Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

Chapter 165, Page 163: Variety Show Begins

After closing the door, Jiang Che stood alone in the living room, then took out the small USB drive again and fiddled with it between his fingers.

Half of my heart was filled with deep emotion—but the other half couldn't help but let out a "wicked" thought:

'If this were sold as the master tape of Taeyeon's solo song "I," wouldn't those crazy SONEs (Taeyeon's fans) fight tooth and nail to get their hands on it?'

On the other side, Sunny drove Yoona and Taeyeon to the company. Yoona leaned back in the back seat, looking at the street scene rushing past the window. The scene at breakfast was still replaying in her mind, and the feeling of being outdone was still lingering.

She couldn't help but recall the song Jiang Che sang for her on her birthday, a song that belonged only to the two of them. She had originally intended to carefully preserve it as a unique memento.

But now, she inexplicably felt an urge to release it as a solo track. Once the thought arose, it was hard to suppress, and she couldn't help but turn her head and give Taeyeon a complicated look.

Taeyeon felt her gaze, blinked in confusion, and asked softly:
"What's wrong, Yoona?"

"Huh? It's nothing." Yoona quickly came to her senses, shook her head, and forced a nonchalant smile.

She looked out the window again and sighed softly to herself.
'Taeyeon unnie just had a successful solo debut, how could the company possibly ask me to release a solo right away? That's unrealistic.'

She took a deep breath, suppressed the subtle competitive feeling in her heart, and composed her expression and mood.

'Never mind, I'll... wait and see later.'

Soon, the day for recording "Little TV Station" arrived. Early in the morning, Yoona arrived at Sunny's apartment to pick her up.

When the doorbell rang, Jiang Che got up and opened the door. Standing outside was Yoon-ah, who had dressed up carefully.

"Are you ready? We can set off."

Yoona said with a smile, her gaze sweeping lightly over Jiang Che.

"Okay, I'll get ready," Jiang Che said, and then began to transform.

Sunny, still wearing her pajamas and bleary-eyed, leaned against the doorframe, looking at Jiang Che who had transformed into her likeness, and couldn't help but remind him:
"Jiang Che, don't you dare mess this up, and don't say anything weird with my face!"

Jiang Che patted his chest and solemnly guaranteed:

"Don't worry! Don't you know me? Professional substitute, quality guaranteed, I never cause trouble!"

Sunny rolled her eyes at him.

"It better be this way!"

She then turned to look at Yoona beside her:

"Yoona, you have to keep a close eye on this guy today, make sure he doesn't get too carried away."

Yoona suppressed a laugh and nodded solemnly:
"Yes, unnie, I'll keep a close eye on him."

Jiang Che shrugged and changed his shoes with Yoona before going out.

The two went downstairs and got into Yoona's van. Kang Cheol immediately recognized the familiar manager in the driver's seat—it was the same manager he'd met when he first covered for Yoona at the radio station.

The person who started the "praise mode" felt a surge of warmth and immediately greeted them with a bright smile:
"Unnie! Good morning!"

When her manager, Unnie, saw Sunny's radiant smile in the rearview mirror, she was slightly taken aback, then smiled back.
"Aigoo, Sunny seems to be in a great mood today! She looks so energetic!"

Seeing this, Yoona, who was sitting next to her, spoke quietly:
"Unnie, aren't you my manager? Why are you so happy to see Sunny unnie?"

She remembered clearly that this unnie had only given her a simple greeting that morning.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Che immediately replied:

"What do you mean 'yours' and 'mine'? Our manager unnie is everyone's unnie! She's the lighthouse that illuminates our journey, our strongest support! Right, unnie?"

The manager's eyes crinkled with laughter:

"That's right! That's exactly it!"

Yoona was both amused and exasperated. She gave Jiang Che's arm a light pinch and whispered:
"You're such a flatterer!"

"Hiss—" Jiang Che took a breath in response, quickly changing the subject, and said to Yoona in a serious tone:

"Alright, alright, Yoona-sensei, we'd appreciate your guidance today's variety show!"

Yoona gave him a playful glare, but couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Hmph, it's good to know."

The manager, Unnie, watched the two's natural and intimate interaction through the rearview mirror, a kind smile appearing on her face. She felt that the air in the car was sweet all day.

The car drove smoothly to the recording location. When Kang Cheol and Yoona arrived at the waiting room, they saw that several members of TWICE—Tzuyu, Sana, Momo, and Mina—were already there.

The four girls all looked a little nervous. As soon as the two Girls' Generation members entered, they quickly stood up and bowed to greet them.
Hello, everyone! We are TWICE!

"Hello, don't be so nervous, relax." Yoona responded with a gentle smile.

Jiang Che's gaze swept over the three members from the island nation, recalling what Sunny had said earlier.
So, after Yoona greeted them in Korean, she gave a friendly smile and said directly in Japanese:

"That's right, don't be so nervous, I've got your back."

"???"

The room fell silent for a moment after he said that.

Chou Tzu-yu blinked her big eyes, a little confused.

Sana, Momo, and Mina all showed expressions of surprise and delight—they never expected that Sunny could speak Japanese!

Sana was the first to react and asked in Japanese:
"Sunny-senpai?! You...you can speak Japanese?"

Jiang Che was secretly pleased, but maintained a calm demeanor on the surface.

"Yes, I've learned a little bit."

At that moment, the three girls seemed to have found family and immediately started talking.

Momo and Mina immediately joined the conversation, with Momo happily saying:

"Your Japanese pronunciation is so standard!"

Mina nodded repeatedly in agreement.

For a moment, the waiting room seemed to turn into a Japanese language exchange meeting, as Jiang Che and the three of them chatted enthusiastically, instantly enlivening the atmosphere.

Standing to the side, Tzuyu watched her three teammates chatting happily with Sunny unnie, her face full of admiration. She couldn't help but whisper to Yoona beside her, "Yoona unnie, Sunny unnie is so amazing... her Japanese is so good."

Yoona looked at Jiang Che, who was chatting and laughing, and her lips twitched involuntarily.

My inner monologue:

'Amazing? Amazing what! I wonder if Sunny unnie will cry when she finds out that Kang Cheol is using her face to show off his Japanese so much, forcing her into the hell of learning Japanese.'

Yoona could almost picture Sunny wailing over her Japanese textbook, and a chill ran down her spine. She had personally experienced the agony of being indirectly tricked into learning Chinese by Kang Cheol, and she almost beat him to death for all those tongue twisters.

But on the surface, Yoona still managed a somewhat stiff smile for Tzuyu:

"Yes... Sunny unnie, she's usually quite low-key."

But in my heart I was silently praying:

'I hope that after Sunny unnie finds out the truth, she'll focus her firepower mainly on Jiang Che, the culprit, and please don't let it affect me...'

Just as Yoona was having a dramatic moment, the door to the waiting room opened, and staff announced that recording was about to begin.

The group moved to the studio, which was decorated in a warm and vibrant atmosphere. The MCs were already in place, and after exchanging greetings, the recording of the show officially began.

However, at the beginning of the show, the MCs focused almost entirely on the two members of Girls' Generation. The main MC, in particular, couldn't hide his excitement from the moment he opened his mouth:

"Wow! Today is truly... an honor for our program! We were able to have both Yoona and Sunny from Girls' Generation here!"

"Yes, Annyeonghaseyo, we are Girls' Generation." Kang Cheol and Im Yoon-ah greeted each other with practiced smiles.

"Yoona Xi's performance in 'New Journey to the West' was amazing!"

“Sunny Xi, that’s true. The two of you participating in the show together feels like Girls’ Generation’s energy has been brought into our studio!”

The main MC talked non-stop, the topic always revolving around Girls' Generation. Although Kang Cheol and Yoona handled it with ease, occasionally throwing out jokes and showing great chemistry, Kang Cheol was already internally ranting:
'Is this MC a die-hard fan of Girls' Generation? I know Girls' Generation is popular, but you've practically made those four TWICE girls look like background noise. Do you really not watch them?!'

He glanced at Tzuyu, Sana, Momo, and Mina out of the corner of his eye—the four girls still had sweet smiles on their faces, but their eyes betrayed their unease, which was almost visible to the naked eye.

Kang Cheol tried to subtly steer the conversation away from the topic, interjecting during a pause in the MC's breath: "Speaking of which, TWICE's comeback song this time is also fantastic, and their dance is very energetic."

Upon hearing this, the MC exclaimed, "Ah, yes, yes, TWICE is also excellent..." before changing the subject:
"But when it comes to dance, Girls' Generation's choreography for 'Into the New World' is a classic! And 'Gee' was a nationwide hit back then!"

Jiang Che: "..."

He felt a throbbing pain in his temples, but he couldn't really say that his MC skills were bad. He had no choice but to resort to a direct attack.

Just as the main MC was about to continue praising Girls' Generation in various ways, Kang Cheol revealed a bright smile:

"Hahaha, Agassi! Stop it, stop it!"

The MC and everyone else looked at him.

Jiang Che continued:

"I feel like if you keep talking like this, we should stop calling this show 'Little TV Station' and just change it to 'Little Girls' Generation'!"
We're both really happy, but PD-nim might cry, and the TWICE members are all going to sleep!

As he spoke, he deliberately winked in TWICE's direction.

Upon hearing this, several suppressed laughs rippled through the room from the staff. The main MC paused for a moment, then suddenly realized what he'd said, a hint of embarrassment flashing across his face. He quickly understood he'd indeed neglected the newcomer and hastily tried to smooth things over.
"Hahaha! Sunnyxi is right! It's mainly because seeing the two of you makes me so happy! Come on, let's give more attention to TWICE, who are shining just as brightly today!"

This direct approach was very effective; the MC finally began to distribute the topics evenly and actively brought up the TWICE members.

Chou Tzu-yu, Sana, Momo, and Mina almost simultaneously cast grateful glances at "sunny".

The interactive segment continued, and the MC officially introduced the members of TWICE.

"Welcome our energetic new girl group—TWICE!" the MC continued.

"We all know that many members of TWICE come from overseas. It must be very difficult for them to come to Korea from abroad to develop their careers. I saw in the information that Momo is from Kyoto, Japan, right?"

"Inside"

So Sana is from Osaka, an island nation?
"Inside"

Is Mina from Kobe, an island nation?
"Inside"

Is Tzuyu from Taiwan?
Just as Tzuyu was about to speak, Jiang Che, sitting diagonally opposite her, seemed to be casually adding more precise information, and replied with a smile:
"Ah, it's Tzuyu from Taiwan, China."

The atmosphere at the scene froze for a moment because of this unexpected addition.

The main MC reacted very quickly and immediately replied:
"Yes, yes, yes! It's Chou Tzu-yu from Taiwan, China!"

Upon hearing the MC's and "Sunny unnie's" words, Chou Tzu-yu subconsciously glanced at the smiling "Sunny," then obediently nodded.

"Inside,"

This little incident happened almost instantly and was quickly swept away by the MC's smooth handling; most of the audience probably didn't even notice anything unusual.

But Yoona, sitting on the other side of Jiang Che, keenly caught the subtle atmosphere of that moment. She glanced thoughtfully at Jiang Che's profile, thinking to herself:
'This guy...did he do this on purpose? Was this what he meant when he warned Tzuyu about sensitive topics? But how could he have known this would happen?'

Jiang Che breathed a sigh of relief:
'Luckily I reacted quickly... I hadn't done all my MC homework.'

He did this both out of a sense of foresight and an instinct to avoid risks, and also because he simply felt that being vague on this issue would be of no benefit to Chou Tzu-yu's future development.

It's not a problem for Sunny, with her experience, to correct it herself; but if a newcomer is made to correct it, it might cause displeasure.

The show continued. Next came an interesting segment of the program—the members had to pretend to be asleep in a scene set up as a bedroom, then perform a talent show after waking up, and finally interact with the live stream chat.

After the staff quickly set up the scene, the MC mysteriously announced:
"To make it more fun, we've hidden a little flag representing your hometown under everyone's pillow! Remember to take it out and wave it when you wake up!"

Kang Cheol and Yoona naturally represent the Korean Peninsula flag, Momo, Sana, and Mina represent the Japanese flag, while Tzuyu represents the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag.

He caught a glimpse of the flag, his pupils contracted slightly, and he muttered to himself:
"I really don't know if the production team's arrangement was unintentional or deliberate. Can this thing really be used as a representative flag of one's birthplace?"

Chou Tzu-yu herself was unaware of the meaning behind the flag; she simply intended to use it as a prop to represent her hometown, as requested by the production team.

Jiang Che looked at the flag placed under his pillow and felt that it was not a flag, but a hand grenade that had just had its safety pin pulled and was hissing and smoking.

His mind raced:
'What should we do? Should we just snatch this bomb away later? Would that drag Sunny into this?'

After weighing the pros and cons, Jiang Che quickly made a decision: he would simply prevent the flag from appearing. Taking advantage of the MC's final adjustment of his positioning, he strode towards the props staff member who had just placed the flag.

(End of this chapter)