Chapter 60
Chapter 60
A Critical Clue
After being discharged, the act of looking into the empty air while searching for Lee Hui-seo to convince his grandfather, that moment he’d touched a raw nerve, was truly...
‘To think that was real.’
He had seen memories of the past Yu Yeon-seo staring blankly into space a few times during previous synchronizations. Back then, he had been disappointed, wondering if such useless memories shouldn’t just be skipped over.
‘Was he seeing an illusion of Lee Hui-seo every time?’
There was even a time when he was wearing a school uniform.
‘Surely it hasn’t been like this ever since he witnessed Lee Hui-seo’s accident...?’
He tried to look away, but somehow, his suspicion felt true. He let out a heavy sigh.
“Hah...”
Sensing the gravity of Yu Yeon-seo’s mood, Im Seung-hyeon and Lee Tae-gyeom said nothing. The only sound in the restroom was water from the sink draining away.
“...Let’s go.”
After hanging his head for a long while, Yu Yeon-seo was the first to step out of the restroom.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t look alright. Im Seung-hyeon stared at the back of Yu Yeon-seo’s head, who was pretending to be composed but had become noticeably pale.
“Secretary Im, shouldn’t he go to the hospital? Considering he collapsed before and all...”
“...”
“They say the aftereffects of a car accident can last a long time. Could it be something like that?”
When he was discharged, the doctor had praised it as a miracle, but problems could arise later... couldn’t they? Im Seung-hyeon nodded silently. He decided he would try to persuade the young master later, not now.
Even though they were whispering loud enough for him to hear from behind, Yu Yeon-seo was lost in thought and didn’t look back once.
‘Beta, what’s the current synchronization rate?’
<The current synchronization rate is 27.43%.>
‘Still a long way to go.’
Beta had said he needed to increase the synchronization rate to find the exact cause, but still... was there really a reason to continue the memory synchronization?
Yu Yeon-seo paused his steps for a moment.
‘Should I stop here before it gets more serious?’
This phenomenon hadn’t occurred in the early stages of memory synchronization. But if he continued, and a situation like this where he lost control arose... stopping was one option.
‘I’ve already adapted to this body to some extent anyway. I don’t need past memories anymore.’
His family knew about his amnesia, and so did the agency’s CEO and Manager. Though he hadn’t told him directly, Lee Tae-gyeom also seemed to know about his memory loss.
As long as Im Seung-hyeon and Lee Tae-gyeom supported him well, there would be no problem with his acting career, even without memory synchronization. His family, in fact, seemed to welcome the personality change that came with his amnesia...
“Yeon-seo is here!”
Having moved to another nearby movie theater, Yu Yeon-seo quickened his pace as he saw the staff waiting anxiously in front of the auditorium.
“Am I late?”
“No! It’s fine!”
Park Min-woo said that, but he scurried into the auditorium without looking back.
“Yes, something came up... We will now begin the stage greeting for ‘White Tiger’.”
It was obvious they were late because they had been waiting for him. Yu Yeon-seo walked onto the stage, pretending nothing was wrong.
The original owner of this body was a selfish person anyway, so everyone would probably just assume and understand. Wait, was he really like that originally?
‘Now, everything is suspect.’
He frowned. After seeing the illusion, his body felt heavy as waterlogged cotton, and his heart pounded unpleasantly. It was already overwhelming dealing with the aftereffects of memory synchronization and automatic action mode, and now he had to worry about this too. His future seemed bleak.
“Yes, hello. I’m Yu Yeon-seo.”
Taking the microphone from the side, Yu Yeon-seo greeted the audience while lost in other thoughts.
Thinking it over, he really didn’t need to do memory synchronization anymore. The reason he still attempted it whenever he had the chance was...
[Do you really think Mom committed suicide?]
Because those words had been subconsciously weighing on his mind.
‘Still, maybe I should try synchronizing up to about 30%.’
I’ll just go up to 30%, and if there are no useful memories to retrieve, it would be fine to leave the remaining 70% unknown.
He tried to convince himself of this, but the fact that he was leaving room for more instead of stopping immediately was proof that he had already been influenced by the real Yu Yeon-seo to some extent.
-Yu Yeon-seo’s stage greeting, as expected lol
-Zero fan service, absolutely zero lol. Doesn’t he feel anything watching Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol busy making hearts next to him? lol
└Isn’t it because it’s his first stage greeting?
└└It’s probably Lee Han-gyeol’s first one too, isn’t it?
└Lee Han-gyeol is an idol, and Park Min-woo has always been like that.
└└Wasn’t Yu Yeon-seo an idol too?
└└└He was active for just 9 months then bolted. A bit of a stretch to call him an idol.
-But Yu Yeon-seo did look like he was in bad condition during his first stage greeting.
-Not trying to defend him, for real. If you watch the video, he suddenly gets a nosebleed and stumbles.
-His expression looked bad at all the stage greetings after that too.
└For real, it’s kinda ridiculous seeing people say he’s got ‘actor disease’ or whatever.
└Frankly, wasn’t Yu Yeon-seo always like this? Seems like a lot of people are expecting too much just because his attitude and acting have changed a bit recently.
└└They’re probably trolls or new fans from Dreaming lol. The original appeal of stanning Yu Yeon-seo was his bitchy attitude lol.
-Just look at the pics the fansite masters took of Yu Yeon-seo, they’re f*cking insane.
└Not a fan but his face is seriously crazy;;
└The bouquet is insane, holy sh*t, I love it so much.
└I was there, everyone went nuts when he smelled the flowers lol.
As soon as he got home, Yu Yeon-seo flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes. He had no idea how he managed to get through the first day’s schedule of stage greetings. It was a relief that thanks to the image he’d built up, no one said much even when he maintained a half-hearted attitude.
“Beta, what happens if I stop the memory synchronization?”
<Continuing or stopping is entirely up to you, Master. There are no disadvantages.>
“Really?”
That’s a relief. Yu Yeon-seo got up and headed to the bathroom. Because of the blood, it was more convenient to just do the memory synchronizations in the bathroom.
<Yes, however... I am personally curious as to how far the real Yu Yeon-seo’s trauma will affect you.>
“Curious? Not worried?”
<Worry... would be the correct expression. Yes, that is correct.>
Seeing this, it was clear its human learning was still incomplete. That must be why it couldn’t even figure out the proper cause. Anyway, it didn’t matter. He would stop the synchronization cleanly once he hit 30%.
“Begin.”
<Understood. Initiating random memory synchronization.>
His vision went black.
When he opened his eyes, Kim I-jun from One Seven, who had visited him in the hospital, was right in front of him.
“No! Not like that!”
Right, this wasn’t the memory I wanted either. Yu Yeon-seo scowled. It was a memory from when he was living in the dorm with One Seven.
“This isn’t it?”
Having haphazardly put on rubber gloves, Yu Yeon-seo awkwardly picked up a dish.
“Hey, have you ever washed a dish in your life?”
“Do I look like I would?”
“Well...! No.”
Kim I-jun was about to get annoyed but held it in. Making a young master who’s never known hardship wash dishes... this is my fault.
Watching the grumbling Kim I-jun, Yu Yeon-seo’s mood soured, and he scowled deeply.
“You can just do it. I’ll pay you. How much?”
“Wow, trying to boss people around with money? Are you just going to freeload through our group life?”
“Me! Yeon-seo! I’ll do it!”
Jeong Woo-hyeon of One Seven, who had been folding laundry in the back, quickly came over to Yu Yeon-seo’s side. Yu Yeon-seo leisurely took off the rubber gloves and pulled his wallet from his pants.
“Woooow... are you giving me all this?”
Jeong Woo-hyeon’s eyes sparkled as he looked at the wad of 50,000 won bills in Yu Yeon-seo’s hand. Yu Yeon-seo waved the hand holding the bills in front of Kim I-jun.
“Group life? This is capitalism.”
“Ah, damn it...! Hey, give it to me. I’ll do it.”
Kim I-jun swallowed his pride and changed his tune.
Before he knew it, all the members of One Seven were sitting in front of him, having a heated debate about who would do Yu Yeon-seo’s share of the chores. They had all thrown their pride to the dogs, wanting the cash in Yu Yeon-seo’s hand.
“Me! Me, me! I’m confident I can clean really well.”
“I’ll do the laundry then!”
“Were we this desperate? I’ll... I’ll organize the shoe rack!”
Watching them, Yu Yeon-seo let out a small laugh. The noisy atmosphere wasn’t bad.
‘This is fun...’
And then, the memory shifted to a different time. After a brief moment of darkness, he opened his eyes to find his eye level was much lower.
“Yeon-seo. Let’s go. Grandpa is looking for you.”
“Okay.”
A similarly young Yu Eun-ho took Yu Yeon-seo’s small hand and led him to the garden. In his other hand, Yu Yeon-seo waved a robot airplane toy.
“Oh! It’s that man!”
“What?”
“The man I’ve never seen before!”
The man Yu Yeon-seo pointed at lowered his head deeply and headed elsewhere. Seeing the radio earpiece in one ear and the suit he was wearing, he looked like a bodyguard.
“He’s one of the men who protects our house.”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s just go. Grandpa is waiting.”
Yu Eun-ho, perhaps frustrated by his slow-walking younger brother, picked up Yu Yeon-seo and waddled along.
The robot toy in his hand was familiar. It was the toy he had been holding when he’d toddled to the room at the end of the hall. The one he had been clutching on the day he witnessed Lee Hui-seo’s death...
‘But a man I’ve never seen before?’
On the day Lee Hui-seo died? Of all times?
Returning to the Yu Yeon-seo of 2019, he coughed up blood.
“Cough...!”
To think he would get such an important clue on the very day he decided to stop the memory synchronization... surely this wasn’t the original body’s doing. After suffering from the aftershock for a long time, he lost consciousness.
Afterward, Yu Yeon-seo diligently attended all the stage greeting schedules for ‘White Tiger’ while also going to school.
‘White Tiger’ Surpasses 8 Million Cumulative Viewers... Still a Box Office Hit on its 32nd Day
Behind-the-Scenes of One-Take Action Scene Released to Commemorate ‘White Tiger’s 8 Million Viewers
Riding on word-of-mouth, ‘White Tiger’ had long since passed its break-even point. The number of viewers exceeded expectations, but because the film had secured so many screens and had been showing for a long time, there was also negative public opinion suggesting that the distributor, JSENM, was monopolizing the market.
“You’re not doing it?”
Letting the shocked CEO Han’s words go in one ear and out the other, Yu Yeon-seo spun his chair around.
“Hey, what am I supposed to do if you suddenly back out... I already told Producer Lee everything and was about to set up a preliminary meeting...”
“Already? I haven’t even signed the contract, CEO Han.”
“You like the ocean, don’t you? Huh? It’d be great to go enjoy a vacation and film at the same time.”
“I don’t want to.”
The CEO of Halo Media, Han Jun-o, clenched his fist tightly before forcing it open. He thought Yeon-seo had gotten a bit nicer lately, but Yu Yeon-seo was still Yu Yeon-seo. His whims were making his head spin.
‘I already boasted to Producer Lee that it was a done deal.’
CEO Han swallowed his pride and stood before Yu Yeon-seo, pleading.
“Don’t be like that. Can’t you think about it one more time? You did just fine on ‘Killing Time’.”
“I only appeared briefly at the end of that one.”
Yu Yeon-seo watched indifferently as CEO Han clutched his head, then held out his hand.
“Hand it over.”
“Hand what over?”
CEO Han frowned, then smoothed his brow. It was the thing Yu Yeon-seo had suddenly stormed into the agency to rummage for, the ‘Yu Yeon-seo File’ that Manager Park had protected to the very end.
“Hey, that’s...”
“My manager isn’t going to change anymore, so do you really need that file?”
Lee Tae-gyeom, who was on his phone in the back, scratched his head. CEO Han narrowed his eyes. What’s he so happy about, smiling shyly like that. He’s been cluelessly giddy ever since Yu Yeon-seo gave him a holiday bonus recently.
“Well, you never know. What if Tae-gyeom suddenly bolts, like before...”
“Are you going to do that? Traitor.”
Yu Yeon-seo whipped his head around. Lee Tae-gyeom, now branded a traitor before he’d even done anything, quietly protested that he wouldn’t.
“Anyway, we’ll hold onto that file. Even if we dispose of it later...”
“Are you keeping it so you can use it for malicious media play when I change agencies? CEO Han, I’m disappointed.”
“Yeon-seo... you don’t trust me? Is this all the trust we’ve built between us?”
“CEO Han, you talk too much. If you don’t hand over the file, I’m not doing that variety show, so you’d better understand that.”
“Manager Park!”
CEO Han bellowed. Manager Park, who had just been about to enter the CEO’s office, carefully opened the door.
“Give him the file!”