Chapter 10: Clashes, Cameras, and Rising Tensions

“Still haven’t learned your lesson from last time? What do you have in that head—udon noodles instead of a brain?”

“Stop it. If this turns into a bigger scene, you’ll be in trouble too.”

“Stop it? Stop what? Thanks to you, I’m about to get cut.”

“How did this become about you… Hyung?”

Roy, who had been leaning against the wall, quietly assessing the situation, decided he didn’t need to hear any more and turned the corner.

Kim Chan’s eyes widened as he saw Roy, who had clenched his fists so tightly that marks had formed in his palms.

“And you are?”

“I should be asking you that.”

“The hell did you just say?”

Roy crossed his arms and scanned the guy blocking Kim Chan’s path from head to toe.

At Roy’s cold stare, Lee Chulhun flinched.

‘What kind of look is that…?’

Even though it lasted just a second, a chill ran down Chulhun’s spine, like a blade had grazed his carotid artery.

“Kim Chan, the audition’s over, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go.”

Roy completely lost interest in Chulhun, as if the man was no longer worth his attention.

At that moment, Roy’s mind was preoccupied with one question: ‘What should I eat today?’

He’d gotten through the audition safely, and until the results came out, he planned to just complete whatever missions Earth gave him.

“Go? Go where? Kim Chan, made a new friend while I wasn’t looking? Still haven’t learned your lesson after I stabbed you in the back?”

Chulhun’s lips curled into a crooked sneer.

Though his face was clean-cut, the vicious glint in his eyes made his impression even nastier.

[Hero, I really don’t like this guy.]

‘This guy…’

Maybe it was because Earth’s voice sounded like a young girl’s, but Roy felt like a parent who had accidentally exposed their child to an inappropriate scene.

He’d recently been trying to clean up his language when speaking in front of Earth.

Thud.

“Hey, you’ve been looking down on me this whole time. Do you even know who I am?”

“What difference does it make if I do?”

Roy twisted his lips in amusement as he looked at Chulhun, who had punched his chest in frustration.

It had been a long time since someone had picked such a petty, childish fight with him—it almost felt nostalgic.

“You little—!”

“Stop.”

Whack. Chulhun’s raised arm was suddenly caught by Kim Chan.

Unlike earlier, Kim Chan’s expression was now cold and firm.

The gentle air about him had vanished, and his serious face gave off a surprisingly intimidating presence.

“This is your last warning, Chulhun. I’m not just going to stand by and take it anymore.”

“Ha… fuck. This is unbelievable…”

Chulhun tried to pull his arm back, but Kim Chan’s grip was strong—he barely moved.

“You guys just gonna stand there and watch?”

Chulhun finally took a few steps back and called over the group that had been watching from the sidelines.

They were all wearing audition number tags.

“Chulhun, the noise is drawing too much attention. People are starting to stare. Maybe we should—”

“Should what?”

“Uh, I mean…”

One of the taller guys hesitated under Chulhun’s glare.

Kim Chan let out a heavy sigh.

Chulhun hadn’t always been like this—he used to care about his image.

But lately, he’d completely stopped pretending.

‘Why does he hate me so much?’

Chulhun was now acting recklessly, without a thought for the consequences.

“Get that bastard!”

Then something happened that made Chulhun snap. He saw Roy holding up his phone, filming the whole incident.

Kim Chan hadn’t moved yet, and from the camera’s perspective, it clearly looked like Kim Chan was being harassed by a group.

[Hero, provoke him more! Let’s make sure we get undeniable evidence and destroy that jerk completely!]

‘Watch your language.’

Roy weaved around the hands reaching for him, capturing Chulhun’s flushed and furious face on camera.

Maybe because of the phone in his face, Chulhun didn’t curse or hit Kim Chan like he’d done before.

‘A clear video would be perfect.’

Thanks to his company and Earth, Roy had learned that having proof was everything.

Besides, this world had far more advanced tech than the one Roy came from.

People here carried around high-spec artifacts that could rival something straight out of a wizard tower.

You could watch live footage of something happening thousands of kilometers away through the internet.

‘If only this kind of thing existed on the continent of As… I could’ve exposed Kairus to the entire world.’

The bitter thought left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Roy! Kim Chan! Where are you?”

Roy heard Hwang Guman’s voice faintly in the distance and stopped recording.

“Come on, Kim Chan.”

“Okay, hyung.”

Kim Chan quickly moved to Roy’s side.

Chulhun and his group were still fuming, but didn’t dare go after Roy again.

The commotion had drawn in a curious crowd of other participants.

If the staff found out about what happened here, it would only hurt everyone’s chances in the audition.

“You two—we’re not done.”

“Yeah, I hope we do meet again.”

Roy responded casually to Chulhun’s trembling threat, calmly scanning him from head to toe.

“Hopefully somewhere even more remote next time.”

Roy never backed down from someone who picked a fight first.

Chulhun looked like he might burst a vein from frustration over such a small remark.

‘Guys like him… they’re fun to toy with.’

{Hero! That thought was really evil just now—!}

‘Stop reading my thoughts. That’s an invasion of privacy.’

[But you’re the only one I can talk to…]

‘You don’t have any friends?’

[Nope…]

‘What about manifesting yourself?’

[Can’t do that yet. You’re still too weak…]

‘Is she blaming me for that now?’

Earth was clearly passing the blame to Roy for not being able to manifest.

He raised a skeptical brow.

“Hyung… thank you. Really. That’s the second time you’ve saved me now.”

“I didn’t really do much.”

“I should’ve handled it more firmly myself…”

“I’m sorry… I feel like I just caused trouble for everyone.”

“Stop apologizing. Let’s just go to the company. Look, there’s the CEO and Doha.”

At the same moment Roy spotted the two, Hwang Guman’s eyes met his.

“I didn’t even see you there. I’ve been wandering around looking for you.”

Hwang Guman hurried over to Roy and Kim Chan.

He swallowed nervously at the gloomy expression on Kim Chan’s face.

“Chan, what’s wrong…? Did the audition not go well? That can’t be. There’s no way you didn’t do great.”

“No, it’s nothing. I guess I just relaxed too much afterward.”

Kim Chan quickly composed himself, running his hands down his face a couple of times and forcing a smile.

Roy stared at him intently.

“CEO, we should head to the company now, right?”

“Yeah, right… They said the audition results will come out in two weeks. Then, filming will start about a week after that.”

“So we have three weeks.”

Roy nodded at Hwang Guman’s answer.

Three weeks—enough time to improve his singing and dancing by at least one level.

“Let’s go quickly. I need to start practicing.”

“Roy…”

Hwang Guman looked at Roy with wide, twinkling eyes.

It might’ve been cute if it were Kim Chan, but on Hwang Guman—who looked more like a mountain bandit—it was just strange.

As if they had planned it, Roy, Kim Chan, and Doha all avoided Hwang Guman’s gaze and made their way toward the car.

***

“Ugh, I’m so nervous, hyung.”

“So heavy.”

“Haaam…”

“You two should mix your personalities. That’d be perfect.”

Do Minkyung chuckled as she fixed Doha’s hair.

Kim Chan, smaller than Roy, was slumped over his back, letting out a long sigh, while Doha, ever laid-back, yawned with ease.

[My lord, are we finally heading to the shoot today? I’m so excited!]

‘Why are you…’

Ever since Roy woke up in this world, he had been swept along in a whirlwind of events.

Unlike Kim Chan and Doha, he genuinely thought he might fail the second audition—but he passed.

All of the trainees from Bada Entertainment had cleared the first hurdle.

For Roy, the fact that he passed was important, but honestly, what excited him more was the celebratory Korean beef party thrown by the ecstatic Hwang Guman.

“Roy, aren’t those pants too big? We did the fitting just two weeks ago, but they look loose.”

“It’s fine.”

“Unnie, should we get Roy some kind of tonic? I think he’s losing weight.”

“He’ll gain it back soon. It’s just from all the dancing.”

Roy reassured the worried Kim Chan and Do Minkyung.

His body wasn’t the type to gain weight easily in the first place.

Back when he could summon the Spirit Kings, he rarely moved his body and lived mostly by channeling magic.

Back then, he was slim but balanced.

Now, his mana was frozen, and he had to practice singing and dancing every day.

As a result, even with hearty meals, Roy kept shedding pounds.

“No, Roy. I’ll talk to the CEO and get you a real tonic.”

Roy was about to refuse because of the bitter taste, but seeing the concern in her eyes, he ended up nodding.

***

“You guys ready?”

Right on time, Hwang Guman entered the dorm.

He gave a once-over to the boys styled by Do Minkyung and nodded in satisfaction.

“See? I told you Do Minkyung’s work is the best.”

“Then maybe give me a raise…?”

As Do Minkyung seized the moment to bring up her salary, Hwang Guman quickly turned toward the door.

“Where’s Manager Seo again…?”

“He says that, but now I really want to file a serious request.”

Do Minkyung smirked as she began gathering her scattered makeup tools.

“I can guarantee the others might come from bigger companies, but none of them can beat your visuals.”

“I agree.”

Kim Chan chimed in cheekily, matching her playful tone.

“Let’s shoot a quick video on the way. Just a short interview about how you feel before your first shoot.”

“Sounds good.”

Roy was the first to head downstairs, lacing up the Converse sneakers Do Minkyung had handed him.

***

“CEO, you’re driving?”

“Of course. I’m basically your manager at this point.”

Hwang Guman stood beside the black SUV and opened the back door for Roy.

“Once filming starts, you might not get more than three hours of sleep a day. It’ll take about two hours to get to the location, so use this time to nap.”

Roy nodded and got into the back seat.

He placed the neck pillow Hwang Guman had prepared around his neck and pulled a blanket over himself—clearly used to this routine.

The scenery outside the window had become familiar.

It was proof of how much time he had already spent in this world.

‘The goal is to win.’

Winning this program was the only way to receive the full support he needed to debut.

Debuting meant getting fans’ buffs.

And that, in turn, meant earning the money to buy Orichalcum.

With Roy in the lead, the SUV slowly rolled forward with everyone on board.

His determined eyes gradually disappeared beneath his closing eyelids.