The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Translator: Marctempest

Editor: Rynfinity

Chapter 263

Shin really, really liked his master.

― Woof!

"Alright, I get it. Stop pestering me."

No matter how much he rubbed his big body against him, his master would only make a slightly annoyed face but never pushed him away.

When he pestered his master while he was sleeping, he would unconsciously reach out and touch him.

'My master likes me!'

After talking with his friends who lived in other houses, he was even more convinced.

There was no one who would like and take care of him as much as his master.

So, Shin was very happy.

But sometimes, his master had an empty look on his face.

Shin didn't know the reason.

All he could do was hover around and keep his master from thinking about anything else.

It was a night when those limitations felt particularly frustrating.

"Is it just me, or does the moon seem unusually bright tonight?"

― Woof!

Shin looked at the night sky with Do Yoo-young and made a wish.

'Please make Yoo-young happy! Make what he's worried about seem trivial!'

It was one of the common wishes.

Hasn't everyone wished for something like this at least once?

For Shin, that night was just one of those times.

So, it wasn’t as if Shin wished for this situation.

"...Is this a dream?"

Shin, who woke up in a human body, mumbled blankly.

Next to him, Do Yoo-young, who had woken up in a dog's body, had a stunned expression.

* * *

Do Yoo-young, who woke up before Shin, moved to grasp the situation.

Though walking on four legs felt awkward, the jump onto the bed looked quite natural.

His own body, Do Yoo-young’s body, was sleeping soundly on the bed.

After hesitating for a while, Do Yoo-young nudged the person with his paw.

'Why won't he wake up.'

Initially cautious, his nudging grew more forceful.

"Ugh... What is it."

Only after shaking him hard enough to rock his body did the person start to regain consciousness.

To snap him out of it, Do Yoo-young opened his mouth.

― Woof!

And then he froze at the bark that came out of his mouth.

While Do Yoo-young had a blank look on his face, Shin, who had woken up in Do Yoo-young’s body, was also feeling the unfamiliar sensation.

The fingers moved freely, the field of vision was much higher than usual, and his mind was racing without a break.

Muttering that it must be a dream, he gasped at the words that came out of his mouth and covered his mouth.

Do Yoo-young looked at him with a complex expression.

Shin looked at the dog that looked like him.

"Yu... Yoo-young? Yoo-young?"

Do Yoo-young nodded twice without saying anything.

Shin, still unable to believe the situation, blinked his eyes and tilted his head repeatedly.

"Did we switch? Our bodies?"

Do Yoo-young nodded again.

"Why, why?"

How should I know.

At such a naïve question, Do Yoo-young looked at Shin with troubled eyes.

"Why... How... What should we do? What should I do?"

Shin ran toward his master with a face full of anxiety.

In a desperate voice asking for an answer, Do Yoo-young momentarily forgot the situation and unconsciously reached out his paw to pat him.

"Yoo-young, I'm scared."

I'm even more scared, you idiot.

Do Yoo-young rubbed his head against Shin with a complicated feeling.

He couldn’t speak, nor could he write, so this was all he could do at the moment.

Shin, who whimpered for a while, gradually accepted reality, feeling the warm temperature from Do Yoo-young.

It was when Do Yoo-young and Shin were quietly keeping silent.

"Do Yoo-young! Did you forget about today's appointment!"

A loud voice came from outside the door.

It was Do Yoo-young’s friend.

'Huh.'

Do Yoo-young and Shin flinched and looked at each other.

"What do we do?"

Shin wriggled, trying to hide behind Do Yoo-young with an anxious face.

The problem was, from a human's perspective, it looked like he was trying to hide behind a dog that was half his size.

Do Yoo-young struggled to shake off Shin, who clung to his body.

― Woof!

Get off!

"Shin? Are you inside?"

Meanwhile, Do Yoo-young's friend was puzzled by the barking coming from inside.

Normally, the moment he stepped into the yard, Shin would come running, panting.

"Do Yoo-young, is something wrong?"

His friend hesitated for a moment before taking off his shoes and stepping onto the porch.

Hearing the clear sounds from outside, Do Yoo-young shouted not to come in.

― Woof! Woof!

"Yoo-young, stop barking...."

Shin whimpered with a scared face.

His friend, hearing the intensified barking and the faint sound of a person’s voice, knocked on the door.

"Hey, I'm coming in?"

No! Don't come in!

― Woof!!!

Unable to understand Do Yoo-young's fierce bark, his friend opened the door abruptly.

"What the heck. You were awake. Why didn't you answer?"

"......"

Shin didn’t answer and just watched Do Yoo-young’s reactions.

In the midst of this, he felt a sense of relief at seeing such a familiar face.

Shin squirmed in his seated position, almost as if wagging an invisible tail.

“Are you sick? Why do you look like a drenched dog?”

“Hae, Hae-soo... It's…”

After some hesitation, Shin called out his friend’s name.

Hearing just his name without the usual formality, Do Yoo-young's friend was taken aback.

“What, what’s going on? Why are you calling me like that?”

“Please help us, Hae-soo….”

“No, seriously, why are you talking like that!”

Do Yoo-young's friend, Ji Hae-soo, recoiled in horror.

His whole body felt itchy as if covered in goosebumps.

This wasn’t the friend who usually responded in a monotonous voice and expressionless face, no matter what he saw.

Though the face was the same, it was impossible for the real Do Yoo-young to speak in such a coy tone or to whimper like a child.

“Are you dying? Did you catch some disease?”

“No! Yoo-young isn't dying! Don’t say such things!”

At that moment, Shin shouted, his face flushed with anger at the insult to his master.

And Ji Hae-soo mumbled as he looked at his friend who was referring to himself in the third person.

"......Is this guy crazy?"

The words brought a genuine silence to the room.

Ji Hae-soo stared at his friend in disbelief and then turned his gaze to the strangely quiet dog.

‘Huh?’

But something was odd.

In the empty black eyes of the Golden Retriever, he saw his friend.

The dog was making a complex expression that a human would have.

"......"

Ji Hae-soo looked back and forth between his friend and the dog without a word.

His expression gradually turned bizarre.

“Hey, I might be crazy for thinking this, but, by any chance….”

As soon as Ji Hae-soo opened his mouth with a strange expression, Shin shouted loudly.

“That’s right! We switched bodies!”

Shin, who had jumped up, approached Ji Hae-soo and circled around him.

“What do we do? How do we fix this? Yoo-young can’t speak! What do we do! Hae-soo! Help us!”

"......"

“Yoo-young has to go to school, oh! Right! He has to go to school! What do we do! We can’t leave him like this! What do we do!”

Shin was panicking and didn’t know what to do, as if the only words he could say were 'What do we do.'

Ji Hae-soo stared blankly at his friend, who was anxiously pacing around him.

With his pupils shaking, Ji Hae-soo turned his gaze to the dog.

In the black eyes he met directly, there was a sense of resignation and familiarity.

―......

The dog stared at Ji Hae-soo and nodded a couple of times.

As if to say, ‘That's what happened.’

“I’m hungry! What should I eat? What can I eat? Oh, Yoo-young has to eat too! What do we do? Should I give him what I eat? What do we do. Hae-soo! Help us!”

“Hey, just… let me think for a moment, be quiet.”

“Don’t say bad words! Yoo-young can hear you!”

Ji Hae-soo held his aching head.

As he tried to understand this crazy situation with his spinning head, Shin lay down flat in front of Do Yoo-young.

“Yoo-young, aren’t you hungry? Should I give you some food? What can you eat?”

Shin licked his lips nervously as if anxious.

Do Yoo-young extended his paw to awkwardly pat his anxious friend on the forehead.

“Sniff, Yoo-young.”

―Pant, pant.

“I’m scared. What do we do.”

The dog comforted the whimpering person as if to say everything was fine.

Ji Hae-soo, watching the scene, tightly closed his eyes.

‘Is this for real….’

Please, someone tell me this is a hidden camera prank.

He desperately wished he could go back ten minutes, no, right before he opened this door.

*    *    *

“Cut! Ah, that was great~!”

At the director’s call for a cut, Sung Lee-jun immediately relaxed his frowning face.

“Wow, Lee-jun’s acting was amazing. Even better than the reading.”

“Thank you…!”

Sung Lee-jun, who played Ji Hae-soo, was bashful.

“We'll review the shot for a moment, so everyone take a break. Ah, please give Happy some water! He must be thirsty.”

“Yes~!”

Happy’s owner came running.

“Oh, our Happy. You were the best. You did so well!”

―Woof!

Happy, with plenty of filming experience, had performed his part flawlessly.

Sung Lee-jun, watching Happy drink water, shifted his gaze to Lee Yeon-jae beside him.

The boy who had been nervously pacing in front of him just a few seconds ago had suddenly transformed back into the expressionless Lee Yeon-jae.

“Yeon-jae, your acting was amazing…!”

“Thanks.”

Lee Yeon-jae continued nonchalantly.

“Hyung, the little stutter in the middle was really natural and good. You worked hard on that part since the reading, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I practiced a lot…!”

“Mm. It really showed. Don’t worry, it was great.”

Sung Lee-jun smiled shyly, feeling grateful.

‘He really noticed.’

Even though he must have been busy focusing on his own lines.

It felt warm that he meticulously checked the other’s acting and remembered to praise it.

The kindness felt all the more noticeable because of the bland expression Lee Yeon-jae was wearing.

‘He’s really a good kid.’

The more I acted with him, the more I could feel it.

Even while deeply immersed in his character, I could feel how he unconsciously considered his co-actors during his performance.

Thanks to this, Sung Lee-jun was able to act comfortably as well.

Then the director shouted loudly.

“Okay~! We’ll move on to the next scene right away!”

The staff cheered.

As everyone busily moved the equipment, Lee Yeon-jae let out a low sigh.

“Yeon-jae, what’s wrong?”

“I’m a bit nervous about the next scene.”

“…? You?”

Why are you nervous?

Sung Lee-jun was baffled but couldn’t bring himself to question further due to his reserved nature.

‘Even after performing so well as a person possessed by a dog.’

Lee Yeon-jae’s acting was beyond imagination.

The writer had even teared up after seeing his performance during the script reading, which spoke volumes.

Do Yoo-young’s usual expressions, voice, speech patterns, and gestures.

All of these changed once he became possessed by Shin.

It felt as if he was a completely different person, leaving everyone on the staff astonished.

Even though Sung Lee-jun knew of his talent, he was still taken aback.

As soon as Lee Yeon-jae’s performance ended, everyone rushed to shower him with endless praise.

Lee Yeon-jae, responding with a thank you, had a face that said, ‘Everyone is so earnest in their social interactions.’

Despite the compliments, he brushed them off as if they were mere formalities, leaving everyone a bit deflated.

‘Why would someone like him be nervous?’

Lee Yeon-jae answered Sung Lee-jun’s puzzled expression.

“The next scene is a eating scene. I have to eat heartily, but I’m not sure if I can pull it off.”

“Ah.”

Unlike the finicky eater Do Yoo-young, Shin loved eating.

Shin would repeatedly exclaim, “This is so delicious!” while eating Ji Hae-soo’s fried rice.

After that, Ji Hae-soo ended up being responsible for all of Shin’s meals.

With dreams of becoming a chef, Ji Hae-soo was skilled at cooking and made a variety of dishes for Shin.

From spicy noodles to moist soy-braised eggs, curry loaded with potatoes, and rich brownies.

The process of cooking and watching Shin eat would come together to create a warm, healing movie.

Since this scene set the overall mood of the movie, it was crucial to show just how happily Shin ate the food.

That was why Lee Yeon-jae, who didn’t normally snack much, was so worried.

“I’m not even hungry right now….”

Sung Lee-jun suppressed a laugh at Lee Yeon-jae’s muttering.

So, these are the worries of a genius actor, he thought to himself.