Suddenly, I Became Crazy Handsome, and the World Became Easy

Suddenly, a series of notifications popped up from the ‘AI Simulation’ app. Still lying down, Kang Rojun briefly checked the alerts. They were familiar.

‘This is just like the time with 'Side Job Tycoon'.’

The exact same kind of notifications had appeared when the ‘Side Job Tycoon’ title was applied. A faint smile spread across Rojun’s lips.

‘Whatever it is, looks like another title got applied this time too? This one is, 'Recognition Monster'? That name sounds intimidating.’

The title that followed after ‘Side Job Tycoon’ was ‘Recognition Monster’. Kang Rojun immediately accessed the ‘AI Simulation’ app. His character was standing on the main screen. The change was instantly visible.

-[Title: Side Job Tycoon+1 / Recognition Monster+1]

-[User: Kang Rojun / Age: 24 / Height: 182.8 cm / Desired Occupation: Idol / Coins Owned: 452]

-[Side Job: [1] Screenwriter]

The number of coins had increased, and the title ‘Recognition Monster’ had been added.

Muttering inwardly, Rojun tapped the ‘Mission’ button. As expected, the title bonus coins had increased by one.

-[Mission (Only 5 per day allowed)]

-[Mission attempts remaining: 0/5]

-[Title Bonus Coins: +2]

Not bad. From 6 to 7. It’s only one more, but over a week or a month, that adds up. Moreover.

‘If I enhance both 'Side Job Tycoon' and 'Recognition Monster' to +5, I’ll get 10 coins just from title bonuses.’

Once the enhancements for both titles were complete, his daily coin earnings would jump to 15. It might seem minor now, but the very act of obtaining the titles was meaningful. There was no need to rush. Thinking he should take things one step at a time, Kang Rojun turned over in bed.

‘Anyway, 'Recognition Monster', it’s probably because of the airing of 'Produce That 100!', right?’

It was 100% that. In both the first episode and the second episode, which aired yesterday, Kang Rojun was clearly the main focus. Though from the latter half of episode two, Rojun had been portrayed as the villain, the camera still focused heavily on him, and he was trending.

If that’s the case, then the enhancement for the title ‘Recognition Monster’ probably correlates with rising popularity.

Though it was unclear what exact metric would increase the title, as long as he stayed in the spotlight and did what he needed to do, the enhancement would probably happen naturally.

‘Well, no need to overthink it. Just keep doing what I’ve been doing. Yeah, just stick to the plan.’

Deciding on that, Kang Rojun, since he already had the ‘AI Simulation’ app open, tapped the ‘Stat’ button. He was planning to enhance his status stats early. Another 10 coins invested today. The numbers quickly shifted.

-[Appearance (100/100)│Singing Ability (10.1/100)│Rap (1.8/100)]

-[Dance (6.8/100)│Eloquence (6.6/100)│Acting (4/100)]

Most stats had risen slightly, but the most noticeable was, of course, Singing Ability.

‘Finally hit 10 in Singing Ability.’

It was at that moment.

“Ugh.”

A tingling sensation buzzed from the smartwatch on his wrist. It was a familiar feeling. It faded quickly, but Rojun tilted his head and rubbed his neck.

‘Did something get applied now that Singing Ability hit 10?’

Could he finally have escaped tone-deafness?

Just as he was rising from bed with anticipation.

-Bzzz.

Another short vibration followed. It was another notification from the ‘AI Simulation’ app.

-[You've completed the Hidden Mission 'First Achievement of Status Stat 10 Points!' As a gift, you have been rewarded 15 coins.]

Receiving a surprise gift of coins first thing in the morning greatly boosted Kang Rojun’s mood, and he immediately changed into workout clothes.

‘Let’s go straight into missions.’

Today, his steps were especially light.

Later.

After completing all his daily missions, Kang Rojun received 7 mission reward coins as expected. So his current coin status was.

-[Coins Owned: 464]

After washing up, he arrived at the cafeteria with his fellow trainees from Room 105. In his view were dozens of contestants. Their expressions varied. Some had won, and others had lost the second evaluation.

‘The mood’s gotten kind of weird after the broadcast aired.’

As expected, the primary reason was the first and second episode broadcasts of 'Produce That 100!' The amount of airtime and the unexpected edits had stirred up many thoughts once the contestants actually watched the show. In reality, nearly all the contestants eating were staring at their phones.

On top of that, the way other contestants looked at Kang Rojun had grown subtly different.

Jealousy had always been there, but after seeing the broadcast, envy and resentment had clearly intensified. No matter what anyone said, Kang Rojun was undoubtedly the main focus of episodes 1 and 2 of 'Produce That 100!'

‘There were fewer people exercising this morning too.’

Contestant Number 10, whose hair was bright red, locked eyes with Rojun. He immediately looked away. More than being bothered about losing to Rojun in the second evaluation, he was probably uneasy about being caught talking behind Rojun's back in yesterday’s episode. On the other hand, Rojun didn’t think much of it.

Right now, he was just hungry.

That said, the atmosphere on the 'Produce That 100!' campus wasn’t overly gloomy either. About half of the contestants were excited about the episode and busy chatting away, and quite a few even approached Kang Rojun to talk.

The fellow trainees from Room 105 had been raving since earlier.

"10% was amazing enough, but surpassing 15% viewership is legendary."

“Number 1-nim, your presence was insane! The PD cutting off the first episode so intriguingly helped too. I was on screen quite a bit in episode 2, so I’m satisfied!”

"The online communities are exploding. A gallery for ‘Produce That 100!’ already popped up, I ended up scrolling through it past 3 a.m. last night.”

“Ah! I saw that too. The mentions of Number 1-nim were insane, right??”

For reference, the skinny No. 19 and baby-perm No. 58 had won the vocal second evaluation yesterday. No. 37 and No. 88 were scheduled to compete in the second evaluation for 'Rap' today.

Meanwhile, over in the hall with the stage.

“15% viewership!! It jumped up 5% in just one episode!!”

“PD-nim!! It's really blown up!!"

"Hahaha, to think there would come a day when I'd dance with joy while preparing for filming!"

“The media’s going nuts, all calling it a storm, a whirlwind! It’s hot!!”

The over a hundred staff members preparing for the filming of 'Produce That 100!' couldn’t stop talking. And rightfully so, hitting 15% in ratings was a record-breaking figure even when reviewing the past several years of TV broadcasting.

Because of that, even though PD Woo Han-suk’s dark circles had deepened drastically, the upturned corners of his mouth refused to fall.

“All right, all right, settle down. Let’s keep tossing bait so we can maintain this explosive interest through next week!”

“Eyy PD-nim, you're the most excited one, aren't you??"

“But shouldn’t we at least give Number 1 a gift or something?? He played a huge part in these ratings.”

“That’s true. While it’s thanks to PD-nim’s editing that Number 1’s potential blew up, his presence was just massive.”

“He’s the only one whose character is firmly established right now, right??”

Adrenaline was bursting among the staff.

Of course, the storm online was ten times more intense than the staff’s excitement. Even Kang Rojun, after finishing his meal, was overwhelmed by the endless flood of articles.

'This is crazy, wow, gives me chills.'

From articles plastered with his face.

《A unique character emerges from the storm of 'Produce That 100!', Contestant ‘Number 1’ breezes through the first evaluation/Photo》

To ones showing off the current dominance of 'Produce That 100!'

《Total sweep of Friday and Saturday primetime! ‘Produce That 100!’ breaks 15%, will it top 20% next week?》

《Familiar taste, terrifying impact, 'Produce That 100!' dominates SNS as a whirlwind》

It was 'Produce That 100!' everywhere. SNS and online communities had already exploded like a nuclear bomb, and the song 'Farewell' was even making a comeback into the top rankings of various music sites. As proof of its popularity, on internet broadcasts.

“‘Produce That 100!’? Of course I watched it. Number 1 is seriously super handsome. Who cares if he’s the villain? With that face, anything goes!!”

People couldn’t stop talking about him.

As a result, the recognition and influence of Number 1, or Kang Rojun, was skyrocketing exponentially. But because no one knew his name or any personal details, the public was getting even more frantic. This was all part of the picture PD Woo Han-suk had planned.

While the nation was fervently caught up in 'Produce That 100!'.

“We’ll now begin the second evaluation for the ‘Rap Team’.”

At the Paju campus, following the dance and vocal evaluations, the second round of the rap team assessments had begun filming. Of course, Kang Rojun and dozens of other contestants could be found in the designated waiting room. PD Woo Han-suk was giving a briefing to the contestants before the filming officially began.

“With the ‘Rap Team’, the second evaluation filming will be fully wrapped up. And next week, in Episode 3, one of the assessment segments, either dance, vocal, or rap, will be broadcast. After the episode airs, viewer voting will begin, and the final passers will be decided by a combination of judges’ scores and the viewers’ votes.”

It meant the first viewer voting was about to open.

“The remaining assessment segments will be aired in Episode 4, and similarly, viewer voting will proceed immediately after the broadcast.”

PD Woo Han-suk did not reveal which of the three, dance, vocal, or rap, would air first, and simply explained that until Episode 3, the contestants should follow the same schedule as before.

The expressions of dozens of contestants suddenly turned serious.

Naturally, since their survival would be determined in a week.

Especially for those who had lost in the second round of evaluations, including No. 10, the atmosphere felt gloomy. Viewer votes would likely hold the most weight, but judges’ scores couldn’t be ignored either. Victorious Kang Rojun, on the other hand, felt more at ease.

'Viewer voting- I wonder if they'll tell us how many votes we received?'

The second evaluation shoot for the rap team finally wrapped up late at night, and Rojun, along with the contestants, returned to the dorms. However, the production crew of 'Produce That 100!' became even busier despite finishing a major shoot. There was still work to be done to sustain the current buzz, build up to Episode 3, prepare for viewer voting, and more.

The workload was towering.

Monday, the 27th, morning.

After starting his day with the daily missions, Kang Rojun had just stepped out of the shower when his phone vibrated with a long buzz. It was a call, and the caller was PD Jung Soo-ryeong. Rubbing his chin, Rojun muttered to himself.

‘She must’ve watched 'Produce That 100!' too.’

He held the phone to his ear.

“Yes, PD-nim. Hello.”

There was a hint of laughter in PD Jung Soo-ryeong’s voice.

“Writer-nim, or should I call you Number 1-nim now?? I saw ‘Produce That 100!’ You were incredible!”

“Thank you.”

“Wow, I expected you to be an idol, but I didn’t think you’d drop a nuclear bomb like that.”

“I’m sorry for not telling you in advance.”

“Oh, it’s fine. You did let me know there were circumstances. By the way, does that production team know about ‘Rental Lover’?”

“I told them a little. That it won the top prize in the SBC competition.”

“Really?”

As he stepped into the bathroom, Kang Rojun replied,

“I haven’t been able to completely revise ‘Rental Lover’ yet because of recent filming, but it’s almost done, so I’ll send it to you soon. As we discussed in the last meeting, I’ve already added the fourth lover. Once the character settings are nailed down, I just need to craft the story.”

“About that, I’m thinking of expanding the scope a bit, you know?”

Expand the scope? What did that mean? Tilting his head, Rojun asked back.

“What do you mean by expanding the scope?”

PD Jung Soo-ryeong answered simply,

“It’s still a one-act, but I want to make it feel as big as a mini-series.”

At that very moment, at a major entertainment company.

People could be seen working busily. Into that office stepped a woman wearing a hat. The employees rose and greeted her the moment they saw her, and the woman smiled faintly in return.

-Swish.

She stepped into a room labeled “CEO’s Office”. As she removed her hat, her long hair fell with a soft rustle. When her face came into view, it was none other than S-Class top actress Choi Rina.

A top actress who freely traversed both drama and film.

Choi Rina was widely recognized for her acting skills, and the recently released romantic comedy film she starred in had surpassed 7 million viewers, once again proving her popularity.

After she took a seat at a five-person table, a large man who appeared to be her manager handed her a bottle of water.

“Noona, CEO-nim said he’ll be here shortly.”

“Okay.”

Soon, a man in a suit appeared. He looked to be in his early fifties. He was the CEO of this major entertainment company. Taking off his suit jacket and hanging it over a chair, the CEO spoke to Choi Rina.

“Your movie did well. Why didn’t you take a break? What brings you out here?”

Choi Rina shrugged her shoulders.

“Just felt like it. Thought I’d grab a meal with you before heading to a skincare appointment.”

“You’ve got something to say, don’t you?”

“Nope. Really, I just came to eat.”

“Haha, all right, all right. Oh, did you watch ‘Produce That 100!’? That show’s super hot right now.”

“I heard the buzz, but I didn’t watch it.”

“Why not?? You should check it out, it’s fun. There’s this one contestant on there whose face looks like it’s straight-up CG. Absolutely insane. Man, I should’ve scouted that kid first.”

“Forget it. I’m not interested in idols or any of that.”

The CEO, about to put his suit jacket back on, paused. Then he picked up one of the many stacks of papers on his desk and handed it to Choi Rina.

“I forgot I was supposed to give you this.”

“What is it? A script?”

“Yeah. It’s a one-act. We’ve been sharing it around with some of our rookies.”

“Why are you giving it to me then? I told you I’m taking a break.”

“I know, I know. But didn’t you say, if it’s from PD Jung Soo-ryeong, you want to see it no matter what?”

Choi Rina’s eyes widened as she snatched up the script.

“Wait, it’s PD Jung’s?? Are you sure?”

“Yup. It’s wild, right? PD Jung Soo-ryeong suddenly doing a one-act. With a 15-year career and that flashy a filmography, she should be behind a desk by now. If you’re curious, I can look into it more for you.”

“......”

There was no response from Choi Rina. She had already flipped to the first page of the one-act script.

‘PD Jung Soo-ryeong... is doing a one-act drama???’

*****

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