Peninsula: A Max-Level Forward's Leisurely Life

The oak door was opened a crack about thirty centimeters wide.

A gust of cold wind, mixed with rain, howled in.

Lee Chi-hoon leaned against the door frame with one hand, his tall figure like an impenetrable wall, blocking the view of the people outside and the wind and rain.

Three men in transparent raincoats stood outside the door. The one in the lead looked to be in his early thirties, with greasy, medium-length hair, and he held tightly to a DSLR camera with a waterproof cover. Rainwater streamed down his hair, making him look both disheveled and menacing.

Seeing the door open, the long-haired man's eyes lit up. He immediately tried to squeeze half his body through the crack in the door while shouting, "Excuse me for disturbing you! We are reporters from the Seoul Sports Daily. We just saw someone run in, and we suspect..."

"Hey, no, no, step back a bit." Li Chixun's voice wasn't very loud, but with his gaze, he managed to force the man back a few steps.

The long-haired man paused for a moment. Having been a paparazzi for so many years, he had seen all sorts of bodyguards and celebrities.

Usually, the other party either gets furious and starts hitting people, or they beg for mercy and try to bribe their way out of guilt. It's the first time I've seen people like this treated like trash.

But the long-haired man quickly overcame his brief moment of cowardice, driven by self-interest. He gritted his teeth, relying on the fact that there were three of them on his side, and thrust his shoulders forward, trying to force his way past Li Chixun's obstruction and rush into the bar.

"I already said, we suspect there's something inside..." Just as his shoulder was about to collide with Lee Chi-hoon's chest.

In the lower right corner of Li Chixun's vision, the green light screen that had just gone dark suddenly flickered.

[Slight intent to physically confront was detected.]

[Current physical attributes: 74. Core muscle stability passively activated.]

Li Chixun didn't even make any deliberate defensive movements. He simply stood there, one hand bracing against the door frame, his center of gravity slightly lowered. The long-haired man's momentum-driven impact slammed heavily into him.

"Bang!"

It made a muffled sound.

Li Chixun's body didn't even sway, and there wasn't even an extra wrinkle at the hem of his clothes.

In contrast, the long-haired man seemed to have crashed into a reinforced concrete bridge pier while running at full speed.

A tremendous force surged through his body. He groaned, staggering backward three or four steps before plopping down hard in a muddy puddle. His DSLR camera nearly fell to the ground.

"Big Brother!" The other two paparazzi were startled and hurriedly went to help him up.

The long-haired man felt a numbness in half of his shoulder and a surge of blood rushing to his chest. He scrambled to his feet, furious and humiliated, pointing at Lee Ji-hoon's nose and yelling, "Damn it! You dare hit someone? Do you know how many people we know in Seoul's media circles? This isn't over! A shady establishment like yours, which doesn't even dare to put up a sign, must be up to no good!"

Lee Chi-hoon watched their impotent rage in the rain with quiet disregard. He ignored their shouts and instead slowly pulled a specially made black satellite phone from his suit trouser pocket.

Press a number that is not saved in your contacts and press the speakerphone button.

The phone was answered after only one ring.

"Young Master, what are your orders?" A middle-aged man's voice, extremely respectful and even apprehensive, came from the receiver.

If a financial reporter in Seoul heard this voice, they would be absolutely stunned—it was the core security chief of a large conglomerate responsible for handling gray-area affairs.

"I'm in front of a shop in Itaewon," Lee Ji-hoon said calmly. "There are a few stray dogs, I don't know which newspaper they're from, barking incessantly. They're not only disturbing my music, but they've also dirtied my carpet."

The middle-aged man on the other end of the phone gasped, his voice immediately turning menacing: "Understood. Please wait a moment. I guarantee that within three minutes, not even a fly will be buzzing in this alley. I'll handle the subsequent media relations and newspaper pressure tonight."

"Okay. Remember not to make too much noise."

Lee Chi-hoon hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. He leaned slightly forward, looking at the three paparazzi outside the door who were completely frozen in place.

"You have two minutes and forty seconds to decide whether to roll on your own or be stuffed into a gasoline drum and thrown into the Han River."

Although the three paparazzi didn't recognize who was on the other end of the phone, anyone with a brain could sense the suffocating fear from the address of "young master" and the tone that treated human life as worthless. In South Korea's distorted society, capital and privilege can truly make people disappear without a trace.

"I'm so sorry! We've got the wrong door!" The long-haired man's arrogance vanished instantly, replaced by extreme paleness. He didn't even have time to wipe the mud off his camera. He grabbed his two companions and, as if he'd seen a ghost, stumbled out of the alley and disappeared into the rain.

Lee Chi-hoon looked in the direction they disappeared and gently shook his head.

He closed the oak door and locked it again. As he turned around, the green screen in front of him reappeared, and a new notification popped up.

[System notification: The system is now officially open as the host has successfully activated and completed a basic physical combat exercise.]

[New player trial mission issued: Play in the first round of the new season's Bundesliga match and obtain an authoritative post-match rating of 8.0 or higher.]

[Task Reward: Unlock 'Attribute Allocation Permission' and receive your first 0.5 free attribute points.]

Li Chixun looked at the task prompt, a slight smile playing on his lips. He didn't rush to figure out how to complete the task, but let the light screen slowly fade from his sight. His experience navigating the business world in his previous life told him that patience was always the first principle when faced with any sudden, enormous gift.

He strode back to the bar at a leisurely pace.

Choi Sulli had somehow gotten up from under the bar. She clutched the slightly cooled hot towel tightly in her hand, staring blankly at Lee Ji-hoon. She had heard everything that had happened at the doorway from the shadows.

She had initially thought the bartender, who looked like a wealthy young man, would try to bribe the paparazzi or call the police. But to her utter surprise, he simply made a phone call and said a few words, and those paparazzi, feared throughout the entertainment industry, fled like stray dogs.

The ease with which the rules were so effortlessly crushed left Shirley with an unprecedented sense of awe.

"Who...who exactly are you?" Shirley stammered, still somewhat shaken, but more than anything, her curiosity about Lee Chi-hoon's identity compelled her to ask.

Lee Ji-hoon walked behind the bar and glanced at the neglected "Rusty Nail." The ice ball had melted slightly, diluting the amber color of the whiskey a bit.

"Just an unemployed bum on vacation." Li Chixun extended his long, slender fingers and pushed the glass of wine towards Shirley. "It's safe outside now. You can choose to finish this glass, then take a hot shower and change your clothes; or you can choose to leave now. But I suggest you choose the former, because looking like this, if you walked on the street, people would really mistake you for a stray cat and grab you." His tone was teasing.

Sulli bit her lip. As SM Entertainment's little princess, she was used to being flattered and treated with utmost care. Even now, embroiled in cyberbullying, most people around her offered only sympathy or feigned concern. No one had ever spoken to her in such a tone, as if evaluating an object.

She straightened her back stubbornly, trying to regain some initiative by using her celebrity status: "Don't you recognize me? I am..."

"Choi Sulli. A member of f(x). She's been on the front page of the entertainment section these past few days." Lee Ji-hoon interrupted her without any politeness.

He turned around, pulled a cigar from the shelf behind him, skillfully cut one end with a cigar cutter, and then picked up a windproof lighter, the pale blue flame leaping in the dim light.

He took a drag, exhaled a puff of pale blue smoke, and looked at Shirley through the smoke.

"So?" Lee Ji-hoon's voice sounded particularly languid against the backdrop of jazz music. "Do you think I should be like those obsessive fans, screaming and pulling out notebooks to get your autograph, or expressing my heartache over what happened to you?"

Shirley was speechless, choked by his words. Her newly formed pride crumbled completely in the face of this man's gaze.

"Put away your celebrity defenses." Li Chixun lightly rubbed the edge of his lighter with his index finger, a habitual gesture he made when thinking or in control of the situation. "Here, you're just a customer who drank my beverage. Don't look at me like I'm a fan; it'll ruin the taste of this Macallan."

Sherry stood frozen in place, her gaze lingering on Lee Chi-hoon's expressionless face for a long time.

The rain outside seemed to be getting heavier, with large raindrops pounding on the roof with a dull thud.

But in this bar without a sign, there is a sense of security that makes you let your guard down.

Slowly, Shirley's shoulders relaxed. She chuckled self-deprecatingly, pulled out a bar stool in front of the bar, and sat down.

She reached out with both hands, picked up the amber-colored "rusty nail" cup, brought it to her lips, and took a small sip.

The honey sweetness of Du Lin Biao and the spiciness of whiskey exploded on her tongue, flowing down her throat into her stomach, turning into a warm torrent that instantly dispelled the chill in her body.

She put down her wine glass, raised her head, and for the first time, the fear and defensiveness in her beautiful eyes disappeared as she stared intently at Li Chixun.

"This drink is very good," she said softly, "but you're a really annoying person."