Chapter 4
Min Jae didn't know whether to grin or glower. Standing under the blazing hot lights, a disorienting swarm of other contestants pressed in around him. Hands clapped his shoulders, voices buzzed in his ears with congratulations, and he couldn’t decide which face they wanted.
The angsty, untouchable bad boy from the stage?
Or the humble, grateful winner, happy just to be there with everyone?
He’d do neither if it was up to him. Just be plain, old Min Jae, who liked anime, loved his grandmother, and still slept in his childhood bedroom.
But every choice was a performance. Judged. And he was already fucking exhausted.
The grin spread across Min Jae’s face before he realized he’d even made up his mind.
After all, he’d won. He was ranked number one in the very first mission.
He’d even scored a precious compliment from Cipher, who spent them like currency and he was going broke.
The triumph was unexpected. Pure. After years of failure and pain, for one brief moment, he was undeniably number one.
It was the first real validation of his talent he'd had in years. He’d earned a few moments of just being happy.
Surely, none of the chaos happening at the moment would make it into the episode anyway.
But that familiar cold sense of impending doom chased after his easy smile, lurking in the shadows of his thoughts to whisper that same old question. Why me?
Min Jae scanned the crowd of smiling, celebrating Dream Boys until he found him.
The American. Andy Kim practically glowed under the lights, his smile effortless and dazzling as he accepted his own congratulations.
Even from a distance, the energy coming off him was warm and inviting.
Treacherous. Andy had given a flawless, charming, and perfectly brand-safe performance.
With heart. He was an all-rounder with a bright, easily marketable personality.
And sincerity. He was the logical choice for number one.
The numbers didn't add up. Which meant the competition wasn't just about numbers. Min Jae’s fleeting triumph cooled into another icy certainty.
This was more than just a victory. It was a casting, too.
The producers had handed him the leading role in their new drama.
The dark, underdog prodigy. And he knew from grim experience that a dramatic storyline was often built for a spectacular rise, followed by an even more spectacular fall.
A hand clamped down on Min Jae’s shoulder. He flinched, turning to see who it was. His brain took a half-second to catch up, reconciling the face in front of him with a memory from years ago, back when he was still a trainee at Co-modity. Han Woo Jin.
Woo Jin looked almost exactly the same as he did back then.
Just older. The baby fat that had defined his boyish features was gone, replaced by the sharp, rugged lines of a young man.
He’d never been a standout visual, always sitting comfortably on the handsome side of ordinary.
But the weariness in the corners of his eyes was a look Min Jae knew well.
Back then, Woo Jin had always been nice enough.
A decent dancer, a hard worker. They’d gotten along.
“Kwon Min Jae,” Woo Jin said, a look of genuine shock on his face. “Holy shit. You fell off the face of the earth after the accident. I thought I spotted you earlier, but I wasn’t sure. Then I saw you onstage! Damn. That was something.”
Min Jae immediately dialed up his joyful grin.
Back into character. He offered his hand.
“Han Woo Jin. It’s great to see you.” Whispers of memory surfaced.
A hard-won debut, only to disband after releasing a pair of little-known singles.
“Sorry about what happened–” He let the thought hang in the air, unfinished.
Woo Jin let out a short, bitter laugh, giving Min Jae’s hand a firm shake.
“Yeah. That was a thing that happened, alright. Same with your knee.” He shook his head, then gestured toward the stage.
“Didn’t seem to slow you down, though. Number one on day one.
You set this place on fire. Congrats, hyung. ”
Min Jae forced a casual shrug. But not too casual He was unused to so much praise, earned or not. And it had been a long time since anyone called him hyung. “Thanks. I–” He paused as Andy passed through his field of vision again. “I wasn’t sure how it would go in the end.”
Woo Jin knowingly nodded. “You mean the American.” It wasn’t a question. “Yeah, that guy tore the stage up, too. Best performance of the day.” He snorted. “Until yours,” he added with a wink.
Min Jae chuckled. It was hard to tell whether Woo Jin was being genuine or not.
He’d never known him to be a player before, but a lot had changed since back then.
Min Jae definitely had. “Thanks.” He dug through his memories of the performances, struggling to recall anything that Woo Jin had done.
“I loved yours, too. You can never go wrong with a classic from Cosine.”
Woo Jin’s cheeks darkened as he grinned. Okay, genuine. “Thanks! I wish it had placed me higher than fifteen, but at least I made it into the top third.” His grin melted away. “The other guys from Co-modity didn’t do as well.”
Min Jae hadn’t even realized that more guys from his trainee days were there.
He’d been so wrapped up in how he looked and acted, he’d been oblivious.
A grave error. Thankfully, Woo Jin saved him from continuing it any further.
Now that the rankings had happened, the positioning was on.
Just like Woo Jin was doing, using his loose connection to the number one contestant to forge a new bond.
An alliance. So, genuine, but with a motive. A good motive.
“Then it might just be us repping the old company, I guess.”
Woo Jin chuckled. “Co-modity, the sequel.”
A bright voice reached across the noise, announcing that buses were now boarding for the trip to Sky Village, their new home for the foreseeable future.
“Guess that’s us,” Woo Jin said. He briefly glanced at something over Min Jae's shoulder. “There’s someone else I wanna say hi to. But we should sit together, hyung. Try and save me a seat?”
Min Jae nodded, letting his grin spread a little wider. An alliance, even a temporary one, was a highly valuable asset in a place like this. “You got it.”
The backstage exit led to a private loading area where a pair of ordinary-looking charter buses waited.
Nothing flashy to alert the potential fans.
The crowd of a hundred contestants split organically, heading for the nearest open door.
Min Jae followed a pack of them onto the closest bus.
It was spacious, with more than enough room for everyone to spread out.
He passed by Woo Jin, standing near the front, already chatting easily with a small group of guys, offering him a casual nod.
Min Jae tried to place the other guys from the evaluations.
A rapper, maybe? And a dancer? Shit. Why hadn’t he been paying better attention?
He’d been so focused on himself, but the time for that was over.
He’d need to sharpen the hell up if he was gonna keep winning.
Min Jae chose an empty row near the middle, taking the window seat.
He sat upright, arms crossed, letting his gaze sweep over the other contestants as they found their seats, putting faces to the performances he could remember.
The producers had cast him as the underdog role, that much was clear.
But a good drama needed more than one character.
It needed heroes, villains, comic relief, and a cast of supporting players.
He needed to know who else was being cast and in what parts.
So many of the faces surrounding him screamed of privilege.
He could see it in their perfectly clear skin, their expensive haircuts, and the casual ease with which they wore their designer practice gear.
Trainees whose rich parents or companies had paved their way with the best lessons, the best nutrition, the best everything.
And for what? To be ranked below him? He smirked, quietly snorting.
They hadn't bled for this. Not like he had. They hadn’t sacrificed pieces of their soul just to stay in the game.
That’s why he was number one, and they weren't. They hadn't earned it.
Min Jae’s roaming gaze settled on Woo Jin again.
He’d already moved on, chatting up another contestant sitting alone.
Was he one of the other Co-modity guys? He kind of looked familiar.
But Woo Jin was more than just a familiar face.
He was a potential source of intelligence.
An alliance could be more than having someone on your side.
He needed information, and Woo Jin’s easy way with the other contestants could be a good source for that.
The doors hissed shut, and with a smooth, quiet rumble, they pulled away from the Vision Center loading dock. Min Jae watched the massive building recede, his resolve hardening into something cold and sharp. He knew his storyline. Now he just needed to learn everyone else's.
With the bus in motion, Woo Jin slid into the seat beside Min Jae. “Thanks for saving me a spot, hyung.”
“Of course,” Min Jae said, patting Woo Jin’s thigh like a good hyung would. “Who were you talking to back there?”
“Oh, just Im Chul Min and Song Dae Hyun,” Woo Jin replied with a shrug. “You know how it is. You see the same faces at a dozen different shows, you start to remember them.”