Peninsula: It’s just a dream, are you serious?

Chapter 517 So, can I join too?
Under the dark night sky, the streets of Seoul, this city that never sleeps, are still glittering with neon lights, and the sounds of men and women chatting and laughing fill the air.

Meanwhile, in Jung Soo-yeon's home in Seongnam-gu, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"what?"

Jessica Jung paused, looking somewhat bewildered.

Did I hear that right?
Soojung told her not to come over.

Coming to her senses, she took another step.

"Soojung, what's wrong?"

"I told you not to come any closer!"

The girl's hoarse voice, raised slightly, rang out again.

Jessica Jung paused again.

This time she heard me clearly: "Don't come any closer."

After a moment of confusion, she frowned slightly, just about to speak.

But then Krystal Jung made a move.

He slowly rose from the chair, then turned around to face Jessica Jung.

The girl's face was expressionless, her eyes looked very calm, but they were noticeably red and swollen.

Upon seeing this, Jessica Jung was startled and swallowed back the question that was about to come out of her mouth.

"Why are you crying? What happened?"

As she spoke, something occurred to her: "Did someone bully you, Soojung, on set? I..."

He was about to speak when Krystal Jung abruptly stopped him with her actions.

The girl slowly picked up a box from the chair next to her and placed it on the dining table.

Inside the box, a delicate Barbie doll dressed in a princess dress smiles at Jessica Jung.

On top of the box, a small greeting card unfolds.

After staring blankly at the Barbie doll for a few seconds, Jessica Jung finally came to her senses.

She knew that Xiujing knew about her and Chen Yan's relationship.

Although the current situation was a bit unexpected, she had originally planned to tell Soojung the truth that night.

She didn't even ask why Jung Soo-jung had found the Barbie doll, and immediately started to explain.

"Soojung, listen to me, I..."

When did you and Chen Yan get together?

The conversation was interrupted again by the girl's hoarse voice.

Looking into those overly calm eyes, Jessica Jung felt a sudden pang of unease. She composed herself and said:

"In early May, the day after Children's Day."

After saying that, she took another step, continuing, "Soojung, listen to me, I'm telling you something."

"I told you not to come any closer! Didn't you hear me?!"

Her hoarse voice trembled with tears, and the girl's swollen eyes welled up with tears once again.

Although she already knew the outcome and had spent several hours preparing herself mentally, the moment she heard Jessica Jung admit it, it felt as if a hand had pressed down on the knife that had been plunged into her heart just hours earlier, and then twisted it hard, causing her heart to ache with unprecedented pain.

Across from her, Jessica Jung saw the tears welling up in her eyes, and her heart ached. She immediately stopped and dared not move.

"I understand, I won't go. Soojung, don't cry."

As she spoke, her eyes inexplicably welled up with tears: "I told you everything; I didn't mean to hide it from you."

"why?"

The intense pain in her heart forced Krystal Jung to cry out, trying to lessen the pain.

"why?"

She lowered her eyes and repeated "why" again. The next second, Krystal Jung suddenly looked up, unable to suppress her long-suppressed emotions any longer.

"Don't you hate scumbags the most?! Why?!"

Why are you with Chen Yan?
Why did you hide this from me?
Why you of all people?!
The person Chen Yan is with could be Kim Tae-yeon, Choi Sulli, Lim Yoon-ah, Lee Ji-eun, Bae Suzy, or anyone but you.

But why did it have to be you, Jessica Jung?

The hysterical questioning echoed in the room for a long time.

Across from her, Jessica Jung's heart skipped a beat, and she was momentarily confused as to why Krystal Jung was reacting so strongly.

Things have clearly developed differently than she had anticipated.

Perhaps Soojung just doesn't understand why I, who clearly hates scumbags, ended up with Xiaoyan, and feels somewhat pathetic.

In addition, she found out about my relationship with Xiaoyan beforehand, and was not prepared at all. The feeling of being kept in the dark intensified her anger, which is why she reacted so strongly now.

Thinking this, she took a deep breath, suppressed her inner panic, calmed herself, hesitated for a few seconds, and then said:

"Soojung, it was wrong of me to keep this from you, but I was afraid that if I told you this rashly, you wouldn't be able to accept it."

"Since you dislike Xiaoyan a bit, I thought I'd wait until you and Xiaoyan had some normal time together so you could have a more comprehensive understanding of him. That's why I chose to keep it from you for now."

"But I didn't intend to keep it from you forever. I called you back tonight to talk to you about this."

But little did she know that her words were like a knife piercing Jung Soo-jung's heart once again.

The girl's tear-filled eyes momentarily glazed over.

She remembered that day when Jessica Jung suddenly told her that she could try to get along normally with Chen Yan, saying that Chen Yan was a very good friend.

At that time, she thought that Jessica Jung didn't object to her relationship with Chen Yan because Chen Yan had helped her in her career and she had truly discovered Chen Yan's good qualities.

Because of this, she lay in bed alone for a long time that night, feeling happy.

She was happy that she no longer had to pretend to dislike Chen Yan in front of Jessica Jung, and that she could now interact with Chen Yan openly and honestly.

She then recalled that, starting from some point in the past, Chen Yan's attitude towards her suddenly changed, becoming exceptionally gentle.

Afterwards, she would often wonder if that was a sign that Chen Yan was also starting to like her.

For this reason, she didn't know how many nights she had secretly rejoiced alone.

But so this is the truth.

It turns out that I hid it too well and pretended too well, making Jessica mistakenly believe that I really hated Chen Yan, which made her afraid to tell me that she and Chen Yan were together.

So, Chen Yan's sudden gentleness towards me was because she and Jessica got together, and she wanted to get closer to me in preparation for Jessica to confess to me about their relationship later?
Krystal Jung slowly lowered her eyes.

Across from her, Jessica Jung continued explaining her relationship with Chen Yan, trying to get Krystal Jung to understand.

"You should know that Xiao Yan isn't the kind of scumbag who plays with people's feelings. Taeyeon, Yoona, and Sulli have always gotten along very well, haven't they?"

"I've been doing very well since I got together with Xiaoyan, and I've always gotten along very well with Taeyeon and Yoona. We're like family. I'm telling the truth."

After she finished speaking, the room fell silent. Jessica Jung didn't say anything more, secretly observing Krystal Jung's reaction.

After a while, the girl's even hoarser voice rang out again in the quiet room.

"Are you doing well after you got together with Chen Yan? Do you get along well with Taeyeon and the others?"

She kept her head down, making it impossible to see the expression on her face.

Jessica Jung breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this.

It's good that she's willing to communicate; the worst thing is when she doesn't say a word, because then she won't know what to say next.

Thinking she had found a breakthrough, she quickly nodded and said:
"Yes, I get along very well with them. My relationship with them hasn't worsened because of this incident; in fact, it's even better than before."

Since Xiujing asked this question, then I will prove to her that after she got together with Xiaoyan, she was not unhappy because Xiaoyan was a scumbag, but on the contrary, she was doing very well.

"Are you like family with Taeyeon and the others?"

"Yes, I get along really well with Taeyeon and the others. We're like family. Whenever we have time, we eat together at home."

Jessica Jung went on to explain, providing specific examples.

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something and quickly continued, "I can call Taeyeon and Yoona over right now, Krystal, I really didn't lie to you."

At this moment, Krystal Jung on the other side slowly raised her head, her hoarse voice seemingly mixed with some inexplicable emotions.

"Can I join too?"

The girl's eyes were unusually calm.

But for some reason, when she met those eyes, Jessica Jung felt a surge of madness that made her heart tremble.

She was momentarily taken aback and instinctively asked, "What did you say?"

I asked, "Can I join too?"

Krystal Jung calmly repeated the sentence, but her eyes, which had been completely calm, gradually revealed a look of madness.

This time, Jessica Jung heard it clearly.

But because she heard it clearly and saw the madness in the girl's eyes, she quickly understood why Krystal had reacted so strongly just now.

Upon realizing the reason, Jessica Jung's body trembled slightly, and she was gripped by an unprecedented panic.

She instinctively shouted, "Jung Soo-jung!"

The madness in Krystal Jung's eyes gradually eroded her composure, but her voice grew even calmer.

"What? Didn't you say you and Taeyeon unnie are like family? Can't I join them? Aren't we family?"

"I"

Jessica Jung opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything for a moment.

The girl's words confirmed her suspicions, intensifying her panic.

Across from her, Krystal Jung quietly looked at her for a few seconds, then suddenly chuckled softly.

His soft laughter carried a hint of self-mockery, and at the same time, the calm in his eyes was completely replaced by madness.

"Unnie, you're such an idiot. After all this time, you still haven't realized I like Chen Yan. Should I say I've been hiding it too well?"

As if asking herself a question, Krystal Jung chuckled again.

Her soft laughter carried a hint of sorrow, and the madness surging in her eyes made her all the more chilling with that sorrow.

Since that's the case, she'll stop hiding it.

A pair of chilling eyes silently gazed at Jessica Jung, and she spoke:

"Unnie, Chen Yan is the first person I've ever truly liked. I developed feelings for him not long after we met, but I just didn't want to admit it at the time."

"Later, when I realized I wanted to take things further, Taeyeon unnie appeared, followed by Sulli, and then Yoona unnie."

As she said this, she gave a sad smile, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"Chen Yan is a fool. He always treated me like a younger sister. Every time someone new appeared in his life, I tried to give up on my feelings for him, using work as an excuse to reduce contact with him, or even avoiding him. He believed me. Maybe he never liked me at all."

Jessica Jung opened her mouth, looked into those eyes, but her mind went blank, and she couldn't say a word.

"But unnie, I really, really, really like him. I was planning to confess to him tomorrow night."

Krystal felt another sharp pain in her heart, and the tears that had been welling up in her eyes burst forth once more.

This time, however, she did not let the tears flow. She immediately raised her hand to wipe away the tears on her face, tilted her head back slightly, took a few deep breaths, and suppressed the soreness in her nose.

A few seconds later, he looked at Jessica Jung, who had been silent since the beginning, and the emotion in his eyes subsided, returning to calm.

"I'm going back to my dorm tonight."

After saying that, she walked towards the entrance.

He didn't stop at all when passing by Jessica Jung.

"boom"

The door closed.

The bright room fell silent again. Jessica Jung stood there, and the sound of the door closing seemed to bring her back to her senses.

Staring blankly at the empty space ahead, the sound of Jung Soo-jung's tearful words kept echoing in his ears, and the image of those heart-wrenching eyes from just now kept replaying in his mind.

Krystal really likes romance novels.

Her legs felt as if all the strength had been drained from them instantly, and she collapsed to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes, her whole being gripped by an unprecedented panic.

After a moment, she managed to calm herself down, reached for her phone which was lying to the side, and dialed a number.

After a few beeps, the call connected, and Peach's voice came through: "Hello, Jessica unnie."

"Peach, are you in the dorm?"

"I'm on my way back to the dorm. I just finished a trip and I'll be there in a few minutes. What's up, unnie?"

"Soojung. Soojung just said she's going back to her dorm. I'm a little worried about her."

She didn't have time to explain in detail what had just happened, but she knew Peach understood what she meant.

Peach also knew about what she was going to tell Soo-jung tonight.

On the other end of the phone, Momoko guessed what was going on as soon as she saw this unnie calling, and quickly replied:

"I understand, unnie. I'll check when I get back to the dorm. I'll let you know if anything happens, don't worry."

"Ah."

After hanging up the phone, Jessica Jung sat on the ground in a daze for a moment, then picked up her phone and dialed another number.

The call was answered the next second, as if the person on the other end had been waiting for her call.

"Hey, Sika."

Jessica's voice trembled with tears: "Taeyeon, what do we do? Krystal... Krystal, she..."

(End of this chapter)