Two Souls, One Solo Stage
Rembrary gave a hollow laugh, swatted Woo Sung-woo's hand off his arm, and answered.
"Who else? Your brother, obviously."
Going by the tone alone, he might as well have been the boy's ancestor — yet Woo Sung-woo didn't seem bothered by the mismatch in the slightest.
"My brother has a huge scar on his back and can't swim. He's a lunatic, but he's ashamed of being a lunatic. You think someone changes that much just because he lost his memory?"
"Isn't the scar on his side, not his back?"
Woo Sung-woo had deliberately laid a trap in his words, and he flinched when Rembrary swept the snare away without so much as a pause.
"You really don't pay any attention to your own brother."
When Rembrary twisted the knife even further, Woo Sung-woo abandoned all pretense and demanded outright.
"Who are you? Who the hell are you, going around with my brother's face and my brother's name?"
"I told you — your brother."
The two customers who had wandered over near the lockers recoiled at the grim atmosphere, glancing back and forth between Rembrary, Woo Sung-woo, and Sa Gam-jae's swimsuits.
The three of them relocated somewhere more secluded.
Once they were out of earshot, Woo Sung-woo seized Rembrary's arm roughly and made his demand.
"Give me a strand of your hair."
"Are you mad?"
"I'm running a DNA test."
"A what test?"
"To see whether you're my blood or not."
What on earth was he talking about? While Rembrary was still parsing the words, Sa Gam-jae — quick on the uptake as ever — had already called Jong-woo and filled him in on the situation.
Jong-woo, unsurprisingly, hit the ceiling.
"Absolutely not! Tell him no way! If he goes through with a DNA test, do you have any idea what kind of insane rumors people will write?!"
He'd been shouting so loudly that his voice rang out clear even from outside the phone.
Woo Sung-woo looked coldly in Sa Gam-jae's direction and spoke.
"You don't have to come to the testing center. Just hand over the hair, and I'll run the test myself and bring you the results."
Rembrary let out a long sigh, then dutifully plucked out a few strands and handed them over.
After all, it wasn't merely his shell that had become Woo Yeon-woo's — his soul had entered the young man's body wholesale.
He had no idea what a DNA test actually entailed or how it worked, but if it only examined the body's bloodline, then there was nothing to fear at all.
On the drive back to the dormitory, Sa Gam-jae turned out to be a surprisingly smooth driver, gliding the wheel gently before glancing at the back seat through the rearview mirror.
"You said you came from another world?"
Rembrary, sprawled across the back seat staring blankly at the ceiling, turned his head.
"You mean me?"
"Is there anyone else?"
"I know. I was just trying it out."
"Is it truly all right for them to run that DNA test? Didn't you say your original name over there was Rembrary?"
"I did."
"Is there no chance the test comes back strange?"
"That I can't say. But I didn't come into my own body — I came into the body of a young man called Woo Yeon-woo."
Rembrary stretched his hand out in front of his eyes and flexed it.
Come to think of it — what had become of his real body? His soul had flown over here, but was the body all right? A body without a soul — wouldn't it die at the slightest touch?
The thought sent a sudden chill of fear through him. Even if he found a way back to his original world, what good would it do if his body was already dead?
"Gam-jae. Has the Underworld said anything yet?"
"You mean news from that world?"
"Yes."
"Nothing to report."
"I see…"
Rembrary exhaled, feeling hollow.
Three days had passed since Woo Sung-woo walked off with his hair, promising a DNA test.
And today was the day Rembrary's solo promotions began.
It was only a solo song — a track off the same album — but Rembrary had, from the very start, been famous as an individual far more than as part of a group.
Thanks to that, an unexpected number of people were anticipating his stage even before he stepped on it. That anticipation showed itself in the real-time search rankings.
Rembrary nodded along as Jungseo relayed all this to him.
He was currently in a waiting room for a music show recording, with Jungseo having tagged along to keep him company.
Since Rembrary could barely operate a phone beyond posting photos on social media and typing search words into a browser, Jungseo had taken up position beside him, acting as his eyes and ears.
"Think you can pull it off?"
At Jungseo's question, Rembrary nodded.
"It's not as though this is my first or second time."
"It's your first solo stage, though."
"I did nothing but solos on Sing Survival. What's the fuss?"
"…Fair point. Yeah, you did."
Jong-woo, arriving with warm water for Rembrary, watched Jungseo fuss over him with open curiosity.
Jungseo had always been the responsible type, but he'd never gone much beyond that in showing affection. Yet ever since Rembrary lost his memory, he'd been looking after him with unusual devotion — and Jong-woo found it strange.
"Honestly, Jungseo, you feel far more like a real older brother than the guy who demanded a fistful of my hair for a DNA test."
Whatever the reason, it was a good look — so Jong-woo paid them both the compliment, then held out a lighter to Rembrary and Jungseo in turn before asking Rembrary:
"And no word from your brother yet?"
Rembrary nodded. He'd said the results could come as soon as two or three days from now. Not a single text from Woo Sung-woo.
Which was why Rembrary was getting quietly anxious. What if the results came back and it turned out they really weren't brothers after all?
Would that mean he hadn't actually entered Woo Yeon-woo's body — only taken on his outer appearance?
Or perhaps a soul could influence the flesh? Or an evil spirit had interfered somehow…
Once the doubts started, the possibilities multiplied endlessly. Rembrary rubbed at the spot where the hair he'd plucked for Woo Sung-woo had come from, for no particular reason.
While he was at it, Jong-woo checked his watch and hustled him along.
"Let's head out. Your turn's coming up."
As they passed down the corridor, fellow idols — none of whom Rembrary could place — greeted them at every turn.
Rembrary returned the greetings in stride as he walked by, but the moment he reached the backstage area, every one of their faces slipped from his mind.
Instead, the lyrics to his solo song ran through his head on loop.
Ever since the cat-kiss incident had shot it up to number two, the solo track had been bolted to that spot, unable to climb higher.
The reason was a singer so dominant on the digital charts that people called him a chart monster, who simply refused to budge from number one. As luck would have it, that singer's release had dropped around the same time, and Rembrary found himself blocked at every turn, unable to leap any higher.
So Jong-woo had hammered home again and again that today's stage was absolutely crucial. Whether he could storm from number two to number one might depend on the music shows airing over the next three days.
Having heard the speech until his ears grew calluses, Rembrary was now humming the song backstage entirely of his own accord.
Half-lidded, humming quietly, Rembrary was a picture of beauty — at least as far as the shell went.
Jong-woo took in the sight and nodded with a swell of pride. He didn't know about the rest, but the kid's mental fortitude was ironclad.
Any ordinary idol would be shaking in his boots at a moment like this, yet Rembrary's hands weren't trembling in the slightest.
All he had to do was deliver the stage as he always did. Even on autopilot, he'd captivate the live audience and send word-of-mouth soaring — and since there was no dancing today, there was nothing on screen to worry about either.
"Good. You're on. Let's go, let's go."
At last, it was Rembrary's turn.
He handed his water bottle to Jong-woo and climbed the stairs at the side of the stage.
Just as Jong-woo had predicted, Rembrary wasn't nervous in the least.
He was used to attention. He was used to adoration. He was used to cheers.
Idols were loved by many, but their popularity was nothing compared to that of a High Priest who counted the citizens of entire nations among his believers.
When he stepped onto the stage, countless faces filled his view, yet Rembrary calmly took hold of the microphone.
To the fans waving paper signs emblazoned with Woo Yeon-woo and Wild Animal, he even granted a smile.
Then the lights cut out all at once, and the stage they'd rehearsed to perfection began.
A bleak violin line unfurled beneath everything, and in its wake, a Black Christmas-style bell chimed in with a silvery rattle.
Carving through the desolate music, Rembrary began to deliver the scornful lyrics in something close to a whisper — words that mocked the listener.
It was a voice so magnetic it made watching mouths go dry.
With his suit and tie loosened, Rembrary recited lyrics that toyed with people's devotion, picking up the tempo as the chorus arrived.
Then came the teasing hum of the final chorus.
He was mid-spin, executing the rehearsed turn, when he caught sight of a shadow at the back of the stage — a shadow considerably larger than usual — and flinched.
Various props and ornaments were scattered around, so it blended confusingly with the other shadows, but look closely and Rembrary's shadow appeared to be gripping someone's neck in a single hand.
He had no idea what that was, but for now he kept humming, turned his back, and pretended not to see.
He'd been told, in no uncertain terms, not to be noticed. There was nothing he could do here, in front of everyone.
A sharp-eyed viewer might spot that shadow — but they'd write it off as stage lighting. Most of the people here lived in a world where science had advanced so far that even the strangest sight got filed away as some technological trick.
That was the moment.
A white flash burst across Rembrary's vision.
People screamed and scattered.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, and frantic shrieks gnawed at his eardrums.
Rembrary looked around wildly.
Someone brushed past him. Close enough to touch.
He recoiled on instinct — but the man's shoulder passed straight through Rembrary's body.
Startled, he turned to stare at the fleeing figure.
The ground thundered. Boom. Boom.
Rembrary turned his head forward again.
Something roughly three times the size of the van Wild Animal rode around in was dragging its massive bulk toward him, walking slowly.
A hideous, skin-crawling crunching sound reached his ears.
This is my original world!
The instant the thought formed, another white flash burst across his vision.
Rembrary's eyes snapped open, and he bolted upright, gathering holy power into both arms.
"We have a problem if anyone comes in here."
A flat, matter-of-fact voice stopped him short.
Startled, Rembrary looked to his side. Sa Gam-jae was sitting with his legs crossed in a chair, reading a magazine.
"Gam-jae?"
At Rembrary's dazed call, Sa Gam-jae snapped the magazine shut, set it on the table beside him, and spoke.
"Your body is obviously fine. Your mind — are you all right?"
"What do you mean, am I all right?"
Rembrary recalled the brief scene he'd just witnessed.
Whether it was a hallucination or real, he couldn't say — but it had undoubtedly been his original world. The world after the Demon King's invasion.
Rembrary furrowed his brow and pressed his temples.
Had the goddess Redrin shown him that vision? Was that the current state of his original world? Or had he worried himself into a nightmare?
No — more importantly—
"Where am I?"
Rembrary demanded, realizing he was somewhere utterly unfamiliar.
Sa Gam-jae answered flatly.
"My home."
"What?"
Rembrary's eyes went wider still.
"Why am I in your house?"
Sa Gam-jae said nothing, simply picked up his phone, found something, and held it out to Rembrary.
Rembrary stared at the screen. It was footage of his solo stage.
On screen, Rembrary — having flawlessly finished the first verse — abruptly twisted his body sideways.
But that was all. He steadied himself at once and began singing the second verse.
Extremely… sloppily.
With hands trembling like a leaf.
After finishing the stage, he'd hesitated for a moment, then shouted, "Thank you! I'm Woo Yeon-woo, the Unicorn!" bowed deeply, and left the stage.
Rembrary's jaw dropped.
"What is this?"
"It's you."
End of Chapter 87 — Two Souls, One Solo Stage.