Peninsula: I'm being supported by a top idol.

"Of course it's a compliment! If it were me, I probably couldn't come up with anything even if I racked my brains..."

"Everyone has different strengths. I just happen to know these things. If you asked me to dance a random K-pop dance with you, I would be far inferior."

Cui Shi'an returned the favor with a timely compliment. If he remembered correctly, she had shown off about this last time, and the two of them had a bit of an unpleasant argument because of it.

"Ha~" Liu Zhimin also selectively forgot the past, revealing a pair of curved eyebrows. While feeling satisfied, she also felt more favorably toward him. After all, if it were a peninsula boy being praised like this by her, he would have been strutting around like crazy.

She glanced at the pitch-black night outside and suddenly suggested:

"How about we go buy some late-night snacks and chat while we eat?"

"Uh... okay then."

Finally, the two found a tented carriage with warm yellow lights on a relatively quiet back street.

At this time, there were not many customers left. They sat down in the innermost corner, where the plastic tent kept them out of the cold outside.

"What would you like to eat?" Liu Zhimin picked up the shrink-wrapped menu, quickly scanned it, and then very naturally began to select:

"Stir-fried rice cakes won't do, they have sauce in them... Seaweed rice rolls won't do either, the rice is seasoned with salt..."

She muttered to herself as she carefully scanned the menu.

Looking into those focused eyes, Cui Shi'an felt a slight stirring in his heart. This feeling of being carefully cared for was somewhat unfamiliar to him, yet also...warm.

"Anything is fine with me, just order whatever you like."

Liu Zhimin looked up, his eyes crinkling behind his mask, and asked in a low voice, "So...can you drink?"

"Okay." Choi Si-an nodded, alcohol didn't seem to be on Hara's list of taboos.

"What about rice wine?" She blinked, her eyes sparkling with even more curiosity and inquiry, as if she wanted to test the fun of ordinary people on him.

"I haven't tried it yet," Cui Shi'an answered honestly.

Upon hearing this answer, Liu Zhimin's curiosity intensified, as if he had discovered a new continent.

But she immediately became serious and said, "Since you're unsure, then let's not touch it. Let's drink spirits instead. Are you sure this is okay?"

"Hmm, no problem." Cui Shi'an looked at her looking at him like this, "checking things out" for him, and felt a little amused, but also felt a gentle touch on something inside him.

Thinking of this, he looked at the girl opposite him and said gently:

"If you want to eat salty food, don't worry about me. As long as it doesn't come into direct contact with my skin, smelling it or eating normally won't affect me."

"How can that be?" Liu Zhimin immediately shook his head, his tone carrying an air of unquestionable insistence:

"How can I let you watch me eat all by myself? I would feel so bad. Either I don't eat, or I eat only 'safe' food."

Upon hearing this, Cui Shi'an finally couldn't help but chuckle softly, finding her somewhat stubborn thoughtfulness rather... kind of cute.

At this moment, Liu Zhimin seemed to feel that wearing a mask in such a small space was too restrictive, or perhaps it was the atmosphere that made her feel comfortable. She naturally raised her hand and gently took off her mask.

As that radiant face, so dazzling on stage and so flawless on screen, was fully revealed, Choi Si-an felt his breath catch in his throat almost imperceptibly.

The warm yellow light softly outlined her features, making her appear less distant from the stage and more genuinely beautiful.

She was right across from him, within reach, no longer a news photo or a stage image.

Liu Zhimin clearly noticed his momentary pause, her face flushing slightly, and she asked softly with a hint of reproach, "Hey... why are you staring at me?"

Cui Shi'an snapped out of his daze, touched his nose somewhat embarrassedly, and said frankly:

"It just feels... a bit unreal, like I'm dreaming, to actually be able to have a late-night snack face-to-face with the famous Karina... Yoo Ji-min."

"Shh—!" Liu Zhimin immediately tensed up, putting his index finger to his lips and glancing warily around before lowering his voice to warn:

"Keep your voice down! Do you want to be on the news tomorrow?"

Just then, the proprietress brought over a steaming bowl of fish cake soup and several side dishes.

Cui Shi'an picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of food, blew on it, and was about to put it in his mouth when he realized that the gaze opposite him was still firmly fixed on him.

The girl's eyes sparkled with undisguised curiosity, making him freeze for a moment. A little awkwardly, he asked, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

Liu Zhimin rested his chin on his hand, shook his head slightly upon hearing this, and a smile with a hint of emotion and wonder appeared on his face.

"No, it's just... I also find it quite amazing." Her voice softened, like a night breeze:

"To actually be with myself... um..." Her words paused subtly here, skipping over a word that was about to slip out:

"...sitting at a small stall like this, having a late-night snack with someone from your past life."

Upon hearing this, Cui Shi'an also showed a hint of longing. Gazing at the rising steam, he suddenly asked softly, "Then what do you think... what was our relationship in our past lives?"

Images of intimate entanglement and whispered sweet nothings flashed through Liu Zhimin's mind, and his cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

She lowered her head, unconsciously poking at the fish cakes in her bowl with her chopsticks, her voice barely audible: "...Anyway, we're not enemies."

Looking at her demeanor and recalling the straightforward and passionate meaning of the poem "Ancient Thoughts of Chang'an," Cui Shi'an had some guesses in his mind.

But he didn't want to press her too much, so he pretended to be thinking:

"A Tang general and a Silla princess, and they happen to be at war... their positions are opposed, they're on the battlefield, who knows, they might actually be enemies?"

"Ugh!" Liu Zhimin looked up, rolled her eyes at him, and decided to end this topic that was making her heart race: "Let's not talk about this... What are your plans next?"

Cui Shi'an's playful expression faded, replaced by a hint of helplessness:

"What else can we do? Just work for the messengers of hell and meet our KPIs."

He couldn't help but sigh again as he said this:

"After all, I can't even leave the North District right now."

"Huh? Why?" Liu Zhimin was taken aback and hurriedly asked.

Cui Shi'an then briefly explained his identity as one of the "other overlooked ones," explaining that once he left his jurisdiction, he would be easily discovered and eliminated by other hellish messengers.

"So, I can only do this part-time job for now, and see if I can find any more clues from these arrowheads and recover more memories from my past life."

Upon hearing that he was trapped here again because of this shared "karmic entanglement from a past life," Liu Zhimin felt a surge of intense shame and responsibility once more.

She said, almost without hesitation, in an unusually firm tone:

"Then next time you go...to work a part-time job...call me along, I'll go with you!"