The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune — Episode 168
“Yeonjae!!”
“Ugh.”
The moment I opened my eyes, I barely caught the Fog as it came barreling into me.
“Hi, Angae.”
“Today's shoot was so good! It was so much fun!”
“Was it? That's a relief.”
“Yeonjae, you're seriously a genius! How do you time everything so perfectly?!”
“Thank you. Let's sit down first, okay?”
It took a while to calm the unusually excited Fog down enough to get it seated.
Today's Myeong-u bed commercial, unlike usual, had been filmed without immersing myself in any particular character.
Which meant, from the Fog's perspective, there had been no chance to see my energy outside of the dawn acting practice.
Then why is it this happy?
Stroking the Fog's head gently, I asked.
“You didn't get to see my energy during this shoot, did you?”
“Right! I didn't!”
“Then why are you so happy?”
“…?”
The Fog tilted its head.
“Because Yeonjae acted!”
“You like watching me act because it means you get to feast on my energy, though.”
“Huh? What are you talking about??”
Seeing the Fog so bewildered, I was the one thrown off now.
You're one to talk.
“I just like it because it's you doing it…?”
“…….”
I met those brown eyes, then quietly raised a hand.
“Really? Since when?”
“Huh? Since the beginning?”
“I see. I didn't know that.”
When I answered softly and stroked its head again, the Fog purred like a cat.
Watching it nuzzle its head against my palm, I said,
“Thank you for liking me, Angae.”
“Mm! But you like me too, Yeonjae!”
“That's true. I do like you.”
When I answered without a moment's hesitation, the Fog broke into a giggling grin.
A strange feeling washed over me.
I puzzled over why, and then realized—this was the first time I'd ever said I liked it out loud, without acting as the excuse.
“Yeonjae, your fingers are pretty too.”
“You're prettier.”
I watched the Fog fidgeting with my fingers.
……So that's how it is.
You're my first love.
“Angae.”
“Yeah?”
“I like you.”
“Me too!!”
Hearing the answer come back just as instantly, without a flicker of hesitation, I slowly felt the corners of my mouth lift.
Fine. Youkai or whatever else.
It doesn't matter anymore.
At this point, I had no spare energy left to care what the Fog actually was.
And once I accepted it, my heart felt even lighter.
After that, I chatted with the Fog about nothing in particular for a long while before asking,
“By the way, why are you wearing Baek Seojin's appearance today?”
“Huh? Just because?”
“You usually go with Bihyuk or Seong Ijun. Or Jinbae-hyung.”
Apparently my unusually frequent questions struck the Fog as odd, because it furrowed its brow. In those narrowed eyes I could read the thought, Why is he asking this?
“I wasn't thinking anything…. Why? Do you dislike this human? Want me to switch to someone else?”
“I'd prefer that, if you're okay with it.”
There was, after all, a physical difference between men and women.
Whenever I hugged the Fog while it wore Baek Seojin's or Park Haeun's appearance, I'd feel an odd discomfort—despite knowing full well it was the Fog.
“Got it! Is there a human you want?”
Put on the spot, I had no idea what to say.
I deliberated for a moment, then simply shook my head.
“No, you can stay as you are. You're you either way.”
“…….”
After a brief silence, the Fog grinned and shifted its form.
It was the appearance of a four-year-old child, one it used to wear often.
“Yeonjae, hold me!”
I hadn't even answered, and yet—what was with this kid.
Still, I didn't scold it, and quietly gathered it into my arms.
The warmth in my embrace was toasty and soft.
Even that distinctive sweet baby smell was exactly the same.
I'm sleepy.
I hadn't thought I was that tired.
But today, for some reason, my eyelids kept drooping.
“Yeonjae. I really, really like you….”
I remember smiling faintly at that voice drifting through my blurring vision.
And just like that, I fell asleep without realizing it.
“—Sir. Actor-nim!”
The voice that had been whispering cautiously at my ear suddenly swelled.
It rang out as loud as thunder, and my eyes snapped open.
What the—
I turned my head to find a worried-looking Jinbae-hyung standing beside the bed.
“I'm sorry. You weren't answering no matter how much I knocked, so I came in.”
“Ah….”
“Are you all right? Should we go to the hospital right away?”
“Sorry? Ahem.”
I'd been about to ask what on earth he meant, first thing in the morning—only to find my throat completely seized up.
Only then did I remember the Fog's warning that I'd wake up with a pretty bad case of body aches today.
Worse than I expected, actually.
Everything looked hazy. My eyelids wouldn't obey me, drooping shut again and again.
When I failed to give a proper answer and just mumbled, Jinbae-hyung said, “One moment,” and I heard him grab his car keys.
“Hyung, ahem. I'm not going to the hospital.”
“I'm sorry?”
“We have the cold medicine I bought to keep on hand, right? Give me that. I'll take it and just lie in bed for about two hours.”
“Actor-nim.”
“It's not that I don't want to go to the hospital. I know my own body, that's all. If I still, ahem, feel this bad in two hours, I'll go then.”
Jinbae-hyung hesitated for a long time before finally nodding with a deep sigh.
It was the sigh of a man who knew he couldn't win against me in the end.
But I can't exactly go outside without having done my acting practice either.
My condition was definitely worse than usual, but not so bad that I couldn't act at all.
If I lay here and half-immersed myself for a couple of hours, today's misfortune factors would all be gone.
When I held out my hand as if it were no big deal, Jinbae-hyung hesitated, then handed over the medicine.
“Then please rest. I'll stay beside you until you fall asleep, Actor-nim.”
“Sorry, but I'd like to be alone. Let's talk in exactly two hours. I'll come out to the living room.”
He was such a sensitive soul that I worried he might take it the wrong way.
So I chose my words as gently as I could, but between my voice and all, it came out rough.
Somehow, the more I say, the worse his expression gets.
“If you're not out in two hours, I'm coming straight in.”
“……Understood. If anything happens, call for me—even quietly.”
With an expression that clearly said he found the whole thing unsettling, Jinbae-hyung slowly closed the door behind him.
“Ahem.”
My throat really was in bad shape.
It was the classic pattern of body-ache muscle soreness.
Nothing worth exaggerating, and normally a good long sleep would fix it….
But I can't afford to say something that carefree.
Right now, misfortune factors were surely clinging to me in droves.
Do the work first, then rest.
As I searched for the character I could immerse into most easily in this state, I realized I hadn't even said a proper goodbye to the Fog.
Shame.
It wasn't the first time I'd fallen asleep while with the Fog.
Sometimes I'd returned straight to reality like now, and other times I'd still been there with it.
Either way, I knew now that I'd see it again tonight.
Then why do I miss it this much already?
It was my own emotion, yet it felt so strange.
“…….”
I stared blankly at the ceiling.
Angae. Are you watching right now?
“I miss you….”
A whisper with no expectation of an answer slipped from my lips.
And sure enough, no answer came.
“Yeonjae…! Eat this part. It's the best bit.”
“Thank you.”
I picked up the piece Seong Ijun pointed to with my chopsticks and put it in my mouth.
The moment the clean, delicate fish flesh touched my tongue, it melted away.
I froze for a second.
“……It really is good.”
I was surprised—it was even better than I'd expected.
Seong Ijun's face, which had been watching my reaction, lit up like a sunrise.
“That's a relief! Here, this part's good too!”
“Thank you. You eat some too, hyung.”
“I come here a lot, so… I've had plenty. You eat it all.”
“It's my first time here today. Come on, eat.”
Even with my prodding, Seong Ijun insisted I eat first.
I took out a fresh pair of chopsticks and transferred some fish to his bowl, but the moment I glanced away for a second, it was back on top of my bowl.
This guy really is stubborn too.
It seemed like everyone around me was stubborn.
Well, I was no exception, to be fair.
So that's why they say birds of a feather flock together.
I gave up repeating myself and obediently put the fish in my mouth. Delicious.
“How's being an action actor these days? Fun?”
“Yeah. It's manageable.”
“That's a relief! Tell me if the muscle aches get bad. I'll lend you the heat pad machine I have at home.”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, but since it's the one I use, you might feel weird about it, so I could—”
“Hyung, it's not weird at all. Eat your food first.”
I reined in Seong Ijun before he could go into overdrive.
Anyway, no matter how slowly he spoke, the moment it was about giving me something, his words sped up.
I soothed Seong Ijun, who couldn't focus on his meal at all because of all the talking.
“One more bite of that.”
“Mmm.”
With every word I said, I was force-feeding him, and it left me with an odd feeling.
It's like raising a kid.
Seong Ijun was two years older than me. Same age as Han Seyeong.
And yet, between his gentle face, his unhurried speech, and the way his eyes darted around checking on everyone whenever anything happened, he somehow felt like a younger brother.
He's the most similar to Angae, too.
I stared absently at Seong Ijun drinking water with that soft, innocent face.
“…? Is something on my face?”
“No. But hyung, have you ever thought about going to school?”
It was good that he was kind—but he was so hopelessly soft-hearted that it worried me.
Ever since we'd defined ourselves as “close,” he'd also had a tendency to cling to me to an almost extreme degree.
He really could use more friends.
I'd brought it up thinking school might help a little, but Seong Ijun shook his head at once.
“No. I…. I don't want to. I won't go.”
“Okay.”
“……I'm sorry, Yeonjae. You only said it because you were worried about me….”
“No, it was just an offhand remark.”
I shouldn't have brought it up. The kid's face had gone deathly pale.
I steered straight into another topic, but the pallor didn't fade.
In moments like this, it was better to just ask directly.
“Is there a reason you don't want to go to school? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”
“…….”
When I asked with a casual face, he hesitated for a long while before opening his mouth.
“Nothing really happened when I went to school in America, but when I transferred to Korea, something… happened. The kids in elementary school bullied me a lot….”
Ah. So that's what it was.
I nodded right away.
“I see. Thank you for telling me.”
I added that he didn't need to say any more.
Seong Ijun stayed quiet for a long time after that, then whispered softly as we were getting up from the table.
“Yeonjae. Thank you for listening to me. I'm sorry for bringing up something pointless.”
“There's no such thing as a pointless talk.”
“……Still, thank you. Talking with you is really fun.”
“Same here.”
A bright laugh came back in answer to mine.
Patting his back—that gentle face that reminded me so much of Angae—I thought: Don't worry.
If he needs friends, I'll just make them happen.
Where there's a problem, there's always a solution.
And so, the Project: Make Seong Ijun Some Friends began.