Chapter 199
Shall We Rest a Bit?
‘Our Moment’ Ends Amidst Acting Controversy
[Review] ‘Our Moment’: Yu Yeon-seo’s Unimproving Acting Skills, When Will He Get Better?
‘Our Moment’ Changes Loveline Due to Lead’s Acting Controversy, Netizens: “All in for the kind second lead.”
Scanning the articles, Yu Yeon-seo irritably threw his phone onto the seat beside him.
“Fuck.”
His manager, Kim Jong-ho, who was watching Yu Yeon-seo’s face through the rearview mirror, flinched. With just over two months of experience as a manager, he knew this was a Yu Yeon-seo you didn’t mess with.
“What do they want from me! I can’t even say my lines because I keep hearing things!”
“...”
“Mr. Kim Jong-ho, what do you think?”
Kim Jong-ho swallowed hard and answered in a low voice.
“I’m not sure.”
“Right. Just focus on driving.”
What could he expect from a manager who’d only been around for two months? Judging by how nervous he was, this guy probably wouldn’t last long either.
‘I don’t want to live like this either.’
He couldn’t stop his impulsive actions, driven by intermittent surges of rage and irritation. He had conveyed his apologies with so much money, but money couldn’t erase the disappointed looks on the faces of those around him.
People pointed fingers at his behavior. Even though he sometimes thought he shone brightest at the center of controversy, he would occasionally be consumed by self-loathing. Why can I only live like this?
Sometimes, he found solace in reading the posts of fans who remained even amidst such controversies. But even those affectionate words couldn’t solve the chronic problem he had.
“Ah... hsss.”
He frowned and bowed his head, hit by a sudden bout of tinnitus and auditory hallucinations. He covered his ears with both hands, but of course, it didn’t stop the sounds. The symptoms were getting worse. Will this only end when I die?
“Uh... are you okay? I left some water next to you.”
“I know, just don’t talk to me.”
Kim Jong-ho clamped his mouth shut and focused on driving.
He had suspected his mother’s death and asked his brother for help, but even the brother he trusted had turned him away. He tried to uncover the truth of the case on his own, but naturally, he found no leads.
“Uh...?”
Even the dumbfounded sound Kim Jong-ho made was enough to spark his irritation. He had been holding it in, but finally snapped his head up to see a car driving precariously at high speed, heading straight for them.
“Whoa...! Watch out!”
Screeeech! Crash!
The car collided with them before he could even shout a warning. A deafening impact shattered his ears, and his vision turned white. Screams and the urgent calls for an ambulance sounded muffled.
“...Ugh.”
Something hot trickled down his temple; he must have hit his head. His whole body burned. It hurt. The pain was unbearable. Yu Yeon-seo looked at his manager, who had taken the direct hit from the car.
“Mr. Kim... Jong-ho.”
He tried to touch Kim Jong-ho’s shoulder with a trembling hand, but his body wouldn’t obey. Kim Jong-ho was motionless. He couldn’t be dead, right? Could I be...? Fear and terror made his eyes burn.
[Yeon-seo.]
What guided his consciousness then was a benevolent voice from somewhere. The voice he always heard neither blamed nor resented him. Yu Yeon-seo blinked, his eyes darting around.
Lee Hui-seo was blended in with the crowd that had gathered. He didn’t recognize her at first. Unlike the last time he saw her, floating in the air, she was now standing with both feet on the ground.
[Yeon-seo.]
“M-Mo...”
The white feet standing on the ground slowly approached him. He blinked away the tears that blurred his vision.
Lee Hui-seo had only called his name, but the emotion in her voice seemed to comfort him, telling him it was okay now. Yu Yeon-seo reached a hand toward the figure. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
“...m.”
And then, I entered.
<Random memory synchronization complete. Synchronization rate: 100%.>
When he opened his eyes again, the dim light of dawn was illuminating the hospital room. For a long while, Yu Yeon-seo remained motionless, shedding silent tears.
<Master, are you all right?>
Beta, unable to watch any longer, finally spoke to him. He wiped his tears with his sleeve.
“When I first came to this era, you said you collected ‘Yu Yeon-seo’s’ soul.”
<Yes, that’s correct.>
He recalled the words he’d heard from the ‘Yu Yeon-seo’ he spoke to through the mirror—that one plea for help. He had begged me, the one who occupied his body, his voice trembling with desperation.
“What happens to that soul?”
<That is something I do not know. It’s possible he passed on to what humans commonly refer to as heaven.>
No, that’s not it. That’s not what I want.
<However, Master.>
Beta’s usual, unchanging voice was what roused him from his denial.
<Are you Kang Jin-hu right now?>
The realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. His memories of being Kang Jin-hu were hazy, like a dream, and the boundary between the future and the present had blurred.
If I had to define my current self as one of the two, I would have answered ‘Yu Yeon-seo’ without hesitation. But that didn’t mean my experiences and memories as Kang Jin-hu had completely vanished.
How should I put this? Coexistence, yes. They were coexisting.
In that case, he would believe that ‘Yu Yeon-seo’s’ soul had been absorbed into his own. He would feel this moment with him—the moment after carrying the burden of his mother who hanged herself and enduring times of self-torment, to finally catch the culprit he so desperately sought, ready to thrive using the background he now possessed.
“...I see.”
The shimmering apparitions before his eyes were gone. The resentful whispers in his ear had fallen silent.
He closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep. It was the deepest sleep he had felt in what seemed like his entire life. He finally felt complete.
[Report] That Day, Gunshots Rang Out at Juseong H&C.
The late Lee Hui-seo. A meteoric idol, a beauty of the century, a modern-day Cinderella—many phrases were used to describe her. But what immediately came to mind when speaking of her was her choice to take her own life, and her life under the thumb of a chaebol family.
Now that those rumors have been proven false, this reporter, who has been covering Yu Yeon-seo since 2018, will detail how the case was uncovered for those who are curious.
Han Jin-seok wrote his article by adding his own fantasies to the evidence photos he’d taken while tailing Yu Yeon-seo.
There likely isn’t a single person in South Korea who doesn’t know about the incident on May 12, 1999. Lee Hui-seo’s tragic choice, discovered by her then seven-year-old son, Yu Yeon-seo. Her death was surrounded by various speculations.
Public sympathy poured out for her remaining son. By the time everyone had forgotten the incident, he made a spectacular debut, as if following in his mother’s footsteps. However, his actions after his debut, which earned him the label of an ‘attention seeker,‘ probably made everyone think he had forgotten about the incident.
(Photo)
This photo is from when Yu Yeon-seo was investigating his mother’s case...
The rest was a speculative piece on how Yu Yeon-seo came to suspect his mother’s death was not what it seemed and the circumstances under which he investigated the case. But Yu Yeon-seo was surprised. Although some parts seemed forced, he was taken aback because about 70% of it was more or less accurate.
Ego News, Reporter Han Jin-seok
└Jin-seok, stop writing fiction.
└But he has a ton of photos.
└Isn’t this stalking, not reporting? FFS, after what happened to Lee Hui-seo, how can he do the same shit?
└└I agree.
└└└Me too.
└Does Jin-seok not get the situation right now?
└Ah, this is too heartbreaking, I can’t read it ㅠ
‘Han Jin-seok? Wasn’t this the guy whose article was practically spot-on before?’
Yu Yeon-seo’s eyes glinted sharply. Han Jin-seok? Where does this guy live? I’d like to meet him once.
Lee Tae-gyeom, who was bringing over some apples beside him, shivered. This was a VVIP room, so where was that chill coming from?
-Think Jin-seok’s article is real?
└You believe Jin-seok’s headcanon?
└He seems to have reported on it relentlessly, though...
└It’s a reasonable suspicion, but it’s Jin-seok lol.
└But it does seem right, yeah.
While everyone was busy dealing with the aftermath of the incident, Han Jin-seok’s fingers danced across his keyboard. It was an article by Han Jin-seok, who had caught on to the information about Juseong H&C faster than anyone. New articles, copying his, spread like wildfire.
[Reinvestigation of the Late Lee Hui-seo’s Death] The Sole Witness Still Sees Her Ghost
Father-in-law Orders Murder of Daughter-in-law... A Tragic End for the Juseong Family
Nearly every online community and TV program revisited the death of Lee Hui-seo and her tragic family, bringing forgotten facts to light once more.
95 missed calls
(Writer Kim Dae-seong) Yeon-seo, are you okay?
(Director Cheon Seong-min) I heard you collapsed? Why aren’t you answering your phone?
(Park Min-woo) Are you okay, hyung?
(Shin Ye-won) Yeon-seo, are you all right?
(Jin Su-ho) Contact me when you’re feeling better.
(Lee Han-gyeol) The guys and I are worried, so just send a ‘1’ when you see this.
He wondered why his phone wouldn’t turn on; it turned out the battery had died from the barrage of calls and messages from his acquaintances. What was it like when I woke up in 2018? Feeling the vast gap in time, he let out a dry laugh.
‘Reinvestigation of the Late Lee Hui-seo’s Death’ - Agency on Yu Yeon-seo’s Hospitalization: “No Comment”
Halo Media: “Yu Yeon-seo is recuperating. Please refrain from speculation.”
-Ah, my heart is breaking for my actor ㅠㅠ
-Is he still in the hospital?
-Ah, I can’t focus on work... Just crying my eyes out for no reason ㅠㅠㅠ
-I keep checking his Insta... but there’s nothing ㅠㅠ
Even people who didn’t know the details of the case heard the full story as it was revealed during the reinvestigation. As a result, public opinion was largely sympathetic towards Yu Yeon-seo.
“Hah, what a mess.”
The person at the center of it all, Yu Yeon-seo, was actually in a pretty good mood. When he’d decided to shoot Park Gyeong-seok, he had been seized by chaotic and venomous emotions, but after a good long sleep, he felt calm.
His grandfather had said he would make the culprits feel like they were living in hell. In that case, he could trust him and leave it to him. He had finally uncovered the truth of the incident that had plagued him for 24 years. It felt a little anticlimactic, but overall, it was a relief.
“What did you say?”
“I said, what a mess. As if I’m some fragile glass cup.”
“Right, the paupers are worried about the prince. Got it.”
Lee Tae-gyeom casually dismissed Yu Yeon-seo’s words as he let out a few dry laughs.
Yu Yeon-seo gazed at Lee Tae-gyeom, who was intently peeling an apple beside him. Did this guy learn apple art while he was hospitalized?
“Why’d you get discharged? After-effects from a car accident can last a long time.”
“Hey, expensive cars really are different. They said there’s nothing wrong with me. Why should I keep taking up a hospital bed?”
“Really?”
“If something comes up, I can just go back to the hospital then.”
You’d be paying for the hospital bills anyway. Muttering this, Lee Tae-gyeom held out a fork. Yu Yeon-seo took the apple slice offered by him. The crisp texture filled his mouth with sweetness.
“By the way, the CEO is begging you to at least post a sign of life.”
“Ah, right. I haven’t contacted CEO Han, have I?”
“You really are...”
He’s going to be sulking again. Yu Yeon-seo opened his chat with CEO Han, typed ‘1’, and turned off the screen.
“...So what are you going to do now?”
“Well...”
Yu Yeon-seo leaned back comfortably on the bed and organized his thoughts. The memory synchronization was complete, but the soul-tuning remained. And since there was a deadline, he had to be diligent.
“Shall we rest for a bit?”
He had been running nonstop all this time, so it would be nice to take a short vacation. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to finish his soul-tuning at the villa on the private island they once visited as a family and make a fresh start.
“Hmm, really?”
“Why?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Lee Tae-gyeom swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.
The Yu Yeon-seo he knew was the type to decide to rest, only to suddenly start working again. The more Yu Yeon-seo hid away in a corner and said nothing, the more bizarre speculative articles would run rampant... Could Yu Yeon-seo really rest after seeing those? He’d probably jump back into his activities, declaring he was fine and telling people to stop with the pointless pity.
Lee Tae-gyeom chewed on his apple, thinking he’d better start preparing for a quick comeback.