Peninsula: Please, I only want to talk about ordinary people.

Chapter 9 You are... Zhao Baoling?

Mina was holding an Animal Crossing plush toy, her fingers idly pinching the toy's round belly, while her eyes glanced at Kang Young-tae beside her.

She thought that after he passed the message over, he would at least react in some way—perhaps stare blankly, ask a follow-up question, or at the very least breathe a sigh of relief.

Last night, when Sana heard that he was going to tvN, her eyes widened and she almost jumped off the sofa.

But this person simply said "thank you" in a calm and indifferent way, and then looked around the game display case and related shelves in the store with great interest.

This made her a little uncomfortable; compared to last night, Sana's reaction was much more interesting.

"Nan-chan, weren't you supposed to be going to try it out? You've freed up some time."

Jiang Yongtai pointed to the demo area, indicating that she was somewhat lost in thought. Just then, someone put down the controller and stood up, leaving a blank space on the screen.

"it is good."

Mina snapped out of her daze, put the doll back on the shelf, and strode over. Her unease was quickly dispelled by the screen in front of her.

No matter how complicated their relationship was, it couldn't compare to the appeal of the game, and she had a feeling that there would be more to this story.

No rush, just wait and see.

Jiang Yongtai followed behind her.

As a highly ambitious title for the Switch, Animal Crossing elements occupied the largest area of ​​this pop-up store.

Next to the demo unit stood standees of Tom Nook and Isabelle, and the shelves were filled with leaf-patterned storage bags and limited-edition Joy-Cons.

On the screen, Mina is controlling a little character who is running around the island with an insect net, sometimes squatting down to dig for fossils, sometimes running to the beach to fish for squid, and sometimes running to someone else's island to shake their fruit trees.

He looked at Mina, who was holding the controller, her eyes shining, and the little figure on the screen seemed to come alive under her control.

He sighed.

"Nan-chan, I wish you could be this social in real life."

Minami didn't even turn her head; her hands kept moving.

"What a 'normie' guy, Ada."

Jiang Yongtai stood behind her for a while, but couldn't see what was interesting about her.

His professional instincts made him interested in the "how to play" Animal Crossing, but he wasn't really motivated to "play it himself".

"I'll go take a look over there."

He pointed to the Overcooked section, where several online demo units were set up, and a scene of friendship-ending chaos, worthy of a kitchen fire, was unfolding on the screen.

He's always had some ideas about this series; he thinks that if this kind of "broken friendship" cooperative game could be used in a variety show, it might be very effective.

He was planning to check out the introduction of his new book, "Moving House," which was scheduled to be released at the end of April.

Mina glanced at the direction he was pointing and nodded.

"Okay, I'll come find you in a bit."

Jiang Yongtai walked to the demo area of ​​"Overcooked" and saw a couple sitting in front of him, frantically chopping vegetables, cooking rice, and plating it in front of the screen.

The man was operating his character while constantly talking, giving his girlfriend instructions, one sentence at a time.

"Bring me the onion, bring me here... no, that's a tomato. Cut it to the left, to the left!"

It turned out that the girl was clearly playing this game for the first time and couldn't keep up with the pace, making things more and more chaotic.

The rice in the pot burned, the plate fell to the ground, and the flames on the screen were more numerous than the vegetables she had chopped.

Countdown to zero, failure.

The boy stared at the settlement screen, his expression a little tense, muttering a few words like, "I should have listened to me just now," and "How could I cut something so simple?"

Before she could finish speaking, the girl slammed the controller on the table, her voice rising an octave.

"Why are you yelling at me! You're yelling at me!"

After saying that, he got up angrily and strode towards the store entrance.

The boy paused for a moment, then muttered, "Honey! I didn't yell at you..." before quickly putting down the controller and chasing after him.

Jiang Yongtai smiled as he watched the boy chase after him out of the store.

"No wonder it's called 'Breakup Kitchen'."

He casually remarked and sat down in the demo seat where the couple had just left.

The controller still held the warmth of the previous player's body, the screen remained on the results screen, waiting for the next round to begin, but the person was momentarily distracted.

Also in Overcooked, on Sana's day off after finishing her schedule, he took her to snuggle on the sofa in his apartment.

She had just finished showering, her hair still half-wet, and wrapped in a blanket, huddled next to him, confidently declaring that she was also very good at video games.

As a result, the first challenge resulted in the stove being set on fire, with flames leaping up and burning the entire kitchen to the ground.

Sana Minato threw down the controller and pounced on him, punching him and saying that she was distracted because he kept laughing at her, and that he was the one who accused her first.

He caught her, the blanket slipped to the ground, her eyes darted around, stray hairs brushed against his chin, her fingers first clutched his collar, then slowly wrapped around his back.

They leaned close together, nose to nose, she closed her eyes, and he kissed her...

……

Mina just caught a squid, and a notification popped up on the screen that the encyclopedia had been updated.

She instinctively wanted to share this moment with someone, so she turned her head with a smile and looked at the Overcooked demo area.

Jiang Yongtai sat in a chair, staring at the screen as if in a daze.

Mina paused for a moment, then laughed.

Hmph~ Weren't you so nonchalant just now, saying "thank you" like you "I know, it's over"?

What's wrong? Are you sitting here lost in thought, reminiscing about playing this game with Sana?

Sana had told her about the two of them huddled together in the apartment playing Overcooked.

Mina didn't call out to him; she looked away and returned her gaze to her screen.

I'll come find you a little longer, Yongtai-san~

……

"Sir...sir?"

A woman's voice came down next to Jiang Yongtai.

Jiang Yongtai snapped out of his daze and turned around. Two fully armed girls stood hand in hand beside him. One had her hair in a ponytail, and the other had golden-brown curly hair. Their faces were completely covered by masks and hats.

When the girl with the ponytail saw him looking over, she pointed to the empty demo machine in front of him.

"Sir, if you're not playing, could we try it out?"

Jiang Yongtai nodded and withdrew his hand from the table.

"Excuse me, please come."

Just as he was about to stand up, the girl with golden-brown curly hair paused on his face. Her eyes, which were visible outside her mask, first showed confusion, then widened slightly.

"Kang Young-tae...PD-nim?"

Jiang Yongtai was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at her.

"Who are you?"

The girl was surprised that she had actually guessed correctly, and she quickly bowed slightly, her tone showing the nervousness of a junior meeting a senior.

"PD-nim! I, I'm Cho Mi-yeon, Mi-yeon of 'gidle'!"

The girl with the ponytail next to her tugged at her sleeve and leaned closer to whisper, "Unnie, which PD is this?"

"Yuqi, this is the PD of Music Bank, and the PD who helped me during the Idol Star Athletics Championships, PD Kang Young-tae."

After saying that, she looked at Kang Young-tae and said, "PD-nim, this is Yuqi, who is also a member of G-Dragon."

Jiang Yongtai recalled that he had indeed been selected to help out at the "Idol Star Athletics Championships" during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, and he matched the eyes in front of him with those of Zhao Meiyan, who looked helpless on the bowling lane in his memory.

He smiled.

"Miyeon-xi? I ​​remember you. We practiced, but you still got zero."

Zhao Meiyan paused for a moment, and her ears, which were exposed outside the mask, immediately turned pink.

"...It's me inside."

Upon hearing this, Song Yuqi immediately recognized the person and exclaimed "Ah!" with her eyes lighting up.

"You're the PD who taught Mi-yeon unnie bowling when she was practicing!"

"Yuqi! Use honorifics!" Zhao Meiyan frowned and lowered her voice to correct her.

Song Yuqi stuck out her tongue and quickly turned to Jiang Yongtai, bowing respectfully.

"I'm sorry, PD."

Jiang Yongtai smiled and waved his hand.

"It's okay. I remember Yuqi is a foreigner, so I understand. Just make sure it's convenient for you to speak."

"Consameda".

Song Yuqi smiled and bowed slightly.

"Oh, right." Jiang Yongtai stood up and pointed to the demo machine.

"You guys want to play this, right? I'll let you have it."

Zhao Meiyan quickly waved her hand.

"It's alright, PD-nim! Please go ahead and play. We just came in for a casual look around. You can play something else if you like..."

"I can't play this by myself, it's a two-player game, so you guys can have it."

Jiang Yongtai smiled and reached out to stop her.

"this……"

Zhao Meiyan's hand froze in mid-air, caught in a dilemma.

Asking a senior to give up their seat doesn't make sense in her social rules, but continuing to refuse would seem even more impolite.

She was stuck there, the pink on her ears still not completely faded.

Seeing the two of them frozen in place, pushing and shoving each other, Song Yuqi rolled her eyes, then placed both hands on Zhao Meiyan's shoulders and swiftly pushed her down.

"Unnie, since PD Kang has said so..." She winked at Kang Young-tae, appearing quite open and generous.

"Just play with PD-nim for a bit, as tuition for his bowling lessons."

After she finished speaking, she lowered her head, leaned close to Zhao Meiyan's ear, and lowered her voice.

"Miyeon unnie, the PD you always raved about in the dorm is right here in person~"