Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

"I'm going out to meet up with a friend. Don't wait for me to come back; we'll meet in the practice room tonight."

A few minutes later, Yoo Jeong-yeon put down her phone and said something to the two people next to her.

Without saying a word, she climbed out of bed and started changing her clothes.

Minami moved over to make it easier for Jeongyeon to walk over, open her suitcase, and change her clothes.

She and Park Ji-won watched as the other quickly changed into casual clothes and hurriedly left the room.

Park Ji-won looked thoughtfully in the direction Yoo Jeong-yeon had left, thinking to himself that they were indeed very close friends, going to meet without makeup or any other adornment.

But less than a minute later, she saw Yu Dingyan jog back into the room, pick up the small mirror on the bedside table, and start looking at herself.

"Mina, do my eyes still look swollen?" Yoo Jeongyeon asked Mina after putting down the mirror.

Yesterday, several members of the Minor team started crying together while practicing in the practice room, and Yoo Jeongyeon was also infected and cried along with them, even crying harder than they did.

"No swelling, unnie looks beautiful right now." Mina smiled faintly.

"Aigoo, Mina is really pretty." Yoo Jeongyeon was quite happy to be praised like that.

However, because she had other things to do, she didn't continue the conversation. After quickly putting the mirror away, she said goodbye to the two people who were still in the room.

A dozen minutes later, in a cafe in Cheongdam-dong.

After walking in, Yu Dingyan looked around and finally fixed her gaze on a seat not far away.

Jiang Yan was sitting there, with a half-eaten pastry on his table, indicating that he hadn't just arrived.

After quickly walking over and sitting down opposite Jiang Yan, Yu Jungyeon called out cheerfully, "Oppa~".

"Yes, Jeongyeon, you're here."

Jiang Yan smiled at Yu Dingyan and then pointed to the stand-up menu on the table, saying, "What would you like to eat? The cakes here are pretty good."

Yoo Jeongyeon shook her head: "No need, oppa, I'm not hungry."

She wasn't being polite to Jiang Yan; she genuinely wasn't hungry, having just finished dinner not long ago.

"Okay, but you look like you've lost a lot of weight."

It had been almost a month since Jiang Yan last met Yu Dingyan, and she noticed that Yu Dingyan looked noticeably thinner than the last time they met.

"Because I've been very tired lately..." Yoo Jeongyeon pursed her lips, and the smile that had been on her face turned into exhaustion at that moment.

"Is it because of that project?" Jiang Yan had already guessed the reason, but she still asked the question knowing the answer.

"Inside."

"The recording process didn't go very smoothly, did it?"

"Yes, oppa, I feel like I'm getting really anxious right now."

Are you anxious? Tell me about it.

Jiang Yan understood that Yu Dingyan needed someone to confide in, and that was exactly the role he was now playing.

Then, Yoo Jeong-yeon explained the reason for her anxiety.

Just like Jiang Yan thought, as a trainee with five years of experience, Yu Jeongyeon has been unable to advance to the debut group after participating in "SIXTEEN", and her mentality is a bit unstable now.

She became a little insecure about her abilities and started to fear that she wouldn't be able to debut.

Jiang Yan really wanted to tell her that this was just a trick by the gorilla to suppress her.

But that's something I can't really say out loud.

"Don't overthink it. No one can replace your image and style. If even you can't debut, then very few of JYP's trainees will be able to debut," Jiang Yan said with a smile.

The subtext of his words was actually, "Don't worry, you're guaranteed to debut."

However, Yu Dingyan certainly couldn't understand the true meaning of his words; she simply took it as Jiang Yan comforting her.

"Oppa, I'm not as good as you say."

Although Yoo Jeong-yeon denied it verbally, the heaviness weighing on her heart was lightened considerably by those words.

Her lips, which had been tightly pursed just moments before, now curved into a slight smile.

After that, the two chatted for more than ten minutes.

Although Jiang Yan had watched the entire series of "SIXTEEN" in his previous life, he had to admit that he really didn't know the behind-the-scenes stories that Yu Jung-yeon told him.

Although he didn't really care, he still found it quite novel to hear it for the first time.

However, because Yoo Jeongyeon had to be at the practice room before 9 o'clock, their meeting ended very quickly.

After watching the other person leave briskly at the entrance of the coffee shop, Jiang Yan turned around and hailed a taxi back to his dormitory.

He needs to get some rest; this week's schedule hasn't been easy for him either.

……

On May 5th, a live broadcast of SBS TV's "THE SHOW" was held.

Who will be the winner of the first-place trophy in the second week of May?!

Please release the results—

Park Jiyeon, who is serving as the MC, is currently directing the flow of the event in front of the camera.

Standing beside her were five nominees for first place: EXID, Block B BASTARZ, Dal Shabet, BTS, and Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan faced the camera calmly, her expression relaxed, seemingly unconcerned about winning an award.

On the other hand, the seven members of BTS, led by Kim Namjoon, are anxious about the upcoming results.

The remaining candidates all had similar expressions, looking somewhat uneasy.

The screen also began calculating the scores for the five groups, and the results were announced by another MC, Hongbin from VIXX.

After a short wait, the calculation was completed.

BTS's "I NEED U" scored 8078 points, while Kang Eon's "I Am You, You Are Me" scored 8564 points.

This week's winner is YAN with "I Am You, You Are Me"! Congratulations!

boom--

Countless golden ribbons sprayed into the sky above the stage, but Jiang Yan, who knew the outcome, remained calm.

He glanced at the faces of the BTS members, and they all looked incredibly grim.

But it's understandable that it looks bad; after being overshadowed by a former member who took first place, he definitely couldn't hold back.

Especially since this was supposed to be BTS's first number one, but now it's Kang Yeon's turn.

Sorry, this time, he took off first.

As a victor, Jiang Yan accepted the trophy and microphone from Park Ji-yeon, a faint smile on his face, and began to give his acceptance speech.

"Thank you, thank you for the company's cultivation, thank you for the fans' support. Without you, I would not be able to stand on this stage today."

"This seat does not belong to me, but is given to you."

"This is just the beginning. I will win a second, a third, and many more No. 1 awards to repay the fans who support me."

Jiang Yan did not prepare any scripts in advance; everything was improvised on the spot.

After saying this, he handed the microphone back to Park Jiyeon.

Next, the three MCs on stage began to wrap up the show.

Finally, as the intro to "I Am You, You Are Me" began, the other artists on stage started to leave one after another, giving the stage to Jiang Yan for a final encore performance.