“Roi is preparing to be an idol?”

It turned out to be completely unfounded.

Roi was putting together a dedicated team for the Awakened Management Bureau, and he said he was still looking for the final member.

Please refrain from spreading unverified posts.

Hojin even left a comment himself, but it was ignored.

Meanwhile, the random-play dance ended and the team formation began.

They said he was just naturally lucky, and once again Roi drew number 1—earning the chance to pick his team members first.

Thus the AvenX team was formed.

With his first-place benefit, Roi could invite whoever he wanted.

“I invite the team member—”

At that exact moment the screen cut away to each team’s practice footage.

The merciless editing drew an involuntary sigh.

The comments section went wild.

“The editing is really f*** awful”

“Cut it there and you leave us hanging, do you want us to be curious or not????”

“Makes people go crazy—must be a PD specialty haha”

“Isn’t survival just like that anyway”

For a moment, we watched the participants trying to sync up, the sound of boards and feet cracking in time.

Before long, the dawn of the second survival arrived and episode 6 ended.

Then came the preview for next week.

“Next week!”

“Special 180-minute broadcast, simultaneous MGV cinema screening!”

They said the scale of the second survival was huge, and sure enough they were doing a cinema simultaneous screening event.

A subtitle told viewers to check the notice for ticketing details, then the full trailer began.

A vast synthetic forest thick with greenery.

Sunlight breaking through the leaves in shards.

A wild bear emerging beneath a cool waterfall.

The second survival location for , which had consumed over half the production budget, was finally revealed.

“Ten base camps”

“Take it or lose it!”

After glimpses of contestants wandering through the forest, red eyes flashed between the undergrowth.

“Park Inmul: Is this the right path?”

“Heo Dangil: I saw, aaah!”

“iRoi: Where are you going? I’m right here.”

Suddenly the Red Team burst out and charged toward the Blue Team.

Silhouettes darting through darkness and contestants fleeing desperately intercut to heighten the tension.

And finally, another contestant, iAct, breathed heavily as she hid behind a rock and glanced around.

Just as she confirmed no one was chasing her and relaxed, a black shadow fell over her.

The moment iAct noticed the shadow, it waved at her as if greeting.

“Aaah!”

With iAct’s harrowing scream, the screen cut to black.

Bold subtitles then slammed onto the screen.

“Survival chase!”

“Who will live until the end?”

“Star Hero second survival, grand reveal next week!”

They’d hyped it as a blockbuster-level entertainment, and their confidence was justified.

The reaction was explosive.

“The scale is insane”

“Bermudas + Seo Hyunwoo on one team... to see that on the big screen... it gives me chills”

“Seriously AvenX lol iRoi swept all the top tiers”

“iRoi’s team lineup is legendary”

“That final shadow was Seo Hyunwoo, right? I’d have peed myself”

“This is absolutely a big-screen must”

We all agreed.

With stakes this high, it had to be on the big screen.

I was already bitter about missing the chance to watch the second survival live. If I missed this too, I’d hate myself.

Hojin hurried to the official website.

The server seemed overloaded—connecting was almost impossible.

Anxious, he bit his nails and refreshed the community page.

He worried someone might have already succeeded before him.

Fortunately, he wasn’t the only one locked out; complaints kept pouring in.

Then one post caught his eye.

[Title: Got in lol]

(screenshot_homepage.jpg)

“MGV ticketing opens tomorrow at 10 AM

But what’s this team vote?”

“Vote?”

“Huh? It’s real, what’s this??”

‘Vote? What vote?’

No sooner had the question formed than the frozen screen changed and a popup appeared.

<ST☆R Hero>

“The war of the chosen stars!

Build your dream team with your own hands!

Vote now >>”

That vote was to decide teams for the upcoming third survival.

One vote per ID.

Must vote for six contestants.

Only Hojin knew Roi so well—he froze.

‘Choose six people? Not one...?’

The voting period was one week.

You could form a team of six contestants, and those with the most matches formed a team.

Plus, those who guessed the dream team correctly would be entered to win live-audience spots. What a generous offer!

The community buzzed at the news of its first ever vote.

[Title: Please let Bermudas + Seo Hyunwoo be a team]

“iRoi, Kim Taeon, Park Yeonwoo, Seo Hyunwoo << that’s a must, now I’m weighing the other two, anyone recommend?”

“Anna”

“Jo Yeonpal”

“Keep the second survival grouping”

“Why keep adding iRoi to every team? He’s nothing special without the face”

“But his face is why you pick him, what are you talking about?”

“Heaven on earth”

“But iRoi is debuting soon. This could be his last time, right? It won’t be live for the second survival, so why include all 100 people in the vote?”

“They’ll remove eliminated contestants after the broadcast to avoid spoilers”

“Then what if someone I voted for got eliminated”

“No live-audience spot lol”

“Sh*t I’m °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° suddenly so cautious”

“Just pick the top-tier six? iRoi’s gonna bomb lol”

“If iRoi bombs, that whole group bombs with him—doesn’t make sense with that lineup”

After reading a few posts, Hojin became cautious too.

But who was he?

Besides the insiders, he knew better than anyone who Roi was friends with, who survived, and what happened on set.

‘So this time, I’ll get it right...!’

No matter what, I will guess correctly.

✧

While votes were tallied, the contestants trained by tier.

Grade A got customized training to maximize individual strengths; B and C did high-intensity drills to hone skills.

And Grade D focused on basic stamina and mental fortitude, but...

“Ahh! I can’t do it anymore!”

With a felt temperature of 50°C, wearing full firefighter gear on the way to the training site, Roi surrendered in just two minutes.

“I can’t do this. This is really not right.”

Do Minguk, head of the Korean Guild who was overseeing Grade D training, stopped and looked at Roi.

“We haven’t even started yet.”

“But this is wrong. I might actually die.”

“You’re an awakening fire attribute, right? Isn’t that so?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Then you’re at an advantage, Mr. iRoi.”

“No? No way! That makes it worse for me!”

“I don’t understand.”

Taken aback by the robotic reply, Roi felt as if he were talking to a machine.

Do Minguk stared down at him with an expressionless face.

It wasn’t that his reaction was incomprehensible—usually it was the opposite.

Awakeners are most stable and efficient when training in environments similar to their innate attributes.

But Roi was an exception.

A side effect of his great power?

Maybe he really was an irregular.

Still, Do Minguk shook his head firmly, as if he thought Roi was just whining.

“There are no exceptions.”

“I could actually die; I’m probably a special case—”

“An Awakener’s stamina far surpasses a normal human’s. You will not die. Also, Guild Leader Baek Eunseong is nearby, so there’s no need to worry.”

No matter what Roi argued, Do Minguk dismissed it with “Awakeners don’t die that easily.”

As a result, Roi was forced back into the scorching sun.

Only one minute had passed, but the suffocating heat enveloped him as if he were in a furnace.

‘They call this mental training? Isn’t it abuse?’

A sunfish melted slowly in the heat.

Glancing to the side, Roi saw the others gasping to endure the drill.

Still, none looked in as much agony as he did.

‘I feel like I’m going to cry.’

Without the strength to even twitch a finger, he could barely move his eyes. After about 15 minutes—

Suddenly the production crew sprang into action.

They began drawing a large circle around the participants.

‘What now...?’

Sweat poured down like rain, blurring his vision. He wanted to wipe it away, but his thick gloves didn’t absorb moisture.

‘Why give us this when there’s no fire...?’

Just then Roi’s dread solidified.

The gear they wore was identical to what real firefighters use.

At first he thought it was just to intensify the workout—heavy gear maximizes physical exertion.

The equipment weighed about 20 kg.

Now his thoughts changed.

‘No way...?’

He looked up and saw crew placing oil drums on the ground.

At the same time, he locked eyes with Do Minguk.

With that same impassive expression, Do Minguk announced to the participants.

“From now on, we’re increasing the training intensity. Please put on your respirators. Five seconds. Five, four—”

A merciless countdown began.

“No...!”

There was no time to protest.

Before he knew it the countdown was over, and Do Minguk, without a moment’s hesitation, ignited the oil on the ground.

Flare!

The participants were engulfed in flames in an instant.

‘Is this poetic justice?’

What he did to the sixth soul of absolute evil was now returned to him in kind.

“Withdraw! kollok kollok, withdraaw...!”

Frozen in panic, Roi failed to don his respirator and coughed as he withdrew.

When he raised his hand to signal, he was sure he’d met Do Minguk’s gaze.

But to his surprise—

‘...he avoided eye contact?’

Do Minguk wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Meanwhile, scorching air filled his throat and lungs.

He put on the respirator too late; the pain remained.

Panting, Roi resented Do Minguk.

‘You call this mental training?’

Mental strength my ass—this was torture.

If this wasn’t abuse, what was?

He wished he would just black out, but his mind grew sharper, making it all the more unbearable.

‘Won’t they let me out? Fine then, I’ll get out myself.’

With murderous intent in his eyes, Roi crawled toward the flames.

【숙련도가 2단계로 상승했습니다.】

【‘24시 불가마’가 해금됩니다.】

Skill unlocked?

Just like that?

Perhaps it was his imagination, but after the status window appeared, the heat seemed to abate.

He felt as if he’d gained an unintended epiphany.

Of course, he was glad—but still...

‘Who raises proficiency like this?!’

It wasn’t because he was an irregular that he was weak against heat despite being fire-attributed.

It was because his proficiency was too low.

Because he was starter-level!