Korean Entertainment: My Reborn Self Shorts the Korean Peninsula

Chapter 25 | Junior Sister Xu Yunzhen?

Before he knew it, Cao Yisen had been working at PLEDIS for several weeks.

He initially came with the mindset of just getting by, but as soon as he sat down at his workstation, his hands started moving unconsciously. As soon as he unfolded the spreadsheet, the habits he had developed in his past life seemed to automatically activate in his mind: first look at the structure, then look at the anomalies, then look at the trends, and finally look at the "story".

The tasks the planning team gave him every day weren't difficult—fan data, platform feedback, conversion rates after material releases, click-through rates and retention rates for teaser images and short videos, and reaction curves in different countries. But these spreadsheets, which many people would find daunting, felt like returning to a familiar battlefield for Cao Yisen.

He doesn't talk much, nor does he try to take credit. After finishing his work, he writes down the conclusions clearly for his seniors to use.

"If this trailer is released at this time, it will be overshadowed by the trending topics on other platforms."

"The style of this material is fine, but fans will feel that it 'looks like someone else'. We need an element that can be recognized at a glance."

"Don't be too aggressive with this sales strategy. If you push too hard in the first week, it will drop badly later."

It's not an exaggeration to say it; it sounds like a statement of fact. Yet, these judgments have repeatedly come true.

Park Ji-eun was the first to discover that he wasn't just "good at English" and "able to make spreadsheets," but that he genuinely knew the ropes. She teased him in that senior-like way, "Cao Yisen, didn't you say you were here to slack off? You're taking this slack-off way too seriously."

Cao Yisen simply replied, "I'm afraid of being fired."

Over the course of a few weeks, the most subtle change occurred in the office—

People started habitually showing him their data, even if it was just something like, "Do you think this chart might be wrong?" He still didn't interrupt or act profound; at most, he would scroll the mouse up a couple of times, stop it on some inconspicuous indicator, and say, "This is wrong."

Then the entire conference room would fall silent for a second, and then someone would start revising the plan.

The same applies to this day.

The morning meeting had just ended, and most people had left. Cao Yisen was about to return to his workstation to finish writing an overseas feedback report when Park Ji-eun called him back.

"Cao Yisen," Park Ji-eun said in a low voice, beckoning him mysteriously, "Come here for a second."

Cao Yisen walked over, half-jokingly asking, "What's wrong? Are you going to transfer me to be a trainee?"

Park Ji-eun rolled her eyes: "Don't give me that. We've found you a new assistant."

"An assistant?" Cao Yisen was taken aback. "I've only been here a few weeks and I already have an assistant?"

Park Ji-eun was already immune to his "acting like a zen despite being very capable" attitude, and said calmly, "Stop pretending. You're getting busier and busier, and the planning team is starting to push all the overseas-related stuff onto you. You can't handle it all by yourself."

Before Cao Yisen could say "I can," Park Ji-eun interrupted, "And you'll like this person."

"I would like that?" Cao Yisen became wary. "Park Ji-eun, you're talking dangerously."

Park Ji-eun chuckled: "Don't get the wrong idea. It's the background that makes you feel comfortable."

She glanced down the corridor, as if to make sure the person was almost there, before continuing, "Intern, from New York."

When Cao Yisen heard this name, his first reaction wasn't "Is it pretty or not?", but rather—familiarity.

"A New Yorker?" he asked instinctively.

Park Ji-eun nodded: "Yes. She's from New York, so her English speaks for itself. Actually... she was in Korea before, and worked as a trainee."

Cao Yisen raised an eyebrow slightly: "Are they trainees from our company?"

"Yes," Park Ji-eun said. "Later I went to Source Music. But something happened in between, and I was eliminated in the end-of-month audition, so I went back to New York."

She paused here, as if she felt this experience wasn't worth going into too much detail, and only briefly mentioned it: "Then she got into NYU's Stern School of Management, majoring in marketing. You know, Stern."

Cao Yisen certainly knew. In his previous life, when he worked on Wall Street, a name like Stern was like a gold-rimmed business card, exuding an aura of prestige.

"Then why did she come back?" Cao Yisen asked.

Park Ji-eun shrugged: "She received many offers from companies, but she turned them all down. In the end, Big Hit persuaded her to come back with just one sentence."

"What did you say?" Cao Yisen asked instinctively.

Park Ji-eun smiled, mimicking the tone of a company HR: "'You're already in Korea in your heart.'"

Upon hearing this, Cao Yisen suddenly found himself speechless.

These words might sound like motivational platitudes, but for someone who's gone through the elimination process of becoming a trainee, they're incredibly hurtful. Because it's not a compliment; it directly hits where it hurts most.

Park Ji-eun continued, "Big Hit originally wanted her to return to headquarters, but the girl group line is still in the planning stages, and the specifics are uncertain. So, we decided to put her in PLEDIS for an internship first. Her work will focus on marketing, data, and overseas feedback, which will be a good opportunity for her to assist you."

Cao Yisen nodded, his expression remaining calm, but he was already making his own judgment.

Someone who was once just one step away from the stage is now assigned to sit in an office and look at data.

A Stern student in New York was brought back here by the phrase "Your heart is in Korea".

Seeing that he didn't speak, Park Ji-eun became a little curious: "What's wrong? Don't you want an assistant?"

Cao Yisen snapped out of his reverie, his tone still nonchalant: "I just feel... the background of the assistant you found is quite unusual."

Park Ji-eun snorted: "Don't give me that. You think we don't know you were snatched away from Big Hit by Han Sung-soo? You're not simple either."

Cao Yisen smiled but didn't take it.

Footsteps came from the other end of the corridor, and Park Ji-eun whispered a reminder: "They're here."

Cao Yisen subconsciously looked up.

Before he could even see who it was, he heard a round-faced girl greeting him with a slight East Coast accent—not feigned politeness, but rather the casual, fast-paced American style.

"Hi... oh, no, that's not right." The person was clearly correcting themselves. "Hello, I'm Xu Yunzhen."

Park Ji-eun stepped aside to make room for her: "Heo Yoon-jin-ssi, this is Cao Yisen. He's the project analyst for our group. You'll be working with him during your internship."

Cao Yisen stood up and nodded politely: "Cao Yisen."

Xu Yunzhen nodded, her eyes shining, as if she had already regarded this place as a new battlefield.

At this moment, her gaze fell on the reports and screen on Cao Yisen's desk. She paused for a moment, as if confirming something, then looked up at him, suddenly smiled, and spoke in a tone so light it seemed casual, yet so precise:

"Your watch... has a very Wall Street style."

Cao Yisen was startled, but he didn't show it on his face. He simply moved the mouse slightly to the side to make room for her.

After Xu Yunzhen uttered that phrase "very Wall Street," she didn't follow up with any further questions, as if it were just a casual remark. But her tone was too natural, as if she had really seen too many tables with the same template—how the titles were written, how the indicators were arranged, how the conclusions were drawn, and even the habit of "writing the risks in the footnotes" was exactly the same.

Cao Yisen hadn't wanted to say much at first, but her words struck a nerve, making him feel a little uncomfortable. He turned the computer screen slightly towards her, trying to keep his tone calm.

"You know about these things too?"

Xu Yunzhen shrugged and smiled lightly: "Just a little bit. I was only forced to understand it during class. The structure of your table and the way you write your conclusions are very similar to what I learned at NYU." After saying that, she made a short gesture with her thumb and forefinger.

Cao Yisen was taken aback.

"New York University?" He repeated it subconsciously, as if to make sure he hadn't misheard.

"Hmm." Xu Yunzhen put her bag down next to the chair with quick movements. "My teacher was pretty harsh. Every time, she would say that we wrote reports like we were writing essays, and told us to delete our 'feelings' and only keep the evidence."

She paused here, as if suddenly remembering something, and casually added, "Your last part, 'I don't recommend rushing into the first week, the effect will wear off,' really had that feel to it."

Cao Yisen's finger stopped on the mouse.

That kind of "likeness" isn't about technique, but about tone, rhythm, and even thought process. It's like a long-dormant part of his heart, suddenly being touched.

He looked up at Xu Yunzhen, his tone a little more serious than before: "Who is your teacher?"

Xu Yunzhen didn't think there was anything wrong with the question. She casually gave a name, pronounced it very clearly, and even showed a kind of respect that she herself was unaware of.

In that instant, Cao Yisen's breath seemed to stop.

He didn't mishear.

That name—was his mentor from his university days in a previous life.

Not "a professor who gave a lecture," but his true mentor. The person who, when he was at his youngest, sharpest, and most prone to going astray, called him into his office, tapped on the table, and said something.

—Don't take the path of speculation. You are smart, but the most common mistake smart people make is thinking they can avoid the consequences.

At the time, Cao Yisen smiled confidently, thinking it was old-fashioned moralizing. Later, he did indeed embark on that path, first testing the waters, then expanding his business, becoming increasingly outrageous, and finally pushing himself into an abyss from which there was no turning back.

And now, Xu Yunzhen softly uttered that person's name in a completely unaware tone. It was as if fate had folded up an old piece of paper and put it back in his pocket.

Cao Yisen's Adam's apple bobbed, and after a long pause, he managed to squeeze out, "...He's still teaching?"

Xu Yunzhen nodded: "Yes, and he's very fierce. A lot of people in our year were afraid of him, but I'm actually quite grateful to him."

She tilted her head, looking at Cao Yisen's expression, and finally realized something was wrong: "What's wrong with you? Do you know him?"

Cao Yisen was silent for two seconds.

He certainly can't say, "I knew him in a past life." Nor can he say, "I used to ignore his words and ended up ruining myself."

But he didn't want to pretend he didn't know her.

So he used the safest method, cutting the truth into pieces and revealing only a small chunk.

"I guess so," Cao Yisen said softly. "I was influenced by him a bit before."

Xu Yunzhen's eyes widened slightly, as if she had suddenly become interested: "Really? So you're considered his student too?"

Cao Yisen neither nodded nor shook his head, but just smiled faintly, as if he were carrying a lot of burdens.

"He once told me something," Cao Yisen said, as if talking to himself, "that I shouldn't take the path of speculation."

Xu Yunzhen paused for a moment, then laughed out loud: "That's so typical of him. He says that to everyone. Did you listen to him later?"

Her question was so natural, so natural, that it felt like a small knife gently stabbing into Cao Yisen's heart.

Cao Yisen's fingers tightened around the mouse, his knuckles turning slightly white. Looking at the pile of data and metrics on the screen, he suddenly felt a sense of absurdity—

He had clearly decided to give up in this life and stay away from those things. But fate still presented him with the same person, the same name, and the same reminder in a different way.

It's as if they're asking: Are you going to pretend you didn't hear me again this time?

Cao Yisen's throat was a little dry, and in the end, he vaguely gave the answer in a very soft tone.

"...I didn't listen to it completely."

Xu Yunzhen didn't press him. She seemed to sense something he didn't want to say from his pause, so she cleverly steered the conversation back to work, her tone still casual, but with a touch more gentleness.

"So, what you're doing here now, isn't that taking a different path?" She pointed to his watch. "You seem pretty steady. Not the kind of person who rushes in recklessly."

Cao Yisen did not answer immediately.

He stared at the screen and suddenly sighed inwardly.

In his past life, he believed the world was linear, data was controllable, and that as long as one was smart enough, risks could be avoided. Now, however, he was in a completely different city, with a different identity, hearing the same person's name spoken by another person.

Cao Yisen chuckled softly, as if he were helpless or resigned to his fate.

"Perhaps," he said. "Or perhaps it's... some kind of strange fate."

Xu Yunzhen blinked, not understanding the weight of the word, and assumed he was just expressing his feelings, so she casually replied, "Then let's just consider it good luck. At least you didn't seem so crazy this time."

Cao Yisen did not refute.

He simply repeated the phrase "Don't go speculative" to himself again, like pressing a nail that should have been driven in long ago back in.

After the minor incident, the office rhythm returned to that state of "looking calm but actually always running".

Cao Yisen was used to handling everything himself: data cleaning, pivot tables, conclusion summaries, email copying—he did it all quickly and reliably. But after Xu Yunzhen sat next to him, he realized that "fast" could be even faster.

She wasn't the kind of intern who would just nod and say "okay".

As soon as Cao Yisen pulled the raw data into the table, Xu Yunzhen conveniently standardized the column names and even handled null values ​​very neatly. While he was writing the conclusion paragraph, she had already adjusted the chart styles according to the company template and even copied several of the most crucial charts into the presentation slides.

The most outrageous thing is that her sensitivity to numbers is almost instinctive.

"This is not right." Xu Yunzhen pointed to a curve, her tone casual. "The interaction surged that day, but the sentiment in the comments didn't follow suit. It's like external traffic is being diverted, not a natural increase in fans."

Cao Yisen glanced at it and found that what she said was indeed the key point. He then clicked on the release time of the materials that day and the external platform link. Sure enough, it was a short-term surge caused by a temporary forwarding by a cooperative account.

"Weren't you a trainee before?" Cao Yisen couldn't help but ask, "Why are you so sensitive about these things?"

Xu Yunzhen replied while typing on the keyboard: "Trainees also need to look at the data. Before the end-of-month evaluation, the teachers will break down our video views, comments, and shares for us to see. Do you think we can only sing and dance?"

After she finished speaking, she looked up at him with bright eyes, as if to say, "You underestimate me."

Cao Yisen smiled and said, "Okay, I take back my prejudice."

Xu Yunzhen laughed, "Your prejudice is quite... old-fashioned."

The back-and-forth between the two actually made the work go more smoothly. Cao Yisen had a subtle feeling: he was like someone observing a company from a low vantage point, while Xu Yunzhen was like someone you thought had left the game, but who turned out to be running on a different track. She didn't try to take the lead, nor did she pretend to know everything, but she always managed to put things in the right place.

In the afternoon, Park Ji-eun walked by with a coffee in her hand and stopped briefly in front of their workstations.

She glanced at the screen, then at the two people's performance, a smirk playing on her lips, her tone particularly "senior":

"Oh? Your efficiency is a bit exaggerated."

Cao Yisen was still staring at his watch: "Yunzhen-xi is getting the hang of it very quickly."

Xu Yunzhen didn't mince words: "Ethan's watch is made to a very high standard; I'm just filling in the gaps."

Upon hearing this, Park Ji-eun deliberately made an exaggeratedly moved expression: "Tsk tsk tsk, listen to this, they've only been here one day and they're already praising each other."

A colleague from the planning team next to her looked up and chimed in, "Park Ji-eun, don't be sour. They're young people working together, of course they have great chemistry."

Another woman jokingly added, "And they're about the same age too. Oh no, 'colleague pairings' are going to become a trend in the office."

Xu Yunzhen was taken aback at first, then burst out laughing: "Aren't I an intern? How did I get paired up?"

Park Ji-eun got even more excited, leaning against the workstation, and said to Cao Yisen as if joking or deliberately teasing him: "Cao Yisen, let me tell you, Heo Yoon-jin was a trainee at our PLEDIS for several years. Strictly speaking, she knows more people than you do. In terms of seniority, Heo Yoon-jin is your senior."

Xu Yunzhen raised an eyebrow and followed up, "That's right. Cao Yisen, quickly call me 'senior' so we can hear it."

Cao Yisen was speechless at her words, and looked up at her: "What... Stop messing around?"

Xu Yunzhen laughed even harder: "What's all this fuss about? You just said you'd take back your prejudices. The first step to taking back prejudices is respecting your seniors."

Cao Yisen felt his ears burning under the stares of the group, so he could only lower his head and continue scrolling: "I respect it, I respect it with my actions."

Park Ji-eun laughed as if she had found something amusing: "Respectful actions? Doesn't that feel more like dating?"

As soon as he said that, the women next to him immediately started making noise, and the atmosphere instantly changed from work to gossip warm-up in the break room.

"Cao Yisen, didn't you say you didn't have a girlfriend?"

"Xu Yunzhen, did anyone pursue you when you went back to New York?"

"The two of you sitting together look like you're filming a workplace drama, really."

Even in his previous life on Wall Street, Cao Yisen had never found it this difficult to deal with being criticized and ridiculed. The malice of the financial world is like an open attack, while the teasing of these women is like a soft knife—it doesn't draw blood, yet it leaves you nowhere to hide.

He raised his hand in a gesture of surrender: "Ladies, I'm just here to work."

"You can date while you're at work," someone joked with a laugh.

Xu Yunzhen remained calm, even sliding her chair back slightly, as if deliberately creating distance, or perhaps trying to help him out of the awkward situation. She looked at Park Ji-eun, her tone relaxed but clear:

"Park Ji-eun, don't betray me. I'm an intern, I need a letter of recommendation."

Park Ji-eun snorted: "You're pretty good with words."

Xu Yunzhen blinked: "It's alright, how can you survive in this industry if you can't talk?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Yisen finally couldn't help but laugh.