Chapter 15: It Remembers

An old woman was standing right behind him.

'What's her fucking problem?'

Geon turned around to get a better view of her appearance.

Geon is 175. 26 cm tall.

This person is an inch taller than him.

She was wearing a skirt slightly above her ankles.

Her top consisted of an olive-colored sweater and a pink scarf.

Her hair was white; her face caked up with layers of make-up.

Her outfit was kind of weird...?

She was also wearing eye glasses.

"A... Grandma?" Geon blurted out.

"You really suck at this." The old woman crossed her arms.

"What--"

"Step aside." She pushed Geon out of her way.

"!"

'Shit! She's strong!' Geon thought as he watch her play on the claw machine using his coins.

The old woman was very calm.

'Damn. So confident.'

•••

"..."

"Are you a stalker?" Geon asked the old woman.

He stared at the red-colored teddy bear she was holding.

His eyes were as big as the saucers.

"Why? Are you a celebrity?" The old woman replied in an indifferent manner.

"B-but you took out that teddy bear I had my eyes on since earlier from the claw machine!" Geon stuttered.

"You just like the teddy bear. Who gave you the idea that I got this for you?" The old woman smiled mockingly.

"What do--"

"This red thinng is for my grandson. Are you my grandson?" The old woman smirked evily.

"But the coins you used on the claw machine were mine!" Geon exclaimed.

The old woman definitely had this aura around her that was driving him mad.

It had been a while since he acted childishly like this.

"It was your fault you let me use your coins." The old woman raised the red-colored teddy bear in front of Geon.

"You're like a thief, grandma."

"That's right! I stole the hearts of many young men, back when I was still in my prime." The old woman boasted.

Geon rolled his eyes.

"Okay." He sighed before walking away.

"Where are you going, little kid?" The old woman walked beside him.

"I'm gonna shoot zombies." He answered in irrittion.

"You're really lame. I used to shoot people, back when I was still in my prime." The old woman once again boasted.

"Who cares about who you were when you were still on your prime?" Geon asked in a rude manner.

"You little punk." The old woman slapped his back.

"Damn! Your strength is--"

"No cursing."

And just like that, an unexpected friendship bloomed between them.

It's weird, but fuck it.

•••

Geon went inside the studio.

He was back on filming Cap-Teen-Vating.

'They really invested a lot of money into this survival show.'

It was already April, but it still felt like May.

(Why?)

Geon looked around the studio.

There was a big stage on the front, facing the 87 seats placed on a huge statue of a half-opened book.

Cameras were placed all around the studio.

Half of the trainees were already sitting on their perspective seats.

'This is very weird.' Geon thought as he pretended to act natural in front of the cameras and staffs scattered around the studio.

Yes, there were manh staffs present in the moment.

There's the familiar face of the shitty director obssessed with dramas.

There's also cameramen stationed in some spota of larger cameras.

He sat on one of the empty chairs placed on the right side of the statue of a half-opened book.

38; that was the number printed on the chair's backrest.

'Am I ranked 38th?'

Geon continued to smile.

He couldn't let a camera catch even a glimpse of him forwning.

Geon didn't want to be evil-edited.

According to his research about the entertainment industry, evil editing was common-- especially on survival shows.

Countless aspiring-to-be-a-celebrity-- even some already some famous figures-- became victims to evil editing just by simply frowning for one second.

All for the, "drama".

All for building up the tension.

As time passes, the seats placed on the huge statue of a half-opened book startes filling up.

Soon, the last trainee rrivee inside the studio.

It was Song Jeongin.

He looked around the studio as if searching for something-- for someone.

"Eek! Even his normal stare can bring chills down my spine."

"He must be looking for an empty seat."

"Wait! But the only seat left is..."

Everyone's eyes followed Song Jeongin's figure as he walk towards Geon.

"Wow! The staffs really made the two sit next to each other."

"I can already feel the rivalry between them."

Yes, the trainees didn't chose where to sit-- the staffs did.

They must have done this on purpose in order to build up a tense atmosphere between Geon and Song Jeongin.

But why Geon?

Simple.

Song Jeongin have been chosing him as a competitor since the, "camping", a week ago

Swoosh!

The whole studio suddenly wemt dark.

"Is it a black out?"

"I'm scared, bro!"

"It's a trick."

Just then, a red light flashes on the stage, revealing Kang Sejin in a red suit.

He looked so fucking hot.

"Look time no see, everyone!" He greeted the trainees in his usual friendly manner.

"Hello!" The trainees stood up from their seats and bowed at him.

"You're really polite!" Kang Sejin laughed in delight.

Acting or not, Geon didn't care.

He only wanted to know what this hot MC was going to say.

"Congratulations for getting your ranks, everyone!"

The whole studio fell silent.

And then...

"Rank?"

"I wasn't told--"

"The staffs didn't gave us anything though."

"Hmm. Look at th numbers printed on the backrest of the chair you're sitting on." Kang Sejin said with a smile on his face.

"..."

"!"

"???"

Gasps echoed inside the studio.

"I'm ranked 12th!"

"What do I do? The numbers I saw were 5 and 4..."

"Who ranked first?"

Geon stared at the number, "38", printed on the backrest of his seat.

His rank was higher than he expected.

He stared at Song Jeongin's seat.

The number, "1", was printed on it.

Kang Sejin clapped his hands, gaining the trainees' attention.

"Now, everyone. Listen. I'm going to tell you the stages of [Cap-Teen-Vating]. Imagine we're inside a story... And the things we did a week ago in the campsite was the [Prologue]." He started.

Just then, Geon's eyesight started to get blurry.

Ding!

[A penalty has arrived for you who continued to be foul-mouthed 4 days ago! Applying [Temporary Blindness]...]

'What the fuc--'

Geon temporarily went blind.