Peninsula Cicada Song Diary

"Yes." Park Jin-young nodded. "I heard he's a student of the teacher."

"That's right."

"Does the teacher have his contact information?"

"You want to recruit him?"

"If possible, that would be best," Park Jin-young explained with a smile, "but the main reason is that the student company is about to launch a new girl group, so they wanted to ask him to write a song for them."

"..." Lee Moon-hyun on the other end of the phone fell silent, as if deep in thought. Park Jin-young held his breath, waiting for a reply.

After waiting for about half a minute, Park Jin-young couldn't contain himself any longer and broke the silence while flipping through the resume again: "Teacher-nim, is it inconvenient? That's okay..."

"No, that's not it." Li Wenxian sighed. "It's just that this kid, Pei... is a bit strange."

"How strange?"

"He rarely participates in social activities," Li Wenxian said, sharing his understanding. "If an unknown number calls him, he will hang up ninety percent of the time."

"What about the email?"

"He does look at them, but he might only look at them once every month or two," Li Wenxian shook his head. "You don't know if he looked at them a few days ago or not, so it requires a bit of luck."

"Uh..." Park Jin-young said helplessly.

No wonder he is described as "a cicada hidden in the treetops," not only difficult for people to see, but also troublesome to find.

"Actually, apart from being difficult to contact, Xiao Pei has a pretty good personality and is one of the most talented students I've ever met."

"Okay, I'll get in touch with him for you," Li Wenxian decided. "I also want to ask what that kid has been up to lately. Since graduation, apart from those few songs, he hasn't called back once."

"Thank you for your help, teacher." Park Jin-young breathed a sigh of relief.

"The students are extremely grateful."

......

There was a cabinet in the recording studio specifically for drinks and lollipops, right under the production counter. Pei Xiyan opened the cabinet, took out a watermelon-flavored lollipop, popped it into her mouth, and then continued to squat on the swivel chair, pondering the melody she had just captured in her mind.

「빨간맛궁금해honey

I'm curious about the red flavor.

깨물면점점녹아든스트로베리그맛

The strawberry flavor that slowly melts as you bite into it...

Hearing his phone ring, he picked it up and glanced at the contact name. After confirming it was someone he knew, he answered, "Long time no see, Teacher Wenxian. I've missed you so much."

"You haven't even called me, your teacher, once!" Li Wenxian launched into a tirade, "Eight months since graduation and you haven't called once!"

"I was just worried that you'd be too busy to answer my call, teacher," Pei Xiyan said with a forced smile.

"Come on, I have plenty of time." Li Wenxian didn't give him any face. "But what have you been busy with lately?"

"Busy living." Pei Xiyan's tone suddenly turned serious. "After all, as you know, teacher, it's already very difficult to just live."

"No job?"

"No," Pei Xiyan said. "Even my Nuna's album was handed over to someone else to produce."

"So, you're pretty free now?"

Pei Xiyan sensed something unusual and quickly pulled the lollipop out of her mouth, trying to salvage the situation, saying, "Teacher, I was just joking, I'm not exactly free..."

"Don't explain yet," Li Wenxian interrupted him. "Someone wants to ask you to write a song for them."

Hearing that she wasn't going to be forced to do hard labor at school, Pei Xiyan breathed a sigh of relief. "Who?"

"Your senior, JYP."

"JYP?" Pei Xiyan raised an eyebrow. "That senior who graduated with a geology degree but ended up starting an entertainment company?"

"Maga, are you interested?"

"Is it a song for TWICE?" Pei Xiyan asked, intrigued. "Or for Bae Suzy or GOT7?"

"No, that's not it." Li Wenxian chuckled. "It's their new girl group."

"That's alright then." Pei Xiyan put the lollipop in her mouth again. "Teacher, have you heard of the 'watermelon and apple' theory?"

"What theory is this? Which celebrity said it?"

"I created this myself." Pei Xiyan laughed heartily, then explained in detail, "The watermelon and apple theory is that I like to eat watermelon even if it requires the trouble of cutting it open, while I am too lazy to bite into apples even though they can be eaten directly without peeling them. Compared to other people in JYP, this so-called... new girl group is like an apple."

"So you're saying you're not interested?" Li Wenxian understood the implication. "Then I'll refuse for you."

Pei Xiyan thought for a moment, glanced at the time on her phone, and said, "No need for now, teacher."

"Weren't you too lazy to bite this apple?"

"But isn't JYPE's cafeteria supposed to be famous for its healthy and organic food?" Pei Xiyan took a bite of her lollipop, a childlike smile playing on her lips. "Teacher, if you agree first, I might change my mind after I go there for a free meal."

Noona will come to check on his meals at noon, which saves me from having to cook for him.

......

In July of this year, JYPE bid farewell to the old building where it had spent 17 years and moved to a new building in Gangdong District with a total value of 202 billion won.

Pei Xiyan rarely came to Jiangdong District, or rather, he rarely went out, and it was too far from where he lived in Hannandong.

But today is an exception.

Driving her blue Panamera across the road, the wheels kicked up fallen leaves. Following the navigation, it took almost an hour for Pei Xiyan, who was tasked with "getting a free meal," to finally arrive at the new JYPE building located at No. 205 Jiangdong Avenue, Jiangdong District.

The 10-story building appears quite tall through the car windows. A huge blue JYP logo hangs between the ninth and tenth floors. The building's exterior is made of one-way transparent dark glass, which can prevent light pollution caused by sunlight refraction and also prevent fans from being able to see what's inside the building with binoculars.

To his surprise, he didn't see many fans at the entrance of the building. Although it was the same company entrance, SM always made Pei Xiyan have to sneak in through the back door.

"Maybe the fans also think it's too remote," Pei Xiyan thought to herself.

Pulling at the hoodie hood that had been crushed from driving, Pei Xiyan pushed open the car door and got out.

The autumn sun has a unique warmth that belongs to this season, but the only constant is that when it shines on Pei Xiyan, it makes him so white that he reflects light.

There was a coffee shop on the first floor, but that wasn't Pei Xiyan's target. He just glanced at the coffee shop briefly, saw that it was crowded, and then walked straight towards the door.

The revolving door started to turn, and the female employee at the front desk, facing the door, habitually bowed her head to greet them upon seeing the movement.

"Welcome to JYPE. May I ask if you have...?"

She then looked up and saw the person who walked in, and the rest of her words got stuck in her throat.

Is this... a vampire? Her breath caught in her throat as she couldn't help but wonder.

The black hooded sweatshirt on the fair-skinned boy in front of me made the black and white colors stand out as clearly as day and night.

As the boy drew closer, she could see him more clearly. His face, wide at the top and tapering gently downwards, was small and delicate; his eyebrows were jet black, and his eyelashes were so long they made her wonder if he was wearing false eyelashes. His eyes were the kind of parallelogram shape you only see in anime; his nose was very straight—you could probably slide down it smoothly; his lips were of moderate thickness, with sharp lines at the corners… All these features combined to leave the female employee with only one thought in her mind.

Wow! When did our company get a trainee with this level of looks?