“Hey, your face—”

“Eek!”

Roy pushed the grimy face away, and Gwak Hyeol fell backward onto his butt.

“Leader! Are you conscious?! Do you know where you are?”

The sharp smell of disinfectant told him it was a hospital. How long had he been out? And the fire? As Roy tried to speak, someone grabbed Gwak Hyeol by the scruff of his neck and hoisted him up. It was Baek Eunseong, neat in a white doctor’s coat.

“Mr. Gwak Hyeol, this isn’t your place. Please return to your bed.”

“But—”

“Sssst. Go wash your face too.”

Eunseong glared so firmly that Gwak Hyeol flinched and shut his mouth. Begrudgingly, he turned away, casting one disappointed glance back. Only once he’d fully exited the room did Eunseong shift his gaze to Roy.

“We seem to meet often.”

Ouch. That stung—his words prickled.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. But have you contacted my parents?”

“I was just about to.”

Roy bolted upright and begged desperately, “Please! Please keep it secret. If my parents find out, I have to quit the program.”

He clasped his hands together, looking up with that pitiful face. Eunseong stroked his chin and stared intently.

“Indeed. You look surprisingly well, so I’m a bit taken aback.”

He explained that after emergency treatment on site, Roy had just been sent here for detailed exams.

“I expected you’d be unconscious for a week from exhaustion, but your recovery is oddly fast... With this level of stamina, you should at least rank A-class awakener.”

Roy winced at the clinical assessment.

“You okay there?”

“Yes, cough... ahem.”

“As a doctor, I must say: if you use your ability to that limit again, you might die soon.”

A prognosis or a curse? Roy stifled a cough and nodded with an exploding face.

“Anyway, you seem fine—no extra tests needed. By the way, you did something impressive.”

“Impressive...?”

Roy asked timidly, then suddenly remembered Seo Hyunwoo. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

“Oh! What about Hyunwoo hyung?!”

“He was sent to the hospital before you.”

Fortunately, Dongyoi had taken him to Eunseong without delay.

“Phew... thank goodness.”

“Thankful? What if the ‘hospital’ I’m talking about is a funeral home?”

“Wha?!”

Roy jumped in shock and Eunseong burst out laughing.

“Pfft, just kidding. Your expression was too serious.”

Now... a joke? Roy’s bewildered look made Eunseong laugh even louder. This guy really had no sense of others’ feelings... Roy flared with annoyance, stomach churning, but there was still someone left to check on.

“And the others?”

“Well... where to start? Half the artificial forest the organizers spent three months cultivating is gone.”

“...?”

“Filming’s obviously halted due to the fire. Audience and participants were sent home, and firefighters and disaster response teams are handling cleanup.”

The words “due to the fire” struck Roy like a dagger. Trees are living too—did he mean to say half the forest died because of him? It felt like an accusation; he bristled at those eyes. Eunseong watched him with arms crossed, gaze piercing.

“Anything else you need to say to me?”

Roy couldn’t meet those eyes. Yes, he deserved the guilt—burning the forest. He looked away, voice shrinking.

“I’m sorry...”

“That’s it? I feel there’s more.”

Now sarcasm too? Still, people come before plants, right? Roy grumbled inwardly, gaze lowered.

“I have nothing left to say. I’m truly sorry.”

When someone above you latches onto you, the fastest way to end it is groveling apology. He’d been down that road plenty.

“Ah—playing innocent, are we?”

Nope, that wasn’t it either. This wasn’t a guessing game; if Eunseong wanted something, he should just ask. Roy looked up, and at that moment Junseo burst through the door.

“Mr. Roy!”

The unwelcome guest furrowed Eunseong’s brow. Roy inwardly sighed in relief.

“Director!”

Roy leapt off the bed and dashed into Junseo’s arms.

“Director?”

Junseo froze, mouth agape, surprised at the kitten burying its face in his chest.

“M-My Guild Master, please take a photo...!”

“Huh?”

“Video, a video! Quickly!”

At Junseo’s urgent request, Eunseong reluctantly pulled out his phone. But the kitten wriggled free of Junseo’s arms.

“No, why already? Just stay a bit longer...”

Junseo couldn’t hide his hurt. Meanwhile Roy’s pout returned as he apologized.

“I’m sorry. I just heard from the Guild Master that you’ve been dealing with trouble because of me...”

“Trouble?!”

Junseo sprang up, insisting that it was nothing compared to what could’ve happened—who knew blood fiends would appear?

He apologized for the lapse in security.

“How are you feeling? I was so shocked when I heard you collapsed on site.”

“I’m okay. But PD-nim, what about the rest of our team?”

He’d asked Eunseong, but still had no answer.

“Most are fine. Except... one person.”

He must mean Seo Hyunwoo.

“But thanks to the Earth Guild Master’s quick care, there’s no life-threatening injury—right, Guild Master?”

“Yes.”

“And the others are with disaster response personnel now.”

They said only Red Team encountered blood fiends. Unlucky for them, but a relief for Junseo—otherwise it could have been far worse. Even if he was a drama-seeking showmancer with fake blood fiends, he didn’t want real ones.

“Why disaster response?”

“They need statements on the blood fiend appearances. But only Red Team witnessed them.”

All Red Team members should attend, but Roy and Seo Hyunwoo were classified as injured and excused.

“They’ll be done soon. They said they’d come here afterward.”

Just then, the door flew open and not the team but disaster response agents appeared. Junseo and Eunseong stared at them, stunned.

“Iroi?”

“Yes...?”

Roy instinctively took a step back and clutched Junseo’s clothes as if pleading. Junseo stepped forward and asked, “What’s this for...?”

Ignoring Junseo, the man stared at Roy and said coldly,

“We’re placing Mr. Iroi under emergency arrest for violation of Awakener-related laws.”

The man handed over a scrap of paper. Bold letters at the top read “Arrest Warrant.”

“An arrest warrant?”

Roy’s eyes went wide as he looked to Junseo with a “help me” expression.

“Wait. Agent, there must be some misunderstanding—”

Junseo blocked the man, hollering, “You must specify the exact charges. He saved everyone from blood fiends; he deserves a commendation, not arrest!”

The man ignored Junseo’s protest, gripping Roy’s arm. Panicked, Roy blurted,

“Wait, is this about the fire? I didn’t do it on purpose—”

“You can explain later. For now, you must come with us.”

“But this is so unfair...!”

✧

While the butler’s beloved cat took the fall as an arsonist, the butler himself faced much drama. Hojin’s story began with being chosen by the New Sky Divinity.

“Devotee Kim Hojin.”

“...!”

“We welcome you forward. Everyone, please give them a big round of applause.”

Hojin’s eyes went huge. Had his prayers been answered? As he stood awkwardly, a man in the front row jumped up, face alight.

“Yes!”

“We welcome Devotee Kim Ojin forward.”

Suddenly people murmured.

“Ojin, finally recognized.”

“That’s the one the deaconess praised, right?”

Cheers and compliments rained on Ojin as he ascended the platform.

‘Ah. Not Hojin, but Ojin...’

Hojin was too embarrassed to raise his head. He barely attended services; why had he dared hope? Even a compassionate New Sky Divinity wouldn’t grace a nonattending devotee.

Up on the stage, Ojin received a blue ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) chalice from the Divinity. Mortified, Hojin fled the chapel—he couldn’t bear the whispers, which sounded like mocking his joy.

‘I was such a fool.’

His heart pounded as if he’d been caught in a lie. He hurried along, head down, until he crashed into someone.

Thud!

“Ah, sorry!”

Looking up in panic, he locked eyes with the person sprawled on the ground. Pale face, dark circles, blood at the mouth. But most shocking—he recognized him.

“...Mentor?”

He was the devotee mentored by the person who supposedly awakened under the New Sky Divinity. The neat, vibrant mentor was gone—he was unrecognizable.

“You okay?”

As Hojin bent to help, a shadowy hand shot out and gripped his wrist tightly.