Chapter 144

Translator: Penny

Chapter 144

"Let's move on to the scene where the dog who suddenly turned into a human reveals to its owner, 'I'm your dog!'"

Kim Dobin, who had the biggest say in choosing the theme, shouted cheerfully. I had originally planned to give him a role as a split-personality murderer, but Dobin was surprisingly vocal with his suggestions.

Initially, we had considered making Seo Yehyeon's character a cat, as her personality didn't quite fit the dog type. However, Ryu Jaehee strongly argued that to showcase her acting range, she should play a character with an opposite image, leading us to change it to a dog.

"Hey, what's with that?"

"Still better than a split personality or possession, right?"

"Well, yeah..."

Seo Yehyeon glanced at me and readily agreed. Was she implying my brilliant acting was subpar?

"But is the owner male or female?"

"Do as you please, Hyung. But does it really matter...?"

"It does."

Seo Yehyeon took a deep breath, composed himself, and began to speak.

"Hyung?"

The way he blinked, staring into the empty air, already made my anti-demon power falter. I told you to just cast him as a dual-personality serial killer.

"It's me, it's me. Badugi, your younger brother."

His perfectly enunciated words, delivered as if he were reading from a book, made the other members desperately bite their lips to suppress their laughter. But I couldn't bring myself to laugh.

Why was his hair platinum blonde right now? It reminded me of Badugi, our golden retriever who crossed the Rainbow Bridge when I was fourteen.

We currently had a Pomeranian named Podo at the main house, but Badugi would always be my eternal companion, my first dog, and my younger brother.

The fact that they had to name him Badugi, that he was as big as a large dog, and that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his head was platinum blonde—all of it made me furious that I was getting so invested in such terrible acting.

It was a truly cringeworthy thought, but I even suspected that Badugi might have temporarily possessed Seo Yehyeon's body because he missed seeing this Hyung after so long.

This was all Kim Dobin's fault. He kept making a fuss about everything being a possession, and now my own thinking had become tainted with his cringeworthy mindset.

"Hyung, are you... crying?"

Ryu Jaehee, who had been struggling to suppress his laughter, turned to look at me, his face turning to shock as he whispered cautiously into my ear.

"Who's crying?" I snapped back, surreptitiously wiping my eyes. Damn it, Badugi. I miss you.

Seo Yehyeon, apparently convinced I was moved by his performance, delivered his grand finale with a smug expression:

"Woof."

The absurd bark snapped me out of my reverie. That wasn't Badugi; it was Seo Yehyeon.

"No! That's not a real dog bark!" I protested, tearing at my hair like Beethoven struggling to find the right melody.

"Aish, you scared me. What's wrong?"

"Our Badugi never barked like that!"

"How am I supposed to know what your dog sounds like?"

"But honestly, 'Woof' is a pretty human-centric way to imagine a dog barking," Kim Dobin interjected with a smirk. Judging by how eagerly he pounced on the opportunity to criticize, he was still bitter about the zero Seo Yehyeon had given him for misinterpreting the dialogue's authenticity.

"Ah, then you do it. Let's see how well you can bark."

"Who said I couldn't?"

Ahem, ahem. After clearing my throat a couple of times, I thought of Podo and Badugi and gave it my all.

"Woof! Woof! Grrr... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Arf! Woof!"

"Wow, that's some real dog barking. Wait, that sounds a bit off..."

Ryu ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jaehee, who had been clapping enthusiastically, trailed off. Seo Yehyeon, staring at me with a dumbfounded expression, finally conceded, "You win." Not that I felt particularly proud.

Then came the evaluation scores.

"I'm giving you a zero."

"Me too. This is a cold, objective judgment with no personal bias, so don't take it personally. Not everyone can act perfectly. We're not even actors—just idols."

Aside from his visuals, he didn't exactly excel as an idol, but I decided to let it slide since pointing that out would definitely lower my Original Intent Score.

"I'll give him one point," I said.

Gyeon Hajun was as compassionate as ever, giving even that performance a whole point. But Seo Yehyeon, his face twisted in shock, turned to Hajun and exclaimed, "Jun, you gave Yoon Eden four points!"

Kim Dobin shook his head solemnly and said to Seo Yehyeon in a serious tone, "To be honest, Eden Hyung's acting was way better than Yehyeon Hyung's."

"See that? Hear that?"

Seo Yehyeon let out a hollow laugh at my sarcastic remark. After a moment's hesitation, I gave my verdict:

"Two points."

It was a gesture of gratitude for reminding me of Badugi after so long, even though the final, nonsensical line had ruined it.

"Two points? Not zero? I can't believe Eden Hyung would give two points, especially when Hajun Hyung didn't even get that much."

"No, Hyung. Eden Hyung was really moved by that performance. I guess he has... unique tastes." Ryu Jaehee whispered to Kim Dobin.

I can hear you, you little shits. If Seo Yehyeon hadn't named his dog Badugi, I never would have been so captivated by that terrible acting.

In the end, the ₩100,000 prize went to Gyeon Hajun, who unanimously received a perfect score of 5 points and emerged as the ultimate winner. As soon as the ₩100,000 was transferred, ₩50,000 was immediately refunded.

It was truly fortunate that Gyeon Hajun won.

"I'm not going to act anymore," Seo Yehyeon lamented, collapsing onto his bed. He was the one who had started this pointless acting competition in the first place.

"Even if I took private lessons, I doubt my skills would dramatically improve in just a few months. It's tough... Analyzing the role is easy, but actually expressing it is so difficult."

I let out a sigh of relief. We'd successfully erased Seo Yehyeon's embarrassing history of terrible acting. This was all for the Da-A Group. Understand.

"Hyung, why did you call the owner 'Hyung' instead of 'Master'?"

"Pets are usually considered family, right? I call my cat 'Oppa' when referring to myself."

"Wow, you have a cat?" Kim Dobin's eyes lit up with excitement as he asked.

Seo Yehyeon eagerly launched into a detailed explanation about his cat, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

"Yeah, want to see a picture? He's a mackerel tabby Korean shorthair, ten years old this year. His name is Caesar. My younger sibling found him when I was thirteen, and we've been raising him ever since."

"But you said you call him 'Oppa'? Does that mean he's female? And his name is Caesar?"

"My sibling insisted on giving him a strong name..." Seo Yehyeon trailed off, handing his phone to Kim Dobin.

"Oh..."

Kim Dobin let out an ambiguous exclamation after seeing the cat photo. He nudged Ryu Jaehee and subtly showed him the screen.

Ryu Jaehee muttered in a lukewarm tone, "Doesn't it kind of resemble Eden Hyung...?"

"I see what you mean. There's a slight resemblance to Eden."

Gyeon Hajun glanced at the cat photo on the phone screen and chuckled. I also peeked at the photo, but I couldn't quite see the resemblance.

"Where are you going?"

"It's the eyes. They look a bit like his."

"Hey! What kind of curse are you casting on our Caesar right now?!" Seo Yehyeon snapped. If anyone's casting curses, it's you right now.

This music video had a lot of action scenes. Stuntmen handled the most intense sequences, like leaping between buildings, but we filmed most of the other scenes ourselves.

For example, the car chase scene on the open foreign road.

"Aren't you going too fast? Hyung, hyung, hyung! Speed! Slow down!" Ryu Jaehee, riding in the passenger seat of the sports car, gripped his seatbelt tightly and shouted desperately.

"Hey, when else are we gonna get to floor it like this?"

Undeterred, I casually twirled a prop pistol in my free hand and pretended to shoot at the pursuing car.

I jerked the steering wheel, swerved the car, and slammed on the brakes, leaving long skid marks on the road as the car screeched to a halt.

"Cut!"

At the director's command, Ryu Jaehee finally unbuckled his seatbelt and shakily climbed out of the car, his legs trembling.

"Hyung, you absolutely can't speed like that in Korea. You're getting a new car soon, right?"

"Hey, I don't want my face plastered on the news either, you know?"

The moment my face appears in the news, I'll immediately regress back to my Come to My Universe days.

"After all this suffering, I really hope the music video turns out well," Ryu Jaehee grumbled as he climbed back into the sports car. Switching on his handheld camcorder, he earnestly warned, "We're filming the Making Film now, so no speeding!"

"You're just worried I'll floor it again, aren't you?"

"I just wanted to capture Hyung's driving skills purely for the footage."

I ruffled Ryu Jaehee's hair lightly as he calmly told a blatant lie without even blinking. A strange feeling crept over me each time I realized I had to raise my arm higher to reach him.

We had worried a lot while filming the action scenes, but thankfully no one was injured, and we successfully completed the music video and performance video shoots.

One day before returning to Korea—our last day abroad.

"We have to watch the live broadcast as soon as we get back."

"Right! This week's episode features Trench Fighting and CBR Training."

"And Rappelling Training too... Hey, don't watch this week's episode!"

"Why? You didn't even mind dancing with the girl group. What's so embarrassing about it?"

"Now I want to watch it even more."

I couldn't possibly reveal to the members the line I'd blurted out during the Rappelling Training, when my two selves had been fighting before the descent. That would be years' worth of teasing material.

"Anyone want to go to the convenience store for late-night snacks?"

Ryu Jaehee and Kim Dobin immediately raised their hands.

"Hey, what kind of late-night snacks are you talking about at this hour?" Seo Yehyeon protested, as expected.

"Ah, it's our last ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠night here. Just let us have this one."

My smooth-talking response earned a sigh and a nod from him.

"Be careful. Manager Hyung warned us the security isn't great around here."

We'd booked a hotel in a remote area to save on production costs.

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I should grab this, then."

I gave Gyeon Hajun a casual reply and led the youngest members toward the convenience store a short distance from the hotel. The market inside the hotel was overpriced and had a poor selection, making this the better choice.

"Wow, it really is kind of creepy here."

As hooded men glanced at us while passing by, Kim Dobin sidled up to me and muttered, "Hyung..."

We had bought so much food at the supermarket that it wouldn't all fit in the bags, so I had stuffed cans into the pockets of my sports jersey.

"Hyung..." Ryu Jaehee called out softly, his voice tinged with anxiety.

"What is it?"

"That man... hasn't he been following us since before we entered the supermarket?"

I followed Ryu Jaehee's nod and turned to see the same foreign man we'd noticed earlier trailing behind us. Kim Dobin gripped my arm tightly, his voice trembling as he whispered, "That... isn't that a gun?"

Though the darkness made it hard to see clearly, the object in the man's hand was unmistakably a gun.

📝 Translator’s Note:

You may notice that certain lines or phrases in this novel appear both in their original Korean (or Hanja) form and in English translation.

This is intentional — these phrases are classical idioms, divine titles, or poetic expressions that carry layered meanings.

To preserve their original tone and authenticity, the raw text has been kept for reference, while the English interpretation is provided right before or after it. This helps convey both the literal and cultural nuance of the original work.

but if you guys dont want tha raw for future chapters or my future other novels u can just text me on discord and say so discord name Mr.Penny