The World Is Changing at an Astonishing Pace
At Rembrary's question, Shin Jo-woon answered with a "Really?" and turned to glance at the rearview mirror.
"You're saying it's making a strange noise?"
"Yes. It sounds like a thumping, thumping noise."
"What could that be?"
"Shouldn't you check, just in case?"
Rembrary asked out of worry that the car might be malfunctioning. Of course, he was confident he would come out unscathed even if it broke down — but it was always best not to get hurt in the first place.
"Nah, it's fine. Might be something I put in there, now that I think about it."
"You put what in there?"
"Something that rolls around. You can check it later."
"What if it breaks from being left like that?"
"It's a broken-down car headed for the scrapyard anyway."
Oh, fair enough. Satisfied, Rembrary went back to scribbling away with his pen.
Perhaps that had piqued his curiosity — while the car stopped briefly at a red light, Shin Jo-woon shot a sidelong glance at the sketchbook on Rembrary's lap and asked, "That's not supposed to be me, is it?"
"You're very skilled at self-reflection."
"It looks like an anchovy head to me. An anchovy head... from the side."
"Your powers of observation are excellent as well."
Shin Jo-woon's grip on the steering wheel tightened. Rembrary tapped his hand lightly with the tip of his pen, advised him to "Relax," and went back to drawing.
He had never learned to drive, but even he could tell that turning the wheel with that white-knuckled grip would send the man's whole body rotating along with it.
"Pig."
"I'm not answering that."
"Wasn't that an answer, though?"
"......"
"I won't tease you. Come on, answer."
"I told you, I'm not answering."
"Then sing something."
"No."
"But I give you rides."
"Shall I do a rap for you instead?"
"Absolutely not."
By the time Rembrary had finished sketching five little anchovies, the car had come to a stop. He set down his pen and lifted his head. Through the window, a massive silver building came into view.
"Is that it?"
"Yeah."
Rembrary unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door, but not before tearing a page from his sketchbook. After climbing out, he laid the paper down on the seat where he'd been sitting.
"A token of my gratitude."
Shin Jo-woon lifted the paper with a look of utter bafflement — then caught sight of the tiny drawing in the very corner: a small life and a sloth — and let out a snort of laughter.
"What is this supposed to be? You and Taeri?"
"It is a life and a sloth."
What a strange man. Such a fertile imagination. Muttering this to himself, Rembrary shut the car door with a satisfying thud and strode into the building, chest swelling with pride.
Shin Jo-woon bit his lower lip as he stared down at the paper. Then he shook his head, set the drawing on the passenger seat, and pulled away.
The moment Rembrary stepped inside, someone at the lobby desk came over to ask what business had brought him. Rembrary's eyes flitted between the first floor of LLL Entertainment and this lobby as he mentioned Song Seo-young and Jong-woo.
"Oh? Woo Yeon-woo! It's really you!"
An employee who had belatedly recognized Rembrary's face cried out in amazement.
"One moment, please."
The employee quickly pulled out a phone, made a call somewhere, and after a moment slipped the phone back into his pocket with a smile.
"Song Seo-young's manager says your appointment is confirmed. He's coming up to meet you."
"Which floor should I go to?"
"Fifth."
Rembrary nodded a greeting, hung one of the visitor badges distributed at the lobby around his neck, and headed into the elevator. A short while later, the doors slid open with a jolt. As he stepped out, a man with glasses who had been waiting by the neighboring elevator hurried over, calling, "Woo Yeon-woo!"
"Yes? What is it?"
When Rembrary turned to look at him, the man introduced himself as Song Seo-young's manager and waved for him to follow. He led the way down the hall and opened the innermost door, where Song Seo-young sat at a large table, sipping coffee.
She recognized Rembrary the instant he walked in and broke into a wide smile.
"So we finally meet. I've always wondered about you."
"Hello."
"You said you're my fan? Really?"
In lieu of an answer, Rembrary held up his sketchbook and pen, demonstrating his thorough preparedness — and Song Seo-young burst out laughing.
"I guess you meant it. Amazing. Well, I'm a fan of yours too, Yeon-woo."
"Might I have your autograph, then?"
"You can have my phone number too, if you like."
There was a considerable chance Jong-woo would attempt to erase that number, but Rembrary resolved to take both the signature and the contact information anyway.
One needs a wide network to spread the faith, after all. Song Seo-young had already received Daeju's proselytizing, but who could say for certain? Her heart might change, and she might yet leave the entertainment industry — and the cult — together.
"Here, please sign this."
When Rembrary held out the sketchbook, Song Seo-young took it and began signing with practiced, sweeping strokes. Then she even added a short message.
Watching her work, Rembrary casually probed her with the question he had prepared in advance.
"What is your religion?"
"I'm sorry?"
Song Seo-young looked up, blinking wide-eyed.
"Your religion?"
"Yes. Your religion."
"Oh... well, I don't really follow any particular religion. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"I see."
She nodded and bent back over the sketchbook, adding a few more words.
After waiting about three seconds, Rembrary asked again.
"Do you believe that a person's emotions can be moved at will, Song Seo-young?"
Song Seo-young's pen stopped for a moment.
Her manager, who had been watching the two of them warmly exchange fan talk from the side, flinched in spite of himself and turned to stare at Rembrary as well.
Did something I said strike a nerve? Slightly encouraged by their reactions, Rembrary pressed on.
"If there were a way to move emotions however one wished — would you want to possess that way?"
Song Seo-young tapped her pen against the sketchbook a few times, then smiled gently and asked, "Yeon-woo."
"Yes."
"I am your fan, but..."
"Yes."
"My career matters more to me."
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You're right in the middle of your prime right now, aren't you?"
"?"
"In about five years. If my heart still hasn't changed by then, confess again."
Song Seo-young smiled a wry, what-can-you-do smile, hurriedly finished signing the sketchbook, and held it out to him.
Rembrary accepted it in a daze. Beneath the signature was written: Keep your chin up always, Sloth ^^
When Rembrary, still failing to grasp the situation, looked toward the manager, the man gave him a couple of consoling pats on the back.
"She's not in any state to be dating yet, that's why. Not with anyone."
It was only after Rembrary had secured one more autograph — the one intended for Jong-woo — that he finally realized Song Seo-young had gotten entirely the wrong idea. All his talk of moving emotions this way and that — she had clearly taken it as a roundabout declaration of love.
So my phrasing was clumsy. Rembrary chastised himself inwardly. But there was nothing to be done. Since the Brush's effects happened to concern emotions, any attempt at explanation inevitably veered in that direction.
Still, correcting her now would only embarrass Song Seo-young, so Rembrary simply let it slide and left the building carrying nothing but the signed sketchbook and his pen.
In any case, judging by her reaction, Song Seo-young doesn't seem to be the one who stole the Brush after all...
Rembrary took out his phone and sent Daeju a message.
There was nothing more worth replying to after that, so Rembrary placed a call to Sa Gam-jae instead. But that grim reaper still wasn't picking up his phone.
Truly, I have no idea what that fellow is up to at any given hour.
Rembrary heaved a sigh, deliberated a moment, and dialed Shin Jo-woon instead.
Virtually no one drove a car into the depths of Sacheon Pass.
Inside this stretch, steering systems failed so often that accidents were a routine occurrence. Broadcast stations had come to cover the story a few times, but every one of their vehicles crashed as well, and so people had long since given up bringing cars, motorcycles, or bicycles anywhere near the street.
Which was precisely why a single car cruising slowly down the perfectly ordinary Sacheon road could not help but draw every eye.
Oblivious or indifferent to the attention, the car drove boldly into the depths and came to a stop in front of a dilapidated old house with red tile roofing — a place so ominous that even the local residents avoided going anywhere near it.
Nobody was quite sure whether anyone actually lived there. Some said it had once been a shaman's house; others called it an abandoned temple; still others claimed a crime had been committed within its walls. There were so many rumors that the truth had long since faded into the distance.
The man who parked his car boldly in the courtyard and stepped out was Shin Jo-woon. He popped the trunk, pulled out the "dog" he had brought along, and slung it over his shoulder.
The ghosts loitering in the yard tilted their heads curiously and drifted closer to see what it was, but Shin Jo-woon, without so much as a blink, walked into the building, half its doors hanging broken off their hinges.
He went straight up to the second floor, where a woman with both legs dangling through the rickety railing asked, without turning her head, "What brings you here?"
The woman was dressed, peculiarly, in full ceremonial bridal attire down to the jokduri on her head — though her feet were bare.
Shin Jo-woon set the "dog" he had brought down beside her. Only then did the woman turn her head, and at the sight of it lying on the floor, she clicked her tongue.
"Still at it with this, I see."
"It's a gift."
"Who on earth would call a thing like that a gift."
"If it displeases you, throw it out. If it pleases you, keep it."
The woman whom Shin Jo-woon addressed as "Saintess" clicked her tongue again and again, shook her head, and pushed herself up from where she'd been leaning against the railing.
"None of this brings the dead back."
"I know."
Shin Jo-woon smiled pleasantly — and gave the "dog" at his feet a light, casual kick.
"But it eases my conscience."
The woman shook her head in weary dismay.
On the surface, it looked as though she found his behavior vile — a far more normal reaction than anything Shin Jo-woon had to offer.
And yet the "dog" Shin Jo-woon had brought was, if anything, trembling harder than ever, shaking in terror as it stared at the woman in the bridal robes.
To any ignorant onlooker, this would have seemed strange indeed — but there was no living soul here to watch them.
Everyone milling about inside the building were ghosts gathered in the arms of the bridal-attired saintess, and there was no one left to help the "dog."
The woman — Hongmo — reached out and stroked the "dog's" head, asking, "How is Nakru faring these days? After failing a few times, they stopped showing up out front."
"It appears a new Saint has appeared in the entertainment world. They seemed to be setting their sights on that one."
"Those people never change."
Hongmo clicked her tongue and asked again.
"And you? Have you met this Saint everyone says showed up in showbiz?"
"I have little interest, thank you."
Just then, cutting cleanly through the uneasy atmosphere, a song with truly remarkable lyrics began blaring from Shin Jo-woon's pocket.
"What kind of lyrics are those?"
The verses were an unbroken torrent of vicious curses, and Hongmo's brow furrowed.
"A solo song by my lover's lover."
"You're seeing someone?"
Hongmo asked in pleasant surprise — then belatedly realized how odd Shin Jo-woon's answer had been, and her eyes went wide as she pressed him again.
"Your lover has a lover? How many lovers does this lover of yours have?"
Seeing Shin Jo-woon's utterly unbothered expression only startled her more.
Has the world changed that much again, in all the time I've shut myself away from it? The world really does move fast. Gazing at Shin Jo-woon's deadpan face, Hongmo lamented how much more open the world had grown during her long seclusion.
Instead of answering, Shin Jo-woon flipped open his phone and answered at once with a brisk "Pig." Since this ringtone played only when Yeon-woo called, there was no need to check the screen to know who it was.
"What?"
Drive me back to the dorm, please.
"Done with your business already? And that manager of yours... what's his name. The one in the swimsuit?"
He won't answer his phone.
Shin Jo-woon clicked his tongue, said, "Wait there," and hung up, turning back to Hongmo. She was still muttering "Back in my day, you see..." mid-lament over the world's breakneck changes.
"Saintess. I'll come again another time."
So this fool chauffeurs his lover's lover around in a car too. What an absolute pushover. Clicking her tongue inwardly, Hongmo waved him off with a hurry-up-and-go gesture.
— End of Chapter 156: The World Is Changing at an Astonishing Pace —