Peninsula: I can steal the luck of disgraced celebrities

Chapter 98 Sunlight in the Semi-Basement

As filming for episodes six and seven progressed into its second half, Lin Chih-hsun's screen time noticeably decreased.

According to the script's pacing, these two episodes are mainly Ok Taecyeon's show.

Write about Zhenguo's romantic relationships and family background.

Lin Chih-hsun's character only has a few transitional scenes that connect the preceding and following parts, and he finishes filming two or three takes a day.

A rare moment of leisure.

On Wednesday afternoon, Lin Chih-hsun finished filming a group scene in a classroom and called it a day early.

Seoul has warmed up a bit in the last few days. Although it's still cold, at least you don't have to zip up your down jacket to your chin. He put on a hat and a mask and strolled around the streets near Hongdae.

Hongdae is always bustling.

Coffee shops, trendy brand stores, and record stores are clustered together, and the streets are full of college students and tourists.

Lin Zhixun strolled around for a while and then stopped in front of a hat shop.

There's a nice black fisherman's hat in the shop window.

Just as I was about to push the door open, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of my eye.

Across the street.

IU.

She was also wearing a mask and hat, wrapped in a beige coat, and carrying a small bag. She was squatting in front of a roadside stall picking out earrings.

Lin Zhixun walked over.

"Lee Ji-eun, are you skipping class?"

IU was startled and almost dropped the earring in her hand.

She looked up and saw Lin Zhixun, paused for a moment, and then pulled her mask up a little.

"Oppa, you scared me to death!"

"You're not making movies?"

"I don't have any gigs today, so I came to Hongdae to browse around." U stood up, handed the two pairs of earrings she had chosen to the stall owner, and paid for them. "You don't have any gigs either, do you?"

"I just finished filming."

The two of them stood there on the roadside, looking at each other for two seconds.

IU tilted her head. "So, where are you going next?"

"I haven't decided yet, I'll just wander around."

"How about we go shopping together?"

"Walk."

The two walked side by side along the main street of Hongdae.

IU walked on the inside, her steps light and quick. Sometimes she would get bumped into Lin Zhixun's arm by the crowd, but she would quickly bounce away.

"Why did you come out by yourself today? Isn't your manager here?"

Since the last incident involving anti-fans, her manager, Pei Zhonghan, has stopped letting her go out shopping alone.

"Brother Pei Zhonghan had other things to take care of today, so I sneaked out on my own," U said softly, her tone filled with a secret delight at having escaped.

Lin Chih-hsun thought to himself, "If your manager finds out about this, he'll probably nag you for ages."

However, she seems to be in a good mood today, which is completely different from her state when she was harassed by anti-fans last time.

Street performers started appearing in Hongdae: some were playing guitar and singing, some were painting, and one student was doing breaking.

IU glanced a couple more times at the breaking dance area.

Lin Zhixun followed, "Want to learn?"

"I thought about it, tried it out, and almost threw out my back."

"—You do have a clear understanding of yourself."

"7

"I'm not physically stupid, am I?" U said, laughing first, then quickly covering her face under her mask with her hands and lowering her voice, "Don't laugh at me."

"I wasn't laughing at you."

"You smiled under your mask, and I saw your eyes crinkle."

The two turned into a small alley, where there were several secondhand record stores and handmade jewelry shops.

IU stopped in front of a record store.

The shelves outside the store were filled with discounted CDs, 500 won each. IU flipped through a few and found one of her debut singles, "Lost Child."

'

She stared at her fifteen-year-old self on the cover and remained silent for two seconds.

"Five hundred won, that's cheap." Lim Ji-hoon leaned over to take a look.

"Shut up."

She flipped the record over and put it back on the shelf, pretending she hadn't seen it.

As she flipped over, Lin Zhixun casually pulled it out and handed it to the boss to pay.

IU turned to look at him, "Why did you buy this?"

"Keep it so it'll appreciate in value when you become famous."

IU rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth—wait, she was wearing a mask, so you couldn't see them.

But Lin Chih-hsun sensed that she was secretly smiling because her eyes were curved.

The two continued walking forward, and as they turned a corner, U suddenly tugged at his sleeve.

"What's wrong?"

"Look at that."

IU pointed to a spot about ten meters ahead.

A doll.

To be precise, it was a person dressed in a giant mascot costume standing in front of a chain fried chicken restaurant handing out flyers.

The doll is a round, yellow chick.

Its red comb was tilted to one side, and its two small wings flapped up and down in the cold wind as it tried to hand out flyers to passersby.

But most people avoided it.

The chick doll looked a little dejected, its wings drooping.

Then he rallied and continued fanning.

U watched for a while, then said, "How pitiful."

"Would you like to take a flyer?"

IU thought for a moment, then said, "Okay."

The two walked over.

When the chick doll noticed someone approaching, it immediately perked up and stretched out a stack of flyers with its wings.

"Welcome to XXX Fried Chicken! Everything is 20% off! Get a free drink with your takeout!"

His voice was a little muffled, but he was trying very hard.

Lin Chih-hsun accepted the flyer.

IU also accepted a ticket.

Just as the chick toy was happily flapping its wings, preparing to turn towards the next passerby, it suddenly stopped.

The doll's head slowly turned, its two plastic eyes facing Lin Zhixun and IU.

Then a "wait a minute."

The doll's voice suddenly changed.

"Lin—Lin Zhixun? Sister U?!"

Lin Zhixun looked down at the little yellow chick.

He remembered the voice.

The chick doll frantically tucked the flyer under its wing, while using its other wing to push its headgear away.

The headgear was too big; I tried to push it off for ages but couldn't get it to move.

Lin Zhixun reached out and helped her lift the wig up a bit.

A face covered in sweat was revealed.

It is Yisheng.

She's the girl who helped pick up the driver's license of a hater at the Hongdae filming location last time.

"It really is you." Lin Zhixun handed her a tissue.

Yisheng took the tissue and wiped the sweat off his face haphazardly, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Oh my god, it really is you guys! I thought I was seeing things!"

IU clearly hadn't met this girl before.

Lin Chih-hsun gave a brief introduction, saying that he was the fan who helped him find his driver's license last time.

IU paused for a moment, then exclaimed, "Oh, it's you!"

"It's me, it's me, it's me!" Yisheng nodded repeatedly, and the rooster's comb shook wildly.

"Thank you so much for what happened last time." IU bowed deeply to her.

Yisheng quickly flapped his wings.

No, it's waving.

"You're welcome! Ji-eun unnie, I'm your fan, it's my duty to protect you!"

IU was somewhat touched.

Lin Zhixun pointed to the mascot costume she was wearing.

"Are you working a part-time job?"

"Yeah, I do part-time work here." Ye-seung looked down at his outfit, a little embarrassed. "I get 6,000 won an hour for handing out flyers in this."

Lin Zhixun was a little confused. Wasn't this time of day for school? He asked, "Aren't you in school?"

"No," Yisheng smiled, "I started working after graduating from junior high school."

IU didn't say anything, but her fingers started tugging at the cuffs of her coat.

Lin Zhixun knew what IU's gesture meant.

She was heartbroken.

Yisheng didn't seem to think anything of it and grinned.

"Oh, by the way! I get off work at four o'clock today. You guys—if you don't mind, would you like to come over to my place? It's just one subway stop away!"

She quickly added a sentence after she finished speaking.

"I know you're busy, it's okay if you don't go."

"Go," U answered before Lin Zhixun could.

Yisheng was stunned. "Really?"

IU nodded.

Lin Zhixun was clearly fine, but he still pretended to look at his watch and nodded: "Okay, then we'll pick you up at four o'clock."

At four o'clock sharp, Yisheng returned the mascot costume to the fried chicken shop manager and ran out the back door wearing his old hoodie that he used to wear when he worked.

"Let's go, let's go!"

The three of them took the subway for one stop and then walked for five minutes along a side path.

Yisheng's rented room is in the semi-basement of an old residential building.

The moment Lin Zhixun pushed open the door, he thought he had returned to his old rented apartment.

Only the upper half of the window is above the ground, and sunlight streams in from ankle height, illuminating half of the wall.

The room was small, but it was clean.

A single bed, a folding table, on which sits an old photograph and an old laptop.

There was also a vase with a few sunflowers in it.

There were several posters on the wall—one of IU, and another of Lin Zhixun in a still from Dream High.

Lin Zhixun stared at his own still image for two seconds.

"Where did you get this?"

"Printed online!" Yisheng scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

IU then went to get a photo album from the table, which contained a black and white photo of a young man in military uniform.

"What's up there?"

Yi-sheng's expression was complicated: "He is my grandfather."

Perhaps because it was IU, an idol, who asked the question, Yeseung continued, "My grandmother told me that when my grandfather was young, he was ordered by President Park Chung-hee to go to Vietnam, but a month later, news came that he had committed suicide by shooting himself."

"At the time, everyone else called my grandfather a deserter, but only my grandmother believed he wasn't that kind of person."

Upon hearing this, IU looked apologetic: "I'm sorry—I didn't know."

"It's alright," Yisheng said with a relieved smile. "My grandfather died in the Vietnam War before I was born. My impression of him is just from the stories my grandmother told me."

Yisheng covered the photo, saying, "This photo is the only thing my grandmother left me, which is why I put it here."

Hearing this, Lin Zhixun and IU felt a little sad.

Just as the two were feeling down, Yisheng suddenly slapped his leg.

"Ah! I suddenly remembered something!"

She ran to the bedside and pulled something out from under the pillow.

An album.

IU's debut album.

It's the same album "Lost Child" that Lin Chih-hsun just saw at the secondhand record store.

But the one that Yisheng has is very well preserved; the plastic wrap hasn't even been removed.

"Unnie Ji-eun, could you sign your name for me?"

'

IU took the album and flipped through it.

"You've preserved this one very well."

"Of course, I saved up my breakfast money for two weeks to buy this!" Yisheng rubbed his hands together. "But I haven't had a chance to go to any autograph sessions."

"You still need to eat breakfast, otherwise you won't grow tall," Lin Zhixun interjected.

"Do you have a pen?" IU asked.

"Here it is!" Yisheng pulled a pen out of his pocket.

It's the same pen I used to sign autographs for Lin Chih-hsun last time.

IU took the pen, signed her name on the album cover, then thought for a moment and added another line below—

"Yiseung, thank you for always supporting me. Let's keep going, we'll both shine. —IU"

Yisheng held the signed album in both hands, stared at the words on it, her nose tingled, and her eyes reddened.

"I won't sell it."

This is exactly the same sentence she said to Lin Zhixun last time.

IU smiled and ruffled her hair.

Lim Ji-hoon leaned against the door frame, watching this scene, still clutching the 500 won copy of "Lost Child" he had just bought at the secondhand record store.

He handed the record to Yisheng.

Here's another one for you; you can open it up and listen to it separately.

Yi Sheng paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "How about Lin Zhixun also sign his autograph?"

Lin Chih-hsun glanced at IU and signed the album in front of her. Would that be considered a NTR (Netorare, a form of sexual assault)?

IU assumed Lin Zhixun cared about her opinion, and replied, "I don't care."

"Then I won't be polite!"

Lin Chih-hsun wrote a sentence in a flamboyant style on the album: "Lin Chih-hsun was here."

After seeing it, IU glared at Lin Zhixun and said, "Do you think my album is some kind of famous historical site?"

Yisheng was just as happy as last time. She took the album with both hands, as if she were holding some kind of precious treasure that needed to be handled with care.

Just then, Lin Zhixun's cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

He took it out and glanced at it.

A brief message from Bae Yong-joon.

He opened it.

The news concerns an undercover agent planted by MBC; they've already located him. Also—

SBS's "Running Man" has officially resumed filming; the recording schedule has been confirmed for next month.