“That was hard! I had no idea what I signed up for” Gary landed next to HaHa on the sofa. HaHa is already dozing off.  The whole night filming, running around the mall was definitely exhausting.  They are not fit for this kind of show.  They did not expect it to be this hard. “I have never worked this hard for a show. I have been doing so many shows… none this hard. I am not fit.  Should we just give up, hyung?”

“I joined because of you… don’t tell me to quit when we’re just starting.  Let’s just try it for a while.. I think we’ll get used to it or they will make it better for us once they know how we’re doing. Let’s just sleep now.” Gary took a cushion and laid down on the floor, he is too tired to get to the bed. HaHa is already stretching out on the sofa.

….

“Hyung, pick me up for the meeting?” HaHa usually rides with him. Gary never say no to anyone as long as he can accommodate.  Besides, he is new to the variety scene, HaHa has been helpful in guiding him in talks with the team.  HaHa is his coach and best buddy.

Myuk and Cho PDs are already in the meeting room, busy writing in their planners while looking at the laptop in front of them. “Annyeong PDs! We came early so you’d consider giving us a lighter mission this week” Gary joked. They were 20 minutes early. “Hahahaha! Since you’re here, let’s just have an informal discussion first.. between us” They took their seats ready to discuss.

“We are discussing a love line… Last week’s shoot, we didn’t see any chemistry between you permanent guys and the girls we invited.  We planned to have a love line for HaHa but if it fails, anyone would do. You know love line is the main feature to capture the following for the show. Currently, we don’t see any potential so we’ll just take it slow, invite a few female guests and watch how you guys do with them. The company wants at least one girl in the cast. So I have asked for extension to search for the best.  We already have 6 permanents signed, too many would be too much to handle.  So we’re going to select one. I am expecting HaHa to take on a love line. However, according to our research, Gary would be a better candidate but Gary is a newbie and as we know him, he can’t lie.”

“Why me?? I am the ugliest of them all!” Gary was shocked with the plan. Why was he chosen to do a loveline? He can’t lie if his life depended on it. Falling for a girl in front of the camera,  is just not possible. He can’t fake it. HaHa was confused too “and why me? Shouldn’t jongkook or joongki be better? Girls would love them!”

“Girls will love them.. Girls will love many other good looking guys too” Myuk PD started. Right now the face on both Gary and HaHa look more confused than ever. “Cho and I decided that the TV is filled up with too many pretty faces that it gets too superficial.  We started this program to make a difference. We are the average guys that never gets the attention once the prettyboy walks in. I think we should give the viewers something different. We don’t want to make things all nice and pretty. We want them to experience that there is more to life than pretty faces.” Both of them are still trying to comprehend.  Cho PD turned to Gary “I personally asked HaHa to bring you in because I am a fan of yours, I have seen how you work, you have the best qualities as an artist and you have the brain and wits that is important to variety” Gary looked down, shy. He was never praised in such a way directly. He read it off the magazine before and thought it was just added fabrication to get the effects on the readers. He never let the praises get to this head, afraid he’d lose his true self.

“But since you are new and I know people can see your lies right away, I won’t put you in that position.  I want you to be yourself and make them love you, the average guy that they will soon find out is not average after all” He patted Gary on the shoulder. “An actress friend of mine interestingly suggested your name when I told her about the program and asked whom I should cast.  Apparently she is a fan of yours.  As appreciation because I am really thankful to her for suggesting you, I invited her for this week’s episode. She agreed right away.”

“Daebak! Hyung, you should try to persuade her since she likes you” HaHa interrupted. “ayyy! I don’t even know her. You know I don’t like all those made-up girls, I want a real girl.I can’t fake liking anybody.  You go for her. You are in charge of love line!” Both PDs laughed at how Gary is so against the idea of him faking things for TV, they appreciate that quality. They see he can go far with that character.

Second filming.  It’s a Monday but days don’t matter to celebrities, they work as the job comes, any day.

They received instructions to go directly to their individual starting points. Then, proceed to the group meeting point for the show opening.  It was a bright shiny day.  A good day.  Gathered together HaHa stood beside Gary and nudged him “your fan is coming today.” A girl turned up.  Gary wasn’t interested. She was just OK. He acknowledged her as a fan.  He just act as he normally would.  Suddenly he saw a girl walking up the pavilion. Long hair, simply dressed, with very little make up.  He was captivated. Suddenly Jaesuk shouted “Jihyo! It’s Jihyo!” It finally downed on Gary that she is Jihyo the actress that was marred with controversy a few years back.  He read on it online. He watched the movie. He sympathized with her. He knows how the industry works, he can understand how she came to that.   Back then he didn’t think she was beautiful. He had not seen her in real life. Now that he has, he was rendered speechless.  Did she suggest me for this program? Suddenly, he was frozen in his place, making only small gestures, he can’t speak. All he can think of is this girl has an effect on him. His heart is thumping faster.  What is happening?