At a bus-stop nearby the University of Seoul, a woman was waiting for her bus like everyone else.
*Ring*
As soon as her phone rang, she was quick to lift the call.
"Hello?"
"Miyeon-ah, Where are you?" A hoarse tone of a woman was heard from the other side.
"Yoojin-unnie, I'm already at the bus stop. I need to go to Daejeon to convince Lee Minjoo's parents. Can you manage the boss for now? No matter what, I'll definitely scout…" All of a sudden, Miyeon went mute, staring at Kazuma, who was taking heavy breaths while wiping out his sweat, attracting all the ladies at the bus stop, who can't help but stare at him from the corner of their eyes.
"I'll call you, later, unnie," said Miyeon on the phone, hanging up without waiting to listen from the other side.
As Kazuma was scrolling down the contact list and stopped at Saeko's name, his hands started to slightly shiver, hesitating whether to call her or not, he heard a voice from beside, interrupting his actions.
"Excuse me."
Kazuma turned his head to the side and glanced at her face only to see the familiar numbers and her name on her head like everyone else. Even though he got the urge to run away, he tightened his fist to calm down, and responded, "Yes?"
Upon seeing his aquamarine eyes that were common in the west but rare in the east, she was taken aback at first but then, thought he might be a foreigner like Korean-American at the first glance.
Hesitation filled her face at first, whether to proceed or not as it was always a bit of risk recruiting foreigners, but then, staring at those oceanic eyes that seemed to call her to jump and swim in it, she decided to give it a try.
"Are you an actor or a trainee?" asked Miyeon in English with an expectation filled on her face.
As soon as he takes a look at her expression, Kazuma immediately understood that she was a recruiter as he dealt with so many of them in the past.
Kazuma answered her politely to see where it goes.
"No, I'm not. Just a college student." He pointed out the entrance of the university behind them.
Upon hearing his answer in fluent Korean, her eyes lit up, and she asked, thinking he was indeed a mixed Korean, "may I know how old you are?"
"19, Korean age. Internation age, 18," answered Kazuma.
The woman fell into thoughts for a brief moment before she asked, "Are you interested in becoming an actor or an idol? You seem to have a star quality we are looking for."
"Are you a scout?" Kazuma directly asked her in return, instead of answering her question.
The woman then showed her ID card that was hanging around her neck to make sure not to be misunderstood that she might be a scammer or something. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Sok Miyeon from Moonlight Entertainment."
"Moonlight Entertainment?" Kazuma frowned slightly as he rummaged through his memories for a few seconds. Realizing that nothing came to his mind, he shook his head, "I'm sorry, never heard of it."
She explained patiently, "It's a relatively established company. Our agency is mainly comprised of actors and we also have two active idol groups. Aquarius, and Neptune."
Unlike her expectations, Kazuma stared at her in silence as though he never heard both the groups.
Without giving up, she took a long breath and then said, "You must have at least heard of Galaxy Entertainment, right?"
"Yeah, it's one of the big five, right?" answered Kazuma with a nod. His sister was contracted to that company. So, he was very well familiar with it.
A wide smile appeared on her face, looking at the conversation going well, "You can consider our company as a subsidiary of GE (Galaxy Entertainment). Of course, GE didn't establish our company but holds the majority..."
Just then, as she realized her bus was about to arrive, she stopped talking and quickly took out her business card from the handbag.
"I'm sorry but I have to go. If you are interested, you can contact me. Here's my business card…"
As she handed her business card to him, she paused for a couple of seconds, "I'm sorry. I didn't ask your name."
"Ryu Kazuma," replied Kazuma as he took the card casually, not minding her words as those words are very common to him in daily life.
It was only then that she realized he was Japanese, making her smile freeze up on the spot before she hurried on to the bus while scolding herself, "damn. Didn't think my day started with a failure. I tried to scout a Japanese guy, of all the people. It's hard for them to survive in our entertainment industry just based on looks. What a waste of time…"
As the bus started leaving, she took a peek of him from far again and mumbled, "But, he has features of a mixed-Korean, no matter how I see it. Maybe, he is a Korean-Japanese? Well, if he's talented, then there would be no problem.
But, if he isn't, then, I would get an earful again. Maybe, I should ask for a second opinion."
Meanwhile, Kazuma went into a trance as he stared at the business card with its information written on a small holographic screen that suddenly appeared on top of it.
*Miyeon's business card*
Info: A business card of Sok Miyeon, a casting director at Moonlight Entertainment.
Then, as he stared at his mobile phone, the same thing happened.
*Kazuma's mobile phone*
Info: A 2018 model of the Westro brand. It belongs to the user.
"Just what the hell is going on? First names on people, and now, names on even this? Did someone really enter my memory through the dream with a futuristic device? Or maybe, someone injected a drug into me, causing these hallucinations… Don't be silly. How can that be possible? Still…"
As his gaze landed on Saeko's name on the contact list, his thoughts about various conspiracy theories halted and were replaced by a single picture of a lovable girl in his mind.
Taking one heavy breath once again, this time, he clicked on the name and put the phone near his ears.
Quickly, the call went through and started ringing.
Trying to calm down his heart that quickened its speed, Kazuma waited until he heard an unfamiliar voice from the other side.
"Hello?"
"Hi, can I speak to Saeko? I'm her brother, speaking," asked Kazuma in English as he doesn't know whether the other party is Korean or Japanese.
"She's in the shower," replied the girl.
"Okay, can you inform her about it and tell her to call me back?"
Kazuma quickly disconnected the call, and then, started to look around at everyone with ease of mind after confirming that his twin sister is still alive in this strange dream world or whatever.
"Level-8" "Level-12" "Level-11" "Level-17" "Level-29"
"Choi surname? This girl is a Korean? Thought she was Chinese. Maybe, her parents settled here?" "Oh, this guy is level-29. That is high, although I'm not sure what these levels signify."
*Bus*
Info: A bus that was traveling from Seoul to Andong.
"Eh? I can even see the bus route. This strange ability is indeed awesome"
As time goes by, he almost forgot about his earlier worries about the strange thing that happened to him and the excitement on Kazuma grew bit by bit, learning new information without moving an inch while glancing at his phone from time to time.
15 minutes passed away, and yet, as he never received a call from his sister, Kazuma decided to call her. Just as he clicked on her name and the call goes through, he glanced at a passerby.
Meanwhile, at a dormitory, looking at the blue-eyed girl, who was staring at the phone with anticipation of a call, her roommate spoke, "Saeko, you are waiting for the call for ten minutes. Can't you just call your brother?"
"No way. Kazu-Nii has the habit of disconnecting the call, saying he's busy whenever I call him," replied Saeko slowly as if she's mumbling, puffing her cheeks.
*Ring*Ring*
Suddenly, as the phone rang, her face glowed for a second while she picked up the call. "Moshi Moshi…" But, to her surprise, no sound came from the other side.
Meanwhile, Kazuma was frozen on the spot, looking ahead towards the road as he heard a bell sound in his mind, followed by the appearance of a holographic screen before him.
*Ding. You inspected 100 things successfully. The "Gamer" system is fully activated.
"Would you like to go through a tutorial?"