Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

Chapter 115 The Meaning of Human Existence (3.4K)

As soon as she finished speaking, both Yoona's and Sulli's fans erupted in even louder screams.

"Ahhh—Sherry is so cute!"

After Shirley finished speaking, she was still a little embarrassed. She turned her head and looked at Jiang Che with bright eyes, just about to say something.

Then I heard a boy shouting loudly in Chinese from not far away:

"Choi Sulli! You traitor!"

The voice was quite loud, and many people around heard it. Although Shirley couldn't understand Chinese, she keenly caught the malice in the tone.

The smile on her face froze instantly, and a hint of helplessness and panic flashed in her eyes. She subconsciously moved closer to Jiang Che.

Jiang Che's face immediately darkened.

He took a sudden step forward, blocking Shirley's path, his gaze precisely locking onto the young man in the crowd who had spoken, and immediately retorted in Chinese:

"Traitor? What did she betray you about? Did she eat your rice or spend your money?"

The man was taken aback by Yoona's excellent Chinese and her assertive manner. He hesitated for a moment, then stubbornly argued his point:

"Her leaving the group is a betrayal! She's sorry to the other members! She's sorry to the fans!"

Jiang Che was so angry he almost laughed, his voice icy:

"Don't go through other people's suffering, and don't advise others to be good! If you go through their suffering, you may not be as good as them! Who are you to tell others what to do in their lives? Mind your own business!"

These words caused a brief moment of silence, followed by an even louder murmur of discussion.

Wow! I knew Yoona was good at Chinese, but I still underestimated her. She even knows proverbs?!

"Well said! These kinds of trolls just spout nonsense!"

What business is it of his what other people do?

"The other members didn't say anything, but he kept babbling on and on. Does he live by the sea, so he can be so nosy?"

"Yoona unnie is so cool!"

The man's words had already offended many normal fans, and now, with Jiang Che's rebuttal and the criticism from those around him,

His face turned pale and then red, and he was speechless with embarrassment. He slunk out of the crowd.

Jiang Che didn't bother to look at him again. He turned around and took Shirley's hand, noticing it was a little cold. He squeezed it firmly, a relaxed smile returning to his face.
"Let's go, mantis shrimp."

After saying that, he grabbed her hand and, ignoring the cameras and stares around them, continued climbing. Although PD Na and Kang Ho-dong, who were behind them, couldn't understand Chinese, they clearly sensed something was off and quickly followed.

After climbing a short distance and seeing fewer people around, Shirley finally came to her senses and asked nervously in a low voice:

"Unnie... that person just now... did he say something bad about me?"

Seeing her cautious manner, Jiang Che's anger flared up again. If it weren't for the fact that she was wearing Lin Yoona's disguise, he would have really wanted to send that girl directly to see his great-grandmother.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and said in an exaggerated tone:

"Ani~ You're overthinking it! That person is my hater. They said my acting in that movie I filmed in China was terrible and that I even had to dub my lines! I shut them up! Pretty impressive, huh?"

Shirley blinked and looked at Jiang Che. Although her Chinese wasn't good, she knew that the person had just called her name.

Unnie's explanation... She paused for two seconds, then smiled obligingly and nodded vigorously:

"Yes! Unnie is the best!"

Jiang Che saw this and sighed inwardly. He knew she wasn't so easily fooled, but he didn't want to delve any deeper. He could only pretend nothing had happened and continue pulling her uphill.

"Hurry, hurry! Kang Ho-dong and the others are catching up! We can't lose!"

After climbing for a while, they found a relatively quiet spot to stop and rest. The three older brothers and PD Luo, panting heavily, caught up and collapsed to the side, drinking water and catching their breath. They didn't have time to pay attention to the two of them for the time being.

Shirley leaned against the cold battlement, watching the sunset slowly sink in the distance, its golden afterglow spreading across the rolling mountains.

A warm glow enveloped the dragon winding its way to the sky, creating a breathtakingly magnificent scene.

But her eyes were somewhat vacant and lost, as if she saw something else through the magnificent scenery. She remained silent for a while.
She suddenly spoke softly, her voice so faint it seemed to dissipate in the wind: "Unnie..."

"Ok?"

"Tell me... what is the meaning of human existence...?"

Jiang Che had been admiring the scenery with her, but upon hearing this, he turned his head and took a deep look at the girl beside him—she stood there, yet seemed not to be there at all. That sense of detachment made his heart skip a beat.

He pondered for a moment and said, "For the experience."

Shirley turned her head and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Experiencing these moments, good or bad, interesting or boring, is all worthwhile."

"like this--"

As he spoke, he quickly reached out his two claws and cupped her cheeks.

"Can you feel it? The warmth of your hand?"

Shirley blinked in surprise at this sudden action, and looked at him with a mixture of understanding and confusion upon hearing his words.
Jiang Che looked into her eyes, his tone more serious than ever before, and continued:

"Actually, you don't have to be happy all the time. Just like the Great Wall, it stands here and has stood for thousands of years. Just the fact that it exists is magnificent in itself, isn't it?"

"Just like our Sulli, it's the same. Your existence itself is a wonderful thing, whether you're happy or the way you are now, I think it's all good. In other words, your existence is the greatest meaning to me."

As Shirley listened to Jiang Che's words and looked into his eyes, which were illuminated by the setting sun, she felt her own eyes welling up with tears—

Upon seeing this, Jiang Che gently squeezed her cheeks together with his hands—

"Well!"

Shirley's pretty lips were squeezed into a pout, making her look like a cute little duck. The emotions that had just surged up were instantly disrupted by this physical interruption of the spell, leaving her with nothing but a wry smile.

"Ugh... Unnie... Let go..."

"Pfft..." Jiang Che couldn't help but laugh out loud first, then quickly let go and changed the subject:
"Remember what I told you before?"

Sherry rubbed her cheek, looking completely bewildered: "...What?"

"Mystique! If you ever feel particularly tired, anything is going wrong, or you're in danger, remember to call that number! It's a promise."

As he spoke, Jiang Che extended his right pinky finger and waved it in front of her eyes: "Come on, pinky promise."

Shirley looked at the little finger, then looked up at Jiang Che's smiling face, smiled, and extended her little finger as well, hooking it up: "Yes, it's a promise!"

After filming wrapped and they returned to the hotel, it was already dark. After getting out of the car, Jiang Che looked at the still somewhat tired Shirley beside him and, a little worried about leaving her alone, said:
"Sulli, I have something to do and need to go see PD Na first. Do you want to go see Krystal or Jiyeon for a while? I'll come back to you later and take you shopping and eating."

Sulli thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go find Krystal. Jiyeon has too many schedules."

"Let's go then, I'll take you there first."

The two arrived at Soo-jung's room together. Kang Cheol raised his hand and knocked on the door. The door opened quickly, and Soo-jung looked at the two people outside in surprise.

"Unnie? Snowball? What brings you here?"

"I've brought someone for you." Jiang Che smiled and gently pushed Shirley forward beside him.

"Soojung, I need to go see the PD. I'll leave Sulli in your care for now. Take good care of her. As a reward, I'll take you out for something delicious when I'm done with this."

As he spoke, he glanced subconsciously into the room and casually asked:
"By the way, are you all alone? Where's your unnie?"

Upon hearing this, Krystal naturally turned her head and called out into the room, "Unnie! Yoona unnie is looking for you!"

Jiang Che: "!!!"

Holy crap! Is this kid out of their mind?! I was just asking, who's looking for her?!
In that instant, Jiang Che felt like his scalp was about to explode, and he quickly threw out a sentence at Xiu Jing:
"Ani! I'm not looking for Soo-yeon unnie, I'm leaving now! See you later!"

After saying that, she didn't give Soojung any time to react, turned around and ran away.
He had just run away when Xiuyan came out from the inner room, a face mask still on her face, her eyes filled with confusion:
"Huh? Yoona's looking for me? Where is she?"

"Uh... she said she wasn't going to contact you anymore, and then she ran away."

Jessica: "...She ran away? What's Yoona up to?"

Jiang Che ran to the corner before slowing down to calm himself down. Then he took the elevator to the floor where PD Luo was located and stood in front of the door.

"Dong dong dong."

After opening the door, PD Na asked in surprise:
"Yoona? What's up so late?"

Jiang Che scratched his head sheepishly:
"PD-nim, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

"Come in first and we'll talk."

Jiang Che walked into the room, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke:
"So... today on the Great Wall, after meeting fans, could you cut out that part about Sulli?"

Upon hearing this, PD Na thought about Yoona's performance over the past two days and recalled the footage from the shoot, then asked:
"Is it all cut out? Or just from the moment that fan appeared until the part where you were chatting later?"

Jiang Che was stunned for a moment. He originally wanted to ask that all of it be cut, and simply pretend that Sulli did not appear today. But after PD Na asked him this question, he carefully recalled the scene at that time.

Releasing the part where the male fan provoked him, and the process of him responding, might actually garner him some goodwill.

The problem mainly lies in the last part... When Sulli asked the question about the "meaning of existence," that dialogue was too easy to misunderstand. It would be troublesome if the public thought Sulli was trying to gain sympathy.

Should we cut out the last part? But if we only cut out the last part and keep the preceding conflicts, wouldn't it seem even stranger?
He was a bit undecided, wanting to have both, but also worried that if he didn't handle it well, it would have the opposite effect.

After thinking about it, if Shirley didn't shed tears after I forcibly interrupted her spellcasting, releasing her shouldn't be a big problem:

"How about we cut out the last part of the dialogue, or just keep the visuals and remove the audio? PD, please help me."

PD Luo couldn't help but laugh when he saw Kang Cheol's expression.
"Alasso, Alasso, I think I understand what you mean. Don't worry, I know what to do."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief:

"Thank you so much, PD! Thank you so much! As expected, PD Na is the most handsome PD in the world!"

PD Na laughed and scolded, "Get out of here! You already said that this morning! Go back and get some rest."

"Yes, yes, goodnight PDnim, goodbye PDnim."

Jiang Che waved his hand dismissively and left PD Na's room with a satisfied expression.

With this matter resolved, Jiang Che felt much more at ease, but then another matter arose.
He leaned against the wall in the corridor, rubbing his temples with a slight headache. He should have asked if Xiuyan was there first before considering going to eat; the order was reversed.

This means that if you go out to eat with Sulli and Krystal, there's a 99.9% chance that Soo-yeon, who's obsessed with her younger sister, will come along too. Just imagining that scene...
My head feels like it's about to explode. This isn't a meal; it's like I'm going through a tribulation!
Should we make an excuse and slip away?

But... Shirley's bright eyes kept popping into his mind, especially after what happened on the Great Wall today, he really couldn't bear to stand her up.

(End of this chapter)