Hojin had once been so eager to show off Roy that he’d shown the photo only to Deokseon.

What Deokseon said then was “Nice drawing.”

He couldn’t have felt better at the fact that she hadn’t expected her cat to be an actual human.

‘When Roy appears, the boards are going to go wild, right?’

Our Roy is kind and handsome, and his rank is high too.

Hojin could barely wait for Roy to show up.

In everyone’s anticipation, the first broadcast of “Star Hero” was given a full 120 minutes.

The preliminaries, which had spanned two days, were compressed into just over 60 minutes, and from part two onward, the ranking evaluations of 202 contestants began.

‘Already done with the preliminaries? I wanted to see Roy’s...’

Of Roy, Taeeon, and Yeonwoo, only Taeeon’s prelim footage was shown.

Onscreen, Hangyeol was explaining the ranking criteria.

Feeling the excitement fizzle, Hojin pouted a little.

He, who wasn’t interested in anyone but Roy, couldn’t focus and picked up his phone again.

Then Hangyeol mentioned blood fiends, and traffic spiked.

The community Hojin was browsing glitched and went blank for a moment.

‘Right, blood fiends...!’

Roy had been chased by a blood fiend in the teaser—how could he have forgotten that?

Anxious, Hojin kept hitting refresh.

When the screen came back, reactions like “Is the blood fiend finally showing up?” were flooding the boards.

The first to appear was none other than contestant number 50.

Onsite, number 1, Seo Hyunwoo, had been evaluated first, but in the broadcast the order was shuffled.

Contestant 50 was a magical awakener.

She summoned electricity to roast five blood fiends whole, then confidently claimed an A.

The following contestants each received Cs and Bs, showing solid performances.

But the more he watched, the more puzzled Hojin became.

‘The contestants are evaluated safely inside the safe zone—so why was Roy being chased?’

Was it an intentional edit for hype?

From the posts, it seemed other viewers felt the same.

[Title: I fell for the teaser]

If they’d just stayed inside the safe zone, they could’ve unleashed 9,384,234 blood fiends and it wouldn’t have mattered

Even the A-rankers only played inside, so it’s boring

Overall pretty meh?

What about that one from the teaser who was being chased? Who’s that?

[Title: I knew it’d turn out like this]

Guys, it’s called “Star” Hero from the name on down

This isn’t about picking the strongest awakener, it’s about picking awakener “idols.” So they have to go easy...

The teaser was just bait to lure us in. Let’s shut up and enjoy it haha

Even watching them mess around is something, right?

For real lol the U.S. guild even releases training vids or something. We don’t even get that, so this nonsense is all we can watch

If Gong Yi had shown up I’d have voted my ass off, what a shame

└ Hey now. The divine doesn’t dine with mortals

[Title: Am I the only one uncomfortable with contest 2 being deified?]

Honestly, they did nothing

Just because of Maha’s prophecy?

Yeah, you’re the only one uncomfortable

I’ll say one thing: S-rank elemental type. That’s it

└ lololol yeah

└ I said three things though? lol

Meh~ You’ve done more than the armchair haters~

Not that I’m uncomfortable, but I really don’t get it lol I just hope he grows well?

└ The state’s already cracking down on management

Does contest 2 even show up on Star Hero? Why the sudden hate??

[Title: Only the safe players are showing up, so...]

Something big will show up at the end

It’s survival OGs, you know

Facts, they gotta hype it until next week lol

And not long after that post, someone really big appeared: Park Yeonwoo.

The archery prodigy and ill-fated national team member.

He’d vanished after the Jinchun training facility accident—and now he’d shown up on his own.

With a bow in hand, no less.

[Title: Park Yeonwoo??? Is he insane]

HA... that face is unreal...

And he’s holding a bow

(Yeonwoo holding a bow – capture.jpg)

They threw in every otaku-trigger they could

Insane... how is that even possible?

Even upside down you can’t deny S-rank visuals

└ Is he contest 2?

└ No, he’s a C (capture from Awakening 24.jpg)

With that face, even if he was born a homeless man life would be a blast

Please be F please be F please be F please be F please be F

[Title: ????????]

How can they end it there?

If a guy draws a bow, you at least show him shooting before cutting off, damn it

How am I supposed to wait until next weekㅠㅠ

Wow... seeing Park Yeonwoo again

Give me more

Just as I was about to see something, it ended

Yeonwoo, having chosen the Sky terrain, left a striking impression just by appearing.

Even Hojin, who had been waiting desperately for Roy to appear, couldn’t take his eyes off the screen at that moment.

Then came the teaser.

The full ranking evaluations, contestant interviews, and the three guilds’ judgments were sensationally edited.

And this time, Roy appeared properly—albeit briefly, only his profile silhouette was shown.

Compared to the first teaser, where he’d flashed by like a nail scratch, it was tremendous progress.

Still, Hojin, who’d been waiting to see Roy, felt a pang in his chest.

‘Are you kidding me?’

Since the last teaser, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were toying with him, showing Roy just enough to tease.

Then he realized.

‘Is this that “devil’s edit” I’ve heard about?’

The PD must be jealous of how amazing Roy is.

Even though Roy had abandoned him for now, Hojin couldn’t just stand by and let anyone block Roy’s flower path.

If Roy doesn’t get first place, who will?

Hojin started rifling through his phone’s album.

✧

Around the same time, Jegal Bi was also lurking on the community boards.

That dumb show had finally started airing, and everywhere he looked, posts about “Star Hero” had taken over.

[Title: Star Hero first episode summary]

202 awakeners compete for S-rank items in a survival – winner gets the item and can contract with one of the three major guilds

Judges are the three Guild Masters

Rookies from the three guilds appear (Pluton’s Seo Hyunwoo & Dae Han’s Anna)

Many other insanely handsome/hot/cute contestants

Blood fiend appearance

Final = 30% judges + 70% viewer votes

The Guild Masters’ presence was epic

└ No wonder they’re leaders

70% viewer votes lol just say you want to form an idol group with awakeners

I thought the blood fiend was real but it was CGI, lame

└ For real, I saw the teaser and thought it was real madness, but it was fake

Is it right to pit those already in the three guilds against newbies who just awakened + the barely-made-it group?

└ The winner will be God Gong anyway

People whining about contest 2 not showing up—what the hell?

The three guilds and the network are staging this with S-rank items as bait. Seo Hyunwoo or Anna will win, end of story

I flipped channels and found this—actually fun lol But what do the numbers mean?

└ Order of prelim clearance

└ Thanks, no wonder the early numbers were doing well

I thought Seo Hyunwoo was no big deal, but there are monsters... made me depressed watching

They said they picked 202 awakeners for a God Gong tribute show—true?

I thought it would flop hard during casting, but the hype is insane

Wonder what the ratings were for the first ep lol

Seeing that each post had at least 20 comments, he had to admit the show was hyped.

The vibe didn’t seem bad either, so the broadcast must’ve been decent.

Then he stumbled across a post about I Roi.

[Title: Who the hell is this]

(capture of Roy’s profile waiting to appear.jpg)

Please tell me who this is

I feel like crying

Wow insane

How can someone look like that?

Flipped channels and got punched in the gut

└ Nope, got my hair grabbed instead

I thought the post above was about me lol

I came to post tooㅠㅠ Please no more editing, no elimination, no F, PD Park should release all unseen footage of this person asap

Any front-on shots? plz

Gasp I also nearly died watching the teaser

That profile is absolute art

Holy...

Did they put stars in his eyes....

No matter how he turned his phone, this face was definitely I Roi.

Of course he’d known Roy was handsome, but he’d never imagined a reaction like this, so he was stunned.

Even more surprising, posts like this weren’t just one or two.

[Title: What’s this person’s name?]

(capture of Roy’s profile waiting to appear.jpg)

I don’t care about the survival show, but I flipped channels, saw this face, and was moved—I’m tuning in live from next week.

So please, tell me the nameㅠㅠ

Isn’t it Park Yeonwoo?

└ Not the archerㅠㅠ looks like someone elseㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Huh? He looks like a total dork from my school—how did he even pass the prelims;;

└ ...????

└ Ridiculous that my type is a dork

└ From now on my type is dorks

└ And a younger guy... so hot

└ Seogak High? Bugak High?

└ If that face is a dork, how are you even alive?

└ Top comment is insane lol

[Title: So who is he again]

PD Park you drunk?

If a face like this existed, you should’ve revealed him earlier. Ratings would’ve been 40% from episode 1...

[Title: Star Hero is f**king fun]

Just being happy watching a handsome guyㅎㅎ

Beauty addicts are just happy

Gave me hope to live until next week

My one and only is 1 Second Kitty♡ Beautiful♡

Park Yeonwoo, Kim Taeeon, 1 Second Kitty—Star Hero Bermuda Triangle

Bi’s pupils trembled wildly.

Amazingly, all three people mentioned in the comments were people he knew.

‘1 Second Kitty... that can’t mean the cat is crazy, right?’

Bi, seeing his nemesis become a fashion supernova overnight, couldn’t collect himself.

Then he thought maybe the guy must’ve done something impressive, so he went to check—and found a popular post that had already surpassed 500 comments.

[Title: Cat photo]

‘Cat?’

But the author’s name was familiar.

Kim Hojin.

“......”

Hmm. Looks like I can skip this.

Bi forced a vacant look and fled to another board. But it was already overrun by “Star Hero” too.

[Title: The current uproar over Star Hero’s Park Yeonwoo’s shocking past]

He’s 19 this year.

The youngest national archer selected for the Paris Olympics.

An archery prodigy watched since childhood, and he set the all-time No. 1 record in the national team trials.

(capture of Park ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Yeonwoo at trials.jpg)

As you can see, he already had an unofficial fan club.

But less than a month after entering the athlete village, the blood fiend incident + sudden awakening forced him to withdraw.

Everyone thought he’d hung up his bow...

(archery gif from ranking evaluation.gif)

But he returned like a godㅠㅠ

When he flashed for a second in the teaser, his screenshots went viral and topped the real-time charts, and the fandom skyrocketed as soon as the first ep aired

This is unreal... can only be the reincarnation of Artemis

Turning light into a bow is so badass lol if he’d been rated S I’d have died lol too bad about the rank

He was exceptional from the start... beauty and talent (childhood Yeonwoo photo.jpg)

└ He literally grew up looking like that..?

Pure ecstasyㅠㅠ his hair flies while he shoots, my heart flew with it

└ Park Yeonwoo god-king Artemis IRL

└ Yeah, but only C-rank~~

└ Shh watch your tone

Wow I’ve never seen anyone more handsome than Baek Eunseong... but that cat-like guy is handsome too

└ 1 Second Kitty?

└ No, that’s just random letters

Hurry and debut already, why are pro archers doing thisㅠㅠ someone get PD Park

This time it was a hymn to Park Yeonwoo.

Bi thought he was about to die, seeing his school’s biggest delinquent and the school’s outcast duo praised like this.