Chapter 24: AN BAEKYA
IT’s pretty cliché, actually.
An Baekya didn’t always have the memories of his past life.
But one day, a few months ago, he suddenly fell sick.
While recovering— on his own, in his room, because his so-called relatives were too cheap to bring him to a hospital— he had a very long dream.
It started with him reading a novel titled ’Chained to You.’
Which was funny because the five-year-old An Baekya had just started learning how to read at his kindergarten school.
Everything made sense when he suddenly saw himself growing fast until he became an adult. The more he flipped the pages of the book, the more he grew up. He wasn’t just flipping the pages, of course.
He absorbed all the words written on each page until the words became vivid memories flooding his mind.
Eventually, the vivid memories started playing in his head like a movie.
I’m An Baekya— a former genius child actor who fell from grace due to poor health and bad luck. The aunt that I trusted fled away with all the money I earned from years of overworking, leaving me with nothing but a mountain of debt.
But since he was only thirteen years old then, the victims couldn’t force him to pay back the money that his aunt had stolen from them.
That didn’t mean his life became easy.
He had to return to his maternal aunt— his mother’s sister, who sold him to her rich relatives when he was only five years old— because he still needed a guardian.
His aunt and her husband tried to force him to work as an actor again.
But, at the time, his rival child actor had already won the entire entertainment industry over. Plus, because of the rich relative’s scamming issue, many producers and directors had refused to work with him again, as if it were his fault.
Hence, An Baekya eventually returned to his ’normal’ life.
He got bullied from middle school through high school for being a ’scammer actor,’ though. Hence, he dropped out of school during his senior year.
But he took a GED since he didn’t want to remain a high school dropout forever.
Going to college was a different story, though.
First, he was broke as fuck.
Second, he developed a fear of interacting with people.
As a result, he wasn’t able to return to acting.
An Baekya supported himself by working different part-time jobs, until a former colleague helped him land a job as an acting coach for children.
His first protégé happened to be a co-star of his former acting rival.
And it was none other than Yun Yuhyun— the only son of the late veteran actor Yun Dujun.
That was how ’Chained to You’ began.
It wasn’t a romance novel— it was a tragic horror story featuring an obsessive Alpha and a pitiful Omega who got entangled in a dangerous family drama.
A ’drama’ that involves his dead future fathers-in-law, that is.
***
AFTER the five-year-old An Baekya woke up from what seemed like a long dream, his mental age had drastically changed.
He suddenly became a full adult stuck in the body of a child.
At first, he thought everything was just a bad dream.
But as the events in the ’novel’ started happening in real life, he had no other choice but to believe it was true.
Plus, he didn’t want to waste the chance given to him to start all over again.
An Baekya had a mission, so he just went for it.
He started changing his life by auditioning for the small theatre group in their small town. Thanks to his experience in the ’first timeline,’ he was able to bag the lead role in the play ’The Poor Prince.’
It was a popular play that even the actor Yun Dujun had played during his days as a child theatre actor.
He used that opportunity to reach out to his former Alpha father-in-law.
His video got semi-viral, but it never reached Yun Dujun.
An Baekya was disappointed, yes.
However, he gained a lot by joining the small theatre group.
The hyungs and noonas there were protective of him, so his aunt and uncle had stopped beating him up.
He thought it would last for a while.
Until the rich relative came into the picture once again.
It actually happened earlier than the ’original story’ because his video greeting for Yun Dujun went semi-viral.
The rich relative probably saw what she had seen in him in the ’past.’
An Baekya thought he was going to get sold again after his uncle went to his school and grabbed him while the teacher wasn’t looking.
Not that the teacher could do anything since the poor woman was scared of his uncle.
Luckily, he met an unexpected savior.
Bae Wonyoung— An Baekya’s Omega father-in-law in the past.
To be honest, he had only ’met’ his Omega father-in-law through pictures and videos in the ’first timeline.’
After all, Bae Wonyoung had died when Yun Yuhyun was really young.
But he wasn’t surprised.
An Baekya was waiting for that moment— and that moment was his Omega father-in-law.
***
AN BAEKYA was beaten up by his uncle after they got home.
Before he could call for help for Bae Wonyoung, who got hit in the head, his uncle had grabbed him and forcefully taken him back to their shabby house.
He got a beating of a lifetime there.
But his uncle avoided hitting him on the face.
That old man knew the value of his visual now.
Anyway, his uncle left him at home to withdraw the money sent to him by the rich relative. That was why that motherfucker put a dog leash around An Baekya’s neck and tied him to the dog house (of their dead dog)— to prevent him from escaping.
Yes, it was annoying.
But the good thing was that the right person had found him.
Yun Dujun.
An Baekya didn’t know why his Alpha father-in-law was there, so the shocked look on his face came out naturally.
"Y-Yun Dujun-nim?"
He wasn’t dreaming, was he?
What kind of luck is this?
"Ah, right. You’re my fan, but it’s still amazing that you recognized me despite my disguise," Yun Dujun said indifferently while removing his cap and face mask, and then he squatted down in front of him. "I’ve seen your video, child. I came here because I wanted to meet my little fan."
That sounded like bullshit.
Just one look at his Alpha father-in-law and An Baekya could tell that even though Yun Dujun was saying nice things, his eyes and voice remained cold.
Like how I remember it.
Having said that, An Baekya still acted pleasantly surprised.
"I-I’m honored, Sunbae-nim. I really wanted to meet you, but..."
Now An Baekya acted sad while touching the dog leash around his neck.
"I didn’t want you to see me like this, sir..."
Damn, I still have it.
An Baekya was praising himself in his head after acting like a poor, innocent kid in front of his future Alpha father-in-law.
No, wait.
It should be ’former’ and not ’future.’
"I’m sure this is hard for you, but can you trust me?" Yun Dujun asked in a serious tone. "Will you let me help you, An Baekya?"
An Baekya acted like he was hesitating, but he made sure his eyes never left Yun Dujun’s hand.
It was to silently convey that he wanted to grab that hand, however...
"M-My hands are dirty, sir..."
"That doesn’t matter," Yun Dujun said, and then he gently grabbed An Baekya’s hand. "I’ll help you, kid."
Heh.
An Baekya couldn’t help but smile to himself.
My life is about to change.
***
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