Peninsula: From a supporting actor to the best actor in Chungmuro

Chapter 63 War without smoke

The next afternoon.

Downstairs of SEM company.

The sun is shining brightly at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Jiang Zaixun walked quickly through the revolving door and saw Zheng Xiujing standing under the ginkgo tree at the entrance of the company.

The beige sweater hung loosely over her slender shoulders, and her light blue jeans highlighted her straight legs, revealing a bit of fair skin at her ankles.

The slightly curled ends of her hair rest on her collarbone, and her whole body looks like it has been processed through a soft-focus filter - clean and soft.

Jiang Jae-hoon paused unconsciously.

As if noticing his gaze, Zheng Xiujing raised her head and waved at him:
"Teacher Jiang~"

"Wait for a long time?"

Zheng Xiujing pursed her lips and smiled: "Just arrived."

Jiang Zaixun stretched out his hand to indicate:
"Let's go, the meeting room is on the fourth floor."

"Hmm~"

At the moment they turned around——

"Meow!"

A black, orange and white shadow suddenly rushed past their feet.

Krystal was startled and subconsciously took a half step closer to Kang Jae-hoon.

"Little princess?"

Jiang Jae-hoon squatted down and looked at the familiar stray cat in surprise.

It rubbed against his trouser leg affectionately, with its tail raised high.

"you know?"

Krystal also squatted down and reached out to touch it cautiously.

"It's a stray cat from the convenience store near my house. I often feed it, but...was it adopted a while ago?"

Kang Jae-hoon scratched the cat's chin, and it immediately purred with satisfaction.

"and many more--"

A clear female voice came from behind.

The two turned around.

Lin Yuna was seen jogging after him, her hair a little messy from the wind, her cheeks slightly flushed from running. She was holding a half-open cat bag in her hand, looking like she had just experienced a "cat escape."

“Eh…Jaehoon?”

She seemed to have just noticed Jiang Zaixun and opened her eyes slightly:
"coincidence."

Jiang Zaixun's finger was still on the cat's chin, and he looked up at Lin Yuner with a confused look on his face:
"This cat...was adopted by you?"

Lin Yuna showed just the right amount of surprise:

"Eh? Could this be the one in your avatar?"

“…This is such a coincidence!”

Krystal Jung stood aside with a frown on her face, vaguely sensing that something was wrong.

"Yeah~"

Lin Yuner seemed to have just noticed her and immediately greeted her affectionately:

"Crystal~"

"Yoona-unnie."

Krystal responded sweetly, but her fingers unconsciously pinched the edge of the script.

Lin Yuner's eyes moved between the two of them, and she asked casually:
"What are you..."

Jiang Zaixun confessed honestly:

"We've been under a lot of pressure to achieve ratings lately, so we're taking advantage of the break to rehearse our scenes privately."

"Oh~"

Lin Yuner nodded in understanding:

"I watched your drama, and you and Krystal have a strong CP feeling. There are more sparks than with Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye."

"Thank you."

Krystal suddenly interrupted:
"Isn't Ernie currently filming 'The Prime Minister and I'? Do you still have time to watch the show?"

"I watched it during a break in filming. Speaking of which—"

Lin Yuna suddenly turned to Jiang Zaixun, her eyes curved into crescents:
"Last time you taught me how to act out my vomiting scene, the director praised me for being so realistic~"

Jiang Zaixun straightened up and smiled:
"I'm glad I can help."

Looking at the two of them chatting and laughing, Krystal suddenly felt like an outsider.

——It was supposed to be her and Kang Jae-hoon’s alone time, but now it had inexplicably turned into a confrontation between the three of them.

Thinking of this, Zheng Xiujing suddenly took Jiang Zaixun's arm:
"Jaehoon oppa, it's time for us to rehearse."

"?"

Jiang Jae-hoon was obviously stunned.

It wasn’t because she put her arm around him, but because it was the first time she called him “Oppa” in private.

Lin Yuner raised her eyebrows slightly, her eyes lingering on their touching arms for half a second, then she smiled and said:

"Do you mind having more audience members? I just happen to have some performance questions I'd like to ask Jaehoon."

Zheng Xiujing's pupils shrank slightly, and her hand around Jiang Zaixun tightened unconsciously.

"Can we do it another day?" Jiang Jae-hoon calmly pulled his arm away. "I have an appointment with Krystal today to rehearse the new scenes."

Work priority > personal relationship - he is very clear about this.

"I understand~"

Lin Yuner put the calico cat into the cat bag without changing her expression: "I originally took it to be sterilized, I was just passing by."

".sterilization?"

Lin Yuna keenly caught Jiang Jae-hoon's emotions and immediately added:
"The doctor said it was the best option, otherwise the estrus period would be very painful."

Jiang Zaixun looked at the calico cat in the cat bag, frowned slightly, but nodded:
"Then trouble you."

"Don't worry~ I will take good care of it. After all, it is our mutual friend~"

She deliberately emphasized the word "friend".

It was so heavy that Krystal's temples were throbbing.

"I'm leaving."

Lin Yuner smiled and took a half step back:

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that our Crystal's acting has improved tremendously!"

Before Krystal could figure out whether the phrase "huge progress" was a mockery or a sincere compliment, Yoona had already turned around with the cat bag in her arms.

As the white car drove away, she even made a phone call gesture to Jiang Zaixun through the car window.

After the exhaust gas dissipated, Jiang Jae-hoon was still staring at the road in a daze.

"Snapped!"

The script hit him hard on the chest.

"My eyes are going to pop out if I keep looking at them."

"Huh? I'm just worried about the cat."

"..."

——This wood.

Krystal's originally cloudy mood suddenly brightened, and she turned and walked towards the company gate.

Jiang Jae-hoon hurried to catch up.

In the elevator room.

Zheng Xiujing stared at the constantly jumping floor numbers and suddenly spoke:
"YunA-unnie is so nice, she even went out of her way to adopt a stray cat."

"Well, she has always been very kind. Before, I... cough."

Kang Jae-hoon's dark history of "opening his crotch" when braking suddenly.

"So do you think Yoona-unnie was being sarcastic when she just said 'her acting has improved a lot'?"

"how come?"

Jiang Zaixun shook his head: "Your acting is good."

"How does that compare to her?"

The elevator dinged and stopped on the fourth floor.

Jiang Jae-hoon smelled a hint of danger.

After thinking rapidly for a few seconds, he gave an ambiguous answer:
“The styles are different, and each has its own advantages.”

Krystal snorted and didn't ask any more questions.

When the door to the conference room opened, sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows. As Kang Jae-hoon pulled out his chair, he noticed that Krystal Jung's beige sweater was almost transparent in the light, allowing a faint glimpse of the white camisole underneath.

He quickly looked away, pretending to organize the script:
"Which scene do we start with?"

Krystal opened the script and tapped a page lightly:

"Let's start with our agreement to go to the library."

She looked up at Jiang Zaixun with a sly look in her eyes:

"but--"

"Before we officially start acting, I want to confirm one thing."

Jiang Jae-hoon looked up in confusion:

"what?"

Zheng Xiujing held her chin with one hand and looked at him with her head tilted:
"If Yoona-unnie had really followed us just now, would you have let her watch?"

The sunlight cast tiny shadows on her eyelashes, and Jiang Zaixun suddenly realized——

I felt like I had just experienced a war without the smoke of gunpowder.

What's even more terrifying is that he seems to be beginning to understand the subtext of these undercurrents.

Jiang Zaixun closed the script and answered seriously for the first time:
"will not."

"why?"

"Because today is the time we agreed on."

The corners of Krystal's mouth curled up slightly.

——This piece of wood finally said something decent.

"Let's get started, Teacher Jiang~"

The ginkgo leaves outside the window rustled in the wind.

The air in the conference room suddenly became sweet, as if someone had spilled a jar of marmalade.

(End of this chapter)