Peninsula: A Max-Level Forward's Leisurely Life

"Come on, I'll take you to a nice place." Choi Sulli stood at the entrance of the bar, turned to look at him, and the lingering melancholy in her eyes seemed to have been swept away by the "privileged clearing" just now, revealing a rare brightness.

Li Chixun did not refuse. To be honest, having lived two lives, he had spent his previous life struggling in the world of fame and fortune, while in this life he had devoted all his time to the green field of Munich.

For him, apart from that cold, impersonal chaebol mansion and his own bar, the streets and alleys of Seoul were perhaps more unfamiliar than the grass of the Allianz Arena.

I'll go with her to see her; it'll be a good way to relax after all the stress of working on her system.

The two walked side by side on the street, dressed in rather bizarre ways—Lee Ji-hoon was dressed in a minimalist dark casual outfit, with the hood of his hoodie pulled up over his head and a black mask covering most of his face; Choi Sulli wore a baseball cap pulled down very low, and an oversized coat completely covered her originally beautiful curves.

"Are you sure we won't be targeted by those paparazzi again if we parade around like this?" Li Chixun asked with his hands in his pockets, his pace unhurried, his tone carrying a hint of lazy teasing.

"Boss, with that phone call you just made that made the chaebol's security clear the area in three minutes, which newspaper in Seoul would dare to mess with you?" Choi Sulli walked beside him, her steps much lighter. "Besides, even if there are paparazzi, seeing how you sent someone flying with one hand, they'd better think twice about how tough they are."

"I'm just a dutiful bartender," Li Chixun replied casually, a slight smile flashing in his handsome eyes.

"A decent bartender wouldn't let the Seoul Sports Daily employees get away like drowning dogs." She pursed her lips, but didn't delve any further into his identity. This was the subtle understanding between them—not probing each other's backgrounds, simply enjoying the sense of security in the moment.

Along the way, this strange "masked duo" did attract the attention of many passersby. But one was a professional player used to playing football in stadiums with tens of thousands of people under deafening boos, and the other was a top idol who lived under the spotlight and magnifying glass all year round. The two were immune to this level of attention and didn't even lose their rhythm.

After many twists and turns, including taking a nearly empty bus, the two finally arrived at their destination.

To Lee Ji-hoon's surprise, this was not a secluded high-end club, nor one of those private gardens in Gangnam that flaunted their style, but a wild flower park located in the suburbs of Seoul that didn't even have a nameplate.

Because of its remote location and the recent downpour, the park was deserted, except for countless unnamed flowers, their petals glistening with dew, blooming freely in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"How is it? My secret base." Choi Sulli took off her stuffy baseball cap and let her long hair spread out in the breeze.

Lee Chi-hoon looked around, the fragrance of earth and flowers filling his nostrils, and his tense nerves finally relaxed completely: "It really is a good place to escape reality."

As soon as he finished speaking, the girl beside him, like a sprite breaking free of its cage, ran straight into the knee-deep sea of ​​flowers.

Wow—this flower is so big!

"Boss, look at this one! Doesn't the color look like the rusty nail you made me?"

She completely let loose, running around among the flowers, sometimes squatting down to smell this one, sometimes carefully fiddling with that one.

Those perfectly fake smiles that were deliberately trained for music show stages have finally disappeared, leaving only the most genuine and innocent charm of a twenty-year-old girl.

Li Chixun stood on the periphery, not following her in, but simply watching her quietly. His two lifetimes of experience had long since made him accustomed to all kinds of beauties, but at this moment, the sunset, the breeze, the sea of ​​flowers, and the girl laughing so unguardedly created a powerful and impactful scene, causing his heart to pound for the first time ever.

Choi Sulli circled the flowerbed, then suddenly bent down and picked up a few pink flowers that had been blown down by the wind and rain. She carefully tucked them behind her ear, then turned around, put her hands behind her back, and tilted her head slightly to look at him.

"Is it pretty?" she asked softly, her voice filled with anticipation.

Lee Chi-hoon's rationality told him that he should brush it off with a joke, but looking into those clear, bright eyes, he felt his throat go dry.

"...It looks good." He paused for a moment before finally giving a slightly stiff but genuine answer.

As perceptive as Choi Sulli was, she immediately caught the fleeting panic in the eyes of this usually composed "boss".

Her eyes darted around, a sly glint in them.

"Just because it's pretty? That's a rather perfunctory compliment." She muttered, then suddenly bent down and picked up a few more well-preserved white flowers from the grass. She then walked briskly to Li Chixun.

The distance between the two instantly closed to less than half a meter.

"What are you doing?" Lee Chi-hoon instinctively took a half-step back.

"Don't move!" Choi Sulli said softly, standing on tiptoe and gesturing with the flowers above his head. "Look down, you're so tall, I can't reach you."

Lee Chi-hoon was stunned. With his reaction speed on the football field, dodging this move would have been a piece of cake, but he didn't know what kind of crazy feeling he had at the time. He actually lowered his head obediently, even somewhat stiffly, like a wooden man under a spell, a head that he had never easily lowered even in the Bayern Munich locker room.

Choi Sulli smiled with satisfaction and leaned forward again.

They were too close. Li Chixun could clearly see the fine downy hairs on her face, and he could feel her warm breath gently brushing against his chin.

Even more deadly was that the faint peach scent that had been ingrained on her body for years now mingled unsuspectingly with the rich floral fragrance around her, like some kind of highly hallucinogenic chemical agent, rushing straight to her brain through her nasal cavity.

Li Chixun felt a slight dizziness. Even the excruciating pain of "physical enhancement" he experienced when he was first bound to the system was not as deadly as this soft fragrance.

He didn't even dare to breathe deeply, afraid that the sound of his frantic heartbeat would be exposed in the quiet air.

"alright!"

This moment, which felt like an eternity, finally came to an end. Choi Sulli took two steps back, looked at Lee Ji-hoon, who she had forcibly stuck a white flower behind his ear, and covered her mouth, giggling.

The delicate white flower stuck in the head of a 1.88-meter-tall, aloof man looked utterly comical.

Li Chixun straightened up as if granted a pardon, took a deep breath of fresh air, and finally suppressed the deadly dizziness.

He reached out to pick the flower, clearing his throat as he prepared to regain the initiative: "Sulli, don't you think our current distance and behavior are a bit too..."

Before he could even utter the word "closeness," his right hand suddenly felt a warm and soft touch.

Choi Sulli grabbed his hand.

"Stop talking nonsense! Run, boss!"

The girl didn't give him a chance to lecture her; she grabbed him and ran towards a path deep in the sea of ​​flowers.

Lee Chi-hoon involuntarily took long strides. His large, calloused hands, rough from years of intense ball training, were now being tightly held by a small, soft, even slightly cool hand. The extreme contrast in tactile sensation felt like a faint electric current rising up his palm.

For some reason, looking at the slender figure running against the wind ahead, Li Chixun felt a sense of relief—relief that he hadn't said that jarring remark earlier.

The two of them were like two truant children trying to escape from adults, running around aimlessly in the empty park.

I ran across the moss-covered stone steps and over the bushes laden with dew.

There were no cameras, no agents, no Bayern Munich tactical discipline, and no tycoon schemes.

The run, where all worries were forgotten, lasted for more than an hour. Even for a professional athlete like Lee Ji-hoon, who possessed the "FIFA system's physical enhancement" and was used to 90-minute high-intensity shuttle runs, a fine layer of sweat gradually appeared on his forehead.

Not to mention Choi Sulli, who diets for years and whose physical fitness isn't top-notch.

"Huff...huff...I can't go on, I can't run anymore..."

She finally stopped, her hands supporting her knees, panting heavily. Her once fair cheeks were now flushed, her head was covered in sweat, and a few strands of hair, soaked with sweat, clung to her cheeks and slender neck.

Although even her sweat smelled sweet, her disheveled appearance was far removed from the image of "the nation's first love".

Lee Chi-hoon stood beside her, his breathing only slightly rapid. Looking at the girl's radiant smile despite her sweat-drenched face, something hardened within him seemed to melt away completely.

He reached into his pocket as if possessed and pulled out a pack of tissues he always carried with him.

He pulled out a tissue and, without any warning, leaned down slightly and pressed it against Choi Sulli's smooth forehead, gently wiping away the fine beads of sweat.

The air froze completely.

Sulli, who had been panting heavily, suddenly stopped. Her clear, doe-like eyes widened, filled with disbelief and shock.

What...what is he doing?

Wiping my sweat? This kind of overstepping action that only happens between the male lead and the female lead in Korean dramas, this guy who is usually as cold as ice and always observes everything with a spectator's eye, actually did it so naturally.

My heart is pounding... I can feel the calluses on his hands through the tissue; they're a bit rough, but... so warm. Could it be that he... no, Choi Sulli, wake up! He's the kind of big shot who can mobilize the security detail of a conglomerate at will, how could he possibly be interested in you? But... he's so close, so close that I can smell the faint scent of whiskey and tobacco on his clothes.

In just a few seconds, the girl's heart was in turmoil. Like a small animal locked in by a wild beast, she dared not move, only letting that large hand gently wipe her forehead and cheeks, even her breathing became cautious.

Actually, halfway through wiping, Lee Chi-hoon suddenly realized how inappropriate his action was.

This goes beyond the boundaries of "casual drinking buddies" or "temporary shelter owners." It's an extremely intimate gesture.

His hand froze slightly in mid-air. Reason kicked in, urging him to stop immediately.

But seeing the girl's shocked, adorable expression, and even the tips of her ears turning pink, Li Chixun cursed inwardly.

If I put my hand down now, wouldn't that just prove I have something to hide?

The thick skin he had developed through two lifetimes came in handy at this moment.

Li Chixun gritted his teeth and continued his work without changing his expression, not even altering the pressure he applied while wiping.

"You're sweating so much, you'll catch a cold tomorrow if you get chilled. Don't expect me to mix drinks for you then." He said this deliberately in a cold and disdainful tone, trying to hide the turmoil in his heart.

"...Oh." Choi Sulli responded obediently like a schoolchild who had done something wrong, but she never dared to meet his gaze, only staring silently at the zipper of his shirt.

Finally, the last bit of sweat was wiped away.

Li Chixun withdrew his hand, crumpled the used tissue into a ball, and casually tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"Let's go, it's getting dark." He turned around, put his hands back in his pockets, and his tone returned to its usual languidness, but his pace was noticeably faster than usual.

"Here it comes..." Choi Sulli followed behind, reaching out to touch her still burning cheeks, but the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up slightly.

As night falls, Seoul's neon lights begin to twinkle on the skyline.

On the way back, neither of them mentioned their earlier inappropriate behavior. An unspoken ambiguity hung in the air, mixed with an awkward silence about how to break the ice.

The shadows of the two people sometimes separated and sometimes overlapped under the pull of the streetlights.

After passing through the bustling streets, the oak door, hidden in a dark alley without any sign, reappeared in sight.