The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 63

“What? Are you out of your mind?!”

“Why are you getting angry…?”

“How can I not be angry? Why did you grab it?”

I jumped up and shouted, my voice trembling with shock.

Mist looked up at me with wide eyes, his neck retreating like a turtle’s.

“Did you forget that you almost disappeared last time you tried to grab the black stone?”

“This time it wasn’t a black stone, I grabbed something that appeared next to it….”

“It’s the same thing! What if you disappeared again this time?”

A sudden wave of anxiety hit me as I imagined the worst-case scenario.

I clenched my fists tightly to stop my trembling body, but the shaking only grew worse.

Mist had grabbed and torn off something sticky without thinking after seeing that I was about to be crushed by a dump truck in five seconds due to the reset misfortune.

It was similar to the time last year when Mist brushed off the misfortune factor, preventing a serious accident.

The only difference was… I couldn’t think of it.

“Gasp….”

“Yeon-jae, here!”

As I panted heavily, Mist, who had been watching me the whole time, quickly made a plastic bag and handed it to me.

Without a chance to say thank you, I buried my face in the bag and breathed heavily.

My hands trembled as I felt dizzy, as if my vision was spinning.

The plastic bag, which made a rustling sound, was too weak to lean on with all my strength.

Was this really helping?

It seemed to get harder the more I tried.

“Huff….”

My rapidly beating heart felt like it was going to jump out of my mouth.

As I imagined my heart bleeding into the plastic bag, I remembered the sticky thing Mist had grabbed and felt a wave of nausea.

Instead of feeling better, I started to retch, and Mist urgently hugged and soothed me.

“Shhh…, it’s okay. Yeon-jae….”

What’s okay.

Hearing his voice, so filled with powerlessness, made me choke up even in my frantic state.

I wanted to say something, but the frustration of not being able to open my mouth made me think I had to calm down first.

Fortunately, as time passed, the trembling subsided on its own, and the nausea eased.

Due to the energy quickly drained from me, all I could do was pant heavily.

Mist, who was hugging me from behind, awkwardly patted me.

“Feeling better now?”

“…Yeah.”

In that short time, I felt like I had aged five years.

I touched my mouth, feeling uneasy despite nothing having come out, and relaxed into the warmth I felt behind me.

“So, why did you apologize earlier?”

“Because if I had removed it a little earlier, the accident might not have happened at all….”

“What kind of stupid talk is that?”

I felt annoyed.

Mist, who was dejected uncharacteristically, the fact that he couldn’t tell me something, and my body, which panted like a dog whenever I got surprised, none of it pleased me.

Hearing his muttering that something horrible would have happened if he had been one second late, I unconsciously imagined the accident scene.

Mist hadn’t said which part of me would be crushed by the dump truck, but it didn’t matter where; it was either instant death or severe internal bleeding from ruptured organs.

I would have died if not for Mist.

Even as I thought that, my mind was filled with the image of Mist hurriedly grabbing and tearing off something sticky.

This guy has no fear.

“What happened to your arm?”

As I leaned against him, breathing heavily, I noticed his right hand was stained black and asked in a curious voice.

His paw had been like that when he was a dog, too.

Mist, who had been caught off guard, hurriedly tried to hide his hand.

I had let it go earlier, but not now.

I quickly grabbed his hand and asked again why it was like this. He hesitated and muttered that he didn’t know.

“Do you really not know?”

“…”

“Is it that you don’t know, find it hard to say, or… just don’t want to tell me?”

Even though I kindly gave him multiple-choice questions, his lips, which had been slightly open, closed tightly.

Seeing that, I couldn’t bring myself to ask further questions.

Feeling my mood sink, I quietly closed my eyes.

The warmth I felt from behind was very unfamiliar.

* * *

“Hyung. I’ll clean that up.”

“Please sit down.”

“I can do it—.”

“Sit down.”

“…”

I can really do it.

I stared blankly at Manager An Jin-bae, who hurriedly took away the bowl as soon as I finished eating.

Yesterday, I tried to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, only to be scolded with, “Didn’t I tell you to call me before getting up?”

When he said he would buy a bell tomorrow so I could ring it before moving, I suppressed a bitter laugh and joked that it felt like I had been possessed by a king after getting hit by a car, but he didn’t find it funny at all.

Because so many scripts lately had been using such themes, I made a joke… but Manager An Jin-bae, looking stone-faced as if he didn’t find it funny at all, made me apologize and promise to call him before moving, even leaving my fingerprint as a guarantee.

But still, this was too much.

“Hyung. Please leave.”

“I thought it would be uncomfortable…”

“Get out.”

Eight days after the accident, I was finally allowed to take a shower.

Until now, I had only wiped with a towel, feeling so uncomfortable I thought I might die.

As soon as the doctor left, I went straight to the bathroom, but my head ached from the stress of Manager An Jin-bae quickly following me.

“You might collapse while washing.”

“I’m fine. I’ll wash quickly and come out. Just wait outside.”

“Then wash slowly. You might slip if you hurry. The body wash is on the left, and on the right—”

“Yes, yes. It’s labeled. I can see it too. Please leave.”

I was sorry to interrupt, but I was too uncomfortable and wanted to wash even a second faster.

I pushed him out with strength, and he reluctantly moved, still shouting, “Be careful with your neck. Don’t strain yourself,” just before the door closed.

I’m not a newborn baby.

“Hah… I feel alive.”

Hot water hitting my body made me sigh in relief.

Carefully, I finished my shower, being cautious not to get water on my surgical area at the back of my head.

Thanks to Mist, other than my back of the head, there wasn’t a single scratch elsewhere.

According to the paramedic, it was a “miracle of using all the luck of a lifetime.”

When the ambulance arrived after people reported the accident, my upper body was under the dump truck.

The driver had urgently turned the wheel and braked as soon as I collapsed onto the road. When they checked, the tire was pressing slightly on the back of my head.

The police officer who came to investigate said to his colleague that if the driver had been 0.01 seconds slower, the tire would have crushed my head.

I would have died if not for Mist.

“Sigh…”

Thinking of Mist made me naturally sigh.

He was probably watching me even now, so I quickly adjusted my expression.

Even a week later, I still didn’t know why Mist had turned into a dog, why one of his hands was black, or what happened immediately after he tore off that sticky thing.

He saved my life, but acted like he was at fault, making whining noises. I couldn’t ask further questions seeing that.

For three days, I waited patiently. On the fourth day, I started coaxing him nicely.

I told him that if that sticky thing appeared again, I could be in this kind of situation again.

When I asked why it appeared, and how to respond to it, he just mumbled without saying anything definitive.

It wasn’t until much later that he reassured me that such a thing wouldn’t happen again.

When I kept probing how he could be sure, he tried to avoid the question but finally blurted, “I just heard so, okay!” and then froze.

‘Heard from who?’

‘…Yeon-jae, can you pat my head?’

‘Mist.’

‘My head…, huh?’

Seeing his anxious eyes, I swallowed my words.

He seemed to like being held when he was a dog, so he tried to snuggle into my arms again, making me sigh.

If he was going to act like a baby, he should at least look like one.

Seeing him trying to fit his adult-sized body into my arms was absurd.

I held him back with strength, and tears welled up in his soft eyes instantly.

Tsk, I clicked my tongue and said it was just because his body was too big. He quickly transformed into a four-year-old child.

I held his small body and patted him for a long time before he finally stopped sniffling.

“Actor? You’re not collapsed, are you?”

While I was thinking about Mist behaving like a baby, a knock on the door and a voice filled with anxiety sounded from outside.

I was startled, thinking a long time had passed, and looked at the clock only to lose my words.

“…Hyung, it’s only been three minutes.”

“Do you need me? Should I come in?”

Dealing with Mist was enough to give me a headache, and now this guy was adding to it.

Pretending not to hear me, he tried the doorknob before I could answer.

Good thing I locked it.

Even after confirming it was locked, he kept trying, so I had to shout that I would be out soon to get a brief moment of peace.

There was no time for complicated thoughts.

I hurriedly finished my shower and changed into a new patient gown. As soon as I was done, the visitor arrived as if waiting for me.

“Yeon-jae, I brought strawberries today! Hi, Jin-bae.”

“Hello. Give me the strawberries.”

“Hyung, I told you to stop coming. You’re busy, why do you keep coming?”

Before I could even greet him, worried words came out at the sight of Jung-hyun hyung, whom I had seen every day for the past week.

Jung-hyun hyung, putting down the bags he brought, covered his ears.

“Stop nagging.”

“Is your movie shooting a joke? Won’t the director scold you?”

“These days, you’re the only one who scolds me.”

Grumbling, Jung-hyun hyung approached and examined the back of my head, asking how I was today with serious eyes.

I stopped joking around and quickly said I was fine, but he didn’t seem to hear me.

Manager An Jin-bae, who had arranged the strawberries neatly on a plate, answered naturally as if the question was for him.

“There’s no inflammation and it’s healing well. The painkillers have been significantly reduced today.”

“Oh, he’s really getting better.”

“I told you I was fine.”

“Jin-bae, did the doctor say anything else?”

Seriously, this guy.

Ignoring my words again, Jung-hyun hyung chatted with Manager An Jin-bae, and only after confirming that I was truly getting better did he smile.

“That’s a relief. The CEO was really worried about you too.”

“Yes, we talked this morning.”

CEO Jang, in an unusually serious voice, told me not to worry about anything and just focus on resting.

He often talked about my next project, so I thought he might ask when I’d be discharged, but surprisingly, he didn’t.

When I apologized for causing trouble right after signing the contract, he said this wasn’t even considered an accident and told me not to worry.

His tone was mature to the point it felt slightly awkward.

“Can I stay here tonight? I want to watch the mission clear tonight.”

Oh, that was today.

I thought there was no need for him to sleep uncomfortably on the makeshift bed just to watch a show, but I just agreed.

There was no point in arguing about it.

So we turned on the TV in the middle of the single room and waited for the broadcast to start.

I was responding to messages from Noh Bi-hyuk and Park Ha-eun, who were watching the live broadcast, when Jung-hyun hyung put a strawberry in my mouth and spoke lightly.

“Yeon-jae, did you know a fan cafe has been created for you?”