Around 10 a.m. Inside the Sinbundang Line subway.
It was crowded, but since rush hour had passed, the situation was somewhat better. Around this time, a man with gray hair sat in an empty seat. He was quite tall and had a rather refined appearance.
Quite a few men and women stole glances at the gray-haired man.
The man, with his legs crossed in his seat, enjoyed that attention.
'Going with ash-gray for my hair was a great choice. The color came out well, too. You need at least this much for people to focus.'
The man seemed well aware that his own looks were fairly decent. Decent enough for two female college students sitting side by side across from him to admit it.
"The guy in front isn't bad, right?"
"Yeah. His hair color is pretty. Why don't you ask for his number?"
"Are you crazy? I just said he's okay."
It was then.
*Swish.*
A man who had just moved over from the next car appeared. He looked around before choosing an empty seat. The seat right next to the gray-haired man. The man who had been blankly staring at his phone casually turned his head to the right.
Simultaneously.
"!!!"
He gasped exaggeratedly.
'What the hell!! Who is this bastard!!!'
The man's eyes naturally met those of the man sitting to his right. He immediately averted his gaze. And then regretted it. It was as if he had admitted defeat himself. He then scanned his surroundings. Already, almost everyone was openly staring or stealing glances at the man on his right.
The two female college students across from him had lost interest in the gray-haired man long ago.
"Wow... who is that male god?"
"Agreed. That ash-gray hair guy turned into a squid on the spot."
"His face is insane, though? He's totally a celebrity, but who? Do you know?"
"First time seeing him. Maybe a trainee."
"I'm going crazy. If that male god debuts, he'll dominate everyone with just his face."
Squid. No, the gray-haired man let out a pointless cough and changed seats. But no one paid him any mind, and the man monopolizing all attention in the current car was Gang Rojun. He was gazing into empty space with the most nonchalant expression he could muster.
'Everyone's looking at me, right? Where am I supposed to look at a time like this?'
Having inadvertently locked eyes with the man on an advertisement poster, he knew all too well that the surrounding attention was focused on him.
'This is so damn hard to get used to.'
However, while he was supposed to get asked for his number, no one approached Rojun despite him monopolizing their gazes. The mission to get asked for his number, which he'd thought would be easy, was harder than expected. Was it a location issue? Indeed, unless one had nerves of steel, they probably wouldn't ask for a number inside the subway. Whatever the case, the subway arrived at Gangnam Station, and countless people poured off in a rush.
Gang Rojun slipped through the gap.
'Ugh—there are so many people.'
A crowd of well over a hundred people lined up for the escalators or stairs. Gang Rojun tapped his card and walked toward the exit. Shops lined both sides, and quite a lot of people brushed past him.
'Gangnam... how long has it been since I came here so openly?'
He had always avoided such crowded places. Because of that, Rojun took in the sights here and there as if seeing them for the first time. Of course, even now he was monopolizing the gazes of people brushing past him. Around this point, a few steps ahead, a man and a woman stopped passersby to talk to them.
"Oh my! You have such a good impression. Your face looks full of fortune—would you mind chatting for a moment?"
It was a common sight in Gangnam. They'd probably end up asking if you knew some religion or something. Naturally, the man and woman were ignored. But they didn't know the meaning of giving up. They immediately set their next target. Gang Rojun, who was approaching. The woman among them, equipped with a business smile, called out to Rojun and looked at his face, then—
"Excuse me! Your face is really..."
She paused, then muttered as if possessed.
"...insanely handsome."
A straight pitch? The flustered Gang Rojun bowed his head as nonchalantly as he could.
"Uh—thank you."
The man and woman forgot their script entirely and admired Rojun's devastatingly handsome face, seemingly speechless. For roughly ten seconds. Wondering what was going on, Rojun slowly began to build up his escape.
"Well then, good luck."
The man and woman stared blankly at Gang Rojun's retreating figure and spoke in unison.
"Absurdly handsome."
"Insanely handsome."
Regardless, Gang Rojun came out above ground through the stairs. The streets were packed with far more people.
'Hoo—don't get nervous.'
Rojun began striding through Gangnam, taking slow steps. Ten minutes, thirty minutes, an hour. Around this point, Gang Rojun began to feel the illusion that the place he was walking was a different planet.
There was plenty of reason for that.
Just a few days ago, people had avoided him because of his hideousness, sent him strange looks, suspected him, or even cursed at him. A peculiar unfriendliness had been rampant. But now, it was 180 degrees different.
When he entered an eye-catching cafe, the female owner behind the counter welcomed him extremely warmly.
"...Do you happen to be doing anything right now? If not, would you like to work at our store? I'll really pay you a high hourly wage."
"Just the coffee, please."
"Really?? Ah, just in case, I'll give you the store's business card. Even a week is fine, so contact me if you're interested! And this cookie is on the house!"
A man who happened to bump shoulders with him was instead worried about Rojun.
"Ah—be careful... Huh?"
"Yes. Sorry."
"No, that can happen. A-are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
When he asked for directions, there was even a group of college students who escorted him personally. And that wasn't all? While walking, he was suddenly approached for an interview.
"Wow! Wow!!! Hello!"
"Huh?"
"We run a fashion-related YouTube channel. Is it okay if we interview you for a moment?"
"It should be fine."
"Wow... your face is totally an insane level of handsome. Look at this, people are gathering?? This is the first time this has happened! What's your outfit concept today? It's really hip."
"I just wore what I had at home."
"It's the face, after all. The completion of fashion is indeed the face."
Proposals related to Instagram, offers to be a shopping mall model, requests for photos for posting, and people handing him business cards asking if he had an agency—all of this happened in exactly one hour. Before he knew it, Gang Rojun was feeling catharsis beyond mere exhilaration.
Moreover.
-[Mission 'Get asked for your number 3 times' complete! 1 Coin rewarded!]
He had completed the mission very easily. Gang Rojun, who was on his way back to the subway again, muttered inwardly. Sincerity was thickly mixed in.
'The world is seriously a fucking easy place.'
The next day, Thursday, June 4th. Early morning.
Gang Rojun opened his eyes in his semi-basement studio apartment, stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, then suddenly shot up. Then he dashed to the bathroom. To look in the mirror. Just in case.
"Whew—still the same."
The anxiety that he might have returned to his old face. However, the heavenly-level, devastatingly handsome face and the 'AI Simulation' app were still there.
"Thank goodness."
Rojun, sending thanks to the heavens, stretched and began warming up his body.
"Let's start with the exercise mission."
It was to start a mission right away. He completed two missions in an instant.
-[Mission '31 Push-ups' complete! 1 Coin rewarded!]
-[Mission '31 Sit-ups' complete! 1 Coin rewarded!]
Next, Gang Rojun put on appropriate workout clothes and started running at the park near his house. At the same time, he hummed a song. These were missions as well. Although the missions were completed, Rojun ran a little more. Because running early in the morning put him in a good mood. Just from running, he was this happy.
"Whew—should I head back soon?"
He was dripping with sweat, but his face no longer stung or itched. On the contrary, his appearance only shone brighter. The fact that other people exercising stared at him with surprised eyes was proof of that.
*Swish.*
Once again, Gang Rojun arrived home and was about to head to the bathroom to shower.
*Vrrm.*
*Vrrm.*
His phone was urgently emitting short vibrations. Who could it be at this hour? He tilted his head and checked the screen. Messages and texts from unknown numbers had arrived. Looking at the contents, they were from people who had gotten Rojun's number in Gangnam yesterday. Gang Rojun let out a small breath and scratched his chin.
"Hmm—"
Soon, he closed the messages he had been reading and accessed the 'AI Simulation' app. To check his status and coins.
-[User: Gang Rojun / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 / Desired Job: Idol / Coins: 28]
"Twenty-eight," Rojun muttered to himself and scanned the various buttons in the app he had already checked. Then he folded his arms.
'I can do whatever, but I guess I should start as an idol, right?'
He suddenly burst out laughing. Because his current thought was absurd.
'Like becoming an idol is easy?'
Just a few days ago, it was something he couldn't even dream of, but now he was thinking of it as almost a certainty. Was this the buff of being devastatingly handsome? But so what.
'But I don't think it would be that hard, either.'
It'd be idiotic not to try with this face. Especially since he even had the 'AI Simulation' app. Rojun searched for idol-related topics on his phone for a moment. Countless articles and information poured out endlessly.
"..."
Rojun, who had been reading the articles seriously, started showering, and the moment he finished, he got dressed. An outfit simple like yesterday's, yet different. A plain black T-shirt and jeans.
"Let's go."
Today's destination was Seongsu Station.
About two hours later, near Seongsu Station.
It was close to noon. Perhaps because it was lunchtime, the area around Seongsu Station was bustling with people. Among them, a group of women walking toward Seongsu Station. Between them, a woman who resembled a hamster, who had been giggling and chatting, looked ahead and her eyes suddenly went impossibly wide.
"Whoa—"
She stopped dead in her tracks and pointed ahead with her index finger.
"Hey, hey, look at him."
The women who appeared to be her friends followed her finger with their gazes. Soon, everyone dropped their jaws.
"A... celebrity? Who is he?"
"Dunno, but he's insanely, devastatingly handsome."
The one they were focused on was Gang Rojun, who had just arrived at Seongsu Station. As with yesterday, he had come today for the number-getting mission as well. Unaware of this, the woman who resembled a hamster quickly took a photo of Rojun, then—
*Smack!*
She dashed toward him urgently. Gang Rojun noticed her immediately.
'Shit, that startled me. Almost screamed.'
Slightly startled by her momentum, he took a step back. Regardless, the hamster-like woman abruptly thrust her phone toward him.
"Excuse me! Could you please tell me your number?!"
"Huh?"
"Your number—no, but you're really, really, REALLY devastatingly handsome. You know that, right?"
"More or less."
"No, 'more or less' isn't enough. You're just... at a level where you'd devour even the top predators??! What do you do, by any chance? Actor? Model? Or an idol??!! I feel like it's my first time seeing you, so then are you a trainee???"
Her energy was excessive. Very excessive. This woman's personality seemed to overflow with energy from the start. Rojun answered awkwardly but pretended not to be.
"I'm just unemployed."
"...Unemployed?"
"Yes, unemployed."
"Ah, you're hiding it, aren't you?"
"No, I really am unemployed. Well then."
"Ah—ah!! Wait! My number!!"
The woman eventually managed to get Gang Rojun's number. Then, watching Rojun slowly walk away, the woman muttered under her breath.
"With that face, he says he's unemployed???"
Friday the 5th, another day later.
Near Sangam-dong, a familiar woman entered a large building, almost running. It was the hamster-like woman who had gotten Gang Rojun's number yesterday. What was interesting were the large letters embedded on the building she entered.
-'JTVM'
'JTVM', the number one broadcasting station in general programming and cable. The woman entered such a station without much fuss. She quickly got off the elevator and arrived at JTVM's Entertainment Bureau. An unspeakably hectic entertainment bureau where variety show names and logos adorned every section. Arriving at her own seat—
"What, where is everyone?? Ah! They must be in a meeting!"
She quickly arrived at the area where the meeting rooms lined up in a row. The moment she flung the door open, the people already filling the room greeted her.
"Sehui! Last place!!"
Five women and three men were seated around a U-shaped desk. The man with glasses in the head seat looked the oldest, and the woman called Sehui suddenly shouted to everyone.
"Yesterday in Seongsu, I found a really, really, REALLY devastatingly handsome guy!!"
"Huh?? Out of nowhere??"
"Really, really, really! If he debuts, he's going to become the new standard for 'handsome,' I'm telling you??!"
The woman was extremely excited. On the other hand, the man with glasses in the head seat let out a deep sigh as if used to this.
"Ha—there she goes again with her pretty-face syndrome. Someone put her to bed. She's noisy."
The hamster-like woman quickly shook the man with glasses by the shoulder.
"No, PD-nim! I'm serious?? It's not pretty-face syndrome!"
"Hey, hey, stop shaking me. I'm dizzy. And Kim Sehui. Dude, if you're a broadcast writer, come up with ideas instead of going on about some devastatingly handsome guy."
Broadcast writer. The woman called Kim Sehui was a broadcast writer.
"Wow—this is unfair! Wait! I have a picture I took!"
Kim Sehui opened her phone gallery and showed the man the photo she had taken of Gang Rojun yesterday. The man glanced at the photo as if annoyed, but his eyes changed slightly.
"Oh... what the, it's not edited?"
"It's not! His real-life visuals are completely—indescribable. You have to see him in person."
Around this time, one of the male team members approached a whiteboard on one side of the meeting room, filled with various words like 'Idol' and 'Audition.' The man was correcting the large phrase written at the very top.
-'Produce That 100!' D-day 28
From 29 to 28.
At the same time, Kim Sehui tapped Gang Rojun in her phone with her index finger. Then she shouted at the man with glasses, whom she called PD-nim, as if her energy was exploding.
"We absolutely have to get him on our show, PD-nim!!"