Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 93

< 93. The Process of Love Changing >

What kind of messed up mind plans something like this?

Rembrary’s eyes widened.

The camera beside him captured every bit of that expression.

In that manner, photos, light, and text systematically categorized the characters one by one.

Rembrary, wealthy dating man, wealthy dating woman—these three formed a team for a three-way relationship.

Still, these three were relatively better off.

The ‘transfer’ team was even more complicated than the ‘three-way’ team.

The perpetrator in the transfer team was a top male actor, whose current girlfriend was a foreigner, and the girlfriend he intended to transfer to was his longtime fan.

The two teams that Jongwoo had grouped as ‘foreigner dating team’ and ‘fan-celebrity team’ turned out to be one and the same.

“Except for the contract dating team, everything else is massively twisted.”

As the flickering lights and photos disappeared, Jongwoo, who had been watching the scene from afar, approached, grumbling.

“I don’t know if we should even do this.”

“Can’t we just not do it, even now?”

“The CEO seems completely hooked on this concept.”

“CEO Lim’s ideology is atrocious.”

In the meantime, the door opened, and two cameramen and several other staff members entered, grinning.

“Hello, were you all surprised?”

One of the staff members approached Rembrary and Jongwoo, shook hands, and said they wanted to capture the surprise realistically.

“I figured as much.”

Jongwoo said with a slightly aggrieved voice, and the staff member led them to the real meeting place.

They went up two more floors, and the people from the photos were already gathered.

It seemed Rembrary and Jongwoo weren’t the only ones shocked by the surprise announcement; everyone else was trying to laugh it off coolly with confused eyes.

“It’s Woo Yeonwoo.”

“One of my two legs [a common expression of admiration].”

“Wow, it’s Woo Yeonwoo.”

Then, upon seeing Rembrary, everyone marveled and said something.

In particular, the wealthy woman who was supposed to be two-timing Rembrary, and the president man who was famous in the entertainment industry, stared intently.

Both of their eyes were full of interest and playfulness.

“Please take good care of our Yeonwoo.”

Jongwoo bowed deeply, and the other participants’ managers also bowed in response, and the participants greeted each other, and time passed in a daze.

Even as they finished greeting each other, another participant appeared, and as they finished greeting that participant, another one appeared, so by the time the PD [Production Director] who had planned this bizarre show finally appeared, nearly 40 minutes had passed.

“They must have scheduled the meeting times separately.”

Jongwoo muttered very quietly in an exhausted voice. But even in this situation, his expression was as bright as could be.

Rembrary had thought that only celebrities smiled for the public, but seeing Jongwoo, he clicked his tongue.

‘Come to think of it, I also tried to smile as much as possible when I appeared before people. Is it the same principle?’

Meanwhile, the PD, who had organized the chaotic atmosphere, grabbed a wireless microphone with the volume turned down and said, “Ah, ah,” clearing her throat.

Instantly, the surroundings became quiet. As everyone focused on her, the PD awkwardly bowed left and right and began to speak.

“Hello, I’m PD Song Yoonbi. I’m sorry for taking up so much time from the first meeting. Did you all wait long?”

On the surface, she seemed very cautious. It was hard to believe that she had planned such a scandalous show with that timid face.

Even as she gave a few more polite greetings, she seemed hesitant, as if she was watching others’ reactions.

“I think many of you were surprised to hear the setup. Actually, there are already too many shows that show exciting romance. It’s cliché. Viewers now know too well that virtual dating programs are virtual, so they can’t easily immerse themselves. So, we’re trying to take it a step further and show the process of how feelings change between lovers.”

But as she began to explain the concept of this program, Rembrary sincerely wanted to knock on her head.

“Oh, and there are also situation settings in addition to the relationship chart. President Jang Taeri is very wealthy, right? Relaxed, and President Shin Jo-un is in a similar environment, right? In other words, they’re on a similar level, and anyone would say, ‘Wow, they look good together.’ But because this relationship is too stable, President Jang Taeri starts to want something newer, fresher, and more stimulating. That’s why she started meeting Woo Yeonwoo.”

‘The concept is certainly solid,’ Rembrary thought, blankly opening his mouth.

He’d never even been in a relationship, and suddenly he was in a love triangle romance. Moreover, from the explanation, it seemed like the other side was dating first, and he was joining in later.

As he stood there blankly, he heard laughter from beside him.

Rembrary closed his mouth and turned his head.

President Shin Jo-un was looking back and forth between Rembrary and President Jang Taeri with an expression that seemed to be holding back laughter.

They said entertainment company presidents were more popular than celebrities among entertainment insiders. His face as he held back laughter and his relaxed demeanor were like a real-life version of the photos that Seonwoo-sil had diligently photoshopped.

But that laughter seemed like a sneer. ‘Would there even be a woman in the world who would cheat on me?’ Or, ‘Well, that’s why it’s a show,’ was the kind of smile he seemed to be making.

On the other hand, President Jang Taeri looked quite proud. She seemed satisfied that she could legally pretend to date two handsome men.

Jongwoo had said that playing the role of someone who two-times was easy to get hate, and he didn’t know who would take on this role, but President Jang Taeri didn’t seem to have any such concerns. Was it because she wasn’t a professional celebrity?

“The transfer team’s setup is this. Top star Hwayeol is dating Caitlin, who is popular on foreign variety shows these days, but he’s getting tired because it’s difficult to communicate in any language. He loves her, but they can’t communicate. In the meantime, Hyeji, who has been a fan of Hwayeol since his unknown days and knows everything about him, starts to catch his eye.”

Rembrary took his eyes off Jang Taeri and looked at the three people standing side by side on the opposite side. One was a healthy-looking beauty with red hair and green eyes, who seemed to be Caitlin.

Next to her was a male actor whose face even Rembrary had seen on posters a few times, and a woman whose face was as red as a beet was standing about two steps away from the actor. It was obvious at a glance who was the fan and who was the actor.

The PD’s gaze briefly turned to the contract dating team.

The two of them were wondering what kind of scandalous setup they had, and they were waiting for an explanation with shining eyes.

“Um… the two of you are literally in a contract relationship, so you need each other, but there’s not a single bit of affection between you. I’ll tell you the other details later.”

However, unexpectedly, there wasn’t much to them.

The two participants were taken aback, but the PD really ended the explanation there and winked at the staff.

Then, a staff member who received the signal appeared with a basket containing small camcorders.

“These are self-cams. To bring the reality to life, I’d like you all to record your interpretations of the roles you’ve been assigned in the form of video diaries starting today. Assume you’re in a relationship in the situation I just mentioned, but you don’t necessarily have to record about your relationship. Just comfortably record your daily lives. We’re planning to create characters and lines based on those recordings. We might change the relationship chart based on viewer reactions. If there are any useful scenes, we’ll broadcast the self-cam footage as ‘inner thoughts’ in the middle of the dating scenes.”

***

“What’s a video diary?”

After the meeting, as soon as Rembrary got into the van and closed the door, he asked Jongwoo.

Since Sagamjae was driving, Jongwoo rummaged through his phone and showed him a scene from a movie.

One of the characters was explaining, “Today is [date], and I’m feeling [emotion]…” when suddenly a zombie appeared and tore him apart.

“It’s like this format. Except for the zombie part.”

“Ah. I get it.”

“Just think of it as writing a diary with your mouth instead of your hand. More than that…”

Jongwoo dragged out the end of his sentence and scratched his head anxiously.

“I still don’t think this show is right for you.”

Jongwoo groaned and covered his head.

Even if he thoroughly practiced and participated in the show, he was afraid of what that mouth would say.

It was because PD Song Yoonbi had openly asked Jongwoo before leaving after the meeting.

– I’ll cut out any problematic scenes during editing, so I’d appreciate it if the manager didn’t get involved in the self-cams as much as possible. I want to hear Woo Yeonwoo’s voice.

– I don’t think that’s a good idea…

– It’s okay. Viewers these days are smart. If you go out with too much of a packaged image, they’ll feel distant.

As he watched Rembrary look at the self-cam with curiosity and manipulate it to show his face, Jongwoo sighed and checked the thick file he had received with the filming schedule.

Meanwhile.

Rembrary seemed to like this task, and he quickly turned on the camera and manipulated it to show his face, already starting to record.

***

The weather is hot and humid today.

I saw her for the first time. The woman who will two-time me, or rather, I don’t know that in the setup. I saw the woman I will date.

She looks rich. Maybe she’ll buy me pizza.

I also saw the other man she loves.

He looks rich. Maybe he’ll buy me pizza.

Come to think of it, do we really need to be in a love triangle?

They’re both rich. If they combine, they’ll be even richer.

I hope they adopt me the day after they get married.

It would be a perfect picture.

***

“Erase it!”

Jongwoo snatched the self-cam that Rembrary was holding so dearly, shouting with a pale face.

“Didn’t you hear what the PD said?”

Rembrary frowned and asked, but Jongwoo shook his head frantically and fumbled with the camera.

“No, no matter how well they edit it, this isn’t it. Where is there even a scene to edit well here!”

But whatever kind of camera it was, it didn’t have a function to delete videos.

Jongwoo grabbed his head with both hands and screamed, twisting his body.

“I told you to write a diary, why are you revealing your ambition!”

“Shouldn’t you reveal your inner thoughts in a diary?”

“Y-You crazy bastard, your inner thoughts aren’t about a love triangle, but about a con artist aiming for wealth!”

Ugh, Jongwoo screamed and twisted his body again, but Rembrary reached out and quickly took back the self-cam.

***

At that very moment when Jongwoo was suffering.

Shin Jo-un and PD Song Yoonbi, who had checked the video that was being broadcast in real time, were laughing so hard that they couldn’t even speak.

Shin Jo-un laughed for a long time, then frowned as if his stomach was cramping and admitted.

“The PD was right. I’m glad we cast Woo Yeonwoo.”

“You said you wanted to maximize the buzz as much as possible. Woo Yeonwoo is at the cheat key level these days when it comes to raising buzz.”

“That’s right. He’s a funny person. He also likes pizza.”

Shin Jo-un smiled and handed over the promised documents. It was a document related to production cost support and sponsorship details.

“Please take good care of us. If the buzz increases, please keep inviting our kids as guests.”

“Of course. You even introduced me to President Jang Taeri.”

“Ah, that was easy. She was originally a fan of Woo Yeonwoo.”

“Ah.”

“So, Taeri said there’s a line she definitely wants you to include.”

“Oh… after filming starts?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”