[Title: PD pick is so obvious]

The airtime is insane

Junseo’s pick is so obvious it’s practically transparent

For real? hahaha

PD Park’s taste really overlaps with mine hahaha

Everyone says I Roi is the PD’s pick, but from what I see, that kid just knows exactly how to act to get on camera

└ Watching what 222 does, it’d be stranger if they didn’t air it

But doesn’t a PD pick mean nothing? In a survival show they’ll go by skill anyway

└ First time watching a survival? The one with the most screen time always debuts

└ No, no—this isn’t about debuting;; so frustrating

Seems like those hyped-for-their-looks people swooped in from the hardcore players; I wish they’d all just go back

└ Right, they’re ruining everything

└ What did we ever do?

[Title: I’ll break down the PD pick for you]

You thought of the Bermuda Triangle and clicked in, right?

I’ll explain why they alone get so much airtime.

Bermuda Episode 1 airtime (120 min)

Kim Taeeon: 4 min 20 sec

Park Yeonwoo: 11 sec

I Roi: 0 sec

Bermuda Episode 2 (80 min)

Kim Taeeon: 1 min 14 sec

Park Yeonwoo: 5 min 30 sec

I Roi: 3 min 2 sec

Actually, by sheer airtime, the other contestants get way more coverage.

So why do only those three seem to dominate the broadcast?

Why, you ask? Because they’re good-looking hahaha

Even if there’s one handsome guy among 202 squid pilots, he stands out—so imagine having three gods of beauty.

Of course you can only see Bermuda, and their impact is so huge that their faces stick in your mind.

Exactly hahaha

Go easy on him~ he’ll be dust soon

The mysterious one loser out of 199 hahaha

Squid pilots went too far... Gyebokji is so cuteㅜㅜ

Agreed. Claiming PD pick for someone who doesn’t even get ten minutes a whole episode is absurd hahaha

[Title: One-Second Cat’s star power is insane]

Feels like at least three hours of airtime, but it’s only three minutes hahaha

At this rate, it’s not a PD pick—it’s a savage edit

For real, PD Park needs to release the unaired footage

It’s ridiculous judges gave him an Fㅜㅜ Catching a Blood Fiend bare-handed doesn’t count?

His buzz is record-breaking hahaha finally feeling buzz in real time

Even if he fails, agencies will fight over him to be actors or idols

└ Huh?? But Awakeners aren’t allowed broadcast activities, right?

└ No, it’s not that they can’t—they just /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ don’t. Guilds ban side jobs

└ Look at the Awakener-fluencers hahaha they do all the ads and stuff?? It’s just a guild policy

[Title: Opinion) Hope One-Second Cat crashes out]

(I Roi screenshot.jpg)

No matter how you look at it, that face isn’t made for hunting Blood Fiends

Just keep stealing my heart

That’s true patriotism

That’s the heart of the nation

[Title: Butler, when are you coming..?]

Please accidentally upload a photo of Butler while posting Cat photos

For real, upload it so you can pretend you don’t know him

Ten seconds is enough

You can delete it right after

Amid all the Roy chatter, there were posts looking for Hojin too—saying he suits Roy, that cat and butler go together.

The praise was nonstop, and he almost gave in, but Hojin shook his head to break free of temptation.

Roy debuting. Is there any bigger waste of talent than an S-rank Awakener debuting?

People just don’t know Roy’s true rank.

Lifting his gaze, he noticed the broadcast had ended and the preview was playing.

Scenes of contestants starting their rank-based training scrolled by for a moment.

[Jo Yeonil: An F is an F no matter how you spin it. Kid, listen to me.]

[I Roi: Want to bet on that?]

With Jo Yeonil openly dismissing Roi, the preview ended.

The community exploded again at Jo Yeonil’s blatant disrespect toward Roi.

[Title: Yeonil, don’t go too far]

Jo Yeonil? I heard his real rank is C, but I don’t care... good riddance

What a spectacular self-destruct show

Widespread provocation to all the Fs nationwide, class act ㄷㄷ

Hahaha feels like PD just wanted him to get wrecked on air

But Roi’s reaction was something else hahaha for a guy that big to just charge in—I like it

Honestly, I’d respect it if an S-rank said that, but he’s a D, so hmm...

[Title: StarHero next week’s preview already gives me dopamine rush]

(angry Roi screenshot.jpg)

An angry baby cat? Precious

Waaang

Oh my, so scary hahaha

Myang! Myaak! Myet! Myaak!!

I get why Jo Yeonil’s upset... but it’s just adorable hehe

[Title: Current Awakener community]

All Fs nationwide are triggered

Cs and Ds are cutting ties with Jo Yeonil

Jo Yeonil’s personal info all exposed, gg

Cs and Ds rushing in to draw a line is so damn funny hahaha

Because of jerks like that, public perception of Awakeners gets worse

└ Right, they’re all just about appearances

└ As you can see on the broadcast, the most common rank is C... not just flashy style (passing C)

As befits the top-buzz program, Jo Yeonil’s comment even caused controversy in the Awakener community.

Hojin hoped the news would spread fast so more people would roast Jo Yeonil.

I can’t just sit back either.

Puffing himself up, Butler was about to write a new post when a notification chimed.

[Title: StarHero Audience Text!!!]

✧

Junseo had been so busy lately he felt like he needed ten bodies.

The dark circles under his eyes were hideous, but he was genuinely happy.

After all, the program he’d poured his bones into had become the city’s hottest topic.

Especially thinking of the Bermuda trio brought tears to his eyes.

succeeded so wildly thanks entirely to those three faces.

Before airing, they stirred controversy with Seohyunwoo and Blood Fiend; in episode 1 they hit hard with Taeeon and Yeonwoo; in episode 2 they sealed the deal with Roi. It was a masterstroke.

Some said it was too visual-focused for an idol survival, but pushing through paid off.

No-mercy Park Junseo... you finally made a hit!

As a result, his sweet little kitty had surpassed all Three Guild Masters and top celebrities, ranking first in buzz for three consecutive weeks.

An ordinary person stirring that much buzz? Only way to describe it is insane star power.

And the moment I first discovered Kitty, I knew.

The show’s success was felt everywhere: subways, radio, YouTube. There was nowhere people weren’t talking about .

But filming continued. The staff, spending most of their time on set, felt the show’s triumph in one way:

“PD-nim, we keep getting PPL inquiries—how long will you accept them? We’ve already got over fifty.”

They’d only aired three episodes, yet PPL requests flooded in, overwhelming them.

“PD-nim! Our commercial spots sold out!”

After episode 2 the ratings jumped over 12 percent, then jumped to 18 percent in episode 3, doubling ad rates.

Never before had spot prices doubled mid-broadcast—more shocking news followed.

With the main spots sold out, rerun spots were being snapped up too.

Exploding adrenaline! Dopamine overload!

Junseo wept tears of joy.

And that wasn’t all.

“Seventy thousand people applied for live audience tickets!”

“...Seven thousand?”

“Seventy thousand!”

Only a hundred seats were available. The set was quite remote, on the outskirts of Paju—Wilderness Mountain loomed nearby.

Public transit was inconvenient, and even by car it was hard to find.

They couldn’t blame people for cursing the choice of location—Seoul-adjacent yet cheap land.

But over seventy thousand people applied to come to this nowhere.

“We did note there’s no public transit, right?”

“Of course.”

Yet so many still wanted to come.

Audience seating had become a hot potato among the production team.

Let’s take live audiences.

“Final survival will be live anyway. Besides, without an audience it feels empty.”

They argued that audience reactions, not production, fueled the set’s energy, and without them, contestants’ performances wouldn’t pop, nor could hosts hype the crowd.

Let’s not take live audiences.

“Who’ll come here? Final will be elsewhere, and we all bitch about this drive every time.”

The anti-audience camp insisted no one would brave this remote location.

“Our viewers are mostly teens and twenties, that matters too.”

They worried if they announced tickets and no one came, it’d be even worse.

Both sides had valid points. They’d done the first survival round without an audience.

When the second round approached, the debate flared again, so Junseo settled it with rock-paper-scissors.

‘Let’s take audience’ won, and recruitment was a huge success.

“Think we can increase seats now?”

As Junseo scrolled applicants’ photos by hashtag, his finger stopped on one.

His instinct reacted to the striking visual.

“Oh.”

It was Hojin’s photo.

“Kim Butler? Of course fans went crazy—who wouldn’t recognize him?”

“Kim Butler? That can’t be his real name—he runs the ‘One-Second Cat’ Inhart account, so people call him that. Seems he knows Roi. His post has the most hearts by far.”

“What...?”

Junseo froze.

“But isn’t he also totally handsome? Kind of looks like I Roi too.”

The head editor complained that birds of a feather flock together, but seemed jealous that Roi’s circle was so well-chosen.

“He seems close with Roi—lots of photos. He posts every three days and already has 1.5 million followers.”

“1.5 million?”

“Yes. I followed him too.”

Too busy between the edit suite and set to know about this account—it felt like a loss in life.

Junseo cleared his throat, feigning solemnity.

“Ahem. Is that so? Then definitely include him on the guest list. With that level of influence, the promotional effect will be huge.”

– Just kidding, I’m gonna make friends with him.

I’ll get to know him and scoop up all of Roi’s private photos.

Sensing the kinship of a fellow cat servant, Junseo’s heart raced for the first time in a while.

“I already told them to include him. I’ll send word to gather by Sunday at 10 AM~”

“Okay. Thanks for your work.”