The Way Love Changes

What kind of brain comes up with a concept like this?

Rembrary's eyes went wide.

The camera beside him captured every moment of it on film.

In that same fashion, the photographs, lights, and letters went on sorting the cast members into their roles, one after another.

Rembrary, the wealthy love-interest man, the wealthy love-interest woman — the three of them made up the two-timing team.

Those three, at least, were on the tame side.

The transfer team was far more tangled than the two-timing team. Its perpetrator was a top-star actor whose current girlfriend was a foreigner, while the girlfriend he planned to leave her for was supposedly his fan of many years. The two teams Jong-woo had lumped together as the "foreign romance team" and the "fan-celebrity team" turned out, when you peeled back the layers, to be one and the same.

"Everything but the contract-dating team is twisted into one giant pretzel."

As the flickering lights and photographs died away, Jong-woo came over from where he'd been watching the whole spectacle from a distance, grumbling under his breath.

"I'm not sure we should even be doing this."

"And if not now, then when, pray tell?"

"The CEO seems completely sold on this concept."

"So CEO Im's philosophy is one of depravity. I see."

Meanwhile, the door swung open and two cameramen and a handful of other staff came strolling in, grinning ear to ear.

"Hello! Quite the shock, wasn't it?"

One of the staff approached Rembrary and Jong-woo, offered a handshake, and explained that they'd wanted to film their reactions to the surprise announcement with as much realism as possible.

"Figured as much," Jong-woo said, in a voice with just a hint of grievance. The staffer then led them onward, promising to take them to the actual meeting room.

Two more floors up, the people they'd seen in the photographs had already gathered. Apparently Rembrary and Jong-woo hadn't been the only ones blindsided by the surprise reveal — everyone was wearing strained, courteous smiles over eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠full of confusion.

"Oh, it's Woo Yeon-woo."

"One of my two legs, that one."

"Whoa, it's really Yeon-woo."

And then, catching sight of Rembrary, they all marveled in turn, each contributing a comment of his or her own. The wealthy heiress slated to two-time him and the entertainment-industry magnate famous as the male love interest were especially shameless about staring, their gazes lingering long and deep. Both pairs of eyes brimmed with undisguised interest and mischief.

"Our Yeon-woo is in your hands, everyone."

As Jong-woo bowed and scraped his way through introductions, the other participants' managers bowed along with him, and the participants exchanged greetings among themselves, and thus more time frittered away in a haze of politeness. Greetings had barely concluded before yet another participant appeared, and barely concluded with that one before another arrived — so that by the time the PD who had dreamed up this bizarre variety show finally made her entrance, nearly forty minutes had slipped past.

"I take it she booked our appointment times separately," Jong-woo muttered under his breath, dead tired. And yet even through all this, his expression was radiant enough to outshine the room.

Rembrary had assumed only celebrities went around wearing their public smiles — until he watched Jong-woo and clicked his tongue.

Come to think of it, I did the same — always made a point of smiling when I stepped before the people. So it's the same thing, is it?

Around then, having restored order to the chaos, the PD picked up a wireless mic with the volume turned low and tested it with a soft "Ah. Ah."

The room fell silent in an instant. With every eye trained on her, the PD bowed awkwardly left and right and began to speak.

"Hello, I'm PD Song Yoon-bi. I'm so sorry — our first meeting has eaten up so much of your time. You've all been waiting a long while, haven't you?"

On the surface, she seemed exceedingly timid. It was almost impossible to believe that a face that diffident had conceived of a two-timing romance show like this.

Even as she offered a few more polite pleasantries afterward, she kept fidgeting and glancing around as if worried about everyone's reaction.

"I'm sure many of you were startled when you heard the setup. But honestly, there are already far too many variety shows about fluttery, sweet romance. It's stale. Viewers know all too well that these virtual dating shows are virtual, so they can't immerse themselves anymore. That's why we've decided to go one step further — to show the process by which the heart between lovers changes."

But the moment her mouth opened and she began explaining this program's concept, Rembrary genuinely wanted to reach over and knock politely on her forehead.

"Oh, and besides the relationships, there are situation setups too. CEO Jang Tae-ri over there is a very wealthy woman, you see — comfortable, well-off. And CEO Shin Jo-woon comes from similar circumstances. To put it crudely, they're in the same class — the kind of couple anyone would look at and go, 'Wow, they're perfect together.' But because that relationship is so terribly stable, CEO Jang Tae-ri has begun to crave something newer, fresher, more stimulating. And that's why she started seeing Mr. Woo Yeon-woo."

Well, the concept is certainly... committed. Rembrary's mouth hung open in a daze.

He had never once been in a relationship, and now, out of nowhere, a love-triangle romance. Worse, from the sound of the explanation, this put him in the position of the interloper who barges into an established couple.

As he stood there blankly, a soft laugh reached his ear. Rembrary closed his mouth and turned his head.

CEO Shin Jo-woon was glancing back and forth between Rembrary and CEO Jang Tae-ri with an expression that suggested he was struggling to hold in his laughter. So this was the entertainment-agency boss whom industry insiders liked better than the stars themselves, was it? That suppressed smile, that languid air — he looked like a life-size cutout of the photo spreads Sunwoo Sil had worked so hard to touch up for him.

But the smile read as a sneer. It was the smile of a man thinking, Does a woman who'd cheat right in front of me actually exist? Well — no wonder this is a variety show.

CEO Jang Tae-ri, by contrast, looked thoroughly pleased with herself. Apparently the chance to legally play at romance with two handsome men was deeply satisfying. Jong-woo had warned that the two-timer's role was an easy one to get hated for, and that he had no idea who would take it — yet Jang Tae-ri showed not the slightest trace of such worry. Was it because she wasn't a professional entertainer?

"Here's the transfer team's setup. The top star, Hwa-yeol, is currently in a relationship with Ms. Caitlin, a foreigner who's been popular on overseas variety shows lately, but as you can imagine, the language barrier wears him down more and more. He loves her, but they simply can't communicate. And in the middle of all that, Ms. Hye-ji — who has been his fan since his unknown days, and who knows everything there is to know about him — begins to catch his eye."

Rembrary tore his gaze from Jang Tae-ri and looked over at the three people lined up on the opposite side. One was a healthy-looking beauty with red hair and green eyes — that had to be Caitlin. Beside her stood a male actor whose face even Rembrary recognized from a few posters, and a woman whose face had flushed red as a beet stood about two steps away from him. Which one was the fan and which one the actor was obvious at a glance.

The PD's gaze, having gotten this far, lingered briefly on the contract-dating team. The two of them, evidently curious what kind of train-wreck setup they'd been handed, were waiting eagerly for the explanation, eyes gleaming.

"Um... you two, quite literally, are in a contract relationship. You need each other, but there isn't a single shred of affection between you. As for the rest of the details — we'll reveal those later."

But unexpectedly, there was nothing more to it. The two participants were left flustered, but the PD really did end her explanation there and gestured to her staff. At the signal, a staffer appeared carrying a basket of small compact cameras.

"These are for self-cams. In the interest of realism, starting today we'd like you to record your interpretations of the roles you've been given in video-diary form. Assume you're living out the romances I just described, but you don't have to talk about the romance itself. Just record your everyday life, comfortably, day by day. We'll use those recordings to build your characters and lines. Depending on viewer reaction, we may even adjust the relationships. And whenever we find usable footage, we'll broadcast your self-cam as your 'inner thoughts,' spliced in between scenes of your on-screen romance."

"What in the world is a video diary?"

The moment the meeting ended and he climbed into the van and shut the door, Rembrary demanded an answer. Sa Gam-jae had the wheel, so Jong-woo fished out his phone himself and showed him a scene from a movie.

In it, a character was narrating — "Today is such-and-such date, and right now I'm feeling such-and-such..." — right up until a zombie that had abruptly appeared started tearing into her.

"That's the format. Minus the zombie part."

"Ah. Understood."

"Think of it as writing a diary with your mouth instead of your hand. Anyway..."

Jong-woo let the words trail off, then scratched at his head anxiously.

"I keep saying it, but I really don't think this show suits you."

Jong-woo groaned and buried his face in his hands.

He rehearsed rigorously before every variety appearance, and he was still terrified of what that mouth of Rembrary's might spew out.

The reason was that, before they left the meeting, PD Song Yoon-bi had told Jong-woo to his face:

"I'll cut any problematic footage in editing, so Manager, if you could just stay out of the self-cams entirely, I'd appreciate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it. I want to hear Woo Yeon-woo's voice."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea..."

"It's fine. Viewers these days are smart. If he comes across as too polished an image, they'll actually feel more distance from him."

Watching Rembrary turn the self-cam over in his hands and peer at it curiously from every angle, Jong-woo sighed and opened the thick file he'd been handed as the filming schedule.

In the meantime —

Rembrary, who seemed to find this assignment thoroughly to his liking, had already switched on the camera, angled it to frame his own face, and begun recording.

"Delete it!"

Jong-woo snatched the self-cam that Rembrary had been cherishing like a treasure and screamed, his face drained white.

"Did you not hear what the PD said?" Rembrary asked, brow furrowing, but Jong-woo shook his head frantically, fumbling with the camera.

"No — no matter how well they edit, not this. Where in this is there a single scene anyone could edit well?!"

But no matter how they'd made the thing, it had no delete function at all. Jong-woo seized his head in both hands, let out a long wail, and twisted in anguish.

"You're told to keep a diary, so why are you pouring out your life's ambitions?!"

"Is one not meant to pour one's heart into a diary?"

"You — you lunatic! Your heart isn't a love triangle, it's a gold-digging con artist!"

With another howl of despair, Jong-woo twisted in his seat again, but Rembrary simply reached out and retrieved his beloved self-cam without ceremony.

At the very moment Jong-woo was suffering —

Shin Jo-woon and PD Song Yoon-bi, watching the footage as it streamed in live, were laughing too hard to speak. After laughing for a good long while, Shin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Jo-woon winced — his stomach was starting to ache — and conceded the point.

"The PD was right. Casting Woo Yeon-woo was a stroke of genius."

"You did say you wanted to maximize the buzz. And when it comes to generating buzz, Mr. Woo Yeon-woo is practically a cheat code these days."

"True enough. What an entertaining man. And he likes pizza, too."

Shin Jo-woon smiled blandly and handed over the promised documents — the paperwork concerning production funding and sponsorship details.

"Looking forward to working with you. If the buzz keeps climbing, keep bringing our people on as guests."

"Of course. You even introduced me to CEO Jang Tae-ri, after all."

"Ah, that was easy. She was a Woo Yeon-woo fan to begin with."

"Ah, right."

"Oh, and one more thing. Tae-ri says there's a line she absolutely must get to say."

"Um... after filming starts?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

The Process of Love Changing — End.