Peninsula: A Max-Level Forward's Leisurely Life

The night in Seoul has fallen.

Lee Ji-eun had finished washing up and went to the guest room next door.

Sulli wore a loose cotton nightgown and wrapped herself up in the soft blankets.

Turn it over, then turn it back.

To be honest, taking the initiative to break the ambiguity sounds easy, but actually doing it is harder than climbing to the sky.

Especially for a female idol like her, who has been surrounded by countless people in the company since childhood and whose manager accompanies her even when she goes out to buy a cup of coffee, there is no way to start.

This is the first time in her life that she has seriously wanted to be in a relationship!

Absolutely no experience, not a single one.

She rested her chin on a soft pillow, her two fair feet swinging erratically in mid-air.

My mind was filled with Lee Ji-eun's advice to give me a push before she left.

How do you push someone? Are you going to just knock them over?!

There's a saying online that it's easy for a girl to pursue a boy; as long as the girl takes the initiative, the boy basically can't escape her.

But it depends on the person. If you encounter a max-level monster like Li Chixun, who has a god-like mixed-race face, can pull out a Patek Philippe at will, and can knock paparazzi away with one hand, is that easy to talk about?

That's clearly the kind of door that's separated by a bulletproof glass door and has multiple fingerprint locks.

At this moment, she didn't even know what she had that could attract that old fox, besides her girl group aura and her passable face.

To be honest, this feeling was a hundred times more nerve-wracking than when she first stepped onto a music show stage.

This feeling of being overly enthusiastic on one end is incredibly frustrating.

Unable to fall asleep, she simply turned over, pulled her phone out from under her pillow, and skillfully opened a web search.

How can a girl take the initiative to pursue a very outstanding guy?

How can I subtly flirt with him during my first relationship?

She bit her pink lower lip, her fingers swiping rapidly across the screen, scrolling through the unreliable suggestions from netizens one by one.

The first rule is to create a chance encounter, pretending to accidentally bump into his arms.

Choi Sulli rolled her eyes at the screen.

What era are we living in? They're still using these third-rate idol drama tropes. With Lee Chi-hoon's amazing reaction speed, if I really bumped into him, he could probably just dodge to the side and make me fall flat on my face.

The second suggestion is to post a sad message on social media late at night, visible only to him, to trigger a man's protective instincts.

This is even more ridiculous.

That guy's profile picture is completely black, and he never posts anything.

If she were to post such sentimental messages late at night, he would most likely assume that she was having another bout of depression and would then offer a few cold, sarcastic remarks.

She sighed, but unwilling to give up, she continued scrolling down.

The third suggestion is to showcase your culinary skills. As the saying goes, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Upon seeing this message, the image of the scrambled eggs she had burned to a crisp immediately flashed into her mind. She swallowed nervously and blocked the message immediately; this tactic was like a deadly poison to her.

They even accidentally found a strange post titled "300 Techniques to Cook Raw Rice into Real Rice".

Upon seeing this headline, Choi Sulli gasped and nearly smashed her phone in her face.

What kind of nonsense is this? What kind of filthy garbage is filling the brains of this generation of netizens?!

She quickly closed the webpage and tossed her phone to the foot of the bed like it was a hot potato.

Her cheeks were already burning uncontrollably.

Damn it, now every time I close my eyes, all I can see in my mind is that guy's face.

She grabbed the plush teddy bear from the bedside table and buried her face in it.

From the time we met until now, it's only been a little over a week.

But what happened in those few days was more exciting than her entire previous year combined.

She remembered that rainy night.

He fled into his bar in a disheveled state, while outside, relentless, stinking paparazzi chased after him, and he simply held the door open with one hand.

That aura, a mixture of coldness and languor, instantly gave her an unprecedented sense of security.

And a few days ago in the morning.

He had clearly seen through the truth of the scrambled eggs he had made, which was comparable to a biological weapon, but he still ate most of it without changing his expression.

After she finished eating, he even gave her a sarcastic remark, telling her to stay away from the kitchen, saying it was to do her a favor.

Thinking back to this, Choi Sulli couldn't help but burst out laughing.

This awkward contrast is so endearing, it's driving people crazy.

The image in my mind shifted back to that nameless sea of ​​flowers.

The man, who was 1.88 meters tall, clearly had an unwilling expression on his face, but he still obediently lowered his head and let her put the white flower behind his ear.

Normally, she's as cold and aloof as an iceberg, but when she's sweating profusely, she magically pulls out a tissue and clumsily and gently wipes her sweat.

The memory of the calluses on his hands brushing against her forehead through a tissue still makes her heart pound.

And the way he stood behind the bar mixing drinks.

His slender fingers toyed with the antique cup, the warm light illuminating his sharply defined profile. His eyes always held a nonchalant, languid look, as if everything was under his control.

He's so great, why should I just watch from afar?!

Lee Ji-eun is right. If you don't hold on tight to this amazing guy, someone else will snatch him away sooner or later.

The thought of other beautiful women sitting in her usual spot, drinking his cocktails, and listening to him speak in that deep voice made Choi Sulli feel a pang of jealousy.

Just imagining that scene in her mind was enough to drive her crazy.

Absolutely not. Lee Chi-hoon can only be her exclusive boss; no one else can even touch him.

Lost in thought, her face flushed almost to the point of boiling, and even the base of her neck turned pink.

"Ugh—this is so annoying!"

She suddenly let out a suppressed, shy scream, buried her head under the soft pillow, and refused to come out like an ostrich facing danger.

Her whole face turned as red as a ripe peach, and the tips of her ears were almost dripping blood.

After a while, intermittent giggles came from under the covers, mixed with the infatuation of a young girl in love.

If someone saw this nation's first love looking so eager to get married in private, they'd probably be shocked.

This is destined to be a sleepless night for peaches.

Itaewon at the same time.

This unmarked, dark bar was unusually quiet at the moment.

Lee Chi-hoon stood behind the bar, holding a pure white glass-wiping cloth, mechanically wiping a shiny, already clean highball glass for the third time.

Yes, this top-tier striker, who strikes fear into the hearts of European defenders on the field, is unusually suffering from insomnia today.

The vintage clock on the wall had quietly pointed to 3:30 a.m.

As an athlete with strict professional ethics who cherishes his strong physique, not sleeping at this hour is practically a crime.

Ever since he met Choi Sulli, that troublesome girl, his prized biological clock has been completely ruined.

Not only was my biological clock ruined, but my composure to remain indifferent also collapsed.

He sighed and casually tossed the cup-wiping cloth onto the wooden table.

The image of Lee Ji-eun's rapid-fire questioning of household registrations that night flashed uncontrollably through my mind.

He's not stupid. In his previous life, he spent so much time in a place like Wall Street, where all sorts of shrewd people gather. What kind of schemes and plots hadn't he seen?

He could figure out the deeper meaning behind Lee Ji-eun's questions almost perfectly as soon as he heard them.

That girl was clearly trying to find out about her best friend; her words were full of probing about his dating history and family background.

In fact, given his past personality, he would have been too lazy to pay attention to such overstepping interrogations.

Just throw out a few polite, half-truthful remarks, and you can completely fool the other person.

But tonight, he surprisingly confessed everything honestly.

Not only did he not hide anything, he even revealed his secret of being a lifelong single, a fact that would have made him a laughingstock among his Bayern teammates for half a year if it were exposed.

What am I doing?

He picked up the half-full glass of ice water from the bar, tilted his head back, and gulped it down in one go.

The icy liquid slid down my throat into my stomach, but it couldn't quell the inexplicable irritation in my heart.

The events of the past few days, one after another, have been relentlessly pushing his limits.

He let her act recklessly, let her drag him around the streets of Seoul, and even softened completely because of her clumsy attempts to flirt with flowers.

Today, after watching her go back with Lee Ji-eun, and seeing that van drive away into the night, I actually felt a momentary emptiness in my heart.

It was as if the little cat that had been chirping around had suddenly been taken away, and the whole bar became lifeless.

That's it, I'm really done for this time.

The little bit of wariness he had accumulated from his two lifetimes shattered so completely in front of this twenty-year-old girl.

He touched his smooth chin, his eyes appearing somewhat profound in the dim light.

He has never been an indecisive person.

Now that you've come to understand your own feelings, if you like someone, you like them; there's no need to hide it.

Given his status and wealth, if he really wanted to keep someone by his side, it would only be a matter of a few contracts and a few capital operations.

Even if all the netizens in South Korea were combined, they wouldn't be enough to squeeze with one hand.

But the question is, what exactly is Choi Sulli thinking?

Does she only see herself as a reliable shelter owner, or does she really have feelings for someone beyond friendship?

This girl usually seems carefree, but when it comes to matters of the heart, given her inferiority complex stemming from being suppressed in the entertainment industry since childhood, she'd probably be a coward.

Lee Chi-hoon shook his head helplessly.

Trying to guess what a girl is thinking is even more troublesome than defending against Messi at Camp Nou.

If I take the initiative, will it seem too obvious and scare her away?

If we do nothing, judging from her reluctant expression today, how long will this infuriatingly ambiguous period drag on?

A top-tier trader who always held absolute control as his life motto was completely stumped when faced with this most primal push-pull dynamic between men and women.

In the empty bar, only the occasional faint hum of the ice machine could be heard.

Lee Chi-hoon leaned against the wine rack behind him and stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.

Forget it, why think so much? I'll go see her in a few days anyway.

He would meet force with force and water with earth; if it really came to that, he didn't believe he couldn't handle a little girl.

He took a deep breath and reached out to turn off the last warm light at the bar.

As night deepened in Seoul, everything fell into slumber.

This couple, who had just come to understand their own feelings but were unsure of each other's thoughts, were in different places, separated by several kilometers of night sky, and slowly drifted off to sleep for the same reason.