Chapter 1: Stabbed, Scattered, and Reawakened

“Kyaaaa! Roy!”

“Chan! Noona’s here!”

“Doha! Hyung came too!”

Roy froze the moment he stepped out of the van.

The scene before him was completely different from last time.

Everyone was holding some kind of recording device, pointing them directly at Roy and his group.

He was used to seeing phones and cameras—but only when the staff were the ones holding them.

And even then, they usually just quietly filmed without interfering.

“Ahhh!”

His dazed mind snapped back into focus when he saw Kim Chan, who had gotten off first, having his hair yanked out by some stranger.

Roy immediately rushed forward and pried Chan free from the stranger’s grasp.

“Everyone, get to the boat—now!”

Hwang Guman used his massive frame to block the horde of people charging at them like zombies.

Soon, staff members wearing ID badges rushed over to help him.

By the time Roy and the others made it onto the boat, their clothes were a mess, as if they’d all been caught in a brawl.

“My hair…”

“No bald spots, at least.”

Kim Chan looked miserable, running his fingers through his hair.

Each time he did, strands fell like autumn leaves.

Lee Doha, completely unfazed, only added salt to the wound.

“Whew, is everyone okay? I guess this is what happens when the show starts airing.”

“Does this mean we have fans now?”

“Seems like it. The company’s social media follower count has gone up tenfold.”

“Then I guess sacrificing some hair was worth it.”

Chan’s face, which had looked like the world was ending just moments ago, lit up as he spoke cheerfully.

Roy wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked back at the crowd that couldn’t approach any closer thanks to the staff.

But their cameras still pointed like rifle barrels.

“Is this going to keep happening?”

“If we get more popular, yeah. I saw a lot of people holding slogans with your name on them, Roy hyung.”

“That’s… terrifying.”

“There are way more normal fans than scary ones. And the boss said if we get big enough, he’ll assign bodyguards too. Right, boss?”

“Of course. I’ll be talking to the broadcasting company about what happened today. It wasn’t just you they swarmed.”

Just as Hwang Guman said, the other boats carrying contestants were also mobbed by fans.

Soon, the engine roared to life, creating a spray of white foam as the boat sped away from the harbor toward a remote island.

The deep blue sea offered no glimpse beneath the surface.

Still, they could feel the presence of enormous beings circling the boat.

A black eye the size of a grown man’s torso briefly surfaced near the boat before disappearing into the depths.

The sea was a haven for monsters.

If the boat weren’t equipped with an artifact that emitted a wave monsters hated, it would’ve been torn apart in seconds.

Roy felt a strange nostalgia.

Though the boat was unfamiliar, the sea looked just like the one from his original world.

“Hyung, can I hold your arm?”

Unlike Roy, Kim Chan seemed terrified of the ocean.

He approached and grabbed Roy’s arm.

His trembling hand made Roy’s arm shake as well.

Not long after Roy lent him his arm, the boat began to slow down.

Though it had only been two weeks since they’d last visited the island, it felt less foreign and more familiar.

“Why does it feel like I’m coming home? That’s kinda sad.”

Chan’s voice was carried away on the sea breeze, faint and wistful.

A narrow walkway, wide enough for two people to walk side by side, welcomed the passengers disembarking from the boat.

The deeper they went into the island, the more it resembled the sea.

Countless monsters moved past them just outside the protective barrier.

The path was covered by a transparent dome.

But just one step outside it, and anyone would be immediately surrounded by dozens of monsters.

[Please vote for your Hunter Idol!]

At the end of the walkway, a floating banner greeted them like VIP guests of the island.

Roy suddenly realized how quickly he had gotten used to this life, even though he hadn’t been here long.

‘Hunter Idol.’

When monsters, dungeons, and gates first appeared, entertainment quickly lost its grip on the public’s attention.

People no longer looked to idols—they looked to hunters.

Idols fell out of relevance.

But as people adapted to the new reality, things changed again.

Idols regained their popularity.

But unlike before, they were no longer delicate figures to be protected.

Now, they were strong, radiant individuals in their own right.

Not just idols—but ‘Hunter Idols.’

That was the job Roy now sought in this new world.

***

Fwoooosh!

The Lumen Empire, which had unified the continent of As, was about to display its might.

Within a massive coliseum, an extraordinary event was taking place.

A gigantic phoenix soared into the air, wings stretched wide over the entire arena.

A dome of flame enclosed the battleground.

Fweeeooooo!

The phoenix let out a piercing cry, forcing many of the combatants to clutch their ears and collapse.

Its voice had the power to rupture human eardrums.

But the sound wasn’t the only threat.

Every time its colossal wings flapped, flaming feathers fell like a torrential rain.

The feathers seemed harmless—beautiful, even.

But that was only their appearance.

Once they touched anyone in black armor, they unleashed hell.

“Help me…!”

Once ignited, the flames would not die out until nothing remained—not flesh, not bone, just ash.

As the phoenix incinerated hundreds, its massive form began to fade.

Even in its final moments, it poured all its power into defending its contractor.

—”Contractor. I no longer have the mana…”

The phoenix stared sorrowfully at a man.

Even though his life was in danger, the thread of mana linking them was ultimately severed.

“Haa… haah…”

The man protected by the Fire Spirit King Mulkiber was soaked in cold sweat, his jet-black hair matted.

His pale face twisted in pain as if his heart were being torn apart.

“Cough!”

As Mulkiber was forcibly unsummoned, the backlash wreaked havoc on the man’s body.

Dark blood gushed from his mouth, staining his white uniform crimson.

“Roy, you’re unbelievably tenacious. I figured it wouldn’t be easy since you can summon the four elemental spirit kings.”

“You…”

Roy swallowed back the blood rising in his throat.

His vision flickered black and white at the edges, and even his thoughts felt distant.

“I even gave you a poison that freezes mana, and yet you still managed to summon the Fire Spirit King. You’ve been a stubborn freak since you were a kid.”

Unlike Roy, who was in shambles, the man standing before him looked pristine—almost disconnected from the battlefield.

The golden cloak over his shoulders shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.

Gold—the color reserved for only one person in the entire Lumen Empire.

“Why… are you doing this…?”

They had been childhood friends.

Roy had played a key role in helping this man, the abandoned second prince, rise to the throne and unify the continent.

“You have too many people who follow you. Even the citizens call you the true hero, not me.”

Emperor Kairus’s ocean-blue eyes darkened like stormy skies.

He gripped the hilt of his sword, veins bulging on his hand.

Stab!

The sound of flesh tearing cut sharply through the blood-soaked garden.

“Brother!”

“Captain!”

The voices of his younger sister and vice-captain Hayes faded into the distance as Roy’s body collapsed.

They tried to run to him, but imperial guards blocked their path.

“Kyle…!”

Kyle—the childhood nickname only Roy and the late empress used.

“Ugh…”

Kairus twisted the blade embedded in Roy’s heart.

His hands showed no mercy.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion for Roy, despite having grown up like brothers since childhood.

They say that when death approaches, one’s life flashes before their eyes like a lantern reel.

Right now, what flickered through Roy’s mind was the memory of his childhood with Kyle—running around without a care, not even noticing leaves stuck in their hair.

Their difference in status never mattered.

Back then, the two of them truly cared for each other like blood brothers.

“I swear I’ll… cough…”

Roy forced his increasingly heavy eyelids open and stared at Kyle, trying to burn his image into his memory.

He could feel the life draining rapidly from his body through his shattered heart.

Roy swore vengeance.

Even in death, he would become a vengeful spirit and never forgive the one who betrayed him.

Kyle hadn’t just betrayed him—he had also killed those who had risked their lives for Roy.

Just because they had followed Roy with all their hearts.

Their screams, unable to cross into the afterlife, echoed faintly in his ears.

“Light?”

The anomaly began when the pendant hanging from Roy’s chest started to glow.

Kyle’s eyes wavered at the unexpected sight, as he had been waiting for Roy’s final breath.

The light that bloomed from Roy’s chest quickly engulfed his entire body.

Kyle reached out in desperation to grab Roy—but his hand only sliced through empty air.

In the place where Roy had just been, only a single scarlet gerbera—Lumen Empire’s national flower—remained, soaking up crimson blood like it was its pollen.

Thud.

***

“You really didn’t listen to a single word I said, did you?”

“Stop it.”

“Stop what? Stop this?”

Kim Chan bit his lip hard.

It was frustrating to stay still as someone smaller than him punched his shoulder.

The man bullying Kim Chan was someone he used to consider a friend—someone from the same agency.

Or rather, Kim Chan was the only one who had thought of them as friends.

Their relationship had only recently shattered.

Everything changed the day Kim Chan learned that it was this man who used his status as the agency CEO’s nephew to have him kicked out of the company.

Whatever he had done behind the scenes, Kim Chan had since faced rejection after rejection in every audition.

With his looks, ranking, singing, and dancing skills, he should have been welcomed anywhere.

“I told you to quit this industry and just become a Hunter. If you’re S-rank, they’ll be lining up to recruit you. Is that so hard?”

“I don’t want to be just a Hunter. I want to be a Hunter Idol.”

As he said that, Kim Chan’s eyes sparkled like starlight even in the dim warehouse.

His shoulders, which had been hunched from intimidation, slowly began to straighten.

Lee Chulhun clicked his tongue in irritation.

Kim Chan had all the talent he lacked.

All Lee Chulhun could do was use his connections to ruin the environment where Kim Chan could thrive.

“Guess you’re too dumb to understand words. Bring him here.”

At Lee Chulhun’s command, four men stepped out from the shadows and approached Kim Chan.

“You… you wouldn’t…”

“So what if you’re S-rank? You haven’t even tried leveling up for this program. You really think you’re getting in?”

Lee Chulhun smirked viciously.

The men approaching Kim Chan were Hunters from Korea’s fourth-ranked guild—one of the strongest in the country.

Their faces were all grim, clearly unhappy with the task.

Kim Chan gritted his teeth and looked around.

They were in an isolated warehouse tucked into the corner of a gymnasium.

Outside, Korea’s biggest broadcaster, K Network, was currently hosting auditions for the Hunter Idol survival program.

Even with Lee Chulhun’s powerful connections, if anything that happened here got out, he wouldn’t get away unscathed.

The show’s main producer was infamous for his fair and upright character.

Kim Chan quickly assessed the situation and threw himself against the wall.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“What are you waiting for? Beat the bastard within an inch of his life!”

Until now, Kim Chan had always endured Lee Chulhun’s covert bullying without protest.

He had never once fought back.

But now he was slamming himself against the wall in a desperate attempt to alert someone.

Kiieeeeng.

The moment the Hunters stomped the ground to charge toward Kim Chan, the air suddenly tore open, revealing an ominous black void.

***

“A surprise dungeon!”

It was a type of dungeon the Korean Hunter Association hadn’t detected in advance with their scanners.

They didn’t happen often, but sometimes they appeared without warning in densely populated areas.

“Grrrk, grrrk…”

“A Toad!”

The creature that emerged from the rift was a monster with grotesquely large eyes and a disturbing, translucent membrane—known as a Toad.

The Toad was a level-20 monster, considered weak compared to others in its class.

One of the Hunters stepped forward to deal with it, but a sharp voice stopped him.

“We can’t let anyone find out what’s happening here. Get out. Now!”

If anyone discovered that Lee Chulhun had brought Hunters from the top guild for shady reasons, his chances of passing the audition would evaporate.

The guild may have influence, but the event was hosted by K Network—and the producer running the show was known for his strict moral standards.

Crash!

Lee Chulhun managed to escape with the Hunters—but slammed the warehouse door shut behind him.

Kim Chan tried to make a run for it, but the Toad landed in front of him faster than he could move.

“Grrrkk.”

Its fist-sized black eyes rolled grotesquely in its sockets.

Its swollen cheeks, bulging with tension, were as large as Kim Chan’s head.

‘What do I do…?’

He was only nineteen.

He’d never seen a monster this close before.

He tried to move, but his body was frozen by fear and the monster’s killing intent.

The Toad’s tongue shot out toward him in slow motion.

Kim Chan couldn’t even bring himself to dodge.

He just braced for death.

Thud!

“Aaagh!”

“Where… am I?”

Something shot out of the black rift that had swallowed the Toad—and crashed into Kim Chan.

The impact sent Kim Chan sprawling across the floor, narrowly avoiding the Toad’s whip-like tongue.

“Wh-who are you?”

Roy had definitely been stabbed in the heart.

That’s when the pendant his master had left him began to glow.

He had felt his body being forcefully pulled somewhere—and then he was flung out into this unfamiliar place.

Unintentionally, he had crashed into someone.

The first thing Roy noticed was a head of curly brown hair.

The boy’s large, round, double-lidded eyes were a deep chestnut and especially striking.

“And who are you?”

Roy scanned Kim Chan’s body for any signs of identity, but found nothing.

“Uh… uh…”

Kim Chan just stared blankly past Roy, pointing a trembling finger.

Roy raised an eyebrow at the dazed, breathy noise.