“......”

“......”

For a moment, there was a brief silence.

I had told him he didn’t have to come, but the servants insisted—after all, it was their duty to host a guest—and they trailed along, eyes rolling in confusion. Their faces looked as if they were malfunctioning, and Roy’s expression was no different. He was furrowing his brows at such a formal greeting, as though it had been lifted from a historical drama.

“Galbi, are you out of your mind?”

Had he eaten something bad? Or hit his head at the church? Roy grabbed Galbi’s head as if selecting a watermelon, poking and tapping it.

“Hey, cut it out!”

Galbi, belatedly overcome by embarrassment, shoved Roy away.

“...!”

Then, looking pale, he stared back.

“Ah, I mean—just now—”

“You’re acting really strange today. What’s wrong? Are you mad at me?”

“M-... mad at you for what?”

Meanwhile, Roy, genuinely shocked by Galbi’s use of honorifics, covered his mouth and froze. He knew why Galbi was angry—no doubt about the Salvation Church incident—but there were too many onlookers here. If he was going to calm Galbi down, they needed to move somewhere private.

‘I told him I’d go.’

Roy shot a covert glare at Galbi, but when their eyes met, he forced a courteous smile.

“Shall we go inside? Aren’t you hungry, Galbi?”

“......”

“Do you like bread? Or something sweet?”

“......”

Yet, for some reason, Galbi didn’t even twitch his lips.

‘Seriously, why did he even come if he’s like this?’

Roy grumbled inwardly, but outwardly he maintained his angelic smile. Even after they went up to the room, the two of them sat in silence, each watching the other’s reaction. Then, simultaneously, they spoke.

“You know—”

“Um—”

“You go first.”

“No, you go first.”

...Go ahead? At that moment, Galbi—suddenly dropping to his knees—grabbed Roy’s pant leg and clung on.

“E-Roi...! No, Lord Roy! I’ve been so blind until now. Have I been mistaken all this time? The fool was me!”

“?!”

What trick was this? Flustered, Roy knelt too, and Galbi, terrified, threw himself flat on the floor.

“I’ll be your slave! I’ll do anything you ask! Just please reconsider!”

“Hey, what’s gotten into you? Are you crazy?”

Roy tried to haul him up, but Galbi clung to the ground even more desperately.

“Get up...!”

“I won’t! Not until you say you’ll make me your slave! I won’t get up!!”

✧

Fortunately, they cleared up the misunderstanding. Instead of the slave nonsense, they agreed to exchange tokens of reconciliation. First, Galbi gave Roy his Awakener community ID. With Galbi’s account, Roy disrupted the netizen detective squad’s investigation.

[Title: It’s Jegalbi.]

E-Roi is handsome.

If there’s no proof, what then?

└ (Jegalbi student ID photo.jpg)

└ It’s real

└ He’s the real Galbi

└ Should I line up here?

└ I want to be friends with Galbi

So jealous that his only acquaintance is the god-tier Gongㅠㅠ How do you know him?

I think this means he’s even more handsome than Ichonyangㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Is he even human?ㅎ

I always thought Ichonyang was too pretty to be a guy....

Definitely more pretty than handsome for Ichonyang

Is Gong from Seogak High?

└ Not Bugak High, obviously Seogak High

└ But didn’t Gong ever say he was a minor?

└ What even?? Gong hyung is definitely a minor

└ Eyewitnesses on the day he hit Awakening 24 said he looked young, but no one ever said minor

└ OMG it’s real;; I saw it

└ He was short and looked young > must be a minor > that rumor became Bugak High fake Gong I guess

Gong hyung wasn’t a minor?!

└ Apparently not

But everyone needs to calm down. This is how another fake Gong shows up

The comment count is insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Anyway, conclusion: not Ichonyang but more handsome, right?

└ Yeah, seems so

The reaction exploded. Every time we refreshed, the comments jumped by hundreds, and now they had easily surpassed a thousand. Seeing such a different response compared to when I commented with my own ID, I felt a twinge of indignation.

‘So this is how influential Galbi is.’

Just one remark about handsomeness, and people spun all sorts of baseless theories farther from the truth. They even dredged up eyewitness accounts from the day I first took my grade evaluation, absurdly concluding that E-Roi couldn’t be a minor.

‘I should’ve asked Galbi for help sooner.’

This could have been resolved so easily... and I only ended up losing that account. As Roy smirked at the comment window, Galbi gave him a sour look and asked,

“But is this really okay? What if it comes out later?”

“So what? I’m not lying.”

Even if my identity comes out later, it wouldn’t reflect badly on Galbi.

“Are you subtly warning me?”

“Not at all. I just mean you can consider it your account now and use it freely.”

“Galbi, you’re really a good person.”

Anyway, the crisis was averted. So what did Roy give Galbi in return?

It was a Certificate of Friendship. It came from the playbook Rosé had left behind and, of course, had no legal power.

“But is this really enough for you?”

“Yeah. Just {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} promise you won’t change your mind. If someone later asks who my closest friend is—”

“You’d say my name?”

“Yeah. That’s all I need.”

He once said not to pretend we knew each other because it was embarrassing. This opportunist. But I felt the same way, so I didn’t mind. After all, friends tend to stick together.

“While you’re here, let’s have dinner too.”

“Can we?”

“Of course. Oh, want to see the house? It’s really nice here.”

“Here? You talk as if it’s someone else’s place.”

Roy flinched for a moment.

“Well, you’ve been out a lot lately.”

“Yeah, true.”

He’d spent the semester in the dorm and even the break on the《Star Hero》shoot, so it made sense. With the crisis averted, Roy hurried Galbi out of the room.

“Want to swim? Or there’s a movie theater in the basement—whatever you want. Hey, isn’t《Star Hero》on tonight? Let’s watch together.”

Meanwhile, every word Roy spoke sounded strange to Galbi. How rich did someone have to be to own all those things? As Roy led him down, Galbi saw a familiar face in the living room on the first floor.

“...Lee Jun-yong?”

The so-called Jun-Dragon. The head of Maru Group, a leading domestic food conglomerate with some seventy affiliates, was right before him.

“Father! You came early?”

And Roy was calling that man “Father.”

“I hurried back so I could have dinner with you two. And who’s your friend?”

“He’s my closest friend from school, Jegalbi.”

Roy nudged him to introduce himself, but Galbi was too stunned to speak. His mind was in chaos.

‘What is this? A dream? It can’t be.’

He didn’t look anything like E-Roi. An adopted child? Galbi wasn’t even sure he was breathing properly. Jun-Dragon broke the silence with a warm smile.

“Thank you for being such good friends with my Roi. Come visit often.”

In this utterly surreal moment, Galbi fainted.

Thud—

“Ah! Galbi!”

✧

Episode 4 of《Star Hero》opened with interviews of the contestants.

Q. Your first grade evaluation! Which contestant left the biggest impression?

[Gye Bok-ji: Of course—]

[Gwak Hyeol: Of course—]

[Jo Yeon-il: Of course it’s that psycho from Sector 2. A total psychopath.]

After last week’s broadcast, Jo Yeon-il had taunted all the F-rankers nationwide. Because of a few seconds shown in the preview, he’d been roasted incessantly for a week. Apparently, that wasn’t enough—Jun-Seo planned to kick him out, starting Episode 4’s opening with Jo Yeon-il’s second round of remarks. Unsurprisingly, the community was ablaze.

Is he out of his mind talking like that when the whole nation is watching...

To say that in an interview shows what kind of character he has

Please eliminate him quickly

└ Even among C-ranks, he’s the worst kind, a C who acts like a D, so he’ll be gone soon

This guy’s embarrassing all C-ranks

He’ll live long if people keep roasting himㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

In fact, Jo Yeon-il’s nicknames for Roy had been jokes on set. The man himself was proud that he’d left such a strong impression. But unaware viewers found his comments offensive. What followed was more aggravation: trying to play leader without being one, stirring up rank conflicts with divisive remarks, and the so-called “analyst comments.” No matter how F-ranks flapped their wings, they’d still be F, and viewers were enraged.

“That guy’s eyes must be crooked....”

Galbi muttered under his breath, pitying him as the most pathetic person alive. Having just recovered from fainting, Galbi now enjoyed life’s greatest luxury: watching Episode 4 of《Star Hero》in Maru Group’s private theater in the basement with the god-tier Gong.