but still sharply rhythmic passage.

Kwon Eunbi temporarily propped the air hammer on the ground, leaning on it with one hand, and began a body isolation dance focusing on arm, shoulder, and chest movements. Her movements were clean and full of control, yet her eyes remained locked on An Yujin with the disdain of a king.

An Yujin placed the candy bag at her feet for the moment, freeing her hands to respond with a high-tension waving dance followed by tutting. Her fingers nimbly changed angles as if constructing invisible walls or complex patterns, paired with light yet stable footwork, showcasing a different kind of agility and skill compared to Kwon Eunbi's sense of power.

The two were one hard and one soft, one releasing and one gathering. Although they had started with bizarre props, the duel now relied purely on dance ability and stage presence, making it even more brilliant and firmly capturing the audience's gaze.

"Now they're not using props! Pure dancing!" Choi Yena's commentary also became focused. "Eunbi Unnie's movements are so clean! Every pause is so powerful! Yujin Unnie's fingers are like they're talking! It's so beautiful! Is this the strength of our IZ*ONE? Wow, even as a teammate, I'm dazed!"

She didn't forget her "promotional" duties. During a slightly calmer moment in the dance, she quickly chimed in: "Dancing so hard must consume a lot of energy, right? Dear audience members, if you're hungry, don't forget to support our 'Pisces Sausage Stall'! Freshly grilled, delicious and juicy, the best choice to replenish your energy! Right next to the ring!"

She tried to make her voice sound enthusiastic, but the slight stiffness and awkwardness gave it a clumsy cuteness. The audience below laughed again, and many people actually turned their gaze toward the fragrant sausage cart.

The dance neared its end. The music became urgent again, the drumbeats as dense as rain.

Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin drew close again, entering the final "duel" phase. This time, they had designed a simple two-person coordinated ending.

An Yujin grabbed the candy bag again. This time, she didn't throw it, but pulled out several pieces of candy and held them in her hand. Kwon Eunbi raised the air hammer once more.

On the final heavy drumbeats, An Yujin made a "throwing" motion forward (actually letting go so the candy fell naturally), while Kwon Eunbi simultaneously swung the air hammer from behind her to the front in a swift "horizontal sweep," the hammer head passing through the space below An Yujin's hand.

Visually, it looked like An Yujin had "thrown" a candy "hidden weapon," which was then "intercepted and knocked away mid-air" by Kwon Eunbi's air hammer!

A few candies fell toward the edge of the ring following their movements.

Then, the final heavy drumbeat fell!

Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin froze at the same time! Kwon Eunbi maintained her posture after the horizontal sweep, one knee slightly bent, her eyes like torches, like a victorious lion king. An Yujin leaned back, one hand still in the "throwing" position, the other touching her forehead, making an exaggerated expression of "the hidden weapon was broken, unbelievable."

The music stopped abruptly.

"Wow—!!!"

"That was amazing!!"

"Eunbi! Yujin!"

Applause, cheers, and whistles rose from below like a tsunami, and the numbers on the decibel display spiked to a peak.

Choi Yena also shouted excitedly into the microphone: "It's over! That was brilliant! The duel between the Lion and the Capricorn! Eunbi Unnie and Yujin Unnie completely set the stage on fire! The coordination of that hammer and the candy was simply perfect! And that final ending! So cool! Everyone, cheer! Don't forget to buy sausages to support us!"

She shouted until her face was slightly red, clearly completely moved by the performance.

Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin held their final poses, breathing slightly, with fine beads of sweat on their foreheads. Hearing the deafening cheers and Choi Yena's excited commentary, the two looked at each other and smiled, seeing a sense of relief and a small achievement in each other's eyes. Despite the embarrassing opening props and the tense process, they had indeed completed a high-quality, interactive, and visually impactful performance, and... "cleverly" integrated the sponsor's products (the toy hammer and fruit gummies).

The two stood straight and bowed to the audience in thanks.

By the ring, the head judge Kim Minju, holding a pen and a scoreboard (with a Libra pattern on it), had a serious expression on her small face, trying hard to recall every detail of the performance to score it from a "fair" perspective. She glanced at the judging panel, where three staff members were also talking in low voices and writing quickly.

Behind the sausage cart, after her excitement, Choi Yena suddenly remembered her sausages and quickly looked down— "Ah! I almost forgot to flip them!" She hurriedly picked up the sausage tongs to salvage those few sausages that were a bit overcooked because she was too invested in the commentary. The charred aroma of the sausages mixed with the lingering passion of the scene, permeating the afternoon air of Myeong-dong.

The first performance ended successfully(?) in a strange combination of absurdity and professionalism, shame and charm. What kind of challenges and "creative" tests would the next four groups face?

The pressure now fell on the remaining Star Saints.

Kwon Eunbi and An Yujin's performance, which set the crowd on fire, was like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirring up huge ripples and unprecedented pressure in the hearts of the remaining Star Saints. The first group had not only successfully neutralized the embarrassment of the bizarre props but also turned them into highlights of the performance, winning thunderous cheers with their solid dance skills and tacit cooperation. This made the groups about to take the stage feel their scalps go numb—with such a masterpiece before them, how could they not fall short, or even... surpass it?

The waiting area fell into a subtle silence. Everyone was still cheering each other on superficially, but the tension and anxiety in their eyes were hard to hide.

"Eunbi Unnie and Yujin Unnie were too strong..." Honda Hitomi whispered to Lee Chaeyeon beside her, her tone full of admiration and worry. "That kind of on-the-spot reaction and stage control, we..."

"Don't be afraid, Hitomi." Lee Chaeyeon clenched her fists, trying to encourage herself and her teammate. "We have our advantages too! Our dance coordination can be even more precise! The key is... how to handle that product placement." She glanced at the various sponsor product boxes piled at the feet of the staff by the ring, which hadn't been distributed yet, and felt her temples throbbing again.

Kim Chaewon and Jo Yuri huddled together, humming a short melody in low voices, trying to find a segment that could best showcase their vocal strength while naturally bringing out the product within the 90 seconds, their brows furrowed. "Sing a snippet of a ballad, then take a sip of juice in the middle?" Jo Yuri proposed a plan, then immediately dismissed it herself. "It feels so forced... like inserting a song in the middle of filming a commercial."

"Or play with that toy while singing?" Kim Chaewon pointed to a strangely shaped stress-relief toy provided by a sponsor nearby.

The two looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. It was too hard.

Jang Wonyoung and Kang Hye-won's group was also worried. Jang Wonyoung had the heavy "400,000 Crown Water Bottle" on her head, which inherently served as an ad space, so her pressure was slightly less, but the performance format was equally a headache. Kang Hye-won suggested: "How about we do a little theater skit? We'll act as... lost Star Saints asking a passerby (the audience) for directions, and then conveniently promote the water on our heads and... this?" She picked up a sample of a mask provided by a sponsor that was said to have moisturizing functions.

Jang Wonyoung imagined that scene, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly: "Unnie... wouldn't that look too much like a street salesperson?" Although the current situation wasn't much different.

"It's better than just dancing or singing, right? At least there's a plot, and the audience might find it interesting," Kang Hye-won analyzed philosophically.

While each group was racking their brains, Miyawaki Sakura and Yabuki Nako, who were about to go up as the second group, received "special attention."

A staff member wearing a headset and a mysterious expression hurried over, stuffed a hand-written script outline (with wild handwriting) directly into Sakura's hand, and gave Nako a look, indicating she was involved too.

"PD Kang specially prepared this 'cheat script' for the two of you," the staff member said succinctly. "No need to interpret or discuss it, just follow the flow and prompts on it for the performance. The props are already prepared for you."

Sakura and Nako looked at each other in shock, then looked down at the paper in their hands.

The header of the paper read in large characters: "Seto Inland Sea Story · Side Story—The Battle of Honor (Mermaids)"