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

Chapter 41 Popcorn Displacement Law

It was the end of summer and the two-week overseas filming came to an end.

The air conditioning at Los Angeles Airport couldn't dispel the anxiety caused by the delay announcement.

Krystal Jung pulled the brim of her baseball cap down to almost cover half of her face, and leaned back on a bench in the rest area to catch up on her sleep. The baby's crying in her ears was filtered out by the noise-canceling headphones into a vague buzzing sound.

On the massage chair diagonally opposite, Park Hyung-sik was scrolling through a collection of comedic videos; while Kim Ji-won was holding the latest issue of VOGUE fashion magazine, her fingertips gently stroking the pictures of haute couture dresses.

The delay announcement at Los Angeles Airport switched to a welcome message from Seoul Incheon International Airport.

Krystal rubbed her arms as she went to get her luggage. The sound of the checked luggage belts rolling mixed with the Jeju Island promotional video:

"The thousand-year-old snow on the top of Hallasan Mountain is the most sacred crown of Jeju Island—"

A clear male voice filled the crowd, and her hand pulling the suitcase paused.

"The narrator's voice sounds familiar."

Kim Ji-won slid her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose and looked up at the Jeju Island promotional video playing on the hanging LCD screen.

In the close-up of the wrinkled face of the Jeju Island haenyeo, Jiang Zaixun's dubbing turns rough like sandpaper:

"Amani's backpack holds the sediment of fifty years of wind, waves, and tides—"

"Teacher Jiang's scope of work is really broad."

Park Hyung-sik and Kim Ji-won raised their heads and stamped their feet simultaneously:
"I haven't seen you for a few days, and you've become a tourism ambassador."

The sudden burst of flashes of light at the airport entrance fell like a torrential rain.

As soon as Lee Min Ho stepped out of the gate, he was surrounded by a swarm of reporters with cameras and long guns.

Zheng Xiujing seized the opportunity and hurried towards the parking lot with her suitcase. The end of Kang Jae-hoon's mellow voice from the promotional video was still lingering in her ears:

"Seongsan Sunrise Peak will use the solidified magma lines to engrave your unique climbing memories—"

The seam of the rubber floor mat suddenly caught on the suitcase wheel axle, and she swayed but was caught in time by Kim Ji-won.

"Bona has lost her balance today?"

"Jet lag."

Krystal steadied her breathing and glanced at the electronic screen hanging from the dome.

Park Hyung-sik sauntered over and said, "The director said we're having a day off. Do you want to get together and watch a movie tonight?"

"What are you looking at?"

Kim Ji-won turned and looked at Park Hyung-sik.

"Despicable Me 2, voiced by Brother Xun, premieres today."

"Is he going?"

"Who?"

Kim Ji-won pursed her lips at the hanging screen as the narration of the Jeju Island promotional video, voiced by Kang Jae-hoon, was broadcast over the citrus fields of Seogwipo.

Park Hyung-sik suddenly realized:
"That's where Brother Xun asked me to go!"

"Then I'll go."

Kim Ji-won turned to look at Krystal, who was listening intently: "Bo-na, are you coming?"

"Cartoons are the most boring." Krystal curled her lips.

"Just think of it as accompanying me. You don't want rumors to spread that Krystal is not getting along with the crew members, right?"

Krystal was silent for two seconds, then suddenly rushed towards the exit, dragging her suitcase. "Let me make this clear first. I'm just worried about people making up stories about me."

Kim Ji-won jogged after him carrying her suitcase:
"Yes! Our Bao Na is the most loyal——"

Park Hyung-sik shouted at the two people's backs:
"See you at Apgujeong CGV at 8:30—"

"Noisy!"

The airport window reflected the tips of her red ears, and a voiceover of Jeju Island's citrus fields drifted from the distant security checkpoint:
"From Seogwipo..."

The heat wave at the end of August melted the second half of the sentence.

As dusk fell, Kang Jae-hoon stood waiting outside the CGV cinema in Apgujeong.

The neon tubes reflected a magical halo on the big eyes of the Minions T-shirt, and passers-by looked at him sideways, so he had to lower the brim of his baseball cap.

The plastic bag in my hand rustled in the night wind, and the peels of the oranges I brought back from Jeju Island were shining with a greenish luster - the sweet ones were left for the Bible, and the rest were early-ripening varieties that were so sour that made people squint.

Eight five.

Three dark shadows wrapped in masks surrounded us, looking like moving human mosaics.

"Jaehoon is so handsome he could play a vampire!"

Park Hyung-sik opened his arms and was about to pounce.

Jiang Zaixun smiled and stuffed the orange into his arms: "The Los Angeles sun has tanned you into a black knight."

Kim Ji-won looked at his Minions T-shirt:
"Ms. Jiang's private clothing taste, emm... quite childish?"

"It's a gift from the sponsor."

He took an orange out of a plastic bag and handed it to her: "A specialty of Jeju Island."

"Thank you."

When Kang Jae-hoon turned to Krystal, she was kicking the gaps between the floor tiles with her head down, as if she could see the Seoul subway map.

"Would you like to try some Jeju Island oranges?"

He handed the orange to her, and the plastic bag was blown against the back of her hand by the wind.

"Are you jealous?" Krystal heard herself asking a stupid question.

"After all, it's an early-ripening fruit, so the sourness will be more pronounced."

Kim Ji-won squeezed in between the two of them:
"Bona doesn't like oranges—"

Zheng Xiujing suddenly grabbed the orange and turned away:
"I suddenly want to eat again."

Jiang Zaixun stared at her back in a daze, then was attracted by Park Hyung-sik's talk about interesting things on the Los Angeles set.

Kim Ji-won trotted to catch up with Zheng Xiujing, her high heels tapping out a rapid drumbeat:
"Why do you want to eat again suddenly?"

"Can't I eat if I want to?"

"I guess you're reluctant to let someone take their hand back, right?"

Krystal suddenly stopped and said, "Ouni."

"Ok?"

"You know, my dad runs a boxing gym."

Kim Ji-won: “???”

The sweet caramel smell of popcorn mixed with the cold air hit me in the face.

The salesperson in a striped apron pointed at the billboard and enthusiastically recommended:
"Nim, the couple's package also comes with a limited edition Minions keychain!"

Zheng Xiujing stared at her toes and pretended not to hear. Jin Zhiyuan suddenly took her arm:
"The four of us count as two couples?"

Kang Jae-hoon rubbed his chin as he studied the package instructions:

“But the four of us are actually…”

"I'm in a group with Hyungsik-xi," Kim Ji-won pushed Krystal forward, "You two are perfect."

Krystal Jung protested muffledly through her mask: "Are you crazy?"

The salesperson looked back and forth between the four people:

"Nim, there are only four keychains left. It's not too late to buy one now."

Jiang Zaixun suddenly remembered something and nodded:
"Then let's get the couple's package. Bible really likes Minions."

The air froze for two seconds.

Three pairs of eyes shot over at the same time.

"What is the Bible?"

Kim Ji-won asked with a long tone.

"My roommate."

"Female roommate?" Park Hyung-sik asked as if he had discovered a new world.

"Ah."

Jin Zhiyuan raised an eyebrow: "Are there still girls in Seoul willing to share a house with men?"

"We were in the same university and have known each other for five years."

Krystal suddenly slammed her credit card on the glass counter, making a crisp sound:

“I want to buy it separately.”

The cashier glanced back and forth between Kang Jae-hoon and Krystal Jung: "There are no souvenirs for single meal packages."

"My house has a combination lock, so I don't need a keychain."

Jiang Zaixun took out his wallet and searched the coin purse: "Actually, saving two thousand yuan can buy an extra bag of cat strips..."

"Single meal."

Krystal stared at the red dot on the cashier's scanner and repeated.

"Please wait."

Park Hyung-sik suddenly hooked his arm around Kang Jae-hoon's shoulders:

"What does your roommate look like? Kim Tae Hee or Han Ga In?"

"Normal appearance."

"Do you have a photo?"

"I am searching."

Jiang Zaixun took out his cell phone and looked through the photo album, and Jin Zhiyuan also stretched his neck curiously.

After a moment, the screen froze on a photo of Lee Sung-kyung wearing a birthday hat and pouting while blowing out candles.

"My roommate..."

Park Hyung-sik scratched the tip of his nose and considered his words: "Very... friendly?"

"How do you know she's kind?"

"Uh, physiognomy?"

"I'll introduce you to each other someday when I have the chance."

"How long we have to wait?"

Krystal suddenly knocked on the glass display case with her knuckles.

"almost done."

The cashier finished scanning the last single meal and asked, "Would you like to order additional wipes? Popcorn grease stains are hard to clean."

"Need not."

After purchasing the meal, Kim Ji-won grabbed Krystal's wrist and dragged her to the bathroom.

The light in front of the mirror stretched the shadows of the two people into long and thin ones.

As the hand sanitizer foam slid down her fingers, Kim Ji-won suddenly spoke:
"His roommate looks like a female soldier who just got discharged from the army."

Krystal shook the water droplets off her hands: "So?"

Kim Ji-won took a piece of paper towel:
"Five years! Even my grandma can't wait for this kind of long-lasting romance in her daily dramas. It means they are not each other's type at all."

"Finished?"

"Want to bet 50,000 won that Mr. Jiang doesn't even know his roommate's menstrual period?"

"boring."

"Row."

Jin Zhiyuan took out her lip balm and slowly applied it: "After the movie is over, I will tell Teacher Jiang that someone has been filming every play he has performed."

"you dare!"

"CGV reminds you that ticket checking for the 20:30 screening of Despicable Me 2 will begin soon—"

The cinema's ticket checking notification sounded suddenly.

Kim Ji-won's lip balm was still hanging on her lips, and Krystal Jung had already dodged and pushed open the bathroom door.

"Why are you running? Seriously?"

Because this was the premiere, the seats for four people were not in a row.

But Kang Jae-hoon was an insider after all, so he was still able to get a ticket for the best viewing seat.

【PS：据美国电影电视协会调查显示——水平视角大于36度，仰角小于35度便是影院的帝王座位：小厅5、6排；大厅9、10排；IMAX厅7排。】

The aisle in the theater was only wide enough for sideways movement. Kim Ji-won stopped in the aisle of the seventh row and turned to give Park Hyung-sik a look:
“7排8、9；9排9、10……哎我近视，得坐前排。”

"Coincidentally, I also have severe astigmatism."

Krystal Jung stood frozen in the aisle, clutching the crumpled ticket stub for row 9, number 10.

As she watched the two of them squeeze into seats 8 and 9 in row 7, she suddenly remembered the line in the Jeju Island promotional video: "Every footprint has its destination."

Hearing the urging coughs of passersby behind him, Jiang Zaixun stepped aside to make way, holding the popcorn bucket:

"Shall we sit in the back?"

"Um"

Krystal drooped her eyelashes and slowly followed him into the seat.

When the ceiling lights in the screening room suddenly went out, the sound of the screen advertisements instantly engulfed the entire space.

Krystal's right hand hovered above the caramel popcorn bucket, her fingertips moving repeatedly on the edge of the plastic until the third car commercial began, then she quietly reached in.

Jiang Jae-hoon reached out almost at the same time.

"Feel sorry."

He retracted his hand as if he had been electrocuted, and rubbed it back and forth on the seam of his jeans: "I thought this was mine."

"No, it's okay."

Krystal rubbed her knuckles unconsciously, thankful that the darkness hid the burning tips of her ears.

When the movie started, Jiang Zaixun suddenly came to his senses - the bucket of caramel popcorn that should have belonged to him was now held in her lap.

He turned around to ask, but found Krystal sitting upright staring at the screen.

The blue light from the screen flowed across her profile, and the cold tones of the Arctic glaciers made her jawline appear particularly sharp.

His eyelashes vibrated with the subwoofer, casting a fine fence-like shadow on his bags under his eyes. The moment the straw was bitten by his pearly teeth, his gaze was uncontrollably fixed on the cherry color.

Feel Kang Jae-hoon's gaze.

Krystal's left index finger began to pick at the leather seams of the seat armrest, and the friction between her nails and the synthetic leather made a crackling sound.

When Gru fell from the sky in his fairy dress, she finally took the opportunity to laugh out loud to relax her shoulders and neck.

He confirmed out of the corner of his eye that Jiang Zaixun was focused on the screen, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Secret love is like the fleeting halo of the lens in a movie theater, illuminating one's heart and then quickly disappearing as the plot progresses.

Kang Jae-hoon stared at the confrontation between Gru and Margo, characters he had dubbed, but his mind was completely on the recording studio.

"Don't you think this vocalization is too deliberate?"

He suddenly leaned closer, his warm breath brushing Zheng Xiujing's ear:

"Especially the line 'Love makes people become fools', I always feel that it has the shadow of Mr. Hwang Jung-min."

Krystal Jung instantly froze like a marble sculpture in a museum, her fingertips digging deeply into the armrests of the chair.

She stared at Gru's exaggerated expression on the screen, but couldn't even hear the background music of the Mexican restaurant clearly:
"Hmm, maybe it's a problem with the interjection?"

"I still lack experience."

Jiang Zaixun rubbed the edge of his phone in frustration, the blue light of the memo reflecting his furrowed brows.
"Next time I dub, I must experience life in advance."

Krystal breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that a thin layer of sweat had already appeared on her back.

When the screen switched to a bright sky scene, she turned her head due to the change in light and shadow, and just happened to see the profile of Jiang Zaixun who was taking notes seriously - he looked very much like the senior who always sat in the library when he was in Hanlin Arts High School.

She scratched her nails across the leather armrest for the third time before finally summoning the courage to speak:
“Actually, you deserve it.”

Before he could finish his words, they were drowned out by the roar of the airplane.

Jiang Zaixun turned his head in confusion, and Zheng Xiujing was forced to raise her voice: "Actually, you deserve it——"

"what?"

"You deserve it," Krystal dug her nails into the leather armrest, "the orange you deserve is quite sour!"

tangerine?

Jiang Zaixun was stunned for two seconds, and glanced at the oranges on the armrest:
"This batch is indeed an early-ripening product. How about mixing it with popcorn? It will neutralize the taste."

Zheng Xiujing did as she was told and stuffed a few popcorns into her mouth: "It tastes good."

"How about it?"

"Even stranger."

"Then don't eat it."

As he said this, Jiang Zaixun was about to throw the early ripening sour orange that she had only eaten two slices of into the plastic bag.

"Do not."

Zheng Xiujing stuffed all the sour orange slices into her mouth first, and her temples were throbbing with sourness:

"It can, it can prevent drowsiness."

Jiang Zaixun frowned and looked at the corner of her mouth twitching slightly:

"Is it really okay?"

"No."

Jiang Zaixun's attention was just drawn to the rocket launch on the screen, and Zheng Xiujing suddenly held her forehead:
“The air conditioner is too cold.”

As she leaned over to get her bag, she quickly spat the chewed orange segments into the empty wet wipes bag. They were so sour that even the tip of her tongue curled into a question mark shape.

Krystal grabbed the Coke and took a deep sip. The carbonic acid bubbles exploded in her mouth, and a sour and tingling feeling rushed into her nose.

"If it's cold, do you want to leave early? Don't catch a cold."

The screen was showing the scene where Gru and Lucy were jumping on a rocket, and the explosion effects were shaking the seats.

"Is it almost over?"

Jiang Zaixun looked down at the time on his phone: "Ten minutes left."

"I'll hold on for a while."

"But if you have a headache, it will affect the filming..."

The Coke cup instantly left a dent in Krystal's palm - so this is what he was worried about!

Jiang Zaixun's eyes were still glued to the explosion effects on the screen, and he didn't notice her aura suddenly cooling down.

When the lights come on.

As soon as Kim Ji-won stood up, she saw Krystal Jung sprinting towards the exit:

"Why is our Bona's face greener than the oranges on Jeju Island?"

"Frozen."

Park Hyung-sik looked at Zheng Xiujing's angry back:

"Is Bona angry?"

"Have it?"

Jiang Zaixun looked blankly at Zheng Xiujing disappearing into the emergency exit and scratched his head:
"She said she was cold."

Jin Zhiyuan suddenly sneered:
"I guess Bona's going to have to smash two pillows tonight."

"Why two?"

"The first thing I'm angry about is that Teacher Jiang is a blockhead—" Jin Zhiyuan paced back and forth, counting on her fingers. "The second thing is that I'm angry at myself for being useless."

Jiang Zaixun's eyebrows twisted into question marks: "What's the point?"

Park Hyung-sik came over with popcorn:

"Brother, you weren't so dull when you praised the Bible."

“The Bible is really good.”

Jin Zhiyuan rolled her eyes and said, "I suggest you bring your Bible with you next time you visit the set."

The door to the fire escape suddenly creaked open.

Krystal's shadow was stretched out by the corridor light. "Want to leave?"

"I'll take you there?"

"The agent has arrived."

"Oh"

When the car window was raised, Kim Ji-won's Kakao notification sound exploded in the car——

Kang Jae-hoon sent a message: [If Bo-na hates oranges, why not bring persimmons next time?]

Kim Ji-won handed the phone to Krystal.

Krystal took a look and put the phone upside down on her lap.

The night crushed the neon lights of Seoul on the car windows.

As the nanny car drove past the CGV giant screen poster, the ending theme song of Despicable Me 2 was playing in the screening room:
“Happy——”

She raised her hand and pressed the car window, and the night wind blew in, interrupting the lyrics.

(End of this chapter)