Alpha

It hadn't taken long at all to finish every preparation for an episode featuring Yoon Jay alone — a luxury only possible when the budget was this deep.

When the cast of Soldiers K arrived at the massive set built in a remote location, their jaws dropped.

"Whoa…"

"What is this? Is this really our set?"

As a MyTube variety show, the budget had always been tight. Rather than building new sets, they'd usually borrowed existing survival game fields or made the cast grit their way through on sheer physicality. And now, out of nowhere, a set this enormous?

"Welcome, everyone."

"PD-nim, did you win the lottery or something?"

"Something even better than the lottery, actually."

The PD smiled broadly. His mouth was itching to spill everything, but he held it in.

The PD had genuinely wondered whether Yoon Jay could handle this many people. But after watching him breeze through the Soldiers K level test, most of that doubt had evaporated.

It's not going to turn out that I need to issue a penalty, right?

Of course, that thought didn't last long. Thirty opponents for one man, no matter how you sliced it, was simply too much. He wasn't some super soldier.

"Take a look around."

"Hey, check this out."

"Holy—"

"No way…"

As the cast examined the equipment laid out under the banner of 'Everything We Prepared for This Episode,' they all wore the same expression: That PD-nim really is a hardcore military otaku. Where on earth did he get…?

"It's not contraband! These are realistic replicas airlifted in from overseas!"

"You're serious about that, right?"

They refused to drop their suspicion. Only Jung Seung-woo was thinking something different. A massive set, suddenly prepared. Equipment that looked like the real thing.

Don't tell me… hyung-nim is coming today?

Even Seung-woo didn't know when Yoon Jay would appear. The Soldiers K production team certainly wasn't going to tell him, and Yoon Jay himself had only said he was still in negotiations due to drama and ad schedules.

Besides, there was no production budget for building a set this scale just because Yoon Jay had joined.

Come to think of it, I heard this show might get picked up for regular broadcast…

If he'd heard right, had the parent network thrown money at the production? Seung-woo set his doubts aside for now.

"Before the survival begins in earnest, we'll be forming teams. Jung Seung-woo-ssi, please step forward."

Teams were divided by draft: the top six ranked contestants from the previous measurement would pick their members one by one.

Among the newly minted team leaders was one of Seung-woo's old squadmates. He, too, was someone who had learned a great deal from Yoon Jay, however briefly.

"…You want me to just start picking?"

"Yes. Five per team, six teams total."

While the other leaders chose based on rank or personal closeness, Seung-woo played it differently.

Despite his recent slump, he prioritized specialists from fields unlike his own. One from an explosive ordnance disposal unit. One from an intelligence and reconnaissance battalion.

Man, that's an ace for you.

The PD smirked at the sight. Skill aside, the man had enough broadcast experience now to be the undisputed face of Soldiers K.

"Seung-woo-ssi, why did you build your team like this?"

"Something tells me he's not going to order a simple firefight."

"Huh? Then…"

Do we get to re-pick too? the other team leaders muttered — but the teams were already set. The PD clapped his hands with a loud clap! to reset the mood.

"Alright then! Time to explain the rules of the game!"

Five members to a team, six teams in all — but this was not a free-for-all. The winning team would be the one to clear the most hidden missions scattered across the set and rack up the highest score.

Equipment like guns and body armor also had to be farmed from caches spread around the set, and once a certain threshold passed, the game would enter Phase 2 and new conditions would be revealed.

"All the missions are listed here."

Finding the missile launch codes hidden around the map was worth 30 points — though of course the missile wasn't real. Disarming the bomb earned 50 points. Rescuing a comrade caught in a trap, or securing high-grade equipment, also awarded points.

"Disarm a bomb?"

"Yes. Fail to disarm it, and it actually explodes — and you lose 50 points."

"Aw, come on—"

"It's real. Everyone, you might want to cover your ears. Three, two, one…"

The PD pressed the remote, and far across the lot an explosion thundered out, smoke billowing across the open ground. Safety personnel on standby rushed in with fire extinguishers to smother the flames at the blast site.

"Wow…"

"Insane."

No wonder it looked like there were so many people on standby nearby. Fired up, the cast turned their attention to the other missions.

One entry in particular stood out: rescue the hostage held somewhere on the map for a perfect score and immediate mission end.

"Ooh, that's the one."

"Aren't we men obligated to go for that?"

"What if we end up making this beautiful set useless?"

The PD chuckled at Teams 3 and 5, already scheming to end the game fast via hostage rescue. Why grind out small points when you could close it out in one stroke?

But it's way too early to count your chickens, you people…

"Alright! Everyone take your starting positions — we begin in twenty minutes!"

Even after all that spending, budget remained to spare, so cameras were installed all across the set. There were almost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no blind spots. The PD picked up his walkie-talkie.

"Jay-ssi, how's it going over there?"

(Pretty boring. I wish someone would hurry up and show themselves…)

"They'll be there soon."

Teams 3 and 5 would sprint straight for the hostage the moment they finished farming their gear.

But it won't be that easy, will it?

Granted, that assumed Yoon Jay moved according to plan. The PD prayed, fervently, that Yoon Jay would drag this game out as long as possible. That was the only way to get more footage.

"Team Leader, what's our play?"

"Farming first."

Jung Seung-woo, leader of Team 1, chose the safe route. Would the road to the hostage really be easy? The man might have laid every trap imaginable along the way.

And so the game began. Explosions and screams soon rang out across the set.

The other teams farmed their equipment and cleared missions as they stumbled across them, but Teams 3 and 5 — racing through the set at breakneck speed with eyes only for the hostage — had yet to score a single point. And then the two teams ran face-first into each other at the same spot.

"Huh?"

"Hold it! Don't shoot!"

"We weren't told to shoot each other… but shouldn't we be eliminating the competition anyway?"

Bang! A paint round from Team 3 smacked into a Team 5 operative. But nothing happened.

"Ah, damn it, what was that for?"

"Sorry. Drinks are on me later."

The shooter and the shot were the two men building the show's manufactured rivalry arc. Under their team leaders' mediation they smoothed things over, and the two teams passed each other by, heading in opposite directions.

"Team Leader, over here — found it."

It was Team 3 who located the hostage first. They whistled and high-fived one another.

"He's a real person, not a mannequin?"

"So the concept is a comrade taken captive? Dude's built, though."

"One sec, I'll untie him."

The figure bound to the chair — arms tied behind his back, eyes covered with a black strap — gave a slight nod of his head. And the moment they finished undoing his bindings and pulled off the blindfold—

THOOM!

A sudden roar, and every light in the space went dead. They'd sprinted here purely for the hostage, so none of them had night-vision gear.

"What the hell!"

"Nobody move!"

In that darkness, Yoon Jay seized an exposed steel beam in the ceiling, hoisted himself up in one fluid motion, and climbed onto the overhead structure. His light, gliding movements drew a short gasp of admiration from the production staff watching their monitors.

After a moment of total blackness, the lights came back on.

"Team Leader — the hostage's gone."

"What?!"

Moments later, sirens wailed across the entire set.

Team 3, for their part, stood there dumbfounded. The hostage they'd just untied had vanished into thin air — and now they were supposed to fight an unknown enemy?

"Wait — was the hostage Alpha?"

"Can't say yet. Alpha might have taken the hostage with him. Let's do an equipment check — how many paint rounds you got?"

"Three."

"Two."

"Seo-jin, you?"

The man called Seo-jin had forgotten all about checking his gear. He was staring blankly into space, murmuring.

"…I never felt him coming."

"What?"

"The hostage. If he disappeared this suddenly, there should've been some sound…"

"Maybe there's some kind of mechanism built into the set?"

"We didn't feel any vibration, though."

Come to think of it… the broadcast had said the hostage was freed. The mission only ended once you untied the hostage and escorted him safely to the extraction point. And as they ran their equipment checks, someone noticed something off.

Where's my knife?

Before hiding himself in the ceiling, Yoon Jay had quietly lifted the knife from the belt of the nearest Team 3 operative. As he twirled the blade lightly and watched the situation unfold, another thunderclap shook the air.

THOOM!

Then the lights began flickering in slow, taunting pulses. Dropping down from the ceiling, Yoon Jay drew the knife across the throat of the closest man.

Vividly colored paint spilled from the blade — staged to look exactly like spurting blood.

"Aaagh!"

Every time the flickering lights brightened, another Team 3 member was hit. Each time Yoon Jay struck, the elimination call rang in their ears.

"Where is he?!"

"Fire!"

They burned what little ammo they had at every sound, but the engagement didn't last long. The Team 3 leader's radio crackled.

From Phase 2 onward, teams were allowed to attack one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠another — and stray rounds could find anyone.

The swagger of the early game, when they'd been so eager to finish things fast, was long gone. Dazed and hollow, everyone stood staring at each other in disbelief.

"What?"

"Already?"

Not even ten minutes had passed since the hostage-rescue announcement. Cast members scattered across the set on their missions stirred uneasily. The members of Team 5, remembering how frantically that team had charged ahead, were left with a single impression: baited.

"It's Alpha."

Alpha is Jay hyung-nim.

Seung-woo felt goosebumps crawl up his arms. He spoke firmly to his own teammates.

"We're changing formation."

Having wiped out Team 3 in record time and slipped away to a deserted corner of the set, Yoon Jay pulled off his mask. Black turtleneck, army trousers, combat boots. His light outfit bore not a single splatter of paint.

One team down.

Spinning the knife idly in his fingers, Yoon Jay donned the mask again and sauntered off at his leisure.

Walking along, he scooped up a pistol from the ground and tucked it into his belt, taking nothing else. When he heard movement, he melted behind a wall.

Team 6.

He already knew every team's composition, every member's name and face, having gotten them from the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠PD in advance. And the leader of Team 6 in particular was a man Yoon Jay recognized well.

First, he picked up a pebble nearby and hurled it in the opposite direction.

Bang! Bang-bang!

"…!"

"Take cover!"

Then, one by one, he picked off the disoriented Team 6 members hiding on the other side. Positions identified in an instant, every shot landed without wasting a single precious paint round.

"Damn it!"

The last man standing, Team 6's leader, dove behind cover. No paint rounds left. He'd have to fight with his body. He drew his knife and crept carefully toward where he'd sensed movement.

But something moved faster than he did. Yoon Jay, concealed on the other side, slipped in from the Team 6 leader's right and drove the knife in.

"Gah…!"

What the hell kind of movement was that? I'm nobody's pushover either. He grabbed hold of the masked man who'd taken him down.

"Excuse me — who… who are you, exactly?"

"…Your right-side defense is still weak, I see."

Yoon Jay patted the fallen Team 6 leader on the shoulder, then slipped away before the rest of the team could spot him.

"…Instructor-nim?"

That voice. That split-second takedown. Lee Min-gyu, leader of Team 6, stared at the spot where Yoon Jay had vanished, murmuring to himself far too late.

That left Teams 1, 2, 4, and 5. They probably wouldn't be easy. They might even have banded together to take Alpha down.

Yoon Jay climbed to the rooftop of one of the buildings, searching for a sniper rifle that had to be stashed somewhere.

A shame.

Because of the military's confidentiality clauses, the set couldn't be made to resemble that place. The overall story and structure, too, had to conform ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to broadcast sensibilities.

But the set's details were realistic enough that his fingertips trembled faintly as they closed around the rifle. It was one of the aftereffects he'd layered over and buried — resurfacing now.

And yet he felt none of the sensation he'd known in Daldongne. What was this? What was different between then and now?

Does it only appear when I'm acting?