Golden Badges

“Seriously, what was that guy even thinking, dropping with hyung right under him?”

Song A-seong latched onto me the second I finished, before I even had a chance to show off my gold badge. I was curious about the same thing, but I held my tongue — I didn’t want it to sound like we were trash-talking anyone. More importantly, saying that kind of thing right in front of the cameras?

“Um… maybe it was just too hard…?”

“So he just dropped all of a sudden because it was hard?”

“If it was that hard… he shouldn’t have climbed up in the first place…”

As Song A-seong’s tone turned oddly combative, Woo Cheong-hee’s gloomy muttering from the other side stuck right in my ear. Kids, what are you doing. We’re filming.

Their words sounded so much like sniping at Lee Won-yeong that I hurriedly looked around — but Kwon Do-ha, Han Min-hyeok, even Han Sang-jin showed no sign of stepping in. Even the camera director and the writer nearby said nothing. Is this okay? Why isn’t anyone stopping them?

“He climbed up with a lot of effort, so maybe his grip just gave out all of a sudden…?”

Even as I said it, I figured that probably wasn’t it. I was just trying to wrap the conversation up — but Song A-seong held nothing back.

“No. No matter how hard it was, he would’ve had enough strength left to warn someone before he fell. He knew full well Han-hee hyung was under him, and he just kept his mouth shut? Does that make any sense?”

“It was… definitely intentional…”

There was no need to show off being a rapper here, but Song A-seong was firing off words like a machine gun while Woo Cheong-hee threw in the backup ad-libs beside him. My head was spinning, and still their words showed no sign of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stopping.

“He could’ve gotten seriously hurt. There’s a limit to how much trouble you’re allowed to cause the person who came to help you.”

“If he was going to get hurt… he should’ve gotten hurt alone…”

The strangely blackened intensity coming off the younger members was a little scary, but this was exactly where you could tell the two of them were friends. Even while angry, their sulky faces looked alike. I had to end this here. Even if it was worry, the level of their comments was getting too sharp.

“You were that worried, huh? Sorry.”

“…”

“…”

I checked Song A-seong and Woo Cheong-hee’s faces as their words cut off, then ruffled both of their heads. While I was at it, I firmly pressed down the backs of their hair, which had been sticking up a little from all the intense sit-ups.

This is ridiculous.

Some people hated having ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their hair touched, but these two didn’t seem to mind — they just quietly accepted my hands. Looks like I’d found a good way to shut them up.

I bowed lightly to the camera director filming us. As the underdog here, I couldn’t quite bring myself to say “please cut this part” out loud, so I pleaded with my eyes. They wouldn’t actually use the kids complaining, right? If they had any conscience, they wouldn’t set up equipment like that and then throw the contestants under the bus.

I’ll have to say something to them later…

And once Song A-seong and Woo Cheong-hee seemed to have cooled down a little, the three who had been watching, letting them say what they wanted, finally spoke up.

“Lee Won-yeong’s one thing, but you were too fearless too, Han-hee. What if you’d gotten seriously hurt?”

The usual easygoing drawl was nowhere to be found. Hearing Han Min-hyeok speak so calmly, I really did feel like I was getting scolded.

“As Song A-seong said, there was no way to predict Lee Won-yeong dropping without warning, so I’ll leave that alone — but catching him was genuinely dangerous. This kind of thing shouldn’t happen again, but if it ever does, please dodge.”

Han Sang-jin added that it was a huge relief I hadn’t been hurt, pure company-manual perfection. Somehow I felt like I’d get scolded twice as hard if he found out I’d deliberately chosen not to dodge when I could have.

Kwon Do-ha was smiling as if he’d never worn that complicated expression at all. As the call went out for the last event’s participants, he left his seat and brushed past me with a whisper.

“I thought I told you that you don’t have to worry about everyone around you. Looks like you forgot.”

“…”

So that was what he meant? Had he seen this situation coming? Even so — how am I supposed to just give up on a dance stat?

I watched his retreating back and wondered how much he actually knew. Could it be that U-rank trait of his…? I was still bowing my head, trying to gauge Kwon Do-ha’s thoughts, when Han Sang-jin’s voice cut in.

“By the way, you looked extremely familiar with the rope climb.”

Was it finally time to show off the gold badge? Han Sang-jin’s stern face had already melted into open admiration. He seemed to have recognized every method I’d used. Of course he had — it had been textbook-perfect.

I can’t bring up the military…

Still, rope climbing was a training exercise you ran into more often than you’d think — combat sports and the like — and you could find plenty of it on MeTube. Honestly, I’d learned a fair amount of it there myself. They even explained how to do it more carefully than most people.

“I saw them doing it on a variety show a long time ago. Looked fun, so I learned it once.”

I couldn’t claim I’d trained hard. My hands were far too clean for that. None of the calluses that came standard for anyone who lifted regularly.

My still-slender fingers and clean palms, only slightly reddened from the friction, stood out. Looking at hands like these, even I would have rattled off a list of safety warnings the way Han Sang-jin had. At a glance, they looked like they belonged to someone who had nothing to do with exercise.

“You learned it properly. Your form was remarkably clean.”

The way Han Sang-jin looked at me — as if he’d discovered an athletic prodigy — pricked my conscience. For someone who claimed to have only tried it a few times, I must have looked far too skilled.

“Thank you.”

I smiled awkwardly, thanked him, and flicked my eyes around. Showing off was the last thing I needed — thinking about it, this was a topic that wouldn’t do me any good if we dug too deep. I changed the subject.

“So what’s the next event?”

“Hmm~ Push-ups, I think.”

Han Min-hyeok answered from beside me. Sit-ups, then push-ups. For a final event it felt a little underwhelming — and then cheers erupted. Looks like it had already started.

Since it didn’t require any special equipment, twenty people lined up in two rows, rising and falling all at once. The sight was spectacular. Same as the sit-ups — do as many as you can in one minute — and as expected, a lot of people who were decently athletic had made it to the end, so the average pace was extremely fast. Of course, there were still people who wiped out after a dozen or so.

“Ah~ Hitting the wall past thirty, is it? A lot of contestants are stopping!”

Among the people grinding out one rep at a time on trembling arms, the lead group still holding their original pace stood out.

“Aaaah! Contestant Lee Jae-jin, Contestant Kwon Do-ha! And Contestant Nam Gyu-hyeok and Contestant Park Beom-gyu! The four of them are neck and neck!”

Even past the thirty-second mark, the four of them were still going strong, push-ups unbroken. The fiercer the field, the hotter the cheering burned.

“Waaah! Jae-jin hyung, fighting!”

As if he’d never been depressed at all, Woo Cheong-hee was yelling with pure excitement. I cheered too.

“Kwon Do-ha, you’ve got this!”

Gold, silver, gold, gold, gold was right in front of us.

Two titles!

Honestly, first place in the sports festival was already as good as sealed for our team, but racking up a little more airtime like this wasn’t bad either.

The other three slowed a little as they neared the end, but Kwon Do-ha put on a final spurt. Yes — last-second comeback, let’s go!

Looking around, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the other teams were noisily cheering for their last members too.

Just as the MC had said at the start about hoping for roommate unity, everyone seemed to have gotten pretty close through the sports festival.

This is actually kind of fun.

“I like you, hyung.”

“Huh?”

I was cheering with full energy when I heard Han Sang-jin speak. Looks like he’d loosened up a little on this side too. We’d be spending a fair amount of time as roommates, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠switching to casual address didn’t seem like a bad idea. There was a chance we’d be seeing each other even longer than that.

“Then Sang-jin hyung, you can talk casually too.”

“Okay.”

It was a form of address I’d never once used with the person I actually lived with back home — I never expected I’d end up saying “hyung” this much now.

“And the gold badge for push-ups goes to — joint first place! Contestant Kwon Do-ha and Contestant Lee Jae-jin! Congratulations!”

With that, Team 16’s record was gold, silver, gold, gold, gold. Pride washed over me. I was about to share the joy with my teammates when I noticed Song A-seong looking regretful.

“I should’ve done a few more. Ah, I’m really disappointed.”

“Right? If it weren’t for our A-seong, we’d have five golds~ What a shame~.”

“…”

Han Min-hyeok couldn’t even wait a second before teasing him, and Song A-seong’s eyes sharpened. A silver badge was still more than good enough. And if I was being honest — if Han Min-hyeok hadn’t been laughing while holding Song A-seong’s legs, wouldn’t he have done better?

“Haa…”

But Song A-seong didn’t blame Han Min-hyeok. He just let out a sigh. Han Min-hyeok roughly ruffled his hair.

“Don’t take it too hard~ You need a little room left if you’re going to climb higher.”

“Mm. Wise words.”

Unlike Han Sang-jin, who nodded in agreement, I thought it was a little late for that kind of talk when we’d already cleaned house — but I kept it to myself. Better to leave well enough alone. Everyone was still thinking about climbing higher, still full of fighting spirit.

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back~.”

“You worked hard.”

“That was cool.”

Kwon Do-ha joined us with a gold badge pinned to his clothes, and Lee Jae-jin came with him. Then he grabbed Woo Cheong-hee by the chin.

“Why are you over here? Come on.”

“Ah, hyung! Well, hehe.”

“I get that you’re having fun, but they’re shooting a roommate group cut, so we have to go.”

After a quick greeting with his eyes, Lee Jae-jin dragged Woo Cheong-hee off. Hanging from his arm, Woo Cheong-hee wailed in tragic despair.

“Uuuugh, Han-hee hyung, we have to room together later! Promise me! You too, Song A-seong!”

“Just go already, idiot.”

“Quiet. We’ll be going, then. And Han-hee — I’ll see you later.”

Lee Jae-jin looked me straight in the eye as he said it and left, and I felt like running away — but there was nowhere to run. Through the entire upcoming training-camp period, I was going to keep running into him. Sensing my mood, Han Min-hyeok quietly whispered,

“Han-hee. Just accept your fate.”

“Yes…”

I never expected to end up in the position of getting lectured, but in the end it was karma of my own making. We gathered by team for the closing shots, and as the sports festival ended, the titles finally appeared.

Feeling a smile rise on its own, I equipped Golden Badge. There didn’t seem to be any major change right away — maybe I needed to rest and refill my stamina first before the difference would show.

We wrapped filming and headed into the rooms assigned to each team.

The moment we stepped inside, we took profile photos, then took turns heading off to wash up and put our bodies — thoroughly wrecked by the sports festival — back in order. I yielded my turn to Han Min-hyeok and Han Sang-jin when they told me to go first, and Kwon Do-ha, Song A-seong, and I waited our turns. For this kind of thing, going by seniority was cleaner.

In the meantime, I checked my daily mission.

The bar was filled solid green, and the Claim Reward button was sparkling beside it, so I went to press it under the pretense of stretching — and my body creaked.

“Ah.”

I stopped at the slight pain, and the awkward half-crouch must have looked strange, because I felt Song A-seong and Kwon Do-ha’s eyes on me.

I laughed awkwardly. As time passed, the throbbing in my waist and shoulders was getting worse. Looks like I’d better visit the infirmary after I washed up.

I still need to check the reward, though.

The moment I thought that, a notification window appeared. Did thinking about it count?

I shouted YES in my head. A spinning wheel appeared, with STOP fixed in the center.

STOP.

The spinning wheel slowed, and I could make out the list of what was written on it.

Red ginseng and… a skin treatment voucher?

The wheel was covered in large, miscellaneous rewards, with tiny lettering squeezed between them for things like CF shoots and internet ad shoots, mixed in with items whose purpose I couldn’t even guess.

What even is a Crisis Detection Traffic Light, and why is its slice that thin?

Some sections were drawn so narrow they were basically hairline cracks, and for those you couldn’t even see what was written inside. In any case, the slowly turning roulette came to a stop, and the winner was an Injury Recovery Ticket. Seeing the “1 use only” written in parentheses beside it left me speechless.

Give me the disease, then hand me the cure?

I couldn’t hide how unsettled I felt. This reward popping up as if it already knew I was hurt didn’t exactly make me happy. So because I got injured trying to clear the mission, it was going to heal me as the reward? In the end, it was plus-minus zero.

Still, I avoided the penalty, so I should be grateful, right?

Figuring it had been given for me to use right now, I immediately activated the Injury Recovery Ticket. I could feel the lingering muscle aches and the tweaked, uncomfortable spots in my body vanish completely. I hadn’t fully registered it before, but once I was healed, I could tell how much fatigue had piled up. And wow — I really was like a game character. I rotated my body a little, checking my condition. Even pressing on the sore spots didn’t hurt anymore. Perfectly normal.

“Hyung, does it hurt a lot?”

“You’ve been twisting your waist this whole time.”

I’d thought it had blown over, but Song A-seong had kept watching — and when he asked, Kwon Do-ha picked it up. Song A-seong’s face crumpled at once.

“So it is your back, right? Anywhere else? Ah, forget talking — should we just go to the infirmary right now?”

“No, no need. I’m really fine.”

I waved them off, but no one looked convinced. And then — how had they washed that fast? — Han Min-hyeok and Han Sang-jin joined us, still dripping water.

“Han-hee’s not doing well?”

“If the infirmary feels like too much, mind if I take a look?”

“No! I’m really, really fine. I’m going to wash up first! It might take a while!”

If I got caught here it would never end, so I dodged the approaching Han Sang-jin, grabbed my toiletries and a change of clothes, and bolted into the bathroom. There were two bathrooms anyway, so Kwon Do-ha and Song A-seong could handle themselves.

No wonder they’d all been so insistent about letting me wash first — had I been creaking without realizing it? The way they were ready to ship me to the infirmary the second they got the chance was terrifying.

But I’m already healed…

Being too sharp about everything was its own problem. I had been hurt, sure — but I was fine now. I didn’t need the infirmary anymore. How was I supposed to convince them of that?

If you’re going to fix things, shouldn’t you fix this part too…?

I was about to start washing when a large bathtub caught my eye. A bathtub?

There’s a bathtub in the dorm bathroom?

Come to think of it, both the rooms and the bathrooms were large. The lunchboxes had been carefully put together, and none of the various equipment on set had looked like anyone was cutting corners. It didn’t seem like the production side was actually short on money. So had they deliberately limited the number of bathrooms? To spark a competitive drive?

In more ways than one… this isn’t going to be easy.

I’d assumed that with the agency directly involved in producing the program, they’d prioritize image management — but it looked like they’d chosen to prioritize entertainment value even if it meant taking some heat. Still, after what happened today, at least they should have fixed their disregard for safety.

I finished my shower quickly, then sank into the bathtub someone had already filled with warm water and let out a long breath.

Honestly, though — up to that point, I had still been underestimating the production team.

I never imagined they would go that ruthless.