“Excuse , but what’s your real rank...?”
“Roy, you’re good—why are you labeled F?”
“Shh. Where do you think you’re going?”
Surrounded by my teammates, I felt like I was on trial. I’d threatened Seohyunwoo to keep my secret, but my carelessness almost exposed .
“I’m a harmless F. I think the dummy must be defective—”
“Are you kidding ?”
Yeonwoo cut off in a low, furious voice—100% pissed. He glared at as if he wanted to kill . Of course, I felt hurt too.
But I told him I’m S-rank!
When I ca here for the first shoot, I’d clearly said I’m really “God Gong.” He was the one who didn’t believe then! But I’d never seen Yeonwoo get this serious, so I didn’t dare argue. Rolling my eyes and smacking my lips for a mont, I noticed training ti was up—the next team had arrived.
“Hello~ your ti’s up.”
“Oh, right! We’ll head out now. Co on, let’s go.”
I nudged my teammates forward, deliberately changing the subject. If I had to explain, it’d be better to do it outside where there were no caras. I led the still-skeptical teammates to the far side of the hall.
“How far are we going?”
I kept my lips sealed and walked in silence. After a few minutes, I’d successfully brought them to a secluded spot—no participants passing by, no caras, no staff watching: a perfect blind spot. I glanced around several tis to ensure safety, then faced them.
“Now will you tell us?”
I forced an awkward smile. I still had no intention of revealing my rank. Why not? Obviously for a huge plot twist and bigger dopamine rush. Do you know the one rule for successful survival contestants? They need a “narrative.” And I, who’d dominated the spotlight since the rank evaluation, already had my narrative planned. Normally, producers choose your narrative—but that cos with a deadly flaw: editing can make you an angel or a demon.
Thankfully I’m still within my big-picture plan.
The narrative I aid for was:
“The trash-tier loner from Seokak High... turns out to be S-rank God Gong!?”
It’s a cliché webnovel trope, but clichés always work. This narrative needed the developnt of “Is he really F? Or not?”—dropping subtle breadcrumbs to maintain interest: that’s the kick of a power-hidden narrative.
I need to extend this buzz at least until mid-season.
So I can’t reveal my rank now. Instead, I’d deploy none other than “God’s Lighting.”
“You guys must’ve misseen. The dummy was defective and exploded on its own. I didn’t even use a skill, right?”
I babbled, hoping they’d believe —and in my mind, the status window appeared:
【Casting skill ‘God’s Lighting.’】
Got it! The answer was middle abbreviation. With this epiphany, I knew how to handle “God’s Lighting.”
“You know, now that I think about it, you’re right—maybe the dummy did just explode on its own.”
“That was nearly disastrous!”
“How do they even make this equipnt? Roy, are you okay?”
“No more solo practice for you from now on. Got it?”
My teammates demanding an explanation now nodded along, convinced. Sorry I duped Taeeon and Yeonwoo, but that was on them—I’ll clean it up later.
So now the only issue is the training room footage.
I had three options:
Tell Junseo the truth and ask for help—most honest, but too much hassle. I’d have to explain why I hid my rank and recount the Bureau stuff—who has ti for that?
Destroy every cara—natural, but I can’t wreck the staff’s or other teams’ equipnt.
Swipe only the mory cards from the caras that fild . There were fifteen caras; by their angles, about five recorded .
It hurts, but I’ll steal only my footage.
If so, on Day 1’s team training, I’d appear edited out—but I saw no other way. Resigned, I clasped my hands and prayed silently:
“Lord, grant the grace to beco a righteous thief tonight.”
✧
One week later, it was broadcast day for once more. A lot happened to everyone over the past week. First, the rookie PD of suffered the worst backlash—because I’d stolen the SD cards from five training-room caras, he took a fierce scolding from his seniors.
The second victim was the main PD, Park Junseo. He couldn’t bring himself to berate the crestfallen rookie who’d even skipped als—so he covered for him with generous understanding:
“It’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes when they’re new and learns.”
You can’t rewind ti. Yelling would only hurt feelings, so he let it slide—until one of the staff asked:
“What? Say that again.”
“I think Lee Roi trained in front of the empty caras.”
By chance, the mistaken training room belonged to our team—and by chance, I’d trained in front of it alone.
“Why?”
“I—how would I know...?”
Junseo echoed helplessly. Rumor had it that the sight of , struggling alone, was so endearing. But he’d missed filming it. He hadn’t even captured my favorite skill during the intro shoot due to my shaky condition. Faced with this second blow, his world collapsed.
Next was Kim Hojin. Elevated to Butler status by my more powerful “God’s Lighting,” Hojin couldn’t have been happier:
Lee Roi’s “official” butler!
1.5 million InHeart followers in a second!
Everyone asked how I was doing, and each ti I did, I felt special to him.
I’m not useless anymore.
Though we were far apart, he indulged in daily calls. He said even Roze didn’t get that, because I considered him extra special... Recalling my kind words, Hojin’s cheeks blushed. This had to be the most aningful mont of my life—so far.
But with great joy ca an awkward side effect: a single misposted selfie for the audience event. On InHeart, it sparked:
Real-ti trend “Butler face” 😳
“With that face, no wonder he got chosen” (Hojin_authpic.jpg)
“I went to the sa cram school as Namchin-nam, but he barely spoke and was shy for 9 years—how’d Lee Roi do it? Face?”
“Forbes’ best verification photo ever” (Hojin_authpic.jpg)
“Face rge GOAT”
“Hey, this is just cat flexing ㅜㅜ without a cat, life is suffering” (Hojin_authpic.jpg)
└ High-level cat flex
“I’m the only one without a cat...”
To , Hojin was always my little cute brother I wanted to protect and look after. He knew his human-cat was truly S-rank—and that was all. He insisted on casual clothes outside; Awakener celebrities drew constant attention, and high-rank Awakeners rivaled pop stars in fa. °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° A-ranks were treated like celebrities, S-ranks were on another level.
And our Roy wasn’t just any S-rank—he was Korea’s first elental S-rank. People still wondered just how amazing an elental S-rank was and wanted to see it in action.
Maybe that’s why he hides it so desperately.
He’d guarded his license the first ti we t. I guess he feared people’s attention. But if soone like him enters a survival show, it must an he’s ready to reveal himself.
At least I’ll always treat him like a normal person.
Not that I wasn’t curious about Awakener-Roy, but I pretended not to be, worried he’d feel burdened. Yet now was the perfect opportunity: a live audience for ! I could legally see Awakener-Roy in person—I had to go. And it was a perfect excuse.
If they ask why I’m here, I’ll pretend I ca to cheer him on.
With that excited thought, I submitted my application—only to realize:
You only have to film the broadcast screen...!
A verification photo should show the entrant’s face, right? So I casually took a selfie, never suspecting it would blow up. Hojin only learned two days later that my photo had trended third on a social network. On Monday, walking into cram school as usual, he received everyone’s full attention—especially Deoksun.
“Hey, Kim Hojin!”
He froze. Stepping into the classroom, he backed away without thinking.
Did I do sothing wrong?
His pupils trembled. Deoksun only used his full na when I ssed up. But the ones calling his na weren’t just Deoksun:
“Hojin-ah!”
“Butler!”
“Namchin-nam!”
When he ca to, he was surrounded by girls, jostled back and forth.
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