Roy and Kim Jaewoo dashed toward the exit where the other contestants were pouring out.
Even while running, Jaewoo kept glancing at his hand—the one that had shaken hands with Ber—and occasionally peeked at the spirit sitting on Roy’s shoulder.
“Ahhhh! Are we sure their abilities are downgraded?”
“Is there even a single mission that isn’t insane!?”
Roy barely caught a glimpse of the backs of their doppelgängers disappearing at the edge of his vision.
Screams from the other contestants rang relentlessly in his ears.
For a moment, he felt worried about the teammates who had left the set earlier, but Roy reminded himself that he had to complete the mission first if he wanted to help the others later.
When Kim Jaewoo looked at Ber, his face turned bright red, and his pupils shook uncontrollably.
But the moment he made eye contact with Roy, his expression returned to calm.
Roy followed Jaewoo’s line of sight.
The doppelgängers were fast—very fast.
Even though Roy and Jaewoo were sprinting at a decent pace, the gap between them and the doppelgängers wasn’t closing—it was slowly widening.
They were about to lose sight of them completely, yet the chase continued.
It was only possible because the doppelgängers kept deliberately slowing down at intervals.
‘So that’s how annoying my face can look.’
The way his doppelgänger smirked made a vein pop on Jaewoo’s temple.
Even though it had the same face as him, the expression was so obnoxious he felt like punching it right then and there.
“I think we’re getting farther away from the other contestants too.”
Roy noticed something strange.
The island where the Hunter Idol survival program was being filmed was massive.
No one knew exactly how much money the production team had poured into this, but there were multiple sets large enough to accommodate all the participants and then some.
Even though the shoot had been going on for quite some time, there were still many parts of the island the contestants hadn’t explored yet.
The production team hadn’t said anything about staying within a specific area to face their doppelgängers either.
Because of that, everyone had scattered in different directions to pursue their own doppelgänger.
Even so, Roy and Jaewoo were drifting especially far from the rest.
The cries and shouts that had filled their ears just moments ago were now nowhere to be heard.
“If we had something like a rope, we could at least try throwing it…”
Jaewoo’s Hunter class was a swordsman.
And since he was ranked S-grade, he’d be able to accurately throw something in the direction the doppelgängers were fleeing—if he had the right tool.
“I have a beginner’s dagger.”
Roy pulled out a worn dagger from his inventory.
Jaewoo’s eyes sparkled as he looked at it.
“My dagger broke during the last mission. Let me try throwing this one.”
Without slowing down, Jaewoo grabbed the dagger from Roy’s hand and gave it a quick twirl in his right hand.
“Who should I aim for?”
For some reason, Roy and Jaewoo’s doppelgängers were still running away together.
Maybe the production team had issued specific commands to their copies.
“Go for your doppelgänger first.”
Since Jaewoo was the one throwing the dagger, it made sense to neutralize his double first.
Jaewoo raised an eyebrow at Roy’s unexpected answer.
“Then I won’t hold back.”
Before he even finished speaking, the dagger flew through the air with a sharp whistle.
“Argh…!”
The dagger hit its mark.
Unfortunately, the weapon’s level was so low that it didn’t pierce the doppelgänger’s skin—it merely struck his back with a dull thud.
“It worked.”
Even so, it was enough to make the doppelgängers stop running.
Roy felt a chill crawl down his spine from the sudden wave of killing intent.
He swallowed dryly.
“The one that was smiling actually looks less scary now.”
Jaewoo also sensed something dangerous.
He began slowing down as a strange sensation rooted his feet to the ground.
Rushing in recklessly didn’t seem like a good idea.
“Ber, prepare for battle.”
“Beeep!” (Got it! That bastard who looks just like my contractor has been getting on my nerves!)
Ber usually didn’t swear much…
Roy briefly wondered if he needed to correct the spirit’s language habits—but quickly realized this wasn’t the time for that.
He tensed every muscle in his body.
The only artifacts Roy had were the beginner’s dagger Jaewoo had just thrown and a cloak of invisibility.
The other weapons he’d gotten during the spirit mission were handed out to teammates, since Roy kept the cloak for himself.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve kept a sword or something for myself.’
He regretted not doing so.
“You don’t have any other weapons?”
“Just the cloak of invisibility.”
***
As Ber fluttered in front of Roy, Jaewoo tilted his head.
Before they knew it, Jaewoo’s hand was gripping a sharp longsword that radiated a threatening aura.
It was a level 10 weapon.
“This is the only weapon I’ve got too…
But let’s do what we can with what we have.”
“Understood.”
One thing the contestants were grateful to the production team for was that, thanks to being thrown into the fire from the very beginning of the program, they no longer even felt like this level of hardship counted as real suffering.
“Aaaargh…!”
“Whoa!”
As soon as Roy and Kim Jaewoo shifted into battle stance, Jaewoo’s doppelgänger let out a horrifying scream and charged.
Its voice resembled Jaewoo’s, but sounded far rougher, like its vocal cords had been scraped with sandpaper.
Jaewoo swung his sword at the onrushing doppelgänger.
Meanwhile, Roy’s doppelgänger didn’t just stand still—it began circling around him.
“Beeeeeep!” (Time to show you what heat really feels like.)
Ber spat flames at the doppelgänger.
A radial burst of fire spread from his tiny beak and engulfed the creature’s head and upper body.
When the fire cleared, Roy’s doppelgänger looked utterly destroyed.
All its hair had been burned away, leaving behind only a few curled strands like pig tails.
Its shirt had turned to ash and disappeared completely.
“Ber, it’d be better to finish this quickly.”
Even its skin had melted in places and hardened, so that it no longer even resembled Roy.
Roy was still stuck at level 10.
Since Ber’s power scaled with Roy’s level, the fact that the doppelgänger was this badly burned meant the production team must have significantly lowered the enemy’s strength to match the contestants.
“Aaagh…!”
The doppelgänger shrieked in some unrecognizable language and charged toward Roy.
Ber once again blocked its path and unleashed flames, but this time the doppelgänger dodged sideways.
Still, its left hand caught the edge of the fire and was burned to a pulp.
“Looks like contestant Hwang Roy is starring in his own gore film.”
Compared to Roy, Kim Jaewoo was handling his doppelgänger with relative ease.
He even had enough leeway to glance toward Roy from time to time.
But when he saw the grotesquely melting form of Roy’s doppelgänger, his shoulders involuntarily twitched.
The horrific sight made him shudder for a moment.
Then, seeing Ber fighting in the air, his expression softened like a fan watching their favorite celebrity.
“Ber’s pretty amazing, huh?”
No matter what expression Jaewoo was making as he admired Ber, Roy had no time to pay attention.
He was too busy fending off the doppelgänger’s relentless attacks.
The creature wasn’t even using weapons.
It swung fists and kicked, even attempted headbutts—true hand-to-hand combat.
The worst part was that the doppelgänger looked so gruesome, even Roy momentarily froze when he saw what he himself had done to it.
“Ber, can you draw its attention for a bit?”
“Beep.” (Leave it to me.)
The production team had never said the doppelgängers had to be killed.
The condition was “incapacitation.”
As long as they were subdued, the mission would count as a success.
Ber’s attacks were flame-based.
To kill the doppelgänger, he’d have to burn vital internal organs like the brain or heart.
But right now, the creature had only sustained surface burns.
If Ber could use his full abilities, the battle would’ve ended in seconds.
But as things stood, he needed Roy’s cooperation.
The longer Ber stayed in combat mode, the more rapidly Roy’s stamina drained.
Even after defeating the doppelgänger, there wouldn’t be much time to rest.
They still had to get on stage for the theme song performance—meaning more dance and vocal practice.
The faster they finished here, the more time they’d have to rest and rehearse.
At Roy’s request, Ber flew directly at the doppelgänger’s face and spread his wings wide.
“Ugh…”
As the doppelgänger’s vision was blocked, it instantly raised its arms.
But by the time its hands reached its face, Ber had already shot upward.
The creature ended up hitting itself in the face and stomped a foot on the ground in frustration.
It reached up to grab Ber, but Ber only smirked and flew even higher.
“You’re doing great.”
While Ber had the doppelgänger distracted, Roy was busy searching for vines.
The island’s unusual ecosystem, teeming with monsters, meant that its plant life wasn’t exactly normal either.
Roy found a vine strong enough to bind the creature and began circling around to its back.
The doppelgänger, thoroughly enraged by Ber fluttering near its face, seemed to forget Roy even existed.
All of its attention was locked on the annoying little bird.
“Ber, now!”
Giving the signal, Roy threw the vine across the doppelgänger’s torso.
The creature noticed something was wrong and turned its head—just as Roy twisted its arm back and wrapped the vine around it.
In wartime, soldiers often had to tie up enemy prisoners.
Roy’s experience showed.
His binding skills were veteran-level.
In a flash, the doppelgänger was bound tightly and forced to its knees.
“Aaaagh!”
The creature let out another shriek, but Roy didn’t even flinch at the piercing sound.
He quickly tied its ankles to its wrists as well.
The doppelgänger struggled, but the vines—infused with magical energy—were as strong as enchanted ropes.
Completely overpowered, the doppelgänger resorted to sending a signal to the one Jaewoo was fighting.
“Ugh…”
Kim Jaewoo, who had been holding his own until now, suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed.
The sword that had been in Jaewoo’s hand was now in the hands of his doppelgänger.