Time seemed to freeze in that small living room for three seconds.
Three seconds was enough for Liang Yun to experience complete petrification from head to toe.
His mind was blank; his only thought was: It’s over.
Late at night, a top girl group member, a single man and woman, alone in a room, drinking.
Now, they were caught red-handed by a third person.
This wasn’t just a problem that couldn’t be washed clean even by jumping into the Han River; this was a situation that could lead to immediate deportation back to his home country, leaving a prominent mark in Korean social news.
Ahn Yujin also froze.
In her eyes, which were glistening from alcohol and emotion, a flicker of surprise and panic appeared.
She instinctively tried to hide the non-alcoholic drink in her hand behind her back, but it was clearly too late.
And the ‘uninvited guest’ who broke it all—Fang Zi—was leaning against the doorframe, still messy-haired and sleepy-eyed, looking bewildered.
He first looked at Liang Yun, then at Ahn Yujin sitting on the carpet, and finally his gaze fell on the drink cans and dried squid between them.
His brain seemed to be processing the information before him at an extremely slow pace.
A few seconds later, he mumbled incoherently.
“I say, buddy, what are you doing in the middle of the night…? Did you go to a KTV? And you even brought a hostess back…”
After saying that, he seemed to feel that his brain capacity was insufficient to comprehend the complex scene.
So he let out a huge yawn, turned around, and like a sleepwalking doll, staggered back to his bedroom, closing the door with a ‘bang’.
The entire process was smooth and unhesitating.
The living room fell into a deathly silence once again.
Liang Yun felt like crying.
What KTV?
What hostess?
What was all this?!
However, the expected panic did not appear on Ahn Yujin’s face.
After the initial shock, seeing Liang Yun’s almost terrified expression, she suddenly let out a giggle and burst into laughter.
Her laughter, clear and tinged with the slyness of a successful prank, instantly dispelled the awkward, frozen atmosphere in the air.
“Yah! Your roommate is so funny!” She laughed so hard she was bent over, her body curled up, almost spilling the drink in her hand.
“Although I don’t understand Chinese, he didn’t recognize me, right! Hahahahaha.”
Liang Yun watched her laugh without any regard for her image.
The heart that had jumped to his throat from fright slowly settled back down.
He realized that as long as this woman was around, even the most awkward or dangerous situations somehow ended in a way that left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
“It’s pretty impressive that you can still laugh…” he said weakly.
“Why can’t I laugh?” Ahn Yujin finally managed to stop laughing.
She wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, then resettled herself cross-legged.
But her eyes still sparkled with a mischievous smile.
“Anyway, I’m not the only one who got seen. If we’re going to die, we die together.”
Liang Yun: “…”
He finally understood.
This woman was a complete troublemaker, just looking for fun and chaos.
However, after that interruption, the previous heavy and melancholic atmosphere indeed dissipated quite a bit.
The vulnerability and confusion on Ahn Yujin’s face were replaced by a smile.
She picked up the half-empty drink can again but didn’t drink from it, just held it in her hand, gently shaking it.
The living room was quiet, with only the background noise of the city outside the window and the sound of liquid sloshing in the can.
She was silent for a while, then looked up at Liang Yun.
This time, her gaze held no teasing or playfulness, but an unprecedented softness, a mix of seriousness and reliance.
“Oppa.”
She called out softly.
But this time, coming from her lips, it had a completely different meaning.
The sound was soft, gentle, tinged with a slight alcoholic flush and a nasal tone, like a feather, lightly and effortlessly brushing against Liang Yun’s heart.
It was no longer the boisterous “Producer-nim,” nor the teasing “Liang Yun-ssi,” but “Oppa.” A common and intimate address in Korea, yet at this moment, she had imbued it with immense weight.
Liang Yun felt his heart being tightly gripped by a warm hand, then gently released.
A strange warmth spread from his chest to his limbs.
He even had the illusion that the dim living room had brightened a few shades.
He looked at her, forgetting to answer.
Ahn Yujin didn’t seem to expect his answer either.
She just looked at him and continued, “Thank you just now.”
“…Thank me for what?”
“Thank you for telling me, ‘You will.'” She smiled slightly, that smile appearing exceptionally gentle under the dim yellow light.
“Actually, I understand all those principles. A temporary group always has an end. The future… I always have to forge my own path. But understanding is one thing; truly facing it is another. I also get scared and lack confidence.”
She paused, her clear eyes gazing at him unblinkingly.
“But when you said ‘You will,’ I suddenly felt like… it wasn’t so scary anymore. Because I know there’s someone, a very talented Producer Oppa, who truly believes in us and has high hopes for us.”
Liang Yun’s heart was deeply touched again.
He looked at the girl before him, stripped of all her auras, just a girl who felt insecure about the future.
The embarrassment and panic he felt from being caught completely vanished.
In their place was a strong urge to protect her, to make her feel at ease.
“I didn’t say that out of politeness,” Liang Yun’s expression was incredibly serious, and his voice became deep and firm.
“I truly believe it.”
He organized his thoughts, trying to express himself more clearly.
“Ahn Yujin xi… no, Yujin. You and Wonyoung both have very unique charms. Your vitality, your leadership, your sense of control on stage—these are things others cannot imitate. And Wonyoung, she was born to be an idol; when she stands there, she is the focal point. These things will not disappear with IZ*ONE’s end.”
He remembered the song he wrote for them.
“When I wrote ‘ELEVEN,’ I was thinking of the two of you. It needed a temperament that was both arrogant and dreamy, both girlish and powerful. Besides you, I can’t think of anyone else in Korea who could master it. So, you must have confidence in yourselves, and even more… confidence in me.”
This was the first time he had so directly expressed confidence in his own work in front of others.
And this confidence, at this moment, transformed into his most solid support for her.
Ahn Yujin listened quietly, her eyes slowly reddening once again.
But this time, it wasn’t from sadness, but from move.
She had never known that this man, who was usually as quiet as a gourd, actually thought of them this way.
He understood them, even more than they understood their own strengths.
She sniffled, holding back the tears that were about to well up, then raised the drink can in her hand towards him, revealing a brilliant expression mixed with tears and smiles.
“Okay! Then, for Oppa’s confidence, cheers!”
“…Cheers.”
The two gently clinked their cans, making a crisp sound.
That night, they didn’t talk about heavy topics anymore.
Ahn Yujin excitedly began telling him funny stories from the IZ*ONE dorm, about which member had strange sleeping habits, and about their clever battles with their Manager to sneak late-night snacks.
Liang Yun listened quietly, occasionally laughing at her exaggerated descriptions.
He realized that he seemed… not so afraid of being alone with her anymore.
In fact, he even somewhat enjoyed the feeling.
When the clock on the wall pointed to two in the morning, Ahn Yujin finally yawned.
“Ah… I can’t anymore, I have an early class tomorrow.” She stood up and stretched, revealing a slender waistline under her oversized hoodie, which was quickly covered again.
“I’ll walk you…”
“I’ll leave this to Oppa to clean up! Consider it my hostess fee, hahahaha!”
After saying that, she happily and lightly walked to the door like a cat that had stolen a fish, and pulled it open.
Before leaving, she turned back and made a “Fighting” gesture to Liang Yun.
“Oppa, good night.”
“…Good night.”
The door closed.
Liang Yun stood alone in the empty living room.
In the air, her fresh scent and a faint whiff of alcohol seemed to linger.
He looked down at the two empty drink cans and the half-eaten bag of dried squid on the floor, then touched his still slightly warm cheek, feeling as if he had experienced an unreal dream.
He walked over, silently cleaning up the mess, while in his mind, her soft, nasal “Oppa” echoed again and again…
The next day, when Liang Yun returned to his studio, he felt somewhat lightheaded.
He sat in front of the mixing console, opened the ‘Flame’ project file, and prepared to start the final mixing work.
But his mind kept uncontrollably drifting back to that living room from last night.
He even unconsciously picked up his phone, tapped on the winking dog avatar, and looked at their few simple chat messages, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curling into a slight smile.
Just as he was staring blankly at his phone screen, a new KakaoTalk message popped up.
It wasn’t Ahn Yujin.
It was the person whose avatar was a black square and whose ID was just a cool “J. SY”—Jeon Soyeon.
“Are you there.”
Still her concise style.
Liang Yun immediately refocused, switching back to work mode.
“Yes.”
“That song from last time, I revised it according to your ideas and recorded a new demo. Sending it to you.”
Soon, an audio file was sent over.
Liang Yun put on his headphones and clicked play.
The strong rhythm, exotic melody, and Jeon Soyeon’s signature powerful and skillful rap instantly filled his ears.
She had indeed adopted his previous suggestion, adding many triplet syncopations to the verse, making the entire flow more agile and unpredictable, full of sophisticated musicality.
“Excellent. It has more impact than the previous version,” he praised sincerely.
“However, the bridge still feels a bit empty,” Jeon Soyeon’s message immediately followed.
“I tried adding some synthesizer sounds, but they all felt too ‘full,’ disrupting the overall atmosphere of the song.”
Liang Yun thought for a moment and replied, “Perhaps… you could try using more acoustic instruments. Like a classical guitar, or… a clean piano solo?”
On the other end of the screen, there was silence for a few seconds.
Then, a message that surprised Liang Yun popped up.
“Your guitar has a warm tone.”
“For the bridge of this song, I want your guitar sound.”
“Do you have time tomorrow afternoon? Come to our company, CUBE’s recording studio. We can discuss it in person.”
No inquiry, no politeness.
Direct, decisive, and with an undeniable aura.
Liang Yun looked at these three messages, feeling his temples throbbing.
This buddy didn’t intend for me to refuse, did she…
Liang Yun grumbled in his heart.
He looked at the bustling traffic of Gangnam District outside the window, then at the dog avatar representing Ahn Yujin and the pure black avatar representing Jeon Soyeon on his phone screen.
He suddenly felt that his peaceful homebody life seemed to be rushing in a direction he could not have predicted at all.
Forget it, what’s the use of thinking so much.
Liang Yun got up to brush his teeth and go to sleep.
“Tomorrow’s problems can be dealt with tomorrow, who cares whose son dies…”