CH 17

My mom got out of the car. Her long hair was cut short, and she was wearing clothes that I had never seen her wear before. But the moment I saw her face, I couldn’t help but yell, “Mom!” I loved my mom the most. I really liked her.

When she heard me, she turned around with a broad smile on her face.

“Haeseo,” she called me as she spread her arms wide. My mom’s lips were stained with a deep pink like the balsam flowers on the side of the road. I shouted, “Mom!” once more and ran toward her.

…Then I stopped.

“Haeseo?” My mom tilted her head to the side, confused as to why I stopped. However, I couldn’t move a single step more from where I stood. My mom was my mom. She really was my mom, no doubt about it. I could feel my longing and love bursting out for her. My mom was… just herself.

She was my mom, but…

“Who are you?”

My mom’s eyes were black, with no whites.

* * *

The “villa with 101 rooms” project was ambitiously prepared by the entertainment specialty cable channel, Fun○V, for the coming summer. I heard that they used the same format as a successful television program from a similar, rival channel, ○Channel.

I thought that this would then just be a knock-off show, no matter how popular it became. But since the professionals of the industry said that this was a surefire way of success, as an amateur, I couldn’t say anything back to that.

They really must have prepared the show with ambition, since there was a rumor going around that they invested a colossal amount of funds. I guess it was a given since there was word that they bought an entire island for filming this. In my opinion, I thought that the news that the company bought an abandoned villa and renovated it spread out of proportion. However, that in itself was a huge investment of money.

As one can tell from the “101 rooms” in its title, this project was based on the urban legend about the mansion with 101 doors, presently widespread on the internet. To summarize what I heard from a staff member, they fused this popular urban legend with the escape room concept, spreading widely among the younger generation.

“Remember when there was that time when mystery and detective stories were popular? Just think of this as the horror version. Ghosts will kill you if you don’t solve this puzzle. Isn’t that thrilling?” I still remember the staff member’s eyes, twinkling with the conviction that this project was bound to succeed.

Honestly, it wasn’t a bad combination. A villa with 101 rooms—riddled with mysteries— the shadow of death looming over the unwitting cast members, and the tension of being unable to escape unless they unearthed the secret of the house. The problem was how to plan and stage those things.

In any case, the rumor that the broadcasting company bought an entire island and the fact that the show was based on the urban legend already made a lot of people excited to watch the show. And so, there was a silent battle of wits on who the cast members would be. There seemed to be a lot of negotiations and items exchanged between agencies and the broadcast company to put their agents on the show.

Then Hyehyun Ham, who told me all of this, asked, looking puzzled, “Haeseo, how did you get invited?”

My experience was near nil, so I couldn’t even say that I was ever active as a celebrity. My recording room story was only remembered in Yeonseon’s name. Fame was everything in this industry. If the public couldn’t remember your name, no matter how talented, you would disappear. Here, malice and rivalry were considered better than disinterest.

In any case, Yeonseon’s extreme fans probably remembered hearing about me. However, they wouldn’t remember my name because Yeonseon continued to call me his beloved colleague throughout his career. Unlike Yeonseon, who truly wished for my happiness, his fans remembered me in a different way.

I was the guy who almost blocked Yeonseon Ham’s debut.

…The evil friend who blocked Yeonseon’s way forward, the bad b*stard who used the kind Yeonseon to his advantage, and last but not least… the b*stard who killed Yeonseon Ham. Well, it wasn’t an exaggeration.

Fortunately, the person who invited me to appear wasn’t one who remembered me in that way. They said that they heard my song once and hoped that I would be one of the show’s cast members. If I ever considered returning to this line of work, how about considering coming on this show? They persuaded me with their relatively plain diction.

Since it came by email, of course, I had no idea what their face, voice, or writing looked like. I thought it was highly likely that it was a scam, but I decided not to think too hard about it after seeing the title of the project proposal attached to the email. “101 rooms”—that was reason enough for me to appear on the show.

Hyehyun frowned when I asked him if companies invited people to appear on shows by email these days. He replied that via phone or manager were still commonplace. They did send by email sometimes, but for short-term projects like the show I was offered, the cast was usually selected from the staff’s professional network, so casting was usually done by phone call. His answer didn’t deviate much from my general knowledge.