Chapter 92

On a cold day when every breath bloomed like fog in the air.

I was climbing a mountain.

The reason was simple. I was going to get rid of the producer who had rigged the rankings, then bury him in the mountains.

I’d put a new producer in his place and send Plausibility shooting straight up.

...Ha. If I only had ten more years of experience, I could’ve made that a reality....

Especially with all the rage this garbage production had given me.

Twenty trainees had survived the final ranking announcement.

And in the middle of winter, every single one of them had been forced to go hiking.

“It’s not cold at all with the parka on.”

“Is this the power of top-grade Gore-Tex?”

It was all because the production crew had received a winter-coat PPL deal and immediately shipped every trainee off to a snowy mountain.

What the hell were they thinking, planning a segment like this right before the final? What if someone slipped and got hurt?

Even worse, they had maliciously turned it into a competition.

This hike was both a PPL shoot for the winter coats and a journey to determine the teams for the final round.

‘You’ll get the opportunity to choose your teammates in the order you reach the summit!’

You insane bastards! Winter hiking is already dangerous enough—what the hell are you doing?!

There was no saving that producer. His trial was probably still going on in the real world, so once I got back, I should submit a petition asking for a harsher sentence.

It wasn’t because I’d shown Bangwon Ahn, Yunjin, my members, and juniors like Gowon and Nam Jeongho the humiliating sight of my rank dropping that I was this angry.

It wasn’t because the girls who had picked me in this world were breathing fire all over social media either!

I wasn’t embarrassed in front of all of them!

Aaaargh!

‘Hanje, they told us they changed the tallying method starting with the second competition.’

‘How?’

‘They won’t even disclose it to the judges. They just said the program did much better than expected, so there were changes....’

Well, with this level of buzz, there were bound to be people jumping in late and trying to shove their own trainees into the debut lineup. And the producer was probably thrilled, pockets wide open.

‘No one contacted you? Like, subtly tried to invite you into some kind of corruption?’

At that, Yunjin suddenly became serious.

‘Maybe they did....’

‘......?’

‘I might not have realized what they meant.’

‘What?’

‘The producer called me aside and said he wanted to talk one-on-one about the contestants....’

Holy shit. That was it.

‘What did he say?’

‘I spent the entire hour talking about you....’

‘......?’

‘I thought he wanted to talk about which trainee I liked.’

This man had absolutely no talent for being a spy.

After kicking him out and telling him to get his head on straight next time, I returned to being a trainee.

No, right now I was a trainee-slash-hiker....

I was starting to get short of breath, but the guy way up ahead didn’t seem tired at all.

Gowon rounded a bend in the ridge and made eye contact with me below.

Maybe the effect had worn off, because just looking at each other wasn’t enough to raise Plausibility anymore.

“......!”

Or maybe his stamina gauge had gone up instead.

He suddenly started moving faster.

Had calling our first-competition team the Squirrel Class over and over somehow possessed him with the spirit of an actual flying squirrel?

By now, Gowon had opened up a considerable gap even from the trainee in second place behind him.

“...Haa....”

Did I really have to go this far?

When the steep slope finally gave way to a gentler stretch, I unleashed the stamina I’d been saving and started running too.

It wasn’t like he was the only one who had someone he wanted on his team.

I absolutely had to be on the same team as Gowon for the final.

That was the only way I’d have room to actively intervene in Plausibility.

At this rate, Gowon had a high chance of reaching the summit first, so I could’ve just appealed to him to pick me as a teammate....

But the lofty pride of a senior told me that was unacceptable.

I darted between the exhausted trainees and passed three people in an instant.

Over footage of my back, they’d probably slap on a caption like:

Not only outstanding insulation, but complete comfort even during intense running—the ultimate outerwear!

Something like that.

As I kept running, I found myself among the leaders before I knew it. Gowon, who I’d had to crane my neck to see before, was now on the same level as me.

Gowon had been closing the distance to the summit at a fast walk. He glanced behind him to check his pursuer.

Then he kicked off the ground.

What the hell!

Far ahead, I could see a flag planted in the ground at the finish line. The three trainees I had passed earlier squeezed out their last reserves too.

True to our age, everyone burned with competitiveness over something completely pointless, forgot the original purpose, and turned the whole thing into the final lap of a school sports-day relay.

“Aaaaah!”

“Whoa! Ah!”

Apparently, when people faced a life-or-death crisis, they could produce superhuman strength even without a quest window. The trainees staggered as they sprinted over the uneven slope, but somehow kept running without falling.

Hit the brakes, you little punks!

As everyone charged toward the goal, it practically turned into a physical fight.

Gowon was the first to reach out.

Hey, wait!

If he got injured and it affected the next stage, Plausibility would crash straight into the ground!

Apparently everyone had the same thought, because they all hesitated at the final moment.

In the middle of that, Gowon slid across the dirt without a trace of hesitation and snatched the flag.

“Baek Hanje!”

“......?”

What?

Why are you calling me?

Gowon looked around, then immediately waved the flag in front of a staff member holding a camera.

“You said the person who grabbed this first gets to choose their teammates, right? I chose.”

“No, uh... you’re supposed to do that after we go back to the set.”

“...Oh.”

Gowon’s head dipped slightly.

...Well, if this was how it was going to end, I guess I didn’t need to run that hard.

I casually approached Gowon, whose cheeks and ears were red either from the cold or something else.

“You’re still taking me as a teammate even though I’m not first anymore?”

“.......”

“Brush off the dirt.”

I patted away the streak of dirt running from his elbow down his sleeve. The sponsored outfit had gotten filthy, but surely they wouldn’t complain after he’d given them such a good shot.

For someone who had just desperately shouted another person’s name, Gowon quietly edged away again.

“...Whether you’re first or not, we’ll know when we see.”

“Huh?”

“.......”

The way back down was slow, since everyone had completely exhausted themselves. At least the production crew had some conscience—they had vans waiting right beside the trailhead with the heaters blasting.

The trainees fell asleep not long after the vans started moving. Gowon, still clutching the crumpled flag, leaned his head against the window frame.

Plausibility has increased!

Current Plausibility: 65% (▲3)

Oh. The increases had been sluggish for a while, but today Plausibility even went up just from looking at him asleep.

***

The production crew fed their exhausted laborers a meal each, then resumed filming.

— Starting with trainee Gowon, who claimed the flag, we’ll choose the teams!

“I’ll recruit trainee Baek Hanje.”

Gowon called my name almost before the MC had finished speaking.

That’s right, kid. I’m the senior paving your flower path for you. Good choice.

“And trainee Jung Garam.”

Huh?

Gowon invited the first-place trainee from the last ranking announcement onto his team.

From among the other trainees came murmurs of complaint and groans of, “Wow, that team has first, second, and third place.”

Even I found the choice a little hard to understand.

Jung Garam had never been on the same team as either me or Gowon, and our images didn’t exactly mesh either. Why him?

On top of that, if he really was receiving some kind of special treatment, simply being on the same team as him could create danger.

They could erase our screen time to push Jung Garam instead, or even edit us into villains.

“...Hey, Gowon. Why him?”

“If we perform right next to each other, the difference in skill will be obvious.”

“......?”

“I have a plan.”

“Do you...?”

Hmm. Well. My mind had gone straight to the negative possibilities, but if I looked at it positively, they might portray us as some harmonious elite team....

Jung Garam came forward and joined us with an awkward little bow.

“Who should we pick next?”

“Pick someone you’re close with.”

You mattered more than I did right now.

Someone who had been on Gowon’s team during the second competition... or Nam Jeongho would probably be fine. They’d known each other long enough that coordinating opinions shouldn’t be difficult.

Nam Jeongho was, in fact, staring over at us with expectation practically dripping from his eyes.

“I’ll recruit trainee Shim Taejin and trainee Go Gyuyoung.”

But Gowon picked two completely unexpected trainees.

“That’s all.”

Nam Jeongho looked utterly dejected.

Survive wherever you end up, kid.

Before long, the five members Gowon had chosen were gathered together.

All right. Shall we start again?

I had naturally steeled myself when a laugh suddenly escaped me.

I’ve been dragged around here for months, and somehow I’ve already adapted.

Aside from being forcibly thrown into this place, the experience of fighting my way through these competitions hadn’t actually been all that bad.

There was a grimy sense of accomplishment in rolling around in the dirt and cobbling together results from absolutely nothing.

It was a feeling I had completely forgotten in reality, because I’d grown cautious about taking on challenges out of fear that I might destroy the records Young Ace had built.

Quest, while you were at it, you could’ve thrown Yunjin in here as a trainee too. Let him roll around with me like the old days.

Every now and then while watching the competition stages, Yunjin would make a strange expression. It seemed like he was feeling nostalgic too.

And the one who amplified all those feelings most of all was....

“...What.”

“I’m not even allowed to look at the teammate I’m doing the final with?”

“Ha....”

Gowon.

Now I understood why his ranking had kept climbing with every episode, and why he had ultimately taken the trophy.

He had managed to move two veteran seniors with how desperately he threw himself into every single stage.

Of course, there had been a slight shortage of Plausibility, which was why I had been thrown in here.

The more I watch him, the more I start wanting the stage for myself too....

“.......”

Then, all at once, I realized something.

I’ve never properly shown him my stage.

Not trainee Baek Hanje’s stage.

Young Ace Hansel’s stage.