"Is this for real?! Warrior of Love and Hope-sensei just fell asleep?!"
"You can hear his snoring! Who's gonna say this is fake?!"
"Unbelievable! How can he sleep in such a serious competition?!"
"First, he was the youngest contestant, and now he's the first to take a nap mid-contest!"
"Look at the other contestants sweating buckets, and then look at him, dozing off like he's on vacation! Are we sure they're even in the same competition?"
"Wait… is he planning to sleep through the entire round?!"
"No way, right? The story isn't even finished yet. Unless… he doesn't care about continuing?"
"…"
———————————————————————
The chat was going wild.
Even after witnessing countless unexpected moments in competitions before, seeing Akifumi straight-up fall asleep mid-match was a new level of absurdity!
Everyone else was racking their brains, pushing themselves to their limits, doing everything possible to move on to the next round.
And then… here he was, sleeping.
Was he that confident? Did he think the challenge was too easy?
No one could understand it.
No one.
———————————————————————
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the venue—
Kanae, the host, was leading the judges through different livestreams when she suddenly received the news.
She froze for a second, her expression shifting into disbelief.
Then, after a brief hesitation, she turned to the judges and said, "We just received an update—there seems to be… an incident in Room 13. Let's check it out together."
"An incident?"
The judges exchanged curious glances.
When the screen switched to Room 13, all three judges blinked in surprise—then burst into helpless laughter.
Kanae, on the other hand, had an expression that basically said, "Of course it's him."
With a wry smile, she announced, "We've just received confirmation—contestant No. 13 has officially… fallen asleep on the couch."
She turned to the judges, hesitating. "So, um… should we wake him up?"
The judges didn't answer immediately. Instead, they turned their attention to the large screen displaying his workspace.
"Zoom in on the blackboard."
The staff quickly followed the instruction.
As the camera focused on the board, the three judges studied it carefully.
After a few moments, Shinji Nojima chuckled and said, "I think, as officials, we should be more… accommodating."
"It's just a nap. There's nothing in the rules that says you can't sleep, right?"
"Uh… this…"
Kanae was caught off guard.
She had studied these three judges thoroughly before the competition.
All of them were industry veterans—extremely strict, with little tolerance for nonsense.
She had expected them to see this as a sign of disrespect toward the competition, maybe even toward themselves as judges.
That was why she had rushed to their side the moment she got the news.
But now… they were actually fine with it?
Kitagawa laughed as well. "To come up with so many ideas in such a short time, of course he'd be exhausted. It's only natural to rest a little."
Yukawa nodded. "It's just a short break. Nothing worth making a fuss over."
"???"
Kanae was completely dumbfounded.
This was not how she thought this would go.
At all.
"Kanae-san, let's check on the other contestants instead."
"O-Oh… right."
She snapped back to reality and quickly nodded.
———————————————————————
Two Hours Later
"Ahhh—"
Akifumi stretched lazily as he sat up from the couch.
Honestly? The couch was surprisingly comfortable. After two hours of sleep, his body felt light and refreshed.
After stretching out his limbs, he grabbed a bottle of water and some snacks from a nearby box and started eating.
As soon as he moved, the livestream chat exploded.
Even though they knew he couldn't see the messages, fans couldn't help but spam the screen with comments:
———————————————————————
"BREAKING NEWS: Contestant takes a nap mid-competition—only 100,000 people witnessed the crime!"
"SHOCKING: A contestant pulls an unheard-of move during the finals!"
"WHAT HAPPENED?! Judges were left in utter disbelief!"
"LMAO, you guys need to stop making me laugh! Bastards!!"
"Are you all not worried?! It's been THREE hours! Other contestants have already surpassed him!"
"If he's not panicking, why should we be?"
"Wait… does this mean he's actually 3x faster than everyone else?! One hour of his work equals three hours of theirs?!"
"Worst case scenario, he gets eliminated and just goes back to making manga. It's not like he has anything to lose."
"…"
———————————————————————
After finishing his snack, Akifumi stared at the blackboard in front of him for a brief moment.
Just as the audience thought they'd have to wait even longer, he finally picked up a pen
And wrote:
———————————————————————
"Episode 1: The Nameless Poison"
It was an ordinary day at the Institute for Unnatural Deaths—no different from any other.
A grieving couple, unable to accept the cause of their child's death, was referred to the institute by a funeral home.
The hospital had ruled the death as 'sudden cardiac arrest.'
But the parents refused to believe it. Their child had always been healthy.
Desperate for answers, they sought the institute's help for an autopsy, hoping to uncover the truth.
The deceased: Wataru Takanojima, male, 35 years old. He was found dead in his apartment.
His body was discovered by his girlfriend, who had grown worried after he stopped responding to her calls.
There were no signs of struggle. No external wounds. No evidence of foul play.
With nothing suspicious at the scene, authorities ruled it as 'ischemic heart disease.'
The case was closed almost immediately.
Annoyed yet resigned, the forensic team conducted the autopsy—
Only to discover… he had been poisoned.
As they scrambled to analyze the results, the institute's director received another chilling report—
Wataru's colleague, Sayaka, had been found dead.
Less than 24 hours after him.
———————————————————————
Akifumi paused his writing.
The chat fell into a deep silence.
———————————————————————
"Wait… is he seriously handwriting the entire series plotline live?!"