The same moment.
A man who'd just gotten off a plane let out a long yawn as he exited the arrivals gate. White slacks, a cotton navy short-sleeved shirt. He emerged kitted out smartly with sunglasses, a bracelet, and piercings, drawing every bit of attention from the crowd, true to his attention-hog reputation, as he came through the gate.
Zzzh-.
When an alarm went off right on cue, he checked the smart watch he wore alongside the bracelet.
[Missed Calls: 32] [🖕 — 20] [Manager Kang — 11] [🖕🖕 — 1]
[🖕: Where the hell are you? Why aren't you picking up?]
[🖕: That program you know nothing about. Cancel it right now and come back. Got it?]
[🖕: Before I cut off your cards and everything else.]
"…Heh."
Rage, irritation, contempt.
Staring at the texts where every kind of negative emotion had melted together…
"Ha, I feel freaking amazing."
Feels like I'll die from the dopamine rush.
Just how furious must he be right about now!
"That's the stuff. That's it."
Humming a light tune like a kid who'd been handed candy, he swiped past the missed calls and dialed someone.
"Hey, Park Seongjun."
The man smiled so deeply that dimples carved into both his cheeks.
"Hyung's here, holy shit."
The car to the filming site arrived exactly three minutes later.
Raon, who'd been waiting in front of a stop with <Forever Alone Dating> written across it in big letters, climbed into the sedan and put on a broadcast mic.
This is the kind of thing I've only ever seen on TV.
Looking down curiously at the mic clipped to his white dress shirt, Raon glanced out the window once.
A grassy field stretched out beneath the warm sunlight, dotted with low-rise, charming little houses. Through the slightly open window, the smell of salt rode in on the breeze.
Unlike the bustling downtown, the endlessly peaceful, quiet street eased the tension lodged in him like a knot, if only a little.
"Cherry. As you've probably been told, filming starts the moment you step out. Go into the hotel, take the central elevator, and head to the rooftop."
Raon nodded awkwardly. With a final note that he'd hear the rest inside, the car arrived before a newly remodeled hotel.
Getting out with the suitcase he'd brought along, Raon looked up at the towering building. The hotel, made up of six floors plus a rooftop, looked newly built on the outside thanks to the remodel, despite being nearly thirty years old.
The interior was the same.
The freshly repainted walls were spotless, and the floor was so glossy a fly could slip on it. Old-fashioned, to put it unkindly. But thanks to the old hotel being fully renovated in a retro and Y2K trend, it came off more trendy than tacky.
"Wow…"
They really did this right.
Just then, Raon, who'd been gaping as he looked around, flinched in surprise. Nearby he spotted a tiny red light, no bigger than a bean. It meant they were filming now.
Checking the people around him uneasily, Raon hurried toward the elevator.
[6th floor. Rooftop garden]
With the announcement, the mint-colored metal door slid shut.
Standing straight in proper posture, Raon happened to glance at his own side profile reflected in the mirror. Hair neatly parted seven-to-three. Eyebrows running straight across. Tidy, composed features without a single thing out of place.
The white short-sleeved shirt and pale sky-blue jeans were truly the most basic of basics. It was all because of Minhee's advice not to go out dressed weird.
"Will I be all right…?"
Programs like this usually feature gorgeous, good-looking people. Or ones with really strong personalities. Of course, getting buried among them was fine, but it wasn't like he wanted to get pointlessly compared and trashed, either.
Since what he'd worn every day was checkered button-downs, cotton pants, and knee-stretched jeans, he'd bought everything fresh this time. But having never once dressed himself up in his whole life, how to style going forward was a worry.
[6th floor.] [Door opening.]
"!"
His body, reacting to the sound, snapped to face forward.
Clunk-. Past the opened door, a white marble floor came into view. Raon carefully moved his steps.
Between the interior elevator and the outdoors, a transparent glass door stood in the way.
Stopping in front of it, Raon's eyes went round.
…Wait.
Th-there are way too many cameras?
Overwhelmed by the sight, Raon flinched without realizing it. Maybe because it was the opening shoot. People crowded together cheek by jowl, broadcast cameras, audio mics, all huddled close. Feeling his head go faint already, Raon bit the inside of his cheek.
"Ah, omg. He's here!"
At that moment, on the opposite side from where the staff were gathered, someone waved a hand.
"Over here, over here!"
Just how great was her sociability.
The woman smiled wide even at a complete stranger, pointing to where she sat. Raon nodded blankly and leaned his body out past the glass door.
Rrrt, rrrt.
Awkwardly wheeling his suitcase, he rolled his eyes this way and that.
True to the nature of a place like Jeju, the set too was quite nature-friendly.
Two gray L-shaped sofas placed apart on the left and right. Glass-topped round tables set before them. A step beyond, a marble table and chairs that could easily seat ten were neatly arranged.
Probably an outdoor dining table.
On top of that, with lush trees and flower beds filling the whole rooftop, the more he walked the more a pleasant grassy smell wafted up.
I'm not the first.
On the left sofa, a man and woman were already seated side by side. They looked up at the newly arrived contestant with curious eyes. Finding that gaze rather a lot to bear, Raon simply gave a polite greeting and turned his head away.
Right then, a PD who'd taken a seat up front spoke.
"The one who just came in, please sit on the right sofa."
"Ah, yes."
Raon set the suitcase he'd brought beside the sofa and sat quietly in the spot he'd been assigned. Come to think of it, he was the first to sit on the right sofa.
"That's the beginners' seats over there."
The bob-haired woman who'd told him to come here earlier smiled brightly.
Raon tilted his head.
"Beginners?"
"Romance beginners. My friend and I came on as experts, so I just took a guess."
Raon nodded, rolling his eyes around. The pink-bobbed woman, her hair catching the sunlight, looked flashy in style at a glance. Maybe because she wore a black sleeveless top, the bared right arm had English lettering and a branch-shaped tattoo inked on it.
Noticing Raon's gaze, the woman raised her tattooed arm.
"My tattoo artist did this for me. Pretty eye-catching, right?"
"Yes."
Answering honestly, Raon went on.
"It catches the eye because it's pretty."
"…Huh?"
"It's pretty, the tattoo."
At the unexpected answer, the woman was momentarily flustered. But Raon meant it.
Having lived abroad, he'd seen plenty of people with tattoos. Even though it covered her whole arm, it looked harmonious rather than excessive.
Raon himself worked in art, so he couldn't easily breeze past something like this.
"Wow, flirting."
The man sitting beside her with his legs crossed studied Raon with rather interested eyes.
"You say stuff like that so casually. You're really a forever-aloner? No filter from the get-go."
"I was just being honest, that's all…"
He'd only called something pretty because it was pretty.
Raon had been a poor liar from birth. He'd sooner keep his mouth shut. Since he wasn't the type to invent things that weren't there, this too was praise without ulterior motive.
But personality aside,
"This guy's a gem. A gem."
The man, having already scanned Raon up and down, concluded crisply. What exactly made him a gem…? Not quite grasping his meaning, Raon straightened his posture. Watching that ramrod-straight back, the man marveled once more. Soon questions started flying, beginning with what sports he'd done.
Of course, he was promptly stopped with a save the curiosities for after the self-introductions are done.
After that, one more person joined the expert sofa. Three more came to the forever-alone sofa.
Experts: four, men and women.
Forever-aloners: four, men and women.
Matching that headcount, all the contestants had gathered on the rooftop garden.
Ah, all except for one.
"So that one person's the only one not here?"
"Yes. We picked him up at the airport, but after that…"
"Call Seongjun right now. Ask when he's arriving. Ha, it's not even rush hour."
The faint murmuring of the staff drifted over.
Expert team, one man.
The contestant who hadn't arrived yet could only be that person.
Late from the very first shoot.
I want to wrap the opening fast and lie down.
Already feeling the life drained out of him, Raon looked up at the stinging sunlight.
What is this, it's not like the protagonist arrives last.
He'll soak up all the attention when he walks in…
"Ah, sorry."
"…?"
"Traffic got a little backed up."
A pleasant low timbre and that distinctive sleek, swaggering tone.
At that familiar way of speaking, his whole body went stiff in reaction.
"What the hell. That bastard, no, why are you on this?"
The man who'd been sitting on the expert side shot up from his seat. Raon's gaze, too, locked onto the direction of the sound.
Late as hell yet sauntering in with a carefree face, the man, Ga Gijo, hummed a tune. Maybe because his frame was so large. Just walking, he was somehow oddly imposing.
And so, as he reached the center under everyone's attention, Gijo suddenly glanced over at the forever-alone sofa and tilted his head.
"Baby."
"…"
"What are you doing here?"
