Peninsula: Who taught him to make that connection?!

Why isn't he laughing in Chapter 6?

[Script first act completion rate: 100%]

[Overall script completion rate: 8%]

[Emotional authenticity: 60%]

[Successfully captured trending structure.]

[The character's prototype has been successfully identified.]

[Key elements: white headphones, number plate, 1 in 9,000, first encounter in the waiting room, a journey between time and reality.]

[Settlement Reward: Your physical fitness will receive a slight boost upon waking.]

[Settlement Review: You finally understand, what the audience wants to see isn't a big star falling in love with me, but rather that I've already run towards you when you're unknown.]

Jiang Tang looked at the line "Emotional authenticity 60%" and couldn't help but complain.

"Only 60%?"

The system responded quickly.

But you only saw her.

[I haven't really gotten close to her yet.]

The smile on Jiang Tang's face slowly faded.

That statement is undeniable.

The preliminary selection is just the beginning.

What truly makes someone your ideal partner is never that first glance.

But every time she felt she couldn't hold on any longer, you were there just in time.

The system continued to display text.

The conditions for starting the next phase of the internship have been met.

You can set a suitable time to begin your second romantic internship.

Jiang Tang touched his chin.

Since he can choose his own time, he shouldn't just do it to complete system tasks.

Because he was the one who wanted to write the romance script.

Now, he's starting to really want to know how Kim Tae-yeon got through it all back then.

He opened his browser and began searching for information about Kim Tae-yeon's trainee days.

Quanzhou.

SM Youth Selection.

9000: 1.

The one.

Trainee period.

Before Girls' Generation's debut.

He read through them one by one; the information was all very short.

It was so short that it compressed a girl's long and arduous youth into just a few lines.

"In 2004, he won the Best Singer Award and Grand Prize at the 8th SM Youth Audition and joined SM as a trainee."

"I received vocal training during my trainee period."

She debuted in 2007 as a member of Girls' Generation.

that's it.

No one knows if she was nervous while waiting backstage.

No one knows what she was thinking when she traveled alone from Jeonju to Seoul.

Jiang Tang, however, knew a little bit.

I know she was worried that her father was waiting outside for too long.

I know she's afraid she's not one in nine thousand.

I knew that she relaxed for a moment when she heard, "If it were me, I would applaud for you."

And only he knew these things.

This feeling is strange.

It's as if he stole a secret belonging to time.

Jiang Tang wrote down the information and then returned to the document.

He wrote a sentence under the title of Act II—

"She thought that passing the audition meant she was chosen by fate, but she later realized that being chosen was just pushing her to a more brutal starting point."

……

Meanwhile, in the underground parking garage.

Kim Tae-yeon suddenly frowned in her dream.

In her dream, she was standing in a waiting room that was both strange and familiar.

The sunlight outside the window is very bright.

She kept her head down, clutching the number tag in her hand.

There were many people around.

Many, many people.

It's as if she's returned to that age when nothing has even started.

A young man sat down next to me.

She couldn't see his face clearly, she only heard him say:

"Don't try to be one of the nine thousand people."

"If it were me, I would applaud you."

Kim Tae-yeon suddenly opened her eyes.

The car was completely dark.

She sat in the chair, her heart beating inexplicably fast.

The voice from my dream still lingers in my ears.

Gentle, clear, yet unfamiliar.

She raised her hand to her chest and remained stunned for a long time.

"Who is it...?"

She clearly didn't remember ever seeing that person.

But I don't know why.

She almost cried when she heard those words in her dream.

At that moment, there was a gentle knock on the car window.

A person wearing a hat and a mask appeared in front of the car window.

"Taeyeon noona".

The other person took off their mask, revealing a pale-faced young man.

It's Byun Baekhyun.

Kim Tae-yeon rolled down the car window.

Byun Baekhyun bent down, his eyes flashing under the brim of his hat.

"Have you been waiting long?"

Kim Tae-yeon originally wanted to say "no," but the words were on the tip of her tongue, and she hesitated for a moment.

A few minutes ago, she would probably have given him a dismissive look and said in a very soft voice, "You knew that, yet you made me wait?"

That sounds like a complaint, but it actually carries a hint of coquetry.

But at this moment, she was only looking at Byun Baekhyun's pretty face, while the image of the boy from her dream still lingered in her mind.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Byun Baekhyun seemed to think she was really angry, so he quickly went around to the passenger side and got in the car.

The car door closed.

There was another person breathing inside the silver convertible.

Byun Baekhyun took off his mask and smiled.

"Noona, I really didn't mean to be late. My manager suddenly asked me where I was going, and I almost gave myself away."

Kim Tae-yeon shook her head. "I just fell asleep."

Byun Baekhyun turned his head to look at her, his eyes crinkling into a smile.

"No wonder, she still looks like she just woke up."

Kim Tae-yeon paused for a moment, then raised her hand to touch her cheek.

"Is there?"

"Yes." Byun Baekhyun smiled and reached out, as if to brush a stray strand of hair from her face. "Here."

His movements were very natural.

Just as his fingertips were about to touch her ear, Kim Tae-yeon subtly pulled back.

The amplitude is very small.

Byun Baekhyun's hand froze in mid-air.

The air in the carriage suddenly went still for a second.

Kim Tae-yeon realized her action; her eyebrows twitched slightly, and she immediately explained with a smile, "It tickles."

Byun Baekhyun was a little embarrassed, but quickly withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened.

"Is it ticklish?"

"Um."

Kim Tae-yeon nodded.

She bent down to untie the earphone cord, trying to use this action to hide her unease.

But the moment my fingertips touched the earphones, the voice from my dream surfaced again without warning.

"If it were me, I would applaud you."

Her fingers paused.

Byun Baekhyun didn't notice, and simply took out a cup of still-steaming coffee from his pocket.

"I bought it on the way. Nuna must have a lot of things to do today, right?"

Kim Tae-yeon took it.

She should have been happy.

This feeling of being cared for is precisely what makes ambiguity so heart-melting.

But for some reason, when she looked at Byun Baekhyun's expectant eyes, her heart didn't warm up as quickly as she had imagined.

"Thanks."

"Just thank you?" Byun Baekhyun deliberately feigned a disappointed expression. "I risked getting caught by my manager to buy it."

Kim Tae-yeon was amused by him.

"So what do you want?"

When Byun Baekhyun saw her smile, his gaze softened a little.

"At least give me one compliment."

"Hmm..." Kim Tae-yeon thought for a moment, "Baekhyun is very considerate."

"Too official."

"Then what else would you like to hear?"

"For example, Baekhyun is so good, thank goodness for you."

He said it jokingly, but his eyes remained fixed on her.

Kim Tae-yeon suddenly stopped talking.

She knew he was a good person.

Like a perfectly sweet drink, it makes you want to have another sip even though you know you shouldn't drink too much.

But at that very moment, the waiting room from her dream flashed through her mind again.

He simply sat next to her and said something during her most frightened moment—

"Don't think about nine thousand people."

Kim Tae-yeon's heart tightened slightly for no apparent reason.

Byun Baekhyun suddenly moved a little closer.

"Nuna?"

"Um?"

You seem to be spacing out the whole day.

"Is there?"

"Yes." Byun Baekhyun stared at her. "You've been acting strange ever since I got in the car."

Kim Tae-yeon held her coffee cup, her smile somewhat forced.

"I'm probably just too tired."

Byun Baekhyun paused for a moment.

Then, he suddenly reached out and tried to cover her hand that was holding the coffee cup.

"Then let's take a break."

The warmth of my palm is about to touch you.

Kim Tae-yeon's body stiffened slightly.

She knew she shouldn't overreact in this situation.

When ambiguity reaches a certain level, physical contact will naturally increase.

This time, it was the back of my hand.

Next time, perhaps it will be even closer.

But for some reason, when Byun Baekhyun's hand actually touched hers, she didn't feel the flutter she had expected.

Instead, a thought popped into my head first.

Have things progressed too fast between Baekhyun and me?

Are we really that familiar with each other?

Or is it precisely because of this undisclosed relationship that each step closer is accelerated?

Kim Tae-yeon lowered her eyes.

In that instant, she suddenly put the coffee cup into the cup holder next to her.

Byun Baekhyun's hand naturally missed its target.

The carriage fell silent again.

Byun Baekhyun looked at her, and the smile on his lips froze instantly.

"Noona is really tired today."