In a Way, a Truly Fair Person
If he uploaded the song as it was, he would obviously be mistaken for a follower of Redrin, just like the demon had said. One hundred percent.
But if he didn't upload it, Rembrary would release the song publicly, and people would fall head over heels for that voice and turn their attention his way. That much was certain.
True, the Redriiin! bit at the end was a little cracked — but anyone who needed to know already knew Rembrary was a lunatic. Besides, the Redrin reference was old news to everyone who mattered. If anything, the odds were that people would just laugh it off and move on.
No way.
Woo Yeon-woo fidgeted anxiously with his hands.
It couldn't be helped. He and Rembrary overlapped far too much. In reality, the two of them had almost nothing in common — but as celebrities, they were a different story. They were doomed to split the same pie, and in the eyes of the public, they had plenty in common: outstanding vocal skill, a voice that bewitched people, looks that drew gasps of admiration, a nutcase personality, aptitude as a Hunter, and so on.
The things that had made Woo Yeon-woo famous and the things that made Rembrary famous were exactly, perfectly the same. Which meant Rembrary could replace him at any moment.
"Just cut out the problematic part and upload it."
In the end, Woo Yeon-woo decided to post it.
"You can't fit a whole song on social media anyway."
"And when people listen and start waiting for the official release? What then? You can't sing like that."
"!"
What an infuriatingly sly demon. When Woo Yeon-woo glared at him, doing his best to hide his shock, the demon crossed his arms and began putting on a show of pondering the problem with great gravity.
"Whatever shall we do?"
"Woo Yeon-woo, are you out of your mind?!"
Jongwoo shouted the words the instant the front door burst open.
Hye-gyeol froze mid-game and stared at him, eyes round as saucers. Ever since Woo Yeon-woo had recovered his memories, the number of times Jongwoo raised his voice had dropped off sharply. And yet here he was, yelling before he'd even gotten his shoes off.
"What's wrong, hyung?"
Jongwoo flapped a hand at Hye-gyeol — you don't need to know — then marched straight down the hall and flung open Woo Yeon-woo's door.
Woo Yeon-woo was sitting at his computer. Even with the door slamming open under Jongwoo's shout, he didn't so much as turn his head. "What?"
"What? You're asking me why? Are you serious right now, you little—?"
"I've got a guess or two."
"You'd better! Unless you've become a psychopath, you'd better! What the hell is going on with you?!"
"What's going on? You saw it yourself before coming here, didn't you?"
"You—"
Jongwoo jabbed a finger at Woo Yeon-woo, then lost his words entirely and just stood there, mouth opening and closing.
Two hours earlier. He had stopped by the music distribution company, and an employee had smiled and struck up a conversation. "That new song Woo Yeon-woo's been working on is incredible!"
"Is it a solo track? Or a double title track for Wild Animal? It's not just a B-side, right? The song is so good."
Wondering what on earth the man meant, Jongwoo had said, "Sorry?" — and the employee had given him a baffled look.
"The thing Woo Yeon-woo posted on his social media. Isn't it from the album you're preparing?"
The feeling of pulling up Woo Yeon-woo's account on the spot and playing that short clip... even remembering it now made his teeth chatter all over again. He had been stunned speechless at the sight of the song Rembrary sang, uploaded to Woo Yeon-woo's account under Woo Yeon-woo's name.
And yet Woo Yeon-woo remained utterly unbothered, eyes glued to his monitor.
"What? Everyone loves it. If we drop the album just like that, it'll be a massive hit. Can't actually release it with that weird chant tacked on the end, though."
"You little— and you say that like it's a perfectly normal thing to say?!"
Jongwoo stared at him, then pounded his own chest in frustration.
"Woo Yeon-woo. What is going on with you? Are you insane? You're not this kind of kid. Why all of a sudden?"
But the answer that came back was as calm as ever.
"I've always been like this. You didn't go confusing me with somebody else, did you?"
Jongwoo's jaw dropped clean open.
"Confused you with who?"
Truth be told, Jongwoo had once mistaken Hye-gyeol for another idol. But he would swear on his life he had never once, not a single time, mistaken Woo Yeon-woo for anyone.
"Who else? That Hunter trainee who reminds you of me every single time you look at him."
"What? When did I ever—?"
"......"
"If you're going to be the one mixing people up, then fine, I'd at least feel wronged hearing this! He's really not like this, so what's gotten into him?!"
Woo Yeon-woo, apparently finding the nagging tiresome, trudged out to the kitchen and began taking out a box of cherry tomatoes, but Jongwoo trailed after him doggedly, refusing to let up.
That was when Tae-in slipped past them and tossed out a single line.
"What are you even saying? He was always like this, hyung. Always great at threatening people and taking what isn't his."
At that bone-deep remark, Woo Yeon-woo whipped his head around — and Tae-in promptly shut his mouth, grabbed a bottle of juice from the fridge, and retreated to safety.
Jongwoo fanned himself with his hand, taking slow breath after slow breath to steady himself.
"You've been seriously off lately. Strangling a perfectly healthy guy by the throat, stealing someone's song..."
"He started it. He poked my eye first. Did you forget that?"
"Sure, that was dangerous too. But he only jabbed at you — barely grazing, never quite touching. You strangled him hard enough to actually kill him!"
"That's only funny to people watching from the outside. To me, it was a threat!"
"And the song? Are you going to tell me he started that too?"
"Yeah! He stole it first!"
"Stole what, exactly?"
"You don't know anything, hyung!"
"Then tell me! What am I supposed to hear so I can know even a little? Because right now, I don't understand you at all!"
"You don't need to understand! So quit playing errand boy for that guy when you're supposed to be my manager! If you're so desperate to run his errands, then quit being our group's manager and go!"
Having roared himself out, Woo Yeon-woo — unable to win the argument and too worked up to continue — stopped bickering and stomped off to his room, each footfall slamming into the floor.
But the door, which he'd slammed shut hard enough to rattle it on its hinges, stayed closed for exactly one second. It swung back open, Woo Yeon-woo's face poked out, and he snarled through gritted teeth:
"If you actually go, I swear—! Don't go!"
Then he shut the door again, and this time, silence.
Jongwoo stood staring blankly at the closed door, utterly dumbfounded, before covering his face with one palm.
"Aigoo. And on top of everything else... how am I supposed to look Rembrary in the face now."
After much dithering, Jongwoo finally stepped out onto the veranda and called Rembrary directly. He couldn't quite summon the courage to say any of it in person, and that insufferable man was hardly going to come apologize himself, so there was nothing for it.
The moment Rembrary picked up, Jongwoo unleashed a torrent of apologies. He felt like he could have taken an eye-poke delivered straight through the phone screen without a single word of complaint. Not that such a thing was possible, of course.
But Rembrary — who Jongwoo had fully expected to explode — answered with unexpected calm.
"Oh, that matter. It did startle me a little. But I am fine."
"How could you possibly be fine? I'm so sorry. He's never like this normally — I honestly don't know what's gotten into him. Maybe the stress made him do something impulsive. I'm really, truly sorry. I'll speak to the CEO and get you a genuinely good new song, so..."
"Jongwoo."
"Yes?"
"I am truly fine, so you may stop apologizing. And there is no need to bring me a new song."
Caught completely off guard by this reaction, Jongwoo could only flounder.
"Why not? Your voice is a gem — a gem, I'm telling you, a diamond. It'd be a crime to let it go to waste."
"Precisely."
"...Huh?"
"My voice isn't going anywhere. I could record a hundred songs, a thousand, just like that. But how many more times could Woo Yeon-woo steal it? Twice? Three times? No — from now on, even once will be beyond him. Because I have decided I will no longer rely on your help."
"!"
"So you need not feel sorry. Besides, it isn't your apology to make, is it?"
Even after the call ended, Jongwoo just stood there clutching his phone, unable to bring himself to pocket it. It had been... an unexpected call, in a great many ways.
He's kinder than I thought. Talks like a complete lunatic, no manners at all — but he's genuinely kind. Isn't being that kind just asking to get taken advantage of?
Now that the other man had accepted his apology, the guilt only swelled larger, and Jongwoo fiddled aimlessly with his phone. For all that Rembrary had said, surely he should still find a good song and bring it to him anyway... he was thinking.
That was the moment.
"That Rembrary bastard!"
Woo Yeon-woo's shout rang out from inside the room. The contrast between the two of them made Jongwoo's face scrunch up; he yanked the door open and barked:
"What now? Stop digging things up already. Leave the guy alone. I just got off the phone with him — he took you stealing his song in stride, and he was planning to let it go this time too. Just let it go, okay? Let it go."
But Woo Yeon-woo only got louder.
"Let it go? A guy who lets things go puts this out?"
"Puts what out?"
"See for yourself!"
When Woo Yeon-woo played a video on his computer, Jongwoo grumbled — what is it this time — and bent over to look. On the screen, Rembrary was eating anchovies dipped in soybean paste.
"What is this?"
"Keep watching."
As he kept watching, someone holding the camera — their face never shown — spoke up to Rembrary. "You look happy today."
"The song's coming out, the song. Tomorrow or the day after, probably."
Rembrary had answered with a contented smile. Judging by the timing, he didn't yet know that Woo Yeon-woo had stolen his song.
Why on earth am I supposed to be watching this?
Still not understanding, Jongwoo kept watching anyway. When Woo Yeon-woo dragged the video forward a little, a moment later Rembrary appeared on screen, frowning down at his phone. And from that phone, faint and tinny, drifted the song Woo Yeon-woo had posted — Rembrary's own voice.
Rembrary seems to have something weighing on his mind. Not like his usual ever-smiling self... Did something happen?
Then the person holding the camera asked again, "Why? What's wrong?"
But Rembrary didn't answer. He looked into the camera as though about to say something, hesitated for a moment, then shut his mouth and went into his room.
Jongwoo, still unable to see what the problem was supposed to be, stared at the back of Woo Yeon-woo's head. Seriously, this is supposed to prove...?! What is this even supposed to show?! Watching it as a video just makes the guilt worse, that's all!
That was the moment. Over a shot of the completely empty living room, a caption suddenly popped up.
Huh? That song just now?!!!
Then the screen cut to black, a caption reading A few days ago appeared, and this time only voices began to play. They were Jung Seo's and Rembrary's voices, discussing which song to choose. Among them was the song Rembrary had ultimately picked, along with the sounds of Jung Seo's admiration.
"Not bad. It really suits you. What are you going to do about the lyrics?"
"Start by whispering of love, like..."
The lyrics Rembrary had murmured off the top of his head weren't identical to the finished version — but whole stretches of them were unmistakably the same.
"That Kim Mu-rok, that absolute hyena...!"
Jongwoo knew at once that this video had been uploaded by PD Kim Mu-rok, and he ground his teeth — but the video was already out there, and the view count was climbing fast with every refresh of the page.