Prologue:

Shindong surveyed the thirteen boys inside the conference room. The producers had gathered them here and had given him the task of orienting them as to their objective in the show.

Oh boy, will they be surprised. Shindong amusedly thought to himself before clearing his throat to signal that he was about to start the meeting. The din of voices gradually became silent as all pairs of eyes focused on him.

“Hello, I’m Shindong and I’ll be the emcee of the show. You all know what the show is supposed to be before you all signed, right?” he asked. Everyone gave one form of assent or another.

“It’s a dating show correct? We’re all competing with one another to be the final choice for your candidate,” a blonde man answered smilingly, a dimple appearing on his cheek.

“Yes, that’s correct and so if you can just take a look, gentlemen, here’s the person you need to woo,” Shindong grinned as he dramatically flourished one hand towards the wall while the other clicked on the laptop. A picture was projected on the wall but it was the gasps of mixed shock and admiration which the emcee was waiting for.

“Bu-… but that’s a man.”

“Whoa! He’s hot!”

Shindong immediately silenced everyone, “No one say another word or you’ll be disqualified,” he grimly said and everyone settled down. They all looked at Shindong in varying degrees of confusion and excitement.   

“Alright, here’s the part where I remind you that when you signed the contract, there was a stipulation there which said that you can’t reveal your ual orientation on the program unless you win or get disqualified,” Shindong pointed to the picture, “That’s the reason.”

A boy with jet black hair exclaimed in surprise, “You- you mean…”

“Yes, he’s gay. Now some of you are gay and some of you are straight and you can’t reveal or hint to anyone which you are. That’s the point of the game,” Shindong explained seriously, “You need to be the last man standing so to speak to get the prize money of 50 million won. Or rather, you will split the prize money equally if you’re gay,” a few boys started to murmur in protest but the emcee continued, “Don’t forget that this is still a dating show. The producers feel that splitting the prize money will not be that important to you once you get selected by Choi Siwon, that’s the bachelor’s name by the way, as his final pick considering that some sort of feelings must have developed between the two of you. Well of course, if everything goes according to plan.”

“Well, okay. But what happens if he ultimately picks someone who’s straight?” one of the younger boys asked.

Shindong grinned and there was no hint of humour in it at all, “Then that person gets all the money for himself.”