Chapter 108
Chapter 108
Why Are You Doing This to Me?
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Until what age did our dear mama’s boy, Yu Yeon-seo, cry for his mommy?
He tried his best to laugh off the situation, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. His limbs trembled, and a chill ran down his spine. No wonder my ears have been bothering me lately. He never imagined this was the cause. He tried to think of something else, praying for it to pass.
[Yeon-seo.]
“What!”
He snapped as the auditory hallucination returned. The sound echoed slightly in the spacious house. And, of course, there was no reply. Something hot surged up from his chest. He started to wonder if this was because he hadn’t coughed up enough blood, or if his emotions were simply overwhelming him.
‘Wow, why is this happening to me…?’
Yu Yeon-seo collapsed to the floor, clamping his hands over his ears. Then, he pressed his head to the floor and curled into a ball. He hadn’t done it consciously; it felt as natural as an ingrained habit. He supposed it was a posture the original owner of this body often took.
[Why did you do it?]
“…What?”
Why on earth are you doing this to me? You’ve tormented me to your heart’s content all this time.
[Because of you.]
What is? What’s because of me?
Even though he was curled up with his ears tightly covered, the voice whispered as if it were right beside him. He took a deep breath. Or rather, he gasped for air, looking as though he might stop breathing at any moment. He felt like he was on the verge of being swept away by the original owner’s emotions.
“What the….”
After a few minutes of this, the ringing that felt like it was piercing his brain faded, and the figure hanging from the chandelier had vanished. His body went limp, and he stared blankly around the house.
‘Fuck.’
And then he lost consciousness.
In the end, Yu Yeon-seo, who had passed out on the living room floor, woke up there the next morning.
“You don’t look so good.”
“Oh, I’m just a little tired.”
As usual, he was in his brother’s car, who had come to pick him up, pressing firmly on his temples. As the memory synchronization progressed, the visions became more frequent, but if he could just endure them, he was fine. But now, an unexpected problem had arisen, making things complicated.
‘And I have to go to that house again in this state….’
He’d also realized that this inexplicable hand tremor worsened when he was with his family. He was now certain this was why the original Yu Yeon-seo had always been so on edge around them and eventually stopped attending family gatherings.
‘But it couldn’t have been this bad before….’
No matter how much he wanted to hide it from his family, if it had been this severe, he would have gone to the hospital long ago.
<As I mentioned before, it is likely a physical reaction caused by the conflict between you and the real Yu Yeon-seo, Master.>
So, the hand tremors and other symptoms are this severe because of the clash between the soul and the body….
‘Ah, I picked the wrong body.’
Not that I had a choice in the first place… He sighed and looked out the window. Yu Eun-ho glanced at his younger brother, then spoke as if nothing was wrong.
“I heard you went to the hospital.”
“How did you know?”
“…I heard about it during my own check-up.”
In truth, he’d had his secretary look into it, but Yu Eun-ho lied without a change in expression. Yu Yeon-seo accepted it without suspicion. It made sense; office workers had annual health check-ups.
[If you mean the young master… there were no particular issues. He had symptoms of anemia, but nothing serious.]
[But the man who appeared to be his aide looked quite troubled. Is he all right now?]
The tests showed nothing, so what could Im Seung-hyeon have been so worried about…? Yu Eun-ho frowned.
“It was nothing.”
“Really?”
Having arrived at their grandfather’s house, Yu Eun-ho parked the car and let out a small sigh. Before getting out, he stared intently at his younger brother.
“What is it?”
“…”
“Is there something else you want to say?”
Yu Yeon-seo felt a pang of guilt and spoke first. Just as Yu Eun-ho, who had been staring at his brother’s face, seemed to make a decision, he said, “Actually…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence. Park Seon-woo was knocking on the passenger-side window, grinning brightly.
“Hyung!”
“Hey, wait a second.”
Can’t he see his elders are trying to have an important conversation? So clueless. Sensing the gravity in his brother’s expression, Yu Yeon-seo waved his hand at Park Seon-woo, silently telling him to shut up.
“Why aren’t you getting out, hyung! It’s been a while!”
“Ah, that kid…”
Maybe this was why the original owner kept his distance from Park Seon-woo. Yu Yeon-seo’s brow furrowed. Yu Eun-ho let out a helpless chuckle.
“Never mind. We’ll talk later.”
What, I guess it wasn’t that important. Yu Yeon-seo got out of the car. As the two brothers stepped out, Park Seon-woo’s phone began to chime noisily with the sound of a camera shutter.
“Why are you taking our picture?”
“To post on my account.”
“And our permission?”
“You guys are public figures, so it’s fine to show your faces. Look, it came out great.”
The two brothers, stepping out of the luxury sedan, were captured as if in a scene from a drama. Oh, I’ll give him that. Yu Yeon-seo nodded.
“You’ve really become a full-fledged influencer.”
“That’s basic.”
Park Seon-woo’s fingers moved quickly as he typed up a post for his personal social media. His eyes still fixed on his phone, he said.
“But why does Yeon-seo hyung’s face look like that? Did something happen?”
If even Park Seon-woo could notice, then pretty much the whole family would be able to tell. Yu Yeon-seo stroked his chin.
Truthfully, he didn’t want to go inside. He kept his gaze as far away from the annex as possible and quickly reached the main house’s entrance.
“I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“Really? Is work busy…? Auntie isn’t the type to work you to the bone, is she? With you, she’d probably say, ‘Do whatever you want!’”
“That’s the problem, she’s too much like that.”
Choi Yu-jin had been calling or visiting whenever she had a spare moment. She would fuss over him, asking if he needed anything else, or if she should assign more people to him, constantly anxious that she wasn’t giving him enough. At JSENM, a rumor had spread that ‘the Vice Chairwoman visits the executive office often and dotes on Yu Yeon-seo so much, it seems like she’s about to hand him the whole company.’
‘It’s not like I don’t understand….’
Yu Yeon-seo was well aware that she was flaunting their good relationship to get on Choi Sang-jin’s nerves. His mother had a surprisingly childish side to her.
“You’re here early.”
As they opened the door and entered, Chairman Yu greeted his three grandsons. With the problem of his troublesome second grandson resolved, his expression had been improving day by day.
“Where’s Grandmother?”
“…She’s on a plane again.”
“Is that so?”
As his aunt’s family followed him into the house, Yu Yeon-seo greeted them while whispering in Chairman Yu’s ear.
“She’s not avoiding me, is she?”
Seeing the subtle twitch in Chairman Yu’s facial muscles, Yu Yeon-seo let out a small sigh.
“…Don’t resent her too much.”
“I don’t resent her.”
Isn’t resentment only possible when there’s affection? The feelings he’d received when synchronizing with his grandmother’s memories had been betrayal and resentment, but now he was in a state of resignation. He had no intention of mending their relationship.
“Grandmother must have her reasons.”
However, the fact that she was avoiding him like this seemed to confirm that he had successfully made her feel indebted to him. If something truly important comes up later, I’ll have to ask for Park Geum-ju’s help.
“Yes. You’ve finally matured.”
“I’m 29 now. It would be stranger if I hadn’t.”
Oblivious to his grandson’s inner thoughts, Chairman Yu smiled proudly.
“For your age, you’re doing splendidly. Look at the grandsons from other corporations. All those damned drugs and drunk driving… Tsk.”
Didn’t he tell me to get my act together? This was a completely different attitude from when he first arrived in this body. What’s this? I feel a little disappointed.
“Happy New Year.”
Chairman Yu watched his second grandson’s back as he greeted their relatives, then recalled something he had forgotten. By the way, have his memories been returning?
Chairman Yu persistently observed Yu Yeon-seo. Now that he looked closely, his face was quite haggard. Surely he wasn’t reverting to his old self?
‘He’s so mature now, surely not….’
He decided it couldn’t be and chose to ignore the issue for now. He didn’t want the newfound peace that had finally settled among the family to be broken.
The entire family gathered to eat rice cake soup. While other chaebol families valued ancestral rites and gathered dozens of times a year, Juseong had scaled them back after Lee Hui-seo’s accident. What little remained consisted of a brief visit to the family burial grounds to pay their respects to their ancestors.
“Congratulations on your promotion, Senior Managing Director Eun-ho.”
“Thank you.”
They briefly exchanged updates on their lives. At the news of Yu Eun-ho’s promotion, Yu Geon-min had fidgeted, his face showing he was dying to brag. But a sharp glance from Chairman Yu had him reverting to the solemn Vice Chairman.
“I hear you’ve taken on a big role too, Yeon-seo. You must be busy.”
“What do I do? There are people who handle everything for me.”
“Still, you’ve been working hard at the company lately, haven’t you? Your face has gotten so thin because of it.”
So everyone had noticed how unwell he looked. Yu Yeon-seo brushed it off with a casual lie.
“Well, something like that. I think the role I played is having a big effect on me.”
“Oh, that’s right. I read somewhere that it’s hard for actors to break out of character.”
“Yes, something like that.”
Right, I’ve immersed myself deeply in the original owner’s emotions. So deeply I can’t escape. He placed his trembling hand under the table.
“So are you just focusing on company work? I quite liked your acting, Yeon-seo.”
“Actually, I’m looking for a project… but I can’t find anything I like.”
Yu Yeon-seo glanced at Chairman Yu. Seeing no particular reaction, he figured the Chairman wouldn’t object to him continuing his acting career. Choi Yu-jin thought for a moment, then gently asked Yu Yeon-seo.
“You can’t find a synopsis you like?”
“No.”
“Then we’ll have to hold an event.”
“An event?”
“Yes, it’s called ‘Film Night.’”
Hearing this interesting news from a field different from their own, the rest of the family forgot their conversations and focused on what Choi Yu-jin was saying.
“At the Busan International Film Festival, there’s an event called ‘Filmmaker’s Night’ that’s only open to industry insiders. Ours is modeled after that.”
“What do you do there?”
“It’s a networking and business event for people in the industry. They pitch what they’re planning, attract investors…”
He heard Park Seon-woo mutter, “I want to go too….”
JSENM, the host of ‘Film Night,‘ sent a limited number of invitations to each production company, ensuring exclusivity. Not just any actor could attend; only those with connections to investors, A-list stars, or those who received invitations through their agencies could participate.
“There will probably be a lot of interesting things. If we hold it this year, will it have been two years?”
“I didn’t know there was such an event….”
“You were invited every year, too.”
“Was I?”
And Yu Yeon-seo was prominent enough to enter even without an invitation.
“You’ve always hated crowded places. Still, I always saved a spot for you, just in case. We’ll have to make it bigger than before this time. To show off my son, too.”
“Haha, even more than you already do?”
“Why?”
At this rate, you’ll get a reputation for doting on me even more than Father… In any case, it was good news. As he smiled pleasantly and turned his head forward again, he saw a figure before him and froze.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Excuse me for a moment.”
He shot up from his seat and rushed out of the dining room.