A woman who looked like an excited hamster. No, thanks to writer Kim Sehui, team members were flocking around her. Their curiosity had been piqued. Kim Sehui had always been a face-fanatic, but to think she’d openly shout about casting him in the program they were preparing…
“Just how handsome is he that you’re bouncing around like that? Let me see too.”
“Let’s look together, together.”
“Isn’t he just average among idol trainees? Are you overreacting again?”
The team members checked Kang Rojun, who was displayed on writer Kim Sehui’s phone. Their eyes quickly grew wide.
“Oh—his visuals are no joke.”
“Zoom in a bit.”
“But why didn’t you take it from closer?”
“If he gives off this vibe from this distance, he’d be shocking in real life, wouldn’t he?”
“Well—Kim Sehui the face-fanatic does have high standards. She wouldn’t overreact like this over someone just moderately handsome.”
Writer Kim Sehui looked around at the team members throwing out positive evaluations. She suddenly recalled Kang Rojun, whom she’d met yesterday, savoring the memory. Opening her closed eyes, she muttered sincerely.
“No… No makeup, and he was just wearing a tattered t-shirt, common jeans, but he still put magazine pictorials to shame. You really have to see him in person. I’ll bet my wrist that everyone will have their jaws on the floor.”
The man with glasses, called PD by everyone, let out another deep sigh and lightly flicked Kim Sehui on the back of the head.
“Don’t bet things like that. We have work to do, don’t we?”
“Ugh, so cruel.”
Soon, writer Kim Sehui stuck close to the PD and spoke forcefully.
“PD-nim, it’s him, him. Let’s push for his appearance.”
“In your dreams.”
The PD stood up from his seat, rubbing his dark-circled eyes and yawning. It wasn’t exactly a serious matter, after all.
“Our program launches in just one month now, and we have a lot to do. Plus, are we going to shove a cast member in without screening? Why does a broadcast writer keep rushing ahead like this?”
“Th-then! At least take a look. I really have a gut feeling about him! If we scoop him up, he’ll definitely spread by word of mouth based on his face alone, you know?? The initial hooking power will be incredible?? The ripple effect will explode!”
“Hoo—I admit he’s somewhat good-looking. But how many pretty-faced guys are there in this industry? What’s his name?”
“I—I didn’t ask his name. Anyway, his level is different, his level! The ones scattered around this industry are human-tier! He’s god-tier!!”
The PD splashed water on his face dryly, as if annoyed.
“If he’s that good, do you think entertainment agencies would leave him alone? He probably already has an agency or is a trainee. Those kinds of kids aren’t our target. Did you forget our concept is to handle only completely raw, unpolished ones??”
“I know! But he’s unemployed.”
“Unemployed?”
Writer Kim Sehui suddenly calmed her excitement and answered with a deliberately serious tone.
“PD-nim. I’m not overreacting. If you see him, you’ll change your mind. I’ll handle the build-up myself, so please just take a quick look.”
“······”
“If he’s really unemployed and a raw gem still unfamiliar with this industry, we have to use him. If I see him appear on another program later, I’ll die of a stomachache.”
The PD took off his glasses and looked at writer Kim Sehui, faintly narrowing the space between his brows.
‘She usually has somewhat excessive tension, but—this is sincerity.’
Though an excessive face-fanatic, it was true that writer Kim Sehui had high standards. The PD, who had developed some interest.
‘Plus, it’s annoying.’
He let out a small sigh but nodded his head.
“Fine, fine. Well, there shouldn’t be a problem with taking a quick look. Try contacting him once.”
Writer Kim Sehui clenched her fist.
“Wow!! PD-nim is the best!”
“You said he was terrible yesterday. You even said he was cruel earlier.”
“Terrible and cruel, but the best!”
“···Get lost.”
Smiles filled writer Kim Sehui’s face as she left the meeting room as if fleeing. Thanks to that, she looked even more like a hamster, and she immediately got to work. She sent a message to the number she had gotten from Kang Rojun.
“Hehe, it’ll be worth seeing everyone’s expressions when they see him.”
But even after one hour passed, then two, there was no reply to Rojun. Writer Kim Sehui grew increasingly anxious and sent messages several times. However, even after half a day passed, there was no reply whatsoever.
Around then, the passing PD asked her.
“Hey, Kim Sehui. Still no contact from him??”
“Well… he’s not replying.”
“He ghosted you?? He got snatched, snatched I tell you. Give up. I told you, he 100% has an agency. He just hid it from you.”
With the situation having come to this, writer Kim Sehui too changed to a somewhat conceding tone.
“···Well, someone with that face couldn’t be unemployed.”
Meanwhile, at a large gym near Giheung Station.
It was packed with men and women exercising. Among them, two muscular, sweat-soaked men grumbled as they looked toward the line of treadmills. Specifically, their target was one man running continuously on a treadmill.
“Damn, isn’t it too much that a guy with crazy visuals even works out?”
“Right? Look at that. All the treadmills around him are occupied by women.”
“Pretty people have it too good, I tell you.”
“···But he really isn’t just good-looking.”
“I admit that. I gasped the moment he came in earlier. His aura is insane.”
Their target was Kang Rojun, who was running hard.
“Huff—Huff—”
He was running in a trance. In the past, he couldn’t even imagine coming to a public gym because of his hideous face, but now it was no problem. Plus, since exercising completed missions too, it was killing two birds with one stone. Rojun enjoyed his workout without paying any mind to the gazes of the men and women positioned around the treadmills.
At that moment.
-Bzzt.
-Bzzt.
The phone placed on the treadmill let out a short vibration. In fact, the phone had been ringing nonstop since earlier. KakaoTalk, texts. Contacts from someone who had gotten Kang Rojun’s number.
‘I did it because of the mission, but there’s a side effect to this. Too many texts are coming. Should I prepare a separate mission phone? No, let’s just stop giving out my number from now on.’
With his mind made up, Kang Rojun put his phone on silent and ran again. Of course, among those piled-up texts was also one from writer Kim Sehui.
-Swoosh.
Kang Rojun, having finished his workout, caught his breath and sat in a nearby chair.
“Hoo—”
At the same time, a woman wearing pink leggings and a white windbreaker, her long hair tied in a single line, approached.
“Excuse me.”
She was a woman who had monopolized the attention of men and women with her pretty face and good figure. However, she had been pushed to the backseat with Kang Rojun’s appearance. Anyway, the woman spoke quite confidently.
“Could you give me your number?”
A tone as if she had never been rejected even once. Kang Rojun was inwardly surprised the moment he saw her, but.
‘Wow—she’s pretty. But I’ve decided not to give out my number anymore.’
Since he had decided so just moments ago, he refused outright. Maintaining courtesy but imbued with coldness.
“I’m sorry, but it would be difficult to give you my number.”
“Ah, ah, giving your number is a bit burdensome, right? Then tell me your Instagram.”
“I don’t do SNS.”
Kang Rojun actually didn’t use SNS.
“······”
The woman, her face quickly reddening, left as if fleeing. Rojun felt slightly sorry, but it couldn’t be helped. Soon, he recalled the words his late mother used to say often.
‘Rojun, relationships with people are important, but when you refuse, do it firmly! You have to cut it cleanly without leaving any room.’
This much left no room. Kang Rojun ignored the murmuring around him and picked up his phone. He accessed the ‘AI Simulation’ app. Since he had already completed all five of today’s missions, it was to check on them.
At that moment.
“Oh.”
Kang Rojun’s eyes grew slightly wide. Because the moment he accessed the ‘AI Simulation,’ a notification popped up.
-[Hidden Mission ‘Mission Completion for 3 Consecutive Days’ achieved! 10 Coins have been gifted to you.]
An unexpected gift. More than that, a hidden mission? As expected, something was hidden that even Kang Rojun didn’t know about.
‘A hidden mission—if I keep going, others will appear too, right?’
Rojun, now in a good mood, checked his coins.
-[User: Kang Rojun/ Age: 24/ Height: 182.8/ Desired Job: Idol/ Coins: 44]
Gradually accumulating.
Soon, Kang Rojun crossed his legs and rested his chin on his hand.
‘If coins accumulate, whether through ‘Enhancement’ or ‘AI Automation,’ I’ll become a munchkin-level idol, which means I should slowly start preparing something—’
Knowledge is power, so Rojun had naturally studied up on idols for the past few days. Though it was a world he knew nothing about, making it difficult, he had certainly found out some things.
‘Idol debuts are usually through being scouted as an entertainment agency trainee or through variety programs. These two methods.’
Of course, auditions existed in both paths.
‘Hmm, entertainment trainee? No matter how much I think about it, being a trainee is a bit…’
Agency trainees might have it tough, but their freedom was significantly limited. More than anything.
‘I saw that they can’t use phones.’
If you become a trainee, your phone gets confiscated. Though there was a trend of it gradually loosening, the mere possibility of it made Kang Rojun reluctant. Because his greatest weapons were his face and the ‘AI Simulation’ app.
If possible, Rojun preferred overwhelming with both his face and his skills.
Indeed, excluding the trainee path was the right choice.
Having decided, he accessed the internet and searched for ‘audition variety.’ Quite a few articles came up, but they were all old ones. One article caught the eye of the slightly disappointed Rojun.
《Audition Variety Master PD Woo Hanseok Preparing Mega-Sized Audition Variety with New Flavor in Early July》
It was exactly the information he wanted. Early July? That meant about a month left. Kang Rojun’s anticipation rose along with anxiety.
‘How does this work? Do you take an audition, pass, and then film?’
It was a world he knew nothing about, so he felt lost and complicated. Plus, there was no program name. Since he had the PD’s name, he had no choice but to continue searching. At the same time, he felt another short vibration. A text had arrived. Scratching his chin, Rojun stood up from the chair and accessed his texts.
What was interesting was.
“Hm?”
That Kang Rojun paused. Because in the text preview, he saw the word ‘variety.’ Variety? Tilting his head, Rojun couldn’t help but tap the newly arrived text. He saw several messages that had already piled up.
-[Hello! I’m the person who asked for your number at Seongsu Station yesterday! You remember, right???]
-[I’m actually a broadcast writer, and I’m preparing a big variety program right now, so I really want to meet you!!]
-[Hello?? Knock, knock????]
-[It’s not a scam, it’s real, real!! I’ll send you my business card!]
-[I won’t take much of your time! You just need to have a brief meeting with our PD……]
-[ㅠㅠㅠAre you uncomfortable because I said variety??ㅜㅠㅠ]
Rojun quickly remembered who had sent the texts. The energetic, cute-looking woman from Seongsu Station.
‘That woman was a broadcast writer?’
At that moment, another text arrived.
-[Huh??!! The 1 disappeared! You read it! You’re looking at it right now, right? Is it okay if I call??!!]
The moment Kang Rojun sent a reply saying it was okay, a call came immediately. Fast, so fast. Rojun cleared his throat. He couldn’t show signs of nervousness.
“Yes, hello.”
An energetic woman’s voice was heard over the phone.
“Wow! Oh wow!!! Finally!! I thought I was completely ghosted and was so sad!”
“Sorry. I was working out.”
“Working out?? Amazing. That face AND working out??”
“More than that—what do you mean by variety?”
“It’s a bit long to explain over the phone—could we possibly meet right now??”
“No. Tomorrow morning would be fine. Ah, it’s the weekend.”
“Oh! Thank you! No, the weekend is fine!! The variety department has no weekdays or weekends!”
Kang Rojun, opening his locker, answered.
“Where should I go?”
The next day, in front of the broadcasting station ‘JTVM.’
Including Kim Sehui, who resembled a hamster, several people were waiting in front of the broadcasting station. All four or so of them had faces full of anticipation.
“Sehui, you’re something else. You really called that person? Anyway, if he’s just moderately good-looking, PD-nim will make a fuss again, you know?”
“Ah—don’t worry. Just prepare to have your jaw drop.”
“Just how crazy are his visuals—alright, let’s see.”
Around then, writer Kim Sehui suddenly looked forward and raised her hand with a hup.
“Ah!! Here, here!!!”
She seemed to have spotted someone. Who else? It was Kang Rojun. Rojun, who quickly approached, bowed politely to her.
“Hello.”
The team members’ mouths dropped open the moment they saw him. Writer Kim Sehui muttered with an inexplicably confident expression.
“See, I told you jaws would drop, didn’t I?”
A short while later. Inside the broadcasting station, the variety department.
The glasses-wearing PD, who had been slumped over at a window-side seat, was just in the middle of a wide yawn.
“PD-nim!!!”
The PD jumped in surprise at the scream-like call. He saw writer Kim Sehui charging over with high combat power.
“Damn it! You surprised me!”
“PD-nim! He’s here, he’s here!”
“Who’s here!”
“Him. The one I told you about yesterday.”
“Ah—”
“I’ve seated him in the meeting room right now!”
Without much expectation, the PD yawned again and got up sluggishly.
“He’d better not be common, or you’re really working overtime for a week.”
“I’m already working overtime now.”
“You at least go home. This is my home, home.”
Because he had stayed up almost all night yesterday too, the PD followed writer Kim Sehui with a hazy mind. They arrived at the meeting room before they knew it. He saw the other team members all stuck to the door. The PD snorted.
“Well, well? What are you all doing?”
Team members with bewilderment etched on their faces.
“···PD-nim. Th-that is.”
Writer Kim Sehui, squeezing in between them, pointed inside the meeting room.
“Just look, PD-nim.”
“Hoo—you guys are overreacting.”
The PD let out a deep sigh and nonchalantly flung open the meeting room door. Inside, a man sitting alone was visible. A simple plain white t-shirt and jeans. That man turned to look at the PD.
A brief moment of eye contact.
For several seconds, the PD looked at the man. No, at Kang Rojun, blankly—then suddenly closed the door. Blinking eyes. A face that seemed to ask, is what I just saw correct?
“······”
And then he opened it again. This time, Kang Rojun was standing up.
“Hello.”
“······”
The PD stared intently at Rojun, who greeted him quietly. He suddenly approached Kang Rojun without hesitation and grabbed both his hands, speaking. No, it was a plea filled with utmost sincerity.
“Please appear on our program, I beg you.”