Chapter 163: Lee Ji-eun And Kim Tae Yeon’s ‘invisible Showdown’
The next day.
Today’s Lin Xiuyuan slept until he woke up naturally, then yawned and slowly walked out of the room.
In the living room outside the door, Sulli, who had no schedule or rehearsal today, was sitting on the sofa chatting and laughing with a figure. When they saw Lin Xiuyuan come out, they both immediately looked over at him.
“Morning, oppa~”
“If you sleep a bit longer, it’ll be noon, Lin Xiuyuan.”
Looking at Little Deer Lin Xiuyuan sitting cross-legged on the sofa, Lin Xiuyuan lazily stretched, “It’s not even 11 yet, how is that noon.”
Sulli then asked caringly, “Oppa, do you want to eat something? Shall I heat up a few buns for you?”
“No need, I’ll just make a cup of oatmeal later. Little Deer, when did you get here? No work today?”
After politely declining Sulli, Lin Xiuyuan looked at Little Deer and asked.
Last night while chatting with Kim Tae Yeon, he knew how busy Girls’ Generation’s schedule was at this time; it was impossible for her to be this free.
“Haha, this is all thanks to The Heirs. After the company found out I really got the lead actress role, they seemed to realize that as long as nothing goes wrong, there’ll definitely be a wave of traffic coming, so they specially cleared out a lot of time for me to study the script.”
While saying this, Little Deer was genuinely happy. After all, having time to rest properly while clearly knowing her future path wouldn’t be bumpy—in fact, it was very clear—who wouldn’t be excited?
At the same time, Lin Xiuyuan was a bit shocked, “That vampire company SM Entertainment is actually willing to do this? Did they get their heads caught in a door? You’re a money tree now.”
“They probably think that after this drama airs, this money tree of mine can earn even more.” Little Deer smiled back.
Faced with her statement, Lin Xiuyuan’s increasingly sharp mind instinctively came up with an idea, “Contract? They discussed the contract with you?”
Little Deer looked stunned after hearing this and turned to Lin Xiuyuan, “How did you guess?”
Lin Xiuyuan didn’t respond, just shrugged.
Then Little Deer pouted and answered, “Yeah, we talked yesterday. Basically, the company said they’ve worked hard arranging my future schedule and hope I won’t let down their ‘cultivation,’ though they didn’t say it outright, but you get the meaning.”
“One drama shouldn’t make your company go this far. Is there something else?”
Lin Xiuyuan had just finished frowning and saying this when Sulli, who had been listening on the side, raised her little hand, “Oppa, I thought of a possibility.”
“What?”*2
Lin Xiuyuan and Little Deer instantly turned their gazes to her and asked one after another.
“Isn’t it possible the company wants to push Yoona unnie toward a development path like Suzy’s?” Sulli analyzed seriously. “You know, for an agency, an actor with idol popularity is really more valuable than being just a pure singer or pure actor.”
As Sulli said this, Lin Xiuyuan also thought of the TV station reform that Park Ji-yeon had mentioned last time, and couldn’t help pursing his lips and nodding, sharing the idea with Little Deer and the others.
Then he tsked and sighed, “I don’t know if we’re guessing right, but the line of thinking is pretty clear. We’re seeing this from a future perspective, while those people are relying on speculation—not bad at all.”
“Otherwise, how could they manage such a big company?” Little Deer laughed.
“But we’re even better now.” Sulli tilted her little head up.
Gazing at the two, Lin Xiuyuan smiled and walked toward the time-space door, “Come on, let’s go over there and sit. I’ll check if there’s any info to handle.”
Hearing this, Little Deer and Sulli also stood up and followed, stepping through the door to the future together, arriving at the villa in 2025.
Just after landing, the two familiarly went to the newly installed shelf nearby, each grabbing a spare mobile phone, then nestled into the sofa and started scrolling videos.
These phones were specially bought by Lin Xiuyuan a while ago.
After hearing everyone’s suggestions, he simply bought four or five at once and put them in the villa’s spare area.
Though they couldn’t make calls or send texts, as long as connected to Wi-Fi, they could freely use Kakao, TikTok, and other apps for chatting and video messages without issue.
So after Sulli got her phone, she immediately messaged Krystal from her TikTok friends’ backend.
Krystal on the other end replied quickly, and the two happily chatted. But Krystal never used Sulli’s name in messages, nor did they video or voice call.
The same situation happened between Little Deer and Yoona.
But this time, Little Deer didn’t get Yoona’s reply right away because the other was out promoting her new drama.
After getting this info from Lin Xiuyuan, Little Deer got excited, “Xiuyuan, let’s watch Yoona’s new drama.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiuyuan immediately understood her intent and laughed, “You want to outshine her, huh?”
“I don’t, don’t talk nonsense.”
Little Deer averted her gaze and replied with a suppressed smile, not daring to say it outright, afraid this guy would turn around and tease her to Yoona.
Though she didn’t dislike Yoona, she still needed to learn some experience and techniques from her.
Then Lin Xiuyuan said, “It’s just the promotion period, not aired yet. If you want to watch, only the previous stuff.”
“Then never mind.” Little Deer shook her head, wrinkling her nose.
The group split to different corners of the sofa, each immersed in the short video world.
When they found something good or funny, they’d share it with each other, and laughter would occasionally drift from the living room.
Lin Xiuyuan helped Little Deer find quite a few clips from Infinity Beyond Class for her to watch and learn from—real solid stuff inside.
Little Deer sneakily glanced at him, as if Lin Xiuyuan thought these videos were more helpful for her.
Time slipped by quietly until around noon at 12, when Sulli rubbed her neck, put down her phone, and asked, “Oppa, should we eat here later or go back?”
“You want to cook?” Lin Xiuyuan looked at her.
“Cook for dinner. If we start now, who knows how long we’d wait to eat.”
Sulli replied after hesitating.
So Lin Xiuyuan opened the takeout app, “Then let’s order takeout. See what you like.”
Just as he spoke, a call reminder popped up on his phone screen.
That familiar selfie flashed by, immediately catching Little Deer and Sulli’s attention.
“Goo Ri unnie?”
“Tara’s Lee Ji-eun.”
Facing their curious gazes, Lin Xiuyuan made a hushing motion in the air, signaling them to be quiet, then answered, “Hey, Goo Ri, good morning.”
“Not morning anymore, it’s noon. Xiuyuan, did you just wake up?”
On the other end of the phone, Lee Ji-eun was sitting in a beauty salon, gazing at her fully made-up self with a styled hairstyle, and smiled slightly.
“Uh, yeah.”
Lin Xiuyuan slightly raised his eyes to Little Deer, whose smile had faded, bared his teeth at her playfully to make amends, and sure enough, it made her earlier slight displeasure turn into laughter.
“Then let’s have lunch together. I recently found a really good bibimbap restaurant; the taste is a bit like from your side.”
“Ah.”
Just as Lin Xiuyuan was about to politely decline, another voice cut in, “Yeah, Xiuyuan, come over quick. Goo Ri unnie mumbled about you all morning. If she wasn’t worried about disturbing your rest, she’d have called you earlier.”
Ham Eun-jung’s familiar voice rang out, instantly silencing Lin Xiuyuan who had been brewing his refusal.
Seeing this, Little Deer and Sulli beside him knew he couldn’t skip this meal, so Little Deer waved first, signaling him to go socialize without worry.
Lin Xiuyuan frowned and asked about the time. Hearing they still had a bit more to do, he set a meetup around 1 pm.
After hanging up, he immediately said, “What do you want to eat? I’ll go pack it and bring it back, eat with you, then head over.”
This thoughtful plan made Little Deer and Sulli both laugh.
“Oppa, don’t mess around. Can you eat two meals?” Sulli teased with a smile.
Little Deer chimed in, “We’re not unreasonable. Go do your thing. Anyway, I have to go to writer Kim Eun Sook’s place this afternoon; Sulli can come with me.”
But Lin Xiuyuan insisted, and eventually they let him pull them to browse nearby food apps, settling on a well-reviewed noodle shop.
Then, with Lin Xiuyuan flooring the accelerator, he quickly got to the shop, packed three portions of noodles, drove them back to the villa, and they ate and chatted casually, wrapping up lunch easily and pleasantly.
After the meal, he sent Little Deer and Sulli back to the 2013 time-space.
Before heading out, he glanced at his pajamas.
Then he went upstairs to change into a fresh casual outfit, put on his wristwatch, got back in the car, and sped toward the restaurant where he’d meet Lee Ji-eun and Ham Eun-jung.
At this time, Lee Ji-eun and Ham Eun-jung were also heading to the restaurant.
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Ham Eun-jung checked navigation while couldn’t help laughing, “Unnie, if you wanted to ask Xiuyuan out, why not just do it alone? Why drag me along to be the third wheel?”
As soon as she said it, her tone shifted, lowering her voice with some ambiguity as she slanted a glance at Lee Ji-eun.
“And, does Ji-yeon know you’re doing this? I don’t want to see you two fight over a young boy—that scene would be pretty amusing.”
Lee Ji-eun just smiled at this, her lips curving into a subtle arc, “Eun-jung, you don’t get it.”
She actually knew what yesterday’s scene had done—scared Lin Xiuyuan a bit. If not worried that being alone would make him even more awkward, she’d have invited him solo today; no need to bring a wingwoman to distract.
“I don’t get it?”
This answer amused Ham Eun-jung, but no matter how she pressed, Lee Ji-eun wouldn’t answer that question anymore.
Soon, the two arrived at the restaurant.
The lobby wasn’t crowded, mostly older diners—quiet and comfortable, good for chatting.
After entering, they picked a window booth seat on the second floor, flipping the menu while chatting.
Not long after they arrived, Lin Xiuyuan finally reached the restaurant.
Unable to find a good spot, he simply parked on the roadside in front of a closed real estate agent’s door, turned off the engine, got out, and hurried into the shop two steps at a time.
As soon as he entered, Lin Xiuyuan’s gaze skipped the first-floor lobby and went straight up to the second floor.
Just up the stairs, he spotted Lee Ji-eun and Ham Eun-jung by the window from afar.
When he saw Lee Ji-eun, Lin Xiuyuan’s somewhat hurried steps suddenly paused, like hitting a pause button.
Because today’s Lee Ji-eun was clearly dressed up more carefully than yesterday.
She wore a colorful striped fitted vest on top, tailored to her figure, highlighting her smooth neckline and delicate collarbone alluringly.
The hem was slightly tucked into light high-waisted ripped denim shorts, her leg lines straight and slender, nowhere to hide.
Outside, she casually draped a white sheer blouse, swaying lightly in the air conditioner breeze, adding a hazy, teasing visual allure.
This was an outfit full of summer vibe, yet her aura added mature tones—not just fresh, but sexy in just the right way, like a “vacation goddess” stepping straight from the swimming pool into the restaurant.
Lin Xiuyuan stood stunned for a few seconds before slowly walking over.
After greeting and sitting down, his gaze unabashedly lingered on Lee Ji-eun, a smile tugging at his lips as he half-jokingly teased.
“Wow, senior Lee Ji-eun, this outfit—planning to head to the swimming pool for a photo shoot right after eating?”
Lee Ji-eun lightly brushed the hair strands by her ear, the gauze top slipping a bit to reveal her fair shoulder and a small silver earring.
As if not hearing his question, she just chuckled lightly, her gaze meaningful, “Weather’s hot today. Afraid you’d feel pressured if I dressed too formally, so I went casual.”
Ham Eun-jung beside her heard this and her expression turned subtly indescribable.
This is casual? Unnie, this is clearly… seduction and teasing.
She wasn’t bad today either—a fresh shirt with a long skirt, plus shortened hair, giving a youthful college vibe.
But compared to Lee Ji-eun’s deliberate charm and presence, this youthfulness seemed plain.
With Lin Xiuyuan’s arrival, this belated lunch finally began.
After the food arrived, as Lin Xiuyuan took a bite of bibimbap, Lee Ji-eun asked, “How is it, Xiuyuan? This restaurant’s taste is pretty good, right?”
Lin Xiuyuan ate while glancing at the retro decor around, smiling as he sighed, “Honestly, I didn’t expect you to like this kind of place, Goo Ri. In my impression, you’d go for bright, neat Western restaurants or stylish influencer small shops.”
Hearing the surprise in his tone, Lee Ji-eun raised a brow and smiled, “It’s not that I don’t like the taste here. Mainly, those places you mentioned have better privacy. Young people are few here, so less chance of being recognized.”
“Yeah, can’t help it. Small restaurants usually don’t have private rooms; privacy is hard to guarantee.” Lin Xiuyuan nodded in understanding.
The three ate and chatted idly. Lee Ji-eun subtly steered the topics, repeatedly pressing Lin Xiuyuan on what he’d been busy with lately.
Lin Xiuyuan was vague, roughly mentioning the small tavern’s renovation progress and some issues from the membership system.
Ham Eun-jung sat watching like it was a show.
Watching Lee Ji-eun guide patiently, advancing step by step, while Lin Xiuyuan’s defenses were terribly weak, almost no resistance.
Until a phone call came, unexpectedly bailing Lin Xiuyuan out.
All three’s gazes fell on the phone screen on the table, where Kim Tae Yeon’s avatar was pulsing.
Seeing the name, Lee Ji-eun’s brows furrowed slightly, a faint unusual glint in her eyes.
Yesterday, Lin Xiuyuan was eating with Kim Tae Yeon when she called.
Today, it was her and Lin Xiuyuan eating, and the other called again.
It felt like some invisible contest—subtle, yet stirring an inexplicable competitive urge.
Ten Thousand Daily ended, thanks to godfathers’ support and votes.
Then monthly tickets broke 15K, Ten Thousand Daily +3
Ten Thousand Daily progress bar: 40/50.
Begging for monthly tickets, subscriptions, subscriptions, rewards, everything!!!!
