To be honest, excluding the fact that he was employed at YUCAN, a large foreign company, his life was utterly bland. Aren’t these kinds of things usually for people who studied abroad or majored in arts and physical education? In contrast, he had graduated from ordinary metropolitan elementary, middle, and high schools, and while he had attended a university that was somewhat called prestigious, he was someone whose existence there was questionable.
Probably if his classmates were asked about his name, they’d answer, “I think there was a name like that, but I can’t remember who it was.” Or they’d say, “I was in the same group with him once, and he was an extremely quiet, gloomy anchovy.”
Either way, it wouldn’t match his current appearance at all, so they’d tilt their heads saying things like “Isn’t that a different person?” He was fundamentally different from other applicants who, even though they studied domestically, were famous as the goddess of XX University or were called the Won Bin of XX University.
Yeah, there are so many handsome men and beautiful women in the world. Even I would pick someone who’s been famous since university, not me. Thinking that way gave him some comfort.
After barely filling in all the items and scrolling to the end, the submit button was waiting for Sungjin.
Do you wish to submit your application? If selected as a participant, we will contact you individually at the submitted contact information.
Below that was a meaningful phrase as well.
COOL&BEAUTY is a love reality show that supports all forms of love. Please apply only if you can approach filming with a heart that respects each other.
But staff member, I’m precisely the participant with the orientation that should be respected. Sungjin finally squeezed his eyes shut with a gloomy feeling and pressed the confirm button. Rather than the stone placed on his chest becoming lighter, it felt heavier.
Please don’t let it be me. Please let someone other than me be selected. Sungjin squeezed his eyes shut, repeating the same thoughts he’d had during his school days, hoping the random selection would pass over his number so he wouldn’t be called as a presenter.
Please let me just receive the gift card and get eliminated at the speed of light. He prayed wholeheartedly with all his heart.
“Sungjin, did you submit your application? I really hope you get in~.”
A colleague passing by said something, but he couldn’t even hear it. He only thought about wanting to run away somewhere.
***
Two weeks later. The recruitment of participants for COOL&BEAUTY, the massive love reality show that would be released worldwide through a global OTT platform, had ended. Lee Yurim, a young mogul who had already succeeded with three seasons of matchmaking variety shows during his slightly over 10-year PD career, was reviewing application forms submitted not only by ordinary people from all over the country but also by employees working at YUCAN, the main sponsor.
“Hmm… I think it’s good to go with these as confirmed for now…”
The standout applicants were naturally celebrities whose faces had been known from before. From short-form influencers with over 1 million followers to a gay YouTuber with 300,000 followers who mainly handled queer content.
Not only were they handsome and pretty, but people who had already proven their influence as attention seekers with numbers were essentially super passes from the start.
Next, he selected candidates in order of how much people would pay attention to them. Those who studied abroad with various glamorous backgrounds or young professionals fell into this category. Lawyers, doctors, accountants… Jobs with “sa” attached somehow doubled the aggro no matter what they did compared to people working at regular private companies.
First, three doctors as candidates, two lawyers, a law school student, and a few employees from large companies with hundred-million-won salaries… Other than that, people who had decent appearances but boring backgrounds were dropped as reserve candidates.
“This person’s appearance is fine too, but all they have to show is graduation from K University and employment at YUCAN.”
They don’t even have a public SNS with this face? Next to a photo of a man with a caring yet gentle impression faintly smiling, the three-character name “Yoon Sungjin” was printed large.
Should I call him in for a meeting? It wasn’t mandatory to select employees working at the main sponsor company, but there was a request from the CEO to consider them during review if possible. Even as a star PD, as long as he was a working professional, he couldn’t completely ignore orders from above. Even if he’s a bit lacking in attention-seeking ability, it might be good to include him as a viewer favorability pick. Just as he was contemplating this, someone knocked on the door.
“Yes, come in.”
When permission was granted, the person who opened the door and entered was a man with a tall height close to 190cm and a slightly rebellious yet pretty impression—a beauty with an impressive urban and refined mask. His overall atmosphere was similar to Yurim’s, but they weren’t identical look-alikes. Yurim stood up from his seat, welcoming the man.
“Oh, Yuwon. What brings you here? When did you get into Korea?”
At Yurim’s question, the man called Yuwon approached and gave him a light hug before answering.
“I came in briefly after the North American campaign ended. The elders were making a fuss asking me to show my face.”
“Ah~ How long are you staying this time? At least a week?”
“Yeah, probably around that?”
Yuwon was one of Yurim’s proud cousins. Yurim’s grandfather, Lee Juhwon, was the founder of ON Group, which ranked within the top 20 of Korea’s business world. Although his father didn’t hold much power within the family because he was the child of a second wife his grandfather had after his first wife passed away, Yurim had grown up mingling with the main family members as a child of a chaebol family.
Yuwon was the third son born to Yurim’s eldest uncle and was the most famous among the grandchildren born to his grandfather’s six children.
That makes sense. First of all, his appearance was utterly elegant, being the spitting image of his mother who was a popular actress.
He had good proportions and was tall, so from a young age, just standing still, people said he looked like a model. While attending high school in America, he received business cards from all kinds of agency scouts.
After that, he went in and out of shooting sites a few times for fun, and perhaps that was his calling—he debuted as a full-time model as is. Without relying on family backing at all, he landed main campaigns for famous brands one after another and succeeded in being self-made. Now he was a star model more famous abroad than in Korea.
“Don’t you want to work in Korea? While you’re briefly here, it would be good to go on some variety shows.”
Yurim felt it was a waste to let his connections with Yuwon go to waste. What’s good about family? Since his mother was a citizen and he’d lived most of his life in America, if he put Yuwon, who had never officially debuted in Korean media until now, on a broadcast he planned, people would be asking everywhere how he managed to recruit him.
Unfortunately, Lee Yuwon, who was now twenty-three years old, was someone who would feel wronged if called second when it came to being high-nosed, so he declined appearing on broadcasts where his image might be consumed. Yurim knew full well that was just a surface excuse, and in truth, he just didn’t do it because he hated bothersome things.
“Well, even I wouldn’t want to take the hard road if I didn’t have to.”
He could understand that feeling. He was already famous enough abroad to receive top model treatment and earned tens of millions of won each time he shot a pictorial, and his schedule was already problematic because too many bookings were coming in. On top of that, Yuwon was known as an openly bi person with a free-spirited and rebellious image, so there was a high possibility he’d have a hard time hearing only good things in Korea’s conservative broadcasting industry.
To be honest, he wanted to recruit a star exactly like Lee Yuwon for the reality show he was currently planning, COOL&BEAUTY.
However, Yurim didn’t even bring it up in the first place. Yuwon already had too many flies sticking around him to the point of annoyance, and he had more than enough money he’d earned himself. There wasn’t a single reason for him to appear on this variety show that was only suffering.
As expected, Yuwon gave the same answer as before, unchanged, with an indifferent expression.
“No. It’s bothersome.”
“Yeah, I figured you’d say that.”
Yurim pursed his lips and asked again.
“Want something to drink? Or it’s almost my lunch break, should we go out and eat together?”
At that moment, Yuwon, who had been looking at Yurim’s desk, suddenly picked up an application form. Then he stared at it as if he’d burn the paper with his gaze alone, reading down the contents.
Yoon Sungjin. The name he’d been searching for such a long time was shining on the white paper.
