The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Chapter 210

“Hey. Open the door.”

The voice was rough, completely mismatching the polite knock.

I sighed as soon as I recognized Lee Eun-taek’s voice.

‘Why him.’

Of all people, he had come.

‘I thought it would be Jin-bae hyung or Jung-hyun hyung.’

I hesitated for a moment in my confusion, but the knocking became more insistent.

It sounded more like banging than knocking.

Fearing he might break down the door, I responded.

“I’m using the bathroom. I’ll be out in a bit.”

“What kind of bathroom break lasts over thirty minutes? Do you have constipation?”

“…….”

He’d be a good guy if he just kept his mouth shut.

‘The problem is he never does.’

While I swallowed another sigh, the threats continued from beyond the bathroom door.

“Hey, hey. Hurry up. Open the door. I have something to say.”

“I told you, I’ll be out soon.”

“I don’t have time. Come out now.”

Hearing his rough voice suddenly made all my worries seem trivial.

What was I even doing here?

‘…Let’s just go out.’

There’s nothing left to manage; he’s already seen me at my worst.

I just needed to toughen up and face it.

‘Maybe this is for the best.’

Since the mood was already ruined, I might as well tell everyone to leave.

With that thought, I flung the door open, and there was a sudden thud.

“Ow!”

Lee Eun-taek fell back, having hit his forehead on the door I’d opened.

The sound was so loud it made me gasp.

For a moment, I wondered if his head was cracked open from the noise alone.

“Hey, you, ah….”

Lee Eun-taek clutched his forehead and writhed on the floor.

Seeing him in so much pain that he couldn’t even speak properly, I hesitated before asking.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay to you?”

“Sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”

“If you’re going to open the door, at least give a warning, ah, this really hurts.”

Lee Eun-taek grimaced.

His eyes welled up with tears.

Seeing him glaring at me with teary eyes, I felt a mix of guilt and a strange sense of satisfaction.

“…You told me to open it.”

“What?”

Lee Eun-taek’s eyes turned even fiercer at my unintended retort.

Realizing my mistake, I apologized.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Ha, whatever. Just sit down. We need to talk.”

He gestured towards my desk chair with a nod, and I quietly complied.

Lee Eun-taek sat in the desk chair while I sat on the bed.

‘I should have taken the desk chair.’

Even though there was already a height difference, sitting lower made me feel even more at a disadvantage.

It hurt my pride a bit.

Unaware of my internal struggle, Lee Eun-taek stared at me.

“Hey. I’ll be honest.”

“Okay.”

“I still don’t like you.”

His words came out without a hint of hesitation, and I responded dryly.

“I know.”

“What do you know? You don’t know anything.”

“…….”

I was at a loss for words at his immediate rebuke.

‘What’s his problem?’

He said he wanted to talk, but his attitude was all wrong.

Regardless of my past mistakes with him, this wasn’t the way to start a productive conversation.

Realizing that any meaningful dialogue was impossible, I dropped the mask I’d been maintaining.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

One of Lee Eun-taek’s eyebrows shot up at my words.

I tried my best to suppress the annoyance rising within me.

“Hyung, if you want something, just say it straight. Stop beating around the bush.”

“You—”

“If you want me to beg on my knees, just say so. If you just want to pick a fight, go home and write it in your diary. Don’t act like a child. We can’t have a conversation like this.”

There was no response to my words as I pressed my fingers against my temples.

I expected a fierce reaction since I hadn’t filtered my words for once, but surprisingly, he responded in a calm voice.

“Then what about you?”

“What?”

When I looked up, Lee Eun-taek’s face was calm.

“What’s the difference between me picking a fight and you acting like I don’t exist, making a conversation impossible?”

“What are you talking about?”

After a moment of silence, I asked, and Lee Eun-taek took a slow breath.

“I said I dislike you. Do you know why?”

I frowned at the obvious question.

I was about to speak, but Lee Eun-taek raised his hand to stop me.

“I know what you’re going to say. Because I killed Ji-heon hyung. Because I hurt you. Because I’m a nuisance. Right?”

“…….”

“You have nothing else to say to me. You probably don’t even have anything you want to say.”

His unexpected reaction left me speechless.

I wanted to ask what he was trying to say, but the expression on his face stopped me.

Silence lingered, and Lee Eun-taek let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t hate you because you killed Ji-heon hyung. It’s not because you hurt me either.”

“Then what is it?”

“You keep acting like I don’t exist. Do you know how infuriating that is?”

What?

As I frowned, Lee Eun-taek spoke in a monotonous voice.

“Lee Yeon-jae, Ji-heon hyung’s death was a long time ago. It’s in the past.”

“…I know that too.”

“No, you don’t.”

Lee Eun-taek pulled the chair he was sitting on closer to me.

“You’ve always been like that. Apologizing for things that weren’t your fault. Saying sorry.”

The distance between our eyes shortened.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Ji-heon hyung didn’t die because of you. My injury had nothing to do with you.”

“…….”

“I told you that so many times, but you didn’t listen, did you? That’s why you ran away.”

Lee Eun-taek’s words felt like they were poking at my forehead. It was irritating.

I glared at him, frowning deeply.

“……Ran away? You’re saying I ran away?”

“Then what? You said you wanted to go back to the orphanage first.”

“That was because you got hurt because of me—”

“I told you so many times it wasn’t because of you. You didn’t even think to discuss it with me.”

“How could I discuss it? You got injured and had to have surgery because of me!”

I shouted, my voice rising, uncharacteristic for me.

I tried to stay calm, but I was so agitated my hands were trembling slightly.

Even as I raised my voice, Lee Eun-taek remained expressionless.

Seeing that face made me even angrier.

“Why are you suddenly acting like this? You admitted it too.”

“Admitted what?”

“You told everyone I killed Ji-heon hyung. You said it was because of me. You even said so when we met after a long time, so why suddenly….”

My voice trembled with the overwhelming emotions.

My temples pounded as if my heart was beating inside them.

‘Calm down.’

I was overly excited. To calm down, I clenched and unclenched my fists.

As I took a deep breath and closed my eyes tightly, a calm voice reached my ears.

“I thought you would come to see me then.”

“…What?”

“I thought you’d come to see me, furious.”

My mouth opened slightly.

As I looked at him silently, Lee Eun-taek met my gaze.

“I begged my parents to tell me where you were right after I got discharged.”

“…….”

“Yet they wouldn’t tell me. So I called every orphanage in the area, asking if there was a kid named Lee Jae-hee. They all said no.”

Recalling those times, Lee Eun-taek wore a weary expression.

He even mentioned calling orphanages all the way in Busan.

“Every place I called said no. Of course, they would. Your real name was Lee Yeon-jae. I didn’t know that.”

“……”

“I went on a hunger strike and tried everything, but they still wouldn’t tell me where you were. That’s why I still don’t get along with my parents.”

Every word out of Lee Eun-taek’s mouth was incomprehensible.

It was overwhelming to the point where I felt suffocated.

“In retrospect, it was a foolish approach. Scolding a kid who left on his own wouldn’t bring him back. I’m sorry for that. I was too young then….”

Lee Eun-taek rubbed his eyebrows, looking embarrassed.

“And I realized you were even younger than I was. So I felt ashamed. I decided to forget it all, even stop blaming you. But then…”

He looked down at the floor and chuckled.

His eyes, now filled with amusement, met mine.

“You appeared on TV?”

“……”

I felt the air grow heavy.

The more I looked into Lee Eun-taek’s eyes, the colder my body felt.

“At first, I was surprised and couldn’t believe it. Then, I felt relieved. I even captured your scenes and showed them to my parents.”

“……”

“See? I told you! He didn’t hurt me because of you. If he really did, how could he be doing so well? I was shouting like that. Haha, you should’ve seen Mom and Dad’s faces then.”

Lee Eun-taek laughed, but his face didn’t show any amusement.

I couldn’t say a word.

The light laughter continued for a while, gradually turning bitter.

“I thought you realized the same thing as my parents did. That what happened back then wasn’t your fault.”

“……”

“So I waited for you to contact me. You won an award, made movies, starred in dramas, won Best Actor… But when you still didn’t reach out, I thought you wanted to pretend those times never happened.”

Lee Eun-taek shrugged, saying he would have done the same in my position.

“I resent my parents, but you must have felt it even more. Those aren’t exactly fond memories. So, I tried to forget too. Until Sung Lee-jun told me you knew about us.”

“……”

“When Sung Lee-jun told me you knew I was his friend, I thought the time had come. I even got your contact info then. I was ready to apologize for bad-mouthing you and congratulate you on your success.”

But you never called.

Lee Eun-taek laughed awkwardly.

“Of course, I could have called you… But it felt wrong. I called every orphanage in the country to find you, but you didn’t reach out after hearing about me. Sung Lee-jun said you didn’t even ask how I was. Heartless bastard.”

“……”

“When Noh Bi-hyuk said he was bringing you to the practice room the day before, I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep. Wondering what I’d say when we met. But the moment you saw my face, your expression was like you were watching a horror movie.”

Lee Eun-taek laughed, but it didn’t seem genuine.

“I’m human too, so I felt hurt. I lost my temper and said all sorts of things, but you didn’t deny any of it. Seeing that you still blamed yourself, I was honestly shocked.”

When I invited him to my house the next day, Lee Eun-taek thought it was a chance to have the conversation we hadn’t had.

But when I only talked about Noh Bi-hyuk and kept apologizing for past mistakes, it made him even angrier.

“I could have handled it more maturely. It would have been better if I’d told you first it wasn’t your fault. But the way you looked at me was just….”

Lee Eun-taek trailed off.

He didn’t finish his sentence, but I understood what he meant.

Ever since we reconnected, I had been seeing him as a complete stranger.

I couldn’t say anything for a long time.

Learning that Lee Eun-taek had searched for me after I left was surprising enough, but understanding the reason behind his recent behavior was even more shocking. So…

‘He felt hurt.’

While I wanted to move past the old issues as something that had already happened, Lee Eun-taek had been waiting.

Waiting for the day I’d treat him not as ‘Noh Bi-hyuk’s group member’ or ‘Sung Lee-jun’s friend,’ but as Lee Eun-taek.

Just like right now.