The Photo Looks a Little Strange
Seonwoo Sil asked, sounding distinctly unimpressed.
"A monk? Out of nowhere?"
There were limits to how far a career change could go. Going from idol to monk wasn't just a pivot — it was a full U-turn, wasn't it?
Not that there was any law forbidding idols from becoming monks, but still...
"There's something I want to find out."
And judging by the fact that he had a goal in mind, it didn't even seem to be for any devout reason.
"Find out? Find out what?"
"I wish to meet a god."
"..."
"Or at least hear a voice."
Wow. This kid's a little off his rocker, Seonwoo Sil thought, entirely sincerely.
But this was, in fact, the product of Rembrary's own careful brainstorming.
The priest of this world whom he'd met just once — the Father.
That man had not known how to meet a god.
When Rembrary had asked to see the Pope, he'd been told that was difficult too.
And so, naturally, his thoughts had turned to the next most famous religion of this world: Buddhism.
But when he'd looked into it, it turned out that in Buddhism, you could become a god yourself if you trained diligently enough?
He hadn't researched the details yet, but a rough skim had made that much clear.
In which case, if he became a monk and completed even half of the prescribed ascetic training, surely he would be able to see a god — or at least hear one's voice?
That was Rembrary's calculation.
Seonwoo Sil, however, knew nothing of these circumstances. Thinking his junior was a truly exasperating piece of work, he offered a perfunctory word of encouragement.
"Sure. Go meet your god."
"Thank you."
"But—"
"?"
"While you're in the secular world, you work hard at secular things."
"Yes."
Seonwoo Sil apparently regarded alcohol as fuel.
Having played the role of a kind senior for a few hours, he came back the next day and drove Rembrary even harder than before.
Rembrary suffered spiritually, but whether thanks to his Divine Power or in spite of it, he managed to endure the practice sessions that ran from morning to night.
Perhaps because their manager Jong-woo had gone off to be with Cathy today, Seonwoo Sil grilled Rembrary relentlessly, withholding even proper breaks.
His determination to produce the very best results bordered on fanatical.
When Friday arrived and it was time for the individual photo shoot, Rembrary felt a small wave of relief.
There was nothing wrong with Seonwoo Sil's passion, but having that passion forced upon him as well was exhausting.
He'd entered the competition, so yes, he ought to aim for good results — but he would have liked to spare a few hours of attention for other things.
"Today's concept is 'my good self and my evil self,' is that not so?"
"Yep."
"Do we stop by the shop today as well?"
"No, they're bringing in a hair and makeup team today, so you can just go bare-faced. You didn't put on sunscreen, right?"
"I did not."
"Good. Let's go."
Rembrary headed to the designated studio with Jong-woo.
Eun-seon had come along to the shoot as well.
It was Jong-woo's idea — that if footage of the shoot went out, it might help shift Yeon-woo's public image a little.
"Whoa. Is that completely bare-faced right now?"
Eun-seon, who had arrived early to check the cameras, let out a small gasp of admiration when she saw Rembrary.
"Even bare-faced, you look amazing."
"Thank you."
"Seriously, Yeon-woo, you're the most handsome celebrity I've ever seen in person. It's such a waste."
Rembrary, confident that his true body was far superior to Woo Yeon-woo's, honestly refuted the compliment.
"Most handsome my foot. No, I'm not."
"Really?"
"Really not."
Eun-seon took his words as modesty and smiled warmly.
All the contestants were the same to the production staff, but when you shadowed one person one-on-one like this, you couldn't help growing attached to the ones you were assigned to.
Eun-seon was no exception, and she genuinely hoped Yeon-woo would do well in the competition.
That humble attitude of his would help him not only in achieving good results, but in surviving long in the entertainment industry afterward, too.
But explaining all that felt too embarrassing, so Eun-seon simply said,
"We'll start shooting now."
and lifted her camera.
"Right, we should get going."
Jong-woo led Rembrary into the studio with a deep, showy bow.
Rembrary, who had by now gained a fair sense of how broadcast stations and sets operated, bowed here and there alongside him.
He had learned firsthand that the people here took greetings very seriously indeed.
"Ah, there you are."
As they were doing so, the reporter who had commissioned the shoot came over.
Rembrary made to greet him as well, but the reporter waved both him and Jong-woo off with a hand and grumbled instead.
"Why are you so late? We've been waiting forever."
To Rembrary, who had arrived a full hour early, this was incomprehensible.
But it seemed to be a pointless nitpick with no substance behind it, because the reporter finished his complaint and immediately moved on to business.
"You have to get makeup done twice, so we need to move fast. We shoot the 'good self' concept first, then move on to the 'evil self' concept."
"Understood."
"And by 'good,' I don't mean all bright and innocent like a grade-schooler. That's not what I brought you here for. You get that, right? I watched Sing Survival. Give it that same feel as your stage."
"Understood."
"For the 'evil self' — who was it before, that whoever. Anyway, Writer So— ah, Writer Song. Like in Writer Song's portfolio. Sort of decadent."
"Understood."
He was an extraordinarily fast talker.
And he seemed impatient by nature too, because the moment he finished speaking, he was flapping both hands to shoo Rembrary off to get his makeup done.
When Rembrary arrived at the makeup station, the beauty team, who had been standing by, rushed over, sat him down in front of the mirror, wiped his face with cotton pads, and began dabbing cosmetics onto him here and there.
It was nearly an hour and a half before Rembrary could open his eyes and look in the mirror.
It was doubtful anything had been done at all in those ninety minutes — so little had changed.
Except for the hair.
But there was no time to examine the result closely, because the stylist came over and hurried him into a change of clothes.
And since no particular outfit had been settled on, once he put something on, they decided it lacked a certain something and made him change again.
Only after Rembrary had half put on and taken off the ensembles hanging on every single rack did the stylist finally nod in satisfaction and tell him he could go.
So this is why they were rushing us about being late, he thought.
Preparation alone had taken nearly two hours and fifteen minutes.
When he stepped out onto the set, he saw a wide flower-bed mockup scattered with white baby's breath.
"I've seen Writer Song's work. Looking forward to it. I have high expectations."
The photographer said this with a smile as Rembrary approached, then directed him to step in among the flowers.
Rembrary stood among them and, feeling slightly awkward, struck a pose as he had before.
"Nice."
"Nice—!"
"Okay, perfect!"
"Ooh, there's atmosphere, there's real atmosphere — just like that, exactly like that, exactly like that!"
Photo shoots were not, for Rembrary, quite as difficult as dancing.
Still, striking every manner of pose alone into empty air, he did catch himself thinking midway, What exactly am I doing right now?
It was the same even knowing what that click-click of the shutter would eventually become.
"Yeon-woo! Yeon-woo!"
The photographer waved a hand and called out to him.
Rembrary looked over, frozen mid-awkward pose, and the photographer furrowed his brow.
"You've got great proportions, so any pose looks good on you. But the poses you're doing right now are too limited."
"Ah."
"Show me some variety."
Variety?
Rembrary had already tried standing every way there was to stand. Were there more poses than that in existence?
When it became clear Rembrary didn't follow, the photographer explained more concretely.
"Give me the most sacred pose you can think of."
"A sacred... pose?"
"Your face is really unusual, Yeon-woo. It's not that you look sweet — it's more like... hmm. A little — no, not a little, a lot sacred. I want to bring that out."
Rembrary thought it over, then took the posture he used when praying alone back in his original world.
The pose of communing with a god: head tilted slightly upward toward the ceiling, hands clasped together.
From then on, the photographer pressed the shutter without a word.
It was so quiet that Jong-woo began to worry — is he actually getting any good shots?
But when the shoot was over.
The photographer's face, as he lowered his camera, was full of satisfaction.
"Truly a unique atmosphere."
Leaving him behind, Rembrary went back for his second round of makeup.
This time, removing the first makeup took time, and the new application took even longer than before.
The outfits were far more elaborate as well, and by the time preparations were done, nearly three hours had passed.
If a simple bread roll hadn't been provided as a snack, he would have been positively starving.
When Rembrary came out, the baby's breath had been cleared away in the meantime.
In its place stood a set that looked exactly as if a tomb had been plunked down in the middle of the studio.
First a coffin, now a tomb.
Was it that people of this other world had strange tastes, or was it mere coincidence?
Clicking his tongue, Rembrary nonetheless walked over and stood before the tomb.
"Yeon-woo, like a vampire. Like a vampire, please!"
As soon as Rembrary reached the tomb, the photographer made his demand with great specificity.
A vampire? Do vampires exist in this world too?
Vampires had existed in the world Rembrary came from as well.
He hadn't seen them often, but for one reason and another, he had come close to them on a few occasions.
So long as the sight of blood didn't send their eyes rolling back, they were quite gentlemanly folk.
They cared deeply about fashion and trends, and were firmly convinced of their own elegance.
In Rembrary's estimation, they suffered from a somewhat pronounced case of narcissism.
Rembrary recalled them and struck a pose.
If those vampires could see him now, they would have doubled over laughing — but thankfully, there were no vampires here.
"Incredible!"
Apparently, imitating an actual vampire had done the trick.
The photographer marveled at the pose Rembrary had assumed.
"Absolutely devilish!"
...
Then, in the middle of the flash popping pop pop—
"Hm?"
The photographer suddenly pulled the camera away from his eye and cocked his head.
Rembrary too wondered what was going on and stopped posing, looking at him.
"What is it?"
The photographer kept staring down intently at his camera.
"Why, what's wrong? Did our Yeon-woo make some kind of mistake...?"
Perhaps unnerved by the sight, Jong-woo, who had been watching the set beside the reporter, rushed over and asked.
The reporter who had hired the crew, and Eun-seon, who had been wandering around with her small camera, came over as well.
"What is it?"
"What's wrong?"
The photographer raised his eyebrows and murmured, "Well, it's..."
At last he lifted his head and looked at Rembrary.
Then his gaze slid a little to the side — past Rembrary's shoulder.
The photographer looked back down at his own camera and tilted his head.
"That's odd."
What's gotten into him?
He looked genuinely puzzled, so Rembrary quietly stepped down from the set and approached him.
"Is something the matter?"
"Ah, well, it's..."
The photographer answered, glancing back and forth between the set where Rembrary had been standing and Rembrary's approaching shadow.
"It looks like there's an extra shadow in the frame."
"An extra shadow?"
When the reporter looked baffled, the photographer walked over to the computer where the photos printed out instantly.
As the others crowded over after him, he circled a spot in the background of the photo he'd just taken with his finger.
"Here."
Jong-woo sucked in a sharp breath.
Just as the photographer had said — behind Rembrary, an unidentified second shadow had been captured in the shot.