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In early August, Seoul welcomed a breeze of hot wind. The early morning welcomed the bustle of people from all ages despite the onslaught of heat. It was any ordinary day.
Except for the rundown one room apartment block hidden at the back alley.
Ring. Ring. Ring
Jang Yoon-min turned and pulled a pillow over his head. He wasn't ready to wake up after an all-nighter. But the alarm was persistent.
'Ugh.. did I not shut it off yesterday?'
Jang Yoon-min groaned and searched for his phone, but couldn't find it. Squinting under the glaring ray of the sun.
"Where's the curtain?" He mumbled and sat up with difficulty. Jang Yoon-min is a night owl, and everytime he would wake up he would hear the sharp crack on his bones. Strangely, it didn't happen this morning.
"My back aches.. gone?"
A disparity once can be called an accident, twice can be a coincidence, but thrice definitely meant something else. His originally lazy gaze instantly turned sharp as he looked at his surroundings.
'...No? What the fuck?'
The room was small. Just that one observation made Jang Yoon-min come to a conclusion that he had been kidnapped.
He turned to where the incessant ringing came from, and was even more determined when he saw the unfamiliar phone with multiple cracks.
Jang Yoon-min swallowed and cautiously stood on the mattress, randomly taking an object around that seems to have potential in causing damage.
His bare feet slowly approached the door in front only to pause when his figure passed by a small mirror.
'Who?!'
He sharply turned to face the mirror and pursed his lips. The mirror diligently reflected the human face in front of it.
Jang Yoon-min dropped the bottle he was holding and tremblingly contorted his face.
"Oh.. shit.." His eyes constricted, vaguely realizing how soft his voice had become.
He tremblingly slumped on the floor and pinched the strangely delicate face that seemed like pudding. His nose that seems to have been crafted by a God. His lips naturally pouty.
"No.. where did my chiseled jaw go? My deep voice? My rough, calloused hands?" Jang Yoon-min mourned and crawled back to the bed on the floor. Contemplating his existence in life, full of regrets.
'If I had known.. I wouldn't have slept.'
But one thing is for sure. Jang Yoon-min possessed a body. One completely different from his own.
"What happened to me?"
He would appreciate knowing how he became a completely different person the next day.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Jang Yoon-min turned the phone over and his movements stopped. It was a phone call from someone called 'very important' in upper cased letters.
The caller should be someone his body values, considering the name.
He hesitated, but eventually gave in. Jang Yoon-min sighed helplessly, pushed his hair back, and answered the call that had been acting as an alarm earlier.
"Hello?"
[ Hello, Yoon-nim ssi? Please prepare tomorrow morning, a van will pick you up at the waiting point. We have sent the list of belongings that should be bought. Thank you! ]
"Ah..yes,"
He wanted to ask more but the call was instantly cut. He could only silently open SNS to find the message they were talking about. Pinned at the top was a contact named Love Variety Show. His instinct kicked in, and sure enough.
[ Love Variety Show ]
[ Writer Song: Hello, our team would like to request the participants to pack the following for tomorrow's meet-and-greet ^^ ]
Under the message was a list of basic necessities and a reminder. Jang Yoon-min's lips twitched non-stop once his eyes saw the last sentence at the far end.
[ ...Please ensure that these will be enough for the 8-months variety show~ ]
'What kind of variety show is this??'
Jang Yoon-min could see a headache coming. He decided to put the matter on hold to search for anything that could identify his current body.
That lasted for a few hours. After all, he didn't expect the documents he was looking for to be scattered randomly.
Apparently, he is still called Jang Yoon-min, 23 years old, and a fresh college graduate. His parents are gone, and he doesn't have any relatives to depend on.
An identity too convenient for him, a possessor.
The only problem was the finances. Jang Yoon-min had seen the loan notices on his SNS, and the miniscule cash he have in hand.
Based on the loan history, he found out it was to pay for the medical fees of the body's parents during their recovery in the hospital after an accident. Though it didn't went well.
The 'Jang Yoon-min' also seemed to be doing several part time jobs, and had just given his resignation letters yesterday.
Jang Yoon-min took a look at the contract for the variety show. The most likely reason for giving up the jobs 'he' have.
'Tsk.'
Just the initial payment wasn't enough to cover the loans he have to pay, but he was sure the program fees would be enough to cover everything left once the contract is fulfilled. It was no wonder why his body agreed to do the show.
"Seriously, where had I seen this before?"
Jang Yoon-min rubbed his chin thoughtfully, wondering why the name 'Jang Yoon-min', 'Love Variety Show', the contract details, and the belongings he should bring feel oddly familiar.
–
The next day, Jang Yoon-min stood at a waiting shed, glancing at his watch from time to time. Yes, Yoon-min was waiting for the pick-up van.
After a few minutes, a white van stopped in front of him, and a man wearing an identification card of the Love Variety Show came out.
"Jang Yoon-min ssi?"
"Yes, hello."
The staff nodded and took out something from his pocket. It was a small button with a clip,
"Can you put this microphone your own?"
"Ah, yes. Thank you,"
"Please come inside, I'll give a brief summary of what will happen today,"
Jang Yoon-min followed and greeted the other people in the van, there aren't other participants and there was a camera rolling.
"Yoon-min ssi, please wear this choker,"
He turned his head and looked at the plain black choker on his hands with doubts. Is this for identification?
"It's a special item that will be used for later's love game,"
The staff gave a meaningful smile at the fair-skinned participant, no longer continuing the conversation and proceeded on giving the briefing.
Jang Yoon-min put on the choker, his eyes darkening, having a vague idea of the strange apprehension yesterday.
'Choker.'
While thinking, a staff began asking formulaic questions.
"Yoon-nim ssi, what is your ideal type?"
Jang Yoon-min tilted his head and shrugged,
"A *chaebol?"
"Haha, who doesn't want to date a chaebol?"
'Preferably someone who can pay his loans that reached the sky.'
'Though that would be too lucky.'
–
*A large business conglomerate run by a family or an individual.
–
Morning, Seoul.
Jang Yoon-min traveled for half an hour and arrived at a relatively secluded district with abundance of trees. And at the far end of the uphill road was an isolated villa.
'Oh? Isn't this program rich? Then again, they have a huge appearance fee.'
Jang Yoon-min suddenly got curious how the other 'Jang Yoon-min' get involved in this high-end variety show.
But without the body's memories, he could only make general assumptions.
"Yoon-min ssi, we'll stop here,"
The only staff that talked to him, Writer Han-sun, turned to him with a friendly smile,
"I can't go and escort you up, Yoon-min ssi. The moment you go down this van, there will be cameras filming your moves non-stop,"
"Okay."
–
"Doesn't he seem different?"
The camera man looked at his footages and casually opened a conversation, his confusion obvious.
They were the staff that had talked with Jang Yoon-min a few weeks ago after determining the participant they're assigned to.
And the Jang Yoon-min then have a different temparement.
Writer Han-sun glanced outside the car window and hummed,
"It doesn't matter, as long as they don't ruin the show,"
Besides, Writer Han-sun has an intuition, this change might benefit them instead.