Chapter 176
Chapter 176
Discharged from the Hospital
“The promised month has passed. Are there any results?”
Seeing Yu Yeon-seo looking as relaxed as if he were hearing about someone else’s results, despite it being his own health issue, the gray-haired doctor chuckled in disbelief.
“Yeon-seo, coughing up blood is a very serious problem. Do you know that?”
“I know.”
It doesn’t seem like he knows... The doctor continued to observe Yu Yeon-seo with a skeptical eye. How many times had he seen him cough up blood during his stay? It was a serious amount.
However, even with the hospital’s state-of-the-art medical systems, no problem was found. The results were so clean compared to the symptoms that he even suspected it might be the discovery of a new disease.
That was all the more reason for Yu Yeon-seo to stay longer. To kill two birds with one stone: the discovery of a new illness and a hefty donation.
“We need more time.”
There was no way Yu Yeon-seo wouldn’t know the doctor’s intentions. He stood up from his seat without any lingering attachment.
“Then I suppose there’s no more business to attend to.”
“Wait a moment. We’ve seen each other for a month, let’s talk a little more before you go.”
Was he trying to buy time? Since he had no other schedule anyway, Yu Yeon-seo sat back down.
“You’re quite famous, Yeon-seo. Look at this.”
“Should I sign it for you?”
“I’ll ask you when we say goodbye later. A photo, too.”
He’s not going to let me go easily. Yu Yeon-seo found something unexpected on the screen the doctor showed him.
“…What is this?”
“You don’t know? This was a popular cosplay during Halloween this year.”
“This?”
On the screen were people participating in a Halloween parade, dressed in outfits similar to his role as Lee Tae-o in ‘People Who Lack - Season 2’.
‘Come to think of it, I did hear that PWL became quite popular...’
In truth, he had never properly watched the final version of the show. Back then, after synchronizing his memories to the limit, his brother had found out, and he was plagued by hallucinations and auditory illusions... It was a period of emotional turmoil, so he had largely forgotten about it.
“May I take a look at this?”
“Yes, feel free.”
Having succeeded in keeping him there, the doctor smiled faintly and watched Yu Yeon-seo focus on the screen.
His hair had grown quite long from not being managed during his hiatus. And because he had coughed up a little blood the day before, his sickly appearance hadn’t faded, which gave him a decadent aura.
He remembered a colleague, who had subtly revealed his racist views, praising Yu Yeon-seo, saying he didn’t seem like an Asian.
‘But what on earth is his illness? To think there’s something I don’t know...’
The doctor, thinking how even someone so beautiful with such a brilliant background was helpless before illness, took a sip of coffee, wondering how he could hold on to him.
While he had somewhat materialistic motives like a new thesis and a donation, he also had a sense of challenge and duty as a doctor.
‘It went viral like this?’
Meanwhile, Yu Yeon-seo scrolled down, raising an eyebrow with interest.
Since People Who Lack was famous even in its original form, the OTT version had consistently ranked within the top 10. Then, last Halloween, a member of a globally popular K-pop idol group cosplayed as Lee Tae-o and filmed a dance practice video, which was the start of the trend.
-The quality is worse than a Korean-made drama.
-Guess I’ll go rewatch People Who Lack.
└Oh, what’s with this action?
└└The actor did it himself without a stunt double!
└They should’ve just hired that production team to film it.
└Who is that Crazy guy?
Then, early this year, an American superhero movie based on a comic was released. Despite a huge production budget, its quality was so poor that it drew the ire of the original fans.
One fan of the original posted that it wasn’t even as good as the makeup and action he had done in PWL, and it became a meme, gaining some minor popularity.
“How does it feel? Being so famous.”
“I was always famous.”
After that, the ranking of PWL rose slightly, and the Korean media even published over-eager articles like ‘A drama’s resurgence?’... No wonder an unusual number of people recognized me when I occasionally went out sightseeing.
“Ah... right you are.”
“And this hardly counts as famous. It’s just a bit of a topic on internet communities.”
The embarrassed doctor manipulated the screen he was looking at. It was the Korean entertainment board of a large American community site.
“Actually, this is the main point.”
Someone had translated Reporter Han Jin-seok’s article and the speculative posts circulating in the community and posted them here.
‘Is this something that would be known this widely?’
He was aware of his popularity in Korea, but honestly, he didn’t know his name was this well-known abroad. The Juseong Group was a major corporation known in foreign countries as well. And since its handsome grandson had entered the entertainment industry, he knew his name was known as a celebrity, not just an actor, but...
-A tragedy in Korea’s top corporation.
└Sad..
└Did the chairman really order his daughter-in-law’s death?
└I can’t believe Crazy guy had such a backstory.
└It’s a little sad that he’s following the path of his dead mother :(
There were even reactions that added embellishments to the events he experienced as a child, creating strange rumors, and a post that explained it by comparing it to the British royal family.
As soon as he saw it, Yu Yeon-seo frowned and handed the tablet back to the doctor.
“We were only trying to find a physical problem; we hadn’t considered a psychological one.”
“So this is why you kept me here. But not everyone who has psychological problems coughs up blood, do they?”
“I was considering various possibilities. But... it seems it won’t work.”
At Yu Yeon-seo’s reaction, the doctor gave up, showing his palms and sitting back comfortably in his chair. He had no confidence in persuading this stubborn patient.
“You know you’re experiencing serious symptoms.”
“....”
“Aren’t you anxious?”
Anxious... A laugh escaped Yu Yeon-seo’s lips. The hallucinations and auditory illusions were annoying, but he wasn’t worried about his physical condition. His body always returned to its normal state after being sick for a short while.
‘It is a bit unnerving.’
However, now that he was faced with the new problem of soul manipulation, he was a little impatient. Was he supposed to give up and quietly get on the path to reincarnation? No, this body was already his.
If he tried to explain what was entangled with him, he would be thrown into a mental hospital for spouting unbelievable fantasies, so he kept his mouth shut.
“How about receiving some psychological counseling while you have the time? It doesn’t have to be at our hospital...”
“That’s alright. Just prescribe me some iron supplements.”
He would seek help if he needed it, but not now. Yu Yeon-seo shot up and headed outside. The people accompanying him and the medical team that had struggled for a month to diagnose his illness were gathered together.
“Are you finished?”
“They said there’s nothing wrong.”
“Young Master, that’s different from what I heard.”
Im Seung-hyeon, who had heard from the medical staff that something was happening but the cause was unknown, narrowed his eyes and looked at his boss. But Yu Yeon-seo brazenly walked past him and stood in front of Ina Yoon.
“Anyway, please tell my grandfather it’s nothing serious.”
“I’m not a monitor...”
“Do you think I’d believe that?”
“Hmph... Understood.”
A month was not too short a time to win over Ina Yoon. He had simply asked her to downplay what he had experienced during his hospitalization if the medical team couldn’t find an exact diagnosis.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“You could have stayed a little longer.”
“Trying to take my money? Not a chance.”
“Oh, you caught me.”
Yu Yeon-seo said his goodbyes to the medical staff he had gotten to know over the month and left the hospital. It was time to get busy.
“So, they couldn’t find anything?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“It’s that serious, but they found nothing?”
Chairman Yu kept asking, as if he couldn’t believe the secretary’s report. He had a rough idea of Yu Yeon-seo’s symptoms through Ina Yoon. So he couldn’t believe the result was ‘nothing.’
As the secretary looked troubled, Park Geum-ju stepped in.
“Did he refuse further tests?”
“They wanted him to stay hospitalized, but the Young Master refused.”
“I knew it...”
Chairman Yu put a hand to his forehead and sighed. Park Geum-ju dismissed the secretary and sat next to the Chairman.
“Don’t pressure him too much. He’s not a child...”
“The problem is he doesn’t care what happens to his own body. An old man like me has to look after this one thing he can’t manage...”
If Yu Yeon-seo were here, he might have rebelled, saying he would take care of his own body. Chairman Yu forced himself to calm his anger. If Yu Yeon-seo had bent his will, he would have quit being a celebrity long ago and inherited a suitable affiliate company.
“I’m too anxious to just leave him be...”
Park Geum-ju held back a laugh. She couldn’t criticize him for doting on his son. Chairman Yu was just as bad. No wonder rumors spread in the chaebol world that Chairman Yu kept his children and grandchildren on such a tight leash.
“That’s why I’m thinking of going to check on him myself.”
“You?”
“There’s a charity event, and it’s been a while since I’ve shown my face.”
“Yes, you should get some fresh air too.”
Chairman Yu’s face brightened in an instant. He didn’t notice the fleeting shadow that crossed Park Geum-ju’s expression.
Yu Yeon-seo, Spotted at a Tourist Site Again... Was His Sickness a Lie?
Yu Yeon-seo, Who Ditched ‘Snake’s’ Finale Schedule, All Smiles in the U.S.
CEO Han had merely set the stage by saying, “The kid’s sick, what can I do?” but the reporters eagerly tore into Yu Yeon-seo. Competing advertisers also posted articles to keep him in check.
└Can’t a sick person go sightseeing? The level of these reporters lol
└But his life must be so fun. He can just use being sick as an excuse to skip things he doesn’t want to do.
└You can see MBS wrote this article with clenched teeth.
└└But why is MBS like that?
└└└They were struggling for a while, then started gaining momentum with Snake and were about to milk it for all it’s worth, but the lead actor just took off to the U.S. lol
Fortunately, unlike in the past, there weren’t many reactions that blindly criticized him based on the articles. The comments that reacted a bit too excessively were clearly the result of reverse viral marketing from competitors.
As CEO Han turned a blind eye and Yu Yeon-seo actively engaged in his old attention-seeking behavior, the theory of psychological trauma flared up briefly before dying down, and it was mostly dismissed as ‘Yu Yeon-seo being Yu Yeon-seo again.’
-Isn’t he going to pick a new project soon?
-But his star power is insane lol. Everything he does gets turned into an article.
-You need to pick your next project quickly.
-It’s a shame the real-time search rankings are gone. In the past, Yu Yeon-seo would’ve topped them all.
-What if Yu Yeon-seo was my favorite actor’s co-star in their next project?
└That would be awesome.
└The buzz would be insane, I’d welcome it with open arms lol.
└I wouldn’t have liked it in the past, but now he’s a good actor and doesn’t cause trouble, so it’s fine. If the project does well, we might even get to ride in a private jet.
└But why? Did Yu Yeon-seo’s next project get announced?
└└No, just imagining lol.
It meant that Yu Yeon-seo’s image had improved that much. Before 2018, public opinion would have been terrible. As expected, people need to be good at their main job first and foremost.
“CEO, I’ll be off then.”
“Alright. Have a safe trip.”
Lee Tae-gyeom, who had been idly at home helping with meeting minutes at the agency, also belatedly headed to the U.S.
[Official] Yu Yeon-seo to Attend Film Festival After Month-Long Recuperation
Yu Yeon-seo to Attend Sundance Film Festival to Promote ‘Filicide’.