Chapter 47: Pillow Fight at 3 AM

Roy was the last one to take a shower.

Only after that was he finally able to lie down on the bed.

Ber must have been exhausted too.

By the time Roy came out, Ber was already curled up fast asleep next to the pillow.

Roy gently pulled Ber into his arms and covered him with the blanket.

As soon as his head touched the pillow, the world faded to black.

He fell into a deep sleep almost instantly, completely worn out.

But at some point, murmuring noises began to ring in his ears.

Even when he covered his ears and burrowed deeper under the blanket, the noise didn’t fade—instead, it only got louder.

Eventually, Roy rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed, only to be smacked in the face by a flying pillow.

Roy closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

If he didn’t, he might actually end up torching those two noisy idiots’ hair like Lee Chulhun once did.

Ber, now awake from the commotion, staggered over and leaned his tiny body against Roy’s palm.

“Beep… (Contractor, I’m seriously so sleepy right now…)”

Normally, Ber didn’t need to sleep with Roy.

Spirits weren’t beings that required a certain number of hours of sleep like humans did.

Back in the As Continent, Ber even stood guard for Roy for seven days and nights straight.

But now, Ber was swaying drowsily like a bird in a daze.

He couldn’t return to the Spirit Realm either.

When Roy asked him about it, Ber explained that ever since he was summoned to this world, the path back to the Spirit Realm had vanished.

He had to remain in physical form the entire time.

Roy pulled Ber close and gently patted his small body.

Ber let out a soft “beep beep” before quickly falling back asleep.

***

“What’s going on?”

“Well…”

The one who asked how he was doing was Yoo Juwon.

He looked like he had just woken up as well—his hair was a complete mess like a bird’s nest.

Seeing Roy’s weary expression, Yoo Juwon cautiously continued.

“I’m not entirely sure since I just woke up too, but… I think it’s because of Kim Sunwoo’s snoring.”

“Snoring?”

Roy blinked in disbelief.

He glanced over at Kim Sunwoo and Ji Hyunwoo, who were still arguing loudly.

“I usually sleep through anything, so I didn’t really notice, but Ji Hyunwoo seems to have stayed up all night. He woke Kim Sunwoo up and told him to go sleep somewhere else.”

“Haa…”

Roy knew how maddening snoring could be.

Back at Ocean Entertainment, he used to sleep alone for that exact reason.

But last night, he had been so exhausted that he didn’t hear Kim Sunwoo snoring at all—he’d simply passed out and dreamed the night away.

What had woken Roy up wasn’t the snoring—it was the argument.

And the pillow that hit him in the face right after he sat up.

“You two, that’s enough.”

Even though there were no production crew members in the room, surveillance cameras were installed.

Still, the two of them were shouting at each other like they’d completely forgotten that.

Roy walked right between the two, whose faces were flushed with anger.

Since the pillow-throwing incident, Ji Hyunwoo had stopped hurling objects and instead kept yelling at Kim Sunwoo to leave the room.

“Because of you, I didn’t get a single wink of sleep! Get out!”

“This room is meant for four people. Where exactly is Kim Sunwoo supposed to sleep if he leaves?”

Roy calmly pointed out reality to Ji Hyunwoo.

It wasn’t like Kim Sunwoo was snoring on purpose.

Roy felt that Ji Hyunwoo was being unreasonable.

“You don’t understand because you passed out the second your head hit the pillow! Do you know how awful it is to be so tired but unable to sleep?!”

Roy pressed down the sigh that rose to his throat and brushed his bangs back.

It was clear that Ji Hyunwoo wasn’t in a state where reasoning would help.

***

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

Roy was certain that people in the neighboring rooms must’ve heard the commotion—he’d woken up from a deep sleep, after all.

Since the dorm building was hastily built, it wasn’t well insulated against sound.

“Hello.”

“Uh… do you know what time it is right now?”

Roy opened the door and greeted the visitor politely.

The familiar face outside tried hard to hide their irritation as they voiced their complaint.

“I’m really sorry. This won’t happen again.”

“Please make sure of that. It’s three in the morning right now.”

After Roy gave a sincere apology, the visitor—who had arrived clearly upset—softened their voice and walked away.

“Ber.”

“Beep… (Why are you waking me again… I’m still so sleepy…)”

Roy had no choice but to wake Ber, who he’d set back on the bed earlier.

Ber cracked open one eye and grumbled.

“Give me a few feathers.”

“Beep?” (What kind of BS is this now…?)

Roy lightly tapped Ber’s head—not hard enough to hurt.

Ber let out a heavy sigh like a person and plucked several feathers with his beak.

“Hyunwoo, use these to block your ears. Tomorrow, ask the staff for earplugs, or buy a noise-canceling artifact yourself. With this many participants, it’s impossible that not one of them snores.”

Roy gathered the feathers and handed them to Ji Hyunwoo.

Still fuming, Ji Hyunwoo glared at both Kim Sunwoo and Roy, but took the feathers, bunched them up, and shoved them into his ears.

“Let’s all get some sleep now. We’re probably going to start filming soon.”

Roy clapped twice as if to signal the end of the chaos.

Kim Sunwoo still looked sulky, but since Roy—who had literally taken a pillow to the face—was the one diffusing the situation, he didn’t say anything and quietly went back to bed.

***

“…That was amazing.”

Yoo Juwon, who had been standing quietly to the side, let out a voice full of admiration.

Roy seemed like someone very familiar with de-escalating conflict.

Despite his delicate appearance, his voice was low and his gaze sharp—it was hard to ignore him when he spoke.

Even Ji Hyunwoo and Kim Sunwoo, who had completely forgotten they were being filmed and thrown a tantrum, had calmed down thanks to him.

“Good night. You were really cool today.”

Avoiding Yoo Juwon’s sparkling gaze, Roy crawled back into bed.

He shut his eyes right away, but the sleep that had been chased away didn’t return until the sun was fully up.

“Starting today, dance and vocal classes will be held according to your assigned rank. Please gather by class.”

At the staff’s instructions, the contestants sleepily made their way to their groups.

Those who had slept outside stretched stiff muscles and rotated their shoulders to loosen up.

“Hyung, did you not sleep last night? You look super tired.”

Kim Chan looked at Roy with concern.

Roy’s pale skin made the dark circles under his eyes look even more pronounced.

If you looked closely, even the whites of his eyes were a little bloodshot.

“Was the fight last night in your room, Roy?”

“Fight? What fight?”

Hajun glanced around and whispered to Roy.

Chan, who was hearing this for the first time, widened his eyes and lowered his voice as well.

“There was a big commotion early in the morning. Somehow, it felt like it came from your room, Roy. You look like you didn’t get much sleep either.”

“Is it true, hyung?”

“Stop shaking me. My stomach feels queasy.”

Roy realized something today—if he didn’t get enough sleep, he lost his appetite too.

He hadn’t eaten much breakfast, and now that Chan was grabbing his arm and shaking him, his stomach felt even worse.

“Sorry.”

Chan quickly apologized and patted Roy’s back.

“Ouch.”

Chan had assumed Roy was feeling nauseous from indigestion and tried to help, but Roy’s upper body lurched forward, and he felt even dizzier than before.

“Is everyone in their groups now? Then let’s head to the set.”

Once all the contestants had gathered, the staff began loading them into transport vehicles by team.

Roy sighed deeply as he watched Ji hyunwoo and Kim Sunwoo bickering again at the front of the line.

“It sounds like the production team heard about it too.”

Hajun shared what he knew as he walked beside Roy.

“Hajun, where do you even get this kind of information?”

“Well, obviously…”

“Obviously?”

“I eavesdropped.”

Hajun grinned, his eyes narrowing into half-moons.

Chan, who had hoped for some secret source, looked disappointed.

“You’ve got sharp ears.”

“Maybe it’s hyung who just doesn’t care about what’s going on around him?”

Hajun was a little offended.

It wasn’t like he tried to listen in—everyone had been talking about it nonstop.

Chan not noticing it was the weirder part.

“Yeah, our youngest has great ears. Very useful.”

Chan tousled Hajun’s hair into a messy fluff.

Since today’s schedule only involved practice, there was no hairstyling or makeup—so it was fair game.

“Be careful, hyung.”

“Thanks.”

Roy almost tripped on his own foot while walking.

If Chan hadn’t quickly caught his arm, he would’ve at least scraped one of his knees.

***

The contestants were transported to the set, with the Diamond team going in first.

That group had the top ten ranked contestants.

The others looked on with a mix of awe and envy as the Diamond team walked in.

“Next, Gold team—please head in.”

Gold team had high rankings too.

Roy straightened his back under the gazes that seemed to shoot toward him like arrows.

It just felt like the right thing to do.

“Whoa… When did they even have time to build all this?”

As soon as they entered, everyone was visibly impressed.

The set was different from the one used for the ranking announcement.

This time, the stage was in the center, and audience-style seating completely surrounded it.

“Looks like we’re sitting by team.”

As expected, the space was divided into four sections for each team.

They were all in the same area, but the number and quality of chairs were completely different.

“Diamond’s chairs are like royal thrones.”

The chairs looked just like the one the 1st place contestant had sat on.

Just one glance told you they’d be comfortable.

“Our chairs are pretty nice too.”

Gold team’s seats weren’t bad.

Compared to the flimsy plastic chairs in Bronze team’s area, theirs were luxury hotel-level.

Once the contestants found the chairs labeled with their ranks and sat down, the lights in the set turned off all at once.

Roy thought, ‘I could really go for a thirty-minute nap right now.’

The darkness that wrapped around him was so comforting.

“When do you think filming’s gonna start?”

“Yeah, the lights are still off.”

The contestants murmured among themselves, waiting for the lights to come on.

But time passed with no sign of light.

Just as one contestant raised a hand to ask the staff what was going on—

Pop.

A single spotlight lit up the center stage.