You Could Act, Too?
"What's this about him telling you to quit singing?"
Jung-woo asked sharply, as if he'd heard the news for the first time.
"Is that true?"
Cathy answered in a voice that seemed to shrink into the floor.
"Yes······"
"Then why didn't you tell me?! You should have said something! You just stood there and listened while that arrogant bastard talked to you like that?!"
His voice turned dangerous at the thought that the members he looked after had been disrespected.
But Cathy's next words forced Jung-woo to fall silent.
"It wouldn't have changed anything even if I had······ and it would just put you in a bad mood too, hyung. So we figured we'd take it among ourselves."
Because it was the truth.
He was right.
Jung-woo had shouted *'you just stood there and listened?'* in his fury, but standing there and listening had been the only option.
It stung his pride, but the fact was that the foul-mouthed singer in question — Sunwoo Sil — simply existed on a different plane than Wild Animal when it came to recognition and reputation.
He was a singer with fierce pride, and he possessed both the skill and the track record to back that pride up.
There were a few anecdotes about his nasty personality, but people chalked even that up to an artist's temperament.
Even if Cathy had reported the whole thing, there was nothing Jung-woo could have done about it.
Which was exactly why it made him all the more upset and furious.
"It's fine. At least now you get to compete with him out in the open. Go crush it at this singing competition! That's all you need to do! Just flatten him!"
Cathy asked hesitantly.
"With what, though?"
Unfortunately, their opponent was a man with a terrible personality but unmatched skill, recognition, popularity, and success.
Public goodwill, too.
If they faced him head-on in a competition, the odds were high they'd be crushed just as openly.
Jung-woo floundered, mouth opening and shutting, before he finally burst out.
"Your— your face! I'll talk to the CEO and make sure you all look absolutely killer that day, so go in there looking gorgeous and crush him with your faces!"
In other words, even Jung-woo was admitting that faces were the only thing they had going for them.
Cathy deflated.
Unlike the others, however, Rembrary simply smiled, unbothered.
*As if something that trivial mattered.*
To him, a High Priest, Sunwoo Sil's provocation seemed like nothing at all.
Even if the man said the same thing to his face, Rembrary was confident he could let it slide right off him.
* * *
That week, Wild Animal performed on three music programs, and the heart count on their title track on the largest streaming platform climbed from a mere 64 to a whopping 503.
Compared to other idol groups it was nothing to write home about, but Wild Animal's nickname was, after all, "the nuclear submarine."
Even this much was enough to make the agency staff genuinely happy.
"Wow, our kids are on Sing Survival!"
"Keep this up and next season's star is booked!"
"The way things are going, they'll crack the top 100, then the top 50, then hit number one, right?"
The members of Wild Animal were the babies of the agency, and LLL Entertainment had exactly one idol group to its name.
Everyone else was a senior actor, so there was no rivalry or wariness to get in the way — everyone could cheer for them with their whole hearts.
And then, the following Monday.
The day of the Sing Survival preliminary meeting arrived.
The meeting was at three in the afternoon, but thanks to Jung-woo's relentless drilling, Rembrary and Cathy were already waiting in front of the venue by eleven in the morning.
In the car, Jung-woo had made them review the schedule sheet one more time, then comb through the newly updated contestant list again.
"When you go in, you greet every single contestant properly. Got it?"
"Must I greet strangers as well?"
"Yes. Even if you don't know them. Greet everyone you run across. Overly enthusiastic greetings never hurt anyone. But one missed greeting out of a hundred will. Understood?"
"Understood."
Jung-woo was arguably more nervous than they were, rubbing his palms against his trousers over and over.
And every now and then, he stole a strange sidelong glance at Rembrary.
A look entirely different from the one he gave Cathy.
At first Rembrary wondered what was wrong, but he soon figured out what Jung-woo was worried about.
He was fretting over the upcoming encounter with that Sunwoo Sil fellow.
A few days ago, Rembrary had bristled along with everyone else in the heat of the moment, but with time to reflect, he'd surely come to understand. Fighting that man head-on would only end badly.
Rembrary smiled and put him at ease.
"I have no reason to fight with this Sunwoo Sil person, so rest easy."
Cathy looked at Rembrary with eyes that said, *really?*
Rembrary nodded calmly.
"It's best to keep one's relationships smooth. I intend to greet him first and try to get along."
It sounded remarkably sociable, but Cathy muttered, unconvinced.
"Honestly, with that tone of voice, it might be better to just quietly ignore him······"
Jung-woo seemed to share the sentiment — he'd been nodding along, then thought it over for a moment before carefully addressing Rembrary.
"Actually, since it's come up — Yeon-woo."
"What is it?"
"We've been leaving it alone since you lost your memory, so you wouldn't be stressed out. But I think you should use normal speech on broadcasts. No — please use normal speech on broadcasts."
"······"
"Between us, you can keep talking like some old king all you want. Well, even when we're not filming, it's fine. It's just — on camera, I think you really shouldn't."
CEO Im, who had long since given up on managing Yeon-woo's image, had never called attention to this.
Before, he'd left him alone out of concern for a boy who'd lost his memory.
He'd been secretly terrified of what might happen if he forced the kid to change the way he talked.
But the real reason he'd said nothing even with a program coming up was that he'd abandoned image management altogether.
If the speech stayed that weird, viewers would talk about it — and either way, that meant buzz.
Jung-woo, however, had watched the members far more closely than the CEO ever had, and he wanted to offer at least a minimum of advice.
"The leader already brought it up before, and he said no."
Cathy answered for him from the side.
Rembrary pulled a face of clear reluctance as well.
"The way you all speak is far too frivolous."
Jung-woo pleaded with him, his face earnest.
"Uh, sorry for making you use such frivolous speech, but, uh, look, Yeon-woo. Viewers are super sensitive about how people talk."
"······"
"If you don't use honorifics, you'll hear every kind of complaint there is. And it'll all be bad."
"······"
"If you cause trouble by yourself, that might be your problem alone. But the way you talk — that gets the members and the agency dragged into it right along with you. That's why."
With Jung-woo pressing this hard, Rembrary reluctantly conceded.
"I'm not accustomed to it, but I shall endeavor."
A High Priest, as the representative of god, must carry himself with suitable dignity.
If this were his original body, Rembrary would never have accepted Jung-woo's request.
But the body Rembrary currently inhabited was not the High Priest's body.
His divine power remained intact, yet no one thought of him as a High Priest.
It hardly seemed likely that the dignity of the goddess Redrin would suffer because he didn't speak like a High Priest.
"Would this manner of speaking suffice?"
"Eurgh."
The moment Rembrary actually tried being warm and friendly, Jung-woo rubbed his arms, covered in goosebumps.
At first he'd thought he was recoiling from that kingly speech pattern.
But somewhere along the way, he'd grown used to it.
"Use honorifics. Honorifics."
"Must it really be so?"
"It looks more polite that way."
Rembrary sighed and promised.
"I shall do so when the cameras are rolling."
That much was enough to set his mind at ease.
Jung-woo nodded, then checked his watch.
One thirty in the afternoon.
They could head inside early now.
He rattled off one more round of nagging at Cathy and Rembrary, then opened the car door.
* * *
Rembrary walked into the building smiling calmly.
He truly had no intention of fighting with that senior, Sunwoo Sil.
He had no desire to stir up pointless trouble.
If the man picked a fight over singing, he could simply let it pass through one ear and out the other. What would be the point of actually brawling?
In keeping with his High Priest's sociable streak, Rembrary had even gone out of his way to look up Sunwoo Sil's photos on the internet.
He planned to offer a friendly greeting first.
If the man disliked him, they could keep their distance afterward; if the man received him well, the mood would stay pleasant.
Even though they'd arrived two hours early, plenty of people were already there.
But most of them looked like staff, and Sunwoo Sil was nowhere in sight.
Instead, he spotted PD Kim Moo-rok talking with someone.
Since Rembrary had studied photos of the cast and the PD in advance, he recognized Kim Moo-rok immediately.
Rembrary considered going over to greet the PD, as Jung-woo had advised.
But Jung-woo said, "Stay right here, you two," and scurried off in that direction all by himself.
If he says to stay here, then here is where I shall stay.
Rembrary took out his phone where he stood, and Cathy started playing a mobile game as well.
While they were at it, they heard the door open and someone come in.
Rembrary glanced up at the entrance.
A stranger was walking in.
A face that hadn't been among the contestant photos Rembrary had studied.
Rembrary lowered his head again.
He kept searching for information on Sunwoo Sil on his phone, when the crown of his head began to prickle.
As if utterly dumbfounded—
"Ignoring me to my face, are we?"
He heard someone mutter.
It sounded like it was directed at them.
Rembrary looked up from his phone.
Sure enough — the man who'd come in earlier was approaching them, and those words were his.
When the man got right up close, he looked Rembrary over and sneered.
"Still as rude as ever, I see?"
"I'm······ sorry, who might you be?"
Rembrary had been about to say *who are you*, but remembering Jung-woo's warning, he barely managed to soften it.
The eyebrows of the man standing before him shot upward.
"Who am I? Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"
*Does he know 'Yeon-woo'?*
While Rembrary stood there bewildered, Cathy finally seemed to come to his senses and blurted out.
"Dude, that's Sunwoo Sil sunbae!"
His voice was abnormally loud, but Rembrary couldn't ask him why he'd suddenly gotten so loud.
Because Cathy's words had shocked him far too much.
*Sunwoo Sil, you say?*
Rembrary looked down at the phone in his hand.
On the screen was the photoshoot of Sunwoo Sil he'd just been looking at.
Rembrary looked back up at the man in front of him.
*That is an entirely different person from the photoshoot.*
Having no concept of photo editing, Rembrary's eyes went wide.
To him, it was simply baffling that a man whose face — whose very bone structure — differed from the man in the photos could be the same person.
Of course, he didn't say this out loud.
But from Rembrary's head-bobbing and darting eyes alone, Sunwoo Sil grasped exactly what he wanted to say, and his face turned red.
"So he blew his career on that album and blew his manners along with it······!"
"Are you truly Sunwoo Sil sunbae?"
Rembrary's cautious question made Sunwoo Sil completely explode.
"You little—!"
What stopped him from shouting more was Sunwoo Sil's manager.
Sunwoo Sil jabbed a finger at Rembrary, and Rembrary raised an eyebrow.
Since he didn't know what photo editing was, Rembrary couldn't understand why Sunwoo Sil was so mortified.
Just then, the sound of applause rang out.
He looked over to see PD Kim Moo-rok clapping behind a pair of black sunglasses.
Beside him stood Jung-woo, looking ready to cry.
Having dragged Jung-woo along with him, PD Kim Moo-rok slapped Rembrary on the back with a hearty laugh.
"Perfect! Absolutely brilliant!"
"?"
"Keep this up and ninety percent of the ratings will be thanks to you! You're going to carry this show!"
What on earth was he talking about.
Leaving Rembrary once again unable to comprehend, PD Kim Moo-rok gave a thumbs-up and said to Jung-woo.
"He's playing the role even more naturally than I expected. I could have him act, too, you know. Right?"
*Act?*