Chapter Twenty-Four: The Gift

  After finishing his part in Jisan, Zhang Chengyuan returned to Seoul and honestly stayed in school for a few days. Under the arrangement of Park Hyung-ryeol, he then entered some TV drama crews one after another, playing small roles, accumulating practical experience while improving his theoretical knowledge at an acting school. As for his high school studies, he was more than capable of coping with them, listening attentively in class during the day and easily grasping the knowledge in his textbooks whenever he had a chance to review it. He always scored first in every exam, earning the trust of his homeroom teacher and academic director, who gave him the green light every time he asked for leave.

  While Jang Sung-won was living a dull life, the four sisters of Fin.K.L, who kept in touch with him by phone, were having an increasingly colorful singing career. First, they released their new album 2.5 in late November and performed as guest singers at the first-ever Korea-China Song Festival in China. In early December, they made history by representing Korean pop singers in a performance in Pyongyang, North Korea. After returning to Korea, they continued promoting their new song and easily took the top spot on SBS's popular music show within a week. They then swept many major awards at year-end music ceremonies, including the grand prize at the Seoul Music Awards and the grand prize at SBS TV's Song Battle, two of the highest honors in the Korean music industry.

  This is also the most honorable honor that all Korean girl groups and even all singers dream of but cannot reach. Even before, S.E.S and BabyV.O.X, two large combinations that can be compared with Fin.k.l in terms of momentum, became Fin.k.l's foil after Fin.k.l won the award, although they also won several awards that everyone envied during the same period, but did not get the final grand prize from various TV stations.

  Fin.K.L was able to achieve in their second year what others may not be able to achieve in a lifetime, and as their closest younger brother, Jang Sung-won was overjoyed and wanted to rush to their side to congratulate them. However, he knew that there would be countless people surrounding them, including reporters and fans, and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to appear at this time, as it could expose their relationship and lead to malicious speculation and slander, which could severely damage their careers. Therefore, Jang Sung-won had to suppress his excitement, decline Lee Hyori's invitation, and only watched from afar outside the celebration venue, calling each of the four members to congratulate them, and making plans to meet up after the new year before leaving with a tinge of melancholy.

  Being friends with celebrities is a lot of trouble, and it's even more troublesome when celebrities befriend members of the opposite sex. If they're not careful, rumors will spread, and once rumors start, many fans will become hysterical, as if they want to kill off their idol's close friend of the opposite sex. Of course, killing is just something people say, and there aren't many fans who would actually do it. However, fans' vicious attacks and curses online can also be extremely frustrating and depressing.

  To avoid rumors with the four Fin.K.L sisters, Jang Sung-won is very careful whenever he meets them, and they only meet a few times a year. Fortunately, both parties are sentimental people who don't worry that not seeing each other often will affect their feelings for each other. Jang Sung-won still respects and loves the four sisters, while Fin.K.L's four girls also cherish him just as much.

  One evening in January 2000, Zhang Chengyuan took out the four jade necklaces he had prepared for a long time and specially made from his home. After dressing up, he took a taxi to Fin.k.l's dormitory. From a worldly point of view, these four necklaces are not valuable items, but rather cheap goods that can be found in flea markets. Indeed, the four necklaces were made by Zhang Chengyuan from inexpensive goods he had picked out at a flea market in Dongdaemun District, Seoul.

  Although these accessories themselves are not worth much, they have taken up a lot of Zhang Chengyuan's effort and precious true energy. He first re-carved the jade stones he had found into the shapes of four animals: fox, black bear, penguin, and white swan, of course, making them look even more adorable than their real-life counterparts, and only slightly larger than coins. Then, he asked Pu Binglie to send these four jade pendants to a professional institution to be fired into the corresponding red, black, blue, and white colors, which are also the representative colors of Li Xiaoli, Yu Zhuoxuan, Li Zhen, and Cheng Youli, respectively.

  The reason why he carved them into the shapes of these four animals is that he thinks these four animals have some similarities with each person's characteristics in Fin.k.l.

  For example, the animal fox is easily associated with the fox spirit and nine-tailed fox in both China and Korea, representing a charming and seductive charm that can enchant people's hearts. Lee Hyori gives Zhang Chengyuan the same feeling. Although Lee Hyori's trait has not been fully demonstrated yet, Zhang Chengyuan intuitively believes that Lee Hyori will eventually become a generation of sexy queens who can enchant all living things.

  Bears are a symbol of strength, and among the four members, YooA is not only the most physically fit but also has the greatest physical strength. In terms of singing, she is extremely powerful and represents the strong female vocalist in Korea's current music scene.

  Penguins are not only cute and kind, but also clumsy when dancing, which is a perfect reflection of Li Chen's kind heart and his dance skills known as "wooden stick".

  The white swan is pure and beautiful, loved by all who see it. And Sung Yu-ri has not only the smoothest and whitest skin, known as "milk skin", but also a clear and lovely face that makes people like her at first sight. From a detailed point of view, Sung Yu-ri's neck is slender and long, and her feet are relatively large, in these two points she is very similar to the swan.

  Therefore, using these four animals to represent Fin.K.L is the most suitable choice for Zhang Chengyuan. Of course, this is just his personal opinion and others may not agree. But he doesn't need to care about other people's opinions.

  After getting the four animal jade ornaments ready, Zhang Chengyuan sent them to a gold shop and had them strung onto silver metal cords. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough money to use precious metals. To make up for it, Zhang Chengyuan infused his own true energy into the four-colored jade pendants, equivalent to half a year's worth of meditation. Through this true energy, Zhang Chengyuan could always sense the wearer's physical condition and even emotional changes, allowing him to help them early on. Additionally, these jade pendant necklaces had another small effect: they allowed Zhang Chengyuan to roughly sense the location of the wearer. Later, if Zhang Chengyuan wanted to find his four sisters, it would be much more convenient.

  It sounds mysterious, but in fact it's just a small trick of Taoist using true energy to sense the changes of human body's qi and blood. If not for the drastic change of heaven and earth, the scarcity of spiritual energy, and the failure of most spells, Zhang Chengyuan would have given each of his sisters 20 or 30 protective talismans to protect themselves.

  Arriving at Fin.K.L's dormitory, Jang Sung-won received a warm welcome from Lee Hyori and the other three members. Each of them gave him a passionate hug, making Jang feel warm inside. Although the four members were now famous and popular, they remained humble and cautious, fearing that Jang would distance himself from them due to various reasons, so they treated him with even more affection.

  As soon as Zhang Chengyuan sat down on the sofa, he eagerly presented his carefully prepared gift, hoping to get praise from his four sisters. Unexpectedly, none of them showed a joyful expression, but instead looked at him with puzzled and bewildered eyes.

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