The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 94

Despite the camera rolling, the person who interrupted was Kang Se-hyun’s manager.

With a somewhat large build, he approached with a pale face, looking frantic.

Everyone stared at him in shock due to the unexpected interruption.

“Excuse me! What do you think you’re doing?”

The PD raised his voice in response to the absurd situation, but the manager seemed to ignore him and whispered to Kang Se-hyun.

The voice was so low that even I, standing next to them, couldn’t hear it, but it seemed clear to Kang Se-hyun.

Kang Se-hyun, who had been looking at his manager with a confused expression, suddenly turned pale.

Seeing this, the PD, who had been angry, fell silent.

The manager, finally regaining his senses, spoke quickly.

“Ah, I’m sorry, PD-nim. We have to stop today’s filming for now. I’ll contact you later!”

“What do you mean, all of a sudden…?”

As the PD replied in disbelief, the assistant director approached and handed the PD a phone.

The PD glanced at the phone and his face hardened instantly.

‘What’s going on here?’

Under the umbrella that Manager An Jin-bae held, I blankly looked around.

Kang Se-hyun, who had been dazed for a while, stood there blankly.

His manager roughly dragged him away from the set.

With the actor gone, filming couldn’t continue.

I politely bowed to the PD, who instructed us to withdraw with a hardened face, and returned to the car.

“Actor-nim. Please wait here for a moment. I need to call the company.”

“Yes.”

An Jin-bae Manager also seemed frantic, likely sensing the gravity of the situation.

Inside the cool car with the air conditioning on, I watched An Jin-bae Manager make a serious phone call.

Seeing him sigh and rub his face, I racked my brain.

‘Did a dating scandal break out?’

It seemed certain that something had happened to Kang Se-hyun.

Just as I was about to turn on my phone to check, An Jin-bae Manager returned.

He spoke with a devastated expression.

“Rumors of Kang Se-hyun’s school violence have emerged.”

“What?”

“A person who claims to have been bullied by Kang Se-hyun in high school posted an article, and now the news is spreading rapidly.”

I was stunned by the unexpected news.

As I struggled to digest the information, the following words made my mind go blank.

“Actor-nim, if this gets worse… the drama might get canceled.”

—

**[Title: Lololol Bullying Idol’s Past is Hilarious]**

Before, he used to act all “I’m a pacifist” on TV, lol. Where did his conscience go?

—Hey~ You’re posting this crap even before an official statement is out. How about finding your conscience first?

└It’s amazing how fans are still defending him, lol. Do you still feel like defending him after reading the victim’s post?

—Cried so much when I heard about the re-signing, and now this happens after just three months. Crying angry tears now, ugh.

—Hey, that comment was just him taking on a Gandhi character, okay? It’s an early debut video, and you went out of your way to find it and post it. You’re impressive too.

**[Title: Is No One Neutral Anymore?]**

There’s no evidence right now, just the victim’s post. I’m not a fan of Kang Se-hyun, but how many times has this happened now? The person who filed a national petition to stop Kang Se-hyun’s activities—is he a kid? Everyone, calm down.

—True, there’s no evidence of school violence, but there’s no evidence he didn’t do it either.

—Given he’s keeping quiet, it’s clear as day.

—Didn’t he re-sign with Space recently? What about his fans?

└If he just leaves, there’ll be no problem.

└Wasn’t Kang Se-hyun the most popular member? Space will decline too.

**[Title: Has Anyone Seen the News?]**

We just aired the first episode… 😢 The serialization hasn’t even come out properly, and now this issue blows up…? They won’t stop airing it, right?

—It was such a big hit that they probably won’t stop it. Maybe they’ll just edit his scenes out.

└But he’s the male lead, so I’m not sure if editing is possible.

└It’s so popular that they might stop it. With the news breaking and the view count for episode 1 rising, and with people being very sensitive about school violence these days… If they keep silent, the production company will get a lot of flak. Even the serialization could get criticized.

—Ha… Everyone’s been raving about his unrequited love acting, and now this blows up at the worst time.

**[Title: Breaking: New Statement from Another Victim]**

Honestly, I wondered why this person stayed silent for nearly 10 years, but after reading the post, I understand.

Summarizing the key points: he was beaten by Kang Se-hyun, and it’s a fact he received treatment (he shared a diagnosis showing he had a ruptured eardrum with a three-week prognosis). If his dream wasn’t to become an actor, he would have called the police right away. He agreed to a settlement because he was thinking of his future and tried hard to forget it by auditioning and living his life.

Even when Space debuted and became successful, he endured it, but he felt betrayed when he learned that the drama he thought was his last chance, ‘Goodbye, My Summer’, cast Kang Se-hyun as the male lead… 😢

He said he exploded upon hearing that and I cried reading it… 😢 If it’s true, Kang Se-hyun should leave. Let’s not watch the drama.

—His tone is so calm. Without any provocative words, it feels more genuine. It seems like it’s written by someone who’s given up.

—Honestly, I always had a bad feeling about Kang Se-hyun. This has been rumored in the idol world for a long time. I think the time bomb finally exploded.

—Why is there still no official statement…? Even with all this chaos, they haven’t said a word;

—But the view count for the first episode is crazy despite saying not to watch it, lol. Already over 5 million.

—

The internet was in chaos.

The drama, which had started with the most intense interest in web drama history, had just aired its first episode.

At a time when they were already busy editing the second episode, the production team was now discussing replacing the actor.

It wasn’t a simple matter of replacing one actor, so the long discussion went in circles.

“Let’s just think without Kang Se-hyun for now. He can take a break, and we quickly find a new male lead and start filming.”

“The drama’s name has been dragged through the mud already. Do you think it’ll be fine if he takes a break and comes back?”

“If our schedule is delayed by even two weeks, everything will collapse. We’d need to re-secure all the filming locations, redo the poster shoots… How will we convince the investors?”

The not-so-large broadcasting meeting room was filled with sighs.

The PD, pulling his hair out, finally lost his temper with the youngest staff member.

“Still no contact with Kang Se-hyun’s manager?”

“They keep sending texts saying they’ll get back to us. I don’t have Kang Se-hyun’s personal phone number.”

“What about the agency?”

“WB Entertainment usually disconnects their phone lines when something like this happens.”

The PD laughed dryly at the unhelpful response from his subordinate.

He looked deranged.

“Ha, shouldn’t people who committed school violence refrain from becoming celebrities? Huh? If they have a brain?”

Although he was not wrong, now was not the time for lamenting.

The 16th discussion to find a solution resumed, making the meeting room noisy again.

At the same time, Kang Se-hyun was sitting on a sofa in the CEO’s office at WB Entertainment.

“CEO, I’ll just leave. The drama and the group.”

“……”

The CEO, who had his back turned, looking out the window, said nothing.

Kang Se-hyun, the person involved, looked detached, while his manager looked lost.

“It’s not even something that didn’t happen, and there’s nothing to refute. It’s a miracle it hasn’t come out until now.”

“There must be a way. We’ll handle it. Just follow your schedule as usual from tomorrow.”

“How can I go through my schedule now? I should leave the drama as soon as possible—.”

“If you leave voluntarily, no one will believe your explanation later. Just endure it.”

The CEO was resolute.

The CEO blocked his attempt to argue with a gesture and turned his attention to the manager.

“You take care of Se-hyun. I’ll make sure the drama continues as planned.”

“Yes, understood….”

“CEO. Until you find a solution, what about an official statement—.”

“Don’t worry about that. For now, just go straight home after filming. Tell the members to avoid using social media.”

Eventually, Kang Se-hyun left the CEO’s office as if he were being chased out.

Back at the dorm, the members, aware of the situation, approached hesitantly.

Seeing them awkwardly standing around, Kang Se-hyun smiled bitterly.

“Sorry. Because of me.”

“Don’t apologize. Honestly, it’s not like it’s your fault.”

“Whatever the reason, I hit someone. That’s my fault.”

“Can’t you just tell the truth? They don’t have any evidence anyway.”

“No. If I act rashly, they’ll accuse me of secondary victimization.”

Even among the members, opinions were divided.

Listening quietly to their noisy chatter, he said he needed some rest and went to his room.

As soon as he fell onto the bed, a tired sigh escaped.

‘Why now of all times….’

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t expected this might happen.

Even when the members signed the re-contract without hesitation, he alone hesitated until the end because of this.

The anxiety that the things he had done in the past might resurface at any time.

When his past misdeeds came to light, he hoped he would be the only one affected.

But to have this happen when so many people were involved because of his drama role was the worst possible scenario.

He thought it would be okay since nothing happened for seven years….

He realized now how foolishly optimistic he had been.

Like a rusty machine, all his thoughts froze.

Lost in thought, he didn’t even notice his phone vibrating.

‘Missed Calls: 2’

Both from the same number.

Thinking it might be a stalker, he was about to turn it off when a text came through.

[It’s Lee Yeon-jae. I got your number from Manager Hyung. Please call me when you have time.]

Oh, right. There was him too.

Just the thought of a good actor being dragged into this mess because of him gave him a headache.

Even if he couldn’t make an official statement, he felt he should apologize personally, so he hurriedly called.

―Hello.

“Yeon-jae, sorry for the late call. I should have—.”

―Hyung.

As he tried to apologize sincerely, Lee Yeon-jae interrupted him.

And what he said next made no sense, so he had to ask again.

“……What did you say? What are you going to do?”

His tone was filled with astonishment, bordering on rudeness, but Lee Yeon-jae didn’t seem to mind.

Only a calm voice came through.

―I said I will help you.