Seoul Dragon - Chapter 66

Harin was feeling quite strange.

It was her first time seeing cameras installed inside a car for filming, and her first time sitting next to celebrities.

And it was also her first time directly witnessing incredibly wealthy celebrities eating snacks to stave off hunger because they lost the random penalty and received almost no spending money.

"Ah, this doesn't even begin to satisfy my hunger."

"...Hyung. With your build, that's only natural. Be grateful you can at least eat snacks. Normally, the car team wouldn't even have any spending money."

"Now that I think about it, you're right. Wow, how cruel, how cruel."

"You've known what this show is like for ages, why act surprised now?"

While Suchan and Woohyuk were chatting, Jeongho glanced back at the rear seat and said:

"Harin, aren't you hungry?"

"I'm fine. I don't need to eat much... What about you oppas?"

"I'm starving to death, literally dying."

Woohyuk deliberately moaned in agony, and Suchan looked at him as if he couldn't believe his behavior.

"Come on, complaining to her isn't going to get you anything."

"Um... would you like me to give you something?"

With those words, the three men's gazes focused on her.

"What do you have?"

"Aren't we not supposed to bring food? Did you sneak something in?"

"No, I didn't sneak anything in... It's just my ability. I mentioned it earlier, right? That I can bring things from nightmares into reality."

The three nodded at Harin's words. They clearly remembered being surprised earlier.

"Can you bring food from dreams too?"

"Yes."

At Harin's response, the expressions of all three instantly changed as they looked at her. It was as if they were looking at a savior.

"But is it okay to use my ability? The PD told us not to use them earlier."

"It's fine, it's fine. As long as we don't get caught, it doesn't matter."

"Just use it secretly and keep your mouth shut."

They encouraged Harin, finding the whole situation fascinating and enjoyable. What else were abilities for if not to use them?

And it wasn't like they were in the middle of a mission right now.

They just needed to arrive at their destination on time. There were no penalties, and no rewards either.

The production team was just being cruel by making them go hungry because they lost the random penalty.

Since the PD only asked them to refrain from using abilities during missions or random penalties, they would have something to say if anyone complained about this.

They could argue that it was the production team's fault for not being specific enough.

Harin thought this made sense, so she immediately used her ability.

Seeing Harin suddenly fall asleep, Suchan, Woohyuk, and Jeongho looked puzzled.

"...She's sleeping?"

"Is that how her ability works? Does she use it while sleeping?"

"I'm not sure..."

And after some time had passed, a space suddenly opened in midair, and well-packaged bread, drinks, and other foods began popping out.

"Whoa!"

"What's this?"

"Wow, haha... I'm speechless. So many things are possible."

The three were dumbfounded by what suddenly happened. It was literally food falling from the sky.

The packaging was even in good condition, so they could tear open the bread packages and eat right away.

Already hungry, they were licking their lips at the sight of food when Harin's eyes suddenly snapped open.

"How is it? I tried to bring convenient things to eat from my dream."

She spoke as if it was no big deal at all.

As if this level of feat was nothing.

Watching this, the three cast members thought that perhaps this trip wouldn't be as arduous as expected.

...Though that was nothing more than their own delusion.

Even after arriving in Chuncheon, we just waited near the train station.

This was because the car team hadn't arrived yet.

Yeonhwa unnie seemed to regain her vitality immediately after consuming my blood, and began chatting animatedly with the cast members.

A level of energy I couldn't associate with her usual self. I wondered if she'd crash again later.

"So, what kind of mission will we have this time? Anchovy sauce won't work on us anymore, so maybe they'll try something with taste?"

Seungho hyung asked Junhyuk hyung. It was a continuation of the conversation we'd had on the train. The anxiety about what we'd be doing today.

The staff had arrived and were talking among themselves, and PD Lee Myungho in particular was looking at us as if he was facing some headache-inducing problem.

"I don't know..."

"Surely they won't make us sleep outdoors...?"

At the mention of outdoor sleeping, the expressions of the three cast members soured dramatically.

"Come on, surely they wouldn't make us sleep outdoors with guests present?"

"Junhyuk hyung, haven't we suffered enough already? The PD is definitely cooking up some cruel scheme..."

"No way, definitely not. Hey, come on. We've brought some extraordinary people here, how could they possibly..."

"We went through the exact same thing last year."

"Ah."

Junhyuk hyung let out a sigh at Seungho hyung's words.

As he said, "As Long As It's Not Me" doesn't show any consideration for guests.

If you appeared on the show? Then you had to function just like a regular cast member.

Well... regardless of how much the cast members might suffer, I wasn't particularly worried.

With my physical capabilities being no joke, there was nothing they could ask me to do that I couldn't handle.

My experience with digging in the military would definitely be helpful in a variety show like this.

...Not a pleasant memory, but still.

I could easily handle camping or setting up tents, so even with my abilities restricted, it should be fine.

"I think it'll be okay. They might make us cook or do other things, and while I don't know much about cooking, I'm confident in other areas."

"Really?"

"Yes. I completed military service, so..."

"Ah, right."

The fact that I was male before my mutation is already well-known.

After mentioning my military experience, the hyungs' expressions toward me began to show signs of goodwill.

They seemed to be thinking about how they could use me... That expression was somewhat disrespectful.

"Hyungs, you were just thinking about how to take advantage of me, weren't you?"

"What? No way!"

"Exactly! What do you take us for? We would never treat a guest so roughly."

"From what I know, in the last guest episode, episode 570 I think? You definitely pranked the guests and set up hidden cameras."

"..."

"Coming from people who are experts at rough treatment, your words aren't very credible."

"Oh, I saw that episode too."

"S-surely we wouldn't do that, hahahahaha."

"Your eyes aren't laughing, though?"

"A-anyway, you should all be careful. Who knows what that evil PD will do."

"Well, since we're in Hwacheon County, I'm guessing we'll go into the mountains and do something..."

"It's camping, one hundred percent."

"Setting up tents too?"

"I bet! And then they'll probably have us do some kind of team race..."

"Then Harin and Yeonhwa unnie should be on one team, and I should be on another to keep things balanced, right?"

"Is that necessary?"

"Yeonhwa unnie's physical abilities are excellent too... but not as good as mine. Right, unnie?"

"Y-yeah... when I tested my 100-meter dash last time, I think it was around 1 second? I can get there with just one sprint."

"Unnie, you're faster than I thought?"

"I've never had a reason to go all out before... I can cover everything from my room, you know."

"Ah, right. That's true."

"Seohyun, how fast can you run 100 meters?"

"For me, there's no point in measuring. You saw me teleport with magic earlier, right?"

"That was quite a shock."

"I can move at that speed just by running."

At my words, the cast members were once again speechless.

Well, facing such an inhuman monster, it's no wonder they had nothing to say.

"...Shouldn't we tell the PD about this? If they set up some half-baked physical random penalty, they'll witness something extraordinary."

"The PD will probably be delighted and put it on air. And we'll be the ones suffering. They can just set a specific number of laps for each person."

"But would they do something that predictable? I can't even begin to guess what kind of random penalty they'll come up with."

"Maybe they'll go for a superhuman showdown?"

"And we just watch? With the PD's personality, that's definitely not happening."

"I really have no idea."

"Or maybe they'll just do a simple roulette penalty?"

"Hey, would that generate enough content for the broadcast?"

"...That's true."

"I really can't figure out what cruel scheme that guy is planning."

"No matter how cruel it is, I don't think we'll have a hard time..."

"Maybe they'll have us play table tennis or something?"

"Oh, that's not bad. We could split into teams, with Bureau agents playing against each other, and us playing against each other to keep score."

"That sounds good!"

Even with the cameras rolling, their mouths kept moving non-stop.

Variety shows are much harder than I thought.

With the cameras constantly running, you end up consciously or unconsciously being careful about your behavior, and you have to live with that for several days.

It made sense that Yeonhwa unnie would feel a lot of mental pressure. She was already an introverted person, and now she had to be in front of cameras all the time.

"Unnie, do you know how to play table tennis?"

"I-I know how, but I'm not very good..."

"But if we do play table tennis, I wonder if the paddles and balls can withstand it."

"...That's true. I guess we'd have to control our strength?"

"Let's ask the PD about that. PD-nim!"

"What is it?"

"Are we going to play table tennis later by any chance?"

"Huh, how did you know?"

"Come on, PD-nim, we've been doing this for years. But are those paddles made of material that can withstand the Bureau agents' strength?"

"Just in case, I got paddles made of steel plates, but I'm guessing even that won't be enough?"

"Ah, we can control our strength for that. The ball is the issue... Well, maybe if we control ourselves well enough, it might work?"

"Would you like to try it out then?"

And so began an impromptu table tennis match.

I gripped the paddle in my hand and hit the ping pong ball.

Control, control...

Thanks to my maximum effort to control my strength, fortunately, the ball and the table remained functional.

However... the speed was incredibly fast.

And Yeonhwa unnie was returning it perfectly.

The rally continued. This is more fun than I expected! The extreme speed made moving my body quite enjoyable.

"...Can you actually see that?"

"I think we'd need a high-speed camera?"

"Let's try filming it anyway."

And as they watched us, both the production team and the cast members were left speechless.