Trapped in the Idol Universe

The D-rank camp looked messy and as if it was starting to move.

Judging by their direction, they seemed to be heading for the lower peak, just like Jo Yeonil had claimed a little while ago.

Now that the other side had begun to act, we didn’t have time to dither either.

“Everyone, gather up!”

Roy called the team together.

The three of them had already been clustered close around Roy, and as they stepped in toward the leader’s command they ended up surrounding him entirely.

“Ay, this is way too close!”

“Y-you said to gather.”

“I thought you meant get even closer.”

“Cough cough! Gag, cough!”

If I said one thing, three replies came back at once.

At that moment, Taeeon’s face suddenly floated into Roy’s mind and his chest tightened.

‘Was this how hyung felt too?’

He made a sudden, out-of-place resolution to listen to Taeeon more from now on.

Anyway, putting that aside—

“We should get going soon too. Since today’s for getting used to things, how about we just go up to the mid-slope and back?”

Because of the disagreement with the D-rank participants, time had been considerably delayed.

Even if we’d left early in the morning the schedule would be tight, and if we started climbing now, no matter how low the peak, we’d end up hiking through the night.

But we couldn’t just skip the mountain.

If we didn’t complete the program schedule training, it would be considered that we had no intention to proceed — immediate dismissal.

“All right. It’s the first day, so let’s keep it light and just take a walk.”

“You said the guild leader insisted we had to climb at least to the mid-slope to have the day’s training recognized, right?”

“I’m fine with anything! Wilderness Mountain, huh. I’m so glad we applied to , cough cough!”

“Gwakhyeol-nim, you should probably try not to say too much.”

You’ll actually die if you keep that up... Roy looked at him with a worried gaze.

“I’m fine, cough, I am! Then, leader, shall we go?”

Gwakhyeol pointed politely toward the trail and cleared the way.

Ah..... unbearably burdensome.

✧

Training — Day One.

Unlike Jo Yeonil’s team, which ran for the low peak, F4 chose the lower-grade course.

It would take about twice as long as the advanced course, but no one complained.

“Walking like this feels less like training and more like a picnic.”

“I should’ve brought some gimbap, huh. Haha!”

“Ha-ha, cough cough!”

The hike began in a cheerful atmosphere.

Just a moment ago they’d been clacking on about the cameras, but with the crew out of sight everyone had relaxed.

Only the people were gone — the cameras that followed them were still there.

A drone stuck close overhead near the sky; Roy could feel it.

Still, he didn’t dislike the mood.

Roy treated his teammates with a slightly lighter heart.

“By the way, when did you all awaken?”

It had been Roy’s biggest interest lately.

Since Hojin and Hangyeol were still unawakened, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn about different cases.

F2 spoke up first.

“As I said during the rank evaluation, mine is a mental-type. I can put to sleep any living creature within a five-meter radius.”

Come to think of it, Roy remembered F2’s rank evaluation.

They hadn’t done anything but sigh in the safe zone, and Roy had wondered why — it turned out the safe zone’s radius was much larger than the range of F2’s ability.

“That still only lets me put to sleep maybe one or two blood fiends at most, though.”

“One or two isn’t nothing. That’s amazing.”

“Haha. Is that so? Still, to me Roy-nim looks much more amazing.”

“Me?”

“Yes. When Roy-nim ran out of the safe zone, I was really shocked. I mean, have you ever seen someone so extraordinary?”

“...Extraordinary?”

At first Roy thought it was high-level teasing.

But seeing the sparkle in F2’s eyes, he could tell it was sincere.

“I didn’t have that kind of courage, so I thought it was really incredible.”

That was not courage but bravado, Roy thought.

Most people would probably say the same.

“Thanks. So how did you awaken—”

“Oh right. I awakened last summer. I went on vacation to the beach with my family, and I was so exhausted I dozed off on an outdoor platform.”

“Right.”

“Then I got bitten by about one hundred and fifty mosquitoes and awakened.”

What is this fresh, bizarre awakening story.

Flustered, Roy licked his lips trying to find words.

“Actually, it might have been more. I gave up counting after one-fifty. It itched so badly I cried.”

Sleeping defenseless on a summer night at the seaside.

A sacrificial offering to the mosquitoes, truly.

“When I reached about one-fifty I couldn’t hold my anger toward the mosquitoes any longer. That’s when I awakened.”

A petty awakening tale to match a small, precious ability.

“Mosquitoes....”

It was summer after all.

If Hojin’s awakening was running late, maybe throwing him into the night sea wouldn’t be a bad idea, Roy thought.

“Thanks. How about the others?”

This time Roy made eye contact with F1.

“I awakened during a blind date....”

“A blind date?”

“Oh my.”

“How did such a tragedy happen...!”

Unlike Roy’s reaction — who wondered why a blind date — F2 and Gwakhyeol couldn’t hide their sympathy.

It was apparently F1’s very first blind date.

“We were supposed to watch a movie, but the woman wanted to watch a horror film.”

“And?”

“I’m not good with that.”

F1 was more scared of ghosts than blood fiends, he said.

But to be honest, telling the truth would probably ruin the after-date, so he forced himself to watch.

“At the moment a ghost appeared I closed my eyes and opened them to find myself alone. It was pitch black all around.”

So F1 thought he’d fainted.

“But it turned out I had awakened. I can hide inside my shadow.”

F1 was a manipulation-type awakener who could hide up to two people inside his shadow.

By the time his ability wore off the movie was over, and he’d become the rude guy who ran off during a blind date... “The matchmaker gave me hell,” he said.

He deserved it.

By the way, horror movies... Does my brother scare easily?

Roy thought he should try this method {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} on Hojin soon, and looked at Gwakhyeol.

“How about you, Gwakhyeol-nim?”

“Hehe. I’m extremely ordinary.”

No? You’re the oddest one here, Roy thought, staring at him like he couldn’t accept it.

“I used to run a small pharmacy in the neighborhood.”

A twist. He looked more like a patient than a pharmacist, Roy thought. Anyway, he had a small hobby.

“I like fortune-telling. Saju, tarot, shamanistic readings and the like.”

A devotee of shamanism.

Roy personally wasn’t interested, but he’d been dragged along a few times because of Junseo.

He’d heard Shooting Star’s debut date was even decided at a fortune-teller’s once.

“There’s a tarot stall that opens in front of the pharmacy every Tuesday. I used to get my fortune read there every week.”

But that day, ominous cards kept coming up.

[Death: ending, loss, a new beginning]

[The Tower: unexpected shock, chaos]

[The Devil: temptation, bondage, addiction]

“They told me a great crisis was coming and I would be trapped in a negative situation that would be hard to escape. And do you know what was creepier?”

Gulp.

The three of them had stopped and were listening intently to Gwakhyeol’s story.

“Even when I drew again the same cards kept coming up, cough cough!”

“Ah!”

“A ghost!”

“Ah, jeez!”

F1 and F2’s reactions made Roy jump as well.

Pursing his lips, Roy glared at F1 and F2 with resentful eyes.

“So I thought I should be careful that week...”

And then...?

“Maybe because I was too conscious of it, after about three days I got extremely tired.”

So he took a fatigue-relief pill before bed, and when he opened his eyes he was in an awakener hospital.

“When I woke up I had become an awakener. Ta-da~! Cough cough, guh-ack!”

No sooner had he finished the story than Gwakhyeol began coughing up blood and hacking violently.

Seeing that, Roy vowed not to give Hojin any fatigue-relief pills no matter what.

“Hehe. I’m fine, cough, I am. I only look like this; I’m not hurt at all.”

Gwakhyeol smiled, showing teeth stained with blood.

F1 went pale as if he might faint, and Roy flinched and stepped back a pace.

Gwakhyeol, seeming completely unfazed, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and continued.

“Anyway, the tarot prediction hit. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Y-yeah, it’s amazing.”

F2 barely chimed in for F1 and the shocked Roy.

After hearing Gwakhyeol’s awakening tale, Roy had a lot on his mind.

He wanted to tell Hojin, but he had no way to contact him at the moment since his phone wasn’t with him.

‘Should I secretly ask Junseo? Just send one text?’

Junseo was probably in the middle of practical prep for his winter break. What if he took a fatigue pill on a tired day and got sick? Roy worried.

Just then Gwakhyeol’s voice came again.

“Roy-nim, how did you awaken?”

“Yes?”

“How did you awaken?”

“I....”

I was resurrected, he wanted to say.

Unable to tell the truth, Roy smiled awkwardly and looked away.

“Just, there was an accident.”

“What kind of accident?”

“A traffic accident...?”

It wasn’t a lie.

“There was a pretty bad accident. That’s why I don’t have memories.”

“Oh my.”

“Oh dear...”

Sighs of pity escaped at the word accident.

Sweat beaded on Roy’s forehead too.

‘If I let my guard down a bit, God-slighting might pop out.’

It was a physiological reaction from extreme tension.

But the team mistook his flinching at the past for clear emotional pain.

“Shall we talk about something else?”

“Yeah. Where do you think we are now? I feel like we’ve come up quite a bit.”

“Oh! There’s an information board over there. Let’s go, cough cough.”

Panting, F4 ran toward the signboard and couldn’t close their mouths.

“Not even... half way?”

At this pace they wouldn’t be back at the lodge by tonight — maybe not until tomorrow.

F4 realized this wasn’t the time for small talk and goofing off.

If they didn’t want to unpack their luggage on the first day, there was no time for this.

“No time! Everyone run!”

“Argh...!”

An unexpected forced march began.