Roy felt anger welling up in his chest.
‘No. He’s still a good person.’
The leader of the F’s steadying his heart. As much as he wanted to stage a mutiny, caras—dozens of them—were everywhere. He had no idea which one was filming him, so image managent was essential.
“Well... I can try. But hyung, you said you can see the future.”
“I can.”
“Then can’t you at least tell where the blood fiends are hiding? If I knew that, I could just avoid them.”
“Ohho?”
Gwakhyeol, ever the leader, gave a thumbs-up.
“Really? Amazing! Then go ahead and see.”
Our team, I’d assud, was dood—but it turns out we’re the Avengers?
I looked at him eagerly.
“But first, there’s sothing I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I already used my ability this morning, ahem ahem. As you know, my stamina is poor—I can only use it once per day at most.”
That ant he couldn’t use his precognition again today. But what had he used it on this morning? Surely he must have seen a future where he passed the evaluation with —otherwise he wouldn’t have called my na. He said he was a pharmacist by trade; graduating pharmacy school ant he couldn’t be that stupid.
“Well, it can’t be helped. But what did you see? Was it passing again?”
To that, Gwakhyeol blinked as if hearing it for the first ti.
“No? I saw this morning’s nu. I didn’t have the energy to go to the cafeteria, so I tried to get a boost... heh heh.”
In that instant, Roy lost his composure.
“...You’re joking?”
I thought he was competent—turns out he’s just dead weight. A total waste.
“ahem, ahem! Ack!”
Perhaps embarrassed by Roy’s stare, Gwakhyeol began coughing up blood again. Roy only looked on with contempt. Then he realized another fatal flaw: the cough and hemoptysis. Blood fiends have extraordinarily acute hearing. In that sense, Gwakhyeol possessed every quality that would draw a blood fiend’s attention. A ready al for monsters, rolling his eyes at Roy.
“I-I’m sorry. How dare I be picked....”
Gwakhyeol fell to a supplicating stance, and Roy felt a pang of guilt.
“No, you don’t have to go that far...”
“No, ahem ahem. Please don’t abandon . You can use as bait—just don’t throw away.”
If he put it like that, Roy would feel like trash. Luckily no cara was pointed at them—if it had been, so devil’s edit would’ve turned this into a to burn down every forum.
“Alright! Alright, but let’s do sothing about that cough first. Can I see you?”
Roy gripped Gwakhyeol’s shoulder and t his eyes—preparing to gaslight him. Since he couldn’t reliably control his skill, he couldn’t risk using it on a blood fiend. The risk was too high. This was the best he could do, assuming the other party agreed.
“Hyung. Look at . Can you control that cough?”
Gwakhyeol shook his head.
“I wish I could stop, too. But it’s not under my control—”
“Then if I can make it stop, would you do it?”
“Would you really? Of course!”
He’d promised to avoid using his skill on people, but given circumstances... and with consent, it felt acceptable.
“What’s the thod? Please, tell .”
“Okay. But first, I’m sorry.”
Gwakhyeol looked puzzled at Roy’s sudden apology.
“I know it’s hard, but at least when a blood fiend is near, please ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) hold back your cough. You can do it.”
【Skill ‘Godslighting’ is cast.】
Fortunately, the godslighting succeeded.
“Right. So what’s the thod?”
Roy hesitated, licking his lips and averting his gaze.
“Just... try holding it in once.”
“Huh?”
He’d said there was a thod—now this? Gwakhyeol cocked his head in confusion, then clapped as if realizing sothing.
“Ah! You used the ‘handso-face’ trick on ?”
“Ugh! Can you stop saying that?”
“Oho! No wonder I suddenly feel like I can’t cough, ahem ahem ahem! Achoo!”
And so the second evaluation began. First into the arena: team number one—Gwakhyeol, F, and Lee Roi, F. One hour on the clock. Within that, they had to locate where the guild masters were imprisoned and rescue them. Their mission feed was not shared; waiting contestants could only guess by the sounds from the speakers. The first sounds were:
[ahem.]
[...]
[...]
[Kyeeeek!]
“Aahhh!”
“Ugh!”
A horrific chorus of screams.
✧
While Roy suffered, ’s much-anticipated first broadcast aired. Though wracked by his cough’s side effect, Hojin couldn’t miss Roy’s show and sat before the TV for the first ti in ages. The footage opened with the preliminaries—the largest scale in survival-show history.
[South Korea population: ~51 million]
[Awakeners: only 0.02%, 10,108 individuals]
[Applicants: 5,002]
Captions declared that over two days, nearly ten thousand people thronged Seoul World Cup Stadium. Drone shots showed participants and audience; so waved upon spotting caras. Hojin’s heart swelled to think Roy had been among them. The feed cut to busy staff prepping the venue: the master of the Daejeon Guild overseeing huge rock-wall installations, stagehands guiding contestants, empty seats filling in fast motion.
War of the Chosen Stars!
A dazzling logo appeared, and the program began in earnest. The edit focused on morable contestants—there was no way to show all five thousand prelim stories. Hojin had been curious about the stadium’s inside; it surpassed his imagination.
‘It’s huge...’
He’d been proud when Roy passed, but seeing the scale, he felt distance instead of awe. As the church elder said, growing apart from Roy seed fated.
‘And it’s my own karma that did this.’
He resolved to pray harder to avoid drifting further. He touched the silver ring engraved with a black cross—a gift from the church elder, said to link him to the New Heaven and prove his mbership.
Buzz—
His phone rang: a group chat from art academy friends. They, too, were watching . One sent a link: a clip of a contestant blasting energy at the cliff top, catching the backdraft, and being carried off on a stretcher. The broadcast alternated eliminations and passes to heighten drama, and as expected, community posts and SNS reactions were pouring in.
By accident, Hojin hit “back” and opened a list of threads. He clicked on several that caught his eye.
[Title: What’s all this fuss about Star Hero?]
All the hot posts are about Star Hero. A new idol survival show?
– ㄴㄴ Awakeners.
– What do they do, fight blood fiends? lol
└ Yep
└ Why is this happening;;;
[Title: Curious about contestant profiles]
Didn’t they have a press showcase?
– It was yesterday
– But only Hangyeol and the three guild masters attended
[Title: Coffee King’s real na is Kim Taeeon...what a King God-General]
(Tag image of Taeeon in prelims)
But I didn’t want him to get this famous ㅜㅜ
– NNNNNNNG😭
– King...he barely shows up at the café, rumors of enlistnt... yet here he is
– I was lying down, saw King’s face, jumped up
– Don’t beco famous ㅠㅠㅠ
– Is he a celeb? Why does everyone know him?
└ Local legend in Sokcho
└ Son of Sokcho
└ In Sokcho you might not know the mayor, but you know Coffee King’s face
– When he first appeared I thought “cute,” now he shook the earth and my heart
“Pfft.”
Hojin couldn’t help laughing at such wild fangirling. He knew Taeeon’s café was popular, but not like this.
‘So he’s been exploiting soone this beloved all along?’
Technically it was Roy’s request that got him special treatnt, but Hojin had shouldered so responsibility. He’d wondered how long he’d owe favors—but after this broadcast, he might finally stop hitching a ride in Taeeon’s car. Amused, he began refreshing the board enthusiastically.
[Title: Honestly curious about Seo Hyunwoo’s face]
A-grade ans 900% chance he’s handso
– Awakeners only need skill, why care about looks?
└ Don’t you know high grade = top tier handso?
└ I know, but I’m not into guys’ faces
– I wish they’d drop the mask lol, then I’d vote
[Title: Stop the face talk]
This is Awakeners’ survival, not making idols!
Every ti I see whining about no handso ones I want to smack soone
– Why is this guy so angry?
– If they’re pretty and handso, isn’t that fine?
– Too many face-rating posts lol
– I predicted this when they said 70% by vote. Let go of expectations, it’s easier
[Title: Question about Star Hero]
Why are so contestants advancing without using skills? Dumb?
– Certified useless
– They said the wall was 40m? So 80m round trip
– Even S-grade would crack their skull from that height
[Title: No wonder they canceled cody shows]
So many talents flock to SH
(GIF of contestant dancing under the cliff looking at an eagle)
Creep up
Shake the wall
Blow with mouth
Bird call impersonation
Courtship dance
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