Behind the Scenes

His spine went rigid, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him. It felt like a tongue of frost trailing slowly down the back of his neck.

Jong-woo swallowed dryly and clenched his phone. Only then did another strange detail surface in his mind.

When he had called Jungseo earlier, there had been no ringback tone. None at all.

He knew this for certain — Jungseo was the member he called more than anyone else.

The tone had been different.

Then whose ringtone was this one?

Jong-woo clenched his jaw and whipped around.

"Ah!"

There was no one behind him. The ringtone was sounding somewhere close by, yet no one was there.

He hurriedly hung up. The nearby ringing stopped at the same instant.

Jong-woo took an involuntary step backward. His shirt was already sticking to him with cold sweat.

What on earth is going on?

And then.

This time, it was Jong-woo's own phone that began to ring.

He raised it to check the caller. It was Jungseo.

But this Jungseo… was it really Jungseo?

The hand holding the phone trembled violently. He wanted to hurl the thing and bolt outside that very second.

But he was the manager responsible for all five members, Jungseo included. If this really was Jungseo calling… and if something had actually happened to him…

His shaking finger slid across the screen and pressed the call button. Holding the phone to his ear, he stammered out a greeting.

"H-hello?"

A voice that could have belonged to a man or a woman — impossible to tell — whispered through the receiver.

— Scared?

"WAAAAGH!"

Jong-woo finally hurled the phone and bolted out the door.

Convinced that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hesitating for even a second would get him caught by something, he screamed his lungs out the whole way down the stairs and made a mad dash straight to the parking lot.

And just as he was climbing into his car—

Someone clapped a hand firmly on his shoulder.

"WAAAAAGH!"

Jong-woo shrieked and pitched forward. While he crouched with both hands clamped over his head, trembling like a leaf, a voice spoke up above him.

"Have you lost your mind?"

That insufferably arrogant old-man diction…! Jong-woo peeled his hands away and jerked his head up.

It was Rembrary. Rembrary stood looking down at him, a bag of bread clutched tight against his chest.

"Yeon-woo? Yeon-woo? Is that really you, Yeon-woo?"

At Jong-woo's frantic questioning, Rembrary scrunched up his face and tightened his jaw, wearing the expression of a man thinking, Is this one actually insane?

It really is Yeon-woo! Only Yeon-woo could be that rude!

Only then did Jong-woo relax, letting out a long, relieved groan of aigoo, aigoo.

"Jong-woo. The way you're acting, you really do look like a madman."

"So there actually comes a day when I'm glad to see you."

"?"

At Rembrary's nonsensical remark, Jong-woo wiped his face with both hands and pulled himself up.

"Something happened."

"What?"

"I saw something I shouldn't have."

"Saw something? Like what?"

"I bought pizza for you all and went to the dorm, and there was nobody there. So I called Jungseo, and I could hear the ringtone ringing somewhere — but no phone. I hung up, and then the phone started calling me. I picked up, and this weird voice —"

He'd apparently been on the verge of tears. Jong-woo rubbed at his eyes and muttered a hoarse curse under his breath.

"You've been giving me so much grief lately that I've got nothing left, you little brat."

Then, rummaging in his pocket, he asked, "By the way, what's with the sudden bag of bread?" — and his eyes went round as saucers.

"The bread's from my senior, Lim Yu-han… Why are you suddenly making a face like that?"

"Your phone!"

"Huh?"

"Damn it — I threw it and ran."

The moment he confirmed the phone was gone, it was as if everything from a moment ago crashed back into reality. Jong-woo's face drained to a sickly gray.

Rembrary watched him grow paler and paler, then offered the one thing guaranteed to make it worse.

"Oh — Jungseo and the others have all been home this whole time. I just stepped out for a moment. And my senior came by here earlier, to the front of the parking lot, and left again."

The moment he finished speaking, Rembrary didn't hesitate. He drew out his own phone and dialed Jong-woo's number.

Jong-woo flailed his hands wildly, insisting he needed time to prepare himself mentally, but Rembrary showed not the slightest trace of fear.

As they waited, a low heh-heh-heh of laughter drifted through the receiver.

"Where are you?"

But the moment Rembrary laced his words with Divine Power, that unsettling laughter cut off — and the caller hung up first.

Jong-woo asked blankly.

"Who were you just talking to?"

Rembrary shrugged and started walking ahead.

The phone had been left tucked neatly by the door of the dorm.

The pizza was never found, and Jong-woo went home declaring he was replacing his phone on the spot.

The members, understanding nothing, shouted "What's wrong with him?" — but Rembrary answered that he didn't know either.

Still, his expression as he entered the bedroom was grave.

Lying on the bed, Rembrary thought back to the letter with the box cutter that had once been sent to him.

At the time, it had been the sort of thing a human could plausibly do, so he had let it go. But after today's incident, he found himself doubting that.

What Song-woo had gone through was unmistakably the work of an Evil Spirit. He had no idea where ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the thing had collided with one to bring it about, though.

Could the earlier incident have been the work of an Evil Spirit too?

And if so — was one of them roaming somewhere inside the apartment complex ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right now?

He had made promises to Yeomra, after all. For now, Rembrary texted the matter to Sa Gam-jae.

The next day.

Perhaps yesterday's shock had been too much — Jong-woo called in sick.

Sa Gam-jae announced that Jong-woo was resting with a cold and body aches, but Rembrary was absolutely certain that wasn't the case. He was probably off getting his phone replaced.

After all, when Rembrary had picked it up and handed it back to him yesterday, he'd reacted as if he'd been handed a giant cockroach.

At any rate, thanks to Jong-woo's sick leave, it was Sa Gam-jae — not the usual face — who accompanied them to the Dating Process set that day.

Granted, the sight of Sa Gam-jae's face so startled the VJ that his soul nearly left his body, but after that, the day proceeded in its usual order.

In the car, the VJ handed Rembrary the day's script and walked him through the setup.

"The flower of two-timing is getting caught. Today, Woo Yeon-woo will happen to discover Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon mid-date. It's a heart-wrenching scene, so you're deeply, terribly sad. So — you look at the two of them with a heartbroken expression, then turn away and walk off, all alone."

Rembrary flipped past the first page of the script and asked.

"Then what do I need the script for? I just stand there staring, then turn around and leave. Is that not enough?"

"Ah — after you turn away sadly, you come back and get into a war of nerves with Shin Jo-woon."

"Cheating on someone, and shameless to boot."

The VJ burst out laughing.

Rembrary studied the script.

But there was something odd about the script.

Rembrary murmured the lines over to himself, then came across line 5 and turned to the VJ.

"What is this? Where did a father come from all of a sudden?"

"Ah, I told you, didn't I? We set up your characters at the start, but from then on the roles evolve based on the cast's personalities, your chemistry, viewer reactions, that kind of thing."

"I did hear something along those lines…"

"Well, after people saw you and Jang Tae-ri talking in the teaser, a surprising number of them read it as a father-in-law-versus-son-in-law dynamic. So that setting got added in."

Rembrary's eyes went wide. Father-in-law and son-in-law?

"Will I be meeting Tae-ri's father later on?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, line 5 was added with that day in mind."

The VJ seemed about to say more, but at that moment the car pulled up to the meeting spot.

Checking his wristwatch, the VJ said, "Off you go, then," and opened the van door for him personally.

As Rembrary climbed out, he heard murmurs all around a moment later — "Whoa, Woo Yeon-woo," "It's Woo Yeon-woo."

"They must be filming something over there. What is that? Some seriously weird variety show."

"Oh, probably. I saw Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon eating together a while ago."

Some of the onlookers even seemed to know what he was filming.

"Over that way," the VJ said, pointing in a direction, then lifted his camera with a "We're rolling from now."

Rembrary stood looking vaguely disgruntled, then started walking in the direction the VJ had indicated.

In previous shoots, the location had been fixed in advance, and he'd confirmed that Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon were already there before the cameras started.

Today, with nothing but a direction handed to him, the whole thing felt distinctly awkward.

Fortunately, before long Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri came into view. They were sitting at the terrace seating of a log-built café, sharing a meal in perfect harmony.

Rembrary's eyes swept rapidly over the plates of food. Dishes he had never seen before.

He felt a little wounded. It looked delicious. Extremely delicious.

Remembering that on the previous shoot, too, the two of them alone had gone off to a restaurant, Rembrary grew visibly sulky.

That sulking, disgruntled face turned out — unexpectedly — to make a remarkably convincing picture.

It looked exactly like a lover fuming with anger at the sight of their beloved being tender with someone else.

Woo Yeon-woo acts better than I expected, the VJ thought, marveling to himself.

Similar exclamations rippled through the onlookers.

"They said Woo Yeon-woo can't act. He's good, though?"

"Same in Dear God — it's just that he barely gets any lines. When he does deliver them, the atmosphere is no joke."

"Really? Wow, damn. I swore I'd never watch it — said I'd rather stare at a bouquet of roses planted on a donkey's backside — but I guess I'll check out a rerun."

The whispers around him would have been enough to break anyone's concentration, but Rembrary seemed utterly unaffected. Just as the script directed, he turned as if to leave for a moment — then, his expression hardening into a deep scowl, he pivoted and strode deliberately back toward Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri.

Thanks to the seating arrangement, Shin Jo-woon spotted him first. His face registered pure shock.

"Huh?"

"What?"

Jang Tae-ri twisted her upper body around to see what was going on, found Rembrary — and wore the same stunned look.

Their expressions were so vivid that the onlookers gasped in admiration all over again.

Even the non-actors on this show can really perform!

But Jang Tae-ri and Shin Jo-woon's shock was genuine. The two of them truly had no idea that Rembrary would be appearing.

What's more, they had already finished all their mandatory lines and were under the impression that filming was over.

And since the VJ following Rembrary had artfully tucked himself out of sight, Shin Jo-woon greeted Rembrary's fast-approaching stride casually, the same way he had back when he'd dragged him to the restaurant.

"Hey, piggy. Come sniffing around for more food again?"

Jang Tae-ri flared up at hearing Shin Jo-woon call ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her beloved Yeon-woo a pig, snapped back "He is not a pig!" — and rapped a cheerful tattoo on the seat beside her.

"Yeon-woo, sit here. Here, here, here."

At that display of affection, the crowd murmured in astonishment.

"They said it was a love triangle, but nobody's fighting?"

"It's a triangle, sure — but is it a rounded one?"

"Wow, holy crap, he just sat down like he owned the place…!"

Rembrary was no less flustered than they were, his eyes darting between Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri. What is this? What line did they get that made them both react like that all of a sudden?

While he stood there blinking in bewilderment, Shin Jo-woon smirked crookedly and teased him.

"You really are a glutton. You have an uncanny gift for showing up wherever food is. Keep this up and your belly's going to get as big as Tae-ri's whole head."

"Well, a belly the size of her head would be a positively adorable belly."

This was Rembrary's first time filming with both of them at once.

So once again, he misread the situation. So Shin Jo-woon and Jang Tae-ri's couple concept is this bickering, no-boundaries thing!

And Shin Jo-woon — he's deliberately flaunting the fact that he's closer to Tae-ri right now, is he?

Must be!

Having reached that efficient verdict, Rembrary smiled coldly and delivered his line.

"Isn't that what love is? If you can't even manage that much, you have no right to call yourself a lover."

"?"

"Can you not manage it, Shin Jo-woon?"

"…Well. I wouldn't exactly want Tae-ri's head attached to my stomach."

"Then what can you do for her, Shin Jo-woon?"

"Get you booked as a present she likes?"

"Tae-ri has terrible taste. Choosing a lover who can manage so little."

"Do we really have to keep going?"

The onlookers murmured among themselves.

"Whoa. So it was Shin Jo-woon who built this love triangle?"

"Did Shin Jo-woon gift Woo Yeon-woo to Jang Tae-ri?"

"Are they allowed to air this? That relationship chart feels a hundred and fifty years ahead of its time?"

< The End of Chapter 99: Behind the Story >