Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

Chapter 138 Yoona's Dream (6K 1228)

Seeing this, Jiang Che couldn't help but laugh. He happily reached out and gave Taeyeon a high five. The two looked at each other and smiled, as if pink bubbles were floating in the air.

Seeing this "unbearable" scene, Sunny gave Taeyeon an ultimatum:

"Hurry up and eat! Finish your meal and go home! Just looking at you annoys me!"

Having achieved her goal, Taeyeon tacitly stopped talking and began to quickly finish off the food on the table.

When dinner was finally over, Sunny crossed her arms and gestured to Taeyeon with her eyes—it was time to keep her promise.

Taeyeon stood up slowly, turning back every few steps as she walked towards the living room door, her eyes glued to Kang Cheol, practically drooling over him.

Sunny watched Taeyeon's acting, which was comparable to a life-or-death situation, and her lips twitched.
"Kim Tae-yeon, it's less than ten meters from the restaurant to the entrance. Are you planning to walk there until tomorrow morning?"

Jiang Che found it amusing and said to Sunny, "Why don't we let Taeyeon stay here?"

Sunny turned around and stared at him with an expression that seemed to say, "Aren't you afraid the boat will capsize?"

Jiang Che chuckled awkwardly, then picked up his coat and suggested casually:
"Then I'll drive her home. It's not safe for her to be alone so late."

Upon hearing this, Taeyeon, who had been hesitant just moments before, instantly brightened up and darted over, naturally grabbing Kang Cheol's arm.

"Let's go!"

Sunny was impressed by his quick change of expression, but immediately looked at Jiang Che with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot:

"Hey, you don't even have a driver's license, what are you doing driving? Aren't you afraid of getting caught?"

Jiang Che spoke with righteous indignation:

"I don't have a driver's license, but I can transform! When I get pulled over, I'll turn into you, and I guarantee there won't be any problems. Last time I even drove Taeyeon's car."

Sunny was momentarily speechless at this powerful logic. She opened her mouth but couldn't refute it. Resignedly, she grabbed the car keys from the entryway cabinet and tossed them to Jiang Che.
"I'll send you the license plate number later. Go quickly and come back soon! Don't dawdle!"

Jiang Che took the keys, suppressed a laugh, nodded to Sunny, and then was forced to leave with the impatient Taeyeon.

In the underground parking lot, Jiang Che skillfully started Sunny's car and drove Taeyeon to her residence.

Seoul at night is brightly lit and bustling with traffic. Soft music plays inside the car, creating a quiet and warm atmosphere. Taeyeon leans against the passenger seat, occasionally stealing glances at Kang Cheol's profile as he focuses on driving, a faint smile on her lips.

The journey wasn't long, and we soon arrived at Taeyeon's building.

The car came to a stop, and Taeyeon unbuckled her seatbelt, but didn't get out immediately. She turned her head to look at Kang Cheol, her cheeks slightly flushed in the dim light inside the car.

"Would you like to... go upstairs and sit for a while?"

Jiang Che chuckled and pointed to the time on the central control screen:
"Let's skip it today, it's too late. I'm afraid if I go up there, I won't want to go back."

Upon hearing this, Taeyeon chuckled and gently patted Kang Cheol's arm.

"Oh, what are you talking about? Be careful on your way back."

"Yes, you too, get some rest early," Jiang Che said gently.
Taeyeon nodded and reached for the car door, but then suddenly stopped. In a flash, before Kang Cheol could even react, she whirled around.

She cupped his face in her hands and pressed her soft, moist lips precisely onto his.

"Well!"

Caught off guard, Jiang Che was greeted by a sweet, fruity aroma. He paused for a moment, then a gentle smile spread across his eyes. Almost instinctively, he reached out his arm.
He pulled the petite woman who had thrown herself into his arms tightly, deepening the kiss and taking the initiative.

After what seemed like an eternity, when both of them were breathless, they reluctantly parted ways.

Taeyeon's face was as red as a ripe apple, her eyes were moist, and she was slightly out of breath. She quickly gave him another light peck on the lips, then, like a startled little rabbit, she pulled open the car door and was about to jump out.
"I...I'm going up!"

"Wait a minute." Jiang Che grabbed her wrist.

Taeyeon turned around in confusion, her watery eyes still brimming with lingering emotion.

Jiang Che looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind:
"Did you and Yoona... meet today?"

Taeyeon's body stiffened slightly, and she quickly lowered her head to avoid Kang Cheol's gaze, her voice also lowering:
"No today... Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Looking at her like this, Jiang Che immediately understood—it seemed that the aftereffects of the "tripartite talks" were more serious than he had imagined.

He sighed softly, not pressing further, but gently ruffled her hair with his other hand, and said firmly:

"Don't worry, I'll resolve this as soon as possible. You won't have to wait too long."

His promise was like a reassuring pill. Taeyeon looked up, met his earnest gaze, and nodded vigorously.

"Ah."

"Good luck to our Golden Singer on her solo debut stage! I'll be watching you from the audience."

As he spoke, Jiang Che let go of her hand and smiled at her.
"Okay, I'm going up now." Taeyeon smiled again, opened the car door, waved to him, and turned to walk briskly into the apartment building.

Seeing this, Jiang Che did not leave immediately. Instead, he waited until a warm light shone from a window upstairs before slowly starting the car and merging into the night traffic.

Back at Sunny's apartment, Jiang Che had just unlocked the door when he heard intense gaming sounds coming from the computer room, mixed with Sunny's muttered words through gritted teeth:
"Hey! Is this teammate an idiot? Why isn't he going in?!"

He changed into slippers and went over, only to find Sunny staring intently at the screen, her game character still fighting fiercely.

Hearing the noise, Sunny didn't turn her head and asked calmly:
"It was sent back?"

"Ah."

"Didn't you go up and sit for a while?" She kept staring at the screen, her tone teasing.

"I was just worried you'd be left alone at home," Jiang Che teased.

Upon hearing this, Sunny finally turned around:
"Oh, I dare to leave the door open for you, but do you dare to come in?"

Jiang Che almost choked on his own saliva—this woman was indeed too fierce. He quickly changed the subject:

"Alright, alright, I'm going to rest now. You should go to sleep early too."

"Go ahead, go ahead, it looks like I'm going to drop a rank again this game. Remember to help me climb back up tomorrow!"

Jiang Che looked at his "cousin who's bad at cooking but addicted to it," and was both amused and exasperated. However, Sunny had indeed helped him a lot during this time, so thinking of this, he obediently replied:

"Understood, dear cousin."

"roll!"

Jiang Che smiled and walked towards his room, while behind him, he could still hear Sunny shouting and yelling in the game, interspersed with her friendly greetings to her teammates.

After gently closing the door, he wearily rubbed his temples—although he wanted to help Taeyeon and Yoona repair their relationship, he really didn't know where to start.

"Should I reason with her, appeal to her emotions, or threaten her with suicide? Should I make a scene, cry, or even hang myself?" He muttered to himself, lying on the bed, his thoughts in turmoil.

The image of Yoona's face, both stubborn and subtly disappointed, flashed through my mind. I sighed deeply and forced myself to close my eyes.

The scene shifts, and Yoona is on the grass, hugging her knees, gazing absently at the clear sky above.

"Does it look good?"

A familiar voice sounded beside me, carrying a hint of lazy laughter.

Yoona paused slightly, turning her head to find that Jiang Che had sat down beside her at some point. He was wearing a simple white shirt, his eyes gentle, and a faint smile playing on his lips.
He was staring intently at her, as if she were the only person left in the whole world.

At that moment, her heart skipped a beat, a warm, bittersweet feeling welled up in her eyes, and she almost burst into tears. She nodded gently, about to speak—to ask him why he had come, to ask if he was alright…

But just then, Jiang Che suddenly turned his head to look in another direction, his eyes lit up, and he gave her an apologetic smile:
"Wait a moment."

Yoona followed his gaze, and her heart sank—

On the grass not far away, Taeyeon unnie was standing there, wearing a pure white dress that seemed to glow in the sunlight.

Jiang Che stood up and walked towards Taeyeon without hesitation.

"and many more……"

Yoona instinctively reached out, wanting to grab the hem of his clothes, but only grasped a handful of cool air.

She watched as Jiang Che walked up to Taeyeon, watched him naturally take her hand, watched Taeyeon look up and smile at him, watched the two of them standing side by side, so perfectly matched, as if it were meant to be.

Then, Jiang Che turned around, glanced in her direction, and said something.

She couldn't hear clearly because she was too far away.

But the shape of his lips was clearly—

Goodbye.

Yoona suddenly opened her eyes, breathing heavily, feeling as if something was pressing down on her chest, making her feel suffocated.

It was all a dream.

She murmured to herself, her voice hoarse from just waking up. She raised her hand to touch her cheek, which was damp and cold to the touch. That dream was too real, so real that the suffocating feeling at the moment of separation was still clearly lingering.

'It's just a dream, Yoona, don't scare yourself.' She forced herself to calm down, but the voice in her heart sneered—'Is it really a dream? What if he really chose Taeyeon unnie?'

She was seized by the thought, and it took her an unknown amount of time to snap out of her daze. She slowly reached for her phone on the bedside table; the screen lit up, the glaring light making her instinctively squint. It was three in the morning.

She opened her KakaoTalk chat with Jiang Che. The conversation was still stuck on the message he had sent her a day earlier:

[Yoona, stop eating instant noodles every day. If I find out you've lost weight, I won't let you off the hook.]

After experiencing that unsettling dream, seeing these seemingly joking but actually caring words made her eyes well up with tears again.

Her slender fingers hovered over the cold screen for a long time, her fingertips trembling slightly, as if she wanted to say something—ask him if he was doing well at Sunny's house, and if he was settling in.

Ask him... if he's thought about me? Even... ask him if he's really confident about that bet?

But despite the thousand words churning in his heart, he couldn't type a single one out.

She forcefully turned off the screen and tossed the phone back onto the bedside table with a soft thud.

Say what?

Should I tell him that I had a nightmare in which he held Taeyeon's hand and said "goodbye" to me?

This is too embarrassing.

She pulled the blanket up high, covering herself completely, as if that would shut out the nightmare and the heartbreaking ending.

"Damn Jiang Che... He won't even let me have peace in my dreams..."

She tossed and turned until the sky began to lighten, before finally drifting off to sleep again.

Unfortunately, sleep did not bring peace.

In the early morning, when Yoona struggled to wake up from her light sleep, her first feeling was an emptiness in her heart, as if something had forcibly ripped a piece out of her.

Every detail of last night's dream—Kang Cheol's turning back, Taeyeon's white dress, and that silent "goodbye"—is still so vivid it makes my heart race.

Before that dream, she could barely comfort herself with the caring text message Jiang Che sent, but after last night, that last bit of pitiful solace seemed to vanish along with that nightmare.

She lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling light. After a while, she irritably scratched her already messy long hair and resignedly got up.

Pushing open the bedroom door, she found the apartment eerily quiet. She glanced instinctively at the still deserted kitchen, devoid of any sign of life, and after a moment of silence, went into the bathroom. The icy water splashed on her face, bringing a brief moment of clarity.

She looked up and saw herself in the mirror with faint dark circles under her eyes, her cheeks pale from insomnia, and her whole appearance exuding an undeniable haggardness.

"Lim Yoona, cheer up!" she whispered to herself in the mirror, trying to force a bright smile, but it looked worse than crying.

She quickly washed up and changed her clothes, ignoring her stomach's subtle protests, and grabbed her car keys as if fleeing from the situation, then left the house.

In the early morning in Seoul, there weren't many cars on the streets. Yoona drove straight to SM Entertainment.

But the journey was not peaceful. Jiang Che's helpless smile and Kim Tae-yeon's dazzlingly white dress in her dream kept intruding into her mind at inopportune times, disturbing her peace of mind.

"Ugh! This is so annoying!" She couldn't help but raise her hand and slap the steering wheel, the horn blaring a short and abrupt "beep," drawing the attention of drivers in the adjacent lane.

She quickly composed herself, took a deep breath, and forced herself to focus on driving.

Why is she the only one here, tormented by nightmares and restless? The culprit is probably still sound asleep at Sunny unnie's house! And Taeyeon unnie… that happy smile in my dream…

Thinking of this, Yoona felt a tightness in her chest, and a nameless anger began to rise within her.

Upon arriving at SM Entertainment's underground parking lot, Yoona skillfully parked the car, took a deep breath, adjusted her expression, and tried her best to look no different from usual before opening the car door and heading towards the elevator.

They remained silent the whole way until she pushed open the door to the familiar practice room.

Then, they stopped walking; there was only one person in the practice room.

It was the same figure in her dream, wearing a pure white dress. Now, she was sitting on the ground in comfortable sportswear, her head down, organizing her backpack.

Upon hearing the door open, the other person instinctively looked up.

Eyes facing each other.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Their eyes met in mid-air, but there was no tension as expected, nor the usual warm greetings between teammates. Instead, an almost suffocating silence quickly spread.

Yoona could clearly see that Taeyeon, who had looked up, looked amazingly healthy—her skin was fair and radiant, her eyes were clear and bright, and even her blonde hair looked exceptionally vibrant, like a flower that had been carefully watered.

This was a stark contrast to the face she had seen in the bathroom mirror earlier.

A mixture of bitterness, grievance, and the nameless anger she felt on the way here suddenly welled up in Yoona's chest, making her breath catch in her throat.

When Taeyeon recognized Yoona, a flicker of panic flashed across her eyes, as if she had done something wrong.
She subconsciously pursed her lips, looked away first, lowered her head, pretended nothing had happened, and continued to pack her backpack.

Yoona took in Taeyeon's series of reactions, and the anger in her heart was inexplicably replaced by a more complex emotion—a mix of wanting to laugh and feeling a little sour, which ultimately turned into a deep sense of powerlessness.

It seems she's not the only one who cares. This unnie (older sister) is far from as calm and composed as she appears on the surface.

In the end, Yoona didn't say hello or make any statement, as if the brief eye contact had never happened. She strode away to another corner of the practice room, deliberately keeping a distance from Taeyeon.

This distance seemed to have become an invisible chasm. At this moment, both of them tacitly remained on opposite sides of the chasm, neither intending to be the first to cross it, or rather, neither knowing how to cross it.

In the end, Taeyeon was the first to break down in the suffocating atmosphere. She abruptly stood up, not even bothering to grab her backpack, and spoke in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper:

"I...I'm going to the bathroom."

After saying that, without waiting for any response, he lowered his head and hurriedly left the practice room.

Yoona's gaze unconsciously followed the disappearing figure. Her lips moved slightly, but she ultimately said nothing, silently withdrawing her gaze and fiddling with her phone.

In the bathroom.

Taeyeon leaned against the cold tiled wall and sighed softly. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to Yoona, but she really didn't know how to start the conversation.

Should she apologize? But she didn't think there was anything wrong with liking Jiang Che. Feelings are something she can't control. But she had already made her stance clear—she wouldn't fight or compete, she just wanted one spot.

It's Yoona's own fault for not being able to get over that mental hurdle... How can you say it's her fault?

but……

She looked up at her radiant reflection in the mirror, and then, remembering Yoona's haggard face and obvious dark circles, a complex sense of guilt welled up inside her.

After all, that's Yoona, the girl she's known for over a decade, the girl who supported her through the most difficult years.

Should we go and explain again? But we've already talked ourselves hoarse in countless previous communications, and what's the result? The same stalemate remains.

"I will resolve this matter as soon as possible, and I won't keep you waiting too long."

Jiang Che's voice seemed to echo in her ear, carrying a reassuring warmth. Taeyeon subconsciously touched her lips, where the warm touch of the kiss in the car last night still lingered.

A blush crept up to her ears.

She turned on the tap and splashed the icy water on her cheeks several times. The biting cold instantly sobered her up.

She took a deep breath, telling herself not to panic, not to back down. This was the path she had chosen herself, and Jiang Che was someone she absolutely did not want to let go of.

When Taeyeon composed herself and pushed open the practice room door again, she found two more people inside—Seohyun and Sooyoung had already arrived. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At least I won't have to feel so awkward being alone with Yoona anymore.

"Good morning, unnie." Seohyun greeted her politely when she saw her, and Sooyoung also stretched her legs and gestured with her chin.

"Good morning." Taeyeon tried to make her voice sound natural, but her gaze involuntarily swept quickly over the corner where Yoona was.

Seeing that the other person was focused on their phone, I quietly walked back to the corner where I had been, trying to minimize my presence.

Sooyoung and Seohyun bantered for a few moments before belatedly realizing that something was off. Apart from their voices, the other two in the practice room were so quiet it was as if they didn't exist.
She stopped what she was doing with suspicion, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Taeyeon and Yoona, who were standing at opposite ends of the room. Why were these two... so far apart today? Wasn't Taeyeon usually the one who loved to stick to Yoona the most?

After observing for a while, she quietly nudged Xu Xian next to her with her elbow and mouthed silently, "What... is wrong with them?"

Xu Xian followed her gaze, gently shook her head, and looked equally puzzled.

Before Sooyoung could even form a clue from her gossipy mind, the practice room door was pushed open again.

Sunny, with her slightly messy hair and a big yawn, strolled in slowly. Almost instantly, her eyes scanned her two teammates, who were in two different places, each enjoying their own peaceful lives.

A knowing glint flashed in her eyes. She turned and walked towards Yoona, looking her up and down before exclaiming in surprise:
"Wow, Yoona, what did you do last night? Your dark circles are practically down to your chin, and your complexion is so bad!"

Her voice successfully attracted the attention of Sooyoung and Seohyun, who were whispering among themselves. The two, who already had some questions, took the opportunity to gather around and stared at Yoona's face as if they were observing some rare animal.

"Really? Yoona unnie, are you okay?" Seohyun asked with concern, her brows furrowing slightly.

Sooyoung was even more direct, reaching out to touch Yoona's forehead:
"Are you sick? Do you have a fever?"

Yoona mentally cursed Sunny for being so nosy a hundred times, but on the surface she could only manage a slightly stiff smile, turning her head away from Sooyoung's hand and saying perfunctorily:
"I'm not sick, it's just... I had a nightmare and didn't sleep well."

"A nightmare?" Sooyoung's curiosity was immediately piqued. "What did you dream about? Were you being chased by a ghost??"

Yoona smiled bitterly to herself: 'I dreamt my house was robbed, and the thieves were our own people.'

But how could she say that? She could only laugh it off: "It was a nightmare. I can't remember the details when I wake up. I just feel panicked."

(End of this chapter)