Filming was, of course, halted, and the waiting area became a madhouse.

“Kyaak!”

“What is this?”

The contestants nearby backed away, breaking formation. They acted as if Gwak Hyeol’s sickness would infect them if they got close.

“Hyung! Get a grip, hyung!”

Only Roi and F1 and F2 stayed by his side, wholly absorbed in caring for Gwak Hyeol. Among them, Roi—who was supporting Gwak Hyeol—was as drenched in sweat and fatigue as Gwak Hyeol himself.

“Please let me through!”

Panicked staff members rushed in to bring order. Eunseong arrived at a run, pouring Heal onto him. Light burst from Eunseong’s fingertips, enveloping Gwak Hyeol and illuminating the area. Contestants and staff, seeing S-rank Heal for the first time, held their breath.

“Wow, that’s S-rank Heal...”

Someone murmured under their breath. Roi felt the same wonder. Though he himself had been saved by Eunseong’s power, this was the first time he’d seen it in action. As the light seeped into Gwak Hyeol’s pallid skin, his coughing stopped as if by magic. The light around him gradually subsided.

“He’s asleep. Let’s move him somewhere more comfortable—”

“He’s dead?!”

Before Eunseong could finish, F2 cried out—Eunseong’s expression had been so grave.

“No. I said I’d like to lay him somewhere comfortable.”

Once the misunderstanding cleared, sighs of relief erupted. Eunseong lifted Gwak Hyeol and stood; a staff member approached.

“I’ll take you to his lodging.”

As the staff led the way, Eunseong followed naturally. People seemed reassured by his calm demeanor, but Roi remained uneasy.

‘His expression wasn’t good.’

Gwak Hyeol had only stabilized momentarily; he didn’t seem fully recovered. Eunseong could flawlessly heal even a fiend’s punctured abdomen—there was no way he’d frown over a mere bout of coughing.

‘Is it some underlying illness?’

Gwak Hyeol had once told him how his health had declined, but Roi couldn’t recall the details. Junseo approached then.

“Roi, are you okay?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“You must’ve been shocked.”

Junseo’s gaze fell to Roi’s lower half. Looking down, Roi saw his clothes stained and disheveled.

“Oh... my outfit...”

“I wish you could change, but there’s no spare. What should we do?”

They couldn’t postpone filming, and to continue as is posed too many problems. As staff buzzed for solutions, F2 stepped forward and took off his shirt.

“Here—swap clothes with me, Roi. PD-nim, is that okay?”

At the unexpected offer, the staff’s gazes turned to F2.

“Are you sure? We still need an interview shot for Roi...”

“Yes, it’s fine. I’m done after this; Roi still has filming left.”

At those words, Junseo’s face lit with a subtle glow, and Roi felt a twinge of guilt. But he knew halting or delaying filming would inconvenience everyone more, so he reluctantly accepted the shirt.

“Thanks, hyung.”

Junseo organized the staff to quickly film Roi’s interview shot. They settled Roi beside Hangyeol. The set still felt chaotic from moments earlier, but Hangyeol himself remained composed. He’d been active on screen since childhood; this was nothing. Roi was the same. While the rest of the contestants struggled to focus, the two of them displayed astonishing concentration.

“You survived so dramatically—please share your thoughts.”

“Because Hyeol hyung’s condition worsened, I’ll be speaking alone. Without him, I doubt I’d be standing here.”

Roi expressed his hope for Gwak Hyeol’s speedy recovery and said he looked forward to sharing the stage with him next time. But Hangyeol, unwilling to end the interview there, suddenly asked a question he’d never posed to any other contestant.

“You’ve been given such a precious opportunity—what’s your resolve for the next evaluation?”

A faint smile curved Hangyeol’s lips. Roi knew that expression well. Hangyeol normally showed little interest in others, but when he cared, he wore a smile that left people at a loss. Typical Hangyeol mischief. Just as Roi prepared to wrap up the interview, he took the microphone again.

“I’ll climb even higher. From now on, I won’t be letting anyone off easy—so everyone better steel themselves. I’m no joke.”

His declaration sounded like a challenge; some contestants sneered. They probably thought it was laughable coming from an F-rank.

‘But will they think so later?’

With his skill locks gone, nothing could stop him now. Roi stared at the camera with a triumphant smile. He liked the current tension in the air.

✧

As soon as the first ranking ceremony ended, Roi sought out Gwak Hyeol. Without a dedicated infirmary, Gwak Hyeol lay in the lodging assigned temporarily. Just as Gwak Hyeol was regaining consciousness, their eyes met.

“Hyung, are you feeling any better?”

“Cough... why am I here...?”

Gwak Hyeol seemed unaware that he’d collapsed.

“Filming’s over. You coughed up so much blood that Guild Master Earth insisted you rest.”

“Ah... cough-cough.”

Gwak Hyeol, his face pale, could not continue. Roi could tell his condition had worsened. As Roi sat on the edge of the bed, Gwak Hyeol asked:

“How... did filming go...?”

“It went well—no need to worry. They said to be sure and contact them when you wake.”

By rule, eliminated contestants couldn’t stay at the set, so F1 and F2 couldn’t join him. Roi remembered how desperately they’d clung to him before leaving, begging him to keep in touch.

“Later, drop a dot in the group chat, okay?”

“Yeah... cough-cough.”

Gwak Hyeol coughed again, blood staining his palm. Roi handed him a tissue and probed gently.

“Hyung, did your coughing get worse while I was away?”

“You noticed?”

Gwak Hyeol answered with a wry smile.

“Did you say you were always weak before Awakening?”

“No. I was healthy until the day before I awakened. This is just common Awakening poisoning.”

“Awakening poisoning?”

Yeonwoo had suffered Awakening poisoning too, so he knew it well. But these symptoms were very different. Was every glitch called Awakening poisoning? As doubts about Wilderness medicine arose, a status window flickered above Gwak Hyeol’s head.

【Status Ailment: Terminal】

Yeonwoo had seen this window when he’d had Awakening poisoning.

‘Terminal...?’

What on earth had he done to carry that label? Then Roi noticed small text beneath “Terminal.”

【‘It’s best not to eat anything given by strangers.’】

Had he eaten something bad? Roi feigned ignorance and gently asked:

“Hyung, how did you first Awakening?”

It was a casual question, but Gwak Hyeol reacted immediately.

“A tonic. I drank it the day before Awakening, but... cough... it wasn’t just that. I wasn’t very sturdy to begin with.”

No—I thought, it was that tonic. Otherwise the status window wouldn’t say “Terminal.”

“What tonic was it? There are so many.”

“I’m not... sure.”

“Think harder.”

Roi pressed, and Gwak Hyeol winced and groaned.

“Where was it from...? I remember getting it that day.”

“That day?”

“You know I used to run a pharmacy, right?”

“Yes.”

“Each pharmaceutical rep visits on a different weekday, usually. But that day was the weekend, so I remember it clearly.”

He said it was around this time last year, the same week he’d had the worst tarot reading. Roi knew of Gwak Hyeol’s tarot superstition from their first day’s climb up Wilderness Mountain.

“On weekends, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) he closes the pharmacy earlier. I was closing up when someone came in right before locking the door.”

It was a sales rep from a pharmaceutical company he’d never heard of. She left a pamphlet with a new product, then left. Roi felt he already understood—ominous tarot. A newborn pharmaceutical company. A rep he’d never seen before. A new product with no label.

“So, you’re saying the pharmacist drank an untested product with unknown ingredients?”

Surely someone with a pharmacy degree wouldn’t do something so foolish...

“I did. I was so tired that day, and whenever samples arrive, I always try them.”

He said he sampled it so he could confidently recommend it to customers.

“And when I woke up, I was an Awakened. Cough-cough. But it tasted good.”

What an idiot! Roi’s head throbbed. He had no clue how to dispel a “Terminal” status ailment.

“Do you remember what the rep looked like?”

“Oh, yes! I remember. A woman wearing striking red horn-rimmed glasses.”

“Red horn—rimmed?”

“Red horn-rimmed glasses.”

The red horn-rims were unsettling—and it was a woman? Roi himself had recently met someone wearing red horn-rims: the Salvation Church cultist. Through Galbi, he knew the Awakening drug and Salvation Church were linked.

‘But hadn’t they only started serious activities recently?’

Then it occurred to him: what if they’d been operating covertly long before to develop the current Awakening drug?

“Hyung, was that tonic blue?”

“That’s right. How did you know? You really have a good intuition, leader.”

Ah... Gwak Hyeol might have been the cult’s very first victim.