Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 2 The Meet-Cute Conspiracy

The next four chapters of the game would be each devoted to one of the main suitors so that you can get to know them better and probably start forming some kind of attachment to them. I mean the game is going to need you to like one of them enough so that you would spend money to pull their cards. It seemed like they probably did a survey among its players to find out who their favourite is and by popular vote, it seemed that my original position is pretty much the majority choice as well. Now, I never really liked to be part of majority…

Spoilers ahead!

Chapter 2 starts with a dream. You dreamt of being in a dark alley and someone sinister approaching you with a dagger. You awoke with a start and then recollected the events that took place when you went to LFG a few days back.

Victor didn’t give you much of a chance to plead your case and just as he was about to be out of earshot, you decided to give your all and raised your voice that he was going to regret not giving your studio a chance and that you would somehow turn things around and make him remember this day when he snubbed you. Without responding, Victor closed the door to his room, leaving you in the cold.

Ouch! That was mighty embarrassing. And while I don’t appreciate the MC making a ruckus like this as if everything can ever be solved by just speaking up boldly, I also felt that Victor was darn rude to not even hear you out. Just when you were licking your wounds, Victor opened his door and told you he would give you a week to give him a proposal to impress him. Ok, I tried playing that in my head… and it turned out like every other Korean drama I’ve ever watched. Next!

You received a call from Kiro to just inform you that he has just got another AR card and thought of you. He also sought your opinion on whether he should go with a movie or drama deal. Before he ended the call, he told you that he had secretly penciled himself in Miracle Finder a few months later and hoped he would finally have the chance to be on his favourite childhood show.

Back at your office, Anna, your co-worker and ever capable manager, told you that Loveland TV had commissioned your studio to work on an investigation project and your correspondent at the station is Gavin. (This was a great opportunity for you to score more contracts with Loveland TV to ensure the survivability of your studio.) So you went down to the police station to find him and upon meeting him, realised that he was your senior from high school. Someone who had a notorious reputation for fights and extortions. Hence it was such a surprise to see him become a police officer.

After a super brief catch up after not meeting each other for like 5 years, Gavin asked you to hop onto his bike. So this cool looking police officer with a hot bod, nasty past, also rides a bike and zips through town to solve crimes. And of course, don’t forget that classic scene where the girl doesn’t know where to put her hands and finally realises the only way to hang on for her dear life is to grab Gavin around the waist.

After you finally caught up to what was happening, you learnt that there has been a spate of weird occurrences where women had found themselves in a different part of town without actually getting there themselves. I don’t really understand the jump to this part of the story though. How was your studio involved and what role do you play. If you were meant to follow Gavin on his rounds and document the investigation, then where is the recorder and camera? Do police officers randomly allow journalist to follow them?

So Gavin came here to meet with one of the victims, a self-absorbed social media influencer who live streams everything. While ignoring you entirely, she was literally flinging herself at Gavin, shooting pitiful looks and sobs in between her testimony which really gave nothing concrete. Gavin as the typical chivalrous knight goes, is unperturbed by her advances and simply goes about all business.

Suddenly your phone rang and you quickly took the call amidst glares from Gavin. The call came from Lucien who randomly asked you to look in the direction of his research centre. He went about showcasing some experiment in the sky which materialised as a beautiful light show. Lucien went on to explain some mumbo jumbo about space folding. That was totally random to say the least but it seemed like his real intent for calling was to complain your absence in the meeting with him about your next show. In total awkwardness, you don’t know how to respond to him – you still need his help so you can’t be totally cold, yet at the same time, if you weren’t actually attracted to him, such advances would totally creep you out. (Lucien also asked you if you had any premonitions lately and reminded you of his words of caution when you first met him.)

Anyway you managed to placate Lucien and ended the call. Gavin didn’t seem too happy to see you laughing over the phone with another person. Was he already jealous and was there even a reason to since both of you didn’t even seemed like close friends even back in high school. You continued the investigation for rest of day and shared your conjecture about space folding with Gavin, who took the hypothesis in his stride. I supposed space folding and teleporting is a commonplace, everyday occurrence even in his course of police work.

After dropping you off at your place, Gavin hands you a bracelet with a gingko leaf charm and tells you to wear it always. (The gingko leaf triggers a long forgotten memory of a time when you were in high school while playing a tune on the piano.) This was a tracker so that he knows where you are always and can watch over your safety. Wait wait wait, am I in danger here? Why on earth would I wear a tracker from a police officer I just met today, albeit an acquaintance from school, and why was the tracker disguised as an accessory, as if Gavin had it all prepared from day one? Why wasn’t I even questioning any of this as a journalist?

Fast forward a few days and the investigation feature was released and well received. It was time to meet up with Victor to present your proposal that he would regret passing up on. As you tried to enter his room, Chik, an upcoming female artiste came out. She looked a bit disheveled and gave you an evil eye. Out of nowhere, she told you to keep your paws off Victor, because he is hers apparently. Okayyyyy. I’m just here to present a report, b$(#*. No need to get your feathers all ruffled up over this.

In the room, Victor didn’t looked like someone who just had a rendezvous with Chik. Instead he looked pretty disoriented unlike the few times you have met him. He told you not to spread any weird rumours and clarified there was nothing going on between him and Chik. Not what she said. Anyway back to business. It wasn’t so much a business proposal presentation as opposed to him just telling you that if LFG funds your studio, you will need to become innovative enough to monopolise the entire TV industry in two years. Though you didn’t think this was remotely possible, you weren’t about to say no either.

As you left his office, you received a call from Victor. You found out that he had done up a check on you and found that you were a career underachiever. Though, that wasn’t the reason for the call. He wanted to remind you not to tell anyone about the incident with the car accident and above Evolvers. You came clean and told him that you’ve spoken to Lucien about this though. He didn’t react negatively and then hung up.

(You checked your social media feed as you left LFG. Apparently Kiro had made a comment about your latest feature on the space folding and you gleefully replied that he has the superpower to make everybody love him). When you looked up from your phone, you found yourself teleported to the same dark alley you had dreamt of. You had no idea how you got here from the busy street you were just on. You turned around and found the perpetrator of these space folding crimes, brandishing a dagger with the evil intent of harming you. He shared that he had been tracking you and finally had the opportunity to get rid of you so that the moment of your Evol awakening won’t happen. Suddenly remembering the words from Lucien to trust your instincts, you ran towards a source of wind current. You heard a voice overhead asking you to jump which you did so.

Next thing you know, you ended up in Gavin’s arms suspended many many levels above ground. There was no information of what happened to the guy who tried to attack you except that he has been caught. With so many things happening at the same time, you rattled off a series of questions and Gavin calmly explained what was going on. You were the target of some secret organisation because of the Evol gene you carry which was awakening. The recent traffic incident was one such attack. Gavin was surprised that Victor would save you. Apparently he knew about Victor since they were kids.

In fact, the entire arrangement to pair you with him for the TV show was simply a ruse for him to be able to protect you. Gavin told you that you have the Evol of premonition and you realised that this was probably related to the weird dreams you had been having. Gavin also shared that he was an Evolver who could control the wind.

Back home you recounted the events of the day. You wondered if Gavin was indeed the person who conjured up the storm of ginko leaves outside the piano room that day 6 years ago. Perhaps you’d ask him once you get to know him better. As the topic of Evol and superpower started to plague your mind, you wondered if your father knew about this. You started rummaging through his old notes about Miracle Finder and came across an old photo of an orphanage which looked faintly familiar. Just then Kiki called you and told you to check your social media feed. You have become instantly famous after Kiro found you on social media and followed you!

A call from Gavin to check in on you. When you asked him why the tracker was accessorised as a gingko bracelet and if it held any significance, he fumbled over his words and couldn’t quite explain it. He told you to keep it on and would update you when there are developments in the case.

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So we learnt that you are an Evolver with the powers of precognition which are manifested though the dreams you have. Why this secret organisation want to get rid of you though is a mystery – did they want to farm your abilities or simply to get rid of all people with Evol genes? What did Gavin know that he wasn’t letting you in on, and what did your father know about this as well? What amazed me is how much you took all this into stride instead of going all balonkers with the sudden revelation.

The story plot for chapter two left me with more questions than answers. Gavin was like a protective big brother who didn’t trust me enough to handle more information about the dangers I was in. The gingko charm bracelet also seemed to hide some history between the two of you which also remains untold at this point.