Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

Jiang Yan took his older brother to the place he had described as having a "big meal," which was not far from Cube Company, just a few minutes' walk away.

"No, this is the feast you were talking about?!" Jiang Zhennan stared wide-eyed at the small restaurant in front of him.

"What else? Let's go in quickly." Jiang Yan urged, and then walked into the restaurant first.

The dining environment inside was similar to a cafeteria. There weren't many empty seats on the first floor, so he went down to the basement level via the side stairs.

There were only two tables occupied on the basement floor, but Jiang Yan noticed that one of the tables was occupied by members of JYP's new boy group from last year, namely GOT7.

Jiang Yan knew them naturally, since they had shared a dorm room before Jiang Yan left JYP.

But after he became a "traitorous ninja," he only maintained contact with Wang Jiaer, who was also Chinese, and his relationships with the others faded.

Why did we run into them here? Because JYP and Cube are less than 100 meters apart.

If the artists from both sides come out to eat at the same time, there is a high probability that they will run into each other.

In fact, their dormitories were very close to each other.

It was quite a coincidence that today was his first time eating out since arriving at Cube, and he ended up running into GOT7.

"Hey Jackson, and everyone in GOT7."

He calmly greeted them, and Wang Jiaer and the others were all surprised when they saw him.

They clearly hadn't expected to run into Jiang Yan here today.

Wang Jiaer exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?! Brother Yan, so you haven't returned to China yet!"

Jiang Yan smiled and said, "Who told you I went back to China?"

Wang Jiaer reacted this way because Jiang Yan had not yet told him that he had signed with Yuehua Entertainment and would be making a solo debut.

The main reason is that I've been busy with my own things for the past month or two and haven't been in contact with Wang Jiaer much, so it's reasonable for him to assume that he has already returned to China.

"Then now—"

"It's not convenient to talk about this now. You guys continue eating, don't worry about me."

"Oh, I understand."

Jiang Yan gave Wang Jiaer a wink, and the latter immediately understood and stopped asking questions.

After briefly greeting the other members of GOT7, Kang Jin-nam arrived late downstairs.

The two found a seat nearby and started ordering food.

We were supposed to have a big meal, but it was really just two more dishes than usual.

"Ugh—you've been in South Korea for so many years, and this is what you usually eat?!" Jiang Zhennan took a bite of the freshly served rice noodle rolls and almost threw up.

"Half and half, you'd better not have any illusions about the food here." Jiang Yan chewed the rice noodles a few times without changing his expression and then swallowed them.

"Is there really no good food at all?"

"Yes, there is a Michelin-starred restaurant 300 meters away on the right after you go out."

"Well, there's no need to go to such lengths."

Jiang Zhennan took another bite of pig intestine with a bitter expression, and his complexion only improved when he saw the bibimbap and spicy rice cakes that were served later.

But this was still quite different from the grand meal he had envisioned.

However, he stopped complaining and started eating, because he was really hungry.

While Jiang Yan ate for a while, Wang Jiaer and his group at another table finished first.

After they got up, Lin Zaifan greeted the others and left first, but Wang Jiaer broke away from the group and came over alone.

After he sat down in the seat next to Jiang Yan, he first looked at Jiang Zhennan sitting opposite him.

"And this is—"

"This is my older brother, I've told you about him before."

Jiang Yan inevitably started by giving Wang Jiaer a brief introduction of his older brother.

After exchanging polite greetings, Wang Jiaer put an arm around his shoulder and asked in a low voice, "Hey, what's going on with you right now?"

There were many people around before, but now only the three of them are left.

This time, Jiang Yan didn't hide anything and briefly explained his current situation.

After hearing this, Wang Jiaer patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "That's great! I happen to have a club tonight, do you want to come over and relax?"

Jiang Yan casually asked, "Who's there?"

"There's Taecyeon and the others, as well as Shindong from Super Junior and Choi Minho from SHINee."

"Never mind, I won't go this time. I have plans tonight."

Jiang Yan shook his head. Apart from the few people from 2PM, whom he knew, the rest were all strangers to him.

Moreover, he had no intention of getting to know them.

Hearing this, Wang Jiaer nudged him with his shoulder and grinned mischievously, "A date? It's not with your sister-in-law, is it?"

"Um."

Jiang Yan nodded and then asked, "Alright, I also have something to ask you."

"What is it?"

Will Zhenying be at the company tomorrow?

"How would I know tomorrow? He's here today, though."

"Then check if it's there for me tomorrow, and let me know if it is."

"Why didn't you just ask on Kakao? Did I delete you?"

"No, do you think I'm like you, going to see him anytime?"

Jiang Yan couldn't help but complain that he didn't have Wang Jiaer's boundless sense of boundaries and could send messages to Park Jin-young at any time.

In fact, although he calls himself a traitor, he actually had Park Jin-young's consent when he left JYP to join BigHit, citing "wanting to debut as soon as possible".

It's worth mentioning here that Park Jin-young has a very good relationship with Bang Si-hyuk, the founder of BigHit Entertainment.

They were so good that they could transfer the operating rights of 2AM to Bang Si-hyuk to help him overcome the company's early financial crisis.

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on things for you tomorrow. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. I can't keep JayB and the others waiting for me too long."

"Okay, go ahead."

After Wang Jiaer took his hand off Jiang Yan's shoulder, he turned around and got up to leave.

After the other person left, Jiang Zhennan, who had been silent until now, finally couldn't help but ask, "What's the situation with that sister-in-law?"

Jiang Yan didn't answer directly, but instead asked, "Didn't you know anything about my situation before you came?"

"Insulting a Korean man?"

"Fake news, I didn't curse at all."

"Then there's only... Holy crap, could it be—"

"Yes, that's exactly what you think."

"ah?!"

As Jiang Yan's older brother, Jiang Zhennan, who previously only had a casual understanding of K-pop, had taken extra classes before coming here.

Hearing Jiang Yan admit to it himself, I was a little surprised.

"So FNC Entertainment's later clarification that you two were just friends was false?!"

That's not untrue.

"What do you mean?"

"A girlfriend is also a friend."

"...Awesome!"

"Alright, hurry up and eat. I still need to take you to your dorm later."

Jiang Yan took the initiative to end the topic, and Jiang Zhennan shrugged and didn't ask any more questions.

After another ten minutes or so, the two finally finished their meal and left the restaurant.

I took a taxi to a villa in an alley in Nonhyeon-dong, where Yuehua Entertainment's current employee dormitories are located.

Jiang Yan isn't the only one living here; the boy group UNIQ, a collaboration between Yuehua Entertainment and YG Entertainment, also lives here.

Also, all the members of WJSN (Cosmic Girls), who have collaborated with Starship but have not yet debuted, and some other trainees are in the villa next door.

Jiang Zhennan's room was arranged in an empty small room on the second floor. Currently, the room has nothing but a bed and a table.

"Someone from the company will be coming tomorrow. Just ask him if you need anything."

Jiang Yan gave one of the villa keys to Jiang Zhennan, and then started helping him decorate the room.

After about half an hour, the room was almost set up, and he then led the other person to familiarize themselves with the layout of the villa.

The UNIQ members haven't returned yet, so there's no one else in the villa besides the two brothers.

The phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. Jiang Yan took it out, glanced at it, and then turned to say, "I'm going out. I probably won't be back until very late."

Jiang Zhennan immediately understood and laughed, "Go quickly."

"If you're bored, come to my room. My computer's login password is my birthday."

What games are available?

"It's just League of Legends. If you want to play domestic games, you can download them yourself; the internet speed is very fast."

Alright.

After saying goodbye to his older brother, Jiang Yan went out, hailed a taxi, and went to the vicinity of the agreed meeting place.