“What… What is that…?”
The scream came from one of the contestants who had been standing at a distance.
Among the tightly clustered group of contestants like Roy’s, the one who screamed was Kim Chan, whose face had turned pale.
The reason for his scream was one of the contestants who had appeared from behind.
Whether it was a prank or not, the person had draped themselves in a white sheet and startled everyone.
“Chan, are you okay? You look really pale…”
“They’re really doing a mission at dawn…?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s worried it’s going to be some kind of courage test.”
The worst-case scenario had come true.
They had all figured there would be some kind of fear-based mission eventually, but no one thought it would happen this soon.
Since it was still just a rumor going around among the contestants, there was a good chance it wasn’t true.
But Kim Chan had a strong feeling that this time, their guesses were right.
Even just now, his heart had pounded at the sound of that scream.
He was already anxious thinking about how embarrassing he’d look if he had to actually participate in the mission.
“Everyone, please gather in the auditorium~!”
Following the staff’s directions, the contestants entered the auditorium.
It had been rearranged from how it looked before.
“It’s divided by class now?”
“Right? I checked it out earlier and was surprised too. Looks like this mission is going to focus more on the Hunter roles.”
Kim Chan and Lee Hajun looked around with wide eyes like curious twins.
The auditorium was now divided into four sections: Dealer, Tanker, Healer, and Other, each occupying one side.
“Only Doha and I are in the Dealer section.”
Hajun glanced at Lee Doha and gave a shy smile.
Doha wasn’t very talkative, so Hajun could count on one hand how many times they’d had a proper conversation.
It wasn’t that they had a bad relationship.
After many all-nighters practicing together and successfully pulling off performances, a kind of battlefield camaraderie had naturally formed between the team members.
Still, since Doha wasn’t the most warm or friendly person, there was always a slight sense of tension.
“Yeah! Let’s work well together.”
As if he understood Hajun’s feelings, Doha gently ruffled Hajun’s hair.
In Roy’s eyes, it looked like a puppy tail was wagging wildly behind Hajun’s back.
“Jihoo was in the Healer section, and Jaemin was in Tanker,” Kim Chan said as he glanced at Roy with concern.
Han Jihoo was the type to do fine no matter where you dropped him.
His refined, almost noble-looking appearance gave off an air that made people hesitate to approach him carelessly.
But when needed, he was surprisingly sociable, so Chan wasn’t too worried about him.
Roy, on the other hand…
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Well, I just started worrying if you’d be okay adjusting to this.”
[Earth is having the same thought as Kim Chan.]
‘Seriously, look at these guys.’
One of Roy’s eyebrows twitched upward in irritation.
He knew they were just worried about him, but something about it still rubbed him the wrong way.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“…I’m worried too.”
“Honestly, me too…”
“Why are you guys like this?”
Even Lee Doha and Lee Hajun, who had just been quietly listening nearby, chimed in with their own comments. Roy was stunned.
“My brother here—he may look cool, but he’s actually kind of a klutz. If someone offered him something tasty, he’d probably just follow them without a second thought…”
Kim Chan’s face took on a nostalgic expression.
He suddenly remembered all the times Roy had gotten distracted by food and ended up in various situations.
There was even a time when a stalker fan tried to hand him food and Roy almost ate it on the spot, making everyone panic.
Roy hadn’t realized the person could be dangerous, but in this world, there were actually people who laced food with harmful substances just to cause harm.
“Hyung, you absolutely cannot go with anyone just because they offer you coffee, okay? Promise?”
‘…Do they think I’m a child?’
“Well… you kind of are when it comes to coffee.”
Especially since Roy had a known weakness for coffee.
If someone placed an iced Americano next to a matching dessert, he’d act like he was under a spell.
“Enough with those looks.”
Creeped out by the worried stares directed his way—led by Kim Chan—Roy scratched his arm so hard it made a noise.
“Come over here and get your mics on, please.”
If the staff hadn’t called them over at that moment, Roy might’ve ended up mentally shredded by the concern-disguised nagging.
He was supposed to be the oldest of them all, but there were times when even Hajun treated him like a younger sibling.
At this point, Roy had just accepted it.
“We’ll begin filming in ten minutes. Everyone, please gather over here.”
Once everyone had their mics on, the staff herded them toward the stage.
While the contestants stood with tense expressions, staring up at the platform—
Suddenly, the entire auditorium was plunged into darkness.
“What… What is this?”
“Did the power go out?”
“Don’t tell me a monster chewed through the wires?”
Blinded by the sudden darkness, the contestants panicked.
Kim Chan, who was easily spooked, was no exception.
“H-Hyung… Roy hyung, where are you…?”
Reaching out into the dark, Kim Chan groped around to find Roy.
Even though Doha was dependable, in a situation like this, Roy—who seemed to have no fear—felt more reassuring.
“I was seriously so scared… Hyung?”
Just as Kim Chan finally managed to grab Roy’s arm and was about to tell him how frightened he was, he noticed something strange.
The arm in his grasp was unnaturally stiff.
“What’s wrong…? Roy hyung!”
Roy let himself be pulled along by Kim Chan, but then collapsed to the floor.
Kim Chan barely managed to catch him in his arms.
“Over… over there…”
Roy wasn’t the only strange one.
Lee Hajun, his voice trembling, was trying to say something.
Roy had fainted—with his eyes open.
Not only Kim Chan, but the others were startled as well.
Murmurs began to spread, not only in the area where Roy’s group had gathered, but in other parts of the auditorium too.
“What’s over there? H-Huh?!”
Kim Chan looked up, wondering what on earth was going on—only for his eyes to widen in shock.
A figure had appeared on the stage.
A woman with long, pitch-black hair hanging down like a curtain—she looked just like a ghost.
A blinding white spotlight from the ceiling tracked her movements as she glided across the stage.
Among monsters, there were those in the form of ghosts or spirits.
But until now, none of that type had appeared on the island.
Kim Chan was left speechless.
His body stiffened, and his lips only managed to let out a scream before they stopped functioning altogether.
***
“Oh my. You’re all more scared than I expected.”
The ghost suddenly grabbed a microphone.
A familiar voice echoed through the auditorium speakers.
The lights in the auditorium were still off.
The only illumination came from the spotlight shining on the ghostly figure.
But even with just a little light, the participants could now make out their surroundings.
Roy wasn’t the only one who had collapsed to the ground.
“Haa…”
“Hyung, are you okay?”
[Hero, are you alright?]
Roy blinked his eyes open.
Just for a moment, he had felt a chill crawl down his spine.
As Kim Chan had assumed, Roy wasn’t someone who got scared easily.
Even when facing ordinary monsters or having a blade pressed to his throat, he remained unshaken.
But there was one exception—ghosts.
On the continent of As, there were undead-type monsters, but never anything resembling the ghost on stage.
When the kind of ghost that only appeared in horror stories showed up before his eyes, his soul nearly left his body.
Roy’s face flushed red.
Feeling the concerned gazes of his companions, he wanted nothing more than to dig a hole and bury himself in it.
“I’m fine,” he muttered, brushing his hair back as if trying to appear unbothered.
He even managed a faint smile.
“Hyung, you’re really scared of this kind of stuff, huh.”
But his weakness had already been exposed.
“Then why didn’t you say anything earlier? Hajun told us it was going to be some sort of courage test.”
He just hadn’t expected this kind of courage test.
He thought it would be something like free-climbing a steep cliff with bare hands.
“I just closed my eyes for a second because I felt dizzy. What do you mean I was scared?”
“I figured you wouldn’t be scared of ghosts since you’re a spirit summoner.”
“Spirits and ghosts are completely different.”
“They’re both spirit-type beings though.”
“When I summon one later, take a good look and you’ll see how different they are.”
Comparing spirits to a ghost that gave you chills just by looking at it? Totally ridiculous.
Roy cut off Kim Chan and turned his gaze back to the stage.
The moment he locked eyes with the eerie woman, his mouth went dry.
But after hearing her voice, he realized she was one of the judges—Lee Jian.
***
“Hello, everyone! I’m Lee Jian from BluCyan! I’ve missed you all so much!”
Her voice was bubbly and pleasant, perfectly matching her upbeat speech.
The only problem was that she currently looked like she had stepped straight out of a horror movie.
“I see a few of you are trembling. That’s unfortunate… because there are even scarier things waiting in this mission.”
Lee Jian looked around the room with her eyebrows drooping in a mock pout, as if she genuinely felt sorry.
Groans and sighs echoed from all over the auditorium.
“Can everyone see around you now?”
“Yes…”
Finally, the lights in the auditorium turned on.
Seeing Lee Jian in full light was even more terrifying.
Whatever makeup or costume she had on, there were even bloodstains around her mouth.
Her already pale face and hands looked completely drained of color now.
Participants who were easily frightened tried their best not to look directly at her, fixing their eyes on the space above her head instead.
“Each of you has a profession based on your Hunter awakening. Please move to your designated areas based on that.”
Each job was clearly labeled, so everyone had already more or less expected this.
“Hyung, do you want to stop by the infirmary first? You might need some calming pills or something…”
“I told you, I’m really fine.”
As Roy tried to move, Kim Chan grabbed his arm again.
Roy gently pulled his arm free and offered a small smile.
His voice came out in short, choppy bursts—clearly the result of gritted teeth.
“If it hurts, you have to say something. Got it?”
“I will.”
Not just Kim Chan—others also offered a few words of concern before heading off to their own groups.
Even Lee Doha gave Roy one last worried glance before following suit.
With a long sigh, Roy finally started walking toward his designated area.
***
There were far fewer participants gathered in the miscellaneous jobs section than anywhere else.
Most of the delay was because everyone had lingered out of concern for Roy.
The others had already gathered in small clusters.
“Huh?”
Roy had a bad feeling from the start.
Aside from the participants he had shared a stage with during the first mission, he hadn’t even exchanged names with most of them.
Thankfully, they all had nametags on their chests.
Without those, Roy probably would’ve had to call everyone “Hey, you” the entire time.
There were only a few faces Roy could clearly remember.
And among those few, one person in particular stood out immediately—a participant who stared at him with wide, surprised eyes.
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