—Live broadcast begins in 60 seconds! 59, 58….
I clenched and unclenched my hand in tension.
Looking around, I could see a bright home-shopping broadcast studio.
And the countdown clock too.
10:00
Once the broadcast began, it would start going down.
A home-shopping survival round where whether you lived or died depended on how much you sold in the ten minutes you were given.
‘To think I’ve ended up doing something this insane.’
But calm down.
‘Even if I die, it’s fine.’
I repeated it to myself. It’s not dangerous, it’s not dangerous….
It’ll just turn into some ridiculous dream. No, actually, if I die, I’ll wake cleanly from the dream, so that’s even better.
I looked to the side.
My eyes met those of my companions standing in other studios.
‘Right.’
As long as any one of us made it to the final round and used the prize money for item shopping, that was enough.
Thinking of the ‘shopping loophole’ I had already come up with, I nodded to myself.
‘Only one of us has to survive.’
—3, 2, 1….
I looked at the camera.
—Action!
The lights came on.
“Hello! I’m today’s special one-day show host, Contestant No. 4, ‘Friend of the Talk Show.’ It’s a pleasure to be here.”
And then….
Live reactions began appearing on the prompt beside the camera.
“……!”
Where was this even being broadcast to?
A chill crawled up my spine as I read the scattered bizarre comments, but I smiled brightly without showing it.
“Today, here on Delusion Home Shopping, the product I, Contestant No. 4, will be selling is….”
I hesitated.
‘Ordinary people might actually end up buying this.’
Something I could unload quickly without putting…