108: Chapter 107 Immense Official Prestige

The interior of the van was quiet, with only the faint hum of the air conditioning and the flowing city scenery outside the window. Kim Taeyeon leaned back in her comfortable seat, resting with her eyes closed, seemingly still organizing her thoughts for the upcoming interview. Lee Tima sat diagonally opposite her, her large eyes darting around as she curiously observed the simple layout of the vehicle, occasionally stealing a glance at this legendary 'shin-ting-tae' senior.

The silence didn't last long. Lee Tima couldn't keep her mouth shut after all, especially when facing a senior she truly admired. She cleared her throat and spoke in her characteristic tone—childlike yet exceptionally clear.

“Taeyeon Unnie~”

Kim Taeyeon opened her eyes at the sound and looked at her with a gentle gaze. “Hmm? What is it, Tima?”

“Unnie, your singing is really, really good!” Lee Tima offered her praise generously, her small face full of sincerity. “I've listened to so many of Unnie's songs on TV and on my phone before! 'I', 'Fine', 'Four Seasons'... and Girls Generation's songs! Every single one is amazing! Your voice is like magic; it can crawl right into people's hearts!”

Such blunt and enthusiastic praise made Kim Taeyeon a bit embarrassed, but it also warmed her heart. She smiled. “Thank you, Tima. I'm glad you like listening to them.”

“It's not just liking them, I super—love them!” Lee Tima emphasized. Then, her tone shifted, and her small eyebrows furrowed slightly as she took on a look of serious contemplation. “But... every time I listen to Unnie's songs, especially your solo tracks, even though they're so good I get goosebumps, my heart always feels... hmm... a bit heavy. Like hiding under a blanket on a rainy day; it's very safe, but also a bit stifling.”

Kim Taeyeon was slightly taken aback. This evaluation... was very unique and very direct. She couldn't help but sit up straighter, looking at Lee Tima more intently. “A heavy feeling? Stifling?”

“Yes!” Lee Tima nodded vigorously, seemingly trying hard to find more accurate words to express herself. “It's just... there's so much emotion in Unnie's voice. I can hear sadness, strength, loneliness, and reflection... It's like a very, very thick book, with every page full of stories. But...”

She paused, her clear black-and-white eyes looking at Kim Taeyeon, containing no judgment, only pure curiosity and a hint of confusion.

“But, it always feels like it's missing just a little bit of... a tiny 'soul'?”

“Soul?” Kim Taeyeon repeated the word, her heartstrings seemingly plucked gently. It was a heavy word, but coming from an eight-year-old, it carried a strange piercing power. “Tima, you think my singing lacks 'soul'? What do you mean by that?”

Lee Tima tilted her head and thought for a moment, organizing her words. “It's not that Unnie's singing has no soul! Unnie's emotions are super, super real! I mean... that 'soul'... hmm... it's a bit like... 'Even though life isn't always surrounded by beauty, there should still be sweetness!' That kind of feeling?”

She tried to explain it in a way she could understand.

“It's like... like eating a piece of very, very bitter dark chocolate. Even though you know it's good for you and the taste is special, if you eat too much, you still miss that little bit of sweet whipped cream on top of a milk chocolate or a strawberry cake!”

“Unnie's songs are like that great dark chocolate—they have depth and flavor, and they make people think. But... it seems I rarely hear the kind of tiny, pure 'sweetness' that belongs to the 'whipped cream on a strawberry cake,' the kind that makes people unable to help but smile.”

“So after listening for a long time, the heart feels heavy because it's all weighty things, lacking that bit of 'little soul' that can make a person feel light enough to fly!”

Lee Tima's metaphor might have been childish, or even a bit off-track, but her intuition was exceptionally sharp. She wasn't negating the deep emotional expression and artistry in Kim Taeyeon's music; rather, she had captured the side that 'Singer Kim Taeyeon'—perhaps intentionally or unintentionally—tended to show: the reserved, profound, and even slightly pained and philosophical side, while relatively rarely releasing that burden-free, light, and small-certain-happiness type of 'sweetness'.

Kim Taeyeon fell completely silent. Looking at this eight-year-old girl who could express her auditory experience in such a peculiar yet direct way, an indescribable shock surged through her heart.

She thought back on her musical trajectory as a solo singer over the years, from the metamorphosis of 'I' to the electronic experimentation of 'Why,' and then to the nuanced emotional portrayals and continuous inner exploration in works like 'Fine,' 'Four Seasons,' and 'Spark.' Her music did indeed, as Lee Tima said, carry more and more 'weight' and 'reflection.' This 'weight' was her growth, the depth of her art, and the cornerstone of her resonance with listeners.

But... 'the whipped cream on a strawberry cake'? That light, pure 'sweetness'?

It seemed she really... hadn't actively looked for or displayed such things in her music for a long time. It wasn't a lack of ability, but perhaps a subconscious feeling that it wasn't 'profound' enough, or not 'Kim Taeyeon' enough?

Seeing Kim Taeyeon remain silent for so long, Lee Tima thought she had said something wrong and hurriedly waved her hands. “Ah! Taeyeon Unnie, I'm not saying Unnie doesn't sing well! Unnie is one of the greatest singers in the world! I was just... just saying what I felt! Unnie, please don't be angry!”

Kim Taeyeon snapped out of it, looked at Lee Tima's panicked little face, and suddenly laughed. It wasn't the perfect idol smile from the stage, but a soft smile filled with relief, novelty, and a touch of being moved.

She shook her head, her tone gentle and sincere. “I'm not angry, Tima. On the contrary... I'm a bit surprised.”

She paused, looking at the scenery flashing past the window, her voice very soft, as if speaking to herself as much as to Lee Tima.

“I didn't expect... that my soulmate, or rather, someone who could so bluntly point out a certain 'void' in my music... would actually be... an eight-year-old girl?”

Lee Tima blinked, not quite understanding the profound word 'soulmate,' but hearing 'eight-year-old girl' and that Taeyeon Unnie wasn't angry, she immediately became happy again. “Really? Unnie doesn't think I'm talking nonsense?”

“No, it's not nonsense,” Kim Taeyeon said firmly, her gaze falling back on Lee Tima with inquiry and interest. “Tima, you've given me a very interesting... perspective. Perhaps, on this journey to 'find music steps,' I don't just need to find traces of the past, but I also need to discover some... things like the 'whipped cream on a strawberry cake' that I've overlooked?”

She thought of the phrase 'capturing fleeting emotions and melodic fragments during the journey' mentioned in Jiang Zhiyu's proposal. Perhaps those moments held the 'little soul' and 'sweetness' Lee Tima spoke of?

Lee Tima nodded vigorously, her eyes sparkling. “Yes! Unnie will definitely find it! Because Unnie's voice is already beautiful, like the stars! Stars have sparkling and gentle light too!”

The childish words seemed to gently illuminate a corner of Kim Taeyeon's heart.

The van continued to drive smoothly, but the atmosphere inside had quietly changed. From the initial quiet restraint, it had turned into a subtle, inspiring atmosphere of exchange. A top solo singer and an eight-year-old 'musical radar' were about to embark on a peculiar journey of musical dialogue.

Meanwhile, back at TG, Jiang Zhiyu probably never would have guessed that the 'little troublemaker' Lee Tima he sent out hadn't 'gone to her death,' but instead, in their first contact, had used her unique 'black hole' perspective to give Kim Taeyeon an unexpected yet meaningful 'suggestion'—one that might even quietly influence the singer's future musical direction.

The chapter of 'music steps' had written an opening full of surprises and inspiration right there in that van heading toward her hometown.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

The nanny van drove into the Jeonju area, the familiar streetscape and atmosphere making Kim Taeyeon's expression soften significantly, revealing a sense of relaxation from returning to her hometown.

She casually introduced to Lee Tima, "Tima, this is my hometown, Jeonju."

"Jeonju?" Lee Tima repeated the name, a flicker of confusion flashing in her big eyes, before she seemed to recall something and blurted out subconsciously, "Jeonju? Oppa seems to be from Jeonju too!"

"Eh???" Kim Taeyeon turned her head sharply, looking at Lee Tima in surprise.

Producer Jiang Zhi Yu is from Jeonju? How had she never heard of that?

The Korean entertainment industry isn't exactly small, but it isn't huge either; if Producer Jiang Zhi Yu were from Jeonju, there should have been some rumor about it.

Seeing Kim Taeyeon's surprised expression, Lee Tima realized what she had just said and hurriedly waved her small hands to explain, "Ah! No, no! Not this Jeonju! It's... another Jeonju!"

"Another Jeonju?" Kim Taeyeon was even more confused.

Is there a second famous Jeonju in Korea?

Lee Tima tried hard to scrape together her meager geographical knowledge (mostly from the occasional chats between Jiang Zhiyu and Kim Soo-yeon, as well as memory fragments from the Tianxuan Continent), attempting to find an analogy that the other could understand: "It's just like... how there's a New York in the US and a York in the UK (New York vs York)? Same name, but not the same place!"

Although this analogy was a bit of a leap, Kim Taeyeon generally understood.

It meant that Jiang Zhiyu's hometown was also called "Jeonju," but it wasn't the Jeonju in Korea, rather a place with the same name elsewhere.

She nodded thoughtfully, "So that's how it is... Come to think of it, Producer Jiang seems to have American citizenship?"

Lee Tima nodded immediately like a pestle pounding garlic: "Ne! I have American citizenship too! And Sooyeon Unnie does too!"

As soon as the words "Sooyeon Unnie" were spoken, the Manager driving in front suddenly seemed to choke, coughing violently and glancing quickly at Kim Taeyeon through the rearview mirror, his eyes carrying a hint of imperceptible nervousness.

The smile on Kim Taeyeon's face also stiffened imperceptibly.

Sooyeon... American citizenship...

With these two keywords combined, it was hard not to think of that member who had left Girls Generation years ago, who also held American citizenship and had a very similar name—Jung Sooyeon (Jessica).

The air in the car, due to the unexpected appearance of this name, instantly stagnated for a moment, diffusing a faint complexity and awkwardness that only the people involved could truly feel.

Lee Tima was completely unaware of what delicate nerves her casual remark had touched; she was simply stating facts.

Seeing the Manager cough, she even asked with concern, "Mister Manager, is your throat uncomfortable? My Oppa said that for coughing, you can press here..." She stretched out her small hand to gesture at the space between her thumb and index finger.

The Manager hurriedly waved his hand and squeezed out a smile, "It's nothing, nothing. It was just a bit dry all of a sudden. We're almost there, almost there."

Kim Taeyeon also quickly adjusted her expression, returning to her previous gentleness, only with a hint of indescribable thought deep in her eyes.

She gently changed the subject, "Tima knows so much. Look, we're near my home now."

The car finally stopped in front of a traditional Hanok with a small courtyard.

Kim Taeyeon's parents had already known their daughter was coming back to record a program (although they weren't too clear on the specific details) and came out to greet them enthusiastically.

"Appa! Omma!" Kim Taeyeon got out of the car, walked quickly to hug her parents, her face filled with complete relaxation and a happy smile upon returning home.

"Our Taeyeon is back! And you brought a little friend?" Mother Kim looked lovingly at Lee Tima, who was following behind and looking around curiously.

"Ne, Omma, this is Lee Tima, an artist from TG Entertainment, and also a little guest for this program." Kim Taeyeon introduced.

"Hello! I am Lee Tima!" Lee Tima immediately bowed and greeted them obediently, her etiquette perfect, which, combined with her cute little face, immediately won the favor of the Kim family parents.

The group entered the house and sat down in the warm living room.

Mother Kim served the prepared tea, snacks, and fruit.

Although Father Kim didn't say much, looking at his daughter and the lively and cute Lee Tima, he also had a smile on his face.

While Lee Tima ate the delicious rice cake, her eyes weren't idle either, darting around to examine the furnishings in the room. Finally, her gaze fell unconsciously on Father Kim, who was sitting in the main seat.

Father Kim was not young anymore; his complexion looked decent, but there seemed to be a hint of imperceptible fatigue between his brows, and his posture was also slightly hunched unconsciously.

Lee Tima tilted her head and watched for a few seconds, a flicker of confusion flashing in her big eyes.

Having been with Jiang Zhiyu for a long time, besides learning a bellyful of "twisted logic" and variety show tropes, through subtle influence, she had also vaguely remembered some basics of the miscellaneous knowledge Jiang Zhiyu brought from another world, including some fundamental medical knowledge (the Tianxuan Continent also had a system similar to Traditional Chinese Medicine, which Jiang Zhiyu had talked about when bored), such as the "observation" part of the simplest "look, listen, ask, and feel."

She saw Father Kim's complexion; although ruddy, it was an unnatural red, and his eyes were also a bit murky.

She remembered Jiang Zhiyu once muttering while staying up late writing scripts, "Red face and murky eyes, the liver fire might be a bit high, or it could be floating deficiency fire," and similar things.

Therefore, driven by a strange impulse to "apply what she had learned" and the directness peculiar to children, Lee Tima swallowed the rice cake in her mouth, put down her small fork, and said to Father Kim with a serious face, "Mister, your health is not good!"

"Pfft—!" Kim Taeyeon, who was drinking tea, almost spat it out and hurriedly covered her mouth.

Mother Kim was also stunned.

Father Kim was even more taken aback by this sudden "diagnosis," then laughed, "Oh? Little one, how do you know this mister is in poor health?"

Lee Tima didn't feel anything was wrong at all. She stood up, walked in front of Father Kim, put her hands behind her back like a little adult, examined him carefully, and then pointed to her own face, saying with great seriousness, "Mister's face is red, but it's different from the redness of being in the sun. Here, in the eyes," she pointed to her own lower eyelid, "it's a bit dark, not clear. Oppa said this might be... hmm... 'deficiency fire'? Or the 'liver' is a bit tired? Does Mister sometimes feel dizzy, or have dry eyes, and not sleep very well?"

What she said were actually very common sub-health symptoms, but when spoken so "professionally" from the mouth of an eight-year-old girl, and with the mysterious background of "Oppa said so," the effect was completely different.

Father Kim's smile gradually faded, and there was a bit more surprise in his eyes.

Because he had indeed recently felt a bit dizzy, his eyes were easily fatigued, and his sleep quality was not as good as before.

He looked at his daughter, Kim Taeyeon.

Kim Taeyeon was also shocked.

She knew Jiang Zhiyu was a "genius," but she didn't expect that even the little artist he brought along would seem... a bit mystical?

And the symptoms Tima mentioned seemed... a bit accurate?

"Tima, does your... does your Oppa teach you this too?" Kim Taeyeon couldn't help but ask.

"Mm!" Lee Tima nodded vigorously, "Oppa knows so much! But he doesn't let me talk about it randomly, saying it will scare people."

She covered her mouth belatedly, her big eyes blinking, "Ah! Did I say too much?"

Looking at Lee Tima with this innocent yet mysterious "medical skill" demeanor, the Kim family parents and Kim Taeyeon didn't know how to react for a moment.

Was it a coincidence? Or did this child really have some "know-how"?

Regardless, Lee Tima's arrival seemed to have injected far more "unexpectedness" and "drama" than expected into Kim Taeyeon's "music steps" trip back to her hometown from the very beginning.

From the "musical soul theory" in the nanny van, to the subtle associations triggered by the Jeonju hometown, to the childlike "diagnosis" of Father Kim's health condition...

Kim Taeyeon began to feel that agreeing to let this little girl join the program might... really bring some unexpected "surprises" after all.

Of course, it could also be "shocks."