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

The entire LOEN company was immersed in joy. The public relations crisis was successfully resolved, the new song trailer went viral online, and even the company's stock rose by several points at the close of trading.

However, Lee Ji-eun was curled up on the sofa in the lounge, her face scrunched up, staring at her constantly vibrating phone.

The caller ID on the screen showed Bae Suzy again.

"Should I answer or not?" Lee Ji-eun bit her lower lip, somewhat hesitant.

Suzy has been calling quite frequently lately. The first call was right after the rumors broke, when she called to ask if the rumors were true, and she kept trying to find out the identity of the man in the photos.

In order to cooperate with the company's public relations strategy, Lee Ji-eun had no choice but to use a few ambiguous words to gloss over the situation.

"Sigh, let's hear what she's up to." Lee Ji-eun sighed and answered the phone.

"Unnie, congratulations on your new album!" Suzy's voice sounded sweet. "The title track is amazing! I've watched the music video teaser on repeat so many times! Oh, Missa is also making a comeback soon, I hope we don't bump into each other on music show stages?"

Lee Ji-eun shifted to a more comfortable position on the sofa, smiling politely, "It's all thanks to the team; my colleagues put in a lot of effort too. You'll definitely win a lot of awards during your comeback; Missa is a top girl group right now!"

There was a subtle two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Immediately afterwards, Suzy's voice came again: "Unnie, the colleague you just mentioned... does that include the male lead in the MV? I'm really curious, who is he? Why can't we even see his face?"

Upon hearing this, Lee Ji-eun's eyelids twitched.

This girl was definitely trying to get information out of me!

But why is she so interested in Li Luran?

She usually doesn't even glance at male idols when they're around, but these past few days she's been subtly trying to find out about this.

She knows her best friend too well. Although Suzy is a sucker for good looks, she has very high standards.

Li Luran's face wasn't even shown in the trailer. How could she possibly make two phone calls to ask about it based on just a back view and a blurry profile?

She wasn't curious about the gossip and rumors online at all; she was curious about Li Luran himself!

"Could it be... that Suzy has a crush on Lee Lu-ran?"

Lee Ji-eun's alarm bells went off instantly!

This is absolutely unacceptable! Li Luran is one of us at LOEN, what is she, a member of JYP, asking about?

"Um, Suzy."

Lee Ji-eun didn't respond to her question, decisively interrupting her probing, "I suddenly have something urgent to attend to, um... yeah, Hante oppa is urging me to go do some work. Let's talk another day, bye!"

Before Suzy could say anything more, she hung up the phone decisively.

"snort."

Lee Ji-eun threw her phone on the sofa and gave a cold laugh:

"Trying to poach my employees? Dream on!"

Outside the MISSA practice room.

Bae Suzy stood there, stunned, listening to the dial tone coming from her phone.

Ji-eun unnie actually hung up on her?

The two of them usually talk on the phone for hours until their phones get hot before reluctantly hanging up!

This obvious defensiveness only strengthened Soo-ji's suspicions.

Lee Ji-eun is definitely hiding something!

She reopened the MV trailer saved on her phone.

Compared to the blurry nighttime photo taken by the paparazzi, the MV's image quality is very clear.

On the screen, the man slowly walked towards Lee Ji-eun and then hugged her tightly.

That silhouette, that embrace—they're so alike!

The more she looked, the more it resembled the shadow deep in her memory.

Suzy felt like she was going crazy. She was the one who had taken the initiative to distance herself from him.

But now, seeing him appear next to other girls, even holding them in his arms, she felt a surge of irritation.

Is it jealousy? Or is it possessiveness at play?

She bit her lip, her chest heaving violently, and her temper inexplicably became irritable.

"Since Ji-eun unnie won't tell me, then I'll investigate myself!"

Suzy put away her phone, her eyes becoming very determined.

If that man really is an employee of LOEN, she has a million ways to bypass Lee Ji-eun and find out his true identity.

……

At the same time, in Girls' Generation's dormitory.

The news about IU online naturally became a topic of conversation among the girls during their breaks.

In the living room, Seohyun and Tiffany were huddled together, watching entertainment news on TV.

"Ji-eun is really amazing."

Seohyun exclaimed seriously, "She's so young, yet she was able to independently arrange and write the lyrics for the title track, and the song is of such high quality. We really need to learn from her."

"Yeah, I couldn't even sing the high notes in 'Good Days,' and this new song sounds even harder to sing," Tiffany agreed with a smile.

Meanwhile, the bet between Yoona and Sunny has finally come to a conclusion.

"Lim Yoona, you lost! Hahaha!"

Sunny pointed triumphantly at the clarification announcement on her phone screen, "What did I tell you? That wasn't my boyfriend at all! A bet's a bet, three barbecue meals a day, not one less!"

Yoona sat on the carpet looking sullen.

She gently nudged Kim Tae-yeon, who was sitting on the sofa lost in thought: "Unnie, please do something about Sunny unnie, I'm so pitiful..."

Taeyeon hugged the pillow, her eyes glazed over, completely unresponsive.

Yoona pouted, a little puzzled, and had to change the subject herself, "I really didn't expect that IU's rumored boyfriend would be an ordinary person."

To be honest, with that height, build, and charisma, he'd be more than qualified to be the visual center of a boy band!

"You just don't understand," Sunny retorted, peeling an orange. "Not everyone likes being judged and criticized."

You can't judge others by the standards of those in the industry, right, Taeyeon?

As she spoke, Sunny nudged Taeyeon's arm.

"Oh? Yes!"

Kim Tae-yeon's reaction was noticeably slow, and her eyes looked somewhat vacant.

Sunny put down the orange and looked at her with some concern: "Taeyeon, what's wrong with you? You've been acting strangely these past few days. Wasn't the sub-unit member list already finalized? What are you still worried about?"

"It's nothing, I probably just didn't sleep well last night." Taeyeon forced a smile and hugged the pillow in her arms even tighter.

She had already made up her mind to completely bury that boy and that past.

However, these past few days, news about him has been flooding her view, and she can't escape it.

Most importantly, IU is an insider in the industry and a top-tier singer.

We're all in the same circle, so we see each other all the time.

At the end of the year, Girls' Generation will inevitably share the stage with IU at various award ceremonies or music shows.

If she really runs into him, or even sees him with IU, what kind of expression should she use to face him?