360: Chapter 336 updated today (3)

Kim Taeyeon stared at her phone screen, her thumb hovering over that familiar profile picture for a full three minutes, unable to bring herself to tap it.

Since Sunny left, she had been slumped on this sofa for the entire afternoon. She had scrolled through the chat history in her phone no less than twenty times—not the blank dialogue window with Jiang Zhiyu that had caused her anxiety for over a month, but the video screenshots shared by Sunny, "live-streamed" by Lee Tima.

Every single one made her want to bury herself in the center of the earth.

But she was more concerned about something else.

After that night, how was... Jiang Zhiyu? Had that hickey faded? Was he angry? Did he think she was a lunatic? Would he avoid her from now on?

These questions crawled over her heart like ants, making her so itchy and restless that she was fidgety, yet she didn't dare ask him directly.

Ask directly? What a joke!

"Noona, was that mark on my neck from that night left by you? May I ask what it tasted like?"—she couldn't say those words even if she chewed her tongue to pieces.

But she had to know something. Otherwise, she would go crazy.

So, after a long and painful internal struggle, Kim Taeyeon opened another chat box.

Lee Tima.

That brat who had live-streamed her "crime" from start to finish, Jiang Zhiyu's younger sister, the... currently only breakthrough point that would allow her to probe indirectly without being too embarrassed.

She deliberated for ten minutes, deleted seven or eight half-written messages, and finally sent one that looked extremely "casual":

[Tima, what have you been up to lately?]

Sent.

Waiting.

Three seconds later, she started to regret it. This was too deliberate! Too obvious! Who suddenly cares about what someone is doing for no reason!

Five seconds later, she comforted herself again: It's fine, that brat Tima is mindless all day long, she probably won't notice anything...

Ten seconds later, the phone vibrated.

Lee Tima: [Taeyeon Unnie! I'm over at IU Unnie's place~ I've been conscripted by her lately TAT. Practicing my vocals every day until I question my life...]

Kim Taeyeon breathed a sigh of relief. Good, a normal reply.

She immediately struck while the iron was hot, using a "by the way" tone:

[Oh oh, hard work~ By the way, what has your brother been busy with lately? I heard (G)I-DLE's variety show is about to start?]

After sending it, she started to regret it again.

This transition was too stiff! Even a fool could see what she really wanted to ask!

But the message was already sent and couldn't be retracted.

She stared at the screen, her heart racing.

At the same time, in a high-end apartment in Gangnam District, Seoul.

Lee Tima was curled up on the sofa in the living room of IU's home, her phone screen lit up, with two messages from Kim Taeyeon lying quietly in the chat box. She stared at these two messages, her scalp tingling.

Kim Taeyeon: [Tima, what have you been up to lately?]

Kim Taeyeon: [Oh oh, hard work~ By the way, what has your brother been busy with lately? I heard (G)I-DLE's variety show is about to start?]

Help!

Lee Tima screamed internally. Taeyeon Unnie, are you testing me? This probe is way too obvious! It would be more direct to just ask "Has the mark on Jiang Zhiyu's neck faded yet"!

But she knew what Kim Taeyeon really wanted to ask. Of course she knew. She was the one who had live-streamed that "sweet attack" in its entirety.

The problem was—

She didn't dare say it.

Not because of Jiang Zhiyu (although Oppa did indeed use a "friendly" look to hint that she "wasn't allowed to talk nonsense"), but because...

She quietly looked up at the woman not far away who was elegantly flipping through a fashion magazine.

IU.

Lee Ji-eun.

That "Nations Little Sister" who currently looked serene and harmless, the "IU Unnie" who was always a gentle and considerate older sister in front of her.

But she knew the truth.

Ever since that time in "the crab" training camp, when IU met Jiang Zhiyu's eyes that were so bewitching they didn't seem human, everything had changed.

Although Lee Tima hadn't witnessed all the details of that day—she had been sent away by Jiang Zhiyu—she had pieced together the general idea from IU's subsequent state and Jiang Zhiyu's secretive expression afterward.

Those eyes of Jiang Zhiyu had a certain indescribable magic back in the Tianxuan Continent. Not a low-level trick like soul-stealing, but... something deeper. When he truly released a certain "restriction," the person he made eye contact with would be dragged into the illusion he constructed.

And IU had clearly experienced some kind of extremely intense illusion.

Lee Tima still remembered how IU looked when she came out of the training ground that day. Her cheeks were flushed, her breathing was rapid, her eyes were vacant yet burning, and her whole body seemed to have its bones removed, needing a Manager to support her just to walk. Even more bizarrely, there was that... satiated, intoxicated smile on the corner of her mouth.

At the time, Lee Tima felt something was wrong. In the following days, IU's focus on Jiang Zhiyu increased exponentially. No, it wasn't focus. It was possessiveness.

And the undisguised kind at that.

Previously, IU would package her intentions as "business cooperation" or "project investment," but now? The way she looked at Jiang Zhiyu was like a cat staring at a fish about to be caught, or rather, more like a collector staring at a precious collectible they were determined to obtain.

"Tima."

A gentle voice came from behind. Lee Tima's whole body stiffened, and her phone almost slipped. She quickly turned off the screen and tried to force the most natural smile as she looked back.

"Unnie! What is it?"

IU had already put down the magazine, stood up, and walked to her side, sitting down lazily beside her. Those eyes that looked clear and innocent were now carrying a certain probing smile as they fell on Lee Tima's phone.

"I've noticed you haven't put your phone down lately." IU's tone was still gentle, even carrying a hint of acting spoiled. "Who are you chatting with so happily? You're ignoring me."

Lee Tima's heart skipped a beat.

"No, no! I'm just chatting with the Unnies..." she chuckled dryly, trying to brush it off.

"Unnies?" IU tilted her head. "Which Unnies?"

Lee Tima: "..." It's over, she shouldn't have used the plural.

"Just... the Unnies from Girls Generation..." she said, bracing herself. "There's a group, and they occasionally chat in there..."

"Oh?" IU's eyebrows quirked up slightly, her smile unchanged, but her gaze clearly deepened. "The Unnies from Girls Generation... Is Taeyeon Unnie there too?"

Lee Tima: "...Ne."

Taeyeon Unnie, help! You probed me, and now I'm being probed! Do you even know!

She screamed frantically in her heart, but on the surface, she could only maintain a stiff smile.

IU didn't press further. She simply reached out and gently straightened Lee Tima's slightly messy bangs, then stood up as if nothing had happened and walked toward the kitchen.

"What do you want to eat tonight? I'll have someone deliver it."

The voice was still that of the gentle and considerate IU Unnie.

But in that instant, Lee Tima clearly saw something flash through the depths of her eyes—

Calculation.

In the kitchen, IU opened the refrigerator, her gaze falling on the mineral water in the cold storage compartment, yet she had no actual sense of looking at it.

In her mind, another system was running at high speed.

Lee Tima's time spent looking at her phone had clearly increased lately. Previously, this girl couldn't wait to have "Unnie is the closest" written on her face in front of her, but now she was always absentmindedly glancing at the screen, and her reply frequency was unusually high.

It wasn't chatting with one person; it was a group. She had observed Lee Tima's expression when replying—that little expression carrying a bit of gossip, a bit of excitement, and a bit of "I know the inside story but I can't say"—it definitely wasn't some ordinary casual chat group.

A Girls Generation group? Possible. But her intuition told her it was more than that.

And then there was that time.

After she came out of the training ground that day, she felt as if some force had completely pierced through a certain barrier. Her obsession with Jiang Zhiyu had turned into something else since then.

It was no longer a relatively superficial desire like "I want him to write songs for me" or "I want him to be mine."

But something deeper, almost pathological—

I want to possess everything of his.

TG Entertainment.

The company that had risen at an incredible speed in just two years. Music, variety shows, film and television, technology... they were expanding frantically as if they had no boundaries. Especially recently, Kim Soo-yeon had been frequently traveling between China and Korea, and TG's layout in the fields of AI, Virtual Reality, and Smart Technology was gradually surfacing.

IU had someone investigate. The results startled her and also made her envious.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

TG Entertainment was already at least two years ahead in virtual idol technology.

An AI interaction system they were developing, rumored to be capable of accurately simulating human emotional feedback, had already caught the attention of several major conglomerates.

And in terms of content production, TG Entertainment's model was almost impossible to replicate—they didn't rely on individual hits, but rather on a replicable industrial assembly line that produced hits continuously.

These things, if they were all hers...

Once this thought took root, it could no longer be suppressed.

She began to view TG Entertainment as "her future industry."

Jiang Zhiyu, Lee Tima, Kim Soo-yeon, all of TG Entertainment's projects and resources... in her darkened, obsessive fantasies, they had all been labeled with an invisible tag: Property of Lee Ji-eun.

Therefore, she wanted to know any information about TG Entertainment.

She had to be wary of anyone who approached Jiang Zhiyu.

And now—

Lee Tima was hiding something from her.

This realization caused an irrepressible sense of irritation to well up from the bottom of IU's heart.

It felt like... the puppy she raised was suddenly wagging its tail more happily at someone else.

She closed the refrigerator door, a gentle smile still hanging on the corners of her mouth, but the darkness in her eyes had become thick and impenetrable.

"Tima."

She returned to the living room, her voice still sweet.

Lee Tima was looking down at her phone; hearing the voice, she immediately looked up, a flash of panic crossing her face—this time, IU saw it clearly: it was panic.

"Unnie?"

"It's nothing." IU sat down beside her, leaning over naturally, resting her chin on her shoulder, her gaze falling on the phone screen that Tima had just turned off. "I just suddenly thought that I haven't seen your brother in a long time. What has he been busy with lately?"

Lee Tima's body stiffened for a moment.

That momentary rigidity made the smile in IU's eyes deepen.

"He... he's in Jeju Island." Lee Tima's voice was a bit dry. "(G)I-DLE's variety show is about to start, so he went over there to oversee the site."

"Jeju Island, huh..." IU nodded thoughtfully. "Did he go alone?"

"I... suppose so? I'm not really sure..." Lee Tima's voice grew quieter and quieter because she felt IU's hand gently stroking her hair, the touch so gentle it made her scalp tingle.

"Tima." IU's voice was as light as a sigh. "Have you been hiding anything from me lately?"

Lee Tima's breath hitched.

She could feel IU's breath right beside her ear, warm, soft, and carrying a faint scent of perfume. This would normally be her most cherished moment of intimacy, but right now, it made her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles.

"N-no..."

"Really?" IU tilted her head slightly, her lips almost brushing against Tima's earlobe. "But I feel like the way you look at me lately is different from before."

Lee Tima: "..." That's because I'm afraid of you!

She took a deep breath, trying hard to make her voice sound normal: "Unnie, you're overthinking it! How could I possibly hide anything from you! I love you the most, Unnie!"

Half of that was true. She really did love IU. But the other half—

She really didn't dare to tell IU about Taeyeon sucking on Jiang Zhiyu's neck.

She didn't even dare to imagine how IU would react if she found out about this.

Given IU's current state, if she knew another woman had left a mark on Jiang Zhiyu's neck...

A scene flashed through Lee Tima's mind: she was tied to a cannon at Panmunjom, and with a boom, she flew across the 38th parallel, landing precisely somewhere in North Korea, only to be surrounded by a group of soldiers in uniform, forced to join the Children's Palace Art Troupe, singing the "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il" every day, becoming a member of the Juche ideology...

Too terrifying! Too terrifying!

"Is that so?" IU's voice pulled her back to reality. "Then I'm relieved."

She gently patted Lee Tima's head, stood up, and walked toward the bedroom.

"I'm going to take a shower first, you play for a while. We'll have Hanwoo for dinner tonight, I'll have someone send over the best."

"Yes! Thank you, Unnie!"

Lee Tima watched her back disappear behind the bedroom door, then slumped on the sofa like a deflated balloon.

With trembling hands, she opened her phone.

In the group chat, the Girls Generation Unnies were still heatedly discussing something, with messages popping up one after another.

Sunny was posting that "sweet attack" meme again, Yuri was asking for updates, and Hyoyeon was tagging her to ask if there was any new scoop.

She was in no mood to reply.

She opened her private chat with Taeyeon, looking at those two probing messages, feeling like crying but unable to tears.

Taeyeon: [Tima, what have you been up to lately?]

Taeyeon: [Oh, oh, you've worked hard~ By the way, what has your brother been busy with lately? I heard (G)I-DLE's variety show is about to start?]

How should she reply?

Tell Taeyeon that Jiang Zhiyu is in Jeju Island? That was true.

But the problem was, she didn't dare to address what Taeyeon really wanted to ask.

And—

What if IU checks her phone later?!

Given IU's current state, she really might do it!

Lee Tima covered her face in despair.

Help! I'm going to be played to death by the darkened IU Unnie!

She suddenly missed the IU who hadn't "darkened" yet, the Unnie who would gently call her "Tima," buy her delicious food, and hug her while saying, "It's so good to have you here."

Those times were so good; although Jiang Zhiyu would occasionally make IU angry, at least IU was still the normal IU, and wouldn't look at her with that gaze that made her scalp tingle.

What about now?

She felt like a frog being eyed by a python, likely to be swallowed in one gulp at any moment.

What was even scarier was that she also had to deal with Taeyeon's probing at the same time.

On one side was the "darkened" version of IU, on the other was Taeyeon, who was desperately needing information after a hangover-induced social death, and in the middle was Jiang Zhiyu, who might discover she was being squeezed from both sides at any moment and coldly sneer, "Lee Tima, you're dead meat..."

She, Lee Tima, a genius girl only ten years old (in appearance), why should she have to endure all this!!!

Her phone vibrated again.

Taeyeon: [Tima? Are you still there? [Awkward smile]]

Lee Tima took a deep breath and typed with trembling hands:

[Yes, yes, Unnie! Oppa is indeed in Jeju Island, filming a variety show~ I don't know the specifics, I'll ask him for you when he gets back?]

After sending it, she immediately regretted it.

What did "ask him for you" mean? Wasn't that clearly telling Taeyeon, "I know what you want to ask, but I don't dare to say it directly"?!

Sure enough, Taeyeon replied instantly:

[No, no need! I was just asking casually! It's nothing!]

Trying to cover it up! Both of them were trying to cover it up!

Lee Tima felt like she was going crazy.

The bedroom door suddenly opened a crack. IU's voice came through, carrying the languor of having just finished a shower:

"Tima, help me get the conditioner, it's in the living room cabinet."

Lee Tima jolted upright, hurriedly turning off her phone screen: "Yes! Right away!"

She jumped off the sofa and rushed to the cabinet, her hands shaking as she grabbed the conditioner.

When she handed it in, IU took it, her gaze lingering on her face for two seconds.

"What's wrong? Why is your face so red?"

"N-nothing! Maybe it's... too hot!"

IU smiled slightly and didn't press further. The door closed again.

Lee Tima leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

She swore that once this was over, she would definitely apply for worker's compensation from Jiang Zhiyu.

No, mental anguish damages.

A huge amount.

Otherwise, she would really be played to death by these two women.

Meanwhile, far away in Jeju Island, Jiang Zhiyu was sitting on the balcony of the guesthouse on the second floor, editing a schedule on his laptop, when he suddenly sneezed.

He rubbed his nose and frowned.

Is the sea breeze too strong? Or... is someone talking about him?

He subconsciously raised his hand to touch his neck. The mark had faded a lot and could basically be covered with concealer.

But when his fingertips touched it, he could still feel a faint, lingering heat.

His eyes darkened slightly.

"Noona..." he murmured, his voice scattered by the sea breeze, "You owe me an explanation."

His phone vibrated.

He looked down and saw a message from Lee Tima:

Lee Tima: [Oppa, help! IU Unnie is going to kill me! Taeyeon Unnie is also probing me! I'm going to die! Save me!!!]

Looking at this message, Jiang Zhiyu's mouth twitched slightly.

He didn't reply, just put the phone aside and continued typing on his keyboard.

The sea breeze continued to blow gently, and the balcony remained as quiet as before.

But if one looked closely, they would notice that his typing speed was just a little bit faster than before.