283: Chapter 263 Drunken "Truth or Dare" and a Long-Planned Instigation

Im Yoona washed her face with cold water and looked at herself in the mirror—her eyes slightly red (whether from exhaustion or anger, she wasn't sure), her hair a bit messy, and droplets of water still on her face. She let out another sigh. The frustration brought by that fish in the kitchen, combined with Sunny Unnie's disruptive "Buddhist protection" antics, had left her physically and mentally exhausted.

She dried her face, tidied her hair, and took a few deep breaths before pushing open the bathroom door and walking back into the living room.

Then, she froze.

The scene she had anticipated—the two older sisters perhaps discussing something seriously, or waiting for her to come out and continue the "great fish-killing mission"—did not appear.

Instead, it was a scene of... harmonious late-night snacking?

On the coffee table, one and a half bottles of soju were already empty, and several bags of snacks had been opened. Sunny Unnie was talking animatedly, waving a spicy chicken claw in her hand. As for Taeyeon Unnie... she was propping up her cheek with one hand, her eyes half-closed, her head nodding rhythmically. She had clearly entered the standard state of a "liquor trash," with a silly smile on her face, occasionally letting out vague murmurs of agreement.

Laughter rang out in the living room from time to time, and the atmosphere was as heated as ever (or rather, intensified under the influence of alcohol).

The vein in Im Yoona's temple throbbed again.

So... while I'm over here wrestling with a fish and my own self-esteem, you two are doing great, just starting to drink?!

A surge of nameless anger mixed with grievance welled up in her heart. Without a word, she kicked off her slippers, sat cross-legged in the empty spot by the coffee table, reached for an empty glass, and poured herself a full cup of soju with a "glug-glug" sound. Then, she tilted her head back and downed it in one go!

The liquid, a mix of ice and fire, rolled down her throat, bringing a stimulating burning sensation, but it also strangely calmed some of the irritability and stifled feelings in her heart.

"Cough... cough-cough!" Because she drank too fast, she choked, and her face instantly turned red.

"Ya! Yoona! Drink slowly!" Seeing this, Sunny immediately handed over a tissue, her face wearing an undisguised "loving" smile. "That's more like it! If something's bothering you, just have a drink! What's killing a fish? Our Yoona is someone destined to be a blue dragon best actress!"

Kim Taeyeon was also drawn by the commotion. She forced her head up, looking at Im Yoona with bleary, drunken eyes, and muttered with a silly grin, "Yoon... Yoona... fighting... the fish... the fish will die on its own... *hic*..."

Looking at these two charmingly drunk (one truly drunk, one playing dumb) sisters, Im Yoona felt both annoyed and amused. Her grievance and anger mostly dissipated in the alcohol and this absurd atmosphere. She gave them an annoyed roll of her eyes and poured herself another glass, this time sipping it slowly.

After three rounds of drinks (mainly Sunny and Im Yoona drinking, while Kim Taeyeon was in a state of "watching the battle" and "nodding"), the atmosphere became increasingly relaxed (chaotic).

A noticeable flush stained Im Yoona's cheeks, and her gaze was a bit blurry, but her thinking was still relatively clear. Kim Taeyeon, on the other hand, had completely turned into a human bobblehead, hugging a pillow with a vacant gaze and a smile on her lips.

The time had come.

A glint flashed in Sunny's eyes. The perfect moment she had been waiting for and preparing for the entire night had finally matured.

She pretended to pick up her phone casually, swiped her finger a few times, and suddenly let out an exaggerated gasp of surprise:

"Ya! This kid NingNing... what did she post now? Lami... what is this? It looks like jelly?"

She deliberately waved her phone screen toward Im Yoona and Kim Taeyeon. On it was the latest update about Lami from NingNing's Bubble—a photo of Lami turned into a mini fan blowing air on a sweating NingNing after practice.

Im Yoona, already slightly tipsy, subconsciously glanced at it and let out a soft snort from her nose. Her tone carried a hint of matter-of-factness and a trace of something even she hadn't noticed... a subtle touch of bitterness?

"Unnie, how do you not even know about this?" She spoke a bit faster than usual. "The hottest thing right now is this Lami, a Slime! The aespa girls each have one; it's practically standard equipment for them!"

The slumped Kim Taeyeon next to her also nodded dizzily and vaguely agreed, "Mm... Lami... can move..."

Sunny felt a secret joy; the first step of the fish taking the bait was complete. She continued to play the role of an "out-of-touch gamer," asking curiously, "Aigoo, I've been so busy playing games and grinding events lately... where can you buy something so popular? It looks pretty fun."

"Hmph!" Im Yoona snorted again. This time, the bitterness in her tone and a certain superiority of "knowing the inside story" were even more apparent. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice, as if sharing a great secret (or rather, complaining):

"Where can you buy it? It's not for sale! Jiang Zhiyu made them by hand and gave them to the aespa girls as gifts! They're only given, not sold!"

"Mworago?!" Sunny immediately cooperated with a shocked expression, her eyes wide. "Jiang Zhiyu gave them? Specifically to aespa? Why? Are they that close?"

"Of course!" With the help of the alcohol, Im Yoona's chatterbox opened up. "I heard he took good care of those kids when he was at SM... and aespa is so popular now, it's normal to give a unique gift!" She paused, as if remembering something, and lowered her voice even further with a mysterious "tattletale" vibe:

"I also heard... even over at Red Velvet, Jiang Zhiyu promised to make them a 'Red Velvet version' of Lami! It seems to be a reward for some variety show collaboration..."

"Wow! Really?!" Sunny's exclamation was perfectly timed, filled with "envy" and "indignation." She slapped her thigh. "But... aespa and Red Velvet are both girl groups under our SM!"

Her tone shifted, becoming "aggrieved" and "puzzled":

"Sigh... as the senior sunbaes of the company, Girls Generation, who have been debuted for so many years... how is it that we're the only ones who have nothing?"

She looked at Im Yoona, then at the dazed Kim Taeyeon, and said in an indignant tone, as if "speaking up for our team":

"Clearly... our Girls Generation were the first to know Jiang Zhiyu, to film variety shows together, and to collaborate! I was even his boss in the 'squirtle water gun battle'!"

"In terms of seniority, relationship, and contribution (referring to variety show effects)... how can such a fun and practical good thing be prioritized for the hoebaes, while we 'old Unnies' are forgotten?"

These words were like a carefully formulated seed of jealousy and indignation dropped into the hearts of the tipsy Im Yoona and the half-drunk Kim Taeyeon, watered with the strong liquor of "senior dignity" and "team comparison."

As Sunny spoke, she carefully observed the reactions of the two.

The flush on Im Yoona's face seemed to deepen. She pursed her lips, and the subtle bitterness and unwillingness in her eyes became clearer under the influence of alcohol and Sunny's instigation. She didn't speak, but simply poured herself another glass of wine.

And the originally drunken Kim Taeyeon, upon hearing keywords like "Jiang Zhiyu," "Girls Generation," and "forgotten," seemed to have her vacant gaze focus for a moment. Her brow furrowed imperceptibly, and her grip on the pillow tightened slightly.

The atmosphere quietly shifted amidst the smell of soju and Sunny's seemingly unintentional, but calculated, "laments."

The sea bass in the kitchen was temporarily forgotten.

In its place was a collective resentment toward a certain "biased" Producer and that tempting but "unobtainable" pink (or other colored) Lemm, spreading quietly in the hearts of the two Girls Generation members, catalyzed by alcohol.

Sunny felt a secret joy; the plan was progressing smoothly.

Next, she had to skillfully guide this "resentment" toward her ultimate goal. She picked up the wine bottle and refilled Im Yoona's and Kim Taeyeon's glasses with a "sincere" smile:

"Come, come, let's not talk about this. Drink up! Our Girls Generation relies on strength, not those flashy toys!"

But she knew that once certain words were spoken and certain thoughts were ignited, they would be hard to extinguish.

—

Sunny looked at Im Yoona, who appeared a bit depressed due to the alcohol and the "senior being left out" theory, staring blankly while hugging her knees. The small flame of calculation in Sunny's heart burned even brighter. The timing was perfect to move to the next step—skillfully shifting the dissatisfaction over the "unfair distribution of Lemms" to "pity" for the "script arrangements," thereby leading to her true purpose.

She let out a heavy, deliberate sigh and restarted the conversation in a tone that mixed "drunken slips of the tongue" with "standing up for her little sister":

"Sigh... speaking of which, that Jiang Zhiyu, what kind of scripts is he writing!" She frowned, as if scolding an inconsiderate junior. "It's 'the crab', right? I heard a bit about it. How can he do that! Always making our cute, smart, and angel-faced Yoona act as... someone rolling around in a pile of dead fish? And even jumping into a stinking sewer? Is that something a human would do?!"

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

She deliberately exaggerated the potentially indecent or arduous scenes in the script, her tone filled with exaggerated "pity" and "incomprehension."

Im Yoona, who was immersed in her own thoughts (and a subtle sense of unwillingness regarding Lemm), frowned subconsciously upon hearing this.

Although the script did indeed have rough and even dirty scene settings, hearing them described by Sunny Unnie in such a blunt and even somewhat "insulting" way made her instinctively feel uncomfortable, and even a bit offended—not by Sunny, but by this dismissal of her professional choices (even if they were potential ones).

"Unnie," she looked up, her tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction and defense, "This is acting! Plot tension, character depth, and also... the sense of contrast! I need a breakthrough, I need something different, isn't that a good thing?"

"Ah! Right, right, right!" Sunny immediately put on a look of sudden realization and having said the wrong thing, gently patting her own mouth, "Look at me, I've had too much to drink, I can't even speak clearly! I didn't mean it like that, Yoona, if you want to challenge yourself, of course Unnie supports you! Ten thousand percent support!" As she spoke, she very "consciously" picked up her glass, "I'll punish myself with a drink! I said the wrong thing!"

She tilted her head back and downed it, her movements crisp and decisive.

Im Yoona couldn't really say anything more after seeing her like this, but that defensive mindset toward the script and the character that had been stirred up helped shift her attention slightly away from the little bit of melancholy she had felt earlier because of "Lemm."

Sunny put down her glass and looked at Im Yoona, who was still hugging her knees but seemed less downcast, with a "pitying" gaze. She knew the timing was just about right.

The expression on her face switched rapidly from "drunken slip of the tongue" to a righteous indignation, as if her younger sister had been bullied while remaining in the dark, and as an older sister, she had to stand up and uphold justice!

"Yoona!" Her voice raised a little, carrying a clear sense of "seeking justice," "I thought about it carefully, this isn't right! This Jiang Zhiyu... could he be doing this on purpose?"

Watching Im Yoona's eyes widen slightly at her words, she continued to add fuel to the fire:

"Look, he was able to write a script like 'the crab,' which shows he has plenty of ideas in his head! He clearly could have written other scripts that weren't so tiring, so dirty, and were more 'normal' for you to act in! Why this one specifically?"

She leaned forward, her tone becoming mysterious and "certain":

"Does he... just want to see you covered in fishy smells, with your whole body covered in sewage debris and mud, looking completely disheveled? Does he think that making the prettiest visual of our Girls Generation look like that gives him a special sense of 'achievement'? Or... does he have some other perverse interest?"

These words were essentially guiding Jiang Zhiyu's creative motives in the darkest direction, the one most "targeted" at Im Yoona personally.

Im Yoona remained silent, not refuting immediately. But her body tightened imperceptibly, her arms hugging her knees tightened, and her lips pressed into a straight line. The alcohol made her brain react somewhat sluggishly, but Sunny's words were like a thin needle, piercing the membrane she had been immersed in while excited about the "character challenge," making her involuntarily start to consider another possibility—was Jiang Zhiyu really... deliberately "making things difficult" for her?

Was it because of the "grudges" from the previous variety show? Or because of something else?

Seeing the change in Im Yoona's body language, a cunning light flared in Sunny's eyes!

She took the bait! The emotions are in place!

After so much buildup, after so much agitation, the moment of truth had finally arrived!

She pretended to have a sudden flash of inspiration, sat up straight abruptly, and lightly struck her right fist into her left palm, making a crisp "pop" sound, her face revealing an excited expression of "I've thought of a good idea":

"Eh! That's it!"

She looked at Im Yoona, her eyes filled with "sincere" and "wise" light:

"Although we don't know if that kid Jiang Zhiyu is actually thinking that, but! Who are we? Girls Generation! The strongest idol group in history! And our Yoona is one of the prettiest and most important pillar members of our team!"

Her tone was resonant, filled with a sense of team honor and protectiveness:

"How can you... just be casually manipulated and arranged to act in this kind of (in her words) dirty and tiring role by someone (presumably) and not say anything about it?! This won't do! We must show the aura of seniors!"

Im Yoona was a bit dazed by her string of "we," "Girls Generation," and "pillar member," the alcohol making her thinking a beat slower, just subconsciously looking at Sunny, waiting for her "brilliant insight."

Sunny took a deep breath and stated the ultimate proposal she had meticulously planned and built up all night, her tone as solemn as if she were announcing a battle plan:

"How about this—let us, Girls Generation, officially invite Jiang Zhiyu to a meal!"

"As for the reason... just use 'Thanking Jiang Zhiyu for providing our Yoona with such a challenging lead role opportunity in 'the crab,'' how about that? It's decent, and it expresses our appreciation!"

She specifically emphasized "lead role" and "thanking," turning something that was still up in the air (the audition hadn't even started) into a done deal, and elevating it to a level that required a solemn "acknowledgment."

Im Yoona's brain, due to the alcohol and emotional fluctuations, was clearly stuttering in its information processing speed. She blinked her somewhat dazed eyes and subconsciously muttered a correction: "Unnie... the audition hasn't even started yet... the lead role... it might not be me..."

"That's even better!" Sunny immediately took over, her eyes wide, with an expression that said "this is perfect," "We'll use this opportunity to let that 'great screenwriter' see how much effort our Yoona has put into the role he wrote! Let him witness your determination and sincerity with his own eyes! Isn't that better than just waiting for the audition?"

She waved her arms, as if she had already seen the scene: "At that time, we Unnies will also be there to back you up! Let him know that our Girls Generation's maknae is not so easy to 'bully'! If the script is written well, we thank him; but if he has any other ideas... Hmph!"

She didn't explicitly say what "other ideas" were, but combined with the previous narrative of "deliberately making things difficult," the implication was extremely strong.

Im Yoona didn't speak.

She just lowered her head, pressing her lips tightly together, her cheeks flushed even deeper red due to the alcohol and excited emotions. Her fingers were unconsciously twisted together, her inner heart clearly undergoing a fierce internal struggle.

Sunny's proposal sounded... like it made some sense?

Treating to a meal, expressing gratitude, showing sincerity and effort...

By the way... also ask about Lemm? No, wait, it's mainly for the role!

And, with the Unnies there, it seems... it wouldn't be that awkward?

Could Jiang Zhiyu... really be doing it on purpose?

If it really is... then this meal, it seems like it also has a bit of a "questioning of guilt" vibe?

However, the point is the role! Yes, it's for the role!

Alcohol made it impossible for her chaotic thoughts to sort out clear threads, but the image Sunny painted of "Girls Generation collectively backing up the maknae, communicating face-to-face with the screenwriter, and demonstrating professionalism and sincerity," as well as the implied satisfaction of "potentially getting justice," gave the melancholy and unwillingness she had originally felt due to the failure in killing the fish and the "unfairness of Lemm" a seemingly "legitimate" and "powerful" outlet and solution.

She remained silent, but the clearly moved, even vaguely "maybe we can try it" stubborn expression on her face already explained everything.

Sunny saw it in her eyes, her heart already blooming with joy, a huge sense of achievement accompanied by the excitement of a successful prank almost ready to burst through her throat.

She forcibly suppressed the urge to jump up and cheer immediately, maintaining the steady appearance of a "reliable Unnie," but the smug "plan succeeded" gleam in her eyes could not be hidden no matter how hard she tried.

Success!

Perfect!

I, Lee Soon-kyu, no, I, Newton Sunny, am simply a genius among geniuses!

What killing fish, what team spirit, what pitying the younger sister... all of it was a smokescreen! The ultimate goal—creating an occasion to reasonably interact with Jiang Zhiyu and be able to "apply pressure" or "negotiate"—had been successfully implanted!

Next, it was how to persuade (or rather, swindle) the other members to join this "thank you banquet," and... at the dinner table, how to execute her "Pink Lemm Seizure Operation"!

Sunny picked up her glass, concealing the curve of her mouth that was frantically turning upwards, already starting to rehearse what to say and what expressions to make when the time came.

And the drunken, hazy Im Yoona was still struggling with the role, sincerity, and that Jiang Zhiyu who made her feel complicated.

The sea bass in the kitchen seemed to have finally gained temporary peace because no one was bothering it.

This night, it seemed she was one big step closer to the Pink Lemm of Sunny's dreams.