Peninsula: The young master is poor and doesn't want to date.

Chapter 20 Tonight, Black Stockings

Kim Soo-ho slammed his fist on the freezer, making the beverage bottles inside rattle.

"Damn it!!! You used her connections to get fake evidence into her hands, letting her detonate it herself, and then the fake evidence exploded, blowing her up in the process!!"

Li Zheng smiled and took another sip of cola.

"I only sent her some extra ingredients. She made the rest herself."

Kim Soo-ho looked at him with a "you fucking madman" expression.

"Zhengyi, you know what? I'm only just realizing it now. You're not just ruining her plans. You're ruining her as a person. Even if she still has something real, she won't dare to use it in the future."

Ding Lilan then spoke.

"Because if she puts anything in there again, everyone will ask questions first."

"Is this the second wave you've faked?"

"The police will also assume that you are in cahoots with the people who fabricated evidence."

"You've been permanently labeled as 'dishonest.' No matter how much you complain now, nobody will believe you."

Kim Soo-ho's concluding remarks:

"She has forever lost the right to attack you in the public sphere."

Li Zhengyi remained silent.

He simply lit a cigarette, slowly smoking it, his face expressionless.

"I just handed her a lighter."

"Let her set the spilled gasoline on fire herself."

Kim Soo-ho looked at him.

Suddenly, he dropped all his flamboyance and joking, revealing a serious expression.

"Zhengyi".

"Um?"

"You are really much scarier than your brothers and sisters."

Li Zheng flicked his cigarette ash and didn't reply.

Kim Soo-ho continued, "But there's still one thing I can't figure out."

Li Zhengyi leaned against the window, waiting for him to continue.

"Since your relationship with Bae Joo-hyun is fake, why go through all this trouble?"

Li Zheng exhaled a puff of smoke.

"She already had something real."

"The chat logs and the photos together are real. Bae Joo-hyun came to see me that night, in the convenience store and downstairs, and confessed her feelings to me. We took that photo together in this room. None of these are fake."

"I can't make something that happened disappear."

Kim Soo-ho's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.

"Damn it!!!"

He jumped up on the spot, pointed at Li Zhengyi's nose, his finger trembling.

"You, you're really dating Irene?!"

"Why?!"

"Heaven is so unfair!! Why didn't Irene win the heart of someone as handsome, charming, and witty as me?! It's so unfair!!"

He looked up to the sky and let out a scream that was a mixture of grief, anger, and jealousy.

"I thought it was just that woman Kim Tae-ah spreading rumors about you, but it turns out it's true that you two are real. You actually kept it from me."

"You've kept this from me for so many days."

"You betrayed our brotherhood!!"

Li Zhengyi ignored his wails.

He flicked the ash into the ashtray and continued talking.

"But if I don't do something, Kim Tae-ah will release the real thing she has at her own pace. By the time she releases it, it will be too late for me to do anything. Because it's real."

"Therefore, I can't defend. I can only attack."

"I can't let her detonate the bomb she's holding. I can only let her detonate the bomb I put in her hand."

Kim Soo-ho's wailing stopped abruptly.

The expression on his face slowly changed from grief and indignation to realization, and then to something complex.

"so……"

He pointed at Li Zhengyi, his finger still hovering in mid-air.

"So when you give her things, it's not to provide ammunition, but to plant a time bomb."

Li Zhengyi looked out the window.

"The best way to deal with this kind of fool is to turn her self-righteous cleverness into a trap she herself falls into."

Kim Soo-ho had stopped making a fuss at some point.

He looked at Li Zhengyi, remained silent for a while, and then pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Zhengyi".

"Um?"

"So you really are with that Bae Joo-hyun..."

"Fake."

"But you two have a photo together, she even confessed her feelings to you, and you two also..."

"Each takes what they need."

Li Zheng stubbed out his cigarette, his tone nonchalant.

"She needs a shield to escape my second brother, that hungry wolf. I just happen to have nothing better to do."

Kim Soo-ho was stunned for two seconds.

Then he slapped his thigh hard and let out a strange cry.

"Damn it!!! You're going to take this game?!"

Li Zhengyi rolled his eyes at him.

"What do you mean by 'taking over'? Can't you speak more politely?"

"That's exactly right. Your second brother has his eye on this woman, and you're taking her on? Isn't that just taking over someone else's burden? And if your second brother finds out, he'll skin you alive!"

"He stopped treating me like a younger brother a long time ago. What difference does it make whether he skins me or not?"

Li Zhengyi leaned against the wall and said casually.

"Besides, it's not certain who will be the one skinning whom."

Kim Soo-ho looked at him with a complicated expression and remained silent for several seconds.

"Fuck you, so you two are just faking a relationship? Or are you just using each other for your own benefit?"

"almost."

"Does she know about your business? Like those overseas companies, music software, game development, and stuff like that."

"have no idea."

"So she thought you were just a poor kid working at a convenience store?"

"right."

Kim Soo-ho lost his balance and the chair almost tipped over.

"What's the point of this stunningly beautiful female idol confessing her feelings to a convenience store clerk in Kowloon Village late at night?"

"Is my shield thick enough?"

Li Zhengyi showed neither smugness nor sarcasm; he was simply stating the facts.

"She probably felt that as long as she was associated with me, my second brother wouldn't be able to make a move on her legitimately. After all, it wouldn't look good if word got out that he was stealing his brother's woman."

Kim Soo-ho fell silent.

He seemed to be processing this, then suddenly asked:

"And what about you? What are you after?"

Li Zhengyi remained silent for a few seconds.

Then the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"It's for fun."

Kim Soo-ho gave him a look that said, "You're fucking sick."

Just as he was about to say something, Li Zhengyi's phone rang.

A new number is calling.

He answered the call.

It's Bae Joo-hyun's voice.

It's sticky and chewy.

She was completely different from the crazy woman who yelled "I hate you" that afternoon.

"I'm sorry, I misunderstood you."

Li Zhengyi leaned against the window, the corners of his mouth curving into a full-blown wicked smile.

"Heh heh, who said I ruined her life?"

"sorry."

"Who said they hated me?"

"sorry."

"Whose photos were leaked that I helped them get leaked?"

"sorry."

"Don't say sorry. Tonight, wear black stockings and come to my room."

The phone went silent instantly.

Then Bae Joo-hyun's trembling voice rang out.

"What are you going to do?"

"What can we do? Aren't we dating?"

Li Zhengyi's words were perfectly reasonable.

"My boyfriend did such a big thing for me, shouldn't I, as his girlfriend, reciprocate?"

"I, I, I'm not ready yet..."

Bae Joo-hyun's voice trailed off again, becoming as soft as a cat that hadn't eaten for eighteen days.

This is exactly what Li Zhengyi was waiting for.

He changed his tone and spoke casually.

"Then you go face my second brother alone. We're breaking up."

"Don't!!"

The person on the other end of the phone was practically screaming—

"I...I'll do it! I'll do it, okay?!"

"...Remember, it has to be black stockings, understand?"

"knew……"

Very quietly.

It's over.

Kim Soo-ho stood beside him, staring at him, his jaw practically dropping to the floor.

"Damn it... Masakazu..."

"Um?"

"You son of a bitch, are you a devil? That's the newly crowned national goddess! You just let her into your room like that, and she even had to wear black stockings?"

Li Zhengyi shrugged.

That means, basic operations are not a problem.