Participants could steal the hearts of the majority and win, or find true love in this luxurious villa where participants with diverse preferences were mixed together.
It sounded a bit funny to appear on a broadcast to find true love, but surprisingly, there seemed to be quite a few people who met on dating shows, became final couples, continued to real-life relationships, and lived well after marriage. Not all, but about one couple in seven?
Considering that only about one or two couples from one program became real couples, it wasn’t a high probability. They say some people appear truly hoping to find a match relying on that slim probability.
“Interesting…”
Well, after showing their faces to viewers on such programs, there were cases where viewers who watched the broadcast contacted them and became couples, so it could be called a courtship method befitting the era of self-promotion.
The problem was that Sungjin had absolutely no intention of revealing his orientation. Then people would naturally think he liked women, and those who showed interest in him and those who actually approached him would all most likely be women. It takes two hands clapping to make a sound, so it’s unfortunate.
They say some people engage in fake dating or marriage to thoroughly hide their orientation. He didn’t want to drag others in to do such difficult and bothersome things. After all, as long as I don’t say it with my own mouth, no one will know. Sungjin nodded to himself and turned the page of the information guide.
What appeared next was an explanation of the set where filming would take place. Basically, there were 6-person bedrooms divided by gender, then living spaces like the living room and kitchen, and meeting rooms divided into indoor and outdoor. They would probably do activities like making final choices or conducting missions there.
And the last space was…
“Pfft.”
The moment Sungjin saw the name of the last space, he choked.
[Love Room]
It was a private bedroom that could only be used by two people, given as a reward for missions. It said there was a separate bathroom and a veranda with an ultra-luxurious jacuzzi connected, where they could spend romantic time.
What they did inside was up to the participants’ freedom, but there was a terrifying phrase written together saying observation cameras were installed filming 24 hours, and all filmed footage could be included in the actual broadcast.
Sungjin belatedly checked the viewing rating of this program.
[Rated 19+ (Clean version for 15+ to be simultaneously released)]
Ah, crazy. He briefly forgot that Cool&Beauty was a program made for global viewers with a global sponsor on a global platform. The nuance was revealed everywhere that if you wanted to show it, they’d take care of editing, so you could do whatever you wanted.
“Can I… endure…?”
His confidence in surviving among people burning with desire to become global influencers, with no rating limits, converged to zero. The 200 million is just gone, and it seems better to think the appearance fee is the only income I can get.
“This is driving me crazy…”
But what can I do? I have to do it. Sungjin began scraping together reference materials for each space to shake off the despair with effort. I have to do at least this to survive. As he looked at room interiors beautifully decorated according to Sungjin’s taste, peace of mind soon arrived. Looking at the floor plan written in the information guide, he also pictured in his head how to arrange the furniture.
To be able to place six beds per bedroom. Sungjin was already falling into contemplation about how to combine six different design bedding sets.
Bedding patterns play a very important role in determining the atmosphere of a bedroom. Usually, you can only use about two sets at most. Because houses where you live with three or more beds in one room aren’t common.
But he could use six! Not even a barracks, but you can place six! While others might say “So what?” about such a point, Sungjin inwardly exclaimed in admiration several times. As he conceived various ideas about whether to place bunk beds and create a rest area or arrange them in a 3-to-3 parallel configuration, the weekend passed quickly.
In the meantime, there were several more impulses to run away, but he could offset them by recalling the space planning authority given to him. It felt like my heart was already at that site.
According to the information guide, set filming was one week at a time twice, for a total of 2 weeks. And after the broadcast, there would be one more studio recording. If eliminated during Part 1 filming, the format was automatic exclusion during Part 2 filming.
“If only one out of six people gets eliminated… the probability isn’t that high…”
The problem was that the participants appearing together, excluding Sungjin, were all highly likely to be attention seekers with extremely extroverted personalities.
The condition for winning was simple. Steal ‘hearts’ from the most people. Hearts were a means to secretly convey your feelings to the other person every night spent on the set.
You couldn’t know who sent you a heart. You’d find out later when watching the edited version, but during filming, you couldn’t check unless you obtained a special item through a mission. Because these hearts were also connected to the final choice, all participants could use one heart that reset every night, and if there was no one they wanted to choose, they could just waste it. The person you gave a heart to on the last day of filming was your final choice target.
So situations like this could also occur. I gave a heart thinking we had mutual feelings, but if no one gave me a heart that night, that affection might actually not be mutual but one-sided fish-farming. Because someone, no, most participants would have decided to appear with the intention of stealing others’ hearts to win.
Then someone who realized their unrequited love could give hearts to other people or not give them from the next day. So the key was this. You just need to charm the other person enough that they have no choice but to give you a heart even knowing it’s your one-sided love. As long as it wasn’t by crime or coercion, it didn’t matter whether you seduced with your body, begged, or did anything. As long as you didn’t mind showing it on broadcast, there was no limit to the level of physical contact. That seemed to be why it was set as rated 19+.
“……”
Sungjin was at least relieved. At least I’m confident I won’t react even if a female participant exposes herself or seduces me in front of me. I won’t be in trouble with it getting hard down there in front of everyone.
The problem was what came next. The participants appearing on similar programs Sungjin had looked up were mostly the types he’d had difficulty with as a child. Those who like standing in front of others, are open, and sometimes also like ridiculing and ignoring others… The so-called loser Sungjin, even though he no longer had the appearance and attitude to be teased, felt like he returned to his childhood when standing before them.
To summarize, it meant his loser-itis would manifest in front of them. Can I avoid showing a pathetic appearance? Can I not collapse among those people who were the ‘popular’ and ‘party’ crowd at school? His mouth was already parched.
No one would want to give a heart to someone who became infinitely small in front of others and only showed a gloomy appearance. It became painful imagining himself packing to go home while they ridiculed him.
“……”
Just when Sungjin was digging a tunnel again and hiding endlessly toward the bottom, a message arrived from the person in charge regarding the set interior collaboration.
Hello, Mr. Yoon Sungjin. I’m Jo Hyeyoung, team leader of the art part at Studio Light. Could we talk when it’s convenient for you?
Ah. The afterimage of two sets of six beds and a 12-person kitchen flashed through Sungjin’s mind. Right, when else will I get to grab such an opportunity? Sungjin swallowed his tears and tapped out letters to send a reply. If I just abandon my shame, I can gain various benefits, so I should endure. He let out a long sigh, having barely pulled himself together.
***
It was about 2 weeks later when Sungjin left his daily life again and met with Cool&Beauty staff. According to Yurim’s explanation, casting for both male and female cast members was confirmed, and all that remained until filming was waiting for the weather to warm up.
Of course, the set preparation wasn’t done yet either. Sungjin received work leave from the company and headed to Jeju Island. Perhaps because it was paid leave, Jeju Island’s wonderful nature looked even more beautiful. The place he arrived at with the studio staff who had been waiting for Sungjin at the airport was a subsidiary island of Jeju Island with a dazzling beach.
