Chapter 127
Chapter 127
Whose Son He Is
Young Yu Yeon-seo lifted his head. The voice calling him ‘son’ felt as unpleasant as an insect crawling in his ear.
‘Now is not the time to worry about that.’
And Yu Yeon-seo, re-watching the memory, began to take in the man’s features, trying to discern his characteristics. The backlight made it hard to see his face clearly.
<Memory replay, finished.>
“Again.”
So, when the memory ended and he returned to reality, he spoke without hesitation. His vision turned black. And when he opened his eyes again, he was in the same environment as before.
“Son.”
After observing the face in detail, he obsessively watched for things like his gait, any habits, how he breathed. But the time he faced the man was too short.
<Shall I do it again?>
“Again.”
Heat rushed to his head and his nose started to bleed, but he didn’t even think to wipe it away, diving back into the memory.
“Ugh…”
After repeating this several times, Yu Yeon-seo retched a few times and then spat blood onto the floor.
<Master, I recommend you stop.>
“That’s enough.”
There’s no need to watch it anymore.
The man’s face, discerned through the backlight, was unremarkable. It was a common face, the kind you might see several times walking down the street. But after obsessive observation, he was able to pinpoint the man’s characteristics.
The man had a habit of clenching his jaw tightly. And if you followed his jawline, there was a faint scar on his right earlobe. As if he had been cut by someone.
And he had a habit of twitching his left middle finger, like a spasm. Moreover, when he walked, his right shoulder drooped slightly, something you wouldn’t notice at first glance. He had found it by re-watching the memory several times.
‘This should be enough.’
It was better to focus on habits rather than physical appearance. Looks change with age… Yu Yeon-seo staggered as he took out the external hard drive he had received from Baek Seo-jun and connected it.
<Are you going to check it right away?>
“I’ll finish it today.”
He grabbed a tissue and covered his mouth. He roughly spat out the blood that surged up and focused on the CCTV footage.
It was a full fifteen days’ worth of footage. Moreover, with cameras installed in multiple locations like the front and back doors, the lobby, and the agency office entrance, there was a lot to go through. But he didn’t give up.
<Master, I recommend you rest.>
“I’m not done yet.”
The search for the letter’s owner continued until dawn. Yu Yeon-seo felt the aftereffects of re-watching the memory, but he endured it with willpower. As he focused, he eventually heard Yu Eun-ho leaving for work.
His concentration broke for a moment, and he let out a pained groan. His entire body felt like it was screaming. Still, he didn’t stop.
<Master.>
Beta tried to stop him, but Yu Yeon-seo didn’t listen. The more he re-watched the memory, the more his unpleasant feelings toward the man grew. The person who sent the letter might not have been this man, but he had an inexplicable certainty.
After staring at the monitor for a long time, he pressed pause.
‘Found him.’
A man who came in through the front door walked slowly across the lobby and stood in front of the elevator. Then he got off on the floor where Halo Media was located. The twitching of his left finger and the gait that leaned to the right. After reviewing it several times, Yu Yeon-seo felt his vision tilt sideways.
‘Ah…’
Did I push myself too hard?
“Where are you going?”
“To my schedule.”
“Call me when you’re done.”
He subtly avoided his brother’s sharp gaze. It was Yu Eun-ho who had found the collapsed Yu Yeon-seo that day.
Still, he wasn’t as flustered as before. If it became known that he’d gone to the emergency room again while riding the wave of popularity from ‘The Imperial Seal’, it would attract attention not just from his family but from all sorts of people. He had managed the situation by calling a doctor he knew well.
‘He couldn’t wait and watched all the footage.’
The frown on Yu Eun-ho’s face didn’t ease.
“Lay low for a while. Seo-jun and I will take care of the person you found.”
“Alright.”
The memory synchronization was only half done, but he instinctively knew he shouldn’t provoke his brother in this state. The main reason he’d scheduled something wasn’t to follow Yu Eun-ho’s advice, but to avoid the watchful eye of his guardian. Taking a vacation for this… wasn’t he busy?
“I’m leaving.”
Yu Yeon-seo opened the front door as if escaping.
“Haa…”
Yu Eun-ho stared at the closed door for a long time and sighed. Then he called Baek Seo-jun.
“Hey, did you find him?”
Yu Yeon-seo let out a small sigh as he saw Im Seung-hyeon keenly observing his every move.
“What did my brother say?”
“He told me to keep a close eye on you, Young Master.”
So the news of my collapse has spread. In the past, it would have been annoying, but now he just let it slide. He had more important things to worry about.
‘How far can Baek Seo-jun investigate?’
A person’s gait is like another fingerprint. The man in the video perfectly matched the man in his memory. But there was still an unsolved mystery.
‘Why now?’
‘The Imperial Seal’ was an exceptional hit, but his previous works had also been very popular. Besides, he was famous enough that his name would pop up frequently even when he wasn’t working on a project. So why send the letter now of all times?
‘I feel like it’s not about me, but for some other reason…’
Lost in thought, Yu Yeon-seo arrived at the interview location before he knew it.
“Hello!”
“Your name sounds familiar.”
The reporter, who introduced herself as Park Cheong-a, stared blankly at Yu Yeon-seo’s face before speaking a beat later.
“I interviewed writer Jeong Da-hee before, perhaps…”
“Ah, so you’re the one.”
The very reporter who had framed the story as him unintentionally saving a pitiful writer. After ‘Dreaming’, Jeong Da-hee had hit back-to-back home runs with other dramas, firmly establishing herself as a drama writer.
“You’re really handsome.”
“Thank you. Shall we start the interview right away? I’m not feeling well.”
He’s a bit more prickly than I’d heard. Well, a person can’t be in a good mood all the time. With that thought, Park Cheong-a turned on her recorder.
-Do you feel your popularity?
Popularity… well, he hadn’t left his house since ‘The Imperial Seal’ ended, busy re-watching memories. The internet had always been abuzz with mentions of him… Oh, he did hear that his number of social media followers had become the highest in South Korea. But was that really a big deal?
“I’m not sure yet. I’ve always been popular, haven’t I? For better or for worse.”
At the reply, laden with meaning, Park Cheong-a silently looked at her laptop screen.
“Still, looking at your filmography, Mr. Yeon-seo, you’ve never had a work explode like this, have you?”
“That’s true. Not yet.”
In Yu Yeon-seo’s reply, there was a confidence that he could make any other project a massive hit after ‘The Imperial Seal’.
“I’ll probably feel it once I start working again.”
“That’s right. You’ve been quiet since the drama ended, so many people were curious about what you’ve been up to.”
It had only been two weeks since the drama’s finale. But at a time when he should have been actively doing interviews, photoshoots, and commercials, he had been unresponsive and even stopped using social media, which he had been good at. Everyone had been eagerly awaiting news from him.
“Will you be starting your next project right away?”
“First, I’m planning to go on the reward vacation and enjoy the popularity of ‘The Imperial Seal’.”
“That’s great news.”
He had taken Yu Eun-ho’s advice and decided to resume his activities to some extent. He heard that CEO Han had actually cried when he conveyed his intention not to rest… It was a shame he missed such an amusing sight.
“Oh, right. I should have asked this question first.”
Park Cheong-a asked hurriedly.
-What made you decide to do ‘The Imperial Seal’?
“I heard that JSENM staked everything on it.”
“I heard Writer Min had me in mind for the male lead. When I read the synopsis, I was intrigued because it was a genre I hadn’t really tried before.”
“It’s pretty much your first romantic comedy, right?”
“Yes, and since I also hold a position in the company, I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.”
“I heard that JSENM’s stock price actually rose a lot after ‘The Imperial Seal’.”
“Yes, so I’ve heard.”
Park Cheong-a wanted to ask if he would continue to only work on JSENM projects, but it wasn’t a pre-approved question, so she just moved on.
-How was your chemistry with Shin Ye-won?
“She… ah, my apologies.”
Park Cheong-a raised her palm, signaling it was fine. She pressed her lips together, looking like she was holding something back; in truth, she was one of the biggest supporters of the Hyeon-Seo couple from ‘The Imperial Seal’. He called her ‘noona’. ‘Noona’! She was losing her mind.
“She was very considerate.”
“In what way?”
“I actually had a lot of difficulties while filming ‘The Imperial Seal’. It was awkward trying to grasp the romantic emotional arc, and I wasn’t in good health.”
The last part slipped out unconsciously. Park Cheong-a was instantly reminded of the incident where he’d gone to the emergency room, but she didn’t ask any follow-up questions.
-In the scene where Hyeon-u overpowers Chief Eunuch Shim and points a pistol at him, many viewers commented that it was chilling, that it looked like you were really about to kill someone. Was there a reason for such a realistic performance? What were you thinking when you filmed that scene?
“I was thinking of someone I wanted to kill.”
“Excuse me?”
His voice was so chilling that Park Cheong-a tore her eyes from her monitor to look at him. Yu Yeon-seo was smiling gently.
Did I hear that right? I should probably just write ‘someone he dislikes’, she thought, before asking who it was.
“Well, maybe an internet troll?”
The weather was awkward—not quite rainy enough for an umbrella, but too bothersome to go without one. A middle-aged man pulled his baseball cap down low and entered a traditional market.
“Hello.”
“Oh, you’re here? Take this.”
“You don’t have to give me these things… Thank you.”
The man took the plastic bag offered by the merchant and bowed his head deeply. He moved on. Everyone who passed by greeted him warmly.
“You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Here, eat this.”
“Thank you.”
Apparently quite well-regarded in the neighborhood, the man’s hands were soon full.
Leaving the market, the man walked across a bridge over a stream and made a phone call.
“Sir, it’s been a long time.”
(Who is this?)
The person on the other end seemed to think it was a prank call and was about to hang up without a word. But the man, as if expecting this, added.
“May 12, 1999.”
(Wha-what did you say?)
“Don’t hang up. We used to get along so well.”
(We never got along. What do you want?)
“Why are you being like this? We’re family.”
A shocked gasp came through the receiver. The man leaned against the railing and chuckled softly. The middle finger of the left hand holding the phone twitched.
“I didn’t want to contact you like this either. I was trying to live quietly, just as you wished.”
(Then why….)
“I’m the one who should be asking. Why did you kill him?”
(Who are you talking about?)
Playing dumb, are we? The man let out a low chuckle. At the unpleasant, dark laughter, he could feel the other person’s breathing grow ragged.
“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
(….)
“Sir.”
The man grinned. It looked like a warm smile, but he was in the middle of threatening the other person.
“You don’t possibly think ‘that’ was the original, do you?”
The other person didn’t answer, but the man waited patiently.
(…What do you want? Money? A car? I’ll give you whatever you want.)
“What I want? Nothing. I just called to see how you were doing.”
(What? How can you say that….)
“I’ll see you soon.”
Only an amateur would state their demands right away. Let him wait with a nervous heart until the next call.
After ending the call, the man tossed the phone into the stream without a second thought. The water was high from the rain, so it would be swept away somewhere.
He started walking again. Despite the considerable distance, he showed no signs of fatigue. He stopped in front of a large billboard on the exterior wall of a department store and smiled with a sense of pride.
“I wonder whose son he is, so handsome.”
The picture was of Yu Yeon-seo.