"...Wow, this house is really nice."
As soon as I opened the front door, pulling my big suitcase behind me, a gasp escaped first.
A clean, stylish white-toned interior, a spacious living room.
But before I could admire it for long, the moment the seven people sitting on the sofa all turned their heads to look at me
my heart started pounding like crazy. I was the very last person to move into this house.
The cameras installed throughout the house,
the seven pairs of focused eyes,
and the strange, peculiar pressure this space gave off.
Above all, the fact that I was in the same place as my ex-boyfriend made every cell in my body go completely on edge.
"H-hello...! I ended up coming last."
Trying my best not to seem awkward, I held the suitcase handle tightly and gave a small smile.
Then the man sitting in the middle of the sofa was the first to beam and stand up.
"We were all already stretching our necks, waiting to see when the last person would arrive. I'm Kim Jaehyun."
He had a cheerful, kind voice.
The man next to him casually cleared the cushion from the seat beside the sofa and murmured quietly.
"This is a comfortable spot. Have a seat. I'm Han Dongmin."
"Ah, thank you... Mr. Dongmin. I'm Yoon Yeoju."
As soon as my name came out, the female cast members huddled on the sofa each offered me a greeting in turn.
"Nice to meet you, Yeoju! I'm Park Jeongah."
"Hello, I'm Lee Bomin."
The two of them awkwardly smiled and introduced themselves in turn, and Sung Siyoon, sitting beside them, also gave a light bow.
"I'm Sung Siyoon."
With that short greeting, Siyoon lowered her gaze.
Her hands gripping her cardigan were trembling slightly.
Her eyes had been on Dongmin, but then they cut off abruptly.
I instinctively knew that Siyoon's X was Dongmin.
Another male cast member, quietly smiling beside her, also gave a light nod of greeting.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Lee Sanghyuk."
And opposite them, one man silently fiddling with a clear glass of water and avoiding eye contact.
At the urging of the others, he reluctantly lifted his head and muttered in a low voice.
"...I'm Park Seongho."
With that short greeting murmured in a low voice,
the living room was briefly filled with the awkward silence that comes when strangers first gather.
After a light nod of greeting, I quietly took a seat at the end of the sofa.
On the first day, everyone's ages and jobs were to remain secret—that was the rule of this house.
Amid the strange cat-and-mouse game and the awkward atmosphere, all eight men and women gathered in one space like that.
At last, the living room was complete with all eight people gathered.
As awkward conversations passed back and forth in the strange battle of wits, evening twilight slowly approached.
"Since it's our first day, should we all make something delicious together?"
At Jeongah's suggestion, everyone agreed and gathered in the kitchen.
The menu was kimchi stew and bulgogi.
As everyone rolled up their sleeves and started dividing up the ingredients,
I also stepped up to the cutting board.
That was when I was lightly fiddling with the kitchen knife on the sink, preparing to cut vegetables.
"Yeoju, are you good with knives?"
Jaehyun, who was making the stew seasoning nearby, naturally came over to my side.
Before I could even answer, he lightly picked up the kitchen knife in front of my hand and grinned teasingly.
"The knife looks a little heavy. It's dangerous, so I'll do the cutting.
Instead, Yeoju, could you set the spoons out nicely over there on the dining table? That's not dangerous."
As Jaehyun cheerfully took over the cutting board, the other cast members snickered,
and I smiled back, grateful, saying, "Thank you, Jaehyun."
I picked up the utensil holder and walked over to the long dining table.
But the moment I arrived at the table, I stopped in my tracks and stood still right where I was.
That was because Seongho, who had been quietly carrying side plates at one end of the table, had already started setting the utensils out on the table.
The neatly lined-up utensils were arranged a little differently from what you'd normally see at any restaurant.
Usually, people would put the utensils on the right side, based on a right-handed person without thinking,
but all the utensils Seongho had set down were facing the opposite side.
With an indifferent expression, Seongho went around the whole table aligning the utensils that way.
"......."
Tap, tap.
The regular sound of the utensils touching the wooden table echoed dully in the silence.
Seongho finished setting the last utensils and turned away abruptly with a dry expression, as if nothing had happened.
"All right, everyone, sit down! Let's eat!"
At Jaehyun's lively voice, the cast members began to gather around the dining table.
I could hear a few people marveling at the direction of the utensils,
but soon the kitchen was mixed with noisy chatter.
Above the table where laughter spread,
the gazes hiding each person's secret crisscrossed chaotically.
The breathless hide-and-seek of eight people hiding their true identities
was beginning soundlessly at the quiet table.
