Peninsula: The Best Actor Starts from an Idol Battleground

Chapter 59 Yoona: I'm so stupid, really...

The dormitory fell silent; everyone was stunned by the news.

Yoona realized what was happening and grabbed Lee Ji-eun's arm, her face full of fear: "How could I have amnesia? Ji-eun, please don't joke like that right now!"

Even so, Yoona's eyes quickly reddened, and her voice even carried a hint of pleading: "Jie-eun, you haven't lost your memory, have you?"

Yoona stared intently at Lee Ji-eun, trying to find a hint of a joke in her expression, but Lee Ji-eun's expression was only serious.

Yoona instinctively covered her mouth, her mind flashing back to the time when Lee Ji-hyeong looked at her in the waiting room, downstairs in the dormitory, and in the hospital—a look that was completely indifferent, even seeming to find her inexplicable.

It turns out he wasn't pretending to be stupid, nor was he deliberately avoiding me.

He truly doesn't remember himself.

Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably, and she murmured absently, "How could this happen..."

Seohyun felt dizzy: "Is it really amnesia?"

She recalled that when she brought up this guess in the dorm before, Yoona unnie laughed and said, "How could that be?"

Who would have thought that what seemed like the most absurd guess would become a reality?

Taeyeon's mouth was slightly open, her mind buzzing.

After a brief blank in her mind, she suddenly realized that the reason why Zhixing Oppa was in so much pain in the recording studio today was because of the aftereffects of amnesia.

Sun-kyu stood there, his words "Is it really that melodramatic? I was just guessing" stuck in his throat, followed by a tightness in his chest.

Yoona gripped Lee Ji-eun's hand, her voice still trembling, "Ji-eun, what happened to Oppa? Why did he lose his memory?"

Lee Ji-eun could sense how much her brother cared about her, and her guard naturally lowered a bit.

Looking at the room full of people who were losing control of their emotions, she closed her eyes and, following the method Li Zhixing had once taught her, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, forcibly suppressing the surging emotions in her heart.

She grasped Yoona's hand in return and said softly, "Senior, let's sit down and talk first."

After everyone had settled down around the coffee table, Ji-eun looked at Yoona and said, "Senior, I will tell you everything I know, but I also want to know about Oppa's past. However, before that, I need to confirm one thing."

She turned to Taeyeon and asked, "Taeyeon sunbaenim, what exactly happened during the recording today? Why did Oppa's head suddenly start hurting?"

Taeyeon paused for a moment, her brows furrowing slightly as she tried to recall the details from before.

"Actually, I don't know why either. The recording went smoothly at the beginning of the day, and Zhi Xing oppa was normal. But in the second half, he suddenly became a little strange."

Ji-eun leaned forward slightly and immediately asked, "What's strange?"

"He suddenly became very anxious, wanting to finish filming quickly, and his attitude became harsh..." Taeyeon's tone lowered. "Later, he said he had an upset stomach and urged me to leave quickly. Now that I think about it, his head must have started to hurt at that time, but he was just forcing himself to stay."

"When I went back to the recording studio to confirm the next recording time, he was already rolling on the floor in pain. You know what happened next, Ji-eun."

Upon hearing "rolling on the ground," Yoona's face paled: "How is Oppa now? Is he in the hospital?"

Ji-eun patted the back of her hand to comfort her, saying, "Oppa is fine now, he's sleeping at home."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Sun-kyu couldn't help but ask, "Is Ji-hyung oppa's headache related to his amnesia?"

Lee Ji-eun didn't answer immediately, but lowered her head and thought for a moment before looking at Taeyeon: "Oppa, what happened before you suddenly rushed to end the recording?"

Taeyeon thought about it carefully: "Zhixing oppa asked me to help him name this song. It seems that after I told him the name, his expression changed a little."

"Name?" Lee Ji-eun pressed on, "What name did you get?"

“‘Don’t Forget’,” Taeyeon answered instinctively, then added softly, “I even told him the reason for the name back then, even if you forget the whole world, even if you forget who you are…”

Before she could finish speaking, Taeyeon abruptly stopped.

Her face turned deathly pale instantly, and she stared at Lee Ji-eun in astonishment, her voice trembling noticeably: "Is it... because of what I said?"

Lee Ji-eun looked at the flustered Taeyeon.

After a long while, she let out a long breath, and her tense shoulders slumped.

"I'm afraid that's why," Lee Ji-eun said in a low voice, "Those words triggered Oppa, making him unable to stop recalling the past, which caused his headache to flare up."

Yoona, her voice strained, pressed on, "So, Oppa's headache is really caused by amnesia?"

Lee Ji-eun looked at her and nodded with difficulty: "Oppa can't recall the past. Every time I try to think about it, I get a splitting headache."

The living room fell silent once again.

Taeyeon bit her lower lip tightly, her eyes red and filled with self-blame, while Yoona stared blankly at Lee Ji-eun, tears falling silently down her face.

Having figured out the cause of her headache, Ji-eun calmed herself down a bit and turned to Yoona: "Yoona sunbaenim, Seohyun sunbaenim just said that you and oppa grew up together?"

Yoona nodded: "We've been neighbors for many years. When I was seven, Aunt Huixin moved across the street from my house with Oppa, and we stayed until he left when he was eighteen."

Ji-eun hesitated for a moment: "So, we're just neighbors?"

Yoona quickly shook her head: "They were more than just neighbors. Back then, my dad was raising me and my unnie alone. He was very busy with work, so we often stayed at my oppa's house and were taken care of by Aunt Hye-shin. To us, they were like family."

Ji-eun nodded thoughtfully: "Senior just said that Oppa left when he was eighteen, which is 05. What exactly happened back then?"

Yoona's eyes dimmed: "They left very suddenly. I was practicing at the company that day when Oppa suddenly came to me and said he was going abroad soon. I was completely stunned and kept asking him where he was going and why he was leaving, but he wouldn't say."

"At that time, Oppa's face looked very ugly, his eyes were very cold, and he said some very harsh things to me."

He said that he probably wouldn't have many chances to see him again, and that... even if we did meet again someday, he hoped I would treat him like a stranger, as if we had never known each other...

At this point, Yoona's tears welled up again. That unexpected farewell still deeply pains her.

Seohyun, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but speak up: "But this whole thing is extremely unreasonable."

Facing the gazes of the crowd, she continued, "At that time, my senior had already been admitted to the law department of Seoul National University. She had just attended the opening ceremony and even bought an apartment near the university to prepare for living alone."

"What exactly happened that would make him give up all of this and suddenly go abroad with Aunt Huixin?"

Taeyeon and Sunny were stunned. Seoul National University, and it was the law department?

Seoul National University is already one of the top universities in South Korea, and its law school is the best of the best.

Countless high-ranking prosecutors, judges, and political and business tycoons come from there. In South Korea, being admitted to a law school means having one foot in the privileged class.

The two looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Ji-eun didn't react much to the news, clearly indicating she already knew.

Her attention, however, was drawn to another detail: "Yeah, what exactly happened that made Oppa leave so hastily right after buying the apartment?"

Sunkyu suddenly realized something and asked in surprise, "Wait, Yoona said he left when he was eighteen, does that mean Ji-hyung oppa got into Seoul National University at eighteen? He started school early?"

Yoona shook her head: "Oppa wasn't even 18 when he got into university. He skipped a grade in high school and went straight to his senior year after finishing his first year."

"Wow!" Sun-kyu exclaimed in surprise, "He skipped a grade in high school! Just how good are Ji-hsing oppa's grades?"

Xu Xian's eyes lit up, and she explained with a hint of admiration, "Senior is a true genius. He learns things extremely quickly. As long as he is interested in something, he can always master it in no time."

"I remember he rarely went to school back then, but he always got first place in every exam. In his words, why waste a whole day at school if you can master something in an hour?"

Hearing this, Ji-eun couldn't help but smile: "That's definitely something Oppa would say. He hates wasting time on meaningless things."

These words clearly stirred up Yoona's memories as well, and she couldn't help but nod: "Yes, for Oppa, it's better to sleep than to waste time on those things."

"Sleeping?" Ji-eun looked over, somewhat surprised.

"Yeah, Oppa's favorite thing is sleeping. If no one wakes him up, he can lie in bed all day."

Zhi'en's smile gradually faded, and her voice became somewhat hoarse: "But he can't sleep now."

Yoona's expression froze: "What do you mean?"

Ji-eun lowered her eyes and shook her head, offering no explanation.

Taeyeon couldn't help but ask, "So, you skipped a grade in high school because you didn't want to waste time and wanted to go to university as soon as possible?"

"No, that's not it. Oppa didn't care about which university he went to before," Yoona shook her head, "but in his first year of high school, he suddenly said he wanted to be a prosecutor and was preparing to take the entrance exam for Seoul National University's law school."

"I remember Aunt Huixin was very opposed to it at the time and didn't want him to choose this major," Yoona said with a hint of doubt in her eyes. "But no one could persuade Oppa once he made up his mind. Not only that, he also seemed very anxious at the time. He skipped a grade after finishing his first year of high school and went straight to take the college entrance exam that year."

Was there some hidden reason behind Oppa's insistence on studying law? Was he a prosecutor?

The thought flashed through Ji-eun's mind, and then, as if remembering something, she asked, "Oppa's parents, are they Chinese?"

Yoona paused for a moment before replying, "Aunt Huixin is Chinese. As for Oppa's father, I've never met him and don't know what country he's from. It seems he passed away a long time ago."

At this point, Yoona asked somewhat anxiously, "Where is Aunt Huixin now? Didn't she go back to Korea with Oppa?"

Ji-eun was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I've never met Oppa's mother. She hasn't appeared in the past few years."

Seeing Yoona's astonished expression, Ji-eun took a deep breath and said in a heavy tone, "Besides, Oppa didn't even go abroad back then."

"What?" Yoona and Seohyun were both stunned.

"Where did he go then?" Yoona's voice trembled.

Ji-eun looked at her and said, "Oppa lied to you back then. He actually went to serve in the military."

Yoona's mind went blank for a moment, then she suddenly realized: "But Oppa was only eighteen back then, wasn't it nineteen before he was drafted into the army?"

Ji-eun explained, "Normally, conscription begins at nineteen, but one can voluntarily apply for military service at eighteen. Oppa's birthday is April 23, and his enlistment record shows that he officially enlisted on April 24."

Ji-eun paused, her voice slightly hoarse: "In other words, the day after he turned eighteen and met the minimum enlistment standard, he immediately enlisted without staying a single day longer."

"He applied right after turning eighteen," Yoona murmured. "Why would he do this? He just got into Seoul National University, why would he suddenly go to serve in the military? And why did he lie to me about going abroad and say such heartless things to me?"

Sunny couldn't help but speak up, "Yoona, don't you think what he said back then was strange?"

"Since he decided never to see you again, why did he go to the trouble of going to the practice room to find you, and even specifically tell you to pretend you don't know him if you see him in the future?"

"If you really don't care, wouldn't it be simpler to just walk away without a word?"

......