67: Chapter 67 Just yesterday, we detonated another hydrogen bomb!

Kim Taeyeon's comment about "crushing" had sparked a subtle storm regarding Im Yoona's weight, making the air in the conference room feel almost like ice shards. Im Yoona's half-smiling yet cold-eyed gaze made even the leader, Kim Taeyeon, feel her scalp tingle. She hurriedly waved her hands to explain, but her words only made things worse.

Amidst this suffocating low pressure, a crisp and clearly gloating voice broke the stagnation like a stone thrown into a frozen lake.

"Pfft, hahaha—" Sunny finally couldn't hold it back anymore, slapping her thigh as she laughed. She wiped away the tears from her eyes, her bright eyes darting back and forth between the dark-faced Im Yoona and the desperate Kim Taeyeon. Clearly, she felt this scene was better than any drama.

"Oh my, Taeyeon Unnie was just worried and got flustered!" Sunny said in a light tone, attempting to "smooth things over," but her rising inflection and twinkling eyes showed she was just enjoying the show. "But then again, 'bed descent' and landing on Tima does have some risks. After all, our Yoona... cough, I mean, the impact shouldn't be underestimated!"

Im Yoona shot her a glare, and Sunny immediately made a "shutting my mouth" gesture, though her smile remained brilliant.

Seeing the atmosphere about to slide into another abyss of awkwardness, Sunny's eyes darted around as she suddenly had a new idea. She stroked her chin and spoke slowly in a "I'm truly a genius" tone.

"Since 'bed descent' has 'weight controversies' and 'toilet appearance' is too 'smelly,' why don't we change our approach!"

She gestured with both hands, pointing to the large, turned-off TV screen in the corner of the conference room.

"Modern society! Even an angel's descent should keep up with the times, reflecting a combination of technology and magic!"

She turned to Im Yoona, her smile as bright as a salesperson's.

"Yoona! Think about it. On a stormy (or dark and windy) night, Hyo-soon returns home with an exhausted body and turns on that old little TV, wanting to watch some boring program to relax. But instead of a normal show, what appears is—"

Sunny imitated the sound effects of a horror movie, lowering her voice.

"Zzt... zzt... static screen... then, a distorted point of light begins to appear in the center of the screen. The light gets bigger and bigger, and inside, a figure... with a white dress and long hair draped over her shoulders vaguely emerges!"

She got more into it as she spoke, even starting to mimic a crawling motion, "slithering" out from behind the table bit by bit.

"That figure, inside the screen, slowly, slowly... reaches out toward the outside (toward Kim Hyo-soon)! Then, the whole person begins to... crawl out of the TV screen!"

"First the hands, then the head, then the shoulders, the body... bit by bit, squeezing from the two-dimensional TV image into the three-dimensional real space!"

Sunny finally "crawled" to the edge of the table and suddenly looked up. To the completely petrified Im Yoona, whose pupils were shaking, she concluded with dramatic tension:

"—That's right! The angel Lim Ying-er crawls out from the TV!!!"

"An entrance like this has both the fantasy feel of magic travel and a tiny bit of... well, a 'tribute' to classic horror movies (she winked). The impact is definitely enough! And it completely avoids any controversy about 'weight' or 'hygiene'! How perfect!"

After Sunny finished, she gave herself a nod of approval, looking like she truly believed she was a genius.

"..."

The moment Sunny said "crawl out of the TV," the expression on Im Yoona's face switched from embarrassed anger to shock and resistance, her pupils trembling.

"Ya!! Lee Soon-kyu!!!"

She didn't even call her Unnie, shouting her real name instead. Her voice rose from the shock and the absurd sense of being offended, carrying a distinct scream.

"I'm not Sadako!!!!"

Her voice was full of collapse and the despair of "Do you all just want me to die?!"

She almost jumped up, pointing at Sunny, both angry and laughing, her face flushed red. "Crawl out of the TV?! With 'zzt zzt' sounds?! Unnie, are you helping me or harming me?! How is this any better than the toilet?! What about the image?! What about the angel's image?!"

Imagine that scene: a holy angel, crawling out of a TV in a distorted way like a female ghost... this wasn't a comedy anymore; it was a horror movie! Was her acting career over?!

Sunny shrank her neck at the shouting, but the smile on her face grew wider. She spread her hands. "Oh, isn't this very creative! Breaking conventions! The audience will definitely have a deep impression!"

"I'd rather not have that kind of impression!!" Im Yoona held her forehead, feeling exhausted. Were these Unnies and that Jiang Zhiyu's brains all connected to another dimension?

Jiang Zhiyu, who had been watching from the side, also had his mouth twitch when Sunny proposed the "TV crawl" plan. This idea... was very Sunny. But seeing Im Yoona on the verge of collapse, he knew that if he didn't come up with a "normal" plan, he probably wouldn't be able to leave this conference room today, and Im Yoona's anger was clearly about to break the threshold.

He rubbed his throbbing temples and took a deep breath, forcibly expelling the absurd images of "toilet spinning," "crushing someone on a bed," and "TV crawling" from his mind. It was time to return to some... simple, safe, and even slightly boring... common sense.

He raised both hands in a "pause" and "calm down" gesture, his face showing an expression of almost weary compromise.

"Alright, alright, everyone calm down."

His gaze swept over the huffing Im Yoona, the spectator Sunny, the innocent-looking (?) Kim Taeyeon, the other members with various expressions, and Kim Minjeong, who was still clutching his shirt with a dazed look.

"I admit, the previous ideas might have... pursued drama and memorability too much." He spoke sincerely (this time it really sounded like it), "ignoring basic logic and the actor's acceptance."

He walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and erased the messy (imaginary) sketches that might have been there. Then, he drew a simple outline of a house and a door.

"Let's return to the simplest logic." He turned to look at Im Yoona, speaking in the steadiest, most pragmatic, and least flashy tone.

"Since the angel Lim Ying-er was sent to help Kim Hyo-soon, she needs a reasonable way to meet her for the first time without scaring her."

"Kim Hyo-soon's family is poor, living in a semi-basement. The neighborly relations might be complicated, but there could be occasional interactions."

Jiang Zhiyu put down the marker and spread his hands, offering a proposal so plain it could almost make one cry.

"How about this then."

"Regarding the angel's entrance—"

"Just knock on the door as the 'newly moved-in neighbor.' How's that?"

He began to describe it in detail, his tone as flat as if he were reading a manual.

"On an ordinary evening, Kim Hyo-soon is at home making dinner (maybe cooking instant noodles) or doing homework. A soft, polite knock comes from the door. 'Knock, knock, knock'."

"Kim Hyo-soon goes to open the door. Standing outside is a young woman (Lim Ying-er) who, while dressed a bit too exquisitely, doesn't look too out of place for the neighborhood. She has a slightly nervous but hard-working friendly smile on her face."

Jiang Zhiyu paused and even added a very "Korean" detail full of life.

"In her hand, she's holding a small box of her own homemade kimchi, packed in a clean container."

He imitated the possible dialogue.

"'Annyeonghaseyo, I'm the new neighbor who just moved in upstairs today. My surname is Lim. This is some kimchi I made myself. If you don't mind... please accept it.'"

"This way," Jiang Zhiyu summarized, "the first meeting is natural, it won't scare Kim Hyo-soon, and it fits the setting of an 'angel disguised as a human to get close to the person they're helping.' Kimchi as a greeting gift shows neighborly friendliness and adds a bit of 'human touch' to dilute any abruptness the angel might bring. Later, the angel can slowly find opportunities to reveal her identity or gradually expose herself through clumsy magic."

He finished.

The conference room was silent.

This plan was too normal.

So normal that... compared to the previous "toilet," "bed crushing," and "TV crawling" proposals, it was as plain as a glass of water.

So normal that... even Sunny was stunned for a moment, then curled her lip and whispered, "Boring."

So normal that... Kim Taeyeon clearly breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "This is good. Safe and reasonable."

So normal that... Lee Tima secretly gave a thumbs up in the corner (for Oppa finally talking like a human).

So normal that... NingNing and Karina also showed expressions of "it should have been like this from the start."

So normal that... even Kim Minjeong, who was still clutching Jiang Zhiyu's shirt, blinked blankly, seemingly not having reacted—just like that? No falling? No crushing? No crawling? Switched to giving kimchi?

And Im Yoona...

She looked at Jiang Zhiyu, her expression slowly changing from shocked embarrassment to an extremely complex mixture of wordlessness, relief, and a hint of... indescribable absurdity.

She was silent for a few seconds.

Then, she raised her hand and gently pressed her temples, as if to dispel those overly stimulating images from her mind.

Finally, she let out a long, long breath.

Looking at Jiang Zhiyu, the killing intent in her eyes was gone, replaced by pure exhaustion and a sort of resignation that said, "Why on earth have I been sitting here listening to your nonsense for so long?"

In a nearly faint, calm, and ripple-less tone, she whispered:

"...Oh."

"A neighbor."

"Giving kimchi."

She nodded.

"...It's quite good."

"At least..."

She paused, looked up, and glanced around at everyone in the conference room, especially at Kim Taeyeon and Sunny, before finally letting her gaze fall back on Jiang Zhiyu, forcing a weak smile.

"...I won't be crushed, and I don't have to crawl out of weird places."

"And certainly won't... be flushed and spun around."

When she said those last few words, her tone was exceptionally flat, yet it made a chill run down Jiang Zhiyu's spine.

He knew this matter wasn't over yet.

But at least, the angel's entrance was temporarily... settled.

In an incomparably normal, safe, and even somewhat overly ordinary—

"New neighbor giving kimchi" way.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Im Yoona's weary and slightly resigned remark, "A neighbor bringing kimchi is fine," seemed to put a dull yet safe period on this chaotic "Angel Entrance Method Seminar."

A sense of post-apocalyptic relief permeated the conference room—at least, they didn't have to discuss those overly stimulating brainchildren anymore.

Kim Taeyeon clearly breathed a sigh of relief, and while Lee Soon-kyu found it boring, she shrugged and accepted it.

NingNing and Karina exchanged a "finally, it's normal" look.

Lee Tima even started calculating; if they were really going to film the kimchi-delivery scene, should she practice what expression to have when receiving the kimchi—confusion? The wariness of a poor child toward a stranger's gift? Or just simple, polite gratitude?

Jiang Zhiyu also wore a relieved smile, as if the shocking proposals from moments ago had nothing to do with him.

He picked up his pen, preparing to write the final decision on the whiteboard: "Angel Entrance: Neighbor Visit, Gift of Kimchi."

The moment the tip of the pen was about to touch the whiteboard, he paused.

As a producer with "mischief" and "the pursuit of extreme dramatic conflict" flowing through his veins, Jiang Zhiyu looked at the four mundane characters for "Gift of Kimchi," and the flame of unwillingness to be mediocre deep within him flared up again with a "whoosh."

Too ordinary.

Too safe.

Too... boring!

How could this be a script from the hands of Jiang Zhiyu? How could this make the "destined kim hyo-soon" special stand out among so many comedies? How could this live up to Im Yoona Sunbae's "all-out" performance (though that seems unlikely now)?

No.

Absolutely not!

"But—" Jiang Zhiyu's pen didn't descend; instead, he lifted it. He turned around to face everyone, his face once again displaying that familiar, slightly fanatical, and calculating "spark of inspiration" glow.

"Just delivering kimchi, then polite small talk, and then naturally becoming friends..." He shook his head, his tone full of disdain for the mediocre plot. "That's too lukewarm! Lacking sparks! Lacking a powerful bond that allows two characters to establish a connection quickly, closely, and even with a bit of a 'fated-to-be-enemies' vibe!"

His gaze swept over everyone and finally landed on Im Yoona's face. That look seemed to say: Sunbae, I know you also crave a more challenging plot deep down, right?

Im Yoona's heart skipped a beat, and her just-relaxed nerves instantly tightened again. She looked at Jiang Zhiyu's re-lit eyes, and a wave of ominous premonition, like cold water, submerged her once more.

"So," Jiang Zhiyu's speaking speed increased, filled with irrepressible excitement, "this kimchi cannot be ordinary kimchi! It needs a little... 'something special'!"

He paused deliberately to build suspense.

Everyone's hearts rose. Special? What kind of special? Magic kimchi? Kimchi that grants wishes when eaten?

Jiang Zhiyu smiled slightly, and that smile looked, no matter how you looked at it... evil.

He said slowly and clearly:

"This kimchi, because Angel Lim Ying-er accidentally mixed in some experimental, unstable 'cleaning/purifying' minor magic while pickling it (she might have intended to make the kimchi more hygienic and delicious), or perhaps the container she used to hold the kimchi had previously held some kind of 'powerful laxative herb' from the heavens (which she mistook for a spice)..."

The more he spoke, the paler Im Yoona's face became.

"In short, after the Kim Hyo-soon family gratefully enjoyed the kimchi gifted by this 'kind new neighbor'—"

Jiang Zhiyu spread his hands and, in an extremely flat yet terrifying tone, tossed out that nightmarish phrase:

"—the whole family gets food poisoning, vomiting and having diarrhea."

"..."

Dead silence.

"And then," Jiang Zhiyu, as if he didn't see Im Yoona's instantly livid face and everyone's stunned expressions, continued to immerse himself in his "genius" concept, even starting to deduce the plot, "the semi-basement bathroom only has one old toilet, which cannot withstand such 'intense' use by the whole family in a short period..."

His finger, with a fated sense of direction, pointed again—for the third time—at that wretched thing that had appeared countless times today, which seemed to have become some kind of obsession for him—

"The toilet."

He enunciated clearly:

"The toilet, is clogged."

After saying this, he even nodded, as if satisfied with his closed logical loop: "See, this way, there's dramatic conflict! The core setting of the angel doing bad things with good intentions is reinforced again! The Kim Hyo-soon family falls into a new, concrete, and very awkward predicament! And the angel Lim Ying-er, who caused the trouble, now has sufficient reason and guilt, and must find a way to make up for it—for example, using her hit-or-miss magic to unclog the toilet? Or running to buy medicine? In this process, her interaction, friction, and the possible strange friendship with Kim Hyo-soon, wouldn't it naturally unfold..."

"Shibal!!!!!!"

A scream that nearly broke the sound barrier suddenly erupted, interrupting Jiang Zhiyu's endless exposition.

It wasn't a "Ya," not an "Oppa," and not any euphemistic protest.

It was an extremely rare, on-the-verge-of-collapse, highest-level expression of anger and madness in Korean—

"Shibal!!!"

Everyone was jolted by this scream.

Im Yoona stood up from her seat abruptly, her movement so large she almost knocked over her chair. Her beautiful face, which was always impeccably managed, was now flushed red and even slightly twisted due to extreme anger, shame, and a sense of despair that "this person is hopeless." Her chest heaved violently, and her outstretched finger pointed at Jiang Zhiyu, her fingertips trembling slightly.

She looked at Jiang Zhiyu, her eyes wide as if they were about to split, burning with raging fire, her voice shrill and trembling with excitement:

"Jiang! Zhiyu! Is there nothing else in your brain besides toilets?! Huh?!!!"

"The entrance was a toilet! After the entrance, it's still a toilet! Now even establishing a connection has to rely on a toilet?! And it's a toilet clogged from diarrhea?!!"

She was so angry she could barely speak coherently:

"Kimchi! Such heartwarming kimchi! Neighborly-friendly kimchi! You can even twist that into diarrhea and a clogged toilet?! What exactly is your obsession with toilets?! Is it your muse?! Is it the source of your creative inspiration?!!"

"Stop talking about toilets!!!!" Im Yoona almost roared, her voice filled with a deep sense of collapse. "I beg you! From now on, you are forbidden from mentioning the two words 'toilet'! Forbidden!!!"

She clutched her head with both hands and turned a half-circle on the spot, as if she wanted to shake out all those dirty and absurd toilet images that Jiang Zhiyu had forcibly stuffed into her brain and which she couldn't get rid of.

The conference room was deathly silent.

Only the sound of Im Yoona's slightly heavy breathing from excitement remained.

Everyone was stunned by Im Yoona's unprecedented outburst. Even Lee Soon-kyu, who loved to watch the fun, subconsciously shrank her neck; Kim Taeyeon opened her mouth, wearing a look of panic that said, "It's over, she's really angry." NingNing and Karina were so scared they didn't dare to breathe. Lee Tima had already put on her noise-canceling headphones again, turned them to the highest setting, and closed her eyes, silently chanting, "I can't hear, I can't see."

And Jiang Zhiyu...

After being yelled at like that while Im Yoona pointed at his nose, especially after that rare "Shibal," he was also stunned on the spot.

He looked at Im Yoona, who was so angry she was about to smoke, her eyes full of the expression, "If you dare mention a toilet again, I'll take you down with me," and finally, belatedly realized—he seemed... really... a bit... too much?

He opened his mouth, trying to defend himself: "Yoona Sunbae, I didn't... I just thought this would have stronger dramatic effect..."

"Dramatic effect?!" Im Yoona interrupted him, laughing in anger, her smile terrifyingly cold. "So in your view, my character, an angel! The highest-light entrance and the way to establish a connection, is all centered around a clogged toilet?! Is this the dramatic effect you want?!"

She stepped forward, approaching Jiang Zhiyu. Although she didn't have the height advantage, her aura completely crushed him:

"Jiang Zhiyu-xi, I'll ask you one last time—in this script, can it, or can it not, be without a toilet?!"

Her eyes locked onto Jiang Zhiyu, with a look of absolute determination: "If you dare say no, I'll leave immediately, and whoever wants to act in this play can do it."

Jiang Zhiyu swallowed hard.

He looked at the furious Im Yoona, then at the silent crowd around him.

He thought about his own creative direction, which indeed seemed a bit... too "focused."

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then, slowly and extremely painfully, he nodded.

His voice was dry:

"...Yes."

Im Yoona stared at him intently, as if confirming the authenticity of his words.

Jiang Zhiyu closed his eyes, as if killing off some stubborn "artistic persistence" of his own, and spoke again, his tone carrying the pain of a warrior cutting off his own wrist:

"It can be without a toilet."

"The kimchi... is just ordinary kimchi."

"The angel's entrance... is just an ordinary neighbor visit."

He added, almost through gritted teeth:

"I promise... in the first three episodes of the special, absolutely, absolutely no plot, dialogue, or even hints related to 'toilets' will appear."

He said the word "promise."

Im Yoona's tense shoulders finally relaxed just a little. But the wariness and anger in her eyes did not completely fade.

She let out a cold snort, sat back down in her chair, crossed her arms, turned her face away, and stopped looking at Jiang Zhiyu.

In the conference room, the suffocating low pressure eased slightly.

But everyone knew that Jiang Zhiyu had really pissed off the visual member known for her good temper today.

And it was a nuclear-level piss-off, triggered by touching some strange and stubborn creative bottom line.

Jiang Zhiyu silently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

It seemed... he had temporarily saved this project, and... his own life?

But the price was that he had to give up his beloved "toilet" dramatic element.

This feeling was like losing a... beloved creative partner?

He looked somewhat melancholically at the corner of the conference room, in the direction of that... non-existent toilet.

Then, in his heart, he silently mourned for it for three seconds.

Goodbye, my muse.

At least... for the first three episodes, we can't meet again.