Peninsula: Starting with the nation's first love, the white moonlight

"Li Luran, be my leading man!"

Lee Ji-eun excitedly repeated the sentence again.

In her opinion, this was the perfect suggestion.

Recently, her relationship with Li Luran has been in a wonderful honeymoon period.

They are much closer than ordinary colleagues, and can even occasionally make some inappropriate jokes.

As the source of inspiration for this song, having him personally play the role of "him" is a perfect match.

Moreover, for an 18-year-old boy, isn't it something to be happy about to play the male lead in a song that is destined to be a hit?

however.

Lee Ji-eun didn't see any surprise on Lee Lu-ran's face.

Instead, she saw resistance.

"no."

Li Luran refused without hesitation.

"I'm not an actor, and I can't act well either. The company has plenty of professional male artists to choose from."

"Those people aren't you!"

Lee Ji-eun pressed on, leaning closer and staring into his eyes. "This song was written because of you! No one else could have captured that feeling. Besides, it's just a music video; you don't need to memorize many lines. You just need to strike a few nice poses in front of the camera!"

"I said, no!"

Li Luran's voice gradually turned cold, "I only want to work behind the scenes. Don't ask me to do anything that requires me to be in the public eye."

Although a long time has passed, he still instinctively resists standing in front of the camera.

He finally managed to get out of the mud, how could he possibly go back on his own?

But he couldn't tell Lee Ji-eun these things; it was his secret. He wouldn't even tell his parents, let alone Lee Ji-eun.

"Li Luran, are you having stage fright?"

Lee Ji-eun, oblivious to his unease, playfully used reverse psychology.

She nudged Li Luran's arm. "Aren't you usually pretty tough when you're scolding me? Why do you become so timid in front of the camera?"

Li Luran suppressed his frustration. "This isn't a matter of being a coward..."

"That's about the pay! Don't worry, I'll definitely offer you the highest possible performance fee! I promise you won't lose out!" Lee Ji-eun patted her chest and assured her.

"Lee Ji-eun, I don't need money."

"So what exactly are you being so coy about?!"

Lee Ji-eun was getting a little anxious. She was a stubborn person by nature, and once she made up her mind, nothing could change it.

She stood up, hands on her hips, as if she wouldn't give up until he relented.

"Can't you just help me this once? Just as a friend, please!" she softened her tone. "This song is really important to me, and I don't want a stranger to ruin my hard work. Even if you only appear on screen for two minutes..."

"I already said I don't want to film!" Li Luran stood up excitedly.

Lee Ji-eun was still trying to persuade him, but his mind was filled with those terrible memories from before.

"Li Zhi'en, that's enough!" Li Luran practically shouted.

Lee Ji-eun froze instantly, her mouth slightly agape, her face full of astonishment.

Li Luran had always given her the impression of being a calm and wise young man. This was the first time she had seen him so flustered, and the first time she had seen him lose his temper.

The moment the words left his mouth, Li Luran regretted them.

Seeing Lee Ji-eun's terrified expression, he knew he had overreacted.

She only invited him out of kindness and had no idea about his past. Why should he have to put up with his emotional outbursts?

"Feel sorry."

Li Luran took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing those negative emotions.

"I apologize for my poor attitude earlier. But I really can't act like this; please find someone else."

After saying that, he grabbed his coat from the sofa and quickly walked out.

Lee Ji-eun stood there blankly for a full minute before she came to her senses.

Her face was full of surprise, but even more so, she looked aggrieved.

"What kind of temper is that!"

She kicked the sofa in anger, "I'm IU! So many male celebrities from the peninsula are lining up to be in my music video. I kindly invited you, and not only did you not appreciate it, you even dared to yell at me?"

She bit her lower lip, her chest heaving violently.

Since she became famous, who dares to speak to her like that?

"Well, Li Luran, you've gotten quite temperamental, haven't you?"

Lee Ji-eun sat back on the sofa angrily, grabbed a cushion and squeezed it hard a couple of times.

"I've decided, I won't talk to you for one day! No, three days! Even if you come begging to me for these three days, I absolutely won't say a single word to you! Humph, you petty man!"

However, Lee Ji-eun's three-day cold war plan failed on the very first day.

Because Li Luran didn't give her a chance to give him the silent treatment.

For the next three whole days, Li Luran seemed to have vanished into thin air, never showing up at the company.

At first, Lee Ji-eun thought it was just a matter of a man's pride.

"You're too ashamed to apologize, huh? Fine, let's see how long you can keep it up." She sat in the recording studio, glancing at her phone screen every now and then, and scoffed inwardly.

But the chat software was still empty the next day.

By the afternoon of the third day, Lee Ji-eun finally couldn't sit still any longer.

She made up an excuse and went to the planning department, only to find that Li Luran's workstation was empty and even the monitor was black.

Lee Ji-eun's heart skipped a beat. She walked over to Old Park's workstation and casually asked, "Um... where's Li Luran? I haven't seen him these past couple of days."

"Oh, Lu Ran. He asked me for leave three days ago. He said he has an important exam at school and probably won't be back at the company until next week."

"Is something wrong at school?"

Lee Ji-eun paused for a moment, then politely thanked him and turned to leave the planning department.

Back in her lounge, Lee Ji-eun lay on the bed, feeling somewhat agitated.

She's not stupid. This guy usually comes to the company, but after their argument, he suddenly said he had something to do at school and couldn't leave?

That's such a lame excuse.

"The root of the problem lies in our last conversation."

Lee Ji-eun stared at the ceiling, recalling Lee Lu-ran's reactions before he lost his temper that day. The resistance he showed didn't seem fake.

Why?

She was completely baffled. Isn't it natural for a young person to want fame? Why was he so resistant?

"This guy is definitely hiding some secret."

Lee Ji-eun rolled over in bed. Her intuition told her that if she wanted Lee Lu-ran to willingly star in the music video, she had to figure out what he was afraid of and help him resolve that issue.

But the biggest problem now is that this guy is avoiding her; he doesn't even come to the company anymore!

"This is absolutely infuriating!"

She's the nation's little sister, always pampered and spoiled wherever she goes! But now, some people are even skipping work to avoid her!

Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed into Lee Ji-eun's mind.

She sat up in bed, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"You can run away, but you can't hide. Last time you showed up at my house without a word and waited for me." She snorted. "Fine, this time I'll go and wait for you myself."

"You're not coming to the company, are you? You still have to go back to school!"

But then, a real problem arose.

All she knew was that Li Luran was an international student at Seoul National University, but she had no idea which department he was in or where he lived.

Seoul National University is so big, blindly going to the school to look for someone is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

However, this little thing was no problem for her.

Lee Ji-eun immediately took out her phone and found the number of the company's HR manager.

When an intern joins the company, a file must be created in the HR department, which should contain the information she needs.

"Hello, is this Minister Liu? This is Zhi'en."

As soon as the call connected, she immediately switched to a sweet voice, "Sorry to bother you, it's like this, the intern in the planning department named Li Luran has a copy of the audio track data for my new album. He's on leave for the past few days, but I urgently need it..."

"Yes, yes, could you help me find out his specific department and major at Seoul National University? If you have his registered address, that would be even better, so I can have my assistant go directly to him to get it."

"Okay, please send it to my phone. Thank you, Minister!"

After hanging up the phone, a hint of smugness flashed in her eyes.

"Are you avoiding me?"

"Li Luran, you just wait. Tomorrow I'll see where you can hide!"