Peninsula: My cheat code is unscientific

Chapter 97 Capitalist. Gui

Sunny on the far right has her eyes wide open, wide as saucers, clearly not sleepy at all. A parallel world? A shapeshifter? A boy? And he can even turn into herself? And she saw naked?!

"Ah—!" she screamed silently in her heart, wishing she could rush out immediately and beat Jiang Che up again.

But another thought sneakily popped into his head. Wait… he can become anyone? Exactly the same? Wouldn’t that make him… a perfect… tool? Ugh, a substitute!
Lee Soon-kyu, the laziest... no, the member of Girls' Generation who knows how to enjoy life the most, seems to lead a smooth road to laziness... no, to an efficient life! Her motto is: while others work, she earns her own money?

Those radio stations that wake up at dawn? Those dinner parties you don't want to go to? Those exhausting book signings?
Sunny's eyes suddenly lit up, gleaming in the darkness like a capitalist seeing cheap labor. Since she could cover for Yoona, why not cover for herself? It wasn't too much to ask, was it? It was perfectly reasonable!

Judging from those trending topics before, this kid's professional skills are top-notch!
She sat up abruptly, making such a loud noise that it startled Yoona and Taeyeon who were standing next to her.

“Taeyeon, Yoona, what do you say…” Sunny brought up the old topic again:
"When Jiang Chexi transforms into our likeness, does that mean he's seen us naked?"

As soon as the words were spoken, the two people on the bed froze instantly, and an intense awkwardness filled the air.

Yoona cleared her throat awkwardly. Taeyeon pulled the blanket up further, trying to cover her burning face.

Seeing this, Sunny pressed her advantage, her tone becoming more persuasive, much like the wolf in sheep's clothing trying to seduce Little Red Riding Hood:
"Since things have come to this, we've seen it, we've touched it... there has to be a price to pay, right? We can't just brush it off with 'there's no way,' can we?"

Yoona's lips twitched; she had a bad feeling.

"So, unnie, you mean..."

Sunny's eyes gleamed:

"So, let him pay for it with his work! That makes perfect sense, right? From now on, let him take on those schedules we don't want to go on, those tiring appearances, just like us. Perfect substitute work, seamless!"

"This...this won't do, will it?" Yoona was startled and quickly objected:

"That's too risky. What if we get discovered?"

"Oh, there's no such thing as 'what if'!" Sunny waved her hand and started making empty promises:

"As long as the plan is meticulous and there aren't two of us at the same time, who can guess? Only heaven, earth, you, me, and him know!"

"Think about it, in the future, let him go on the trips we don't want to take. Let him see the people we don't want to see. In short, let him do what we can do, and let him do even more so what we can't do."

"All we have to do is sleep at home, play games, and eat snacks! We still get paid, get media exposure, and it's so easy! What kind of heavenly life is this?"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, as if she had already lived the dream life of slacking off.

Taeyeon was initially hesitant, but then she remembered how, even someone as smart as herself had foolishly thought Kang Cheol was a clone and hadn't considered the possibility of a split personality.
I nodded subconsciously, thinking that what Sunny said seemed to make some sense.

Yoona was speechless as she watched Taeyeon nod without thinking, then a crucial question came to mind:

"I have a question. Jiang Che can transform into other female celebrities after talking to them. If he's allowed to fill in for them, won't he end up transforming into a lot of different people?"

"Oh my god, it really is a shapeshifter?" Sunny's eyes widened instantly, but she quickly calmed down:

"But it's fine, we can have him fill in. It'll be fine for a solo schedule where no other female celebrities are present."

If we really do encounter that, we can just tell him not to transform anymore. He should be able to control his transformation, right? Also... he won't turn into a male celebrity, will he?

"It can be controlled, and it won't turn into a male celebrity, but..."

Before she could finish speaking, Sunny was already rubbing her hands together excitedly, seemingly completely absorbed in her grand plan to slack off in the future.
"Then it's settled! From now on, we're a team! We'll share the good times and he can cover for us! I'll have a good talk with Jiang Che-xi tomorrow morning!"

To make up for the immense hurt he caused us, it's only right that we put in some effort.

Yoona looked at the one on her left, who seemed to have little intelligence and was just a clueless nodding girl, and then looked at the one on her right, who had a capitalist soul burning brightly and was too shrewd and unhappy. In despair, she pulled the blanket up to cover her head.

That's it, this family is probably never going to have any peace and quiet.

Early in the morning, Jiang Che stood in the kitchen, skillfully flipping the fried eggs in the frying pan.

When he woke up in the morning, he was back to his original appearance—clean short hair, a well-defined profile, a tall and straight figure, wearing the well-fitting men's clothes that Yoona had bought for him, and also wearing a cartoon apron.

This virtuous scene was witnessed by the three girls who came out of the bedroom one after another.

Taeyeon was the first to emerge. She had light dark circles under her eyes, clearly indicating she hadn't slept well. When her gaze fell upon Kang Cheol's true appearance, she abruptly stopped, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

It's really him!

That stunningly handsome guy I caught a glimpse of in my Macau hotel room!

He was even clearer in the morning light. His profile was clean and sharp, his nose straight, and the way he focused on cooking held a strange allure. Even more handsome than she vaguely remembered?
She instinctively wanted to look away, but her eyes kept sneaking back to her.

Next to come out was Sunny. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, yawned widely, and then saw Jiang Che in the kitchen.

Her reaction was much more direct; her drowsiness vanished instantly, and her eyes lit up as if she had discovered some novel species. She looked Jiang Che up and down without any hesitation, her gaze filled with scrutiny, curiosity, and a hint of disbelief.

"Wow..." she exclaimed meaningfully, nudging Taeyeon, who was looking away, with her elbow, and lowering her voice:
"She really can turn back? Tsk tsk, she's quite handsome, just your type. Wow, she can even cook? Yoona's living the good life! No wonder she's keeping a secret from everyone."

Yoona, who came out last, heard Sunny's teasing and saw Taeyeon's girlish, lovesick look. She felt a mix of emotions, pouted slightly, and muttered to herself:
"Unnie, he was just making breakfast... what do you mean by 'keeping a mistress in a golden house'?"

After Jiang Che finished preparing breakfast, he saw the three-finger mountain combination in the living room, and the corners of his mouth almost turned up in a smile, but he quickly controlled it and greeted them:
"Good morning, everyone. Don't just stand there, go wash up and then let's eat first, chat while we eat?"

After washing up, the atmosphere at the dining table was awkward, with only the soft clinking of bowls and chopsticks. Finally, capitalist Lee Soon-kyu broke the silence, clearing her throat.

“Ahem, Jiang Che-xi,” she put down her chopsticks, adopting a negotiating stance:

"The three of us discussed it last night and felt that you can't keep drifting like this, so we're giving you a chance to cover our shifts, how about that?"

Jiang, who was holding a fried egg, paused upon hearing this, slowly put the egg in her mouth, chewed and swallowed it, and then looked up at Sunny.

She glanced again at Taeyeon, who had instantly perked up her ears, and Yoona, whose eyes were darting around.

He thought for a moment, a kind smile appeared on his face, and then he slowly extended one finger.

The moment Yoona saw that finger, three black lines appeared on her forehead. Here it comes again, that greedy bastard!

Sunny stared at the finger, blinked, and didn't quite understand:

"...What do you mean...once a day? Once a week? Or once a month?"

Seeing that Sunny didn't understand, Jiang Che shook his finger again, then rubbed the tips of his thumb and forefinger together, making a universally recognized little gesture.

This internationally recognized gesture instantly made Sunny understand what he meant.

Sunny was also completely baffled.

"Ah!!!" She suddenly raised her voice, both surprised and angry:
"Jiang Che! You still have the nerve to ask for money?! You've become like me! You must have seen everything, right? I'm already being lenient by not making you pay me! And you still dare to ask for money?!"

Jiang Che touched his nose, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Um... Sunny, as the saying goes, if you want a horse to run fast, you have to feed it well, so paying it is reasonable, right?"

He sounded a bit unsure of himself, after all, he was indeed in the wrong first, and was thinking that he might as well just lower the price for himself.

Just as Sunny was about to continue her verbal instruction, teaching him a lesson—

"I give."

A faint but clear voice suddenly broke in.

The dining table fell silent instantly.

Sunny and Jiang Che turned their heads at the same time to look at the source of the sound.

Kim Tae-yeon had raised her head at some point, and although her eyes were still somewhat evasive, her tone was unusually firm:
"I'll give it to you! Kang Cheol, you'll cover my shift! One hundred million won, right? No problem!"

"Pfft—" Yoona almost spat out her milk, quickly covered her mouth, and coughed violently, staring at Taeyeon with an incredulous look as she coughed.

Sunny was so angry at her incompetent teammate that she almost fainted.
"Kim Tae-yeon! You...you...you traitor! Didn't we agree to form a united front and let him work for free?! You actually betrayed us and aided the enemy?!"

Taeyeon's gaze wandered as she was being talked about, but she avoided eye contact with Sunny.
Jiang Che was also taken aback by Taeyeon's sudden extravagance and quickly coughed twice:

"Ahem, um... Taeyeon, we don't need that much... ten million will do."

"Ten million? Is this a matter of money? This is a matter of principle! You…!" Sunny, standing nearby, objected.
Seeing that Sunny was about to unleash another round of attacks, Jiang Che quickly pulled out his trump card:

"Calm down, calm down, Sunny. There's one crucial question: are you guys coming back anytime soon?"

The three of them were stunned at the same time.

Jiang Che shrugged:

“I really can’t sing or dance. I can’t possibly wear one of your faces and go on stage to lip-sync or make random gestures, can I? You guys would probably be trending on social media too.”

One sentence hit the nail on the head.

Sunny opened her mouth, but all the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat. The music show performances during the comeback period were indeed irreplaceable.

Seeing that the situation had been stabilized, Jiang Che immediately seized the opportunity and began to make promises:
"So, let's talk about filling in for you next time. We'll discuss it when you have your own schedules that don't require singing or dancing."

(End of this chapter)