This Is a Holy War
Jungseo kept his usual deadpan expression through the whole cake-cutting and gift-giving. He smiled faintly once or twice, but everyone gathered in that room could tell all the same — their leader still wasn't doing well.
Woo Yeon-woo.
Dried anchovy
yeah
The next day, Rembrary, instead of getting straight out of bed after waking, quietly studied Jungseo's expression across the room.
Is he all right?
Perhaps it was the luxury of a full night's sleep — mercifully, today he looked no different from usual.
"Jungseo."
"You're up?"
"Are you well?"
"Ah. Yeah."
"What happened yesterday, then?"
"It's nothing, really."
But he still seemed unwilling to talk about it, and Jungseo got up just like that and walked out of the room.
Rembrary decided, for the moment, not to press further. Badgering someone who'd already said he didn't want to talk about it would only grate on him.
And so, with Jungseo keeping his silence, the matter fizzled out unresolved. What was more, two days later the composers delivered the songs they'd been commissioned to write, and everyone even remotely connected to Wild Animal was swept up in a sudden whirlwind of busyness.
"How's the song overall?"
"It's not at the level of the one we planned for the summer special album, but it feels solid enough."
"Solid isn't good enough! This is exactly the moment we need to shoot upward!"
"Should we put in more commissions?"
"Yeah. Ask them to send over anything they've written and shelved too. Focus on songs they could deliver within three or four days."
"Yes, sir."
Somehow word had gotten out, and even a few rookie composers who'd never been commissioned sent in new songs of their own accord, claiming they "seemed like they'd suit Wild Animal's image" — so this time there was a truly staggering number of tracks to review.
On top of that, the ideas the members had pooled together for the last album had gone over so well that this time, too, the members were held captive in the conference room and forced to listen to the candidate tracks.
Roughly two-thirds of them had guide vocals recorded; the remaining third came with none at all.
Rembrary, likewise trapped in the conference room, had gone half-dazed from being bombarded with one blaringly loud dance track after another.
"Pick five out of these. Five."
"A song about before dating, one about dating, one about cheating while dating, one where someone announces a breakup, and one where someone regrets the breakup. Those five."
They'd listened to about sixteen songs back to back when—
"A question."
Rembrary finally raised his hand, unable to hold it in any longer.
"What is it?"
The staff all turned to look at him at once.
Oh please, don't say something pointless.
That was what most of them were thinking.
"I cannot fathom what difference there is, in the language of song, between 'before dating' and 'cheating while dating.'"
"What? How can you not know the difference?"
"Looked at from another angle, is that not the same thing as before dating?"
"...Wow. You were born to be a bastard, you know that?"
"I can't believe he just interpreted it like that."
"What if we put that one in?"
A brief stir of commotion passed through the room, the staff and the members each offered their own opinions, and then for a while the discussion turned to the question of who would take center.
Yeon-woo, the visual member, had always held the center position, but with all eyes already fixed so intensely on Rembrary, there was a worry that if he also went out as a solo center, the group might tip too far into a 'Yeon-woo and his backing group' image.
"But if we get it wrong, Yeon-woo could end up buried too."
"Still, if we want to extend the group's lifespan, we have to push the other members as well."
"No, I'm telling you, if we spread it out, the whole group could end up buried instead!"
"I know. I know, but for the group as a whole to survive, we need to put the other members forward!"
"What if we switch centers between verse one and verse two? Or split the chorus into two parts and swap the center there?"
"Or Yeon-woo could step up as lead vocal and take the first verse, and we beef up the performance and hand the center to Hye-gyeol. That could work too."
I haven't the faintest idea what any of them are saying.
Listening quietly to the conversation, Rembrary chewed thoughtfully on the straw of his empty coffee cup. A faint ghost of coffee still clung to the plastic.
Then, without thinking, Rembrary let his gaze slide sideways. Not deliberately — his mind was genuinely a blank.
Seated beside him was Jungseo.
It was the first time since the meeting had started that Rembrary had turned to look at him. In a crowded room like this, people rarely bothered glancing at the person right next to them.
Ah.
Rembrary regretted it the instant he saw Jungseo. He should have looked sooner.
Jungseo's face was stiff, his eyes fixed downward on the stack of papers he'd been handed.
He was absolutely not focusing on it. Jungseo's gaze had frozen in place on the table of contents of the second page and would not move.
When the meeting finally ended—
"Jungseo."
Rembrary caught Jungseo, who had risen from his seat last of all.
"Have a word with me."
Jong-woo, herding the other members out the door, flinched, looked back, and came retracing his steps.
"Are you two about to fight?"
His gaze bored into Rembrary with open suspicion.
"No."
Rembrary answered firmly, then gave Jungseo's shoulder a light pat.
"Jungseo. Are you truly all right?"
"Of course."
Jungseo answered as if it were nothing, but Rembrary did not believe him.
If Jungseo was in too much turmoil to even concentrate on a meeting, then something genuinely bad had happened.
"What happened?"
Cathy, who they'd assumed had already left, came back into the conference room and asked the question. Not of Jungseo — of Jong-woo.
Rembrary, too, switched his target to Jong-woo when Jungseo refused to open his mouth.
"Hm?"
"Hyung, you went with Jungseo, remember?"
When Cathy, unusually, cut straight to the point, Jong-woo went "Uh, ah—" and averted his eyes.
"Speak. If this is something he can work through sulking on his own, I shall leave it be. But if it is not, would it not be better to drag it into the open and let it burst?"
"What's with you, Woo Yeon-woo? Why are you talking so weird all of a sudden?"
"Silence, Cathy."
The moment Rembrary delivered that line with perfect composure, not just Cathy but Jong-woo looked visibly shocked as well.
Jong-woo hesitated, then finally let out a groan of "Ugh, fine!" and dragged the chair beside him out with a scrape as he sat down.
"Jungseo. Just tell them."
Jungseo kept silent for a moment as if debating with himself, tapping the tabletop a couple of times with his finger — then, at last, he nodded.
The instant Jungseo gave his permission, Jong-woo spilled it all, as though he'd been waiting.
"One of the lead actors — a guy whose role was once stolen right out from under him by an idol-turned-actor."
Before he'd even finished, Hye-gyeol cried out, "Oh!"
"That profile matches perfectly!"
"Whew."
Jong-woo nodded.
"Your guess is right. That lead actor has hated idol-turned-actors ever since, and now he's taking it out on Jungseo."
"The audacity!"
Rembrary shot to his feet the moment Jong-woo finished speaking.
"How dare they lay a hand on my Believer!"
Jong-woo raised his eyebrows, dumbfounded. "Believer? What?"
"This is a holy war!"
At Rembrary's repeated declaration, Jong-woo finally jolted into action, leaping up to shove Rembrary back down by the shoulders.
"Hey! No! It's not a holy war! Sit down!"
His face was genuinely terrified that Rembrary might do something catastrophic. It was nowhere near enough to quench Rembrary's fury, however.
If only he had his holy knights with him!! Rembrary struck his own knee with his fist.
Back then, before Jong-woo had intervened, he should have accepted the believers who were confident in a brawl and appointed them as holy knights on the spot. Then he could march straight at the wretches who dared torment Jungseo and—
"Unleash the Spear of God—"
The rest of the words that spilled unbidden from Rembrary's mouth never made it out, smothered by Jong-woo's hand clapped over it.
"Dude, you're terrifying when you're like this! Stop it!"
Watching the scene, Jungseo burst into genuine laughter for the first time in days.
Not the smile he'd been forcing his facial muscles into for the members' sake, but laughter that truly erupted out of him.
Seeing it, Rembrary felt a measure of relief — but he was still displeased. To dare lay hands on my Believer.
He was indeed the gentle High Priest who extended mercy even to those who were not his Believers — but he was also the dependable High Priest who, when Believer and heretic came to blows, sided with the Believer without question.
"Jungseo."
"I'm really fine. It's just... it's the first time I've seen someone so openly disgusted by me. I'll get used to it if I keep running into him."
"Might I accompany you to where you hold your script reading?"
Before Jungseo could answer, Jong-woo's eyes went wide as saucers.
"I'm sorry... what?"
At first, Jong-woo had leapt out of his skin at the idea of Rembrary tagging along with Jungseo.
In the end, though — perhaps his mind had changed — he gave his permission.
Yes, he was afraid Rembrary would cause a scene. But this was Jungseo's first movie.
His first acting performance shown to the public mattered in every possible way.
There were plenty of people who hated the very idea of idols acting, and this would be the first impression that could show them, 'Hey, he's actually not bad at this.'
Even if his acting improved by leaps and bounds later on, if that first impression drew comments like 'ruined a perfectly good drama by tossing in an idol,' recovering his image afterward would become a hundred and fifty times harder.
Beyond that, the reception of a first work would weigh heavily on Jungseo's own confidence going forward.
Weighing it all, Jong-woo decided that bringing Rembrary along beat leaving Jungseo to weather the lead actor's bullying alone. By just the tiniest margin.
After all, within the group, Rembrary was the one closest to Jungseo.
And after all, Rembrary was the one who could stand his ground against absolutely anyone — exactly the kind of person Jungseo could lean on.
"...Yeon-woo."
"Place your trust in me."
"You need to hold yourself confidently — but only just enough to be a source of strength for Jungseo."
"I understand."
"You can't get so worked up that he ends up taking his anger out on Jungseo even more because of you."
"Of course, of course! Trust me."
"How am I supposed to trust you?"
"Is it not because you trust me that you are bringing me along?"
While Jong-woo, outmaneuvered, fell into a momentary silence—
Jungseo finished his makeup, slid off the tall chair, and came over.
Rembrary had no separate schedule today, so all he wore was sunscreen.
Jong-woo gathered Sa Gam-jae, Jungseo, and Yeon-woo into the car and headed for the site of the script reading.
At last they arrived.
Jong-woo told Sa Gam-jae to keep a close eye on Yeon-woo just in case, then rode up to the third floor with the others.
The room closest to the elevator on the third floor was today's reading venue.
With a ding, the elevator doors slid open.
Jungseo stepped out first, his face set like stone, and Rembrary emerged last of all, wearing a gentle smile.
The layout was roughly the same as the reading for Dear God, so even though it was his first visit, he knew exactly where to go.
The group entered the room with the cast list posted on its door.
"Hello! Hello, hello!"
The moment they walked in, Jong-woo led Jungseo around the room, greeting the actors who'd arrived earlier, and while he was at it, he also gave the stiffly standing Sa Gam-jae and Rembrary firm pushes between the shoulder blades until they bowed and greeted too.
Shoved along through the greetings, Rembrary kept rolling his eyes around the room, searching for whoever it was that had tormented Jungseo.
But that actor did not seem to have arrived yet.
The group took their seats for now.
About thirty minutes had passed when, at last, the lead actor presumed to have bullied Jungseo made his appearance.
Rembrary was seated behind Jungseo, so he couldn't see Jungseo's expression — but the moment the man walked in, Rembrary knew at a glance that this was the one.
Because as the man exchanged friendly greetings with everyone else, the instant his eyes landed on Jungseo, his smile curdled into something thoroughly unpleasant.
"Hey, you even brought a friend along? That was fast — all because I gave you a little tough love, huh? Man, you kids these days have such soft, mushy egos."
Jong-woo, knowing full well he shouldn't, felt the urge to bellow 'Deploy!' at Yeon-woo.
To think someone who'd get steamrolled the second he tangled with Yeon-woo's mouth is standing there so full of himself... — and in that very instant,
Rembrary's mouth opened.
— End of Chapter 152: This Is a Holy War —