Peninsula: Starting with a silly childhood friend!

SM's cafeteria isn't big; in fact, it's quite small, with only about three or four tables stacked together. It's even smaller than JYP's outsourced cafeteria. But surprisingly, it has an absurdly large number of microwaves...

Just as Liu Baiyuan stepped inside, a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Cheer up baby~"

"Cheer up baby~"

「좀더힘을내」

(Keep pushing!)

"..."

Liu Baiyuan paused for a moment. If he hadn't misheard, this sounded like TWICE's "CHEER UP."

Am I currently in SM Entertainment?

A slight smile appeared on his face. Hearing his own company's song at a rival company's studio... why did it give him a feeling of NTR (Netorare, a form of infidelity)?

Following the sound, he turned his head slightly and quickly saw a little girl playing "CHEER UP" on her phone. What was a little curious was that she was muttering something while listening to the song.

She didn't look very old, you could even say she was young. If he wasn't mistaken, she was probably about the same age as the girl named Hwang Ye-ji he had met at JYP.

It might even be smaller...

After glancing at her twice, Liu Baiyuan looked away and walked into the cafeteria.

Don't let the small size of this cafeteria fool you, guess what?!

There's not much of this dish!

There were only a handful of dishes, and most of them were vegetarian...

But what could Liu Baiyuan do? He was already here. What if SM Entertainment valued quality over quantity?

What if every dish there is of the quality that other restaurants would use as their signature dishes?

Thinking this way, Liu Baiyuan decided to give it another chance. After ordering a few dishes, he finally found a relatively secluded spot to sit down.

The main problem is that the cafeteria is too small and there aren't many seats. Maybe not many people eat there because, after looking around, he saw that most people just go to the microwave to heat their food and take it with them.

Just as he sat down, ready to properly sample SM's cafeteria, he suddenly noticed another girl sitting down in front of him...

Liu Baiyuan looked closely and realized it was the girl who had just been listening to TWICE...

He couldn't help but marvel at how "fate" it all seemed.

"Aniyasei, perhaps... you like TWICE too?"

Liu Baiyuan took the initiative to speak and asked the girl in front of him.

Upon hearing someone ask her a question, the girl's face froze for a moment, then she stammered:

"Ani... Aseyo..."

Although Liu Baiyuan had only recently learned the Peninsula language, he immediately recognized that the girl in front of him was definitely not from the Peninsula.

As for the reason... it's quite simple: have you ever seen a person from the Korean Peninsula who's that old and still can't speak the Korean language?

Seeing a slight hesitation on the other person's face, Liu Baiyuan thought for a moment and then asked again in English:

"What country do you come from?"

(What country are you from?)

Upon hearing this, the girl's expression immediately changed, and she replied:

"China".

China?

Upon hearing the girl's reply, Liu Baiyuan's expression immediately changed, as if he were a fellow townsman meeting a fellow townsman.

"Are you Chinese?"

Liu Baiyuan asked in Mandarin, and upon hearing his familiar language, the girl's eyes seemed to light up, and she nodded, saying:

"Um, are you also Chinese?"

"Of course, otherwise how would I be able to speak Chinese?"

Liu Baiyuan never expected to run into a fellow countryman while having a meal, and judging from her unfamiliarity with the Peninsula dialect, she probably hadn't been here long...

Where are you from?

This girl was the second person from his hometown he had met. Driven by curiosity, he asked her a question.

"My name is Ning Yizhuo, I'm from Northeast China, what about you?"

Perhaps because she had finally met someone from her hometown abroad, Ning Yizhuo wasn't as shy as expected; on the contrary, she was rather a bit cocky. However, after hearing that the other person was from Northeast China, Liu Baiyuan seemed to sense a certain logic in it...

"From Northeast China, huh? That matches up..."

It fits my stereotype of Northeast China.

Liu Baiyuan couldn't help but chuckle twice, then said:

"My surname is Liu, and my name is Liu Baiyuan. I should be a little older than you, so you can just call me Brother Baiyuan."

Ning Yizhu nodded, muttered Liu Baiyuan's name a couple of times, and then a smile reappeared on her face.

"By the way, I heard you playing TWICE's 'CHEER UP' outside the cafeteria just now. Are you a TWICE fan?"

"Hey? Bai Yuan, did you hear that?"

Ning Yizhu changed her address very quickly, perhaps because she just needed a different way to address Liu Baiyuan.

"Of course, putting aside the fact that TWICE is JYP's top idol group right now, you were quite loud outside just now."

Liu Baiyuan smiled helplessly. Didn't she realize that her behavior just now was actually a form of "disturbing the peace"?

However, after hearing Liu Baiyuan's complaints, Ning Yizhuo's face flushed slightly. Clearly, after hearing what he said, she realized that her behavior just now seemed somewhat inappropriate...

"Alright, it's not a big deal, at least no one else has come to you."

Liu Baiyuan teased the other person and then refocused his attention on the food he had just brought.

He picked up his chopsticks, took a large bite, and put it in his mouth. But just as he put it in, he suddenly felt a pang of regret...

Because of this restaurant... tsk...

"It'll be too late once they come knocking on our door..."

After noticing Liu Baiyuan's expression, Ning Yizhuo slightly curled the corners of her lips and muttered something under her breath.

This fellow countryman seems to have no clear "understanding" of SM's food, taking such a big bite...

"However... what Bai Yuan said is actually true, I am indeed a TWICE fan."

Speaking of fans, Ning Yizhuo actually prefers the older members of Girls' Generation, after all, they are her direct seniors, and she has liked Girls' Generation since she was in China, which is much longer than her liking for TWICE.

It was only because of the recent popularity of "CHEER UP" that she felt the charm of another kind of energetic style.

This is exactly what she needs, all alone in a foreign land, so she should be considered an...ONCE now, right?

Liu Baiyuan didn't comment much on the food at SM. He simply put down his chopsticks quietly, his expression somewhat indescribable. His "highest praise" for a dish was to not touch it again.

SM: Speak!

"Who's your favorite member of TWICE?"

Liu Baiyuan asked curiously, “It’s no exaggeration to say that each of the nine members of TWICE has their own distinct style. You could become a fan of any of them because they cover almost every style.”

Therefore, Liu Baiyuan was still very curious about which member of TWICE Ning Yizhuo liked.

Ning Yizhuo didn't hide anything and spoke frankly:

"Of course..."