The Boss's Objective

Shin Jo-woon let out a hollow laugh. Confidence was all well and good, but it needed to come in moderation.

After a brief spell of confusion, Shin Jo-woon hung up the phone and clicked his tongue.

"The kid's rather sweet but completely unhinged, and kind of cute but utterly bizarre."

His secretary chuckled beside him as she poured his coffee.

"Was that Mr. Woo Yeon-woo on the phone?"

Shin Jo-woon, still clutching his mobile, asked a little sheepishly, "Yeah, it was. Could you hear?"

"You have a very distinctive expression, sir, whenever you talk to Mr. Woo Yeon-woo."

"An annoyed one?"

"Something a bit more... ambiguous."

"Who knew adopting a pet pig would be this difficult. Whew."

At his half-joking remark, the secretary burst out laughing.

"Well, as long as you're enjoying yourself, sir."

"That's true. I am enjoying myself, so it's fine."

Shin Jo-woon readily conceded the point and unfolded his documents.

"More importantly — the person who got attacked. It's definitely Nakru?"

The Dear God shoot had originally been scheduled for the following day, but in the wake of yesterday's incident, it had been pushed back.

"Why postpone it? The production staff weren't even involved."

Rembrary simply couldn't understand how the schedule could slip just because someone had gotten hurt near the filming location, but Jong-woo answered him gruffly.

"Someone died on set. If we'd just carried on, people would talk."

"They didn't die."

"Oh, they didn't? That's a relief. Wait — how do you know that?"

"I heard it through the grapevine."

"What neighbor's house is out there telling you things like that? Let me in on where that house is, too."

"Then when will filming resume?"

"The schedule gets posted on the fan café, so you'll have to keep checking it."

Behind the two of them as they chatted, Tae-in yawned and shuffled off toward the bathroom.

Jong-woo clapped his hands at the empty air — tak-tak-tak — and urged the members along. "Come on, you lot, go wash up quickly. Don't just mope around because there's no schedule today."

And so, for those reasons, the shoot got pushed aside, and in its place Rembrary found himself attending a concept meeting for the new album.

Filming a variety show right after a bad incident could also stir up talk, so they had asked for understanding and pushed the nighttime Process of Love recording to a later date as well.

Which meant that the other members, who'd had various rehearsals and other commitments, all gathered for the album concept meeting while they were at it.

But because the schedule had changed so suddenly, the staff couldn't clear their time all at once, and while they sorted out their availability, the members were left with a stretch of free time.

The others spent it usefully enough — sleeping in a little more, practicing, or stepping out briefly on some errand or other.

Rembrary, for his part, decided to spend it pacing the corridor alone.

It was so he could think seriously about Woo Sung-woo, the man with the spear, and the spear man's boss.

Woo Sung-woo had relayed that the spear man's boss wanted to see Rembrary. The moment he'd heard it, Rembrary had hung up the phone — but...

Rembrary didn't believe for a second that the matter had been settled by hanging up.

Sooner or later, the spear man's boss would come looking for him...

The spear man had only crossed paths with him once, yet he had tracked Rembrary all the way to the Wild Animal dorm, and when he'd been ignored, had shown up at the event venue on his own.

If the spear man was capable of that much, his boss would surely find him even more easily.

Is Woo Sung-woo actually with Nakru?

After agonizing over it for a long while, Rembrary furrowed his brow. There was so much to think about, from every angle, that his head had begun to ache.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Thanks to his divine power, an actual headache was impossible — it had to be mental fatigue.

The only way to relieve fatigue like this was to blast the source of the stress into oblivion. But this matter had only just begun, so...

Rembrary sighed, pressing his temples — and suddenly remembered the cigarettes CEO Im always reached for whenever he was having a rough time.

The CEO's office.

CEO Im sat at his desk, reviewing LLL Entertainment's self-assessment report for the first half of the year, compiled by his own hand.

At odds with the dignified atmosphere of the executive office, a bright, upbeat new single was streaming from the speakers connected to his computer as part of his listening session.

CEO Im fluttered through the pages, and whenever a decent song happened to come on, he'd note the title and the artist, put a check next to it, and return his attention to the paperwork.

He'd been at it for some time when — knock, knock. Two raps at the door.

"Yeah?"

CEO Im answered absentmindedly.

"CEO. It's me."

The reply that came back was just as offhand.

CEO Im's eyes went round as saucers, and he killed the music instantly. What on earth was that answer just now?

Slowly, his face creased into a scowl. Within this company, exactly one person spoke in that tone. Granted, at any agency in the country there would be exactly one person who spoke that way, but still.

In any case, scowling all the while, CEO Im told him to come in and closed the folder.

The door opened at once, and Rembrary poked his head in.

"CEO. Busy?"

"No, I was about to take a break anyway."

"I have a small matter of business."

"Obviously, or you wouldn't be here. Come in."

The moment CEO Im gave his permission, Rembrary hurried over and settled onto the sofa set in the middle of the room.

CEO Im, in a state of half-resigned surrender, sat down on the sofa across from him and asked, "So, what's this business?"

Even as he asked, he thought, what celebrity in the world waltzes this calmly into the office of a CEO he's not even close with — it was absurd — but he didn't let it show.

He had done away with the secretariat and arranged for people to reach him directly in the first place so that his staff could offer their opinions freely, without having their creativity crushed in the process.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

In practice, no one took advantage of it, but singling out the one person who behaved roughly in that spirit would have been strange.

Thinking of it that way made Yeon-woo's behavior somehow comprehensible, and CEO Im was just breaking into an easy smile when —

"Give me a cigarette."

The smile ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vanished without a trace.

"A cigarette?"

CEO Im's mouth fell open as he stared at Yeon-woo.

He had eliminated the secretariat to foster an atmosphere of free and open exchange, not to freely share cigarettes.

And what in the world was this...

Stunned into speechlessness, he could only gawk — and Rembrary waggled his fingers and repeated his request.

"Cigarette. Cigarette."

"..."

The moment Jong-woo found a scenario that would suit Jungseo perfectly, he checked the audition schedule and then called the production company to ask whether the role had already been promised to anyone. This was strictly for Jungseo. His heart was in a hurry.

Just then, he spotted CEO Im striding toward him.

Oh great, why now of all times? Jong-woo thought, and wrapped up with a casual, "Yes, then at that time—"

He never finished the sentence. His mouth just hung open.

Rembrary was being held by the back of the neck — by CEO Im.

Both of them wore remarkably sulky expressions, so apparently some kind of trouble had occurred,

"Yes, thank you."

Jong-woo hastily hung up the phone and called out in alarm, "CEO?"

"Jong-woo."

CEO Im walked right up to him and handed Rembrary over like a piece of luggage.

"Yes, yes."

Jong-woo reflexively took Rembrary.

Rembrary was handed over with a scowl, then quietly extricated himself and retreated a full three paces from the both of them.

CEO Im looked at him for a moment, then heaved a sigh and spoke gravely.

"Looks like we'll be needing to take that class after all."

"Which class?"

"Common sense. General education."

"Ah."

So something definitely did happen. Jong-woo understood about half the situation at once.

CEO Im didn't stop with Jong-woo — he raised his voice to address the other team leaders seated nearby as well.

"If anyone knows a good teacher, look into it. We'll be educating everyone, not just Yeon-woo."

Meanwhile, Jong-woo interrogated Rembrary in a low voice.

"What did you do wrong? Why did the CEO drag you straight to him?"

"Nothing much. I merely asked for a single cigarette."

"You smoke?"

"No, not that."

"Then why the cigarette?"

"I have something to ponder. I thought I'd try holding one for a while."

"You absolute idiot! Why would you ask for a cigarette you don't even smoke?"

"Is CEO Im not guilty of the very same thing?"

"The CEO has quit smoking! How could you go to him and ask for one!"

"Precisely. CEO Im had piles of cigarettes he doesn't even smoke."

At Rembrary's argument — which possessed a logic all its own, apparently — Jong-woo clutched the back of his neck and let out a long breath.

"Hoooo..."

Rembrary, meanwhile, sulked in silence.

In his world, there was no rule forbidding a priest from smoking. Nor any saying that one must not obtain a cigarette from a superior.

And yet here was CEO Im, hoarding a great many cigarettes he didn't even smoke. Was obtaining a single stick from that deep, untouched stock truly such a grave offense?

He hadn't demanded it under threat — he'd simply asked. If he wasn't going to give it, fine, but did he really have to seize a man by the nape and drag him all the way here?

Rembrary concluded, once again, that this world's common sense was rather strange.

Jong-woo, for his part, concluded that Rembrary's common sense was very strange.

Just then, Rembrary's phone began to vibrate.

Rembrary abandoned his exposition on the values of a class-based otherworld, picked up the phone, and checked who was calling.

The name on the screen was Woo Sung-woo. Rembrary's brow furrowed reflexively.

"Who is it? Someone you don't want to answer?"

"My brother? Ah... the brother with the secret birth?"

"What a hassle."

"Well, I mean, I suppose it is a hassle."

Jong-woo had been about to soothe him, but then he remembered how Rembrary's brother had badgered the memory-lost Rembrary, insisting you're not my brother, and nodded instead.

Fair enough. The secret birth was one thing, but a brother who grills his own amnesiac sibling over who are you, exactly definitely looks off.

"You're right. What a hassle."

When Jong-woo agreed, Rembrary said "Exactly," and hung up on the spot.

"Hey, agreeing doesn't mean you hang up!"

"It's fine."

But less than thirty seconds later, the ringtone went off again. He checked — Woo Sung-woo, once more.

Rembrary made to ignore it again, but Jong-woo subtly signaled that answering would be the wiser course.

Jong-woo had watched celebrities go through family trouble more than a few times. And whenever a family fell out, people tended to curse the celebrity wholesale no matter which side was actually at fault. Even when the family was in the wrong, the tongue-clickers would cry, they're still family — how heartless.

It was because he'd heard that story so many times that he was advising Rembrary to pick up the phone.

Rembrary finally answered, calling out sulkily.

"What is it now."

Hello.

The voice in the receiver was unfamiliar.

Are you Yeon-woo?

What's more, it was soft, threaded with laughter — a woman's voice. It was absolutely not Woo Sung-woo.

"Who is this?"

When Rembrary asked, unimpressed, the woman burst into quiet laughter.

— End of Chapter 109: The Boss's Objective —