---

The first round of preliminaries in the Seoul-Gyeonggi area.

We expected over 6 hours of recording, but it didn’t even take an hour.

The moment Jeong Gyeoul started radiating energy and filtering out participants.

PD Choi could feel that things were going south.

“If the preliminaries are like this, who’s going to watch this program for fun?!”

We had enough national pride elements with S-Class heroes appearing.

We made the program expecting the whole nation to gather in front of their TVs like during the World Cup or Olympics…

But what if a World Cup match, whether preliminaries or finals, only lasted 2 minutes?

What if you watched Olympic archery and they decided the gold, silver, and bronze medals with just one arrow?

It might be an exaggeration, but… that’s exactly what Jeong Gyeoul was about to do.

Just filtering out about half the participants was shocking enough, but she still didn’t stop.

Seeing her ramp up the intensity, I’m worried if even one or two people will survive.

“If it was going to be like this, we should’ve just gathered everyone in one place and let her release her energy to pick the winner in one go!”

Why bother splitting it by region, setting up stages, dividing participants, and sending judges?

We only thought about seating the judges, but we didn’t consider what kind of person Jeong Gyeoul was.

This wasn’t Jeong Gyeoul’s fault—it was clearly the production team’s mistake.

It was wrong not to warn her in advance, knowing she’s the type to pull off something crazy without hesitation.

“Cut, let’s cut for now!”

From the moment Jeong Gyeoul’s test started and a few people began collapsing, PD Choi had been signaling the assistant director to cut immediately.

But if even a seasoned variety show PD like Choi was this flustered, how could the assistant director not be?

It took longer than expected, and just as PD Choi was about to step in himself, the assistant director finally moved.

By then, half the participants had already been eliminated. Jeong Gyeoul looked somewhat disappointed as she retracted her magic power.

Recording stopped. PD Choi and Writer Wang rushed to the judges’ table.

The speed at which these middle-aged men moved made you wonder if they had awakened too.

“Gyeoul, this doesn’t seem right.”

“Why? If we finish the first round quickly and leave early, wouldn’t that be good for the production team?”

“…”

Writer Wang was left speechless by Jeong Gyeoul’s calm response.

Pulling the stunned Writer Wang back, PD Choi stepped forward.

“We’d be fine with it, sure… but there’s no content. If it’s like this, we might as well just gather and pick the winner ourselves, then announce it.”

“The preliminaries aren’t just here, right? Can’t we just use footage from other regions to fill the runtime?”

“…So, for the Seoul-Gyeonggi preliminaries, Jeong Gyeoul released her energy as soon as it started, picked the winner, and that was it. Should we just add subtitles like that? Please, cut us some slack…”

Shouldn’t the judges just judge? Do they have to worry about broadcast content too?

Jeong Gyeoul, who didn’t even want to be here in the first place, pouted, but since she had already joined, she didn’t want to ruin things because of herself.

She had already done two programs with PD Choi.

They weren’t exactly like family, but they were close enough that she decided to listen to him this time.

“Alright. Since about half are left, I’ll judge them and hold back from now on.”

“Thank you… really, thank you, Gyeoul. Uh… did you read the script we gave you? We should’ve stayed by your side and explained it, sorry about that.”

“Are you mad because I didn’t follow the script?”

“Of course not! I’m just admitting our mistake and apologizing…”

“I know, I was joking.”

“…Hahaha, that was a really funny joke.”

The sight of PD Choi, whom even agency heads and broadcasting station directors can’t mess with, acting like a subordinate.

Jeong Gyeoul, who experiences this kind of thing daily, nodded and smiled.

The teasing skills she started with Baek Kang-woo had evolved.

Now, she could even mess with PD Choi.

Anyway.

The eliminated participants were treated by the Association’s heroes and field staff.

Those who felt unwell were transported to nearby hospitals.

Of course, those who claimed to feel unwell were either exaggerating or trying to get something out of the broadcasting station.

Even though Jeong Gyeoul had reached a transcendent level and gone through countless hardships, including a war in the Demon Realm, her magic control was the most precise in the world.

It was so perfectly controlled that it couldn’t possibly cause any harm.

It was also stated in the participation agreement, so the participants’ threats and blackmail wouldn’t work.

After a 30-minute break for traffic control, the preliminaries resumed.

“There were nearly 400 people at the start, but now it’s down to 200 in an instant? What’s going on?”

The audacity to explain her own actions from an observer’s perspective.

Park Seol-hwa, sitting next to her, chuckled incredulously and asked a question.

“Right. Half were eliminated in an instant, so we have some extra time. What criteria will you use for judging from now on, Jeong Gyeoul?”

“There’s a scoring sheet and judging method written here… why are you asking?”

“…You’re not going to follow the script anyway. If you’re going to eliminate everyone like before, it’ll be a problem. Look at PD Choi’s face. He’s about to cry.”

When Park Seol-hwa pointed at PD Choi, the camera turned to him.

He looked like he had aged decades in less than an hour.

“Hmm… He’s so weak. What a waste of the title ‘Variety Show Master.’ Haven’t you done a lot of reality shows? I heard they were brutal.”

“Maybe he’s weakened from all the hardships back then? I heard they had betting games between the production team and cast, and even slept outdoors.”

“He was already addicted to gambling back then! No wonder he kept ordering weird dishes at Monster Restaurant. Anyway, about the judging criteria… maybe a simple physical test? Or an ability test could work too.”

Jeong Gyeoul seemed to finally be starting the judging properly.

PD Choi, who had been on edge, let out a sigh of relief.

But Jeong Gyeoul’s sudden acceleration had only just begun.

“By the way… do I have to use formal speech? Can’t I just talk like I usually do? It’s not airing on public broadcast, it’s going on OTT. They curse, drink, and fight there, right?”

“…”

No one expected this kind of comment to come out of nowhere.

Park Seol-hwa, flustered, looked toward PD Choi and Writer Wang, who reluctantly nodded.

“…Alright, just talk like you usually do. If we’re comfortable, the viewers will be comfortable… right?”

“So, what do you think, unnie? Physical check? Or ability check by category?”

Park Seol-hwa had some personal thoughts on the judging.

Physical and combat skills evaluation.

Intelligence and problem-solving evaluation.

Teamwork and leadership evaluation.

Verification of special talents or abilities.

Lastly, personality and attitude evaluation.

But it wasn’t something to check in the first round of preliminaries.

This is the first round of preliminaries for thousands of Awakened Ones in Korea alone, and tens of thousands if you include overseas.

If we proceed at this speed, it might take years, not months, to get to the finals.

So, the first round should be simple.

Of course, Jeong Gyeoul tried to make it way too simple and was stopped.

“Anyway, standing straight now is proof enough of their abilities, right?”

The remaining 200 or so participants were the ones who had withstood Jeong Gyeoul’s energy earlier.

She seemed to think that was enough, since she wasn’t planning to eliminate everyone in the first round.

“Then let’s just follow the script.”

“…If you were going to do that, you should’ve followed it from the start.”

In the end, we were back to square one.

“I didn’t think anyone would dislike my judging style.”

“Your sibling is really something.”

“Let’s stop the small talk and get to work, Guild Leader Park Seol-hwa.”

“Yes, Hero Jeong Gyeoul.”

Jeong Gyeoul finally started reading the script.

“Simple physical test and motivation for wanting to become a hero… so cliché. Oops, sorry.”

“…Even if it’s cliché, saying it out loud like that is a bit much, Gyeoul.”

“I’m worried if we’ll keep getting cliché scripts like this, but I’ll try to bear with it.”

PD Choi now had an almost enlightened expression.

Writer Wang just laughed beside him like it was someone else’s problem.

Both seemed to have lost their minds.

From then on, there was no point in cutting, no matter how things went.

Because cutting wouldn’t help anyway.

Instead, they chose to edit it to make it look like proper judging was happening.

‘Editing… this is going to be hell.’

Fortunately, they received word that judges in other regions were conducting normal judging as per the script.

 

---