Chapter 173
Chapter 173
Almost Right
Yu Yeon-seo, who had been staring blankly at the now-familiar ceiling of his private room, adjusted the angle of the bed and sat up.
Beta?
No answer. It seemed it was still negotiating with that “server” thing. Yu Yeon-seo leaned his head back comfortably against the headboard. The bizarre sensation of his soul being wrung out was unforgettable.
But why now, of all times?
According to the original timeline, ‘Yu Yeon-seo’ should have died in the 2018 car accident.
But my survival must have already affected the timeline… Plus, I’ve been actively working on projects and searching for my mother’s killer. My very existence was already a deviation from the predetermined future.
If this had happened earlier, I wouldn’t have grown so attached...
I’ve already adapted to this life, so for this to happen now… He decided he’d ask Beta about it later when it returned, and picked up his phone from the small table beside him.
Yu Yeon-seo Abruptly Cancels Year-End Schedule... Health Issues Strongly Suspected
[Exclusive] Yu Yeon-seo Spotted in Emergency Room Late at Night... Agency Halo Media: “No Comment.”
└ What have they been doing all this time without confirming anything?
└ They’re so incompetent.
└ Maybe the agency doesn’t know what’s going on either?
It’s a mess... Huh?
Yu Yeon-seo clicked on an article with a headline that caught his eye.
[Exclusive☆Issue] Could Yu Yeon-seo’s Health Problems Be Due to Psychological Trauma?
With eyewitness accounts of Yu Yeon-seo in the emergency room surfacing, public interest is soaring.
Yu Yeon-seo, the second son of Juseong Group’s Vice Chairman Yu Geon-min and the late Lee Hui-seo, a celebrated idol and actress of her generation, debuted on February 14, 2011, as a member of the idol group ‘One Seven’.
With a striking face inherited from his mother and the backing of Juseong Group, he instantly garnered attention, only to abruptly leave the group and be branded a ‘deserter.’
The decision was made because he couldn’t overcome his family’s opposition, and he had taken full responsibility for his sudden departure. He was only able to shed the ‘deserter’ label later, after the other One Seven members’ contracts expired and it was revealed that he had invested in them.
Yu Yeon-seo tilted his head. The reporter’s imagination was on full display in the writing. This was… an excessively biased article. Perhaps they wrote it knowing that praising him would drive up clicks.
Afterward, Yu Yeon-seo’s actions continued to draw public attention. From easily getting into the prestigious Hanguk University to his bold military enlistment, which was unlike other ‘royal families’.
“Bold enlistment”? You just go when you’re told. Yu Yeon-seo decided to read this nonsense to the end.
His sudden re-debut as an actor, following in his mother’s footsteps, sparked various kinds of interest. The first was the controversy over his acting skills.
However, there was no room for debate. After all, Yu Yeon-seo himself had invested in every project he participated in. Who would stop him from appearing in a production with his own money?
The most famous incident was his clash with the director during the filming of the movie ‘Emergency’, followed by his sudden disappearance and the issue of withdrawing his investment. The author of this article interviewed a staff member from that time.
(Oh, that? I’m not sure, but I think they were talking about Ms. Lee Hui-seo?)
(I think the clash was justified. Who just lets insults about their parents slide? I didn’t hear the details, but from the way they were talking about her, it didn’t sound like anything good….)
(Honestly, I didn’t like that director.)
The staff on set described it as a ‘justified abuse of power’. However, the controversy of threatening a director’s authority was unavoidable.
The author also received a tip from a staff member who worked on the set of ‘Dreaming’.
(It was a scene showing the trauma of one of the characters. We were planning to hang an ivory-colored mannequin in the air so it would briefly pass by in the shot….)
(Mr. Yu Yeon-seo suddenly shouted, asking if we really had to film that right now. Honestly, at the time, I was thinking, “What’s with him now?” but I realized it later.)
(Ah, he doesn’t like things hanging. Especially things that look like people.)
(After that, we understood and were careful not to use similar props.)
In an era when reporting guidelines were less strict, articles detailed what the late Ms. Lee Hui-seo was wearing and the manner of her death. They also reported how long her young son, who witnessed the incident, had been hospitalized.
For details, refer to the image below.
Yu Yeon-seo quickly scrolled past the old newspaper clippings. The memory was already vivid in his mind; he had no desire to know more. Anyway, security on set is too lax. Should I make everyone sign an NDA for the next project?
The author managed to contact and interview someone who claimed to have been Yu Yeon-seo’s former manager.
(There were times he’d just stare blankly into space. It sometimes affected the filming….)
(He was great otherwise, but I quit because he would suddenly get startled and lash out in irritation.)
The reporter attached data on the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. If only they’d put this much effort into covering something else...
Based on this, it seems Yu Yeon-seo has yet to escape the shadow of his late mother, Lee Hui-seo. Could this be why he has been unable to shake the controversy surrounding his acting ability?
Even if he has managed to overcome the acting controversy, his pain has not disappeared. We speculate that his sudden appearance in the emergency room might have been due to a panic attack, as he has yet to overcome his trauma.
Could this also be the reason for his abrupt hiatus? We ask for your support and encouragement for his future endeavors.
Ego News, Reporter Han Jin-seok.
└ This reporter’s writing a novel lol
└ Looks like they just patched together some speculation from an online forum.
└ Dude, this is... lol I’m interested in Yu Yeon-seo too, but isn’t this hyping him up too much? lol
└ But it’s a damn good theory.
└ And they call this a reporter.
Hmm... they almost got it right? Yu Yeon-seo gave a hollow laugh. He belatedly checked the date and realized three days had passed since he collapsed. No wonder all sorts of stories were coming out.
- But that article isn’t true, right? ㅠㅠ
- Why is everyone suddenly talking about Yu Yeon-seo? Did someone post another fake article?
- You believe an article by Jin-dol? His misinformation rate is 98%.
└ What about the other 2%?
└└ The stuff he gets right by accident lol
- Nobody believes an article based on baseless speculation, right?
- But seeing as he suddenly halted his activities, it seems like something’s definitely wrong.
It seemed the reporter who wrote the article already had a poor reputation, so not many people believed it. Thank goodness. My image was already getting better, which was a problem, but now I’m getting sympathy on top of it? The thought was horrifying.
I’d rather be seen as an attention seeker.
Yu Yeon-seo stretched out his arm to take a picture to post on social media. Perhaps because his synchronization rate had increased, his selfie-taking skills were improving day by day.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking a selfie.”
No, he knew that… Yu Eun-ho frowned as he watched his younger brother, who had just regained consciousness, immediately start posing for his phone. It was his own flesh and blood’s business, something he couldn’t bear to watch with a straight face.
Y__Yeonseo
Perfectly alive and well #NoSpeculation
After posting a brief proof-of-life for his fans, Yu Yeon-seo turned to his brother with a blank expression, as if he’d never winked at all. Yu Eun-ho chuckled softly at the change.
“Grandfather has a private jet ready. You can leave the country whenever you decide.”
“I still have schedules left.”
“I believe he’s already taken care of those.”
Yu Yeon-seo frowned.
[Official] Yu Yeon-seo to Take a Break from Entertainment Activities for the Time Being
‘Entertainment Activities Temporarily Halted’ Yu Yeon-seo to Recuperate in the US
So that’s why these articles came out... Doesn’t this give that reporter, Han Jin-seok, some credibility?
Yu Yeon-seo sighed and turned off the screen. What power did CEO Han have against their grandfather’s decision? He’d have to just agree and follow along.
“Does our old man still think I’m three, not thirty?”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Yes, sir.”
The atmosphere around his brother was unusually serious, so Yu Yeon-seo answered immediately. It’s not like I wanted to get sick, and I’m the one who’s sick, so why is he...
“Don’t be too defiant. Just accept it for now.”
“...I know.”
Pointless defiance wouldn’t work on Chairman Yu. It would only fuel the fire. The best course of action was to pretend to go along with it and then slip away discreetly. It was a relief he wasn’t in the middle of filming a project.
Yu Yeon-seo could now fully understand his family’s concern, so he decided to comply without complaint. For now.
“I also want you to get checked out at a bigger hospital. Father and Mother agreed.”
“That... yeah. Okay.”
It wasn’t like they’d find anything significant even if he went. This wasn’t an illness... Or was the fact that there was nothing wrong the bigger problem?
Besides, there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to come back. The Chairman Yu he knew was more than capable of keeping his second grandson in the hospital indefinitely. Reading his younger brother’s expression, Yu Eun-ho added.
“Don’t worry too much about the activity ban. Like you said, you’re not a child... Grandmother managed to persuade him, so he’s eased up a bit.”
“...Grandmother?”
Yu Yeon-seo looked at his brother, puzzled. Objectively, it wasn’t that he couldn’t understand his grandmother. But his memory synchronization was now over 75%. That meant the memories of how Park Geum-ju had treated him as a child were accumulating.
“Don’t resent her too much.”
But it was also true that the secretary she had assigned him, Park Jeong-ho, had helped him in various ways, bringing him closer to the culprit. Moreover, he couldn’t just ignore the fact that she was looking out for him enough to persuade Chairman Yu.
<Master, the negotiations are complete.>
Finally, the message he had been waiting for. Yu Yeon-seo mumbled an affirmation and turned his back to Yu Eun-ho, lying down.
Before that, I have a question... Why now?
Doesn’t my survival from the car accident and my current activities affect the timeline in some way?
<There are countless universes where ‘Yu Yeon-seo’ dies and countless where he survives. Master has not acted outside of those possibilities.>
Ah, so we’re going with the multiverse theory? That kind of shuts down the conversation...
<The culprit Master is searching for was destined to be caught eventually anyway. Merely advancing a foreseen event does not threaten the future of 2207 that Master knows.>
What?
<He is the one who uncovers the truth. Though it took quite some time.>
The only people in the hospital room were him and his brother, Yu Eun-ho. So, in the original timeline, my brother would have hunted down the culprit after I died. It would have taken a while, but... That put his mind at ease, at least a little.
So, who’s the culprit?
His relief was short-lived. Yu Yeon-seo sighed.
<The server was solely concerned about the use of future technology in the present. The Master’s soul affecting the physical body was not part of our calculations.>
Weren’t the people who received the time travel benefit before me able to do this?
<No, it seems Master’s soul has created some kind of variable.>
Yu Yeon-seo had already boldly demonstrated the physical abilities of ‘Kang Jin-hu’. Things like performing difficult action sequences without safety equipment or destroying a fairly sturdy film set. And quite a few people had witnessed it.
That’s something I can fix by being more careful, isn’t it?
<Eliminating the risk factor entirely was what they desired.>
Yu Yeon-seo swallowed hard.
<It has been decided that Yu Yeon-seo must complete the soul harmonization with ‘Kang Jin-hu’ by a designated deadline.>
<If the harmonization is not completed within the deadline, Master will undergo the reincarnation process. Perhaps in recognition of ‘Kang Jin-hu’s’ contributions, you will be reborn into an environment similar to Yu Yeon-seo’s.>
So, what’s the deadline?
In other words, if I want to continue living as Yu Yeon-seo, I have to complete the soul harmonization one way or another.
Reincarnation was no longer an option for him. With his memory synchronization over 75%, he was already more Yu Yeon-seo than Kang Jin-hu.
<The time remaining for the soul harmonization is one year and six months.>
Suddenly, his life had an expiration date.