Peninsula: I can steal the luck of disgraced celebrities

"Let's go to the Dongshan Zoo."

After saying goodbye to the three idols, Choi Sulli extended an invitation.

The two then embarked on a spontaneous trip.

Upon arriving at Dongsan Zoo, Choi Sulli immediately said she wanted to see koalas.

In f(x)'s variety show Koala, there's a task every episode. This episode was about finding a koala in Japan and taking a picture with it. She's already completed her task, but she said she wants to watch it again.

Two people stood in front of the glass of the koala enclosure.

The koala clung to the eucalyptus branch, its eyes closed, motionless.

Sulli pressed her hand against the glass and waited for a long time, but the koala still didn't move.

"Is it fake?"

"real."

How did you know?

"Because fake things are definitely manipulated by someone behind them, only the real things can be done openly and honestly."

Choi Sulli watched for a while longer, and the koala finally moved—its ears twitched, and then it continued to sleep.

She felt as content as a koala waking up and giving her a hug.

After leaving the koala enclosure, the two strolled slowly through the park.

Giraffes graze by the fence, elephants use their trunks to pick up hay and put it in their mouths, and flamingos stand on one leg in a shallow pool.

Sulli would look at each animal for a long time without saying a word, just watching.

When she reached the gorilla enclosure, she stopped. A baby gorilla was clinging to its mother's back, its limbs tightly wrapped around her. The mother gorilla walked slowly, and the baby swayed with her steps.

"I was like that when I was little," Sulli suddenly said. "My mom said I had to cling to her wherever I went. She would cook, and I would hang on her back. She would go to the toilet, and I would follow her."

Choi Sulli comes from a single-parent family. Her mother and father divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised by her mother from a young age.

Therefore, she became very dependent on her mother, and after she became famous and earned money, she gave all the money to her mother for safekeeping.

But her mother betrayed that trust.

Perhaps this is why she chose men who were more than ten years older than her in both of her romantic relationships.

What we pursue throughout our lives is always the missing piece from our childhood.

Choi Sulli looked at the baby gorilla.

The mother gorilla stopped, reached out and patted the baby gorilla on the back, then continued walking.

Choi Sulli and Lim Pak-ji also left.

By the time the sun had set, it was already evening.

The two sat on a bench at the entrance of the zoo.

The April wind blew from the direction of the eastern mountains, carrying the scent of grass and animal fur.

Choi Sulli took out the photo of the koala she had just taken and looked at it. It was blurry; the koala's face had turned into a gray, fluffy mess.

"So cute," she said.

"When did you take this picture? I didn't notice."

"This was taken while you were asleep."

Lin Puzhi said helplessly, "...Don't imitate my nonsense."

Choi Sulli smiled brightly.

She put her phone away, leaned back in her chair, and watched the sky gradually darken.

"Park Ji-ssi".

"Um."

"I'm leaving tomorrow, going back to Seoul."

"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."

Sulli was silent for a moment, then said:

"Thank you for today. It's been a long time since I've had this. I don't have to worry about showing my gums when I laugh, about hunching my back when I walk, or about speaking loudly. I can just walk, look around, and shout."

Lin Puzhi looked at her.

"There can be more in the future."

"When?"

"Anytime, anywhere, Super Park Ji, always there for you."

"...He's saying strange, incomprehensible things again."

"This is how cheap NPCs on Earth work: once the underlying code is triggered, they will automatically start talking."

Choi Sulli stood up from her chair and patted the dust off her denim shorts.

"Let's go, our manager will scold us again if we get back late."

The two walked out of the park.

Choi Sulli walked ahead, her steps light and quick, her ponytail swaying behind her head.

The ponytail swayed in the April twilight, like a small, never-ending pendulum.

It started raining on the way back.

It wasn't big, just tiny, and when it landed on my face it looked like someone had gently touched it with their fingertip.

Sulli walked ahead, her ponytail swaying back and forth, raindrops glistening on the ends of her hair.

She didn't use an umbrella, nor did she quicken her pace; she simply walked.

She suddenly stopped as she passed through the shopping street in Sakae-cho.

There's a photo booth on the street corner.

The storefront is narrow, sandwiched between a drugstore and a takoyaki stand, like a piece of paper squeezed in.

The shop window was covered with photos, layer upon layer, new ones on top of old ones, with the edges curled up, faded ones and blurred ones from the rain intertwined.

Some of the people in the photos are smiling, some are making funny faces, some have their eyes closed, and some have lipstick marks all over their faces from being kissed.

Choi Sulli stood in front of the shop window looking at the photos, then turned around and said to Lin Puzhi, who had been following behind her:

"Let's go in and take a few pictures too."

Then, without saying a word, he pulled Lin Puzhi inside.

The shop is very small.

The curtain was pulled back, and the photo booth was only big enough for two people to stand side by side.

The background is a pink wall covered with sequins, and the lights shine down from above, making the two people's faces appear white.

Choi Sulli stood in front of the screen, flipping through pages to select borders. Her fingers swiped back and forth on the touchscreen, choosing stars, then a bear, and finally a pink heart.

"this."

The camera lit up, and two faces appeared on the screen.

She stood in front, and he stood behind her. The top of her head just reached his chin, making it look like she was being held in his arms in the photo.

"Are you ready?" Choi Sulli asked.

"Ready."

Her hand was on the button, but she didn't press it.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," she said, pressing the button.

The first one.

The moment the flash went off, she made a peace sign, smiled perfectly, and her gums were completely hidden.

The kind of laugh taught by SM.

the second one.

She suddenly turned around and grabbed Lin Puzhi's cheeks with both hands, pulling them to the sides.

Lin Puzhi's face was stretched into a comical shape, his mouth wide open and his eyes squeezed into slits.

Choi Sulli looked at his image on the screen and squatted down laughing.

The third one.

She made a gun gesture and aimed it at his temple.

He obediently raised his hands, making a gesture of surrender.

She burst out laughing when she pressed the shutter button, and the gun veered off course, poking him in the cheek and leaving a shallow indentation.

Then we move on to the ninth image.

The two came out of the cubicle.

The rain outside was getting heavier, but the loudspeaker at the drugstore was still playing promotional videos on a loop, and steam was sizzling on the takoyaki stand's griddle.

She divided the photos into two stacks, handing one stack to Lin Puzhi and keeping the other for herself.

"What about the last one?" Lin Puzhi asked.

Nine photos were taken in total: four for him, four for Choi Sulli, and one for her.

"Keep this one in the store."

She walked to the wall covered with photos, found an empty spot, and pinned the photos up.

The seventh one just hung on the wall, squeezed together with the smiling faces of countless strangers.

A heart-shaped pink border, two people, her face pressed against his chest, her eyelashes drooping, his chin resting on her head, his eyes looking at the camera.

The two left the photo behind.

This photo awaits the moment when the boy and girl become famous throughout South Korea.

The true owner who discovered it and took a picture, which was then shared online.