1novels 1. Newcomer, please add to your favorites!
1. Newcomer, please add to your favorites!
Before Li Jingcheng closed his eyes, the last thing he saw was the constantly scrolling order numbers in the live stream.
"Family members! Last 100 orders! Only 29.9!"
The livestream studio was brightly lit on New Year's Eve, with sporadic fireworks exploding outside the window. He was a livestreaming host from a small county in southern China, who had been working three consecutive all-nighters. His throat was already hoarse, but he kept going as he watched the sales figures climb in the background.
My heart suddenly clenched painfully.
In the split second before everything went black, his last thought was that at least the workers' compensation would be enough to ensure his parents' comfortable life for the rest of their days. They were still young, in their early fifties; perhaps they could even play a little more trumpet.
It can be said that these twenty years of raising her have not been in vain.
When he opened his eyes again, he was still Lee Kyung-sung, only now he was Lee Kyung-sung of Korean descent in the United States, and he was also twenty years old.
The original owner of this body had lost his parents at a young age, and his maternal grandfather also passed away the year he graduated from university. This series of blows caused the original owner of this body to suffer from severe depression, and he eventually passed away peacefully without any desire to live anymore. Then, this visitor from another world took over his body.
Now, he lives alone in a villa in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, leading a regular life: he doesn't smoke, drinks only on necessary occasions, goes to bed at 11 p.m. every night, and sleeps for eight hours without fail.
Although it was only the first night.
If I had to pinpoint any benefit that time travel brought, it would probably be the system in my head called "Everything Can Be Intercepted."
A pale blue virtual interface floats in the field of vision, with a line of text in the center:
Intercepting system - to be activated
It's completely empty. There's no smart assistant, no user manual, and you have to guess the activation conditions yourself.
"That's really perfunctory," Li Jingcheng sighed inwardly.
Seoul's winters are bitterly cold.
The cold wind, like fine needles, pierced through the gaps in his down jacket. Li Jingcheng buried his face in his collar and hurried toward the coffee shop on the street corner. The weather forecast last night said that the lowest temperature today would be minus five degrees Celsius, which was torture for someone who had lived in the south for twenty years.
"Caramel Macchiato, hot."
He pushed open the door, bringing in a gust of cold wind. The clerk behind the counter looked up; she was a student-looking girl with slightly red cheeks from the cold.
"Here, a hot caramel macchiato, 5,400 yuan."
Lee Kyung-sung sat down by the window, holding a warm paper cup, and looked out. Pedestrians hurried along the street, but few seemed to be shivering; Koreans' tolerance for the cold seemed truly extraordinary.
He took a sip, the sweet, warm sensation sliding down his throat, but his thoughts drifted away.
Since the system is called "Everything Can Be Intercepted," and it specifically transported him to South Korea, his target is most likely the K-pop industry. And within the entertainment industry, the easiest thing to intercept is those idols who should be shining on stage—female idols.
Coincidentally, he was quite interested in female idols, so even if he guessed wrong, it wouldn't be a loss.
He pulled a black iPhone 4 from his pocket, his fingertips tracing the slightly wide black bezel. Back in his previous life, when iPhones first became popular, he'd scrimped and saved to buy one, thoroughly enjoying jailbreaking and upgrading it. But after getting used to the full-screen displays of this world, this 3.5-inch screen felt cramped and unfamiliar. Fortunately, it was a smartphone, without facial recognition. He entered his passcode to unlock the screen and opened a pre-collected memo app, which contained Lin Yun'er's recent schedule.
That was the only target I painstakingly selected from my limited knowledge of the Korean entertainment industry after deducing that the system's target was an idol.
Im Yoon-a and Lee Seung-gi
However, Lee Kyung-sung, who only read Korean entertainment novels, only remembered the approximate time. After all, he read Korean entertainment novels in 2023, and not long after, the female lead had changed from Im Yoon-ah and Kim Tae-yeon to more popular actresses like Yoo Jimin and Jang Won-young. Therefore, he had forgotten most of the information shared by other members in the novel group.
It's not about Lim Yoon-a. It just so happens that this Blue Dragon Film Award-winning actress frequently appears in the Korean entertainment novels Lee Kyung-sung is reading. Although he sometimes only hears her name and hasn't seen her in person, her frequent appearances are undeniable. He's also searched for information about Lim Yoon-a online. While she's not conventionally beautiful, her pure and sweet appearance adds a lot to her appeal, placing her within his aesthetic range. Moreover, she's one of the few female idols he remembers.
As for the guilt of snatching it away?
Please, he's not even familiar with Lee Seung-gi.
Having possessed it in a past life is one thing, but does it mean it has to be held onto in every life? Once is enough; you can't hold onto it more than that.
Let me handle this kind of thing.
Lee Kyung-sung felt no burden whatsoever; in fact, he was eager to try, already imagining himself whispering something in Lim Yoon-a's ear:
"You don't want your fans to know you're in a relationship, do you?"
Thinking of this, he was instantly filled with fighting spirit, and even imagined Yoona's reaction.
Im Yoon-a has a personal schedule today, while Lee Seung-gi's new drama hasn't started filming yet, so the two are very likely to take the opportunity to have a private date. Although it's not 100% certain that it will be in Namsan, considering all the places that couples in Seoul often go to, this is the closest to her schedule and has the highest probability. Moreover, Lee Kyung-sung has only recently traveled through time and is still quite interested in Korea. Even if they don't run into each other, it wouldn't be a bad deal to have a sightseeing trip to Namsan to relax.
Thinking of this, Li Jingcheng smiled, put on his baseball cap, and got up to walk towards Nanshan.
He glanced down at the time on his phone.
6:04 PM.
Yoona finished her schedule and rushed here; she had plenty of time.
Li Jingcheng adjusted his baseball cap, then took out a mask from his pocket, and was about to put it on...
"Jimin! Don't run so fast!"
A clear, childlike voice and an anxious shout rang out at the same time.
Li Jingcheng subconsciously turned around and saw a little girl running towards him. The girl looked to be about ten years old, with a round face and a ponytail, panting heavily. Behind her, a couple was leading another, slightly younger girl, hurrying after them.
Just as the little girl was about to reach him, her foot suddenly slipped.
"Be careful!"
Almost instinctively, Li Jingcheng reached out and steadied the little girl by the shoulder. The girl stumbled for a moment, then looked up at him with bright, sparkling eyes.
"Th-thank you, Oppa..." she gasped for breath, her cheeks flushed a healthy pink from running and the cold.
"Jimin! Are you alright?" The middle-aged woman rushed over, pulled her daughter to her side, and checked her over.
"Mom, I'm fine." The little girl called Zhimin shook her head, but her gaze remained fixed on Li Jingcheng's face.
The woman finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned to Li Jingcheng, and bowed slightly, "Thank you, the child was too impulsive."
"It's okay." Li Jingcheng waved his hand, his gaze falling on the little girl, his tone softening unconsciously. "Don't run so fast next time, there might be ice on the ground, it will be very slippery."
"Yes." Yoo Jimin nodded obediently, but then blinked and suddenly asked, "Oppa, are you a celebrity?"
Li Jingcheng was taken aback.
"Jimin!" the woman interrupted from the side.
"But Oppa is really handsome," Yoo Jimin said earnestly, her youthful face full of sincerity, "He's even more handsome than the oppas I've seen on TV."
Hearing this, the woman beside him couldn't help but take a closer look at Li Jingcheng. The young man was tall and straight, with clean, sharp lines in his profile and deep, sculpted features—a strikingly handsome face. Unlike the typical delicate and gentle features of Korean men, he possessed a more open and rugged, heroic air.
No wonder my daughter said that.
"I'm not a celebrity," Li Jingcheng smiled, stuffing his mask back into his pocket, "just an ordinary college student."
"Ani?" Yoo Jimin's eyes widened, and she reached out to tug at his sleeve, her face serious. "Oppa is so handsome, he can definitely debut!"
"No one can predict the future." Li Jingcheng raised his hand and gently rubbed the top of her head.
The movement was so natural that he paused slightly afterward, wondering if it would be too abrupt in South Korea.
The little girl didn't resist; she just had a sweet smile on her face. She seemed to realize he didn't want to be a celebrity, and became a little disappointed, but quickly smiled again. "Then, Oppa, can I take a picture with you?"
"sure."
"Let me take the picture for you." Jimin's mother took out her phone, took a few steps back, and adjusted the angle.
"Wait a minute!" Jimin suddenly remembered something, tugged at Lee Kyung-sung's sleeve, and pointed to a spot not far away. "Over there! There's a really beautiful red pine tree over there, let's go take pictures there!"
Li Jingcheng looked in the direction she pointed and indeed saw a sturdy red pine tree, which looked particularly ancient in the darkening sky. He nodded and followed the little girl over.
The photoshoot went smoothly. Liu Zhimin's family also joined in, and in the end, they ended up taking a photo that looked like a last-minute family portrait.
Individual photos, family photos, close-up and distant shots... not one was missed.
It got completely dark.
On the mountain paths of Nanshan, the number of tourists gradually increased. One by one, the pagoda lights illuminated the night, bathing the mountain forest in a warm orange glow. The flashes of smartphones went off one after another, and couples nestled together, their laughter spreading softly.