Trapped in the Idol Universe

└ Park Yeonwoo?? The archery guy?

└ Why is he in Sangam lol

└ I heard his eyes got messed up

└ H.O.D. Seoh Yeonwoo came out? Good thing I didn’t apply

At that time Hojin and Bi were waiting for their group outside the arena.

The two of them, each holding a drink, wandered around for a while before they could finally find an empty bench.

"Oh?! There it is!"

Bi sprinted like an arrow and dove onto the bench before anyone could take it.

"Hyung! Hurry up and come!"

Bi, who’d secured the bench by a hair, waved at Hojin. Then, thinking he’d overdone it, he cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

"...Thank you."

Hojin approached awkwardly and still couldn’t open up to Bi.

He hadn’t been this shy even with Taeeon. Maybe Roy’s psychopath comment had lodged itself too deep in his brain.

Sitting a little apart from Bi, Hojin hoped Roy would come out soon.

The sun felt like full summer and it was hot.

Fidgeting awkwardly, Hojin sipped through the straw and noticed the restroom, so he stood up clumsily.

"Um... I’ll use the restroom."

"Ah, yes. Go ahead."

The two got all flustered, not sure what to do with themselves.

"Th-this is..."

Hojin set the takeaway cup down and picked it up again, and Bi mustered up the courage and reached out.

"If you give it to me I’ll hold it. Here."

"Oh? Ah, thanks."

"Not at all. Also, please speak casually."

"Mm. Then you—"

"No. I prefer formal speech."

Having his kindness refused, Hojin felt embarrassed and hurried off to the restroom.

He went straight into an empty stall and locked the door. He sat down on the toilet lid and let out a big sigh.

Hojin was even more extremely introverted than Bi and didn’t know how to get close to someone he’d just met.

If anything, the scariest thing in the world to him wasn’t a blood fiend but a stranger.

Maybe because Roy had warned him not to act familiar, Bi didn’t talk more than necessary. But just having him nearby still made Hojin nervous and stressed.

‘I’m just more comfortable alone...’

He hated being so timid. Wanting to change didn’t make it happen.

The more Hojin thought about it, the more he wondered how he’d even become friends with Roy.

From the first moment he’d met Roy he’d never once felt uncomfortable.

‘I wish I were an awakener too.’ freeweɓnøvel.com

Then he wouldn’t have to wait here with strangers, right?

Hojin sighed deeply.

He planned to stall a bit so he wouldn’t be noticed for being gone too long.

Just then, a small business card caught his eye.

☆★☆ Awakening Pill ☆★☆

Hey, you can awaken too!

100% refund if not awakened

'An awakening pill...?'

Entranced, Hojin reached out and picked up the card.

A pill that could make a normal person an awakener — he vaguely remembered classmates talking about something like that.

'Was that for real?'

Most people admired awakeners.

Against their superhuman abilities, blood fiends were helpless, and awakeners were heroes who brought positive change in any situation.

And awakeners often appeared in the media with good looks, so to teenagers they seemed flawless.

Hojin had often thought the same watching Taeeon and Roy. Those handsome kids become awakeners, he thought.

Roy was kind and cute and had a knack for making people laugh.

He had a strong sense of sacrifice and justice, willing to risk his own body to save others.

'Such a lovable kid... why does he have no friends?'

Cupid’s halo firmly in place, Hojin thought everyone else had weird taste.

Taeeon was successful socially and academically — practically a businessman already.

He even warmly accompanied Roy home for over a month at Roy’s request.

And what about himself?

Shy, fearful, tearful — he hoped he at least didn’t inconvenience people. Drawing was all he knew how to do.

Roy had told him drawing was great, but Hojin had started because he didn’t fit in with peers and doodling alone became a habit; his homeroom teacher noticing his talent was just a coincidence.

That art study had continued to this day.

When he drew, he could clear his mind, and that was a relief.

Luckily, despite his introversion he wasn’t ostracized. He had some friends who got him.

Jjing—

At that moment Hojin’s phone buzzed.

The caller was his close friend Deokseon.

[Deokseon: Where are you?]

[Hojin: Hanging out with a junior I’m close with. I can’t go to academy today...]

[Deokseon: Why are you telling me this now? Are you giving up on your entrance exam..?]

[Hojin: No, I’ll go tomorrow]

Deokseon teased him about his sudden laziness, which made Hojin even gloomier.

If Roy and Taeeon passed the prelims, filming would kick into full gear and they wouldn’t hang out like this anymore.

He thought that once StarHero ended and if they joined a guild, he might see them even less.

'We’ll drift apart naturally...'

Maybe that’s why he’d for the first time secretly wanted to awaken.

He’d seen posts where people said they ended up awakening from spending time with awakener friends. Maybe he could too.

Then he deflated again.

'No. I don’t think I can.'

Lost in his own imagination, the outside suddenly sounded to life.

"Hojin hyung. Are you in there?"

It was Jegalbi.

"Uh, ah? Yeah. I’m here...!"

Clumsy, he rushed out and bumped the toilet paper holder, dropping his phone.

"Are you okay? That sounded loud."

"Ugh. Y-yeah, I’m okay."

Ouch.

Rubbing his stinging shoulder, Hojin went to the sink.

"You were gone too long so I thought something happened. Iroi was—damn it, I almost swore in front of an Iroi stan."

Bi had almost cursed Roy in front of someone who loved him.

Slapping his own lips, Bi hesitated and filtered ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) his words.

"Uh, did you maybe have an upset stomach? You look pale..."

"No. I’m really fine."

Hojin dried his hands and returned to the bench. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

He resumed sipping the straw and when the drink was almost gone he absentmindedly put his hand in his pocket.

His fingers touched something stiff; pulling it out he found the business card he’d picked up in the restroom — he must have taken it without thinking when he left in a hurry.

Hojin glanced at Bi and started speaking cautiously.

"Um, you said you were an awakener, right?"

"Yes."

"Then have you ever heard of an awakening pill...?"

Bi’s eyes widened at the unexpected subject.

"An awakening pill? I’ve heard of it. Why? Interested?"

"No?! Absolutely not. I—no way."

Hojin waved his hands and denied it strongly.

Bi, who’d asked without much thought, was embarrassed by the intense reaction.

"I’ve heard people who want to be awakeners go looking for that stuff. But I haven’t heard anyone actually awaken from taking it."

Bi answered cynically but, intrigued, began to share his thoughts.

"If there were a pill that actually made anyone an awakener, wouldn’t everyone just take it? Who’d stay ordinary in these times when blood fiends can pop up anywhere?"

"Y-yeah."

"And if it were real, companies would patent it and export it. Are our pharma companies idiots? I’d patent it immediately and export it."

"Oh... I see."

"It’s not 'oh I see'—it just doesn’t make sense."

Having said the wrong thing, Hojin got lectured to the point he felt like his ears would bleed.

He seemed to have pressed some otaku’s trigger button.

✧

Just as his head was going blank, Roy’s text saved him.

[Roy: Galbi, are you treating my hyung well? If you annoy him I’ll kill you♡]

Bi’s face contorted at the emoji, clearly intended to make him mad.

'This two-faced bastard. Who’s the real psychopath.'

Glaring at the message and grinding his teeth, Bi suddenly wondered.

'What’s Iroi’s deal with that hyung that he’s always clinging to him like this?'

Bi, who knew how indifferent Roy usually was, couldn’t understand his behavior.

So he asked casually.

"Hey, hyung. What’s your relationship with Iroi?"

Bi wondered how an apparently tough guy had become so close to someone who looked like a psycho.

But the answer surprised him.

"Roy? Roy only has me. I’m the hyung Roy likes the most."

His previously expressionless face brightened as soon as Roy was mentioned.

He even smiled.

The situation instantly flipped and Bi became the one praising Roy.

He rattled off TMI: Roy’s favorite foods, small habits, hobbies, even the cat he kept — it was overwhelming.

'The people around Roy really aren’t normal.'

Taeeon looked like he was oozing honey whenever he looked at Roy; you’d think he was the boy’s actual parent.

Even Park Yeonwoo, rumored to be rude, only hung out with Roy — birds of a feather flock together.

'So am I the only normal one in this bunch?'

Feeling a sudden sense of crisis, Bi decided he needed to be more alert.

Rustle—

The shrubs nearby rustled faintly.

Normally his sharp senses would have noticed immediately, but surrounded by a crowd and annoyed at Hojin’s topic, he failed to pay attention.

By the time he sensed something suspicious, it was already too late.

"Did you see Roy yawn? His mouth makes a triangle when he does—"

"Yes yes. But hyung, hold on a sec."

Bi straightened his back to look around.

Something burst out from the bushes and lunged at Hojin. There was no time to pull him back.

"Kyaaa!"

The accident that unfolded in an instant turned the surrounding area into chaos.