Not Knowing Is Nothing to Be Ashamed Of (Paid Content Begins Here)
"By any chance... your beard..."
When the MC asked cautiously, Rembrary's eyes went round as saucers.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
Rembrary smiled bitterly at the thought of that holy knight, who had surfaced unbidden in his memory.
For her merit in that affair, she had been admitted to the order of holy knights directly charged with Rembrary's protection, and two years ago she had risen to the post of Knight Commander. She had even followed him when Rembrary set out to face the Demon King. Simply recalling it made his eyes grow damp with longing.
At the sight of him looking so laden with history, the MC—who had been about to laugh it off as a joke—was thrown into confusion. It was absolutely, unmistakably not a joke; his face made that far too clear.
And Rembrary, watching the MC's expression, grasped the situation as well.
Apparently the game Hye-gyeol played wasn't all that famous after all.
"Ah, you don't know Guan Yu. She's a person from a game."
"Guan Yu...?"
"Well, I suppose you might not know if you've no interest in such things."
While the sub-MC and other guests strained to work out whether Rembrary was joking or serious, Jong-woo frantically signaled for him to shut his mouth.
Jong-woo resolved that the moment they got back to the dormitory, he was going to zip Rembrary's lips shut. Or at the very least, install a zipper on them.
Jong-woo knew what game Rembrary was talking about, too.
It was a card game for collecting heroes of the Three Kingdoms, and to stretch out a limited roster of characters, the developers had thrown in every gimmick imaginable. Thanks to that, a single hero was split into a male version, a female version, an animal version, a Valentine's version, a wedding version, and so on, each collected separately—and Yeon-woo had clearly seen the female version of Guan Yu in there and gone off like that.
After all, Hye-gyeol had been hopelessly hooked on that game lately!
So that's why he was glued to Yeon-woo the whole time he was preparing for the contest round, Jong-woo lamented, too late.
Fortunately, Rembrary noticed Jong-woo's signals and shut his mouth at once.
"Haha, Woo Yeon-woo, you're quite the joker."
The MC had also caught the SHUT UP! signals Jong-woo was beaming at Rembrary, and realized that Rembrary genuinely didn't know the Three Kingdoms. But grateful to Rembrary for rushing over as a last-minute fill-in, he quickly papered over the man's ignorance as a joke and moved things along.
"Well then, we'll give you five minutes—go pick your partner for today!"
This time there was nothing to hesitate over. Unlike the previous contestants, Rembrary didn't drag out the clock; he simply pointed at the believer he'd been eyeing earlier and called out.
"That person there!"
To shake off the awkward mood, the MC quickly looked to that contestant and echoed the call.
"Yes! Today's Guan Yu! Who might you be? Oh, it's that person over there!"
The camera swung around to show the believer Rembrary had pointed to.
Picked out by Rembrary on national television, the believer turned to her friend, half overjoyed and half mortified.
"Do I look like Guan Yu?"
"No. It's gotta be a joke."
"Right?"
"If we're being strict about it, you're more of a Zhang Fei."
"Hey."
The believer glared at her teasing friend, but with the camera pointed their way, there was no time to dawdle.
From the stage, the MC called out, "Can you play the game together?" Apparently, since her face would be broadcast nationwide, they had to ask first.
Being broadcast to the whole country as 'the person who looks like Guan Yu' was mortifying, but she did want to try playing a game with Rembrary.
Besides, this program was famous for the size of its mission rewards. Random prizes included the latest tablets, dishwashers, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners—an entire catalog of goods. It was worth a little ribbing from her friends.
"I'll be your Guan Yu!"
As the believer, casting aside her dignity, dashed up to the stage, the crowd cheered and laughed.
Hoping to revive the atmosphere that had gone dazed after Rembrary's ignorant remark, the MC brightly thrust a microphone at her.
"A love song on the Viking ride! Can you do it?!"
"I can!"
"A word of resolve!"
"I shall return before this fervor has cooled!"
As the audience chuckled and enjoyed the show, Jong-woo finally relaxed.
Still, even though she'd played along, it nagged at her that Rembrary had picked her in the first place—so as she headed for the Viking ride, the believer asked him quietly.
"Oppa, did you really pick me because I look like Guan Yu?"
Rembrary answered with a smile. "Nay. Guan Yu has hair of silver, does she not? Yours is black."
The believer was struck by the shocking revelation that Yeon-woo, whom she loved beyond all reason, was a simpleton.
But it was hard to grieve or be disappointed over that fact when the face of Rembrary, smiling right in front of her, was so radiant. Bewitched by that smile, the believer rationalized his ignorance as best she could.
Right. The world is fair by nature. To possess a smile like that, one must trade it for something of equal value.
Yeon-woo must have exchanged common sense for that face. That balances the ledger, more or less, doesn't it?
Fortunately, thinking that way kept her fan heart intact.
"Also, you're very kind, oppa."
"Hm?"
"But you really should zip your mouth shut sometimes."
"?"
Rembrary had worried that the song might be one he didn't know, but once he heard the title beforehand, it turned out—mercifully—to be one he did.
What was not merciful was that the song was the duet Cathy had sung with Yuli O on Sing Survival.
Anyone could see the production staff had planted it deliberately, but Rembrary didn't extend his suspicion of his fellow man that far. No—it was closer to say he had no capacity left for suspicion.
The Viking ride, which he was boarding for the first time in his life, was a most curious-looking contraption.
"This thing moves up and down?"
"Like a seesaw. Is this your first ride, oppa?"
"I did watch people riding it earlier."
"It's so much fun. Thrilling and refreshing."
"They were screaming while riding it, though."
"That's screaming because it's fun."
"Is that so?"
"Of course."
Seated with the believer at the very end of the Viking, Rembrary smiled in wonder even as the safety bar lowered over them.
Thanks to her rose-colored glasses, the believer found the sight utterly pure and guileless. Though she did worry a little that his brain seemed to be equally guileless.
"It moves? It moves!"
When the Viking finally began to swing, Rembrary leaned over and whispered to the believer, sounding delighted.
The staff signaled for them to sing, and the two traded lines of the love song back and forth with ease.
But before they'd even finished the first verse, Rembrary's face went ghostly pale.
A seesaw? This is a seesaw?
Every time they rose high and dropped back down, his stomach lifted off with his heart along with it—and that sensation was deeply, horrifyingly wrong.
The believer, about to ask why he'd stopped singing, glanced over and shrieked at the sight of Rembrary's face turning blue.
"Oppa, your face is green!"
Rembrary gripped the safety bar with all his might. He had no strength left to answer.
It felt as though his body would be flung clean out of this insolent hunk of metal at any moment.
Unable to endure the terror a second longer, Rembrary finally abandoned the song and began to pray.
Watching the man who'd been having fun go pale and then completely blank, the believer was startled and worried enough to grab his arm and shake it.
"Oppa? Just close your eyes! Close your eyes and scream—it's less scary that way!"
But Rembrary's vacant expression slowly, gradually began to soften.
The moment prayer began, the turmoil and fear and stray thoughts throughout his entire body melted rapidly away, and his heart settled. A calm smile even rose to his lips.
Startled, the believer stared at Rembrary's profile.
The cameraman filming the scene was startled far more.
The sight of Rembrary—pale and gripped by terror—transforming by degrees into an expression of utter peace and stillness was profoundly mystical. That benevolent countenance, serene even with his hair whipping upside down, without a single strand out of place...
"...Guan Yin Bodhisattva?"
The PD watching Rembrary from the side asked, "What?"
"N-nothing."
The cameraman shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
Enlightenment, it turned out, was going to be Jong-woo's portion.
Jong-woo switched off the tablet he'd been monitoring the broadcast on and laughed, hollow and without hope.
"Was the reception not good?"
Sa Gam-jae asked, watching him.
"Reception, huh..." Jong-woo muttered with a sigh.
"Nobody called him a bad person this time. Nobody even called him a trash human being."
"Then is that not a win?"
"Everyone's mocking him for being an ignoramus."
Jong-woo accepted the coffee Sa Gam-jae handed over with a groan.
Well, fair enough. He'd become a punchline, sure, but at least he'd taken less abuse than before. And despite being thrown in as a last-minute pinch hitter, he hadn't been buried—he'd grabbed the spotlight.
Right after the episode aired, 'Woo Yeon-woo Guan Yu' sat at number two on the real-time search rankings, 'Woo Yeon-woo' at number five, 'Tomorrow's Rail' at six, and 'Woo Yeon-woo expression' at seven.
The odds that variety show PDs and advertisers would come calling, aiming to cash in on Yeon-woo's buzz, had just grown considerably.
Afterward, Jong-woo summoned Rembrary and made a request.
"Yeon-woo. Next time somebody asks about your ideal type, say it's someone brave, like Guan Yu."
"But a brave person is not my ideal type."
"Then what would you say?"
"One who wields a great spear while mounted upon a—"
"Say your ideal type is someone brave."
That said, when Rembrary learned that Guan Yu was a real historical figure—a greatly renowned sage from a foreign land—even he was a little taken aback. When Jong-woo showed him a painting of Guan Yu, he was even more dumbfounded. The actual Guan Yu had possessed a magnificently abundant beard.
Still, quiet days passed peacefully after that, and the fifth contest round on Monday concluded without incident as well. On Tuesday, they were originally scheduled to record the new album, but the studio asked for their understanding due to equipment failure, and the session was pushed to the next day. So on Tuesday afternoon, the members threw themselves into a final round of practice for the new song.
Exhausted in mind after days of a punishing schedule, Rembrary fell asleep early. He knew the fifth round of Sing Survival would air Tuesday night, but the content would be the same either way. With an easy heart, he slipped under the covers.
He'd been sleeping soundly for some while when someone began shaking his body.
He waved a hand irritably, but the other party kept at it—"Yeon-woo. Yeon-woo."—so Rembrary had no choice but to open his eyes.
It was Jungseo.
"What is the matter?"
When Rembrary asked, mildly annoyed, Jungseo glanced around the room. Besides Rembrary, the only member in bed was Hye-gyeol. But even that one presence seemed to concern him: Jungseo pulled up the notepad on his phone, tapped something out with deliberate care, and then held the screen out in front of Rembrary.
— End of Chapter 55: Not Knowing Is Nothing to Be Ashamed Of (Paid Content Begins Here) —