200: Chapter 198: The Guardian of Shabi Hakimi and I engage in a five-minute verbal battle.

The bus traveled smoothly along the highway leading to Jeonju. It was early summer, and the scenery outside the window was full of vitality. The roadside trees were lush and green, their emerald leaves glistening under the sunlight. The distant mountains layered upon each other, transitioning from deep green to light azure, like a watercolor painting lightly rendered.

In the fields, the early rice was already heading, and the green seedlings swayed with the wind, creating layers of waves. Occasionally, farmers could be seen working in the fields, wearing wide-brimmed straw hats; their figures, bent over, appeared small yet resilient against the vast land. Further away, fruit trees in some orchards were already laden with green, unripe fruit. Although their variety was not yet clear, the budding vitality was palpable even through the bus window.

The sky was that clear blue unique to early summer, with a few white clouds drifting lazily in ever-changing shapes. Sunlight spilled through the bus glass, warm but not scorching, creating the perfect temperature for a nap.

Jiang Zhiyu leaned against the window seat, soft music playing in his headphones, but his gaze remained fixed on the scenery outside. It had been a long time since he had sat so quietly in a vehicle, needing to think about nothing, simply watching the landscape flow backward.

The drive from Seoul to Jeonju took about three hours, and the bus made one stop at a service area along the way. Jiang Zhiyu got off to buy an iced Americano and stood on the service area's observation deck to enjoy the breeze for a while. The early summer wind still carried a hint of coolness, mixed with the faint scent of roadside wildflowers, making one feel refreshed and relaxed.

After getting back on the bus, he sent a message to Kim Taeyeon, informing her of his estimated arrival time. He quickly received a reply: a location pin, a photo of a Mercedes coupe, and a brief message: [Call me when you arrive.]

The bus continued forward, and the scenery outside gradually changed from open fields to rolling hills. When the road sign for "Jeonju" appeared in his line of sight, Jiang Zhiyu checked the time—he was fifteen minutes earlier than expected.

The Jeonju Express Bus Terminal was more modern than he had imagined, its white building somewhat dazzling in the sunlight. Jiang Zhiyu got off the bus carrying a simple backpack and looked for the Mercedes coupe according to the location Kim Taeyeon had sent.

Soon, he spotted the low-profile black coupe in a corner of the parking lot. As he approached, the driver's side window slowly rolled down, revealing Kim Taeyeon's face behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Get in," she said, her voice concise and direct.

Jiang Zhiyu opened the passenger door and sat inside. The car's air conditioning was running high, forming a sharp contrast with the warmth outside. As he buckled his seatbelt, he asked, "Noona, why did you drive here yourself?"

Kim Taeyeon turned to look at him. Her expression behind the sunglasses was hard to read, but her tone carried a hint of pride: "What? Is it not okay for a big star like me to personally pick you up?"

"It's fine," Jiang Zhiyu laughed. "I don't know how many people would be dying of envy."

The car smoothly pulled out of the parking lot and joined the flow of traffic in Jeonju. The streets of Jeonju were much wider than those in Seoul, and with less traffic, the drive was exceptionally smooth. Neat shops and residences lined the roads, with traditional Hanok buildings occasionally interspersed among them, where modern and traditional coexisted harmoniously.

The interior of the car was quiet, save for the slight hum of the air conditioner and the occasional distant sound of a car horn. But soon, another presence began to quietly permeate the space—the unique body fragrance from Jiang Zhiyu.

It was a scent difficult to describe accurately in words: fresh yet carrying the sweet aroma of plump fruit, like ripe peaches mixed with sun-dried citrus peels, with a faint, refreshing herbal note. Most notably, this fragrance seemed to contain the warmth of sunlight—not a physical heat, but a psychological warmth, like the coziness of lying on the grass and basking in the sun on a spring afternoon.

Kim Taeyeon's fingers on the steering wheel tightened unconsciously. She had noticed long ago that Jiang Zhiyu had this special body fragrance; she had caught faint whiffs of it before in the SM recording studio, during meetings, and on variety show filming sets. But in the enclosed cabin of the car, this fragrance became exceptionally clear and rich, like invisible silk threads gently enveloping her.

She couldn't help but quietly swallow, trying hard to focus her attention on the road ahead.

Jiang Zhiyu seemed completely unaware. He looked at the street scenes outside with curiosity, his body leaning slightly forward, his face almost pressed against the window. Jeonju was a foreign city to him, and every street corner and shop was filled with a sense of novelty.

"Noona, what market is that?" he asked, pointing to a bustling intersection.

"Nambu Market, one of the largest traditional markets in Jeonju," Kim Taeyeon replied briefly, though her eyes involuntarily flickered toward him in her peripheral vision.

The way Jiang Zhiyu poked his head out was somewhat childish, a far cry from his image as a PD who spoke eloquently in meetings and controlled the floor during variety show recordings. Seeing his curious expression, the corners of Kim Taeyeon's mouth curled up slightly.

The car crossed a stone bridge. The stream below was crystal clear, with a few egrets leisurely wading in the shallows. The distant mountains stood out sharply against the blue sky, with a few wisps of mist still clinging to the peaks, looking like the light ink washes in a traditional painting.

Jiang Zhiyu suddenly murmured something in Chinese with a dialectal accent, his voice very soft, as if he were talking to himself.

Kim Taeyeon frowned slightly and turned to look at him while stopped at a red light. "Zhiyu, what did you say?"

Jiang Zhiyu turned his head, a playful grin on his face. "Nothing, Noona." His eyes looked exceptionally bright in the sunlight, the greenery outside the window reflected in his pupils.

Kim Taeyeon withdrew her gaze and focused back on driving, but that bit of doubt lingered in her mind. The tone of that sentence just now was very special, different from the standard Chinese she had heard, with the rhythmic variations of a certain local dialect.

What distracted her even more was that the body fragrance in the car seemed to be getting richer. It wasn't a pungent intensity, but a gentle and persistent sense of being surrounded, as if she were in a greenhouse filled with sunlight and fruit aromas. That warmth seeped through her skin and into her limbs, creating a drowsy sense of comfort.

Kim Taeyeon secretly adjusted the air conditioning vent, letting the cold air blow directly onto her face in an attempt to stay alert.

The car left the city center and drove onto a relatively quiet road. Continuous farmland lined both sides, with occasional traditional Hanok houses scattered among the fields, their black tiled roofs particularly striking against the green. Further away, a flock of egrets took flight from a paddy field, tracing elegant arcs in the sky.

The early summer sunlight filtered through the car window, casting soft shadows on Jiang Zhiyu's profile. He watched the outside quietly, his eyelashes almost transparent in the light. In that moment, Kim Taeyeon suddenly felt that this PD, who always came up with a bunch of weird ideas and could drive idols to the point of collapse, actually had such a quiet side as well.

"Noona," Jiang Zhiyu suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a hint of nostalgia, "Actually, I'm also a Jeonju person."

Kim Taeyeon, who had been in a half-awake state, was suddenly startled awake, and her voice rose involuntarily: "Ne?!!!"

She subconsciously turned to look at Jiang Zhiyu, and the steering wheel in her hand veered slightly, causing the car to drift toward the side of the road.

"Noona, drive carefully!" Jiang Zhiyu immediately warned.

Kim Taeyeon quickly gripped the steering wheel and corrected their course, her heart racing from the near-miss. She cursed inwardly with some irritation, took a few deep breaths, and tried to regain her composure, returning to being the steady senior.

"Zhiyu, aren't you Chinese-American?" she asked, trying to make her voice sound natural. "How are you related to Jeonju?"

Jiang Zhiyu smiled and said, "Noona, the Jeonju I'm talking about isn't the same as the Jeonju in Korea; it's just a place name." His tone was relaxed, as if he were talking about an insignificant trifle. "There's also a place in China called Quanzhou, and that's where my father's hometown is. I went back there a few times when I was a child. In my memory, it was also an early summer like this, with the fields all green."

Kim Taeyeon gave a flustered laugh and said in a half-teasing, half-exasperated tone, "Ya! Michyeosseo?!" (What the?!)

Her cheeks felt slightly warm, whether from the scare just now or from the realization that she had overreacted. Fortunately, Jiang Zhiyu didn't pursue the topic; he turned back and continued looking at the scenery outside.

The car moved forward, passing through a bamboo forest where the leaves rustled in the wind. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bamboo leaves, casting mottled, swaying shadows inside the car. That warm fruity fragrance still filled the air, but Kim Taeyeon had gradually adapted to its presence, even starting to feel that driving like this was quite nice—at least she wouldn't fall asleep.

She stole a glance at Jiang Zhiyu's profile and found that he had returned to that state of quietly watching the scenery, a faint smile playing on his lips.

Just how many sides of him were there that she didn't know about?

Kim Taeyeon gathered her thoughts and focused on the road ahead. The early summer wind drifted in through the slightly open window gap, bringing the fresh scent of the fields, mixing with the fruity fragrance inside the car to form a unique scent belonging to this afternoon.

There was still a distance to go before they reached home, but she suddenly felt that this road might not be long enough.

The car drove into a relatively quiet residential area, where the roads were lined with neat trees and detached houses with their own yards. The early summer sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows that flowed over the car's body.

Kim Taeyeon's fingers on the steering wheel tightened slightly, but she quickly relaxed and spoke in a conversational tone: "Speaking of which, IZ*ONE's new variety show has been getting a great response lately. I've seen quite a lot of discussion about it on SNS."

Jiang Zhiyu was looking at the hydrangeas in full bloom in front of a house when he immediately turned back with a pained expression: "Noona, don't even mention it. Last time Yoona Noona gave me a real scolding because of it."

"Yoona??" Kim Taeyeon raised her voice in surprise, almost missing a turn. "Scolded you?!!"