Summer Song

Rembrary, for his part, found himself in quite a bind as well.

The man holding the leash kept furrowing his brow, but his expression barely changed, and the faceless youkai had no features at all, making it impossible to read its intent.

Reading the room and keeping a lie going was only possible when the other party actually reacted. With both of them so utterly impassive, keeping up the charade was getting difficult.

"So it's neither of them?"

When Rembrary added this without much conviction, the faceless youkai tilted its head.

Just how do I extract myself from this situation looking completely unscathed? Rembrary clicked his tongue inwardly and racked his brain for all he was worth.

But before he could arrive at an answer, hurried footsteps reached his ears first.

"Yeon-woo!"

He turned to find Lim Yu-han running toward him, smiling as if she'd stepped straight out of a scene from her own drama.

"Sunbae?"

When Rembrary called out in surprise, Yu-han greeted him in a voice a notch brighter than usual, breezily friendly.

"Wow, running into you in a place like this!"

"Hello."

Rembrary returned the greeting, then promptly sank back into confusion. Why does Yu-han sunbae keep showing up everywhere I go?

Wasn't this supposed to be a den of people who used youkai? Had the ox-head that had been tailing Yu-han sunbae been attached to her from here as well?

But Yu-han seemed completely unaware of the ox-head's existence — she didn't even seem able to see the thing.

In that case, this wasn't a den of youkai-users at all, and the man over there walking a youkai on a leash was the strange one?

His thoughts tangled themselves into a hopeless knot.

"Oh? Mr. CEO, you're here too? Yeon-woo and I know each other!"

In the middle of all this, Yu-han smoothly played the acquaintance with the leashed man as well, addressing him as 'Mr. CEO.'

Rembrary stopped thinking and studied the two of them carefully.

Whether or not the CEO knew Yu-han, a faint but courteous smile touched his stony face as he asked, "Yu-han, you know this person?"

"Wow, Mr. CEO, your interests are showing even in a place like this. And here you told me you've been faithfully watching my drama."

"Ah. Do the two of you appear in it together?"

"He's playing my boyfriend."

"That's not... No, I have been watching it. Now that I hear you say it, I believe that was the case."

"You're so lying."

"…"

"Fine, then you play my dad. With a super baby-faced character setup."

"Ah. Now that you mention it, that's right."

"That's a lie too."

When the CEO's expression froze solid, Yu-han laughed cheerfully and said, "If you haven't seen it, just say you haven't seen it."

The CEO chuckled along awkwardly.

So the two of them are close enough to trade ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠jokes?

Having finished teasing the CEO, Yu-han turned back to Rembrary, pointed a finger toward somewhere behind them, and asked, "Yeon-woo, since we've run into each other here, want to run lines with me before you go? You know, that part I mentioned before. I just can't nail the emotional beat."

Rembrary had no idea what she was talking about, but he caught on quickly enough that she was trying to spirit him away from this spot. Knowing her, she might have showered the CEO with all that banter precisely so she could make this offer.

He wanted nothing more than to escape this situation himself, so Rembrary answered with an obedient "Yes," and slipped away after Yu-han.

He half expected the man to call out "Just a moment" — but the CEO did no such thing.

Instead, he watched the two of them recede into the distance without so much as blinking.

Only once they had vanished entirely from view did he tilt his head and murmur, "A new recruit?"

The moment the CEO finished speaking, the faceless youkai's head gave a violent shudder. When the trembling stopped, a remarkably ordinary pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth had sprouted on that blank, doughy surface — a face so flawlessly proportioned that people would have gasped and called it handsome.

Yet the CEO showed not the slightest surprise, as though he had witnessed the youkai wear this face before.

The youkai rolled only its eyes toward him, stretched its mouth into a long, sideways grin, and spoke.

With that, the youkai gave the leash around its own neck a pointed tap. The CEO answered "Yes," obediently and took the leash firmly in hand.

"They'll be running around upstairs, I imagine."

"Hunting dogs they may be stupid ones, but they're dogs all the same. They'll catch it properly."

Meanwhile, Lim Yu-han led Rembrary out through the emergency exit and down a full two floors before she finally stopped.

Panting, she let out a long sigh of relief and looked up at him.

Rembrary couldn't tell whether she knew something and had brought him here because of it, so he simply stared back at her in silence.

"Yeon-woo."

Only after she'd finally caught her breath did Yu-han speak, after a long pause.

"I don't particularly like lecturing people."

"Yes, sunbae."

"But when a total stranger calls themselves your slave, you know—"

"?"

"—it makes you feel like crap."

"Wouldn't that depend on the person?"

"Of course… I'm sure some people don't mind. But Yeon-woo, you have no idea whether the other person is into that kind of thing, do you?"

"Into it? You mean their social standing, not their tastes?"

"Hul."

Yu-han clicked her tongue, but Rembrary was far more startled by her words than confused by them. She was talking as if she had actually seen that faceless youkai.

He wondered briefly whether she'd mistaken what he'd said to the youkai for something said to the CEO, but that seemed unlikely. The one Rembrary had called a slave had been standing directly in front of him, and the CEO had been off to the side at an angle.

Besides, Rembrary had spoken to the CEO about the youkai. No one alive understood nuance better than Yu-han — she could hardly fail to distinguish words aimed at one person from words aimed at another.

They said those with the Eyes were rare. Apparently not as rare as all that.

While Rembrary was still reordering his astonishment, Yu-han resumed her lecture with renewed conviction.

"Anyway, you can't say things like that to strangers. It's rude. Especially in our line of work — we live and die by how the public sees us."

"But sunbae, that person wasn't even human?"

"…Our Yeon-woo really is something else."

"Pardon?"

"Anyone who heard that would absolutely adore you."

"?"

"Nothing. It's just — when you say you don't see even a human as a human, honestly, I don't know what to do with you."

Rembrary understood half of what she said and lost the other half. Yu-han had clearly seen the youkai, and yet she kept referring to it as though it were a person.

But he soon realized that didn't matter. What mattered right now was—

"Sunbae, why are you here, though?"

—this.

Yu-han had seen the youkai, shown not a flicker of surprise upon seeing it, and exchanged greetings with the CEO of this place. The odds that her presence here was coincidence were shrinking fast. For all he knew, she might be a member of this very organization that made use of youkai.

And Yu-han had her own doubts about Rembrary. No outsider could possibly have set foot inside this building today, and no member she knew went by the name Woo Yeon-woo. New memberships weren't even being accepted — and yet here he was, chatting familiarly with the CEO. It struck her as deeply strange.

"Oh, nothing much. Actually, I'm a member here."

After some deliberation, Yu-han answered honestly. Whether or not Yeon-woo was a member, she had come out of her own interest anyway.

Listening to her reply, Rembrary thought, Ah, so Yu-han sunbae really is one of the people from the organization that uses youkai.

"I see…"

"I know. Surprising, right?"

"A little."

"It's fine. Everyone says that the first time. That it doesn't suit me. But hey, what can you do?"

"Quite."

And so, each laboring under a mutual misunderstanding, Rembrary and Yu-han carried on a perfectly pleasant conversation.

Each believed the other's organization to be something different — but both were secret societies all the same, and somehow, the words fell into place between them.

Rembrary's thoughts drifted so far afield that he was seriously mulling things like, So Yu-han sunbae is fond of youkai. Would she be pleased if I caught some small, cute youkai and brought it to her as a gift next time? But then, would I need to put a leash on that one too? Is the leash the taste of this organization, or of the CEO here?

"Did you just join here, Yeon-woo?"

"No, nothing like that. I just came along to look around with my brother."

"Aha, that explains it — I was surprised ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠because I've never seen your face here before. So you came with your brother. Is he a member?"

"I'm not sure."

"What's his name? Everyone here knows each other's names."

They all know one another's names, so it can't be a very large organization.

So that's why the CEO looked so displeased earlier — my lie was showing through far too obviously, wasn't it?

Rembrary regretted having told the CEO he was just another group member, and answered carefully. "Woo Sung-woo."

"Who? I don't know him."

"My brother's friend came along with us too, so it might be him who's a member. But I don't know his name either."

As they traded remarks that kept skidding just slightly off target, Rembrary's phone rang. It was Woo Sung-woo.

"Oh, hyung."

"23rd floor."

At the sound of Rembrary taking the call, Yu-han mouthed I'm heading up and quickly made her way back up the emergency stairwell.

"Yep."

"Ah. I saw something strange."

"Youkai walking?"

"Some person was walking a youkai on a leash."

The tap tap tap of Yu-han's footsteps vanished completely from his hearing.

Through the phone came the sound of Woo Sung-woo exhaling in relief. "Ah."

"You know him?"

"Hm?"

Rembrary furrowed his brow.

The man who strolled about walking a youkai on a leash — that man had called in Nakru to catch a youkai?

It made no sense whatsoever.

Yeomra had said, quite clearly, that the group using youkai had risen up in opposition ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to Nakru, hadn't he?

Had their nature changed with the passage of time? Or was it simply some personal friendship between this CEO and Woo Sung-woo?

While he stood there bewildered, Woo Sung-woo issued a curt, iron-hard command.

The first-floor lobby looked nothing at all like it had before. Not a soul in sight — only the building itself, glittering and garish in its splendor.

But Rembrary had barely been waiting five minutes at the lobby entrance before Woo Sung-woo appeared, a pitch-black pouch slung over his shoulder.

Rembrary could see the insects swirling and hovering around the pouch.

So he's caught a demon beast or a youkai and sealed it inside.

The mission had evidently been a success.

And yet the moment Woo Sung-woo laid eyes on Rembrary, he ground his teeth despite that success.

"You call yourself a grown man and still can't be bothered to say where you're going—!"

When the guards beyond the lobby exit began casting furtive glances their way, he hurriedly dropped his voice, but his expression remained positively foul. Even when another Nakru operative came over to join them, the darkness on his face did not lift.

At last, once they were back in the car and pulling away from the building, Woo Sung-woo issued his warning in a low voice.

"I'm against bringing you along. An 'Eye' like you, who does whatever he pleases — you'll end up dead one day, tripping over your own mess with no one beside you."

"Are you worried for me?"

"Who said anything about worrying?"

"Am I a source of worry to you, then?"

"What are you even saying?"

"Things grew rather dangerous earlier. Do worry."

"What happened? Why? Are you hurt?"

"I knew it. You are worried."

"You little—"

Rembrary glanced sidelong at Woo Sung-woo grinding his teeth, and declared with firm finality, "Fret not. I have no intention of joining this place anyway."

Which, if anything, worked out splendidly in his favor.

After that incident, neither Woo Sung-woo nor the spear-wielding man's supervisor contacted him for three whole ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠days.

So deliberately wandering off on my own actually paid off! Rembrary counted it a stroke of fortune.

He already had his hands full raising his popularity and gathering Believers in order to return to his original world. He had no desire whatsoever to entangle himself with tiresome organizations like those.

Once the three days had passed, Rembrary put the whole affair out of his mind and threw himself into rehearsals for Dear God.

Jungseo, consumed with audition prep, clung to his script everywhere he went — at the agency, at the dorm, at all hours. Hye-gyeol, Cathy, and Taein sang their throats raw, each of them vying to land a summer solo song.

Trouble struck on the very night Hye-gyeol's solo song was decided.

Ecstatic that he'd been chosen to sing the title track, Hye-gyeol had declared he was going to do it really well and stayed behind in the practice room, vowing to rehearse through the night.

Then, in the dead of midnight, Jong-woo's frantic call came through to Jungseo.