Life is Easier If You're Handsome-Chapter 273

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While editing episode one of Physical 300—

“PD-nim! The vote count is finished.”

“Mm, okay. Just a sec.”

Ji Yonghu PD waved dismissively at the youngest PD’s voice.

Seeing the gesture, the junior PD approached with a nervous face.

“Did we do something wrong?”

“No, it’s not that. I just... I’m greedy. I want to make it even better.”

Trying to ease the younger PD’s worry,

Ji Yonghu rubbed his eyes.

Out of about 300 people, maybe only 50 have real variety show potential?

Honestly, that was already a lot.

Objectively speaking, the footage was solid.

But compared to the main highlight... it felt lacking.

“Donghu was just too amazing. But the other matches were incredible too.”

Relieved that the blame wasn’t on him,

The junior PD encouraged Ji Yonghu, who kept replaying the ball-stealing scene.

“I know, I know. I’m just being greedy.”

He took a long drag of his vape and exhaled carefully upward,

His leg bouncing like he was flooring a gas pedal.

“So, obviously Donghu got first place in the team leader vote, right?”

“Yes. Kade was second, just as expected. And third was the marathoner, Sindre.”

“Wow, exactly as we predicted.”

Leaving his regret behind, Ji Yonghu finally stood from his seat.

“Where did you organize the results?”

“On the whiteboard.”

“Good. That’s the best way to make it pop visually.”

Ji Yonghu moved over and stood in front of the whiteboard displaying the final tally.

From 1st to 15th.

The rankings from the “winner candidate vote,” a.k.a. the team leader vote.

One detail stood out—

“Donghu got all 150 votes.” freeweɓnovel~cѳm

Kim Donghu had received votes from all 150 participants who passed the first round.

That’s right, 150.

“...Donghu even voted for himself?”

“He’s got such human charm. Should we put that in the broadcast?”

“Yeah, lay it down like bait. You get what I mean?”

“Oh, ohh! Got it!”

You needed little bits like that to spice things up.

Muttering to himself, Ji Yonghu moved on to confirm the next round’s event.

“Now it’s group project time, huh?”

***

The day of Physical 300’s second round shoot.

The participants had gathered again after a short break.

“Man, I never expected they’d give us accommodations like this in Korea.”

“More than half the 150 are international athletes... Netflix must be loaded.”

“Yeah, and with that much investment... I wonder how much they plan to squeeze out of us.”

The participants chatted about how much Netflix must’ve spent.

Then—

“Hello.”

“Donghu! You’re on time today?”

“I had a family thing. Couldn’t be helped.”

“Haha! A real man puts family first. You really are the perfect alpha.”

The moment Kim Donghu appeared, attention snapped to him.

Maybe it was because of the impromptu autograph session earlier?

At this point, Kim Donghu was already a leader figure among the participants.

“I didn’t expect you to send a video message... Thank you so much.”

“It really wasn’t a big deal. It’s off-season for me anyway.”

“Come on, like you ever have an off-season.”

Kim Donghu’s fan service was beyond amazing.

Despite being a global superstar,

He’d sent video messages and signed autographs without hesitation.

Of course, the participants were respectful of boundaries,

But even doing it within those limits was impressive.

Most celebrities lost their humility as they rose—

But not Kim Donghu.

“So, what do you think today’s event is?”

At Kade’s question, Kim Donghu shrugged.

“Not sure. But... maybe it’s time for team matches?”

“Team matches?”

“There are way too many people.”

150 participants.

Obviously, it was impossible to feature all of them individually.

But they couldn’t just exclude people outright either.

In cases like this, nothing beats a good group game.

And Kim Donghu’s prediction was right on target.

—“Welcome to all participants who have survived through Round 2.”

—“From Round 2 onward, games will be held in teams, with team leaders at the center.”

Just like he’d guessed, the announcement rolled forward like a script.

—“The team leaders were selected based on the previous winner candidate vote.”

—“First team leader: Group A’s Kim Donghu, with 150 votes.”

At that first team leader announcement, everyone froze for a moment.

150 votes? There were 150 people. That meant...

“Donghu Kim, did you vote for yourself?”

“...Ah.”

Kim Donghu’s face flushed red.

***

After the announcement of all team leaders from 1st to 15th,

I looked over at the others standing in line beside me.

They’ve all clearly got something solid going for them.

Not just brute strength or raw speed—

They were all well-rounded, hexagon-statted types.

Anyone could tell these were people worthy of leading a team.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

—“Starting from the top rank, team leaders will each pick one person at a time until they have a team of 10, including themselves.”

With the next announcement, everyone quickly grasped the rules.

From the top down,

Each leader would form a 10-member team, themselves included.

Then those teams would compete.

Now it made sense why team leaders were chosen via the winner candidate vote.

It wouldn’t be fun if all the strongest ended up on the same team.

To maintain exciting matchups,

They’d deliberately spread the power around.

In that sense—

Who should I choose?

Picking teammates had to be a careful decision.

The greatness of group tasks lies in the fact that you can’t solo-carry them.

Sure, you might pull it off in smaller tasks,

But on a scale like Physical 300, that was impossible.

So I decided to draw the strongest card first.

“I’ll choose the wrestler, Han Jang-soon.”

He’d placed exactly 16th—just barely missing team leader status.

Han Jang-soon, a freestyle wrestling Olympic gold medalist.

He probably wasn’t picked as a team leader due to recognition.

After all, how many people really know Korean wrestlers?

Even if they’re Olympic gold medalists.

And it’s not like he’s the only Olympic gold medalist here either.

In this storm of monstrous physiques,

It felt like uncovering a hidden master.

So, with the advantage of choosing first,

I was able to build a pretty great team.

“Donghu, I can’t believe you picked me... I’m honored.”

“Honored? No way. I’m the one who’s happy to have someone like you.”

“Don’t say that. Hehe... We’re practically the winning team already!”

“For real! I mean, come on—just being next to actor Kim Donghu? That’s an auto-win!”

We chatted a bit to break the ice within the team, then—

—“Team 1, Kim Donghu’s team, please proceed to the next stage.”

Following the announcement, we moved to the next set.

“...Whoa.”

We were stunned the moment we saw it.

—“Round 2 mission: Move Noah’s Ark.”

What stood in front of us looked to be around 3 tons in weight.

It was baffling just how they even brought it in.

What shocked us more was the fact that we were expected to move it.

—“All 15 teams must move Noah’s Ark to the designated location. Rankings will be determined by time.”

—“The bottom 5 teams will be immediately eliminated.”

A simple mission.

Just move the massive object.

The problem? It weighed 3 tons.

And it wasn’t just about moving it.

“They really love mud, huh.”

The ground was mud.

Obviously, you couldn’t just drag it across the floor.

Scattered around us were wooden planks, laid out like malicious traps.

We had to lay those like stepping stones,

And ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ use them to drag Noah’s Ark across.

“Phew.”

Was that all? Of course not.

The course looked to be about 150 meters long.

And the endpoint had an incline.

“You can feel the pure evil in this.”

As we stood there, wondering how to even approach the task—

—“You have 10 minutes for strategy discussion.”

The announcement played, and a 10-minute countdown began.

We immediately approached Noah’s Ark,

To get a clearer idea of its structure.

“There’s a lot of good grips. There are oar-like parts on the sides.”

“There’s a rope in the front! And in the back, a flat panel we can push from!”

“The real problem is inside. There’s a ton of animal models.”

“No wonder they’re calling it Noah’s Ark.”

The boat wasn’t just heavy.

To sabotage weight balance,

They’d crammed in heavy animal models,

Leaving them loose to shift around freely.

“...There’s ropes inside too, and even chains.”

“There are rings on the models. Looks like they want us to tie them down?”

Absolutely evil.

Were we really expected to secure all that and then drag it?

“Guess money can pull off stuff like this, huh.”

Should I try making something like this one day?

I joked to myself and then regrouped my team.

“Okay, as soon as the game starts, let’s spend about five minutes laying out the stepping boards. The rest of you secure the animal models.”

“Sounds good.”

The strategy was simple.

Lay out the path solidly.

Tie down the loose models.

Then just drag it.

***

Meanwhile—

“We’ll run the next set all at once. Otherwise the time drag is way too much.”

“Right?”

“That’s why they must’ve built three sets.”

Ji Yonghu PD monitored the entire situation from a large display.

Netflix didn’t want to waste any time,

So they had built not one, but three gigantic set replicas.

They clearly understood that time is money.

“Kim Donghu’s team just started.”

“Okay.”

And so, the Noah’s Ark challenge began.

Ji Yonghu PD was eager to see how Donghu would perform.

He’d seen the video of Donghu pulling a plane,

But this was a different story.

This wasn’t a wheeled object.

It would require pure strength.

And not just that—

It was a mission that required a certain degree of technique as well.

But then—

Grrrrrkk!

As if mocking all that—

“...Huh?”

Kim Donghu, who had wrapped the rope tightly around his entire body,

Positioned his teammates at the sides and rear of the Ark.

And then he stepped forward—

RRRRRRGHHRRRKK!

And pulled Noah’s Ark.

No wheels? Then I’ll be the wheels.

That was the simple idea behind Kim Donghu’s move.

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