Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

Inside the third floor of an office building in Cheongdam-dong, the music video for "I Am You, You Are Me" will be filmed indoors.

Jiang Yan was sitting in the dressing room, having his look styled by a stylist.

After being reminded by Yu Dingyan's phone call that day, he immediately called the people at CUBE to find out the progress of the venue setup.

Fortunately, the result was pleasing; it would have only taken another three or four days to complete the construction.

After the venue was set up, he accelerated the filming process of the music video.

Just now, Jiang Yan, who had just finished her hair and makeup, stood up from her seat and looked at another figure in the room.

Mina, the female lead in this music video, is sitting sideways on the sofa, receiving final touch-ups on her face from a makeup artist.

She was also holding a notebook in her hand, which contained the script for this music video.

Only after the makeup artist left did Jiang Yan casually approach, point to the empty seat next to Minami, and say, "You don't mind if I sit down, do you?"

"Yes, please have a seat."

Mina looked up at him for a moment, then symbolically shifted her body slightly.

Having received permission, Jiang Yan sat down without ceremony, about half a body length away from the other person.

After sitting down, he noticed that Mina was just looking at him without saying anything, so he took the initiative to speak: "Filming is about to start, are you nervous?"

"Hmm, a little..."

Mina nodded, her face slightly tense, because this was the first time in her life that she had been the female lead in a music video.

Although I had participated in the filming of my senior colleague Missa's music video before, it was only a few scattered shots of me as a passerby.

"Don't be too nervous. You don't need to make too many expressions anyway. Even if you mess up, don't feel bad. Just leave it to me," Jiang Yan comforted him in a relaxed tone.

The entire storyline of the music video revolves around Jiang Yan, who plays the male lead, and the female lead, Mina, only needs to quietly watch him perform.

"Hi~ I'll do my best."

Mina discovered that Jiang Yan's words seemed to have a magical power; after hearing them, she really wasn't as nervous as before.

Jiang Yan wanted to say something more, but then a staff member came in and told them to head to the location and prepare for filming.

The two had to stop talking, get up one after the other and leave the dressing room to head to the filming location.

Upon arrival, Jiang Yan first finalized the filming schedule with the on-site PD.

Then, at the director's signal, he walked into the vicinity of a convenience store scene that had been set up. Mina also entered the convenience store, and the two waited together for the next instructions.

Not long after the cameramen and lighting technicians were all in place, the director immediately gave the order to begin filming.

The general plot of this music video is that the male lead wears the same clothes as the female lead who works at a convenience store every day to buy items in order to attract her attention, which leads to a series of small events.

"Ready, Action!"

After the director yelled at the camera screen, Jiang Yan immediately got into character on set, seemingly casually walking to the convenience store door, pushing it open and going inside.

Mina, who was standing at the cashier, initially just glanced at it casually, but then looked up a second time as if to confirm. She "discovered" that the customer who came in was wearing the exact same clothes as her.

……

Because it involves shooting in many shots, the director usually calls for a break after shooting a few segments.

The efficiency was pretty good, considering it wasn't filming a movie or TV series.

After filming another segment, the camera was turned off again, and the two people in the convenience store immediately came out and sat down on the sidelines to rest.

Feeling a bit bored, Jiang Yan took out his phone and started playing a game of Temple Run.

It's a pity that Honor of Kings hadn't officially launched yet, otherwise he would definitely have played a tense and exciting match in the top lane.

Meanwhile, Mina, who was sitting next to him, was immediately drawn to this scene.

She couldn't help but lean closer and quietly stare at his screen.

Only after Jiang Yan made a mistake and his character died did Mina speak softly, asking curiously, "Yan-san, what game are you playing?"

"You mean this? It's a parkour mobile game we developed over there." Only after being asked this did Jiang Yan realize that Mina was a gamer.

So he generously handed his phone to the other person and said, "Mina-san, would you like to try it out?"

"Um, is that okay?"

"Why not?"

"Arigato~"

Mina carefully took the phone and held it in her hands, looking eager to try it out.

But upon seeing the screen filled with Chinese characters, she immediately looked at Jiang Yan with pleading eyes and asked, "Yan-san, what do these props mean?"

When Jiang Yan was asked this question, he forgot that Mina didn't know Chinese, and it would definitely be difficult for her to understand the meaning by relying solely on the Chinese characters in Japanese.

"This winged item allows the character to dash 400 meters at the start of the game, and this shield can protect the character from one instance of damage..."

Jiang Yan pointed to the screen and carefully explained the purpose of each item to Mina. After a lot of explaining, Mina was finally able to play the game normally.

Before long, Mina was already staring intently at her phone screen, using her two thumbs to skillfully control her character as it jumped and crouched.

"Ah—Shinda! (She's dead)"

About a minute later, Mina put down her phone, pouting, with a hint of annoyance on her face.

"How was it? Did you find it fun?" Jiang Yan asked with a smile.

"It's quite interesting." Mina looked up and smiled slightly at Jiang Yan before returning the phone.

"Does Mina-san usually enjoy playing games?" Jiang Yan asked knowingly after taking the phone.

"Hmm, but I don't play many mobile games. How about you, Yan-san?" Mina asked softly, her eyes brightening slightly as she looked at Jiang Yan.

She used to be annoyed that she couldn't talk about game-related topics with Sana Minatozaki and Momo Hirai, but now she has found someone she can confide in.

"I mostly play PC games, but I also dabble in others, like handheld exclusives like Fire Emblem..."

"Wow, Yan-san's range of games is really wide."

"It's alright. Does Mina-san have any favorite PC games?"

"Yes, I really enjoy playing Minecraft."

"I've played that game too, but it's a type of game I'm not good at."

"..."

On the other hand, Jiang Yan was somewhat surprised. He had only casually chatted with Mina about game-related topics, but the other party became more and more enthusiastic about the conversation.

Is this still the aloof and taciturn Mina he remembers?

He could clearly sense that the other person was much more relaxed when speaking to him this time, both in tone and body language, compared to their last meeting.

To use a term from visual novels as an analogy, it's roughly equivalent to "character affection level up".

Unfortunately, the conversation didn't last long. A few minutes later, the director announced that filming would resume.

Then, by evening, all the shots for the music video were finally completed.

……