It was around ten in the morning on the Shinbundang Line.
The train was crowded, but with rush hour over, it was at least manageable. A man with ash-gray hair slid into a newly empty seat. He was tall, with delicate features that drew more than a few appreciative glances from the men and women around him.
He crossed his legs, basking in the attention.
A great decision, this ash-gray dye, he thought, pleased. The color came out perfectly. This is exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping for.
He was quite aware of his good looks. Even the two college girls sitting across from him, heads bent together in a hushed conversation, seemed to agree.
“That guy over there is pretty cute, right?”
“Yeah. I like his hair. You should go ask for his number.”
“Are you kidding? I just said he looks good, that’s it.”
Just then, a man entered from the adjoining car. His eyes scanned the carriage before he settled into the empty seat right next to the gray-haired man.
The gray-haired man, who had been casually scrolling through his phone, glanced to his right.
He flinched.
What the hell?! Who is this guy?!
His eyes met the newcomer’s for a split second. He tore his gaze away, a motion he instantly regretted. It felt like an admission of defeat.
He risked a look around the car. Nearly everyone was now either staring openly at the man beside him or sneaking glances in his direction.
The two college students across the way had completely forgotten about the gray-haired man.
“Wow… is his face even real?”
“Seriously. The ash-gray dude just turned into a squid.”
“His face is insane. He’s got to be a celebrity. Do you recognize him?”
“Never seen him before. A trainee, maybe?”
“This is crazy. If a guy who looks like that debuts, he’ll conquer the industry on visuals alone.”
The squid—no, the gray-haired man—cleared his throat and awkwardly moved to a different seat. Not a single person noticed. The sole focus of the entire subway car was now Lee Jin-woo, who simply stared into the middle distance with a placid expression.
Everyone’s looking at me, aren’t they? Where am I even supposed to look in a situation like this?
Even he, who had only made accidental eye contact with an ad on the wall, could feel the oppressive weight of their collective gaze.
Man, I can’t get used to this.
Still, no one approached him. He needed someone to ask for his number, but so far, all he was getting were stares. He’d thought this mission would be a piece of cake, but it was proving more difficult than anticipated. Maybe it was the location. That made sense; you’d have to be incredibly bold to ask for someone’s number on a packed subway. The train soon pulled into Gangnam Station, and a flood of people spilled onto the platform.
Lee Jin-woo was swept along with them.
Ugh, so many people.
Hundreds of people were already queued up for the escalators and stairs. Eumju tapping his card at the turnstile, Jin-woo headed for the exit, passing rows of underground shops and brushing past a constant stream of pedestrians.
Gangnam. How long has it been since I walked through here in broad daylight?
He had always made a point to avoid crowded places like this. Now, he found himself looking around with a strange sense of fascination.
Of course, the attention followed him. Every person who passed by seemed to do a double take.
A few steps ahead, a man and a woman were stopping people, trying to engage them in conversation.
“Excuse me! You have such a wonderful aura. Your face is filled with good fortune. Do you have a moment to chat?”
It was a common enough sight in Gangnam. Any second now, they’d ask if you “knew the Way.” As expected, people simply ignored them and walked on.
But the pair wasn’t easily discouraged. They quickly spotted a new target: Lee Jin-woo.
The woman, a practiced smile on her face, stepped in front of him. “Excuse me! You have such a…”
Her voice trailed off the moment she got a clear look at his face.
As if possessed, she finished the sentence in a daze. “…a ridiculously handsome face.”
A compliment, just like that?
Caught off guard, Lee Jin-woo managed a slight, composed bow.
The man and woman, their original purpose forgotten, simply stood there, mesmerized by his features. Eumju a full ten seconds of silent admiration, Jin-woo began to feel awkward and plotted his escape.
“Well then, take care.”
As he walked away, the two missionaries, still staring after his retreating figure, spoke in unison.
“Ridiculously handsome.”
Lee Jin-woo paid them no mind, ascending the stairs and emerging onto the street. The crowd outside was even bigger.
He took a slow step forward and began to walk through Gangnam. Ten minutes became thirty, then an hour. By then, Lee Jin-woo felt as if he were on a different planet. It was a perfectly logical conclusion.
Just a few days ago, people would have either recoiled from his hideous appearance, given him suspicious glares, or, at worst, hurled insults. The default had always been a cold, crushing indifference.
But now, everything was different.
The moment he entered a chic café, the woman behind the counter greeted him with an almost manic enthusiasm.
“…Um, are you working right now? If not, would you be interested in a job here? I’d pay you a very generous hourly wage.”
“Just a coffee, please.”
“Really? Oh, well, just in case, here’s our business card. Even if it’s just for a week, please give me a call if you’re interested! And here’s a cookie, on the house!”
A man who bumped into his shoulder was the one to express concern.
“Ah—watch where you’re… Oh?”
“No, no, it’s my fault. Are… are you alright?”
When he asked for directions, a group of college students personally walked him all the way to his destination.
At one point, an interviewer seemed to materialize out of thin air.
“Whoa! Whoa! Hello!”
“We run a fashion YouTube channel! Could we possibly interview you for a moment?”
“I suppose so.”
“Wow… Your face is absolutely insane. Look, a crowd is gathering! This has never happened before! What’s your outfit concept for today? You look incredibly hip.”
“I just threw on whatever was in my closet.”
“It’s the face. The face is the ultimate fashion accessory.”
Within a single hour, he’d received Instagram sponsorship offers, modeling proposals for online shopping malls, requests for photo shoots, and a half-dozen business cards from talent agencies asking if he was already signed.
The initial excitement had long since passed. What Lee Jin-woo was feeling now was pure, unadulterated catharsis.
-[Immu ‘Get 3 people (male or female) to ask for your number’ Completed! 1 Coin Awarded!]
The mission had been completed without him even trying.
As Lee Jin-woo walked back toward the subway, he muttered to himself, the words filled with a profound, newfound truth.
“This world is so damn easy now.”
The next day, Thursday, June 4th. Early morning.
Lee Jin-woo woke up in his semi-basement apartment, stared blankly at the stained ceiling for a moment, then bolted upright and rushed to the bathroom.
He had to check the mirror. Just in case.
“Phew—still the same.”
The fear lingered: what if he woke up and his old face had returned?
But no. The god-tier, ridiculously handsome face was still there, and the ‘Persona Changjoja’ app was still on his phone.
Muttering a word of thanks to the heavens, Jin-woo stretched, loosening his stiff muscles.
“Time to start with the workout missions.”
He got right to it, knocking out two of them in short order.
-[Immu ‘Do 31 Push-ups’ Completed! 1 Coin Awarded!]-
-[Immu ‘Do 31 Sit-ups’ Completed! 1 Coin Awarded!]-
Eumju changing into workout clothes, Lee Jin-woo headed to a nearby park for a run.
He hummed a song as he went, clearing another mission.
Even after he’d fulfilled the requirements, he kept running. An early morning jog just felt good.
To be this happy from something as simple as running…
“Phew—should probably head back.”
Sweat streamed down his face, but it didn’t sting or itch. If anything, his features seemed to glisten, made more striking by the exertion. The proof was in the stunned, disbelieving expressions of the other morning exercisers who stopped in their tracks to stare at him.
Back home, Lee Jin-woo was about to step into the shower when his phone began to vibrate in a series of urgent, short bursts.
Who could that be this early?
He glanced at the screen, puzzled. They were texts from an unknown number.
He read them and realized they were from the people who had asked for his number in Gangnam yesterday.
He let out a small sigh and scratched his chin.
Closing the messages, he opened the ‘Persona Changjoja’ app to check his status.
-[User: Lee Jin-woo / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 cm / Desired Occupation: Idol / Coins: 28]
Muttering to himself, Jin-woo scanned the various buttons he’d already explored, then crossed his arms.
I could do anything, I guess, but I should probably start with becoming an idol, right?
A smirk touched his lips. The thought itself was absurd.
As if becoming an idol is that easy.
A few days ago, it was a dream he wouldn’t have even dared to entertain. Now, it felt like an inevitability.
Was this the power of a ridiculously handsome face?
It didn’t really matter.
Then again, it doesn’t seem that hard, either.
With a face like this, it would be idiotic not to try. Besides, he had the ‘Persona Changjoja’ app.
Jin-woo spent a few minutes searching for information about idols on his phone. An endless flood of articles and posts filled his screen.
He read through them seriously before finally starting his shower.
Once he was done, he got dressed. His outfit was different from yesterday’s but still simple: a plain black t-shirt and jeans.
His destination for the day was Seongsu Station.
About two hours later, the area around Seongsu Station was buzzing with the lunchtime crowd.
A group of young women walked toward the station, laughing and chatting amongst themselves.
Suddenly, one of them—a girl with cheerful, hamster-like cheeks—stopped dead, her eyes wide.
She froze, pointing a finger straight ahead.
“Hey, hey, look at that guy.”
Her friends turned to follow her gaze.
Their jaws dropped in unison.
“Is he… a celebrity? Who is that?”
“No idea, but he’s ridiculously handsome.”
The object of their attention was Lee Jin-woo, who had just arrived.
He was here for the same reason as yesterday: to complete the “Get Your Number Asked” mission.
Unaware of this, the hamster-like girl quickly snapped a photo with her phone.
Then she bolted toward him with the urgency of a sprinter.
Jin-woo saw her coming and thought, Shit, that was sudden. I almost screamed.
Startled by her intensity, he instinctively took a step back.
But the girl was undeterred. She shoved her phone toward him.
“Excuse me! Can I have your number?!”
“Your number—wait, no, seriously, you’re ridiculously, ridiculously handsome. You know that, right?”
“No, no, just ‘having an idea’ isn’t enough. You’re on a whole other level, like a top-tier predator of visuals! What do you do? Are you an actor? A model? An idol? I’ve never seen you before, so you must be a trainee, right?”
Her energy was overwhelming. Completely over the top.
It seemed to be her natural state.
Feeling slightly awkward, Jin-woo tried to respond as casually as he could.
“I’m just unemployed.”
“No way. You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”
“Nope. Really. I’m unemployed. Well then.”
“Ah—ah! Wait! Your number!”
The girl eventually got Lee Jin-woo’s number.
As she watched him disappear into the crowd, she muttered under her breath.
“Unemployed… with that face?”
In Sangam-dong, a familiar girl was practically sprinting into a massive building.
It was the hamster-like girl from Seongsu Station.
What was interesting was the large sign on the building she entered: JBS, the top broadcasting station among all general and cable networks.
She breezed through security as if she owned the place.
Stepping out of the elevator, she arrived at the JBS Variety Department.
The office was a chaotic hive of activity, with different sections partitioned off, each marked with the name and logo of a popular variety show.
When she reached her desk, she found it empty.
“Wait, where is everyone? Ah! The meeting!”
She hurried over to a row of conference rooms.
She threw open one of the doors, and the people inside turned to look.
“Se-hee! You’re the last one!”
Five women and three men were seated around a U-shaped table. The man at the head of the table, who wore glasses, appeared to be the oldest.
Without preamble, the girl, Kim Se-hee, announced to the entire room, “I found someone in Seongsu yesterday who is insanely, ridiculously, unbelievably handsome!”
“Huh? What’s this all of a sudden?”
“I’m serious! If he debuts, he’ll rewrite the definition of ‘handsome’!”
Kim Se-hee was practically vibrating with excitement.
The man in glasses at the head of the table sighed, a sound heavy with familiarity.
“Sigh—she’s got Face Yeonin Syndrome again. Somebody sedate her. She’s too loud.”
But the hamster-like girl grabbed the man’s shoulder and shook him.
“No, PD-nim! I’m serious this time! This isn’t just Face Yeonin Syndrome!”
“Hey, hey, stop shaking me. You’re making me dizzy. And Kim Se-hee, you’re a broadcast writer. How about you focus on coming up with ideas instead of raving about some handsome guy?”
That was right. Kim Se-hee was a broadcast writer.
“Wha—that’s unfair! Wait, wait! I took a picture!”
Kim Se-hee frantically opened her phone’s gallery and showed the bespectacled man the photo she’d taken of Lee Jin-woo.
At first, the man glanced at it with a bored expression, but then… his eyes sharpened.
“Oh… Wait, this isn’t photoshopped?”
“It’s not! And in person, he’s on another level. You have to see him for yourself!”
Just then, one of the male staff members walked over to a whiteboard on the side of the room.
It was covered with keywords like “Idol” and “Audition.”
He erased a number at the very top and rewrote it.
-‘Idol 100’ D-day: 28 days
The countdown had changed from 29 to 28.
At the same time, Kim Se-hee jabbed a finger at the picture of Lee Jin-woo on her phone.
She turned to the bespectacled PD, her voice bursting with energy.
“PD-nim! We absolutely have to get this guy on our show!”