Chapter 24

After finishing his scenes on Jirisan, Zhang Chengyuan returned to Seoul. He honestly stayed at school for a few days, and under Park Byung-yeol's arrangement, he gradually joined several TV drama production teams, playing minor roles and getting some lines. He accumulated practical experience while continuing to attend acting school to improve his theoretical knowledge. As for his high school studies, he handled them with ease, listening attentively during the day and occasionally reviewing to easily grasp the knowledge in the textbooks. He always came first in exams, earning the trust of his homeroom teacher and the principal, who readily approved his leave requests.

While Zhang Chengyuan was leading a simple life, the four sisters he frequently kept in touch with, Fin.K.L, were enjoying increasingly colorful singing careers. They released a new album, 2.5, at the end of November, and participated in the historically significant first Sino-Korean Music Festival in China as performance singers. In early December, they made an unprecedented appearance representing South Korean pop singers at a performance in Pyongyang, North Korea. Upon returning to South Korea, they continued promoting their new songs and, within a week, easily won the top spot on SBS's Inkigayo. They then swept many important awards at the year-end music ceremonies, including the grand prize at the Seoul Music Awards and the grand prize at SBS's Gayo Daejeon, two of the highest honors in the Korean music industry.

These were the most prestigious honors that other girl groups and even all singers in Korea could only dream of but found hard to achieve. Even S.E.S. and BabyV.O.X., who had previously been on par with Fin.K.L. in popularity, were overshadowed by Fin.K.L. after their awards, becoming mere foils. Although they also won several highly coveted awards during the same period, they did not receive the grand prizes from major TV stations.

Fin.K.L's achievement in their second year of debut, which others might not achieve in a lifetime, naturally made Zhang Chengyuan, their closest younger brother, extremely happy. He wished he could rush to their side to congratulate them. However, he knew that their surroundings were filled with countless people, including journalists and fans. Appearing at this time would be inappropriate, as it could easily expose their relationship and lead to malicious speculation and slander, potentially severely damaging their careers. Therefore, Zhang Chengyuan had to suppress his excitement, decline Lee Hyori's invitation, and only watched their celebration from a distance, calling each of the four sisters to congratulate them and agreeing to meet after the New Year. He then left with a sense of melancholy.

Being friends with artists can be troublesome, and it's even more complicated when artists are friends with artists of the opposite sex. A slight misstep can lead to rumors, and once rumors start, many fans might act as if they want to kill the opposite-sex friend who is close to their idol, though of course, few fans would actually do it. However, the intense online attacks and vicious curses from fans can be extremely annoying and depressing.

To avoid rumors with the four Fin.K.L sisters, Zhang Chengyuan was always very cautious when meeting them, and the number of times they met in a year could be counted on one hand. Fortunately, both sides were long-term thinkers and were not worried that infrequent meetings would affect their relationship. Zhang Chengyuan still respected and loved the four sisters, and the four Fin.K.L members still doted on him.

On a night in January 2000, Zhang Chengyuan took out four jade necklaces he had specially prepared and made himself, dressed up, and took a taxi to Fin.K.L's dormitory. From a secular perspective, these four necklaces were not valuable items but rather looked like cheap goods from a flea market. Indeed, these four necklaces were cheap items he had bought from a flea market in Seoul's Dongdaemun district and modified.

Although these modified items were not valuable, they required a lot of effort and precious true qi from Zhang Chengyuan. He first carved the jade he had bought into the shapes of four animals: a fox, a black bear, a penguin, and a swan. These animals were much cuter than their real-life counterparts and only slightly larger than a coin. Then, he asked Park Byung-yeol to have the four jade pendants professionally fired to turn them into the corresponding colors: red, black, blue, and white, which were the representative colors of Lee Hyori, Yoo珠铉, Lee Jin, and Sung Yuri, respectively.

The reason he chose these four animals was that he felt they had some similarities to the characteristics of each Fin.K.L member.

For example, the fox, whether in China or Korea, is often associated with fox spirits and nine-tailed foxes, representing a seductive and alluring charm. Lee Hyori gave Zhang Chengyuan a similar feeling. Although this trait of Lee Hyori had not yet fully manifested, Zhang Chengyuan intuitively believed that she would eventually become a generation's sexy queen.

The bear is a symbol of strength, and Yoo珠铉 was the most robust and strongest among the four, both physically and in her singing, representing the strength of the current Korean music industry.

The penguin is not only cute and kind but also waddles in a clumsy manner, which perfectly described Lee Jin's kind nature and her "wooden" dance skills.

The swan is pure and beautiful, loved by all. Sung Yuri not only had the smoothest and whitest skin, known as "milk skin," but also had a clear and beautiful appearance, making people like her at first sight. In detail, Sung Yuri had a long neck and large feet, which were very similar to a swan.

Therefore, using these four animals to represent Fin.K.L seemed most appropriate to Zhang Chengyuan, though this was just his personal opinion, and others might not agree. However, he didn't need to care about others' opinions.

After making the four animal jade pendants, Zhang Chengyuan had them fitted with silver chains at a jewelry store. Due to his limited funds, he couldn't use precious metals. To make up for it, he infused the four pendants with the true qi he had cultivated for a long time, equivalent to the amount he could cultivate through half a year of meditation. Through this true qi, Zhang Chengyuan could always sense the physical condition and even the mood changes of the wearers, allowing him to help them solve problems early. Additionally, these jade necklaces had a small function, enabling Zhang Chengyuan to roughly sense the location of the wearers, making it much easier for him to find the four sisters in the future.

It might sound mysterious, but it was just a small Daoist technique using true qi to sense changes in the body's qi and blood. If not for the drastic changes in the world and the scarcity of spiritual energy, which rendered most magical techniques ineffective, Zhang Chengyuan would have given each sister 20 to 30 protective amulets.

Upon arriving at Fin.K.L's dormitory, Zhang Chengyuan was warmly welcomed by the four sisters, each giving him a warm hug, making him feel warm inside. Despite their growing fame and popularity, the four sisters remained humble and cautious, fearing that Zhang Chengyuan might distance himself from them for various reasons, so they treated him even more intimately.

As soon as he sat on the sofa, Zhang Chengyuan eagerly presented the gifts he had carefully prepared, hoping to receive praise from the four sisters. However, none of them showed any signs of joy, instead looking at him with puzzled and confused expressions.