15. The First Round Performances

Eun-seon burst out laughing, flustered by Rembrary's audaciously confident answer.

He had given it with his own Divine Power — which he could hardly help but mix into his singing — in mind, but to Eun-seon's ears, it sounded utterly arrogant and presumptuous.

In the end, she managed an awkward reply.

"Wow, your mental fortitude is amazing."

"Yes. My strength of mind is considerable."

Having been made to speak and understand Woo Yeon-woo's language automatically didn't mean Rembrary's command of it had become as natural as a native Korean speaker's. Because of this, his speech remained closer to a walking dictionary, and he struggled to capture the cadence of ordinary people.

Eun-seon turned her gaze away, laughing a mechanical "hahaha" at his self-congratulatory remark. He actually seemed pretty decent in person, despite all the buzz. So his personality really is unusual, huh.

Unaware of her thoughts, Rembrary simply kept smiling serenely.

Then, just as he turned to head back to the waiting room, he saw him.

Sunwoo Sil was staring over at them as if they were beneath his notice.

The moment their eyes met, he cocked one corner of his mouth up crookedly and gave an exaggerated mockery of a sneer.

But then something astonishing happened.

The instant Eun-seon thrust her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠camera forward and called out, "Sunwoo Sil-ssi, please give Woo Yeon-woo-ssi a word of encouragement!" his expression abruptly turned kind.

Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she might have mistaken him for a twin, the transformation was that complete. Wearing the face of a man doting on a beloved little brother, Sunwoo Sil said:

"Our Yeon-woo, well — you can leave him be and he'll do fine. He's got the talent."

Yet the moment the camera lowered, that warm expression and hearty laugh snapped right back to normal.

While Rembrary stood bewildered, Eun-seon switched off her camera and asked quietly, "I heard you and Sunwoo Sil-ssi had a falling out. Is it true?"

"Who told you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that?"

"Uh... information comes in from everywhere, you know. Lots of rumors too."

"······"

"Is it true?"

Rembrary opened his mouth to answer that he didn't know.

But before he could, Jong-woo cut in first.

"No."

"There's no way that's true."

And then he laughed it off airily and urged Rembrary to hurry along.

Only after Eun-seon had stepped out for a moment did Jong-woo explain the situation in a low voice.

"You heard what Eun-seon said back there, right? Information and rumors come in from everywhere."

"?"

"In this industry, you have to watch your mouth. Even if you're on bad terms with someone, never show it. Never badmouth them either. Even if you trade punches right in front of someone, if anyone asks, you say you get along fine."

"I had no intention of badmouthing him... but why must it be so?"

"You never know when some person is going to talk about you on a variety show or in an interview."

"What does it matter if they speak of me?"

"There are two kinds of topics people expect from celebrities. Stories they can relate to. And stories about the entertainment world."

"Stories about the entertainment world?"

"Celebrities and ordinary people are all the same, really, but being on TV and in the spotlight just makes you look a little more fascinating. People are curious about that world."

"Do they now?"

"Yeah. Stories about fellow celebrities, rumors circulating in the industry, funny behind-the-scenes moments from set — that sort of thing."

Jong-woo let out a long sigh.

"Interviews are somewhat better. But on variety shows, entertainment-world stories land better than relatable ones. And those stories have to be sensational. That's what makes them a hot topic, and that's what gets you invited onto other shows. And how do you make something sensational? You spill every story you've got, you pretend to know things you don't, and you blow little incidents way out of proportion. The moment you admit things are rocky between you and Sunwoo Sil, what do you think happens? Sooner or later, the two of you are rumored to be sworn enemies."

Jong-woo seemed eager to launch into a full-blown lecture, but the moment Eun-seon returned, he clamped his mouth shut.

He gave Rembrary a single 'shh' gesture and headed out the door.

Cathy's turn was coming up before his, it seemed — he was probably headed to that waiting room.

Rembrary sat down on the waiting room sofa, turning Jong-woo's words over and over in his mind.

How long had he been sitting there in a daze? A thrumming melody spread through the room, resonating as if filling it wall to wall.

He looked reflexively toward Eun-seon, who was checking the small camera attached to her rig, and she informed him, "Looks like the first performance has started. Want to watch on the TV?"

"No. I am quite alright."

Rembrary strained his ears, but though he could hear the music, it was too muffled to properly appreciate.

It was the same for the second and third performances.

Then, around the sixth act of the show—

Rembrary gave up on listening to music he could barely hear and went outside. Eun-seon had said he was free to visit other waiting rooms between his own turns, so he intended to go see Cathy.

"Oh? Are you going to see Cathy-ssi?"

"Yes."

"To tell him to do well?"

"To see whether he seems like he will do well."

Eun-seon quickly flipped her camera on and followed.

Since it made no difference whether she tagged along, Rembrary knocked on the door of Cathy's waiting room.

But no voice invited him in.

"?"

He was just starting to find it strange when, after quite a while, the door finally opened and Jong-woo appeared.

"Ah, it's you, Yeon-woo."

His face was far more exhausted than it had been earlier. Moreover, a sour smell hung in the air.

When Rembrary stared at him oddly, Jong-woo stepped aside and said, "Come in."

Inside the waiting room, the smell was even worse.

Someone had vomited. To Rembrary's senses, that was exactly what it smelled like.

"What is that smell?"

He asked just in case, and Jong-woo answered in a helpless voice. "Cathy must have been really nervous. He threw up everything he'd eaten."

"He vomited?"

"Yeah."

Rembrary recalled what Jungseo had once said. That Cathy's nerves were awfully fragile.

So it was true.

"Where are the dancers?"

"I figured he'd settle down easier without people around, so I borrowed another waiting room."

Jong-woo clicked his tongue and looked toward the sofa.

Cathy lay curled up in its corner.

"Cathy, come on. You've got more than enough talent to take first place, if only you'd stop getting in your own head."

Jong-woo offered the comfort half-heartedly, but it seemed to have little effect.

Rembrary watched him for a moment, then sighed and drew near. Ordinarily, he would have preferred not to spend his Divine Power on something so trifling. And yet Cathy was the member who, when Rembrary had first arrived in this body, had grumbled and complained but still lent a hand now and then.

It seemed only right to return the favor once.

"Just leave him be, Yeon-woo."

Jong-woo said brusquely, worn out from trying to talk him out of it, but Rembrary approached Cathy anyway, placed his palm atop his head, and let a very faint trickle of Divine Power flow through.

"Ugh, I said leave me alone."

Cathy snapped at him at first, but the moment Rembrary's hand made contact, he went still.

His body was responding to the Divine Power on pure instinct.

"······"

Cathy stayed quiet, and eventually his eyes even drifted shut.

Once he confirmed that Cathy had slipped into a half-dreaming haze, Rembrary rose from his spot and said, as if he'd done nothing at all:

"The child sleeps."

After returning to the waiting room, Rembrary spent his time doing nothing but staring at his lyrics sheet.

Eun-seon pointed her camera at him for a good thirty minutes, but when he took no action whatsoever, she finally deflated and lowered it.

"And here I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thought Woo Yeon-woo-ssi wasn't afraid of the camera. I'll have to rethink that."

At her grumbling, Rembrary finally looked up at her.

"?"

"You're not just unafraid of the camera — you don't register it at all, do you?"

"...Is that not normal?"

"Normally, when you point a camera at people, they chat to themselves quite a bit. It makes it easier to pick out usable footage, you know."

"Ah."

Rembrary nodded, but instead of chatting at the camera, he concentrated all over again on reviewing the lyrics he'd memorized.

Eun-seon slumped in her seat, sulking a little, then turned on the TV.

On the screen, the other singers' stages were playing. The footage was unedited and messy, but it was enough to get a sense of how each act performed.

"Oh, it's Cathy-ssi."

Just as Eun-seon turned on the TV, Cathy was making his way up onto the stage.

Rembrary lifted his eyes from the sheet of lyrics and watched him.

The moment whoever was playing MC finished speaking, the music kicked in. Cathy's prepared musical number began its first movement right with the track, and he caught the beat without missing a step.

Then, microphone in hand, he launched smoothly into song.

His expressive power was excellent, backed by genuine vocal skill and dancing besides — a truly formidable stage. By the time Cathy finished, even Eun-seon was clapping.

So the Divine Power works properly on the people of this world as well.

Satisfied that he had been of help, Rembrary returned to murmuring his lyrics over and over.

Time slipped rapidly by, and before he knew it, the seventeenth contestant was taking the stage.

Then the door swung open without a knock, and a staff member came in to deliver notice. "Please wait backstage in advance, please."

Rembrary rose from the sofa, set down his lyrics, and headed out, where Jong-woo — already waiting in the corridor — came rushing over in a flurry.

"Hey, Yeon-woo, did you see Cathy's performance?"

"I did."

"He was seriously good, right? You think he could aim for the top ranks?"

Jong-woo was beaming, clearly delighted that Cathy had made it through his stage without a single mistake.

Rembrary offered suitable agreement and headed backstage.

And there, unexpectedly, Sunwoo Sil was already waiting.

But instead of being startled, Sunwoo Sil smiled and drawled sarcastically. "Well, well. Look at our hoobae-nim. What a coincidence — right after my act."

He had apparently known all along that his turn fell close to Rembrary's.

Jong-woo's anxious eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.

But Sunwoo Sil's slot wasn't merely close. He was number nineteen.

When his turn came, unlike Cathy, Sunwoo Sil strode onto the stage on the strength of his own nerves alone.

Rembrary stared at the stage. This was a man who picked fights over singing, after all — he was curious just how well the man himself could sing.

The opening note of Sunwoo Sil's arrangement was low. But that note suddenly surged upward, and the sound of some instrument — a guitar, or something else entirely — rang out clamorously.

Then Sunwoo Sil's voice tore straight through that clamor, pushing to the front as if ripping it apart.

"Hoh."

Rembrary was genuinely impressed. The claim that Sunwoo Sil had the talent to make up for his insufferable personality was no empty boast.

Cathy's stage had been superb, but Sunwoo Sil's voice was overwhelming — vivid and brimming with power, as though it had seized the listener by the throat and shaken them.

Jong-woo's expression, on the other hand, darkened.

Not only was the act right before them good, its impact was overwhelming. If it left an impression this forceful, then no matter how well the next person sang, wouldn't they be buried?

Coming off the stage, Sunwoo Sil seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for he shot Rembrary a scornful, derisive smile as he passed.

"···"

But Rembrary mounted the stage with his usual composed expression, calm and unperturbed.

As he stepped up, the MC gave him a brief introduction, and then a heavy, subdued piece of music began to play.

It was only a rehearsal, but the music and lighting were no different from the real broadcast.

The crew gathered around the set chuckled and murmured among themselves.

"Looks like it's arranged in a similar style to Sunwoo Sil's."

"Going low at first, then probably ripping into a high note like a plot twist."

They were seasoned veterans of the broadcast world in their own right, and they spoke as though the arrangement were utterly predictable.

But "predictable" as the style may have been, properly executed it was a spectacular approach, and so the crew watched the stage with a measure of expectation.

And then. Piercing through the heavy music came the crisp sound of tak, tak, tak, tak — many fingers snapping in unison.

Next came the intro vocals.

Low voices layered atop one another, climbing a single note at a time into a harmony that made the onlookers exchange uneasy, bewildered glances.

What is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this? Isn't it rock? Is it acapella?

But the moment the intro ended and the opening verse began, it became clear that this was no acapella either.

Suddenly the black curtain concealing the stage swept upward, and a crowd of figures in white garments trimmed with gold began snapping their fingers in unison, chanting in low voices.

Heavy, low voices chanting money over and over in the same droning cadence gave off a strange impression — like a demon crouched in its cave, whispering mortals toward worldly corruption.

The arrangement style had been kept strictly confidential, so the crew, wondering what on earth this stage was supposed to be, whispered among themselves.

And cutting through that droning, incantation-like bass of money, money, money, money and the crew's murmuring, Rembrary at last began his sorrowful solo.