Looking for the Culprit

If the self-cam video had gone out right away, fans would surely have been in an uproar over "Wild Animal's next album concept is chuunibyou," but unfortunately, that day was not a broadcast day for The Dating Process.

"I'm already scared of how people will react……."

"I think word's going to get out that the kids are doing it. Will that be okay?"

Some of the staff were gravely worried — not just about the special album they put out once a month, but about the fact that the full album's concept was going to be chuunibyou.

CEO Im's opinion, however, seemed firmly decided.

At this point, the A&R department team leader grew curious. What on earth had happened over Chuseok? What could have occurred that made CEO Im show up with such an enormous concept and plan?

"Team Leader, you go talk him down. I'm scared he's going to tell them to slap black-fire-dragon tattoos on their hands or something."

"No, what kind of concept is he even planning with chuunibyou?"

"What if it wrecks the kids' whole image, huh? Huh?"

As the employees kept shoving him forward, the A&R team leader finally approached CEO Im the next evening. While they were discussing a different agenda item, he casually brought up Wild Animal's next concept.

"Sir, if you ask me, I think our society is…… still a bit too early to accept a chuunibyou concept."

"What?"

"These days, if you post anything too emotional — even just a photo or a short quote — people treat it as a joke. What if we go out with a chuunibyou concept in the middle of all that and destroy the image we've managed to build up so far?"

"……"

"The special album's concept is already locked in with the zodiac signs and birthstones, so wouldn't it be better to play the full album safe instead?"

"And what's the 'safe' concept you're thinking of?"

"You know, like 'I'm so nervous thinking about going on a date with you,' or 'I fell for you at first sight,' or 'I feel like your feelings for me are fading,' or 'let's break up,' or 'I don't want to break up' — there are tons, right?"

At the A&R team leader's words, CEO Im clicked his tongue.

"You want me to have them possessed by a demon on the last album and then go all bubbly this time with 'dating, dating, our little date!'?"

"Well, that's……."

CEO Im let out a sigh.

"I get what you're worried about, but the chuunibyou concept I'm talking about is emotional overload."

"Emotional overload?"

"Why do you think they call it chuunibyou? People mock it as chuunibyou because the emotions are so rich. Put another way, it's the period of life when emotions explode more than any other."

"Yes."

"That's it."

"Yes?"

"Emotional overload."

"Yes?"

"We carry a story across from track one onward. In track one, he finds someone he loves and is dying of butterflies. In track two, they start dating and he's out of his mind with joy. In track three, he falls for someone else and laments that he's absolute trash. In track four, he delivers the breakup like a complete bastard. And in track five, he regrets his choice and falls into despair. We blend it all together until it feels — deliberately — like too much emotion."

"Ahh……"

The A&R team leader nodded, mouth hanging open.

"That actually works."

He honestly couldn't tell whether it worked or not, but for now he praised it to the skies. At the very least, the situation was far better than the black-fire-dragon scenario he and his team had braced themselves for. That bit about emphasizing "emotional overload" nagged at him a little, but this much was safe enough.

"But isn't that just an ordinary bad-relationship story? I don't quite see what makes it chuunibyou just because the emotions are over-expressed……"

"Because the title track is going to be track three or track four."

"!"

After the A&R team leader left, CEO Im immediately summoned Yeon-woo.

At that moment, Rembrary was listening to Jong-woo talk about Song Seo-young. She was a top model, and the story was that she had already left the country and wasn't in Korea right now.

That makes her hard to feel out in passing, then.

What Daeju had asked was for him to sound out the three suspects as opportunities arose. But if the person in question was in another country, probing her realistically would be difficult. In a world where he could hardly even travel anywhere far alone — let alone another country.

"But why Song Seo-young?"

"Something came up."

"What kind of something? Did she maybe become a believer or something? Should I let you know when she comes back? Not that there'd be much reason to meet her even then."

"Would you, now? Then do pass it along."

He would text Daeju about her being abroad regardless, but Rembrary still left the request with Jong-woo as well.

It was right at that moment that CEO Im's secretary came looking for Rembrary.

"You didn't cause some kind of trouble, did you?"

"Nothing of the sort."

Wondering what this could be about, Rembrary followed the secretary to meet CEO Im. The CEO was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in his office, a candy in his mouth, deep in thought, but the moment Rembrary arrived he took the candy out and set it down in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ashtray.

"Why did you call for me?"

As Rembrary took the seat across from him, the secretary withdrew, and CEO Im explained.

"I was debating whether to have it passed through Jong-woo or tell you directly, but it didn't seem like something that needed to go through him."

Something he doesn't need to route through Jong-woo……

"Are you planning to buy pizza for me alone?"

"This isn't about food."

"Then what is it?"

"The zodiac concept I mentioned at the meeting yesterday."

"Yes, what about it?"

"We're starting things off with you first."

Rembrary nodded indifferently. He had half expected as much — the members had talked it over at the dorm. A concept like this made the opening act all the more important, and there was no one in Wild Animal who drew as much buzz as Rembrary did. On top of that, Rembrary had posted several outstanding digital chart results on the singing competition. More than enough to serve as the starting line.

"First, we're cutting the dancing. Wild Animal's a group built on dance and performance, so the title tracks have always been performance-heavy — but this time, we're tailoring everything to you. Stripping out the performance and the choreography entirely, and going all-in on vocals alone."

"Is that so."

"The concept is Scorpio."

Rembrary recalled the menacing figure of a scorpion as he asked,

"Not that it matters, but what kind of song do you intend to make about a scorpion?"

"It's a zodiac sign, isn't it? And what are stars? They sparkle. With your voice, I figure you can land comfortably in the top fifty of the digital charts. So we're assuming there'll be music show appearances, and we're going to pour everything into the MV itself to set the mood — sparkling and glamorous."

CEO Im rose, pulled a thin album from his desk drawer, and spread it open in front of Rembrary.

"This is the concept art."

The concept art depicted a man in a jet-black suit, draped from head to toe in red jeweled ornaments that carried the feel of traditional Arabian dress. The contrast between the dark, still black and the flamboyant red adornments was, surprisingly, rather pleasing to the eye.

I would look truly magnificent in this. I can already hear the faithful's hymns of praise.

"Looks good, right?"

"Perfect attire for presiding over a ritual."

"What?"

"But what song would suit singing in this, I wonder?"

CEO Im, who had been grinning with confidence, popped the candy back from the ashtray ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into his mouth.

"That's…… actually the problem. If we went the performance route it'd be easier, but trying to express this as a ballad, I just can't get a feel for it."

Yet giving Rembrary a solo performance felt like throwing away his strengths, and bringing in another member to salvage the performance side made success hard to guarantee.

"That's why I called you. You have quite the track record of surprising people with unexpected lyrics."

"Do I, now."

"So rack your brains this time too. Rhyme and meter can be polished to fit the song later — just write lyrics that fit the concept art and Scorpio."

Rembrary searched for Scorpio on his phone. Of course, he already knew what a scorpion was — scorpions had lived in his world too. It was simply that he couldn't begin to guess what song one might sing about a scorpion, so he'd given it a search, that was all.

"……I still don't get it."

Back in the practice room, Rembrary sat cross-legged in front of the mirror, scrolling through photo after photo of scorpions.

How long had he been at it? Suddenly, Hye-gyeol's voice rang out — "Whoa! Congrats, hyung!"

Rembrary, who had been deep in scorpions, looked up to find Jungseo standing there expressionless while Hye-gyeol flung an arm around his shoulder and bounced up and down. Jong-woo was smiling fondly beside them, and even Cathy let out a teasing hoot — "Oooh. At last, the actor graces us with his presence."

"What's happened?"

When Rembrary asked, it was Hye-gyeol who shouted, even more worked up than the man of the hour himself.

"Yeon-woo hyung — Jungseo hyung passed his audition!"

Startled, Rembrary looked up and met Jungseo's eyes. Jungseo lifted only the corners of his mouth in an awkward smile and rubbed the back of his neck for no particular reason.

Rembrary set his phone aside and clapped — clap clap clap clap. He'd assumed the audition would go well, but now that it actually had, he was genuinely delighted.

"This is only the beginning, so don't get too carried away. And you need to practice your acting more. You can see it with Yeon-woo — when people hear an idol is acting, the image isn't great. Yeon-woo barely had any lines, so he got by on his face, but you have quite a few lines, so you have to be genuinely good. Got it?"

"Yes, hyung."

"You've got a leading-man face, so you'll do great."

"Mm."

After dispensing nagging and comfort to Jungseo in equal measure, Jong-woo turned his attention to Hye-gyeol, Cathy, and Taein.

From Jong-woo's standpoint, the two he worried about most were Yeon-woo, who kept promoting diligently despite his memory loss, and Jungseo, who looked after the members from the leader's position ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and even took on all the small, thankless chores. But that didn't mean the other members escaped his notice. In fact, once Jungseo passed his audition, it was the other three who began to weigh on him.

Hye-gyeol, to be precise.

Cathy and Taein wanted to make their name through singing anyway, so the special album activities tied to this full album could yet change their circumstances. But Hye-gyeol's dream was acting. With two members of his own group building acting careers ahead of him, no amount of cheering and bright smiles could have made him feel good inside.

"Hye-gyeol, keep your chin up — I'm still hunting through synopses for a role that fits you too."

And about thirty minutes later.

Rembrary, who had been quietly observing the scene, waited for the mood to settle and then eased into a topic with Jong-woo.

"Jong-woo."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Who is Ki Seung-min?"

"Huh? A rapper. Why?"

Jong-woo's expression abruptly turned grave.

"CEO Im hasn't said anything about bringing him in for a feature or anything like that, has he?"

"No, nothing. We only talked about lyrics."

At Rembrary's bemused, instant reply, Jong-woo finally relaxed his shoulders in relief.

What was that about? Finding it stranger still, Rembrary brought up Ki Seung-min again anyway.

"Jong-woo. That rapper, Ki Seung-min — could I meet him?"

Ki Seung-min was one of the three people Daeju had flagged as possibly having stolen the brush. One of the others seemed unlikely, and there was no situation in which to check on the last one — which left Ki Seung-min to verify.

But Jong-woo's face hardened even further than before, and he refused outright.

"No."

"Why not?"

"He did drugs in the past, so his public image is terrible. They say he's turned his life around these days, but if he gets seen with you, it'll do neither of you any good. None at all."

His attitude was fiercely resolute.

That night, Rembrary had no choice but to ask Sunwoo Sil for help. The man had years of industry experience on his side — there was a chance Rembrary could get something useful out of him.

True to form, when Rembrary asked whether he knew Ki Seung-min, Sunwoo Sil answered readily.

"Are you two close?"

"I lost an item of mine."

"I received a report that Ki Seung-min took it."

"Could you sound him out for me, senior? To see if he's the culprit?"

"My heart."

"Senior? Senior? Hello? Did you hang up on me?"

< Chapter 147. Searching for the Culprit > — End —