Unlike the stiff contestants wearing awkward smiles due to a sense of dread, Kim Hanbom’s expression oddly looked excited.
“From now on, we’ll be handing out water guns filled with paint of different colors.”
No sooner had Kim Hanbom finished speaking than the production crew began handing each contestant on stage a large, rifle-shaped water gun.
Roy also received one and gave it a shake.
He could feel the sloshing sensation of liquid inside with every movement.
“You’ll have 10 minutes. During that time, your goal is to shoot the other contestants standing nearby.”
“Haha…”
One contestant standing next to Roy let out an awkward laugh.
His face wore a forced smile, the kind that seemed to say, ‘Of all the options, why water guns?’
‘There are so many people. Is this even possible…?’
Fortunately, the stage was wide enough to handle more than ten contestants shooting water guns at once.
What puzzled Roy, however, was how the show would rank the seventeen contestants from 1st to 17th just by shooting water guns at each other.
‘Well, they’ll figure it out.’
Even though he had questions, Roy knew there was nothing he could do.
Complaining to the staff would only get him flagged.
Instead, he quietly moved toward the edge of the stage.
“When the countdown hits zero, the game begins. Please get ready.”
Next to Kim Hanbom, a large digital timer with a black background and bright red numbers appeared.
The contestants on stage stared at the timer with nervous expressions.
“Start!”
The moment Kim Hanbom shouted, the contestants began firing their water guns at one another.
These weren’t just any water guns.
The pressure of the water shooting out was surprisingly strong—clearly custom-made by the production team.
“Ah! Don’t shoot in the eyes!”
“What the hell is this flavor…?”
The contestants, already disheveled to begin with, quickly ended up looking like soaked rats.
And not with clear water—this was multicolored chaos.
“Sorryyyy!”
One contestant apologized as he shot at Roy, prompting Roy to take a quiet step backward.
Even if the guns were large, they could only hold so much water.
So most contestants didn’t spray recklessly.
Instead, they acted more like snipers, aiming carefully to mark each opponent with their assigned paint color.
Splash—
“Huh…?”
A contestant aiming at Roy let out a baffled sound.
He had clearly aimed at Roy’s name tag, but the blue stream missed and splashed outside the stage.
In the meantime, a bright red streak appeared on the shooter’s own name tag.
“Sorry about that.”
Roy offered the same apology the contestant had used earlier and then sidestepped left.
A stream of paint brushed past his side and disappeared into the air.
“Did you fake your level or something?”
The contestant who had just missed Roy looked genuinely suspicious of his movement.
“I’m still level 0.”
“No way.”
Roy’s physical stats had dropped, but he had battlefield experience.
Some contestants did move like they had basic training, but they were rare.
Most of them flailed around, struggling not to slip on the increasingly slick stage floor.
“Just let me hit you once!”
“No thanks.”
But the first contestant who had targeted Roy—whose name tag read ‘Song Doyun’—continued to cling to him persistently.
The red paint trickling down Doyun’s name tag looked almost menacing.
Still, hitting the same person multiple times wouldn’t benefit Roy.
So he simply avoided Song Doyun’s persistent attacks and started marking one different contestant after another with his red paint.
“Who is that guy?”
“He hasn’t been hit even once!”
When the timer hit the halfway point, all eyes on stage turned toward Roy in disbelief.
“Argh! It may be cheap, but we’ve got no choice! Everyone, target him!”
Song Doyun took this chance to rally the others.
Roy was the only contestant who hadn’t taken a single hit.
Naturally, the others began attacking Roy all at once.
“Wh-what?! Ganging up on one person is just mean! Roy hyung! Hang in there!”
“Roy hyuuung! Fighting!”
The crowd below the stage erupted in chaos.
Kim Chan clenched his fists and shouted encouragement, believing Roy was being unfairly targeted.
Lee Hajun, standing nearby, also widened his eyes and raised his voice.
Only Lee Doha remained calm, arms crossed and eyes half-lidded as he silently watched the scene unfold.
“Just one hit, please!”
Before anyone realized it, the game had changed from “Shoot everyone” to “Hit Roy at all costs.”
Roy darted through the crowd of contestants like a flying squirrel. But with every move he made, the only ones getting more color on their outfits were the others.
‘Man, this brings back memories. This is actually fun.’
Roy wasn’t someone who especially liked physical activity.
But recalling the training sessions he once had with comrades made him smile.
‘Back then, it was daggers flying at me—not paint.’
Compared to blades that drew blood with the slightest graze, water guns were nothing but child’s play.
“One minute left! Everyone, hurry!”
“This is ridiculous!”
The contestants’ cries of frustration filled the stage—especially from those already drenched in paint, their outfits nearly indistinguishable from a Jackson Pollock painting.
***
“Just once—!”
“Eek—!”
It looked like Song Doyun had completely given up on the actual game and switched tracks to focus solely on hitting Roy no matter what.
Seeing him charge in with his face smeared in various colors of paint, the contestant Roy had been using as a human shield let out a startled yelp.
“…3, 2, 1!”
Ten minutes passed—neither short nor long.
Roy took a few steps to the side, away from Song Doyun, who was staring at him blankly.
‘This guy’s obsession is no joke.’
If the intense glare Song Doyun was shooting at Roy were caught on camera, it felt like it might burst right through the screen.
“There’s no doubt who the winner is. Hwang Roy, please come stand next to me.”
“Yes.”
Roy walked past the disheveled contestants and stood next to Kim Hanbom.
Down below the stage, Kim Chan and Lee Hajun were clapping and grinning like they’d won themselves.
As Roy casually waved his right hand, the other contestants stepped up one by one to stand in a line.
“Hwang Roy, please choose your teammates for the first performance. You may select five to six members.”
“Do I pick them all at once?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Roy had assumed they would be choosing team members one by one.
Judging by the shocked looks in the other contestants’ eyes, they had thought the same.
“Have you made your selections?”
“Yes.”
“Please call out each name. Those whose names are called, come stand in front of Roy.”
Roy began calling the names of the contestants he wanted on his team.
“Kim Chan, Lee Doha, Lee Hajun, Han Jihoo, and trainee Kim Jaemin.”
Han Jihoo pointed at his own face with a puzzled expression, as if he hadn’t expected to be chosen.
Roy’s reason for picking him was simple—Han Jihoo had received a gold grade in both dance and vocals.
Kim Jaemin had been chosen for the same reason.
“A mix of gold and bronze, huh? I see none of the silver-ranked trainees were selected,” Kim Hanbom commented.
Just as he said, three had received gold grades in both vocal and dance, and the other three had bronze in both.
“Roy, thank you so much for picking me.”
Lee Hajun , the first to stand in front of Roy, clasped both hands with watery eyes.
Like Kim Chan, he was timid and hadn’t shown his full ability during the evaluation stage.
Perhaps because of his young age, he had tried to talk to other contestants since the beginning of the audition, but had only been met with cold, distant reactions.
Roy was the first to open up to him.
Thanks to Roy, Hajun had also met Kim Chan.
“Has everyone finished selecting their team members?”
“Yes!”
The closer the turn got to the back, the darker the expressions of the contestants became.
The last person barely had any choice left at all.
Those who hadn’t been chosen naturally ended up forming a team together.
Song Doyun, too focused on hitting Roy and neglecting his defense, ended up in last place.
It looked as though a dark cloud had formed over the heads of Song Doyun and the rest of the contestants lined up below the stage.
A few of them even bit down on their lips in frustration.
“Picking your teammates isn’t the end. The next important step is choosing a song. However, for your safety, the song selection game will take place after a short break.”
Following the production team’s signal, Kim Hanbom smoothly wrapped up his speech.
***
After filming the closing lines, the production crew moved on to briefing the contestants about the next part of the schedule.
“After lunch, you’ll have one hour to rest. Then, please change into new outfits and gather in the auditorium.”
The lunch break itself was one hour, giving the contestants a total of two hours of free time.
Guided by the crew, they headed toward the dining area.
“This feels like school lunch duty. Kinda nostalgic.”
“Oh! They even have stir-fried Vienna sausages!”
Standing at the back of the line, Roy craned his neck to check out the food options.
‘Not bad.’
Roy could sleep anywhere—even on dirt—but he was surprisingly picky when it came to food.
And the food here had consistently been a pleasant surprise.
“Here, hold this tray. Just put on as much as you want to eat.”
“Okay.”
Roy took the tray Kim Chan handed him and began scooping up rice.
“Whoa, Roy, you eat a lot! How do you stay that skinny?”
“My body just doesn’t put on weight easily.”
“Lucky…”
Lee Hajun looked in amazement at the towering pile of food on Roy’s tray, almost spilling over the edges.
“Is that all you’re eating?”
“Yeah. I gain weight really easily, so I have to keep managing my diet.”
The amount of food on Hajun’s tray was barely a quarter of what Roy had taken.
‘He should be eating more at his age.’
Hajun was about the same height as Roy, but his cheeks were still full with baby fat.
Roy briefly considered putting more food on his tray, but shook his head.
‘Forcing someone to take something they don’t want is also a form of violence.’
Instead, he decided to keep an eye out and offer more if Hajun got hungry later.
Roy went to find an open spot and sat down.
Soon, Hajun, Kim Chan, and Lee Doha joined him with their own trays.
“Hello.”
“Huh…?”
Just as Roy picked up his spoon and reached for the soup, someone else walked up to join their group.