The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Chapter 182

“Yeon-jae. You…”

Jung-hyun hyung sighed deeply.

“Do you really think so? That you would have lived a worthless life without me?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

I suddenly got scared by his serious expression.

Just as I was about to apologize, thinking I might have upset him, Jung-hyun hyung quickly raised his hand.

“Yeon-jae. I’m not angry, and there’s no need to apologize.”

“…Okay.”

“But I’m really upset.”

Upset?

“Really… I’m so upset I could cry.”

At first glance, it sounded like he was whining, but his voice was incredibly bitter.

‘Why is he upset?’

As I hesitated, thinking I might have missed something, Jung-hyun hyung continued speaking.

“Yeon-jae. Did you say that to make me happy?”

“…? What are you talking about?”

“That you would have lived a worthless life without me.”

Looking at him trying hard to smile, I asked again, puzzled.

“No, I just said it because it’s true… Did that make you happy?”

“No, it made me upset. Extremely upset.”

So why is that upsetting?

Seeing my puzzled expression, Jung-hyun hyung sighed.

“Yeon-jae. I’m not angry, so don’t be scared. Let’s go through this step by step.”

“Okay.”

“You know I like you, right? A lot?”

I nodded immediately.

“And you like me too, right?”

“Yes. I like you.”

I answered without hesitation and quickly added,

“I like you a lot too.”

Even with my clumsy words, Jung-hyun hyung smiled.

“Yeah. I like you a lot too. Now, let’s think the other way around. How would you feel if I said to you, ‘I would have lived a worthless life without you’?”

His tone was gentle, as if he were trying to comfort me, but my confusion only grew.

“Why would you be worthless without me…?”

How could he say something like that?

Unable to understand, I frowned.

“It’s just an example.”

“But that scenario doesn’t make sense. You were living happily even before you met me, so what does it matter to you?”

“Then, were you not happy before you met me?”

I answered his careful question immediately.

“No.”

“…”

Seeing him close his mouth as if he had nothing to say, I realized my mistake.

“Oh, of course, thanks to the director at the orphanage, I lived more than I deserved. I had three meals a day and went to school because of them. I’m really grateful for that.”

I still visit the orphanage every month to help out, trying to repay that debt, even just a little.

But being thankful for not starving to death and living a ‘meaningful life’ were two different things.

If I hadn’t met Jung-hyun hyung and started acting, I would still be living a life desperately avoiding misfortune.

I wouldn’t have been able to get close to the people around me, worried that I might not be able to shake off today’s misfortune.

I wouldn’t have even dreamed of the life I have now.

With Jin-bae hyung always by my side, Bi-hyuk chattering away, and everyone around me and the fans who cherish me.

I could enjoy this luxury all thanks to the person in front of me.

“Thanks to you, I realized I like acting, and I even have fans who like me.”

“Yeon-jae. The fans like you because of you. It has nothing to do with me. Do you think Byeon likes you because you’re friends with Jung-hyun Lee?”

“Of course not.”

I still didn’t know why Byeon liked me, but I knew it had nothing to do with Jung-hyun hyung.

When I agreed straightforwardly, his voice grew louder.

“Exactly! What you’re enjoying now is all because of your own efforts. You earned it all by working hard.”

“Yes. I know that.”

“Then why…?”

Staring into his eyes, which seemed to ask what the problem was, I responded.

“It’s a separate issue from my efforts. I’m talking about the ‘opportunity’ you gave me.”

“…”

“I don’t think everything I have now is all because of you. There’s also Jin-bae hyung and many others who have helped me. And, as you said, I worked hard too.”

But anyone can work hard. The important thing is the opportunity.

“If you hadn’t encouraged me to act again, I wouldn’t have even tried. That’s why I said I would have lived a worthless life without you.”

Of course, I might have gotten a chance to act even if it wasn’t for him.

But that’s something I couldn’t know for sure now, and anyway, I started acting because of Jung-hyun hyung.

‘Why is hyung upset?’

What part of my statement, which no one could deny, made him so upset?

I was full of questions, but I decided to comfort him first.

Seeing him with a hurt expression as if he had been stabbed by a knife, I spoke.

“I’m sorry. If I knew it would upset you, I wouldn’t have said it so lightly.”

“No, don’t apologize. I just…”

Jung-hyun hyung was silent for a long time.

After quietly staring at the floor for a long while, he asked.

“How old were you when we first met?”

“Um, I had just turned 13.”

Though it was a sudden question, I answered readily.

He chewed over my answer in silence, then whispered softly.

“I’m upset, Yeon-jae.”

If I hadn’t been focusing on him, I would have missed his tiny voice.

Just as I was about to ask why he was upset, he spoke first.

Jung-hyun hyung raised his head.

“I’m upset that I couldn’t meet you sooner.”

“…”

“I’m really upset that you weren’t happy for those 13 years.”

His eyes were filled with agony.

Meeting his always gentle and kind eyes, I clicked my tongue.

‘I can’t relax.’

Should I put a tracker on him or something?

‘How can someone be so kind?’

I was scared he might vouch for someone later.

I had many worries, but I held his hand for now.

“But I’m happy now because I’m with you.”

“…”

“The days before don’t matter to me.”

Saying I would have lived a worthless life without him meant that my life before meeting him was worthless.

In other words, everything that happened before I turned 13 was meaningless.

‘There’s no need to be troubled by worthless things.’

Looking into his kind eyes, I resolved again.

I wouldn’t dwell on foolish things like what had already happened.

So, we held hands for a long time.

Until we heard the staff say through the tent that they were ready to start filming.

—

“Yeon-jae. This is fake blood. If you press this part, it’ll burst, okay?”

“Yes.”

Lee Jung-hyun watched as Lee Yeon-jae listened to the staff’s explanation.

He probably thought he was hiding it well, but Jung-hyun could see it all.

The fear that a mistake of his might ruin the shoot.

‘It’s better than before, though…’

It was different from the face he saw during the filming of ‘Butterflies Perched on the Old Tree’.

He was much better than back then, but there was still something unchanged.

Suppressing the frustration that had built up since their conversation, Jung-hyun sighed.

‘Hah, I can’t let this go.’

He didn’t have the leisure to wait, thinking it would get better someday.

Jung-hyun went straight to find Jin-bae.

“Jin-bae.”

The gaze focused on Yeon-jae turned to him.

“Yes, Mr. Lee.”

“Are you free after today’s shoot? I want to talk. Without Yeon-jae knowing.”

“…Without the actor knowing? Is something wrong?”

Seeing the other person’s face turn worried in an instant, he spoke.

“You know what the doctor said when Yeon-jae was frequently visiting the hospital, right?”

“…”

“I couldn’t ask back then because it wasn’t my place to interfere, but I can’t hold back anymore. Tell me everything. All the test results.”

It wasn’t an emotion-driven statement.

Jung-hyun knew. No matter how much he cherished that child, he was clearly an outsider, neither a blood relative nor a guardian. But…

‘If it weren’t for you, I would have lived a worthless life.’

Yeon-jae was a kind and good child.

A kind child who shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts.

“I want to know. No, I need to know.”

After hearing those words, he felt a responsibility.

Seeing Jung-hyun’s serious face, Jin-bae hesitated for a moment before nodding.

—

“Hey, Horn. If today’s experiment goes well, let’s have something delicious with hyung. Hang in there.”

“I told you not to call me Horn!”

Horn replied irritably but waved to Kang Seok with a smile.

Then, he immediately entered the laboratory.

Inside the lab stood a dozen unfamiliar people.

Horn made a bored face as he looked at the adults guarding themselves against him.

[“H Project, experiment number 433 begins.”]

As soon as the voice came from the speaker attached to the ceiling, Horn changed his posture.

He took out a gun from his bosom and lunged at the opponents.

Moving swiftly among the people, Horn’s hands moved quickly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Without hesitation, the gunshots continued, and the people fell with groans.

The staff watching through the camera were impressed.

‘He’s really good…’

Horn, or rather Lee Yeon-jae, was much more physically capable than they had thought.

‘Honestly, I didn’t expect him to be good at action scenes.’

Everyone knew Lee Yeon-jae was good at acting, but at 15 years old, expecting him to be good at action

scenes seemed unreasonable.

Yet, surprisingly, Lee Yeon-jae was good at action scenes too.

[“Horn. Don’t just shoot; you need to make them explode.”]

“Geez, I know.”

Horn snapped irritably at the voice from above.

Rolling to avoid an attack, Horn snapped his fingers.

The people who had been shot fell, exploding one after another.

‘At this rate, we might not even need a stuntman.’

Stuntmen were scheduled to continue the shooting after Lee Yeon-jae’s part.

However, watching Lee Yeon-jae move powerfully and naturally as if suspended by wires, the staff were mesmerized.

At that moment, a person who had missed Horn by snapping his fingers choked his neck from behind.

“Ugh.”

To make matters worse, he dropped the gun he was holding.

Horn’s eyes moved quickly as he struggled to breathe with his neck choked.

There was only one person left choking his neck.

Horn reached out, trying to overcome the situation, but couldn’t reach the gun that had fallen far away.

“Ugh—!”

Horn made a sound as if he were about to lose his breath.

The person choking Horn’s neck looked up at the ceiling.

“Hey, should we stop now…?”

The death row inmate, assigned for the experiment, looked at the employees’ eyes who were watching.

The speaker on the ceiling remained silent.

It seemed they were discussing whether to stop the experiment or not.

‘No.’

Horn gritted his teeth.

‘If I finish well today, I can have dinner with hyung.’

Lately, experiments hadn’t been going well, so it had been a long time since he had dinner with hyung.

He couldn’t miss this rare opportunity.

As if he were about to lose consciousness, veins popped up in Horn’s temples. He raised his hand.

Then, he bit down hard on his own arm.

Crunch.

His tender flesh tore under his sharp teeth.

Horn held up his bleeding arm.

Then he immediately rubbed his arm against the face of the person choking his neck.

“Ugh!”

The death row inmate, whose eyes and nose got smeared with Horn’s blood, let go.

Horn didn’t miss the moment and snapped his fingers.

With a crisp finger snap, the attacker’s face exploded.

Since it wasn’t a deep bullet wound but just blood on the skin, the attacker died screaming in pain.

“Huff… Huff…”

Horn sat on the floor for a moment, catching his breath.

The surroundings were a sea of blood.

“…”

His arm was the same.

His vision was filled with his hand covered in blood.

Then, the thick door opened, and Kang Seok entered.

“Our Horn! You did amazing today! You’re the best!”

Seeing Kang Seok’s bright face, Horn smiled.

“Was there ever a day I wasn’t the best?”

“Haha! That’s the Horn I know. What do you want to eat? Hyung will get you anything.”

Horn hid his hand behind his back while answering the satisfied Kang Seok.

Neither of them paid any attention to the bleeding wound on Horn’s arm.