Chapter: 75
Park Jung-woo pondered.
Just how did things come to this?
It was scorching hot, and there were people staring blankly at him.
Their expressions were mostly like this.
‘Why the heck is this guy here?’
Honestly, he felt a bit of the same.
‘Why am I here?’
So then.
It all started a few days ago.
He had heard about Survival Without People from Shin Young-woo, the PD, who had connections with his father.
He couldn’t quite remember what he said at the time, but somehow, his participation was swiftly decided.
No wonder!
“Wow, seems like your presence on the last episode of Looking Back, Recalling the Past made quite an impression; you got permission in record time!”
Hah-hah-hah, Shin Young-woo was just laughing, having gotten the nod without any hassle.
What was his agency doing, not stopping him?
“Anyway, you have nothing lined up until the next drama shoot, so just take a break and enjoy yourself.”
Hwang Jin-hwan, the head of Onga Ram Actors, said as he readily let him go.
It felt as if he was saying, “Go on and have fun!”
“Nowadays, Survival Without People is laid-back. They say it’s not that intense.”
He even gave him a light pat on the shoulder.
In truth, the reason behind his encouragement was simple.
Park Jung-woo rarely appeared on variety shows.
He was solely focused on his acting and modeling work, avoiding other broadcasts entirely.
‘Actors need to watch their image.’
That was surely due to his father’s rigorous upbringing.
He wanted to say that times had changed, but a leading actor’s agency head couldn’t speak so freely.
“Just don’t create any scandals.”
“……”
Scandals.
He immediately guessed whom that referred to.
Everyone who met him after Looking Back, Recalling the Past would inevitably ask.
‘You’re not in some relationship with Princess Yeonhwa, are you?’
Something along those lines.
“Director, that girl is still in high school. She has three years until she’s an adult. Three whole years.”
“Come on, it’s not like you’re that far apart in age.”
Saying that, he continued.
“Three years will pass in no time.”
Even if he spoke like that, he knew very well that Park Jung-woo wouldn’t let anything scandalous slip. He was incredibly disciplined.
In any case, he didn’t even have the chance to refuse.
“Hey, I heard we have a secret guest!”
The main MC of Survival Without People, Jeong Dae-hyun, was the first to greet him with a bright smile.
Baking sun.
Sandy beach.
A bit further away, there were thick bushes.
It felt more tropical than Korean.
All in all, this was a place filled with everything Park Jung-woo despised.
That’s right.
Park Jung-woo had arrived on a deserted island somewhere overseas.
*
‘A deserted island!’
Survival Without People was a variety show Seoyeon was already familiar with.
Of course, she hadn’t particularly enjoyed watching it in her past life.
It wasn’t exactly suitable for ‘studying.’
Regardless, it was still quite interesting for Joo Seoyeon.
Firstly, she had never traveled abroad or found herself in such wilderness before.
‘Survival Without People was somewhat notorious, if memory serves right.’
It couldn’t be called super popular.
But it certainly boasted a solid fan base, ensuring it reached a decent viewership rating.
While there were complaints about how intense it was, it didn’t reckon dangerously with safety or mistreat the participants, making it a show without significant accidents.
However, since the filming period was quite long, only Seoyeon and Park Hee-jun, who had just wrapped up their movie, were participating.
“Greetings! I’m Jeong Dae-hyun, your exploration lead!”
A massive guy, over 190 cm tall, bowed and introduced himself.
This self-proclaimed exploration leader was a former athlete turned comedian, naturally becoming the main MC for Survival Without People.
Despite his large figure, his demeanor was friendly, easing the surrounding tension.
“And over here! We have the two actors from the soon-to-be-released The Chaser.”
A seamless introduction.
A brief promotion related to The Chaser, which started at the airport, followed.
Of course, it wasn’t the full spiel but merely a taste.
Seoyeon remained silent throughout, while most of the talking was done by Park Hee-jun.
‘I’m just a convenience store part-timer…’
It wasn’t that Seoyeon didn’t want to speak, but she felt cautious about mentioning something that might reveal her character.
“Alright, that’s enough of the introductions. We have two guests today, so this will be quick, you know?”
On Survival Without People, alongside Jeong Dae-hyun, there were three regular cast members.
Combine that with the guests, and you get this format.
This episode had two guests.
The two actors promoting The Chaser: Joo Seoyeon and Park Hee-jun.
‘…I wonder if it’ll go well?’
While the MC Jeong Dae-hyun looked unfazed, Na Tae-sik, one of the regular members, felt a bit worried.
For one thing, he wasn’t overly concerned about Park Hee-jun, who’s a former special forces soldier, standing over 180 cm and buff.
“Let’s go!”
And just like that, Seoyeon’s first overseas shoot began.
*
Somewhere not too far from Papua New Guinea…
A deserted island with a sufficiently established ecosystem.
The stillness made Seoyeon gasp.
This unexpected overseas shoot felt new, and the excitement bubbled up within her.
“And, I’m just going to say this now,”
At that point, Jeong Dae-hyun stepped forward and began to speak.
The gaze of the crew, who were unpacking their things, shifted towards him.
“Actually, there’s one more guest today!”
“One more guest?”
The other members turned their attention to Seoyeon and Park Hee-jun.
They wondered if someone else was coming from The Chaser.
“Maybe not everyone else knows, but Seoyeon here is quite familiar with this person.”
“…Me?”
Who on earth was she familiar with?
‘Does such a person even exist?’
For someone like Seoyeon, who had an incredibly tight social circle, the term ‘someone I know’ didn’t apply to many.
Among them, it had to be someone she really knew.
“It’s none other than Park Jung-woo! ”
Bam!
It almost felt as if a sound effect had come in.
“Park Jung-woo?”
“Come on, don’t joke! What’s Jung-woo doing here?!”
As the other members started chiming in with their remarks,
A figure stepped out from the bushes.
Looking exhausted, a man with a perfectly handsome face who seemed entirely bewildered about why he was here.
“……”
Park Jung-woo.
The moment Seoyeon laid eyes on him, she was taken aback.
‘What is he doing here?’
With good reason, Park Jung-woo hadn’t ever participated in variety shows in his past life either.
*
Anyway, after Park Jung-woo’s surprising entrance stirred up a bit of chaos, they got right to filming.
Just as the name suggested, Survival Without People aimed to showcase survival over a 2-night, 3-day expedition on a deserted island.
Initially, all they were given was a bottle of water.
Water was unlimited.
Other supplies were off-limits, considering health risks.
‘Ugh…’
Seoyeon felt somewhat disappointed.
‘…I had read up on survival series before coming here.’
She shook the sloshing water bottle in her hands.
She wanted to try making a water filter with a plastic bottle.
“Excuse me, how are we supposed to do anything without tools?”
Jeong Dae-hyun asked, looking incredulous as he directed the query at PD Shin Young-woo.
“Tools? Sure, we have them! But we’ve hidden them on the island.”
Shin Young-woo chuckled while saying this.
At that, Jeong Dae-hyun looked genuinely perplexed.
‘They’re not planning to make it too easy, huh?’
Well, if they provided all the tools at the start, the show would probably lack excitement.
Unlike the traditional jungle or harsh terrains, this wasn’t even that tough.
“First, let’s divide into exploration and survival teams.”
Jeong Dae-hyun gathered the members.
First, there was the exploration team to search for tools.
And the survival team to find fruits they could eat or build a shelter.
Those who were physically fit were on the exploration team.
Meanwhile, those who didn’t seem as capable were categorized into the survival team.
Of course, Seoyeon naturally joined the survival team.
Alongside Park Jung-woo and the only female regular member, Bang Ha-yoon.
‘Phew.’
Park Jung-woo felt at ease, worried they might drag him to the exploration team.
“First, let’s start a fire.”
At that moment, Seoyeon cheerfully suggested.
Jung-woo looked at her, baffled.
“Why?”
“Starting a fire is common sense, right?”
“Why though?”
He was genuinely curious.
Besides, how was she planning on igniting that fire in the first place?
“Aren’t we supposed to have tools to start a fire? We just went searching for those.”
Hearing his words, Seoyeon held out a suitably thick log and some branches.
‘You can’t be serious about starting a fire with that, right?’
Was she trying to throw herself into this for the sake of the show?
Her expression was oddly bright as she looked at Seoyeon.
‘She’s serious about this.’
Seeing Seoyeon’s earnest desire to get it done made Jung-woo’s lips quiver slightly.
“…Alright, I’ll start the fire, and you can find more wood or something.”
“I want to do it!”
“…”
Starting a fire by rubbing a stick together is definitely no walk in the park.
Especially when even men struggle with this laborious task.
From Jung-woo‘s standpoint, it was clear that Seoyeon could never handle it.
‘Could it be that Jung-woo wants to try starting a fire too?’
Seoyeon narrowed her eyes and glared at him, who was insisting on doing it himself.
“Alright, let’s settle this with rock-paper-scissors!”
“Huh?”
“Whoever wins gets to start the fire!”
“Wait…!”
Before Jung-woo could even finish his sentence, Seoyeon held out her hand for rock-paper-scissors.
Jung-woo’s reflexes kicked in as he prepared his hand, forming a rock.
By the way, Seoyeon chose scissors.
“……”
“I win!”
Jung-woo exhaled a sigh of relief.
While he had been taken aback by the sudden statement, he thought he could use this to persuade her.
But…
“Huh?”
Seoyeon‘s scissors crushed his rock.
The crunching sound shouldn’t even have happened.
“Yikes!!”
Jumping back, Jung-woo pulled his hand away.
Beaming with pride, Seoyeon exclaimed.
“Scissors beat rock!”
“Uh, n-no…”
Did she break something?
Curiosity crossed Jung-woo’s mind as he inspected his hand, but thankfully, he found no injury.
“…Alright, I get it. I’ll handle something else; you just focus on starting that fire.”
“Okay!”
Seoyeon’s answer led Jung-woo to sigh as he turned away.
After all, she’d probably give up once she got tired.
‘But how on earth is she squeezing out that much strength from her fingers?’
Could it be that she truly wanted to start a fire?
With that thought hanging in the air, the other members began focusing on Seoyeon.
Seoyeon was now seriously attempting to light a fire with a log and branches in her hands.
And the cameraman capturing this scene thought to himself.
‘This girl is more unique than I expected.’
Filming Seoyeon, who suddenly stepped up to start a fire, made him chuckle.
Was it her desire for the show?
He pondered if it was worth it while finding amusement in her struggle.
‘Watching her give her all to start a fire…’
Just then, Seoyeon excitedly rubbed the branches together.
Crack!
The branches in her hands crumbled like they had been through a grinder.
Naturally, the fire didn’t ignite.
“……”
Seoyeon, staring at the broken branches in disbelief, blinked in surprise.
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