The Third-Gen Chaebol Becomes a Genius Actor

Chapter 158 <The Actor’s Duty is the Work>

“Hi, are you Yeon Seo?”

As he opened his eyes after a brief blackout, young Choi Yoo Jin was kneeling down to meet the eyes of the young Yoo Yeon Seo.

“I am…”

“…I know.”

Yoo Yeon Seo, who had only peeked his face out from behind Yoo Gunmin, answered softly. 

Choi Yoo Jin’s face brightened up after hesitating.

“Nice to meet you. You see… I wanted to talk to you.”

“Do as you please.”

He had a calmness that was not typical of a thirteen-year-old. 

Before he was seven, Yoo Yeon Seo was lively and sociable, getting along with all the servants.

But after the accident, he had locked himself in his room. 

He became withdrawn and quiet.

Whenever someone tried to talk to him, he would snap at them to leave him alone, so his family kept their distance. But now he was strangely well-behaved.

Yoo Gunmin, who saw hope in that, bent his knees and looked into his son’s eyes.

“Do you know what you’re answering?”

“You’re getting married, right? I heard the ladies talking about it.”

He had plenty of opportunities to hear it, even though he was locked in his room. 

He would hear it when he came out for meals or went to the bathroom. 

Besides, Choi Yoo Jin had been coming to the house often lately and meeting his dad, so he had a feeling that was the case.

“Are you okay with that?”

Yoo Yeon Seo looked back and forth between his dad and Choi Yoo Jin. 

After his mom died, his dad had lost all his motivation while trying to catch the culprit without any evidence. 

He had tried to be good to his sons after listening to his grandfather’s advice, but the dark mood never went away.

But now he looked happy. Yoo Yeon Seo nodded his head slightly. He could feel the two of them breathing a sigh of relief.

“Yeon Seo, how about we go out for dinner with dad and auntie?”

“Go away!”

He thought of his mom and saw a flickering apparition. He heard a ringing in his ears and a headache came over him. He nervously pushed away Choi Yoo Jin’s hand.

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeon Seo.”

Yoo Yeon Seo turned around and ran away. He ran away from them and into his room, and the first memory synchronization was over.

After the founding anniversary event was over and the suspects were narrowed down, Yoo Yeon Seo felt an inexplicable resistance. He felt uncomfortable putting Choi Yoo Jin on the suspect list.

Maybe it was because in the sporadic memories he saw, Choi Yoo Jin had always tried to approach him, who was always annoyed and rejecting, and even supported him from behind when he started his entertainment career. 

He felt guilty for suspecting such a person as the culprit.

‘But I have to investigate if I have doubts…’

He didn’t want to, but he had to. 

That action could also be sympathy for the young child who was involved in his own deed. Just like when he first suspected his great-grandfather.

And when he opened his eyes again, Lee Hee Seo was in front of him. He took a breath as he was peeking at his memory.

“What is that?”

“Oh, Yeon Seo, you’re here?”

Lee Hee Seo hid something behind her back as she heard her son’s voice.

“I was writing a diary.”

“Can’t I see it?”

“Uh…”

Her face was still twitching, but her voice betrayed her discomfort.

“How would you feel if someone watched you all day?”

“Um… I like it! I want to be friends!”

“Even when you go to the bathroom?”

“That’s a bit…”

“That’s what it is.”

Lee Hee Seo brushed her son’s hair, and she felt affection from her touch. His chest felt warm because of the influence of the original.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“I have something to study.”

“Study! I love studying!”

Yoo Yeon Seo jumped up and cheered, and Lee Hee Seo hugged him.

<I’ll end it here.>

<Random memory synchronization completed, synchronization rate 71.36%>

He barely felt the warmth in his arms before the memory ended. Yoo Yeon Seo spat out the thing that was filling his mouth and sank into his thoughts.

‘…Diary?’

It didn’t look like a diary. It was more like a file that contained documents…

He got up and went to the living room, and ran into Yoo Eunho, who had just come home from work.

“What, no overtime?”

“I’m not busy these days.”

Yoo Yeon Seo didn’t believe him. She knew he was swamped with a massive project. He probably came early because he was worried about the miserable look he had on the anniversary.

‘Family is nice and all, but… it’s a bit annoying at times like this.’

He turned his head away from his brother’s gaze. But he couldn’t avoid his brother’s keen eye.

“You again…”

“No, I’m not.”

Yoo Eun-ho narrowed his eyes and observed his brother as he opened the trash can nearby. He had already cleaned up everything so that nothing would catch his eye.

Yoo Yeon Seo changed the subject of his brother’s interest.

“Brother. Mom’s belongings… are they still in that house? In the annex?”

“I didn’t throw them away.”

Yoo Geon-min, who was convinced that there was someone behind the accident, warned him not to touch anything, and left it as it was. Even as he said that, Yoo Eun-ho looked at his brother’s complexion attentively.

‘Is Mother okay?’

Even though they were close in her lifetime, she wouldn’t have been very happy. A man who keeps the traces of his former wife… it’s like a makjang drama, and objectively speaking, it’s not good.

‘He must have had a hard time forgetting.’

Yoo Geon-min threw everything away and investigated his wife’s accident. He felt guilty for neglecting his sons at that time, and he still didn’t stop doing everything he could.

‘Actually, I think he was born that way…’

Anyway, what would happen to Father if he caught the culprit? Would he be happy that she didn’t commit s*****e? Or would he be frustrated again by recalling the memories he had tried to forget? He was worried.

As the synchronization rate increased, his attachment to his family became different. Now he thought from the perspective of Yoo Yeon Seo, not Kang Jin-hoo.

“Did you ever go to the annex after the accident?”

“…I did for a moment after hearing your words.”

Yoo Eun-ho avoided his brother’s eyes. Ah, he didn’t believe him, but he went there just in case. He felt a little relieved.

“Was there a diary there?”

“…I don’t think there was, as far as I know. Did something come to mind?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going to bed.”

“Hey, wait a minute…”

Ignoring his words, Yoo Yeon Seo entered his room and rolled his eyes.

‘It might still be in the house.’

But how could he get into that house? He felt suffocated just by looking at it.

***

-Rich Yoo Yeon Seo high quality picture

└He’s so cool

└Wow, crazyㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└Is that a picture of the inside of the art museum? Did his fan take it?

└└How can his fan get in there?

└└└I heard there’s a famous person among Yoo Yeon Seo’s fans who participates in those eventsㅋㅋㅋ

-Yoo Yeon Seo is quiet these days

No news of his next work?

└He filmed The Murder of the Vulgar at the beginning of the year

└└The release is next year, right?

└Do you think an actor can make a work in a snap?ㅋㅋㅋ

└└Yoo Yeon Seo can

└└└I agree

└Who’s next work came out today? Why are you suddenly talking about Yoo Yeon Seo?

└└Jin Su-ho, Park Min-woo, Lee Han-gyeol, they all came out

-Is he going to the production side? An actor’s duty is his next workㅋㅋ

└There’s no subject, but why do I feel like there’s a subject?ㅋㅋ

└Are you angry?

└My actor knows what to do

‘I know that too.’

An actor’s duty is his work. Lee Tae-gyeom looked at Yoo Yeon Seo, who was playing with his phone in front of the synopsis, with a sullen look.

“Is it bad?”

“I don’t feel like it.”

In the end, he closed the synopsis and put it on the desk as if he was throwing it away. Yoo Yeon Seo sighed.

“That’s Park Yoon-sook’s script, right? The Queen of Rom-Com. Is it any good?”

“It’s too early to jump into romance. Why are they all romance anyway?”

“What do you think? It’s because of ‘Guk-sae’. Since you proved yourself in romance, they’re just throwing random ones at you.”

“It’s too early for that too.”

“I agree with you on that, but the ones that came in recently are all like that.”

“Hmm…”

It was counterproductive to shoot romance back to back while the ‘Guk-sae’ syndrome hadn’t died down yet. The couple fans, who were dubbed as ‘Hyun-seo couple’, and especially the ones who were a bit off, still sent fake wedding invitations to the agency or made outrageous photoshopped pictures and acted like fanatics.

But to do another romance for the next work? That would be rude to the female co-star. Of course, he didn’t need to worry about that. The co-star might not care about that either. But he wanted to avoid controversy at the source.

“Isn’t there anything without a love line? Like action.”

“There are plenty of those… but haven’t you seen them all?”

Lee Tae-gyeom pointed to the synopses and scripts piled up on one side.

“I didn’t like any of them.”

The recent works he did, ‘Guk-sae’ and ‘Vulgar Murder’, were not action-oriented. Moving his body was his best skill. It was a waste to let it rot.

He felt dizzy from searching for ‘the head’, and he felt like he needed to move his body more often.

“Oh, right.”

He had forgotten. Lee Tae-gyeom took out a few synopses from his bag.

“How about this one? It came in this morning.”

“This morning?”

“It came directly to you.”

“Directly to me?”

It was rare for a specific actor to receive a synopsis directly because of the work being tied up… He unfolded the paper he received from Lee Tae-gyeom.

Snake (working title)

Director: Lee Seul-gi

Script: Kim Dae-sung (Baek-ho-ham)

Summary

South Korea is no longer a drug-free country.

Two detectives with special abilities chase after the drug organization ‘Snake’.

Yoo Yeon Seo raised his eyebrows with interest as he quickly skimmed through the summary and character synopses. He was disappointed that it wasn’t a solo lead, but the co-star who was confirmed for casting was Jung Hyun-sik, who had worked with him on ‘Evil Spirit’.

‘He was a great actor.’

Lee Tae-gyeom sighed softly as he saw Yoo Yeon Seo opening the first episode script.

‘He likes it, I guess?’

The president had nagged him, saying that Yeon Seo didn’t have any plans for his next work, but he hesitated to hand over the synopsis because he knew that Yeon Seo was looking for the culprit.

‘I wonder if this is okay…’

But he knew that Yeon Seo had ambition for his work. And seeing his pale complexion lately, he thought he needed something to immerse himself in.

“By the way, does Kim Dae-sung write dramas too?”

“I don’t know. He said he wanted to show you first.”

“Why would he do that?”

He probably turned his eyes to dramas because his position in the movie industry wasn’t that good.

Yoo Yeon Seo’s work had been rumored to be either produced or abandoned, but it was still risky to send a synopsis to a specific actor.

‘Did anyone who debuted thanks to me ever send me their next work?’

As far as he knew, there was none before 2018. Writers like Jeong Da-hee or Lim Ye-na would keep in touch and ask how he was doing, but they wouldn’t call him for their next work because the gender didn’t match.

Anyway, he felt good.

“The director is making her feature debut with this work, but she was famous in the advertising industry. She also did a pretty good short film. The manager said.”

“Is there a video?”

If the manager said so… Lee Tae-gyeom handed him a tablet pad as if he had been waiting. It was a bit weird, but it was an advertisement with a story. But the directing was neat and the action was well done, so he liked it.

“Nice. It has a public interest purpose too.”

“So the scheduling seems to be going well too.”

“Where?”

“M station.”

Yoo Yeon Seo tilted his head. These days, there were many places to show video works, such as cable or OTT platforms, so the public broadcasting dramas had weakened their position as they moved to places with more investment.

“Isn’t it a bit dull these days?”

“So I heard this is a project you’re betting your life on.”

“But you’re a rookie director…”

“Everyone’s moving to cable or OTT. There must have been no one else to take the directing job.”

Yoo Yeon Seo tapped the script lightly and sank into her thoughts. It felt pretty good. And this feeling always brought her good results.

“Alright. I’ll do this. Set up a meeting for me.”