Peninsula: The Best Actor Starts from an Idol Battleground

Chapter 25: The New Group T-ara and Jessica's Grievances

7 month 30 day.

The entire South Korean film industry is focused on "Haeundae".

In just nine days, the cumulative number of viewers exceeded 300 million, breaking the record for the fastest-growing South Korean film since 09.

What surprised the industry even more was its astonishing staying power.

As word-of-mouth continued to spread, the film's audience rapidly expanded from its initial 20s and 30s to middle-aged and elderly people over 40.

"Taking the whole family to the cinema to shed tears" has become a trend in South Korean society these days.

As it turns out, compared to the dazzling special effects of Hollywood blockbusters, what truly resonated with audiences about "Haeundae" was the pure "human touch" and tear-jerking scenes in the latter half of the film.

Under this "tsunami" of box office offensive, even the sports blockbuster "National Team," which was just released on the 29th and also cost billions of won, was completely suppressed by "Haeundae" with more than three times the number of daily viewers.

This box office behemoth, personally built by Yin Jijun, has already demonstrated overwhelming dominance and has officially begun the countdown to reaching "10 million viewers".

......

Night falls.

Li Zhixing left home with his laptop and strolled over to a Chinese restaurant.

Inside the restaurant, Uncle Li had finished cleaning and was sitting with his legs crossed, smoking.

Meanwhile, Li Ming's massive body was huddled awkwardly on a small stool, engrossed in reading a comic book.

Upon seeing Li Zhixing enter, Uncle Li exhaled a smoke ring and joked, "Oh, our big star has arrived."

Li Zhixing raised an eyebrow smugly, acknowledging his form of address.

"Uncle Li, leave this to me. You and Ming should go back and rest."

Uncle Li stood up, shook the ash off his legs, and casually smacked his simple-minded son on the back of the head: "Come on, let's go home."

Then he added, "Zhixing, if there are any more orders later, don't bother making any more. Just tell them you're closing. You're already exhausted from running around doing promotions every day."

"It's okay, it's not difficult."

Li Ming carefully stuffed the comic book into his pocket and followed his father outside, but stopped at the door.

He turned to look at Li Zhixing, a slightly incongruous,憨厚 (honest and simple) smile on his ruthless face: "Zhixing, the movie... was good!"

Li Zhixing was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with surprise: "Ming-ge came to see my movie!"

Li Ming nodded vigorously, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything after holding it in for a long time.

Finally, he could only scratch his head, give Li Zhixing a thumbs up, and turn around to chase after his father.

Looking at Li Ming's strong back, Li Zhixing's gaze softened.

Because of his fierce appearance, Ming is always stared at with strange eyes, which makes him extremely self-conscious. He almost never goes out except to deliver food.

It must have taken a lot of courage for him to go to the cinema to watch his own movie this time.

After the two left, the restaurant became completely quiet.

Li Zhixing turned on his computer, opened a document, and began to organize the thoughts in his mind.

In the empty restaurant, only the light "click-clack" of the keyboard could be heard.

He didn't press the last enter key until 10 p.m.

He rubbed his sore neck; the long period of intense concentration had left him feeling tired.

Instead of immediately closing his laptop, he casually opened a portal website and started browsing the news.

As he swiped the mouse, a music video recommended on the homepage caught his attention.

The cover features a six-member girl group.

"T-ara, a new group?"

Treating it as a mental break after work, he clicked on the link and started reading with great interest.

Just then, the restaurant door was pushed open.

A girl wearing a T-shirt and shorts walked in, with most of her face covered by a mask.

Li Zhixing pressed the pause button, and subconsciously looked up to greet, "Welcome."

Upon seeing the distinctive blond hair, Li Zhixing's polite demeanor vanished instantly, and he said with disdain, "What are you doing here so late at night?"

Jessica rolled her eyes at him and took off her mask.

By the light, you could see that her complexion wasn't good, and she exuded an undeniable weariness.

Jessica looked around and muttered, "Sun-kyu was right, you really do come here every night."

She walked up to Li Zhixing, crossed her arms, and said, "Oh, didn't you stop working here a long time ago? Why are you still coming here every day?"

Li Zhixing sighed, "I can't sleep again. Using the computer at home would definitely disturb Grandma and Zhongxun, so I can only come to Uncle Li's place."

"Then why don't you come to my house?" Jessica frowned. "My house is big enough, and it won't bother anyone."

"Don't you know how far the basin is? Do you think I'd drive there every day?" Li Zhixing rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Alright, are you satisfied with your curiosity? Let's go!"

As he spoke, Li Zhixing reached out to close the computer screen.

"What are you looking at?" Jessica leaned in to peek inside.

Li Zhixing pressed down on the screen with one hand and tried to push her away by pressing her forehead with the other, but Jessica still managed to see the picture through the edge of the screen.

"Well, Li Zhixing, you're hiding here secretly watching your idol, aren't you?" Jessica pouted.

But after recognizing the person in the video, a look of surprise flashed across her face: "Isn't that Soyeon unnie?"

Li Zhixing was somewhat surprised: "You know them? It seems to be a new group that just debuted yesterday."

Jessica nodded and pointed to a short-haired girl in the video: "She was also a member of our debut group before, but she left just before our debut."

"Eliminated?" Li Zhixing asked in surprise.

"No, she's very talented. It seems like something happened in her family that caused her to leave." Jessica said regretfully, but then smiled. "Although it was two years late, she still debuted after all. Mnet isn't a small company."

Jessica's gaze swept over the song information on the screen, her brow furrowing slightly: "Lies? Their debut song is called that? Aren't they afraid of getting flamed by Bigbang fans?"

Li Zhixing scoffed, "Maybe that's what their company intends to do."

Jessica wasn't interested in other people's debut songs. She slammed her laptop shut and pulled over a chair to sit opposite Li Zhixing.

She crossed her legs and looked Li Zhixing up and down: "What's going on between you and Yoona?"

"What? What's going on?" Li Zhixing was stunned.

"What did you do to offend Yoona? Why is she so hostile towards you?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zhixing became angry: "How should I know! I was inexplicably kicked out by her that day. I said, are all the people in your group sick? They all treat me like I'm their enemy. You're one thing, but now there's Lin Yoona."

Jessica's face turned cold, and she abruptly put down her arms, which she had been holding in front of her chest, causing the chair to move backward as she stood up.

She glared at Li Zhixing, her voice trembling slightly with emotion: "Why am I acting this way? You still think I'm being unreasonable, right? Fine, I'll ask you one more time: when was the first time you met me?!"

Li Zhixing pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Every time they talk about this topic, they get stuck in this unsolvable vicious cycle.

"It was in the spring of 06, the day I went to your family's boxing gym for the job interview. Do I have to say it so many times?"

This is the same answer again.

Jessica bit her lip, her eyes instantly reddening.

Seeing that the girl was about to cry again, Li Zhixing felt a headache coming on and could only awkwardly change the subject: "Speaking of Lin Yoona... she's so hostile towards me, could it be because I rejected her audition?"

Jessica froze, her tears welling up and stopping abruptly: "Huh? Audition? What audition?"

"I auditioned for 'Speed ​​Scandal'. Yoona also submitted her resume, but I rejected her."

Jessica was a little confused: "You? Auditioning and weeding out people? Aren't you a stunt double? Why would a stunt double do this?"

Li Zhixing explained, "That film didn't have an action crew. I was given the title of assistant director, but to be honest, I was just doing odd jobs. It was purely because I had a good relationship with director Jiang Jiongzhe that he pulled me over to help out."

"You seem to have a lot of good friends, so... is that where Krystal met Cha Tae-hyun on set?"

Li Zhixing nodded: "Yes, I was in charge of the initial screening of some actors at the time, and I received information on your company's Lin Yoona, oh right, and Kwon Yuri as well."

At this point, Li Zhixing's expression became extremely speechless: "I don't know if your SM planning department has lost their minds. The information they handed over says that Lim Yoona has 150 audition experiences and Kwon Yuri has 100."

"So what? It shows we've worked hard!" Jessica retorted, unconvinced.

"Hard work?" Li Zhixing sneered. "Your resume highlights these hundreds of audition experiences as your biggest selling point, putting them in the most prominent place. But what about the actual resume?"

He paused, his tone growing increasingly disdainful: "After so many auditions, Im Yoon-a only landed a supporting role, and Kwon Yuri only had two cameo appearances. Isn't this clearly telling the production team that they've failed repeatedly and their acting skills are simply inadequate?"

Jessica opened her mouth, but was choked and couldn't speak.

"So, although Lin Yoona's image was quite suitable, I still eliminated her in the first screening." Li Zhixing leaned back in his chair. "Of course, there was also the reason that her singing skills were not up to par. The female lead of that drama had to be able to sing."

"I can't believe something like that actually happened... But Yoona isn't the type to hold a grudge against someone just because they were rejected." Jessica was stunned.

"If that's really the reason, then she has a lot of people to hold a grudge against." Li Zhixing clicked his tongue twice. "She failed 150 auditions back then, and now she's probably close to 250."

Jessica ignored his teasing this time.

She glared at Li Zhixing, her eyes reddening again, her voice full of grievance: "Hey, Li Zhixing! You're an assistant director now, and you still take Xiujing to the film set without telling me anything! Xiujing didn't tell me either, you've all kept it from me!"

Li Zhixing's smile faded.

He calmly looked at the extremely aggrieved girl before him, and after a long while, he sighed softly: "Tell you what?"

"Do you want me to tell you that during your most painful and difficult time, when you were facing a black sea and being boycotted by the entire internet, I not only served as a martial arts choreographer and assistant director, but also played the third male lead in the 10 billion won production 'Haeundae'?"

In the empty restaurant, only the faint hum of the old freezer in the corner could be heard.

Jessica stared blankly at Li Zhixing.

"You...is it because of this?"

......