“Do we really have to? Does soone actually have to hang on it?”
F2’s face, who’d been thinking of catching a bird with his skill to hang as bait, went ashen.
Ah.
Roy belatedly realized the aning and gave an awkward laugh.
‘Bait needed > no food > bears eat people’ — he’d simply run the process to reach the conclusion.
He almost killed the mood.
“I was joking. Icebreaker.”
Maybe it was the cold? Everyone looked so stiff. Roy pretended nothing was wrong and squatted by the bear’s head. He felt sharp stares on the crown of his head but didn’t look up.
Lee Roi, rein yourself in.
He nearly got branded a sociopath.
Roy pressed the bear’s head down and did his best to act as if he didn’t know anything.
‘Right now the only way to control the bear is the Godslighting skill.’
Even if he used it, there was no guarantee it would work.
Maybe it would be faster to beat the bear in a fight, like F2 suggested...? After all, they’d barely managed a blood fiend after many attempts.
Then — flash!
Suddenly his brown eyes t the bear’s.
“?!”
Startled, Roy forgot to breathe and his eyes rolled. Excuse , F2? You said it would be out for an hour.
“...Hyung.”
“Yes?”
F2 answered Roy with a gentle smile.
The three gathered on the other side hadn’t even noticed the bear had woken. Roy was about to warn them when the bear rose faster.
“Roooaaaar!”
“Aaah!”
“Ugh!”
“Guhack, cough cough!”
The three who'd been flattened didn’t even have the mind to run; they were frozen in place. It was a mont when everyone sensed death.
All the previous worries were made aningless and Roy’s lips moved on their own.
“Hey! Sit! Sit down!!”
A split-second. A golden ti where any action could raise survival chances even by one percent. Roy had hoped soone would throw a rock to buy ti to hit the ergency button...
Instead Roy treated the bear like a puppy.
F1 and F2 thought, ‘It’s wrong.’
Not only would they not get dinner, they were sure they themselves would beco the bear’s dinner.
As if to confirm, the bear’s roar grew louder and seed angrier.
If they were going to die anyway, they silently hoped it would be quick.
The two shut their eyes tight, expecting the end.
But Roy kept trying to communicate with the bear in a calm voice.
“Hey! Sit! Sit down!!”
“Roooaaaar!”
Please stop provoking it...!
Roy had felt during the rank evaluation that he wasn’t sane; now was one of those monts.
“Listen to and be a good bear, okay!?”
【Casting skill ‘Godslighting’.】
Thud!
A miracle happened.
Just when it seed their small brave leader would be the appetizer, the ground trembled heavily. Roy’s third attempt succeeded: Godslighting, or rather the beauty-strategy, worked.
The bear, which had lifted its forepaw as if to pounce, sat quietly and cocked its head.
Quu?
The bear opened its mouth in a cute way, like an animal making a face.
“Did the beauty-strategy really work?”
“We survived! We’re alive!”
“What did I say? I said since it’s female, the beauty-strategy might work, wheeek! Cough cough!”
Then the bear gave a short sound as if agreeing.
“Kuuung!”
No, beauty... that’s not what it is...
✧
“Roy-nim! I always thought you were a seriously great-looking guy but I didn’t expect this kind of power!”
“A face that saves lives is a thing... Excuse , do you have any extra ID photos? I want to carry one like a talisman.”
“Beauty, cough, really does save the world, everyone.”
Could they all just shut up, please.
The three who’d locked Roy in praise jail showered him with complints about his looks.
“Kuuung!”
Why are you answering...?
Among them were even victims of Godslighting. Now they were doing terrible things even to animals.
Every ti his brown eyes t the bear’s, Roy felt uneasy.
‘But if I hadn’t used the skill, I’d have been the one suffering, right?’
Thinking that, his {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} guilt vanished.
Roy reached out as if to call the bear closer, and it rubbed its head against his palm.
“Can you help just this once? You’re a good one, so you’ll help, right?”
“Kuuung!”
As if understanding, the bear gave a short sound. Each ti it did, the cowardly trio flinched and edged away a little, but they didn’t bolt. Nobody knew how long the beauty-strategy effect would last.
‘Still, at least it’s not running away.’
If even one person deserted, today’s training would be ruined. They couldn’t suffer through this hell twice. Roy felt a little wronged, though.
‘I was supposed to take Yeonwoo and Taeeon’s bus. Why am I giving rides to the others?’
As leader, he kept ending up doing unintended feats. Sigh.
Anyway, the priority was to fetch the flag. Ti was already too delayed. Roy gently stroked the bear’s scruff and pointed at the rock face.
“Bear, you can climb up there, right?”
The round face followed Roy’s hand and looked up at the snow-covered rock. The red flag fluttered faintly in the bear’s brown eyes.
“Kuuung!”
The bear let out a short sound as if to say it could. It gladly offered its back.
Roy climbed onto the huge back and found the most comfortable position to lie down. The ride was surprisingly cushioned.
“Then I’ll go. You rest. When I co down we’ll head down right away.”
The three stared as if they couldn’t believe it.
“Here we go~!”
Whether they looked or not, Roy — who’d never ridden a bear in his life — was a little excited. He’d ridden for music-video shoots before, but never a bear.
He might be the first idol to ride a bear.
A strange pride swelled inside him.
‘Being the first is nice. Hmm.’
While he nodded to himself, the bear started climbing the rock. Unlike Roy, who always hesitated where to reach next, the bear moved with no hesitation. With each blink new vistas unfolded. Roy’s job was simply to cling to the bear’s back so he wouldn’t fall off.
Of course the bear’s movent shook his body a lot, but it was nothing like climbing the rock directly.
He’d been planning to leisurely enjoy the scenery, but soon the flag ca into view.
“Kuuung!”
The beast stopped in front of the flag and lowered its body so Roy could get off.
“Oh~ you’re sothing else.”
Roy patted its head enthusiastically as a reward. Godslighting turned out to be useful.
Now if he recovered the flag and returned to his teammates, half the job was done.
Pop!
Just as Roy pulled the flag out and was about to clamber back up, a thought struck him.
‘Can’t I just ride this thing down?’
Besides, this was a conditional skill-allowed zone. If all team mbers are assembled, abilities may be used temporarily. That ant if the team had a teleporter, they could theoretically move to the foot of the mountain instantly without violating rules. And the bear descending the rock now was, in effect, Roy’s skill too — a product of Godslighting being mistaken for the beauty-strategy.
‘I thought we wouldn’t get dinner again today. Score...?’
Sotis “charm” type skills work irrespective of attribute. If needed, he could bluff it that way. How would they check?
Relief washed over his chest. He’d been worrying how long it would take to get back to the lodgings, but his problem had just been solved.
A little impulsive, sure, but no better alternative had occurred to him.
‘The real question is whether Gomborghini can carry all of us...’
Though quite large, the bear still seed juvenile compared to a full-grown adult. Maybe it could carry two at most?
The bear ca down the rock and stopped in front of the three. Gwakhyeol and F1 and F2 gaped, mouths agape in the “this actually works” expression.
‘Okay, two people is fine, but shouldn’t that guy stop being surprised?’
Roy secretly glared at Gwakhyeol. At this point he began to suspect that the futures Gwakhyeol claid to have seen might not have been lies.
Roy ca down onto the ground, playfully waving the flag as he approached. From now on he had to coax the hyungs into cooperating with his plan.
“Have you had enough rest? If you’re good I was thinking we could head down right away.”
It took them over seven hours to co up; descending would take similar ti. Even if they hurried, it would be nine o’clock. With the mountain’s early sunset, nine would already be tight.
“It’s getting late enough that we might not make dinner. So, I have a good idea.”
“What kind...?”
“But for that, I need your skills.”
Roy clasped F1’s hand and smiled sweetly. Spark!
For a second F1 imagined a halo behind Roy’s back.
“You can hide up to two people in your shadow, right?”
“Of course.”
“How long can you do that?”
“Well, five hours was the maximum I tried...”
“Oh! That’s more than enough!”
Clapping satisfied, Roy tapped the bear and answered brightly.
“With that much ti we can get down and still have plenty left. Right, Gomborghini?”
“Kuuung!”
Bear... what?
All three thought the sa thing at once.
No way.
But it actually happened.
“We’ll put you hyungs into F1’s shadow, and the two of us will ride Gomborghini — we’ll get down fast.”
It was a mad plan.
F1 blinked in a daze and repeated, “...Huh?”
“When will you ever get another chance to ride a bear? Right?”
“No. No, you won’t.”
“I think I can live my whole life without ever riding one—”
“Are you scared? It’s okay. It’s gentle. Gomborghini will give you a ride, right?”
“Roooaar!”
“See, it’s fine.”
Where do you see that as “fine”? It’s a warning to be torn to pieces!
“No. Even so, this is against the rules—”
“It’s not against the rules.”
Roy pointed to the sign.
[SKILL RESTRICTION ZONE]
However, temporary allowance if all team mbers are assembled
“This is my skill. You putting hyungs in the shadow is your skill.”
“But this is too dangerous—”
“Don’t worry. If hyung holds on tight it won’t be dangerous.”
Wrong.
It didn’t make sense.
“...Okay. I’ll ride.”
“Great! Good thinking.”
Day two of the StarHero camp. Veteran idol Lee Roi had perfectly adapted to Wilderness-style survival.
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