pop-up opens the full page instead of using template with div#modal-ready

i created a template with just this code:

<div id="modal-ready">
<?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
	<h1><?php the_field('title'); ?></h1>
	<div class="intro"><?php the_field('long_description'); ?></div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</div>

and have
<a class="modal-link" href="foo">
on what should open in the modal.
Plugin settings use

• default container ID
• default link class
• unchecked rest api
• checked disable native content wrapping

The modal opens the entire linked page, including the wp admin bar, inside the modal. The word “modal” doesn’t appear anywhere else in the templates. any ideas?