Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

Chapter 134 My Cousin Sunny (6K 928)

Seeing that she seemed to understand, Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief, held the phone to his ear, and heard Taeyeon's voice coming from inside:
"Hello? Hello? Jiang Che? Why is it so noisy over there? Have you found Tiffany yet?"

"Taeyeon, I can't find Tiffany here!" Kang Cheol shouted into the microphone.

"What?! They found Pani?!"

"I said! I! Didn't! Find! Pani!" Jiang Che practically shouted:

"But! I ran into Sherry!"

"Huh? What Li? Yuri? Yuri is here too? It's so noisy! I can't hear anything!" Taeyeon was also very anxious.

Jiang Che was speechless, this phone call reminded him of Ma Dongmei. He glanced helplessly at Shirley, who was still in a daze, and simply handed the phone to her, gesturing for her to listen.

Sulli hesitated for a moment, then took the phone and brought her ear close to the receiver. Sure enough, Taeyeon's familiar voice came through, though it kept repeating like a cassette tape:

"Hello? Can you hear me? Hello? Hello?" But it was definitely Taeyeon unnie's voice!

She breathed a slight sigh of relief, but still took out her phone and flipped to Taeyeon's number to compare. When she opened Kang Cheol's contacts, she found that there were only three names: Yoona, Sunny, and Taeyeon.
Shirley couldn't help but look at Jiang Che again with curiosity before quickly continuing to compare the numbers. Only after confirming that the numbers were exactly the same did the wariness and fear on her face dissipate considerably.

He handed the phone back to Jiang Che, then looked at Cui Zi, who was still being restrained by Jiang Che and grimacing, with a complicated expression. Suddenly, he felt less scared and instead had a sense of wanting to watch the show.

Jiang Che took the phone, saw that the call had been disconnected, and without intending to continue the conversation, put the phone back in his pocket.

On the other end of the phone, Taeyeon held her phone, looking completely bewildered, wondering whether she should call back.

Sunny leaned closer: "What's wrong? What did Jiang Che say?"

Taeyeon scratched her hair, feeling incredibly frustrated.

"I don't know either!!! I just heard him yelling over there, but I couldn't hear anything!"

Back at the bar, Choi Ja was still hitting Kang Che's arm and yelling:

"Brother, you're my own brother, is this really going to end..."

Jiang Che ignored him and reached into Cui Zi's coat pocket with his other hand.

Cui Zi was so frightened that he twisted his body and hurriedly tried to avoid it.

"Hey! What are you doing? Are you robbing me?"

Jiang Che deftly rummaged through his two coat pockets and, sure enough, pulled out a small, transparent medicine bottle containing a few small pills from one of the pockets.

"Heh." Jiang Che sneered, gently patting Cui Zi's face, which had instantly turned deathly pale, with the small medicine bottle:

"Now, are you still going to pretend with me? Don't tell me this is Vitamin C. If you dare to say it is, I'll feed you the whole thing!"

Seeing that his scheme had been completely exposed, Cui Zi's face drained of color, and he suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Security! Security! There's trouble here! People are being assaulted!"

Hearing the commotion, nearby security personnel immediately came over. The one in the lead was a young security guard with black hair, who frowned as he looked at the scene:

"what happened?"

Jiang Che looked up and was stunned for a moment when he saw the security guard's face—it looked familiar.

The other person became somewhat impatient when they saw Jiang Che staring blankly at them:

"What are you looking at? Let go!"

Jiang Che blurted out:

"Yellow Hair? What are you doing here?"

The security guard looked completely bewildered.

"What? What blond guy?"

Jiang Che snapped out of his daze and quickly shook his head:
"N-nothing." He said, letting go of her hand and stuffing the medicine bottle into his pocket.

Once free, Cui Zi immediately flexed his aching wrist. Feeling humiliated in front of Shirley and Bao Quan, he became emboldened and, taking advantage of the lull in Jiang Che and Bao Quan's conversation,

He suddenly threw a punch at Jiang Che's face!

"Watch out!" Shirley exclaimed.

Jiang Che tilted his head, easily dodging the punch, and shrugged at the security guard at the same time:

"See? He started it."

After saying that, his eyes sharpened, and he stopped holding back and began to counterattack! His movements were clean and swift, and every punch landed solidly on Cui Zi, making a dull "thump thump" sound.

Cui Zi was no match for Jiang Che and was beaten so badly that he could only let out painful screams.

The security guard was stunned. By the time he finally reacted and tried to stop him, Jiang Che delivered a precise hook punch that struck Cui Zi directly in the stomach.

"Ugh..." Cui Zi gagged, clutched his stomach, and collapsed to the ground, his face pale.

Jiang Che nudged Cui Zi lightly with the tip of his shoe, his tone icy:
"If you contact Shirley again, it won't just be a beating for you." He then turned to the security guard, shrugging innocently.

"I was acting in self-defense."

Bao Quan looked at Cui Zi, who was curled up on the ground, and then at Jiang Che, who seemed to change his expression constantly. His lips twitched, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.

Jiang Che ignored them and walked up to Shirley, who was still in a daze, his tone returning to normal:

"It's okay, let's go."

Shirley stood to the side, watching Jiang Che's smooth, powerful, and violent movements. Her eyes gleamed slightly, and her heart pounded.

This direct, undisguised conflict seemed more...exciting than dancing? She nodded subconsciously and followed Jiang Che outside.

After taking a few steps, Jiang Che suddenly stopped:

"Wait a minute, I almost forgot the important thing. Can you help me find where Pani is? She should be in here too."

"Tiffany unnie?" Sherry blinked, even more curious about this unfamiliar oppa—not only did she have three Girls' Generation members in her contacts, but she also knew a fourth?

Despite her many doubts, she obediently nodded:
"Inside."

The two then wandered around the noisy bar again, their eyes scanning the dance floor, booths, and tables. The lights were still hazy, the music still deafening, and the crowd still frenzied, but they still couldn't find that familiar figure.

During this time, Jiang Che felt that the young security guard was watching him subtly from a distance. He muttered to himself:
"Why is this blond guy staring at me like that?" Just then, his phone vibrated. He took it out and saw that it was Taeyeon calling.

"Let's go out first, Taeyeon called." Jiang Che said to Shirley, naturally taking her wrist and leading her towards the exit.

Shirley looked down, her gaze falling on her wrist, which was being held. Strangely, when Choi had grabbed her wrist earlier, she only felt disgust and fear, but now, being held by this stranger...

Yet, I felt no resistance whatsoever; on the contrary… there was a strange, comforting sense of familiarity.

This thought made her feel somewhat dazed, and she let Jiang Che lead her through the crowd and out of the door that separated the two worlds.

Just as he arrived at the bar entrance, the call was automatically disconnected because no one answered. Jiang Che immediately called Taeyeon back.

The call was answered almost instantly, and Taeyeon's urgent voice came through the other end:
"Hey! Jiang Che! What happened just now? It was so noisy on the phone I couldn't hear anything. Tiffany called to say she'd already left the bar, but Yuri was there too?"

Jiang Che quickly explained:

"It was too noisy in the bar just now. Yuri wasn't there, but Sulli was."

He briefly recounted his encounter with Shirley and Choiza, paused, glanced at Shirley beside him who was staring blankly at her wrist, and tentatively asked:
"Um... Taeyeon, would you mind if I brought Sulli back to Sunny's house?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, and you could vaguely hear Taeyeon and Sunny discussing something in hushed tones. Soon, Taeyeon's voice came through again, filled with concern:

"Yes, bring her back. We're worried about leaving her alone after something like this happened."

Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, is Pani really leaving?"

Taeyeon's voice, a mix of exasperation and amusement, came from the other end of the phone:
"Yes, she just called me back! She said Hyoyeon was DJing and didn't care about her, so she had a drink, got bored, and left. She only saw the missed call after she left the bar. I'm so angry! I'll get her back later!"

Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and quickly reassured him:
"It's alright, as long as everyone gets home safely. I'll take Shirley home first, and we'll talk again when we get back."

"Be careful on the road."

After ending the call, Jiang Che turned around and found Shirley looking at him with an inquisitive gaze, her big eyes full of doubt.

"Oppa, what's your name?"

"Jiang Che. Just call me Jiang Che."

Shirley nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then asked the question that had been bothering her:

“Kang Cheol oppa…have we met somewhere before? I have a feeling…that I’m somewhat familiar with you.”

Jiang Che's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm on the surface, laughing it off:
"Well... you've definitely never seen me before, but I do recognize you."

Yes, that makes sense; Sherry had indeed never seen his original form.

Seeing that Shirley wanted to ask something else, Jiang Che spoke first:

"Panie's gone. Shirley, come back with me?"

Shirley paused, not quite understanding: "Go...go back where?"

“Sunny’s house, Taeyeon is there too,” Jiang Che explained. “Sunny unnie’s house? Taeyeon unnie is there too?” Sulli’s eyes widened instantly, her mind a little confused.
"You...the three of you live together?"

"Cough cough cough!" Jiang Che choked on his own saliva and quickly waved his hand to clarify:

"I...I'm Sunny's distant cousin! I'm from overseas and I'm temporarily staying at her place! Taeyeon is here to visit!"

In a moment of desperation, he returned to his old ways, silently apologizing to Sunny for making her suddenly fall in rank.

"Cousin?" Shirley thought of the contact list she had seen on Jiang Che's phone that only had three contacts. Although she found it strange that there were only three people in the contact list, she didn't ask any further questions and just said softly:
"Oh... then I guess I won't go? It would be too much trouble for you."

"No trouble at all! Think about it, you'll be alone if you go back now. Why don't you come back with me and chat with Taeyeon and Sunny? If you get sleepy, you can just sleep with them. Isn't that great?"

These words... sound so familiar.

Shirley paused slightly, another strong sense of déjà vu washing over her. She was sure she'd heard something similar somewhere before, but where?

Seeing Shirley with her head down, seemingly lost in thought, Jiang Che took the opportunity to ask the question that had been bothering him:

"By the way, Shirley, what are you doing in a place like this?"

Shirley looked up at this, her eyes flickering slightly, and explained softly:

"Well... I haven't been in a good mood lately, I've been feeling really down, and then... that person..." She vaguely pointed in the direction of the bar, clearly not wanting to mention Cui Zi's name again.
"He texted me saying it was lively here and could help people forget their troubles. I don't know what came over me, I just impulsively came..."

She paused, then lowered her voice even further:

“I know it might not be safe here. I ignored his messages before, but this time… I just want to clear my mind and not think about anything…”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Che immediately understood seven or eight parts of the situation. It seemed her previous worries were not unfounded; she had indeed been affected by those negative comments.
She even pretended to be strong in front of familiar people, saying she was fine. Thinking of this, a feeling mixed with pity and helplessness welled up in my heart.

Almost instinctively, very naturally, he reached out and gently patted Shirley's head, his tone becoming exceptionally gentle:

"Alright, it's okay, it's all over now. Listen to me, go back and delete all of that guy's contact information, and never contact him again, understand?"

Feeling the warmth and familiar touch on her head, Shirley's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.

Jiang Che didn't notice her subtle change and continued his earnest instruction:
"Also, if you're really feeling down in the future, don't force yourself to be okay. Don't pretend to be fine in front of your friends or those unnies, understand? Remember to contact your Yoona..."

As soon as he said it, he realized that Yoona's situation was still complicated, so he abruptly changed the subject:
"What I mean is, you can contact your Taeyeon unnie or Sunny unnie! Don't feel like you're bothering them or anything; it's about relationships between people."

It's a process where you bother me, and then I bother you in return..."

Shirley barely heard what he said after that.

The gentle yet authoritative pat on the head, the nagging, admonishing tone—as if afraid she'd get stuck on something... this intense...

A comforting sense of familiarity, like a lightning bolt, cleaved through her chaotic thoughts, perfectly overlapping with another figure.

A name slipped out almost uncontrollably:

"Yoona unnie?"

"Huh?" Jiang Che didn't react at first, until he saw Shirley staring straight at him, and then he realized that something was wrong.
'Holy crap, could this mean the original body was exposed? But where was it exposed? Calm down, maybe it's a misunderstanding!'

So Jiang Che slowly withdrew his hand, forcing a confused yet innocent expression on his face:
"What Yoona unnie?"

Sherry was startled by her own words, and seeing Jiang Che's shocked expression, she was also greatly confused, feeling as if she was about to grow a brain.

Wait a minute... This feels so much like Yoona unnie! But the person in front of me is clearly a man! Although he's quite handsome, his Adam's apple, voice, and facial features... he definitely looks like an oppa!

Could it be... that I've really had too much stress today and am going crazy? Am I inexplicably projecting my dependence on Yoona unnie onto this stranger, Kang Cheol oppa, who just saved me?
The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, feeling like her CPU was about to overheat. She shook her head vigorously, lowered it somewhat awkwardly, and mumbled softly:

"N-nothing. Maybe...maybe I just miss Yoona unnie too much."

Seeing this, Jiang Che felt a great weight lifted from his heart. It seemed to be a misunderstanding after all. Who in their right mind would think a boy could turn into a girl? So he laughed it off and said:
"Then let's go?"

As he spoke, he led the way towards the parking area. When he reached the driver's seat of Taeyeon's car, Kang Che stopped, took out the keys, and handed them to Sulli.

"Shirley, you drive."

"Huh?" Shirley was stunned, then pointed to herself.

"Me? I'm not very good at it..." She had her driver's license, but she had almost no experience on the road, let alone driving at night.

"It's okay, it's okay. Try more new things, and you'll find there are so many interesting things in this world."
There's absolutely no need to let those awful people and things trap you in a bad mood. Don't worry, I'm sitting here watching. Just drive slowly.

As he spoke, without waiting for Shirley to refuse again, he shoved the car keys into her hand, then quickly went around to the other side, opened the passenger door, and got in.
Fasten your seatbelt, then adopt a "I trust you" posture.

Shirley looked at the car keys in her hand, then at Jiang Che already sitting in the passenger seat. She opened her mouth, but ultimately swallowed her words of refusal. She sighed helplessly and muttered to herself:
"What kind of oppa is this..."

Then, resigned, I sat in the driver's seat and began to adjust the seat and rearview mirrors somewhat awkwardly.

The engine started, and the car moved slowly forward under Shirley's slightly stiff handling. Jiang Che leaned back in his seat, his mouth never stopping:

"Yes, yes, you can press the accelerator a little lighter and drive slowly."

"Wow, Shirley, you're a great driver!"

Shirley felt like her nerves were stretched taut like a rubber band about to snap; she hadn't fully recovered from the shock of the bar incident.
Now I've been crammed into the driver's seat, with a chattering instructor next to me, and my head is spinning.

She finally couldn't hold back and protested in a low voice:

"Oppa...can you be quiet for a bit so I can concentrate on driving..."

She suddenly began to understand why supporting characters in TV dramas sometimes want to beat up the main characters.

"Huh? Oh, okay, okay, go ahead and drive, I won't say anything."

Jiang Che readily shut his mouth.

Meanwhile, at the bar, Cui Zi, who had been badly beaten by Jiang Che, was being helped by two security guards to a secluded office deep inside the bar.
He clutched his still aching stomach, his face bruised and battered, looking utterly disheveled.

Behind his desk, Lee Seung-ri sat in his large executive chair, swirling a glass of whiskey in his hand. Seeing Choi Ja's expression, he frowned.
"Tell me, what's going on? Are you causing trouble in my territory?"

With a mournful face, Cui Zi recounted the events, embellishing the story, emphasizing how Jiang Che was "unreasonable" and "violently assaulting" him, only mentioning at the end, somewhat hesitantly:
“That…he…he stole that thing…”

"What?" Li Shengli's face instantly darkened, his sharp gaze sweeping over the young, black-haired security guard beside him:

"Were you just watching a show? You just watched him beat someone up and take his things away? Why didn't you stop him?"

The security guard being questioned—the one Jiang Che subconsciously called "Yellow Hair"—faced Li Shengli's questioning with a blank expression and a tone that even seemed matter-of-fact:

"When our boss sent us here, he told us to play it by ear."

He paused, met Li Shengli's disapproving gaze, and continued, "My strategy was to act according to the situation—that person was clearly a trained fighter, ruthless and swift in his movements."

If I had tried to stop him, I probably wouldn't have been able to beat him up, and if I had ended up in the hospital, you would have had to pay my medical expenses and lost wages. I'm doing this to save you money and avoid unnecessary losses."

Lee Seungri was so taken aback by his bizarre logic that he almost choked on his breath. His cheek muscles twitched a few times, and he said irritably:

"Damn... if it weren't for your boss's sake, I would really want to return you!"

The security guard blinked, looking completely innocent, as if he hadn't understood the sarcasm in Li Shengli's words.

Li Shengli, too lazy to waste any more words with him, turned to Cui Zi and asked in a deep voice:

"Who is that kid? Do you know him?"

Cui Zi shook his head blankly:
"No... I don't know him. He claims to be Sulli's oppa... but Sulli doesn't seem to know him either. However, he seems to know Taeyeon and Tiffany..."

“Taeyeon? Tiffany?” Lee Seungri frowned slightly and pulled up the CCTV footage at the bar entrance. The footage clearly showed Kang Cheol’s face as he walked in.

He stared at the screen for a long time, confirming that he had no memory of such a person.

"Let's leave that for now." Li Shengli waved his hand, making his decision.

"Since he has been in contact with them, he probably won't call the police, since it would be bad for his idol's reputation if it got out. Businessmen believe in maintaining harmony, so let's just let it go this time."

Then, the tone shifted abruptly, turning icy cold:

"However, Cui Zixi, you'd better watch yourself. Mind your own business. If you really cause any big trouble and involve the bar... I'll definitely target you first. Understand?"

Cui Zi trembled with fright and hurriedly nodded and bowed:
"Yes, yes, I understand, Victory, there will definitely be no next time!"

On the other side, after many hardships, Shirley finally managed to park the car steadily in front of Sunny's apartment building.

"Phew—" Almost as soon as the engine was turned off, she let out a long, thorough sigh of relief, feeling more tired than if she had been dancing for hours on end.

Jiang Che, watching her surviving appearance, couldn't help but chuckle.

Shirley turned her head and glared at him reproachfully:
"Oppa! You're still laughing!"

"Ahem," Jiang Che quickly suppressed his smile and coughed twice:

"Alright, alright, Shirley drove just fine, didn't she? She got home safely. Let's go, let's get out of the car."

The two got out of the car and took the elevator upstairs. When they arrived at Sunny's door, Jiang Che stepped forward, composed himself, and knocked on the door first.

After a short wait, the door opened, and two short, burly men stood in the doorway. Before they could even ask, Jiang Che immediately spoke first:

"Sunny, my cousin! I'm home!"

(End of this chapter)