Peninsula Platinum Era

Chapter 11 Conservative Families
"Oppa! The unnies asked me to thank you, your manor is truly amazing."

The girl couldn't hide her excitement; she had really shown off in front of her older sister, and her vanity had been thoroughly satisfied.

"You little rascal, don't catch a cold. When I go back to Longshan in the next few days, I'll have to talk to your uncle about your studies."

Unexpectedly, this girl wanted to leave school and complete her academic tests on her own because of her idol career, and then transfer to the arts school arranged by the company.

This greatly displeased Chen Shijun, but the sight of his big sister wearing heavy, dowdy pajamas and crouching in the corner of the stairs with her head hunched over also made him angry but he didn't know where to vent his anger.

"Why can't you learn from Zhenying! Study hard and go to university, or even just be a special talent student. She went to an arts school, didn't she?"

Because she got along very well with Uncle Zhang's family, the girl's older sister was also her younger sister, but she was noticeably more mature than Xiaoyuan.

It has to be said that the two sisters inherited good genes. Zhenying is also a tall girl, over 1.7 meters tall, and has athletic talent.

She has now been admitted to the Department of Global Sports Industry at Yonsei University and Ewha Womans University. She chose to study at the latter and became a university student, while also taking acting courses.

This girl wanted to be an actress since she was a child. It's a long story. It seems that Xiao Yuan was discovered by a talent scout from Starship Entertainment after attending her older sister's graduation ceremony and became a trainee.

Trainees are trainees, Chen Shijun initially thought that a few trainees could debut, but in the end they would still have to go back to school to study.

He never expected that a talent show would lead this girl to charge ahead recklessly and ultimately become the center of the nation's vote, which surprised him to some extent.

"Don't yell at me like that, oppa, be gentle with me. I already said I'll study on my own, and I'll definitely pass the academic ability test."

Yuan Ying tugged at the hood of her pajamas, knowing in her heart that this man was actually doing it for her own good, but balancing her studies at the same time was indeed difficult.

After all, IZ*ONE is incredibly popular these days, with all sorts of activities coming one after another, making it a luxury for them to go back and forth to school to study. They can only make do with self-study together with Ahn Yu-jin.

“Zhenying, Zhenying, doesn’t my sister also want to be an actress? What does it matter if I go to university or not? Even if I go to university, I might not be able to find a good job.”

Xiao Yuan puffed out her cheeks, somewhat unhappy. There's a saying that one should become famous as early as possible. If she could accumulate wealth in these few years, she could do whatever she liked in the future. What's wrong with that?

Those who stubbornly argue that going to university guarantees becoming a millionaire are ridiculous; all the university students in South Korea would be out of control, and everyone has their own path to follow.

"Can't you? Why not? All the billionaires around me are college graduates."

He tried to persuade Yuan Ying with his own experience, but the girl was not fooled at all. She was quite logical and said that a large number of individual cases were not enough to prove the point, and could only be attributed to Chen Shijun's social circle.

"I can't make a living like this anymore. I'll work for you. I'll be your secretary and serve you tea and water, okay?"

Yuan Ying thought that even if she failed, she could still find a job with Se-joon oppa, but the man on the other end of the phone bluntly shattered her beautiful dream.

“My former secretary was also a college graduate. It wasn’t enough for her to just serve tea and water; she had to assist me with a lot of work.”

Chen Shijun was both annoyed and amused, even thinking that this girl might not even be able to do something as simple as serving tea and water well, but Yuan Ying seemed to be only interested in his junior.

She kept nagging about the importance of workplace ethics, and recently another important person was ruined by his female secretary, though she couldn't remember her name.

"What do you know? You're so smart, why did you drop out of school? We can talk about it when we meet." Seeing the girl warming her hands in the hallway, and knowing the evening temperature was still a bit too cold, Chen Shijun was afraid she would get cold, so he quickly scolded her and hung up the phone.

Speaking of which, none of the other women cared as much as his younger sister, but Chen Shijun didn't think there was anything wrong with it. There were countless beauties in the world, and women came and went, but his younger sister Yuan Ying was always loyal.

……

“Yuanying, why are you so angry? You were so happy just now.”

When Enbi, the eldest sister in the group, saw that this girl had just returned from a phone call and was now lying alone on the upper bunk opposite her, sulking, she couldn't help but ask her about it out of curiosity.

Although she didn't really want to talk, Wonyoung still told the other members about her decision regarding her studies, and the dormitory immediately started discussing it.

After all, it's a super group of 12 people, and the limited-time group's dormitory is divided into two dormitories, with 6 members in each dormitory, which makes it very lively.

Although Xiaoyuan is tall, she was assigned to the upper bunk, while the lower bunk was occupied by Sakura, the Japanese member who caused a stir recently and was also the first and second place winner of the audition program.

"Let me tell you, my oppa is really old-fashioned. I'll definitely tell my dad about it when I get back."

Yuan Ying didn't say much, only explaining that Chen Shijun's family atmosphere was rather conservative, which made him quite averse to dropping out of school.

Coming from a family with two civil servants in Gyeongbuk, they inevitably have a tendency towards labor protection, especially since the elderly couple are both police officers, true guardians of traditional values.

His ancestor, who had served as Right Vice Minister hundreds of years ago, was a frequent topic of conversation, always talking about the family's tradition of learning Chinese classics. Although he didn't see anything of substance to pass down as a family tradition of learning Chinese classics, Chen Shijun naturally learned fairly fluent Chinese in this environment.

They uphold Confucian hierarchical order and family ethics, and oppose many of today's social changes. Last time I went home for dinner, my parents talked for a long time about the news that the country was going to liberalize abortion.

In their mouths, Chief Moon is a villain who only knows how to talk big, and he is a tragedy for the country. They also believe that His Excellency Park was a little too soft-hearted back then.

Regarding Chen Shih-Chun's life plans, the couple believed that their son should accept the invitation from his mentor, the dean of the graduate school, to join his mentor's team and do his part to prevent the country from falling into the hands of villains.

Ultimately, Chen Shijun's parents acknowledged his success as a businessman, but also urged him to always remember the iron will of former CEO Li Park Tae-joon and extend his achievements beyond just the business.

This key military and political figure during the Park Geun-hye administration held a prestigious position and wielded immense influence in Pohang. From the May 516 coup to the establishment of Pohang Steel, which laid the foundation for South Korea's steel industry, and then to the Liberal Democratic Party's era, he was a political giant capable of rivaling the White Horse Emperor. It is no exaggeration to call him a symbol of the Miracle on the Han River.

Because his father particularly admired Park Tae-joon, he also included the character "Jun" in his name. This kind of labor protection ideology more or less influenced Chen Shijun's political inclinations.

Xiaoyuan's worries left the other members at a loss for solutions. After all, IZ*ONE is incredibly popular, and the various activities are making them feel somewhat strained, not to mention that the maknae has to commute to school while studying on her own.

Moreover, this is a talent show project in cooperation with an island nation, and there are quite a few members from that island nation in the team. The goal is to cater to both the markets of the two countries. Last time, they stayed in the island nation for a long time during an event.

“People in our area are like that too! They mainly focus on traditional community culture. No wonder Xiaoyuan said we don’t have a chance. Families in Gyeongbuk probably value education more.”

Cho Yoo-ri and Mi-yeon, who both come from Busan and share the same surname (Cho Mi-yeon), come from a relatively conservative community and naturally share some similar experiences, but Won-young doesn't feel good hearing about it.

"So... should I drop out of school or not?"

(End of this chapter)