KFPCA 06

Chapter 06

Additionally, because she truly spends very little time in Korea—less than two months total in a year—even if fans were determined to stalk her, they wouldn’t go all the way to the U.S. just to keep tabs on her.

Another reason is that Jin Shengxi isn’t the type of person who only cares about studying. She is interested in new things, trending makeup and fashion, and even current social media, all of which she finds amusing. Since graduating from high school, she has often posted updates on her personal social media. Although they are just casual photos, daily thoughts, and snippets of her life, they have gained some attention. This is why Kwon Jiyong didn’t cover Jin Shengxi’s face when he posted those photos.

For the past few years, Kwon Jiyong has been so focused on running his own race that his understanding of Jin Shengxi lagged behind. It’s not that he didn’t know her, but he underestimated her capabilities. As an artist, he has to endure the malice of some people while receiving love from fans and exposure from the media. As a friend, he wanted to protect her, but he forgot that Jin Shengxi is a strong person in her own right; she has her own judgment and the capacity to handle things. Moreover, he overlooked the fact that Koreans revere those who study abroad in Western countries and excel academically, which gave Jin Shengxi—a Yale PhD student—a layer of prestige before she even showed her face.

Fans who followed the breadcrumbs to Jin Shengxi’s Instagram profile saw her latest post from last November.

【Blair: A friend’s arrival warms every inch of air in this quiet little house.】

The photo, taken one evening as she walked through her front door, showed Kwon Jiyong sitting on the rug watching TV in a living room lit only by a small lamp. While strangers might not recognize him, his fans, who had rushed over to investigate, recognized the person in the photo as their GD at a glance.

The post before that was a silhouette of Kwon Jiyong touching the toes of the bronze statue, showing only a glimpse of his side profile. 【Blair: Hope this brings good luck to my friend.】

Scrolling back further, there was a photo taken when Jin Shengxi went to the airport to pick him up on his first day. It was a cold day in New York; Kwon Jiyong was wearing a black hoodie, a thick jacket, the hood pulled over his head, and a black mask. 【Blair: My friend walked toward me, wiggling like a silkworm cocoon.】

[That’s really Shining’s account.] [Omo omo, she really is a great beauty.] [The last three posts are all photos of GD!] [But they are all so hidden; you can barely see his face.] [Laughing to death, ‘silkworm cocoon’?] [Wiggling over like a silkworm cocoon, hahahaha.] [Aigoo, aigoo, Shining really thinks GD is unlucky!] [So Shining wasn’t being completely mysterious; she was posting all along, but GD didn’t tag her, and her location was abroad, so we couldn’t find her.] [They are both so sweet. GD feels that Shining is healing him, and Shining feels that GD makes her empty house feel warm.] [That’s why they can be friends for so long; they always keep what the other has done for them in their hearts.] [Watching Shining’s account.] [Haha, watching the show today, I felt Shining was a warm and powerful older sister figure, but after scrolling through all her posts, I realized she’s totally a little sister too.] [The ramblings on her account are so cute, too.] [As expected, cute people have cute friends.] [She’s a cute little sister on Instagram, but her YouTube fully shows her top-student qualities.] [I watched her Study With Me video on YouTube; it’s terrifying.] [One continuous shot, only sped up. How can someone pull an all-nighter in a study hall?] [I feel like she didn’t film the video for the sake of making content; she just did it to push herself to study. No cuts, no fancy filming techniques.] [But it really makes people want to work hard. I feel like if you play it at original speed, it would be a great study companion.] [Really, when I look up and see Shining studying so seriously, I’m too embarrassed to slack off.]

Aside from daily life snippets of Kwon Jiyong in the U.S., the most discussed topic was Jin Shengxi’s appearance.

[Why hasn’t anyone mentioned that Jin Shining is this pretty?]

Perhaps influenced by years of academic research, Jin Shengxi has an innate “intellectual” vibe. Her features are distinct but not flashy, revealing a clear-headed, sharp quality. Her face is a rounded oval, with soft, natural fullness in her cheeks that neutralizes the sharpness of her features, making her look approachable yet elegant. Most striking are her bright, expressive almond eyes, full and rounded, filled with vibrant charm; when she smiles, the corners of her eyes curve into soft arcs, radiant enough to dispel any surrounding gloom. Her nose bridge is high and well-defined, with clean lines that aren’t overly sharp, giving her face a nice sense of dimension. Her lips are full and naturally rosy, with a hint of determination at the corners.

Her hairstyle is usually long, sleek black hair. Her outfits are occasionally accented with a beret or a baseball cap, or sometimes tied into a neat bun, which balances her proportions and adds a literary touch. Her makeup is always fresh and natural—no heavy adornment needed, just a healthy glow. She is slim and, while not very tall, has excellent proportions—a short waist and long legs. Since she is still a student, her style is mostly collegiate and casual. Based on her social media, she favors basic sweaters, shirts, hoodies, various jeans, cargo pants, slacks, and quality trench coats or overcoats. While the silhouettes are basic, the colors are not monotonous; she occasionally pairs them with a floral skirt and brown leather shoes, or accents them with a bright bag, blending freshness with a bit of “coolness.” From afar, she looks like an intellectual girl who stepped out of a campus photo shoot—calm and determined, yet filled with an undeniable, vibrant spirit.

[A total, total beauty!] [If you look at the earliest post, there’s a photo of her high school ID. She’s truly a natural beauty!] [How many people would try to get eyes like hers through surgery and fail? These double eyelids, these big eyes…] [Her nose is also super pretty; super high, with just a tiny bit of a bump. It’s super, super sexy when she wears glasses!] [Omo, even though she’s a little sister, she feels like an unnie!] [A top student is excellent in every way. To think she’d choose rimless glasses, which make many people look dorky—she’s a completely intellectual beauty!] [Great at studying, loyal, and pretty—what flaws does Jin Shining even have?] [Perhaps? A ‘musical idiot’?] [Hahahahahaha] [Maybe being a ‘musical idiot’ is the only flaw in her life.] [And she exposed that flaw herself.] [Though she says she’s a musical idiot, maybe our standards are different from a top student’s?] [Setting aside her questionable musical skills, Jin Shining is truly a ‘perfect’ woman!] [‘Perfect’ woman and ‘perfect’ man.] [Envying Jiyong Oppa for having a friend like this.] [Following immediately!] [Follow, follow—following on Instagram, following on YouTube.]

Thanks to Kwon Jiyong, Jin Shengxi gained nearly 100,000 followers in one night—comparable to some minor idols.

Chapter 4

After confirming there were no negative comments on his or Jin Shengxi’s profiles, Kwon Jiyong stopped paying attention to Instagram.

He was too tired! Mentally exhausted! It was clearly the career he loved, everything was clearly getting better, and clearly, BIGBANG would be making a comeback the day after tomorrow. But for the first time, he felt a sense of fatigue. It wasn’t that he was fed up—he was still full of love and longing for music and the stage—but he was just so tired.

Lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, Kwon Jiyong reached out to grab his phone, which he’d tossed aside, and opened his photo album. The screen was instantly filled with photos of him and Jin Shengxi, and his memory was instantly pulled back to that freezing yet warmth-filled winter.

After the news broke, even though they clarified it immediately, the outside world’s questioning and insults instantly flooded Kwon Jiyong’s comment sections. As Jin Shengxi had said, they didn’t care about the truth; they just wanted to vent.

Under pressure, YG announced on October 7 that all of Kwon Jiyong’s activities would be temporarily suspended. When he got the news, Kwon Jiyong had already been staying at his parents’ house for three days. He didn’t understand. He hadn’t done anything wrong; why were they treating him like this?

“Cancer cell.” “The source of BIGBANG’s evil.” “I knew he was this kind of person long ago.” “To be honest, it’s not surprising he’d do something like this.”

Jin Shengxi had sent the message to Kwon Jiyong in the early hours of October 6. In New Haven, 14 hours behind Seoul, she had just finished her classes for the day.

【shanshan: Do you want to come find me to play? Noona just got this year’s scholarship, so I can provide for you~】

Jin Shengxi’s tone was as usual, as if she were completely unaware of the turmoil, just like before, grabbing every opportunity to take advantage of Kwon Jiyong.

【Boxing Boy: Yah! Jin Shining, I’m an Oppa!】

【shanshan: Na~ Oppa~ Do you want to come play with me? New Haven is so cold this year, and I’ve been finishing class super late lately. I heard a classmate got ‘begged’ on the way back to their apartment yesterday!】