The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Chapter 235

Horn stopped crying literally in an instant.

His cheeks were still wet with tears, but neither his eyelashes nor any part of his body moved.

It was as if someone had suddenly removed the batteries from a doll. Horn ceased all movement, even his breathing.

A clear change: the light disappeared from his eyes.

The viewers instinctively held their breath.

―What is this?

―Is this a horror show…?

―No, I kept saying thisㅠㅠ Am I talking to myself? Someone please tell Lee Yeon-jae to tone down his actingㅠㅠ Pleaseㅠㅠㅠㅠ

The screen was filled with Horn’s dark eyes.

There was no background music.

In the silence, only the black pupils existed.

‘…Scary.’

The viewers were enveloped in a sense of dread.

The sight of the child’s face, smeared with Kang Seok’s blood, was horrifying.

‘It’s just a drama.’

It was clearly just a character on the screen.

Yet strangely, it felt like Horn might find his way to them at any moment.

As the viewers collectively froze, Horn’s eyes slowly moved.

After briefly gazing at Kang Seok’s cold body, he stood up.

[“Hey.”]

[“…?”]

[“Take this to my room. I’m going straight to the lab.”]

He seemed remarkably calm as he checked if his broken arm had healed and gave orders to the nearby agent.

When the startled agent didn’t respond, Horn stopped rotating his wrist and frowned.

[“Are you deaf?”]

[“……No. But this…”]

[“Would it be easier if I called it a corpse? Then so be it.”]

Horn’s voice was icy.

It was as if he had crossed a boundary, his tone unrestrained.

As Agent Jang looked at Kang Seok’s corpse with a complex expression, he spoke up.

[“H. You…”]

[“There’s no time, go straight back to the facility. We need to check if it worked as Seok hyung wanted.”]

As Horn tried to pass by Agent Jang, he stopped abruptly.

Tilting his head, he poked Jang Yoseok’s cheek.

[“Just in case, don’t mess around with that.”]

His lips curled into a playful smile.

[“If I go back to my room and that’s not there, you’ll all die. Understand?”]

Horn pointed to Jang Yoseok’s cheek with a smile.

Jang Yoseok absentmindedly raised his hand to his cheek, finding a trace of blood.

Horn’s message was clear.

‘I can kill you all now.’

Jang Yoseok looked at Kang Seok’s corpse lying on the ground.

[“Is this what you wanted?”]

There was no answer to his question directed at the corpse.

It felt like a glimpse of his own future, and Jang Yoseok closed his eyes with a sigh.

That night, the facility staff realized.

[“Agent Jang, what exactly are we witnessing?”]

[“…….”]

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Kang Seok’s final gamble had worked.

* * *

[“Shouldn’t we give Agent Jang the title of director at this point?”]

[“Director? With his performance, he deserves at least a board member position.”]

[“Haha, I misspoke. You’re right.”]

The meeting room filled with company executives echoed with cheerful laughter.

Despite the praise, Agent Jang maintained a stern expression.

[“Thank you. But as I reported last time—”]

[“Oh, come on. Don’t rush things.”]

One executive cut off Jang Yoseok’s words with a laugh.

[“Dr. Kang did an excellent job. Didn’t you say you two were close since childhood? You must be proud that your friend accomplished such great things.”]

Jang Yoseok clenched his mouth shut to suppress his disgust.

The executives, blinded by financial gain, seemed uninterested in hearing him out.

[“Who could have imagined the H Project would be such a success? We have so many people wanting to invest in our company that my secretary is at her wits’ end organizing it all.”]

[“It’s all thanks to Dr. Kang.”]

The executives smiled contentedly.

Jang Yoseok remained silent.

‘…It certainly had an effect.’

Despite the sorrow of losing his friend, it was true that Kang Seok’s death had benefitted H.

Horn’s abilities, having broken through his limits, were growing stronger by the day.

The destructive power contained in Horn’s blood had increased unimaginably.

Whereas Horn’s blood used to be able to kill about ten people, now it could kill nearly a hundred.

In other words, a single vial of Horn’s blood could easily kill tens of thousands.

‘The birth of a perfect killing machine.’

While the executives beamed with satisfaction, Jang Yoseok’s unease grew.

This was not just because of the increased destructive power of Horn’s blood.

[“Sorry to interrupt, but what are your thoughts on the ‘anomalous abilities of Horn’ I reported earlier?”]

[“Ah, that.”]

One executive laughed heartily.

[“I read the report, but don’t you think you’re overreacting, Agent Jang?”]

[“I agree. Is there any need to describe it as anomalous? It’s just the advancement of the test subject we’ve all longed for.”]

The executives’ reactions were too relaxed.

[“…It’s not something to be taken lightly.”]

Jang Yoseok gritted his teeth.

If Kang Seok were alive, he might have called it ‘progress.’

But what if the teeth of a dog without a leash were getting sharper?

And what if no one could control that dog?

It would only be the beginning of destruction.

[“Horn has started to control his own blood. This is an ability we did not anticipate in our scenario. The biggest problem is that we have no countermeasures!”]

Agent Jang eventually raised his voice.

His eyes were filled with fear.

It was the look of someone who had witnessed ‘that scene’ firsthand.

* * *

On the night Kang Seok died, as soon as Horn returned to the lab, he took a knife and cut his own arm.

Swish―.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the delicate skin split open, and blood flowed out.

Drip, drip, drip.

Horn’s blood dripped onto the floor.

Horn stared blankly at his blood and slowly tilted his head.

Then it happened.

The blood that had been falling to the floor started to move slowly.

Soon, the dark red droplets began to float in the air.

One by one.

The blood droplets defied gravity and multiplied.

[“What… is that?”]

[“Agent Jang, what are we seeing right now?”]

The facility staff were shocked.

One staff member, stepping back, dropped some documents.

Agent Jang, too, stared at the screen with a hardened face.

[“…….”]

On the screen, Horn remained expressionless.

The floating blood circled around him.

Horn watched his blood with an unreadable gaze.

After a long while, Horn chuckled, and the droplets fell to the floor with a thud.

[“Ridiculous.”]

A drop of blood, previously floating above Horn’s head, fell onto his cheek.

[“It was this easy….”]

Horn murmured, a faint smile playing on his lips.

A streak of blood ran down his cheek, as if it were a tear stained red.

* * *

At first, it was just a few drops of blood floating in the air.

But as time went on, Horn’s control expanded, allowing him to manipulate his blood freely.

He could clump the droplets into specific shapes or divide them so finely they were almost invisible.

Throughout all this, Horn silently carried out every experiment and mission assigned by the company.

And with each passing day, Agent Jang’s unease grew.

‘He’s too cooperative.’

Not knowing what Horn was thinking added to the anxiety.

When Kang Seok was alive, it was easy to understand his desires and thoughts.

But now, Horn seemed detached, like a withering plant.

[“Why are you suddenly shouting?”]

One executive scowled.

[“Is there a problem with the experiment? Or is the test subject not following orders?”]

[“…That’s not it, but.”]

[“Then what’s the problem?”]

Another executive clicked his tongue.

[“Isn’t he just a test subject in our hands? He’s like a mouse that can’t leave without us opening the door. What are you so scared of a mere mouse for?”]

[“What will you do if Horn stops following orders?”]

[“Then we’ll restrain him like before. Why worry about unnecessary things?”]

[“Why not let Agent Jang get closer to the test subject? You can take Dr. Kang’s place and handle him from now on!”]

Unable to get through to them, Agent Jang finally left the meeting room.

[“This is driving me crazy….”]

He knew that Horn’s loyalty to Kang Seok had solidified Kang’s position, and the higher-ups didn’t like that.

With Kang Seok gone and Horn’s abilities growing exponentially, the executives were foolishly pleased with the results.

They didn’t realize they had lost Horn’s only control mechanism.

‘I’m no different.’

He hated himself just as much for failing to prevent this state of affairs.

As he pondered how to deal with the shortsighted higher-ups, Agent Jang returned to his room.

He looked at the CCTV feed showing Horn’s room.

Horn was on the mattress.

Blood of a consistent size filled the room, spaced evenly apart.

In the midst of it, Horn lay there with an expressionless face.

With Kang Seok’s half-decomposed body beside him.

[“I have to do something.”]

Agent Jang muttered.

‘Horn is dangerous.’

No matter how you looked at it, this was not normal.

Since Kang Seok’s death, Horn had neither disobeyed orders nor acted irrationally.

When there were no missions or experiments, he stayed silently curled up in a corner.

To Agent Jang, this calm silence felt like the calm before the storm.

[“This can’t go on.”]

Even if this was what Kang Seok had wanted, he couldn’t stand idly by.

He couldn’t ignore the obvious future.

* * *

[“Agent Jang, is this really an order from the higher-ups?”]

[“I’ve told you several times, yes.”]

[“But no matter how I think about it―.”]

[“Enough. If you keep repeating yourself, I’ll consider it insubordination.”]

Agent Jang’s cold voice silenced the team members.

In the now quiet atmosphere, Agent Jang silently assembled his firearm.

Today was the day of H’s demonstration.

The event was a gathering of company investors, where they would showcase the value of their product.

Since it was a gathering of everyone involved in the ‘H Project,’ if Horn were to cause trouble, today was the most likely day.

Agent Jang had given his team the order to ‘kill Horn immediately if he shows any signs of strange behavior.’

‘Minimizing casualties is the priority.’

Since it was his unilateral decision, the team members wouldn’t face repercussions even if it was later revealed.

Agent Jang and his team moved out, fully armed.

[“Ah, President Jang. It’s been a while.”]

[“You’re looking even better than the last time we met.”]

While investors and executives chatted, the field team waited tensely.

As the start time approached, the lights on the stage came on.

The curtains surrounding the stage opened automatically.

[“Oh…”]

[“That’s….”]

Horn stood on the stage.

Encased in specially designed reinforced glass, he looked like a rose trapped in a glass bottle.

[“…….”]

Horn silently scanned the crowd.

His slow-moving, dark eyes finally met Agent Jang’s.