65: Chapter 65: The surrender faction couldn't even get a mention in the censored terms.

At the SM Headquarters, the atmosphere in that familiar meeting room was subtly different today. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, slicing the floor into strips of light and shadow. The members of Girls Generation weren’t sitting upright as they usually did for meetings; instead, they were loosely gathered around one side of the long table, like a relaxed internal tea party. The air was filled with a faint scent of coffee and the sweetness of cosmetics.

Im Yoona sat in the middle, the script spread out on the table before her. Her fingertips unconsciously tapped the edges of the pages titled 'Toilet Descent,' her expression unreadable, though the corners of her mouth would occasionally twitch slightly.

"So, Yoona," Sunny said, taking a sip of coffee with her eyes crinkling into half-moons. "This is absolutely a subversive role! Who else could encounter an epic setting like an 'Angel stuck in a toilet' in their career? No one! You're the first!"

Tiffany immediately followed up, her tone full of encouragement: "Totally! This is definitely the litmus test for acting! Think about it—how do you portray a sense of divinity, wretchedness, and the shock and grievance of being flushed? The layers are so rich! If you pull this off, it'll definitely be a huge breakthrough!"

Kim Taeyeon crossed her arms and leaned back in her high-backed chair, a smile that saw through everything yet enjoyed it all playing on her lips. "Besides, the screenwriter is Jiang Zhiyu. With his style of being infuriatingly provocative, the fact that he could write such a plot proves that he feels only you can handle the subtle balance between absurdity and reality." She paused and added, "Though the method is... quite unique."

Hyoyeon was already choreographing in her head. "Will you need to use wires? That stuck position must be hard to maintain! The intensity of the struggle, the rhythm of the wings flapping... Wow, this tests body control even more than dancing!"

Yuri and Sooyoung chimed in together:

"Our Yoona is someone who didn't even flinch (?) when using the chili water method to stay awake!"

"What's a mere toilet! Do it! You must do it! After this, you'll be the angel of the comedy world... uh, the Toilet Angel spokesperson?"

"Yah!" Im Yoona finally couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed a nearby cushion and threw it at Sooyoung, but she couldn't help laughing, her forced composure shattering completely. "Unnies! Are you here to support me or to laugh at me!"

"Support, of course!" Seohyun adjusted her non-existent glasses seriously and analyzed, "From a market perspective, this role has immense buzz and memorability. In terms of acting challenge, it requires the actor to completely let go of their image burden and delve into the core of the character's predicament. It's an excellent opportunity to break the fixed impression of 'Im Yoona.' Yoona Unnie, I think it's worth a try."

"See, even the Maknae says so." Sunny clapped her hands. "So Yoona, go for it! Your Unnies support you mentally with all our hearts! ...If you need physical support, like holding Jiang Zhiyu down to make him change the more outrageous details, we can help with that too."

A round of knowing chuckles echoed in the meeting room. The atmosphere seemed relaxed, but everyone knew that behind this seemingly absurd script lay Jiang Zhiyu's almost 'cruel' trust and testing of Im Yoona's acting skills.

Just then, there was a soft knock on the meeting room door, and it was pushed open.

Jiang Zhiyu walked in. He was wearing a simple light gray shirt and black trousers today, carrying a somewhat thick folder. His expression was his usual calm and professional self, showing no sign of the anxiety one might expect when facing a 'storm.' However, his gaze immediately and accurately landed on the script spread out in front of Im Yoona, as well as the expression on her face—a mix of embarrassment, annoyance, and amusement that hadn't quite faded.

Behind him followed an unusually 'low-profile' little figure.

Lee Tima was exceptionally well-behaved today, wearing a neat light blue dress with her hair meticulously tied in a ponytail. Her face wore a perfectly behaved smile that had been practiced countless times. She followed closely behind Jiang Zhiyu, and as soon as she entered, she gave a standard ninety-degree bow to the room full of seniors, her voice crisp and sweet:

"Girls Generation seniors, Annyeonghaseyo! I am Lee Tima from TG Entertainment. Please take care of me!"

After the greeting, she immediately shrunk back to a spot against the wall behind Jiang Zhiyu, trying to minimize her presence. Then, once everyone's eyes had moved away, she pulled out a pair of very professional-looking noise-canceling headphones from her little bunny backpack with lightning speed.

With smooth, expressionless movements, she put on the headphones and pressed the switch.

The world went silent instantly.

Lee Tima looked up and gave all the seniors (especially Im Yoona) a bright, innocent, and utterly clueless smile that said, 'I can't hear a thing!'

Then, she turned slightly and fished out a small notebook and a pen from her bunny bag, adopting a diligent posture as if to say, 'I will take serious notes on the meeting's key points.'

Only the silver-gray shell of those noise-canceling headphones reflected the cold, resolute light of the meeting room lamps.

Jiang Zhiyu's peripheral vision caught Lee Tima's series of seamless maneuvers. His brow seemed to twitch imperceptibly, but he quickly returned to normal, acting as if the 'invisible person' wearing headphones behind him didn't exist.

He walked to the other side of the long table, set down the folder, and bowed slightly to Im Yoona and the members of Girls Generation. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Yoona Senior, regarding the role of 'Lim Ying-er,' shall we get straight to the point?"

His gaze calmly met Im Yoona's as she looked up, as if he had no idea how 'shocking' the content they were about to discuss was.

Looking at his naturally composed demeanor and remembering the absurd descriptions in the script, Im Yoona took a deep breath. She tapped the pages on the table, her face once again wearing that impeccable sweet smile, though her voice was a bit softer—and a bit more dangerous—than usual:

"Sure, Jiang Zhiyu-xi. We... really should have a 'thorough discussion.'"

"Especially regarding this angel's... extraordinary 'way of descent.'"

In the meeting room, the aroma of coffee seemed to freeze for a moment.

The bunny ears under Lee Tima's pen, despite her noise-canceling headphones, quietly perked up.

The faint aroma of coffee in the meeting room seemed to be frozen into icicles by Jiang Zhiyu's words, crashing to the floor.

The first clear crack appeared in Im Yoona's precisely calculated sweet smile. Her eyes widened slightly, her pupils clearly reflecting Jiang Zhiyu's calm face, which carried a hint of 'I'm truly a genius' poise.

"Spi... spinning?" she repeated, her voice carrying a driftiness she didn't even notice herself.

Jiang Zhiyu seemed completely oblivious to the suddenly intensifying danger signals from across the table and behind him (where Lee Tima, wearing headphones but seemingly sensing it through intuition, froze). He even leaned forward, his tone becoming more enthusiastic as he gestured in the air:

"Yes, spinning! Imagine it, Yoona Senior—the angel Lim Ying-er is stuck in the toilet, hit by a sudden, powerful surge of water. Her entire person, along with those gorgeous but cumbersome wings, starts spinning uncontrollably at high speed within the limited space of the U-trap!"

He paused, seemingly perfecting the image in his mind, his eyes brightening. "It's a physical predicament, a direct manifestation of magic going out of control, and also a... well, a visual spectacle full of dynamic comedic joy."

"The audience will see the divine halo, pure white feathers, and magnificent skirt blending into the swirling vortex of the flush, creating a surreal, absurd, yet strangely compelling image."

Although Lee Tima was wearing noise-canceling headphones, she seemed to accurately capture the keywords through Jiang Zhiyu's lip movements and the sudden drop in air pressure in the meeting room. The tip of her pen 'pop'-ed as it poked a hole in the paper. She quietly turned down her headphone volume by one notch and secretly pricked up an ear.

The expressions of the other Girls Generation members could no longer be described as merely 'vivid.' Hyoyeon's jaw was nearly on the table, while Yuri and Sooyoung gripped each other's arms as if to confirm this wasn't a collective hallucination. Sunny's coffee cup hung in mid-air, and Tiffany's mouth was frozen in a 'Wow' shape. Even the most composed one, Kim Taeyeon, couldn't help but raise a hand to rub her brow, the twitch in the corner of her mouth even more obvious than Yoona's.

Jiang Zhiyu, seemingly immersed in his own creative world, continued to talk incessantly, even throwing out an even more 'explosive' addition:

"Furthermore, during this spinning process, we can absolutely add some... well, details with more commercial value and comedic color." His gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Im Yoona's face, which looked as if her soul had left her body. In a tone that said 'Look, I even earned the advertising fees for you,' he said:

"For example, when the water hits and the angel starts spinning, Kim Hyo-soon—the character Tima is playing—can stand by, watching the rapidly spinning interior of the toilet, and comment seriously with a mix of wonder, realization, and a salesman-like professional tone: 'Wow, the Brand XX Turbocharged Water-Saving Toilet's flushing power really lives up to its reputation!'"

"..."

Dead silence.

Absolute dead silence.

Even the sound of the air conditioning vents seemed to have vanished.

The smile on Im Yoona's face had completely disappeared, replaced by a blank state, like a brief blue screen after a CPU overload. Her fingers resting on the script curled slightly.

As if that weren't enough, Jiang Zhiyu chuckled softly. That chuckle was exceptionally clear in the pin-drop silence of the meeting room, and exceptionally... punchable. He rubbed his hands together as if sharing a brilliant time-and-effort-saving tip:

"As for the filming, Yoona Senior, you don't have to worry at all about the difficulty of on-site operations or... well, hygiene issues. We don't need you to actually go into a toilet, nor do we need you to actually be flushed by water."

He picked up a pen and quickly drew a crude diagram on a blank sticky note:

"We only need to film you—Yoona Noona—on the spot, performing the physical movements and expressions of being hit by a water flow and spinning uncontrollably. Like this..." He mimicked a dizzy, flailing motion; although the range was small, the essence was there.

"Then," he put down the pen and made a merging gesture with his hands, "our post-production VFX team will perfectly and seamlessly 'PS' that spinning 'footage' of yours into a top-down shot of the toilet, then composite in the water flow, the vortex, the splashing droplets... I guarantee it will look real and the effect will be shocking!"

He seemed to find the idea more and more perfect as he spoke, even starting to expand on the details:

"During the spinning, we can also add more comedic special effects. For instance, that glittering 'divine halo' above the angel's head—under the centrifugal force of the high-speed rotation, it goes 'shoo' and flies off, then 'pop' it explodes in the air. What splashes out isn't holy light, but—"

He paused, a mischievous glint flashing in his eyes.

"—Colorful Skittles!"

"And we'll add 'bling bling' sparkling effects and cheerful sound effects to these Skittles. This symbolizes that the angel is so dizzy she even vomited Skittles from her halo! It expresses the character's dizzying predicament, adds a sense of childishness and absurdity, and hints that this is a special episode world where magic is chaotic and anything is possible! Maybe even a Skittles brand would be interested in product placement!"

Jiang Zhiyu finally finished his 'genius conception,' leaning back slightly with an expectant expression that said 'Quick, praise me for my thorough thinking and invincible creativity,' looking at Im Yoona and the group of Girls Generation members behind her who were completely petrified.

Im Yoona slowly, very slowly, took a breath.

She glanced at the script on the table that said 'Stuck in a Toilet,' then at the man across from her who was seriously pitching the 'Spinning-in-place PS-into-the-toilet' method and the 'Skittles-vomiting halo.'

She turned her head again and looked at the faces of her Unnies behind her, which were all written with things like 'Is this really something I can hear for free?', 'Is Jiang Zhiyu's brain connected to another dimension?', and 'Yoona, you have to be strong.'

Finally, her gaze landed on Lee Tima in the corner, who was wearing noise-canceling headphones and pretending to draw but had frozen into a statue, even drawing the bunny ears crooked.

Lee Tima seemed to sense her gaze and quietly looked up. Their eyes met briefly in the air. Lee Tima shook her head very slightly and quickly, her eyes full of terror and dissuasion that said, 'Unnie, stay calm! My Oppa didn't take his medicine today! Don't mind a sick person!'

Im Yoona withdrew her gaze.

She looked down at her hands.

A few seconds later.

She looked up again.

On her face, that signature, incredibly sweet, ice-melting smile—the Im Yoona trademark smile—actually reappeared.

Only, the curve of that smile was just a fraction of a millimeter higher than the standard template.

The light in her eyes was just a bit sharper than the usual doe-like clarity.

She gently picked up the script on the table and closed it.

Then, with those smiling eyes, she looked directly at Jiang Zhiyu, her voice soft as a feather brushing past, yet possessing a strange, skin-crawling clarity:

"Jiang Zhiyu-xi."

"Hmm?" Jiang Zhiyu was still immersed in the afterglow of his brilliant idea.

"Regarding this filming plan of 'spinning in place to be PS-ed into a toilet, plus a Skittles-vomiting halo'..."

Im Yoona paused, her smile becoming even more sweet and dazzling.

"I think we can start with a 'demonstration'."

"Demonstration?" Jiang Zhiyu didn't react for a moment.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

"That's right," Im Yoona stood up, walked around the table, and stepped toward Jiang Zhiyu, her gait light, her skirt swaying slightly. "Since this is a 'collaboration,' just listening to the description is so abstract. Why don't you, Producer Jiang, demonstrate it yourself? How exactly should one act out this 'angelic dizzy state'—being hit by a water current, spinning at high speed, flailing hands and feet, while also managing one's facial expression—to be most effective and save the most on post-production?"

She stopped beside Jiang Zhiyu's chair, leaned over slightly, her smile like a blossoming flower:

"After all, you are the screenwriter and the director; you know the feeling you want best, right?"

"Besides, there's enough space here," she glanced around the spacious conference room, "enough for you to 'freestyle.'"

"Oh, right," she added as if she had just remembered, though her eyes swept toward the corner, "Tima, stop drawing. Take off that... um, noise-canceling headset of yours. This 'precious creative process' needs to be properly 'recorded.'"

Lee Tima gave a start, hurriedly took off her headset, her obedient smile barely holding on.

The composure on Jiang Zhiyu's face finally showed a crack.

He looked at Im Yoona, who was inches away with a sweet smile but 'nuclear-level' kind eyes, and then at the surrounding Girls Generation members, who had instantly revived from their petrified state, their eyes bright, their faces clearly saying, "It's happening! Live demonstration! Start now!"

Finally, he glanced at Lee Tima, who had already taken out her phone, her fingers trembling as if she wanted to open the recording function but didn't quite dare.

Jiang Zhiyu: "..."

He was silent for two seconds.

Then, he slowly stood up, cleared his throat, and tried hard to maintain the composure of a professional producer:

"Ahem... Sunbae Yoona is right. Practice yields true knowledge. However, such a high-difficulty performance requires warm-ups and choreographed movement trajectories in advance. Why don't we... discuss other parts first? For example, the dialogue for the first meeting between the angel and Kim Hyo-soon?"

He wanted to change the subject.

But clearly, it was already too late.

"Warm up?" Im Yoona blinked, "Good idea. Then please, Producer Jiang, 'warm up' first and demonstrate the 'basic spin' for us? No need to go too fast, no need to spit out rainbow candy, just... spin ten times first to get a feel for it?"

Her tone was gentle and considerate, as if she were truly asking for advice. Sunny had already started trembling with suppressed laughter. Kim Taeyeon picked up her coffee cup to hide the upturn of her lips.

Jiang Zhiyu looked at Im Yoona's eyes, which were filled with "If you don't spin that circle today, don't even think about walking out that door," and finally realized—his "brilliant" brainwave might... probably... maybe... have to have a demo version performed on himself first.

Under the bright lights of the conference room, for the first time, Jiang Zhiyu felt that perhaps the air conditioning was set a bit too cold.

The trailing note of Jiang Zhiyu's "let's discuss this again" sounded exceptionally weak in the overly quiet air of the conference room. Im Yoona's "you spin a few circles for me to see" was like a gentle little hammer, precisely striking at his budding retreat.

There seemed to be a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, but he still held onto his professional posture, trying to pull the topic back to the "safe" level of script discussion: "Uh... okay, then let's skip the spinning details and discuss the subsequent development... for example, after the angel comes out of the toilet—"

"—crawl out?!?"

Im Yoona's sweet voice suddenly rose by a subtle degree. Although her smile remained, the storm instantly gathering in her eyes made the words "crawl out" seem to carry ice blades, shooting straight at Jiang Zhiyu.

Jiang Zhiyu felt a chill down his back and hurriedly waved his hands, his speed of speech increasing: "Not crawling! Definitely not crawling! It's... uh... stepping? Leaping? Elegantly escaping! In any case!" He shouted almost, trying to drown out the inappropriate verb, "No matter what method is used! After coming out of heaven... out of that place!"

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, his fingers unconsciously scratching on the tabletop as he continued to elaborate on his complete, obviously well-thought-out (or rather, wildly imaginative) plot chain:

"After the angel comes out, she is soaked, her feathers are messy, her skirt is dripping with water, and her halo might be a bit crooked... But! She cannot look disheveled! At least, she cannot let herself look disheveled!"

Jiang Zhiyu's eyes lit up again, as if he had entered a "screenwriting god possession" state, completely ignoring Im Yoona's increasingly "nuclear-level" kind smile opposite him and the surrounding Girls Generation members' mixed expressions of horror and excitement as they watched.

"So, she immediately has to use a restorative little magic—the Drying Spell!" He gestured with his hands in front of his chest, a motion similar to casting a spell, "'Snap!', a light finger snap, or chanting a short incantation, and with a gentle, warm breeze (perhaps golden or white special effect light spots), all the water stains on her body and wings instantly evaporate, her messy feathers return to being fluffy and smooth, her soaked gorgeous long dress becomes dry and elegant, and even the crooked halo automatically resets, shining brightly!"

As he spoke, he imitated the character's possible expression, slightly lifting his chin, making a tsundere face that said, "Although I was very embarrassed just now, I am still perfect now": "The entire drying process must be fast, elegant, and full of the composure of 'this is just a basic operation.' And then—"

He turned abruptly to Im Yoona, as if she were Kim Hyo-soon, who was standing in the bathroom, having witnessed the entire process of "Angel toilet arrival → flushing and spinning → instant drying": "Kim Hyo-soon! That's the role Tima is playing! Her reaction is crucial! It cannot be ordinary surprise; it must be extreme shock, a shock where her worldview is impacted, mixed with 'You can do that?', 'What was that just now?', 'What exactly are you?'. Her eyes should be wide open, her mouth can be slightly open, and the toothbrush or towel in her hand might 'clatter' onto the floor—we can design this detail!"

Jiang Zhiyu became more and more involved as he spoke, even standing up to simulate Kim Hyo-soon's possible reaction of stepping back half a step and the pupil earthquake.

"And just when Kim Hyo-soon is still in a state of shock, before she has time to make any other reaction—" He turned around abruptly, hands on his hips, chin raised even higher, using a deliberately affected, slightly smug tone, with a touch of "what happened just now was an accident, now is the real show" arrogance, mimicking the angel Lim Ying-er, declaring to the void (in the direction of the imagined Kim Hyo-soon):

"'Foolish... ah no, ahem,'" (He pretended to clear his throat, adjusting to a more "divine" tone)

"'Mortals! Do not panic! I am an emissary sent by the heavenly realm to help you achieve your wishes! That's right, I'm here to help you fulfill your wishes!'"

He put his hands down, resuming his screenwriter narrative tone, but his eyes were still bright: "After saying this, the angel still has to maintain that hands-on-hips, chest-out, slightly chin-raised posture, with an arrogance on her face that says 'Hurry up and be grateful, human,' but in her eyes, she can secretly reveal a hint of 'The accident just now must definitely be forgotten! Starting now is the real me!' of forced calmness and slight guilt."

Jiang Zhiyu finally completed this passionate performance, let out a long sigh, sat back in his chair, and looked at Im Yoona with an expectant expression that said, "See, isn't the plot very coherent? Isn't the character arc very clear? Isn't the comedic rhythm great?"

"So, Sunbae Yoona, you see, from 'accidental arrival,' to 'embarrassing spin,' to 'gorgeous drying' and 'arrogant declaration,' aren't the opening scene's structure, density of jokes, and character contrast charm all arranged clearly? And it fully demonstrates the core personality of the angel Lim Ying-er: 'clumsy but loves to save face,' and 'even if she messes up, she has to tough it out'!"

He completely failed to notice that Im Yoona's hands on her knees had quietly clenched into fists, her knuckles turning somewhat white.

He also didn't notice that Lee Tima in the corner, holding her phone and pretending to play while actually nearly pressing the record button, had painfully closed her eyes, silently shouting with her mouth: "Oppa!!! Stop talking!!! Run away!!!"

He even failed to notice that the other members of Girls Generation had evolved from their initial shocked petrification to a relish-filled "eating melon and watching the show" state. Sunny even produced a small bag of snacks from somewhere and secretly shared it with Tiffany next to her.

Im Yoona listened quietly, the curve of the smile on her face unchanged, but the temperature in her eyes had dropped below absolute zero.

She slowly, elegantly, also stood up. She walked to Jiang Zhiyu, tilted her head slightly, and looked at him from close range, without blinking, with those stunningly beautiful eyes.

Then, she said slowly in a volume that was as soft as a whisper, yet every word was clear enough for everyone in the conference room to hear:

"Jiang, Zhi, Yu, xi."

"Your script is written so very detailed."

"From 'falling in,' to 'flushing and spinning,' to 'crawling out, drying, hands on hips, and talking big'..."

With every word she said, Jiang Zhiyu's spine stiffened a fraction more.

"So, as the actor who is about to personally perform this 'epic' opening scene," Im Yoona smiled, revealing a row of white, neat teeth, "I only have one... small, insignificant request."

Jiang Zhiyu's Adam's apple bobbed: "... Yes?"

Im Yoona's smile was as bright as the summer sun:

"Before officially starting the shoot and letting me 'experience' that magical XX brand turbo-charged water-saving toilet—"

"Could I ask you, this genius screenwriter and director, to first give us a complete, coherent, and expressive 'preview'? From you personally demonstrating 'how to elegantly get stuck,' to simulating 'being hit and spun by a powerful water current,' to performing 'instantly drying and recovering arrogance after being soaked,' and finally saying that line 'Foolish mortals'?"

She tilted her head slightly, her eyes pure and expectant: "After all, you know the feeling you want best, right?"

"And, when you demonstrated the 'hands-on-hips declaration' just now, it felt really spot on."

In the conference room, dead silence descended once again. But this time, the silence was filled with a certain touch-and-go, joyful yet dangerous atmosphere. Jiang Zhiyu froze in place, looking at Im Yoona's eyes which were filled with "If I don't plug up this brainwave of yours today, I'm not Im Yoona," and then glanced at the surrounding Girls Generation members whose eyes were as bright as searchlights, nearly shouting "Encore."

He opened his mouth, finding himself at a loss for words. The script was written by him. The brainwave was started by him. The hole... seemed to be one he dug for himself. And, it was dug quite deep, quite vividly, and quite... flavorful.

In the corner, Lee Tima had already silently put her noise-canceling headset back on and turned it to maximum volume. She decided that no matter what happened next, she hadn't seen it, hadn't heard it. She was just an innocent, practice-drawing-rabbits, headset-wearing, background-board little penguin (?).

A drop of cold sweat on Jiang Zhiyu's forehead finally slid slowly down his temple. It seemed, probably, maybe... he really was going to perform a live "Jiang Zhiyu's Edition · Angel's Adventure" on the spot.

The bead of sweat on Jiang Zhiyu's temple hung there, neither falling nor staying, and in the nearly frozen air of the conference room, he seemed to have grasped the last straw—or rather, found the perfect target to shift the fire.

The expression of near collapse on his face instantly tightened, replacing it with a smile that said "everything is under control," with a hint of subtle smugness. He stepped back half a step, fluidly took his phone out of his pocket, his fingers sliding quickly across the screen, unlocking it, and tapping on a contact labeled "Puppy" (with a little paw print emoji next to it), dialing the number.

The call was answered almost instantly.

"Hello? Zhiyu Oppa!" Kim Minjeong's crisp and slightly chirpy voice came through the receiver, the background noise a bit chaotic, like she was in a practice room.

"Hmm, Minjeong," Jiang Zhiyu's voice immediately switched to a gentle and reliable mentor mode, "Are you, Yizhuo, and Ji-min free right now? Come to the second conference room on the third floor of Building A. There's a little... um, problem with the performance, and I'd like to ask for your help to reference it."

His tone was relaxed and normal, as if he really just temporarily needed some opinions from young trainees.

"Eh? Right now? Free, free!" Kim Minjeong's voice immediately rose, filled with the excitement of being trusted and needed, "Ji-min Unnie, Yizhuo, and I will be there right away!"

"Good, no rush, take your time." Jiang Zhiyu instructed warmly, hanging up the phone.

He put his phone back in his pocket, turned to Im Yoona and the Girls Generation group, with a calm expression that said "See, I found a more intuitive demonstration method," and explained: "Sunbae Yoona, regarding the performance of this scene, perhaps letting younger, more malleable kids try it first could bring us different inspiration. Minjeong, this kid, is very talented, and also... um, very serious."

He specifically emphasized "very serious," a flash of "plan successful" light flickering in the depths of his eyes. Im Yoona crossed her arms and watched his operation with ease, neither stopping him nor replying, only the slightly raised eyebrows and the scrutiny in her eyes indicating that she was watching to see what kind of "show" he could put on. The other members of Girls Generation also exchanged glances, excitedly adjusting their sitting postures, waiting for the next good show to begin.

Not a few minutes later, the door to the conference room was cautiously pushed open a crack.