Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

Chapter 148 "There is only one truth" (6K 1926)

Immediately afterwards, Sunny, sitting on the other side, chimed in:

Wow! I had nothing to do that day anyway, so I figured I might as well go check out some pretty girls and join in the fun.

Yoona: Okay, then I'll talk to her.

On the other side of the screen, Jiang Che saw Sunny's excited "Wow!" and raised an eyebrow. He had originally intended to type a reminder:
"If you go, it will be the third time we meet," but her fingers stopped just as she was about to move. Then she thought, Yoona hadn't mentioned this in the group chat, so maybe they'd already talked about it privately.

'It's better to avoid trouble.' Jiang Che decisively abandoned the idea of ​​typing and simply pretended not to know anything about it.
Just as he was about to continue researching his President Zheng fan club to contribute to his future revenue-generating plans, his phone vibrated again, and a new KaKaoTalk message popped up.

He opened the message and saw that the sender was Shirley.

[Kang Cheol oppa, are you free tonight? Can we have dinner together? (＾▽＾)]

Jiang Che scratched his head, a little surprised. Shouldn't he have told Sunny that this girl was coming to eat? But he didn't think much of it and casually replied:

Sure, what would you like to eat? Around what time would you like to come?

But Shirley's next reply surprised him slightly.

【Aniyo, it's not going to Sunny unnie's house, it's me treating oppa to dinner alone, just the two of us.】

Jiang Che stared at the words "alone" and "just the two of us" on the screen, his eyebrows raised high.

what's going on?
Recalling the way Shirley had been stealing glances at him during breakfast, and Yoona's mention of their conversation last night, a bad feeling exploded in his mind—could this girl have really found out something?!

His mind raced, various possibilities flashing through his mind. If it's a blessing in disguise, it's a curse; if it's a curse, you can't avoid it forever.

Besides, what if I'm just overthinking it? Maybe Shirley just wants to thank him for his help before?
After a moment's thought, Jiang Che decided to remain calm and see for himself what was going on, so he replied:
Okay, you choose the location, just send it to me when the time comes.

After settling things off with Shirley, he immediately sent a message to Sunny:
Sunny, you'll have to take care of dinner by yourself tonight. I have something to do and need to go out.

Sunny's reply was filled with a series of question marks: 【? ? ? What? What are you doing tonight?】

[Jiang Che: I went to meet Shirley; she said she wanted to treat me to dinner alone.]

After the message was sent, there was a moment of silence on the other end before Sunny replied:
【I see. 】

In the practice room, Sunny put down her phone after replying to the message, looked up at Taeyeon who was talking to Tiffany not far away, and then glanced at Yoona who was still playing on her phone. She was speechless.

'This morning she was joking that Sulli was spying on Kang Cheol... I didn't expect the two of them to have dinner together alone so soon? This doesn't seem like a joke anymore.'

She rubbed her temples, deciding to give up thinking: 'Whatever, what does One Piece have to do with me, the queen of lying low?'
The day's practice ended amidst sweat and music. The members packed up their things in twos and threes, preparing to leave.

Taeyeon shuffled over to Sunny's side, a fawning smile plastered on her face, and just as she opened her mouth:
"Sunny, tonight I..."

"Stop!" Sunny interrupted her before she could finish, immediately raising her hand to make a "stop" gesture.
"Not today! Don't come to my house! I'm leaving!"

After saying that, without giving Taeyeon a chance to react, she grabbed her bag and darted out of the practice room like a nimble hamster, leaving only a gust of wind behind.

Taeyeon stood frozen in place, mouth agape, looking both aggrieved and bewildered.

Yoona, watching from behind, couldn't help but chuckle. Taeyeon turned around, their eyes met, and she gave an awkward smile.

"Yoona, I'll head back now."

"Yeah, unnie, see you tomorrow." Yoona nodded with a smile.

After a brief exchange, the two parted ways and went in different directions.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the city, Jiang Che and Shirley were already seated in a quiet, private restaurant room.

After ordering, a subtle silence fell over the private room. Shirley rested her chin on her hands, her bright eyes fixed on Jiang Che, her gaze filled with undisguised scrutiny and inquiry, as if trying to find something on his face.

Jiang Che felt extremely uncomfortable under her gaze, like a lab rat. After all the dishes were served, he cleared his throat, deciding to break the awkward atmosphere, otherwise he wouldn't be able to eat the meal.

"Shirley, you've gone to all this trouble to treat me to dinner alone. Is there something you need my help with?"

Upon hearing this, Shirley's eyes crinkled into a sweet smile:

"I just wanted to thank Oppa. Thank you for saving me at the bar and for patiently teaching me self-defense. I've been wanting to thank Oppa properly for a while."

Upon hearing that it was a thank-you banquet, Jiang Che immediately felt relieved and picked up his chopsticks, saying:

"Is that all? No need to be so polite."

Shirley picked up her chopsticks and asked naturally:
"By the way, Oppa, I've never had a chance to ask, are you Chinese?"

“Yeah.” Jiang Che replied casually, chewing his food, not paying much attention.

"Ah, I knew it." Shirley nodded as if she had just realized, then asked:

"Hey Oppa, do you know how to make tofu pudding?"

"Yes, I will." Jiang Che didn't even look up, continuing to focus on his meal.

"So, Oppa, do you prefer savory or sweet tofu pudding?"

Jiang Che then noticed something amiss and looked up at Shirley. Shirley still wore a sweet smile, her eyes clear, revealing no particular intention.

"Me? Salty tofu pudding, I guess." After saying that, he planned to continue eating, hoping to finish as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, Shirley casually brought up another question:
"Does Oppa know how to make soy milk?"

Jiang Che looked up at her, feeling increasingly uneasy. He hesitated for a moment before cautiously answering:
"No. Why are you suddenly asking these questions?"

Shirley blinked her big eyes, a look of nostalgia on her face:

"Because when I went to Beijing before, I thought the tofu pudding and douzhi were super delicious! So I wanted to ask if Oppa knew how to make them."

"Super delicious?!" Jiang Che's lips twitched involuntarily. He clearly remembered that this girl had only taken a small sip of soy milk and reacted so violently that she almost ascended to heaven on the spot. Now she was saying it was delicious?!
His fleeting expression, a mixture of shock, speechlessness, and "who are you kidding?", did not escape Shirley's notice, instantly confirming her bold guess.

Shirley's lips curved slightly, then blossomed into an even brighter smile. Giving him no chance to think carefully or organize his thoughts, she immediately launched into a new question:

"Does Oppa know Zhuangzi?"

Jiang Che was still pondering whether Shirley really wanted to drink douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), and whether making douzhi at Sunny's house would get him thrown out the window along with the pot, when he heard this even more abrupt question.

"Zhuangzi?" He paused for a moment, then answered instinctively:
"Yeah, I know. What's up?"

"Well, I want to learn a phrase," Shirley said, putting down her chopsticks and clasping her hands together in a pleading gesture.
"Oppa, can you teach me?"

"What?"

Shirley cleared her throat and, in her heavily accented but clearly articulated Chinese, said, word by word:

"If you haven't experienced the suffering of others, don't advise them to do good."

After saying those ten words, her gaze was fixed firmly on Jiang Che's face like a searchlight, and she didn't ask any more questions.

The private room fell silent instantly.
"!!!"

Jiang Che's heart skipped a beat, as if struck by lightning.
Good heavens, this isn't a thank-you banquet; it's a trap! His brain raced at an unprecedented pace. Calm down, don't panic, try to look on the bright side—maybe she really just wants to learn that phrase?

Thinking of this, he forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart and forced a smile onto his face:
"Of course I can teach you."

But to everyone's surprise, Shirley seemed completely unconcerned with his answer, as if she were observing his reaction to it. She then switched channels and immediately threw out a completely unrelated question:

"So, Oppa, were you in Seoul or abroad in July and August this year?"

"???"

Jiang Che was completely bewildered by this leap in thought. What was all this about? Were the questions being asked so outlandish?

He had absolutely no idea what Shirley had discovered, and under her intense gaze, he hesitated for a moment:
"Back then...it should have been in Seoul. What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just asking." Shirley immediately shook her head, her face still bearing that innocent, sweet smile! But her inner notebook had already quickly jotted it down:
Clue +1! The truth is right before our eyes!

Immediately afterward, before Jiang Che could even catch his breath, Shirley's question escalated again, dropping a bombshell:
"So... Oppa, have you and Yoona unnie ever kissed?"

"Pfft—cough cough cough!" Jiang Che really couldn't hold back this time and choked loudly on his own saliva. The question took such a sudden turn!

Seeing this, Shirley quickly picked up the water glass and handed it over:
"Oppa, are you alright?" Jiang Che took the water glass and gulped down several mouthfuls. Finally catching his breath, he looked at her speechlessly.
"Hey! Choi Sulli! Why...why are you suddenly asking this? Is this something you should be curious about?!"

"I'm just curious~" Sherry pouted, using her charm to her advantage:
"Oppa, just tell me, is it true or not?"

Jiang Che sighed, once again resorting to his universal shield:

"Kids shouldn't pry into adults' affairs!"

Although Jiang Che didn't answer directly, his intense reaction was, in Shirley's eyes, practically an admission. 'They really kissed!' she thought to herself, clue +2.

She decided to reveal her long-brewing ultimate "guess," and asked in a low voice:
"Oppa, have you ever watched a Korean drama called 'Secret Garden'?"

Jiang Che had lost his appetite after being hit by this combination of punches. He felt completely unable to keep up with the girl's train of thought and could only helplessly reply:

"No. What are you going to talk about?" He just wanted to see what other tricks this girl could come up with.

Shirley's gaze was fixed on Jiang Che's eyes, and she spoke clearly, word by word:
"It's about the male and female protagonists who accidentally drank a magical potion, and then... every time it rains, their souls switch places!"

Jiang Che fell silent upon hearing this: 'If we exclude the fact that this girl is simply recommending a TV series to me, then there's only one truth—this girl's imagination runs wild!'

He internally screamed, "Good heavens! Although the whole process was wrong—the potion, the rainy day trigger—it's all pure fabrication…but the result is actually incredibly close to the truth?!"

He was caught off guard by this sudden and powerful blow and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Admit it? What if she's bluffing me? Deny it? She didn't even mention me and Yoona, and I'm just revealing it because she mentioned a TV series? Wouldn't that be like protesting too much?

Shirley watched as Jiang Che fell silent, and a sudden realization dawned on her—'The case is solved! The case is completely solved!' She felt like she had become Kudo Shirley.

'Kang Cheol oppa and Yoona unnie must have accidentally kissed, or drunk something strange together, which led to a soul swap like in Secret Garden!'
Then, if the two people stay in the same place, there might be no problem. But if one of them goes abroad, creating distance, the soul swap will be triggered!

Her brain automatically filled in the rest of the plot:

"So, at that time, Yoona went to Beijing, while Kang Cheol was in Seoul, so they switched places."

Now that they are in the same place, their souls have returned to their respective places.

This explains Yoona's strange reaction when Kang Cheol oppa was mentioned... But does Taeyeon unnie know about this? Also, if Kang Cheol oppa goes abroad and Yoona unnie stays in Korea, will they switch places again?

Shirley hadn't quite figured things out yet, but then a crucial question immediately came to mind—

"So back in Beijing, the 'Yoona unnie' who went to the Forbidden City with me, climbed the Great Wall, drank douzhi (fermented mung bean juice), slept in the same bed with me... and even cuddled with me while sleeping, was actually a man at heart! He was Kang Cheol oppa!"

Thinking of this, Shirley's pupils suddenly dilated.

"hiss--"

She instinctively gasped, her mind replaying the scene in the BJ hotel room on a loop—two whole nights! He had actually slept with her like a teddy bear for two whole nights?!
This shocking fact almost made her jump out of her chair, her face instantly turning bright red, and she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.

'Calm down, Sulli, calm down!' she frantically tried to reassure herself.
"It's okay, it's okay! He was clearly using Yoona unnie's body back then! Physically speaking, it was still two girls sleeping together... Yes, that's it!!"

Even so, the shock of discovering that her "bedmate" was actually a man still made her eyes dart around, and she didn't dare to look at Jiang Che opposite her anymore.

Jiang Che was also having a frantic brainstorming session. The girl opposite him was constantly changing her expression; he had no idea what she was thinking.
He even considered unleashing Yoona's second personality as a powerful weapon, letting Sulli directly challenge Yoona to a battle.

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he seemed to see Lin Yoona clenching her fists, with black flames burning behind her.

The image of him smiling and asking, "Do you want to die?" sent a chill down Jiang Che's spine, and he gave up on the idea of ​​courting death.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, deciding to play dumb to see if he could get away with it:
"Ahem... Shirley, you suddenly asked about 'Secret Garden'... Are you trying to recommend this TV series to me? The premise sounds pretty... novel, huh?"

Hearing his voice, Sulli snapped back to reality. She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the flush on her face and the turmoil in her heart, quickly adjusting her expression and transforming back into the sweet and lovely Choi Sulli.

Instead of answering his question directly, she leaned closer to Jiang Che and lowered her voice:

"Oppa... you don't need to hide it from me anymore, I know everything. The one in Beijing wasn't Yoona unnie at all, right?"

She paused, then spoke with absolute certainty:
"Yes... Oppa, you're inside, right?"

Jiang Che's heart skipped a beat. Oh no, this girl wasn't testing him; she was making a definitive judgment. He remained silent, wondering if he should be stubborn, considering he had slept with Shirley more than once...

Seeing that Jiang Che remained silent, Shirley did not urge him. Instead, she leisurely picked up her water glass and took a sip, as if victory was in her grasp.

She suddenly realized that if Yoona unnie's body was inhabited by Kang Cheol oppa's soul, then the "Mystique" who called her back then probably wasn't Yoona unnie's friend.

Thinking of this, she took out her phone, skillfully accessed her contacts, found the number she had saved as "Mystique," turned the screen towards Jiang Che, tapped the number with her fingertip, and asked:
"Oppa, this number... is yours, right?"

Jiang Che looked at the familiar number, then at Shirley's all-knowing eyes, and the last shred of hope in his heart vanished.

He first made an expression of extreme shock, then sighed as if resigned, and finally revealed a complex smile that mixed helplessness and admiration.

"Aigu..." He shook his head, his tone full of emotion:

"Our Shirley is a hundred times smarter than I imagined. With your observation and imagination, why don't you give up being an idol and open a detective agency instead?"

He paused, met her nervous yet expectant gaze, and finally nodded slightly, his tone becoming serious:
"That's right, just like you guessed. We still don't fully understand the exact reason why it happened, but... that's roughly the situation. I was the one in Beijing at the time."

He thought to himself, 'What I'm saying is all true, there's nothing wrong with it.'

"Mo...Morag?! Is...is that really true?!"

Even though she was already 99% sure, Shirley was still stunned and speechless when she heard it confirmed by Jiang Che himself. She almost dropped her phone.

Korean dramas come true! A real-life soul swap! Such a magical thing is happening right under my nose!
So, all the previous sense of incongruity, all the déjà vu, and all the inexplicable parts are now connected, forming a perfect logical loop!

And then came the realization that made her blush again—so, she really did sleep with Kang Cheol oppa for two nights without her knowledge!

Her gaze began to wander uncontrollably again, and her cheeks flushed instantly. She barely managed to calm her turbulent emotions.
Another huge question arose in her mind. She raised her still flushed face and looked at Jiang Che with a puzzled expression:

"But... Oppa, why were you so nice to me back then? We were... complete strangers back then, weren't we?"

She couldn't explain this at all. Why would a stranger, even if he had swapped souls with Yoona unnie by accident, show so much care and protection to her, a complete stranger?
Seeing the confusion in her eyes, Jiang Che's playful expression vanished, replaced by a serious one. He thought for a moment, then answered calmly:

"Because you are Sherry."

Shirley was slightly taken aback.

He looked into her eyes and continued to explain:

"Do you remember what I said to you on the Great Wall? I said, 'Your existence is a beautiful thing in itself.'"

He paused, a warm smile curving his lips, and continued:
"Since it's such a beautiful thing, isn't it... a perfectly normal thing to treat it well, to let it continue to be beautiful, and even become more beautiful?"

His words were devoid of deliberate sentimentality or arrogance; they seemed to be simply stating a very basic truth.

Just like seeing a beautiful flower makes you want to water it; seeing a cute cat makes you want to feed it something delicious.

Shirley stared at him, listening to his simple yet sincere words, and looking into his clear and open eyes.

"..."

She was stunned.

She had imagined many answers, such as because she was Yoona's friend, because it was a coincidence, or even because of her appearance... but she never thought it would be such a simple reason.

Because you are wonderful, I want to be good to you.

No strings attached, no reward sought.
The wind on the Great Wall, the words spoken back then, and that promise... all the images overlapped at this moment, slowly merging with Jiang Che's face before me.

Something soft in my heart was deeply touched, a warm current flowed through my whole body, and my nose even felt a little sore.
She seemed to... understand why Yoona and Taeyeon both had such complicated feelings for the man in front of them.

She hurriedly lowered her head, blinking hard to force back the moisture. When she looked up again, a radiant smile, brighter than ever before, bloomed on her face, like a rainbow after the rain.

"Yes, thank you, Oppa," she replied softly.
"It's nothing, no need to thank me." Jiang Che looked at the glimmer in the girl's eyes, and habitually reached out to ruffle her hair. "Just remember to keep it a secret."

Sulli felt the warm touch on her head—exactly the same as the "Yoona unnie" in her memory—and nodded vigorously: "Yes, it's a secret!"

The dinner ended in an atmosphere that was both strange and harmonious. After Sherry paid the bill, Jiang Che, as usual, let Sherry continue driving to her apartment building. He watched her walk briskly into the building before slowly driving away himself.

(End of this chapter)