Plotting an Image Makeover

The very next morning, LLL Entertainment and Im Yu-han's agency put their heads together and released an official statement.

The internet exploded all over again.

Im Yu-han, for her part, found herself mocked from every direction — you can't even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tell whether someone pushed you or you slipped? People muttered that the only reason anyone would release such a wishy-washy statement in the first place was because she'd jumped of her own accord.

As for Woo Yeon-woo's perfectly intact arm, the theories ran the whole gamut. Things got especially loud when a fairly famous surgeon on YouTube analyzed the photos from the article along with the footage that followed, and declared with total confidence, "Woo Yeon-woo's arm was never injured."

His antis sneered that if this wasn't staged, then Woo Yeon-woo was practically a superhuman — so shouldn't he quit being an idol and become a superhero instead?

Those on the other side embraced the opposite narrative, hailing Woo Yeon-woo as a hero and Im Yu-han as the victim of a stalker attack, and a wave of public sympathy followed.

Then the police opened their investigation, and word got out that the CCTV memory from Im Yu-han's apartment corridor had recorded nothing but black screens. The public discourse grew louder still.

Three days of this passed, and with no sign of the uproar dying down, CEO Im wrestled with the problem before finally making a decision.

"Jongwoo. Yeon-woo's picked up this whole mysterious, enigmatic image lately, hasn't he?"

"Yes. A lot of people think the incident was staged, but apart from that, everyone's pretty much in awe that he's saved two people now."

"This is the moment to pull back on his schedule a little."

Jongwoo, seated across from the CEO, jerked upright in shock and shot his voice an octave higher. "I'm sorry — what?"

"You're not supposed to row the boat into the light, are you?"

With Woo Yeon-woo's name buzzing this loudly, suddenly cutting back his activities? From Jongwoo's perspective, it was a genuinely startling proposal.

But no one working in this industry could fail to know that even a nationwide sensation eventually fades.

There had been the child actor once beloved by the entire country, the one they called "Korea's Little Sweetheart," arrested on charges of murdering a rival child star. The nation had gone absolutely berserk.

It was all anyone talked about for months, and the crowds of people protesting that it could never, ever be true had been staggering.

People thrashed and flailed, unable to tear themselves away from the image of a round-eyed angel beaming at the camera — an image that no longer matched the reality on their screens.

And yet even that shocking case faded with time.

Today's kids don't even know that child actor's name. The people who watched the case unfold in real time remember it only as, oh, you know, that one thing with that kid.

Jongwoo believed the same would hold true for Woo Yeon-woo. He might be hauling around a colossal amount of buzz right now, but he was certain everyone would forget. What Yeon-woo needed, Jongwoo thought, was to climb to a safer perch and cement his position before the storm passed.

But CEO Im shook his head.

"I'm not saying we stop him working entirely. It's about using this moment to change his image."

"You think that'll actually work?"

"Somehow he's ended up with this mysterious, enigmatic aura. If we overexpose him now, that image just peels right off. Besides, Dear God premieres in two weeks, and that's when his solo track promotions kick in too."

"Yes. Yes." Jongwoo hastily thumbed through the calendar on his phone.

The premiere of Dear God was, strictly speaking, fifteen days out — but that wasn't the point right now.

"He's got a CF shoot coming up soon, the drama filming keeps going, and he'll keep doing music show stages with the title track, so people will keep seeing his face regardless. What we cut are the variety appearances — Sing Survival and Snow White. Less exposure at a moment like this makes the mystique hit even harder. That's the play."

Two weeks or so. Even Jongwoo had to admit that sounded reasonable.

Variety shows were mostly the kind of programming where Woo Yeon-woo traded his trending status for image damage, as if deliberately setting his own reputation on fire.

"But his buzz is astronomical right now. Think the PDs will actually let him go?"

"I told them he was so shaken by the incident that he needs to take some time and calm down."

Jongwoo pictured Woo Yeon-woo from a few hours earlier. He'd seen a pizza commercial on TV and whined, "I always wanted to try that. Jongwoo, get me pizza too." Not a trace of shock on his face — he'd looked absolutely thrilled.

"Well... I suppose nobody actually sees Yeon-woo in person, do they."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all."

"Right. So we let things quiet down for two weeks, then drop Dear God right as the buzz ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠starts to wilt, follow it with his solo promotions — and who knows, we might actually manage to flip his image."

Please, let it be so, CEO Im murmured, eyes gleaming, like a man reciting his wishes into the air.

"Yeees..."

"And then, once his image has improved enough, that's when we reveal the amnesia. At that point we can scrub away every last piece of ugly rumor for good."

That evening, after wrapping up his talk with CEO Im, Jongwoo came to the dorm, gathered Rembrary and the members together, and relayed the plan.

Rembrary was less than thrilled, but he conceded the point.

The moment Yeomra had warned him to keep his abilities from drawing notice, the news media had descended in force. For the past several days, Rembrary hadn't even been able to step outside the dorm under the sheer saturation of reporters swarming the place. Even heading out for his police interview, he'd barely managed to slip through and make it into the car.

Given how things stood, it did seem wiser to follow CEO Im's advice — lie low and wait for the frenzy to die down a little. Especially since the drama filming and music show promotions would keep him visible anyway.

"Oh, and one more thing."

Having finished his explanation, Jongwoo turned to Cathy.

"You're taking Yeon-woo's place in the Snow White summer special stage play. I told the PD that Yeon-woo has the police investigation going on and needs to rest after the shock, and asked them to put you on instead."

"Why Cathy of all people, Jongwoo? I don't want Cathy getting the role."

"Yeon-woo. Could you say that part quietly, in your head? Or save it for later, in private."

While Rembrary shut his mouth and sulked under Jongwoo's scolding, Cathy snickered with undisguised delight.

Jungseo, who had actually read the script Rembrary would be performing, muttered under his breath, "This is not going to be something to celebrate." But no one paid him any mind.

Because Jongwoo had already moved on to the next item.

Rembrary dozed off nodding along through the rest of Jongwoo's endless briefing, and by the time Jongwoo delivered his final words of advice — be more careful with his actions from now on, and try to make his speech sound a little cooler — he was completely asleep.

For the next several days, Rembrary carried out Jongwoo's and Yeomra's advice to the letter.

"So what you're telling me, Mr. Woo Yeon-woo, is that you saw something at Ms. Im Yu-han's place, and you chased after it to figure out what it was, and that's how you ended up in the corridor, and when it went over the corridor window, you jumped after it... Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"And that was on the sixth floor?"

"Yes."

"And Mr. Woo Yeon-woo's legs are perfectly fine?"

"Yes."

"Do you think that makes any sense?"

"Ah. Shall we make it the third floor, then?"

"...Mr. Woo Yeon-woo. Are you joking with me right now? That is not one of the options. Why are you asking me how to give your statement?"

"Jongwoo-hyung said if there's something I don't know, I should ask the police officers."

"There are things you're allowed to ask them and things you are NOT!"

The police interview itself had gone calmly enough, and at the music show, Rembrary waved enthusiastically at his fans in the spirit of I'm perfectly fine, worry not.

"Oppa! Oppa, you're just like a hero! Oppa, you're the best!"

"Oppa, we're so proud of you!"

"Yeon-woo, unnie bought you bone-strengthening supplements! I'm sending them to your agency — you finish every single one!"

Jongwoo had worried himself sick over how Rembrary's fans might react to the whole affair, but fortunately, Rembrary's fans stood firm.

No — the truth was, Rembrary's fans were positively ecstatic that their idol was finally drawing attention for something other than his personality.

"Yeon-woo, let's found a religion!"

"Cult Leader! Cult Leader!"

Some of the chanting was, frankly, a touch alarming, but the man in question absolutely loved it.

And at last, the first filming schedule for Dear God since the incident was set.

It should have happened two days earlier, but with the lead actress Im Yu-han and the high-profile supporting player Rembrary both entangled in a bizarre news event, the shoot had been pushed back.

Rembrary hadn't seen Im Yu-han once since the incident, so the first thing he did upon arriving at the set was check her waiting room.

The staff stole glances at him and whispered behind their hands, but he paid it no attention whatsoever.

Ah. There she is.

What he could not do was go straight into her waiting room.

"Don't hover. Hovering just draws more attention."

Because Jongwoo had stopped him.

"But do you not worry for her?"

At Rembrary's protest, Jongwoo conceded it was a fair point — then made his case anyway.

"Don't go to her waiting room. Talk to her on set later, with some distance between you. For you, the rumors only go as far as why is his arm fine, are the photos fake — but Im Yu-han has suicide rumors going around. If too much attention lands on her, it'll wear her down."

"Understood."

Rembrary nodded.

Just then, an FD came by to tell him to head to the set and stand by.

Rembrary went to the set.

There, they happened to be filming a scene of Im Yu-han conversing with a middle-aged couple playing the villains.

"You look just like someone I know, Doctor."

"Oh, really? Like whom? That's strange — I'd think it'd be hard to find someone who looks like me."

"True. It must be difficult for there to be two people this beautiful. How curious."

"Doctor... what might your family name be?"

The scene was the one where a middle-aged couple visiting the dentist for treatment realizes that the dentist's face is identical to the face of the woman they killed, and the conversation turns loaded with unspoken menace.

Watching Im Yu-han act, Rembrary felt relief wash over him.

Im Yu-han has no memory at all of the middle-aged couple staring at her so strangely, yet their eyes leave her with an inexplicable sense of unease — and she was capturing that feeling with uncanny precision.

She was being hounded by the suicide rumors and the stalker story even more than Rembrary was, yet not a trace of it showed on her.

What a mercy.

Relieved as he was, Rembrary's eyes swept over Im Yu-han's back.

In case any trace of that ram-skull thing had returned.

Come to think of it — why was that Demon Beast clinging to Im Yu-han in the first place?

Thankfully, there was nothing on her back today.

According to what Im Yu-han had told him by text, she'd been staying at the same place as her manager ever since then.

I must press Gam-jae further about the ram-skull beast.

Rembrary steeled himself, recalling how Sa Gam-jae — thanks to his own vanishing act at the time — had been dragged off on a business trip to some other department in the fallout.

And that was when it happened.

"You like Yu-han, is that it?"

Maeng Wooshin stalked up beside Rembrary and barked the question at him.

"Are you jealous?"

At Rembrary's equally blunt reply, Maeng Wooshin's face twisted.

"What exactly about me is lacking that I'd be jealous of you?"

"No, no — I meant, are you jealous that she is receiving my attention?"

"You and that damn mouth of yours... hoo."

"You told me before not to come anywhere near you, and now you're the one approaching me first and saying this. Naturally I ask."

"Hey, that's—"

"In fact, I learned something recently, sunbae."

"?"

"They call this push-and-pull, don't they?"

"!"

"Sunbae. Are you playing hard to get with me?"

"You little—!"

For one instant, Maeng Wooshin lost control completely and nearly brought his script down on Rembrary's mouth.

Does this lunatic carry around his own private dictionary or what? The man's word choice was always just subtly, infuriatingly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off.

Whatever remained of his resolution to speak kindly, like a proper senior, to a hoobae who'd surely been under terrible stress lately — it had evaporated on the spot.

"I swear, I'm going to print out a giant poster of your face and staple it to a sandbag. Hoo."

"That offends me. Do not do that."

In the end, Maeng Wooshin did rap Rembrary's mouth with his script anyway.

When a startled Rembrary ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just stared at him blankly, Maeng Wooshin cleared his throat — khem — and got to the point.

"You said before you wanted to join our organization, didn't you? I mentioned you, and the Cult Master told me to bring you along for a visit."

— End of Chapter 83: Plotting an Image Makeover —