I Came for the Useful Information
"Someone's been threatening you?"
"One of the members. I don't know who."
At Rembrary's words, Jungseo frowned.
"Hm. You don't know who it was?"
"Are you sure about this?"
"I heard it from my mother. She said that before I lost my memory, I told her a member was threatening me."
"Then I'd say it's certain."
Jungseo clicked his tongue.
"He wouldn't lie to his mom about something like that."
To a devoted son who had dutifully sent money home to support his mother all through his trainee days and his obscure idol years, the idea of lying to her about something like this seemed simply unimaginable.
Yeony-woo had said he'd been on good terms with his own parents too, so it would be the same for him. Rembrary nodded along with Jungseo's reasoning.
"Do you have anyone in mind? Anyone who's been acting strange around you?"
"Honestly speaking—"
Did he have someone in mind?
"We were never really close."
"Ah."
So that was a no.
"Before you lost your memory, it was strictly business between us."
Rembrary nodded at Jungseo's matter-of-fact answer.
Come to think of it, Jungseo treated all the other members with about the same even-handed distance these days.
"Still, now that I know, I'll keep an eye out. If someone was threatening you before you lost your memory, they probably don't want you to get it back."
"I am grateful."
"You and Taein always bickered like cats and dogs, and you were closest with Hyegyeol."
Not wanting to say nothing at all, Jungseo narrowed his eyes and murmured, staring at the back of the sofa.
"You got along with Cathy too, but oddly enough, things between you two got worse after you lost your memory."
"I see."
It wasn't much different from what Rembrary already knew, but he nodded and thanked him all the same.
"I'll start looking into it with you. And Yeony-woo—the notebook I gave you."
"Yes?"
"There's not much in it, but just in case, don't show it to the others."
Thursday.
The members who had gone home hadn't returned yet.
Jungseo was visiting his family as well, so Rembrary was left alone at the dorm.
Jungseo had originally invited Rembrary along to his family home, but Rembrary had promised to take a rain check and stayed behind.
He took a simple salad out of the fridge and set it on the table, then fetched the notebook Jungseo had handed him the day before and spread it open beside his plate.
He picked up a fork, ate, and turned to the first page—and found something rather embarrassing to be reading: what was essentially a diary.
I don't need this part...
In fact, the whole notebook was written in diary form. Rather than a formal record, it looked like something Jungseo had organized while keeping a personal journal.
A few more pages in, he finally reached the part about the group Jungseo had been investigating.
"..."
But whether he skimmed it or read it carefully, his impressions were exactly the same.
There really is nothing in here.
- Maeng Woo-shin is definitely a member of that group.
- Maeng Woo-shin makes no real effort to hide it. (Suspected Attention Seeker. Important. Exercise caution.)
- To become someone who draws people's gaze, one must undergo experiences ordinary people cannot.
- One must fulfill one's allotted quota.
- That man is not of a rank qualified to receive miracles.
- I am displeased with the person receiving the Angel's Wish this time.
Rembrary frowned.
What did it mean, needing to undergo experiences ordinary people cannot?
The mention of an allotted quota bothered him just as much.
Given the phrase a rank qualified to receive miracles, it seemed there was a hierarchy—even outright discrimination—within the group Maeng Woo-shin belonged to...
And displeased with the person this time suggested it was hardly the warm, harmonious brotherhood one might expect.
But beyond that, there was nothing of substance. Just as Jungseo himself had said, once the talk turned to angels, it was as if he'd been completely cured of the itch—the records simply stopped.
In any case, becoming a Buddhist monk and taking vows was out of the question for now, which meant he needed to meet Maeng Woo-shin. That, it seemed, was the most important thing at the moment.
Just as he was lost deep in thought, someone rang the doorbell.
Jungseo?
Rembrary wandered to the door without much thought.
But the intercom screen showed no one.
The moment he opened the door, he heard footsteps hurrying away in the distance.
A prank?
He was frowning at the strangeness of it, about to go back inside, when he noticed a single envelope lying on the floor—and stopped.
Did that person leave it just now?
On the envelope, written in black ink:
Open me ^^
Rembrary closed the door, came back inside, and tore the envelope open.
The instant he did, bright red blood welled up and dripped down, soaking into the paper.
Rembrary pulled his hand away and clicked his tongue. Several small, razor-sharp blades had been glued to the inside of the envelope.
Between them, the skin of his neatly sliced fingers kept seeping blood.
Who on earth would do this?
Flustered, he stared down at the envelope, then healed his hand with his divine power before extracting the letter inside with far greater care.
He was curious what the contents could possibly be, to warrant arming the thing with blades like that.
But the letter was blank.
Only the smiley remained.
^^
Nothing but a smiling face.
Rembrary wondered what on earth to do about this, and in the end, called Jong-woo first. He felt a little guilty phoning him on his day off, but it seemed like something he ought to report.
"Hello?"
Thankfully, Jong-woo picked up right away.
Rembrary wiped the blood off the envelope with a tissue as he explained the situation.
"The doorbell rang, I went out, and there was a letter."
"What?"
"I opened the letter and there was a knife."
"Hold on—what did you say?!"
"I opened the letter and there was a smiley face."
"Yeony-woo, talk to me properly. What are you saying?"
"Someone left a letter with blades stuck inside it and ran off."
"!"
Less than thirty minutes later, Jong-woo arrived at the dorm.
The moment he laid eyes on the envelope Rembrary handed him, he recoiled with a yelp and jumped back.
"What is this?! Did you see who left it?"
"No. But I heard footsteps running away."
"God, what kind of person does this?"
"Can you tell who might have done it?"
"An anti, probably. Or maybe some half-crazed obsessive fan."
"A fan would hand someone blades?"
"Normally, no. Not unless they're a full-blown sasaeng. But you know how it is—the Law of the Preservation of Weirdos. There's always one or two genuinely unhinged ones mixed in somewhere."
"There is such a law?"
"I don't know. That's not the point. Anyway, I can't believe you guys are getting this stuff before you've even had your big break."
Grumbling, Jong-woo instructed Rembrary not to touch the letter or the blades, then called the agency.
Before long, someone from the company arrived and sealed the letter and the blades into a zip-lock bag and took them away.
Once the person was gone, Jong-woo asked worriedly,
"By the way, there was blood on the envelope. You— are you okay?"
"It barely grazed me. I've already stopped bleeding."
"All right."
Jong-woo nodded as if that made sense, but looking at his hand, he spoke with genuine seriousness.
"I don't know if this was aimed at the whole group or at one of you specifically, but from now on, be careful."
"Understood."
Having said his piece, Jong-woo stood there for a moment, looking at Rembrary rather awkwardly.
"What is it?"
When Rembrary asked why he was still staring instead of leaving, Jong-woo scratched his head.
"You're going to be alone?"
"I am alone."
"Seriously, those kids have no loyalty—running off and leaving you here with no memory of anything."
"I told Jungseo to go."
"Jungseo... ah, right, his mother's ill. Of course."
Jong-woo nodded, apparently not yet aware that she'd been discharged. But he still didn't move, his brow furrowed.
"You're not leaving?"
"With a weird letter like that showing up, I can't exactly leave you here by yourself."
Jong-woo thought for a moment, then finally made a suggestion.
"If you've got things to do, want to just tag along with me?"
"Is this not your day off? If you're stuck with me, it won't be."
"Ah, no, I'm fine."
"You said it's not?"
He'd been told it was a holiday, hadn't he? When Rembrary asked in surprise, Jong-woo muttered, sounding annoyed.
"Something's come up between us and Kingdom Entertainment."
"Something?"
"It's nothing to do with Wild Animal."
"Ah, I see."
Rembrary nodded and said,
"Then go by yourself. It's got nothing to do with me, and it's not like you're off having fun— tagging along would just waste my day off... wait a moment."
But he broke off mid-sentence, and belatedly grabbed Jong-woo's sleeve.
"What agency did you say this was with?"
"Kingdom Entertainment. Why?"
A memory surfaced in Rembrary's mind—from when the members had been herded in front of the TV, masquerading as a monitor.
Practice footage was playing, and he'd seen Beta walking into a massive building.
Emblazoned right over the entrance, plain as day, was the word KINGDEM.
"Ah. I wish that was our group's name."
He remembered clearly because Hyegyeol had muttered exactly that.
Then even after we make it big, people are going to call us the Goddem group and mock us, you idiot.
He also remembered Taein, standing beside him, snapping at him immediately.
And Beta was...
"Is that the agency you're heading to?"
The same one Maeng Woo-shin belonged to.
"May I come along as well? I won't get in your way. I'll sit quietly and simply observe Maeng Woo-shin."
"What?"
"Don't follow Maeng Woo-shin around. Absolutely not."
"...Understood."
"You can say hi as a fan."
"Understood."
"If you greet him and strike up a conversation, and he seems receptive, then reading the room and acting on it is fine."
Jong-woo seemed deeply uneasy about Rembrary bringing up Maeng Woo-shin, but leaving him alone in a place that had just received a sinister letter didn't sit right with him either, so in the end he brought Rembrary along to Kingdom Entertainment.
"Ugh, seriously. We have to make this album a hit. We blow up, make real money, and then I'm begging the company to move us into a dorm with actual security."
By then, the car was pulling into Kingdom Entertainment's parking lot.
Rembrary got out and followed Jong-woo meekly up to the first floor.
"Oh, it's Woo Yeony-woo. It's Woo Yeony-woo, right?"
"It's Woo Yeony-woo!"
"No way, is that Woo Yeony-woo?"
Even staying meekly quiet, the whispers started around him all on their own.
Probably because he'd dominated the real-time search rankings and then appeared on Sing Survival.
Inside the agency, surprisingly many employees recognized Rembrary.
"Guess people are watching every show he's on because of Beta."
Jong-woo muttered under his breath.
But it worked in their favor. While Jong-woo made a call trying to track down whatever director he'd come to meet, the commotion from outside drew Maeng Woo-shin—fresh out of the restroom—over in their direction as well.
"What? What's going on?"
"Woo Yeony-woo's here."
Phone still in hand, Jong-woo nudged Rembrary with his elbow and tipped his chin toward Maeng Woo-shin.
Unlike with Sunwoo Sil, Maeng Woo-shin's face looked almost exactly like the photos circulating online.
Rembrary hurried over to him.
Curiosity had brought Maeng Woo-shin over, but his face carried none of the intrigue the other staff had shown at the sight of Rembrary.
When Rembrary approached, all he did was say, "Ah, the survival show," with a knowing nod. He didn't even seem to know the program's actual name.
Rembrary paid it no mind and said what he had arranged with Jong-woo beforehand.
"I'm a fan, sunbae."
"Oh. Right."
Apparently used to juniors swarming him claiming to be fans, Maeng Woo-shin asked flatly,
"Want an autograph?"
Rembrary glanced sideways at Jong-woo.
Jong-woo was mid-call, saying, "So, the thing is, on this side—" as he explained something.
Seizing the gap, Rembrary spoke quickly, in a low voice no one else could hear.
"I came because I heard you belong to a very interesting group, sunbae."
Maeng Woo-shin's blank expression twitched, just slightly.
Then it shifted into a watch it, kid look as he studied Rembrary.
When Rembrary met his gaze steadily, Maeng Woo-shin smiled smoothly and gave a small jerk of his chin—follow me.
Rembrary told Jong-woo he was going with Maeng Woo-shin, then followed him.
Maeng Woo-shin led him to an empty room on the very next floor, settled comfortably onto the sofa, and looked at Rembrary.
"All right. What did you come here having heard?"
There was nothing guarded about his manner at all.
"I don't know what you're planning to say, but if you're about to say something strange, you'd best think twice, junior. I've heard a few stories about you myself."
And even as he said it, he layered on a veiled threat. This was not the posture of a man with anything to hide.
But Rembrary was unbothered, and answered with a smile.
"I've heard rather more stories about you, sunbae."
It had been less than three hours since he'd pored over the notebook Jungseo left behind. Everything concerning Maeng Woo-shin was still fresh in his memory.
Maeng Woo-shin tilted his head with a smile. But his eyes were cold, and the corners of his raised mouth had gone stiff.
Something had struck a nerve.
Rembrary took a few steps closer, bent forward, and met his eyes, lowering his voice to a quiet murmur.
"Sunbae... you're an Attention Seeker, aren't you?"