Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Snacks from a Dream
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Ha-rin felt a pretty strange sensation.
It was the first time a camera had been set up inside a private car, and the first time a celebrity had sat in the seat next to her.
And it was also the first time she'd seen a celebrity with an insane amount of money lose at rock-paper-scissors and end up barely scraping by on snacks for meals.
"Eh, this doesn't even register in my stomach."
"...Hyung. That's par for the course with your build. Be grateful you can even eat snacks. Normally, the private car team wouldn't have gotten any pocket money at all."
"Now that you mention it, you're right. Ugh, this is ruthless, totally ruthless."
"You knew this was that kind of show ages ago, so why act surprised now?"
While Soo-chan and Woo-hyuk bantered, Jeong-ho glanced back at the rear seat and said,
"Ha-rin, you hungry?"
"I'm fine. I don't need to eat much... What about you guys?"
"I'm starving to death, seriously."
Woo-hyuk let out an exaggerated groan, and Soo-chan shot him a look of disbelief.
"Come on, what good does whining to her do? Nothing's gonna come of it."
"Uh... Should I give you something?"
At her words, all three turned their attention to her.
"You got something?"
"You can't bring food, right? Did you sneak it in?"
"No, I didn't sneak it... It's just my ability. I mentioned it earlier, right? I can bring things from nightmares into reality."
The three nodded at Ha-rin's explanation. They remembered being startled by it before.
"Can you bring food from dreams too?"
"Yes."
Their expressions changed in an instant as they stared at Ha-rin, like they were looking at a savior.
"But is it okay to use my ability? The PD said not to earlier."
"It's fine, it's fine. As long as no one catches you."
"Just use it on the sly and keep your mouth shut."
They egged her on, clearly finding the situation novel and fun. Abilities were meant to be used, weren't they?
And they weren't in the middle of a mission right now anyway.
Just get to the destination on time. No penalties, no prizes.
The production team's ruthlessness was just to make them starve after losing at rock-paper-scissors.
The PD had only asked them to refrain from using abilities during missions or rock-paper-scissors games, so they had a comeback if anyone complained.
Wasn't it the production team's fault for not being clear?
Ha-rin thought it made sense, so she used her ability right away.
Soo-chan, Woo-hyuk, and Jeong-ho looked baffled as Ha-rin suddenly dozed off.
"...She's falling asleep?"
"Is using the ability... done while sleeping?"
"Who knows..."
After a while, space ripped open in midair, and well-packaged bread, drinks, and other items started tumbling out.
"Whoa!"
"What the heck?"
"Wow, ha... I got nothing to say. Anything's possible, huh."
The three were stunned by the sudden event. Food literally falling from the sky.
The packaging was intact too, so they could rip open the bread bags and eat right away.
They were already famished, so as they eyed the food and licked their lips, Ha-rin's eyes snapped open.
"How's this? I brought stuff that's easy to eat from the dream."
She said it like it was no big deal.
As if it were nothing.
Watching her, the three entertainers thought maybe this trip wouldn't be as tough as expected.
...Though that was just their delusion.
* * *
Even after arriving in Chuncheon, we just waited near the train station.
Because the private car team hadn't arrived yet.
Yeon-hwa unni perked up the moment she drank my blood and started chattering away happily with the entertainers.
Her energy was unlike her usual self. She wasn't going to crash again, was she?
"But what mission are we doing this time? Canned food won't cut it anymore, so maybe something messing with our taste buds?"
Seung-ho hyung asked Jun-hyuk hyung. It was a continuation from their train talk. Anxiety about what today would bring.
The staff were huddled together talking upon arrival, but PD Lee Myung-ho was staring at the place like it was some headache waiting to happen.
"Who knows..."
"Well, they won't make us camp out again, right...?"
At the mention of camping, the three entertainers' faces soured instantly.
"Come on, no way. With guests here, they'd make us sleep outside?"
"Jun-hyuk hyung, haven't we suffered enough already? The PD's definitely plotting something ruthless..."
"No way, come on. Hey, these aren't ordinary guests. How could they treat them like that..."
"We got the exact same treatment last year, though."
"Ah."
Jun-hyuk hyung let out a sigh at Seung-ho hyung's words.
As he said, the show never spared guests any mercy.
If you appeared on it? Then you rolled like a regular member.
Well... separate from the entertainers' suffering, I wasn't too worried.
My physical specs were no joke to begin with, so whatever they threw at me, I'd handle it.
My experience shoveling in the military would definitely help in a variety show like this.
...Not the fondest memory, but still.
Camping, pitching tents—easy stuff. Even with ability restrictions, it'd be fine.
"I think it'll be okay. They'll probably have us cook or something, but even if cooking's out, I'm confident in the rest."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I'm a military vet..."
"Oh, right."
It was already famous that I'd been a guy before mutating.
Emphasizing my military service made favorable looks creep into the hyungs' expressions toward me.
Like they were thinking, how can we make use of this guy...
Kinda rude, that look.
"Hyungs, you were just thinking how to work me, weren't you."
"No? Why would we?"
"Yeah! What do you take us for? We wouldn't mistreat guests like that."
"From what I know, last guest episode—around 570? You guys totally messed with the guests and pulled a hidden camera."
"......"
"The ones who bully guests the hardest, so I can't trust you."
"Ah, I saw that one too."
"N-No way we'd do that, hahaha."
"Your eyes aren't laughing, though?"
"Anyway, you guys watch out too. Who knows what that vicious PD will pull."
"Well, Hwacheon County means heading into the mountains for something..."
"Camping, one hundred percent."
"Pitching tents too?"
"Probably? Or maybe team races or something..."
"Then Ha-rin and Yeon-hwa unni team up, and I go to the other team for balance?"
"That bad?"
"Yeon-hwa unni's physically strong and all... but not on my level. Right, unni?"
"Uh... I timed 100m at the last test—about 1 second? One sprint and I'm there."
"Unni, you're faster than I thought?"
"I never had to go all-out before... Everything's covered from my room corner."
"Oh, yeah. Makes sense."
"So what's your 100m, Seo-hyun?"
"Mine? No point timing it. You saw the teleport magic earlier, right?"
"Yeah, that shocked us."
"I can move at that speed just running."
The entertainers deflated again at my words.
Makes sense—hard to respond when facing a monster like this.
"...Should we tell the PD? If we do rock-paper-scissors with physical stuff half-assed, we'll shatter records."
"He'd probably love it and air it. We'd be the ones suffering anyway. Just set wheels per person and race."
"But would they make it that obvious? No clue what the rock-paper-scissors decides."
"Or straight-up superhuman showdown?"
"We just watch? No way with that PD's personality."
"No idea, seriously."
"Or simple roulette rock-paper-scissors?"
"Yeah, like that'll fill airtime."
"...True."
"Can't guess what ruthless thing that guy's scheming."
"Even if it's ruthless, we won't suffer much..."
"Or maybe table tennis?"
"Ooh, not bad. Split into teams—Bureau agents vs. Bureau agents, us vs. us, score it out?"
"Sounds good?"
Even with cameras rolling, their mouths never stopped.
Variety shows are way harder than they look.
You end up watching your every move consciously with cameras always on, and you'd have to live like that for days.
Yeon-hwa unni must feel the mental strain hard. She's introverted as is, stuck in front of cameras constantly.
"Unni, you play table tennis?"
"I-I can, but I'm not good..."
"Even if we do, issue is whether the paddles and ball can handle us."
"...Yeah. Gotta control strength, right?"
"We'll ask the PD. PD!"
"What's up?"
"Planning table tennis later by any chance?"
"Huh, how'd you know?"
"Come on, PD, we've been through years of this. But can the gear handle the Bureau agents' strength?"
"We got metal plate paddles just in case, but that won't cut it, huh?"
"Ah, we can control strength. Ball's the issue... Maybe adjustable?"
"Wanna test it?"
And so began the impromptu table tennis.
I gripped the paddle and smashed the ball down.
Control strength, control...
Thanks to maxing control, the ball and table held up fine, luckily.
But... the speed was insanely fast.
And Yeon-hwa unni returning it full-force.
The rally dragged on. More fun than expected? The sheer velocity made moving thrilling.
"...Can you even see it?"
"Need high-speed cam, I think?"
"Record it for now."
Watching us, both staff and entertainers were left speechless.