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

Chapter 16 You Can't Take It Away

Jiang Yongtai's bedroom is still the same as Minatozaki Sana remembers it.

The blankets were neatly folded, and several books about cinematic language were stacked on the bedside table.

The curtains were drawn tightly shut, and the entire room was so clean it looked like a showroom with hardly any signs of life.

There were several photos on the desk, and Sana went over to take a look.

Most of the photos are landscapes, sunrises, and coastlines. There are also a few behind-the-scenes shots of him frowning at a monitor and speaking into a walkie-talkie on set.

Sana Minatozaki curled her lips.

Still so narcissistic, but what I really want isn't here.

She opened and rummaged through several drawers, but found nothing.

I went to the bedside table, squatted down, opened the drawer, and unpacked several folded documents and charging cables, but still nothing.

Could it really be lost?

Now she was starting to doubt the conclusion she had just drawn.

She stood up, looked around the room, and finally her gaze landed on the wardrobe.

It's not really appropriate to go through someone else's closet.

The thought had barely formed when a tiny flapping sound echoed in my mind.

A Shiba Inu with angel wings fluttered out and hovered above her head.

What's wrong with that? Jiang Yongtai is her ex-boyfriend, not someone else.

Another sound followed, and a Shiba Inu holding a fork flew out from above the right shoulder, its tail held high.

But he's already her ex-boyfriend!

The angel Shiba Inu hovered in front of the devil Shiba Inu, staring at it.

You own half of that photo! And you've already searched so many places, why are you still fixated on this one wardrobe?

The devilish Shiba Inu swung the fork around, sending the angelic Shiba Inu flying and disappearing into thin air.

Sana Minatozaki nodded as she looked in the direction the angel Shiba Inu had disappeared, and walked towards the wardrobe.

Open the wardrobe, and you'll find nothing but dark-colored clothes.

She ran her hand over the clothes, which were mostly black and gray. She pouted and said that Jiang Yongtai's fashion sense was hopeless.

There were several cardboard boxes stuffed at the bottom of the wardrobe, and she squatted down to take them out one by one.

The first two boxes contained thick coats for the changing season and a few old sweatshirts. The last one was tucked away at the very back. She pulled it out and opened it.

On top was a pair of her pants, so it seemed that everything in the box belonged to her.

She took the clothes out one by one: T-shirts, dresses, a cardigan she had been looking for for a long time... it turned out he had kept them all here.

Sana Minato pursed her lips and continued flipping through the pages. Then, her pupils suddenly contracted, and her ears began to turn red.

Why would he keep this?!

She was clutching a cheerleading outfit similar to the one in "Cheer Up," a "reward" that Kang Young-tae had begged her for a long time to receive.

She quickly threw it aside as if she had been burned, and what was underneath made her face turn completely red.

A battle-damaged pair of black stockings, with a tear at the knee. As for why it's a battle-damaged pair...

Sana shook her head, quickly trying to shake off the memories that had come back to life.

"Baka! Jiang Yongtai!"

She really didn't want to touch it, so she carefully used her fingers to brush the edge of the cardboard box.

If the photo isn't here, you're doomed, Kang Young-tae!

She took several deep breaths and carefully continued turning over.

Fortunately, the remaining items prevented her from feeling too embarrassed. They were autographed albums she had given him, postcards she had brought back from Japan, and a sticky notepad from Osaka Castle that she had bought in Osaka... Each one was in very good condition.

She flipped to the bottom, and her eyes lit up.

Finally found!

She picked up the photo frame, her fingertips gently resting on her smiling face in the picture, her gaze softening unconsciously.

The winter sea breeze in Incheon tore her hair to shreds. Kang Young-tae stood next to her, their shoulders close together. Both of them were shivering from the cold, but they were still laughing.

Laughter was so simple back then...

"You can't take this back."

A voice suddenly sounded behind her. Sana shrank her shoulders and instinctively hid the photo frame behind her back, her knees almost hitting the edge of the cardboard box.

She squatted down, turned around, and looked towards the door.

Jiang Yongtai woke up at some point and leaned against the door frame.

His eyes were still squinting from the alcohol, one hand was pressing on his head and rubbing it back and forth, and his voice was hoarse beyond belief.

"Why should I?!"

Sana Minatozaki hid the photo frame even further behind her back, raised her chin, and glared at him.

"Since you've broken up, why keep these things?"

Jiang Yongtai frowned, his temples still throbbing, the aftereffects of the alcohol clouding all his senses, and he didn't respond to her words.

"If you take it back, it will be difficult to explain if others see it, but the rest is fine."

Sana paused for a moment, then looked down at the open cardboard box in front of her.

He said she could take whatever she wanted, do whatever she wanted with it, but that photo not only showed her, but also Jiang Yongtai's face...

She took the item back to her dorm, and her teammates saw it. She couldn't very well tell them, "I'm sorry, I've been secretly dating someone for two years now."

She pursed her lips and gently kicked the cheerleading uniform at her feet into the cardboard box.

"I don't want these things...you should throw them away, they should have been thrown away a long time ago!"

"...Okay." Jiang Yongtai opened his eyes, looked at her, and nodded seriously.

"I'll lose it."

Sana stood up, her hands still behind her back, her fingers gripping the frame of the photo.

Jiang Yongtai sighed, softening his voice a little.

"Thank you for bringing me home tonight."

Sana turned her head away.

This kind of perfunctory thank you is even more irritating than before.

"Don't you have any other friends? Don't come to me next time... No, there won't be a next time!"

"Okay, sure."

That tone again!

Sana Minatozaki turned around angrily and glared at him. She walked over quickly, and Kang Young-tae stepped aside to make way for her, but she still deliberately bumped into his shoulder.

He swayed slightly, then steadied himself by holding onto the door frame.

"……photo."

Sana Minato stopped in the middle of the corridor, turned around, ran a few steps, and stuffed the photo frame into his arms.

"Here you go! And those two things... hurry up and throw them away, no, burn them! Are you a pervert, keeping them?!"

After saying that, she walked straight to the door, opened it, and went out. With a "bang," the room fell silent again.

Jiang Yongtai stood at the bedroom door, clutching the photo frame in his arms.

Clothes and old items were scattered all over the ground. He looked down at them, twitched his lips, and took a deep breath.

I walked to the room across the hall, stood at the door and took a deep look, then went in and put the photo frame back on the bedside table.

……

Sana Minatozaki gritted her teeth and walked out of the apartment building. The night wind rushed towards her, blowing the stray hairs on her forehead and evaporating the tiny bit of moisture in the corner of her eye.

She glanced back at the floor where Jiang Yongtai was; the curtains seemed to sway slightly, though it could just be the wind.

Sana Minatozaki turned her head, opened the car door, and got in.

She didn't immediately shift gears. With her hands on the steering wheel, she looked out the window at the streetlight that was flickering on and off, and her brows suddenly furrowed.

When I entered the entryway, there was a baseball cap hanging on the hook next to the shoe cabinet.

She caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye as she left, but didn't have time to think about it much. Now, sitting in the car, the outline of that hat came back to her, and no matter how she looked at it, it seemed like she had seen it somewhere before...

She shook her head with a wry smile, speechless at the way her thoughts had wandered after her anger.

Right now, what should be on your mind is the infuriating attitude of that "scumbag," not a label...

Sana Minatozaki gave a self-deprecating smile, started the car, and drove towards the dormitory.

……

Minami is lying on the bed, holding a Switch in her hand, while her Animal Crossing character is fishing by the sea.

The light from the screen shone on her face, clearly illuminating her slightly furrowed brows.

The fish had already bitten the bait three times, each time slipping away a second before she pressed the A button.

She had intended to go to sleep at 1 a.m., but Tom Nook's mortgage payments stopped her, and when she looked up, it was almost 4 a.m.

The door was suddenly pushed open, and Sana Minatozaki stood in the doorway wearing a hoodie, her face showing an indignation that Mina hadn't seen in a long time.

"Mina!"

She closed the door behind her, kicked off her slippers, climbed onto her bed in a few steps, and rested her head on her lap.

Mina looked at her on her lap, reluctantly paused the Switch, and was somewhat surprised.

"Did you just come back from outside?"

Sana would never go out this late.

Sana Minatozaki took a deep breath and then poured it all out.

From that unfamiliar phone call to Jiang Yongtai's doorstep, she tried to confirm the date of their relationship on the phone, and the door lock beeped open.

Upon hearing this, Mina's eyelashes twitched slightly, and her fingers tightened their grip on the Switch.

"My room is still there, and all my things are packed into cardboard boxes, even my cheerleading uniform..."

As she said this, she reached out and covered her face with her hands, letting out a swear word in Japanese through her fingers.

"That pervert!"

Mina's lips curled into a smile when she heard "cheerleader uniform".

Sana Minato saw her smiling through her fingers, removed her hand, and glared at her.

Mina lowered her lips and asked what else she had discovered.

Sana Minatozaki paused for a moment and said that she wanted to take the photo back to her dorm. She had finally found it, but he said he couldn't take it with him. So she shoved the photo frame into his arms and came back.

Mina suddenly understood why Sana was so angry.

It wasn't because he still kept so many things that belonged to them, but because Jiang Yongtai said, "You can't take them back."

"Sana".

"Um."

"You're not just angry, are you? He didn't throw his things away, aren't you even a little happy?"

Sana paused for a moment, then looked up and glared at her.

"No way! What's there for me to be happy about? It's so annoying!"

She turned her face away, shrank back, and snuggled her head into Mina's arms, her voice growing softer and softer.

"...I'll sleep here with you tonight."

Mina looked at Sana Minato's profile and reached out to pat her hand.

"Okay, but you can't sleep like this."

Sana Minatozaki changed her position, lay down next to her, wrapped her arms around her waist, and yawned.

"Mina..."

"Um."

Sana Minatozaki closed her eyes and remained silent for a few seconds.

"...Never mind, I'm going to sleep. I have to practice choreography tomorrow, I'm so tired..."

"it is good."

Mina smiled slightly, put the Switch back on the bedside table, and reached out to turn off the bedside lamp.

There was silence for about half a minute.

"Sana..."

Mina's voice sounded somewhat helpless, "Don't put your hands anywhere."

"……whee."

Sana Minato's voice was already tinged with sleepiness as he buried his face deeper into her shoulder.

"Is Mina's tummy comfortable?"

……

The phone vibrated three times on the bedside table before Jiang Yongtai finally stretched out a hand from under the covers and touched it to his ear.

"Yongtai, are you awake yet?"

Na Young-seok's voice.

Jiang Yongtai glanced at the time on his phone; it was just past ten o'clock. He responded with a hoarse voice, still tinged with hangover.

You know the show "Heartbreaking Journey" which was suspended due to the pandemic, right?

Originally, we had enough footage left, but there was a problem in the editing department, and some original footage was lost, so now we're short enough for two whole episodes.

Na Young-seok spoke faster than usual, clearly indicating that he had just received the news.

"A meeting was just held at the top, and it was decided to film two special episodes about Jeju Island to fill this gap."

Jiang Yongtai sat up in bed, rubbing his temples with one hand. The liquor he had drunk yesterday still seemed to have been metabolized, and his mind was still foggy.

"Youngseok-hyung, surely it's not something you should be informing someone like me who hasn't even officially started working yet, right?"

"You'll understand once you hear me out. The original MCs and guests all had conflicting schedules, so the production team has put together a new lineup. The guests have been confirmed, but we simply don't have enough manpower."

The original plan in the meeting was to send two people from my team to help out…

Luo Yingxi paused, "But Minister Nam Seung-ho specifically mentioned your name during the meeting, and it would be troublesome if I were to remove two people from my side."

Jiang Yongtai got out of bed, drew back the curtains, and sunlight flooded in. He squinted.

"Will the original production team agree?"

He hasn't officially started working there yet, and he doesn't know anyone there. Being parachuted in like this doesn't seem very reliable at all.

"I know what you mean, but the production team of 'A Heartbreaking Trip' has agreed."

"And you were only going to help out, leading one team was enough, what do you say?"

Jiang Yongtai knew this was not something to be discussed.

Nan Shenghao's meaning was clear: passing the interview was one thing, but whether he had the ability had not yet been verified.

This isn't a last-minute recruitment drive; it's a continuation of the interview process.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yongtai reluctantly agreed.

"...Youngseok hyung, you didn't give me any room to refuse."

Na Young-seok chuckled softly on the other end of the phone and then told him that Kim Sung-woo had also been drafted, and that he needed to meet with the production team of "Heartbreaking Trip" to discuss the specific filming plans.

Jiang Yongtai asked where the meeting room was, and Luo Yingxi gave him a floor and room number, offered a few words of comfort, and then hung up.

He took the phone away from his ear, stood still to clear his head, and looked down to see that his shirt was covered in the smell of alcohol from the night before. He unbuttoned his shirt to take a shower, but then his peripheral vision caught sight of something on the floor.

The cardboard box that Sana Minatozaki found hasn't been put away yet...

He was too exhausted to clean up after she left last night, so he just left it scattered all over the floor.

Jiang Yongtai squatted down and put the items back one by one. She couldn't take the photo frame, which was upside down on the floor. He turned it over, glanced at it, put it back on top of the cardboard box, and pushed the box to the corner.

I promised to throw it away... but I don't have time right now. I'll talk about it when I have time.

He ripped off his shirt and went into the bathroom, hot water splashing on his shoulder as he frowned, trying to figure out what Nam Seung-ho meant.

Is he just trying to test him again, or is there another purpose...?