I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 102

【I Am an Actor】 Finals, Jeong Hye-seong vs Lee Yeon-woo Showdown Set… ‘Who is the Ultimate Acting Genius?’

Jeong Hye-seong vs Lee Yeon-woo, takes the final stage of Season 1

“Heh…”

Seeing the article headline, Hye-seong let out a quiet laugh.

It didn’t feel real.

How had he managed to come this far?

Just a few months ago, he was nothing more than an unknown actor in a small theater troupe.

They say life is unpredictable, and it really seems to be true.

How many people in the world would have thought Hye-seong would rise to such a position? Even Hye-seong himself hadn’t imagined anything like this.

His message inbox was already filled with contacts from various agencies wanting to meet, somehow having gotten hold of his number.

They said it would be great to work together regardless of the results of 【I Am an Actor】.

To think he’d become an actor that agencies sought out first. This was also something Hye-seong had never imagined. Wasn’t this the kind of thing that only happened to successful actors?

‘No, get a grip, Jeong Hye-seong. You’re not at that level. It’s all just the show’s influence.’

Perhaps this recognition would fade away in an instant once the broadcast ended.

Hye-seong decided not to get too excited or dejected. It wasn’t because he was particularly wise. He just didn’t want to get hurt.

…However,

—You can become a protagonist too.

Lee Mu-beom’s words still remained in Hye-seong’s heart.

Words he had never once been able to hold in his heart his entire life.

Protagonist.

Hye-seong had never once played a leading role.

It wasn’t that there hadn’t been opportunities at Cheongseong. But Hye-seong had declined the lead roles every time.

—If I take the lead role, tickets won’t sell.

Ticket power and popularity were the reasons.

Throughout his acting career, Hye-seong had seen many actors like Do-young who could create fandoms just by stepping on stage. Those who sparkled with both acting ability and visuals, who seemed born to become stars.

Facing such people every day, he naturally couldn’t help but realize.

That in this world, people who can become protagonists and those who can’t are decided from the beginning.

…And that Hye-seong belonged to the latter group.

That’s why Lee Mu-beom’s words were such a shock.

Lee Mu-beom had told Hye-seong he could become a protagonist as if it were natural.

It wasn’t meant as consolation. Rather, Lee Mu-beom had spoken almost as if scolding Hye-seong.

Become a protagonist, like that.

Certainly, Hye-seong had always performed supporting roles until now.

Reading others’ rhythms, entering at timing that could bring their lines to life, acting that highlighted the presence of other characters rather than himself.

When he changed that acting style and tried acting that completely poured out his emotions without caring about others for the first time, he had secretly worried.

He thought people might say, “Who does he think he is, acting like the protagonist?”

But,

Gahyun: Isn’t Jeong Hye-seong insane?

meteor: Everyone keeps saying I’m good at this, so now I’m actually getting really damn good at it lololol

Kim Quokka: Honestly, Jeong Hye-seong is just on a different level

Cali: I’ve never seen someone express emotions so delicately like that lol it’s like they’re filming a solo acting mad movie

The viewers’ reactions were completely opposite to Hye-seong’s expectations.

Not to mention the judges gave him praise along with first place.

Seong Jun-il had even said this:

—Hye-seong, why on earth have you been hiding such tremendous energy?

For Hye-seong, all those reactions couldn’t help but be bewildering.

He had thought the protagonist’s position wasn’t something he dared covet. But now that he had revealed his desire for that position, everyone was applauding him?

‘…Maybe this is my first and last chance.’

The opportunity for him to become a protagonist.

Having come this far, Hye-seong decided not to be modest anymore.

This was different from the outside world. There was nothing wrong with becoming the protagonist here.

Then he should think of this opportunity as fulfilling a wish and really go wild.

Fortunately, this Episode 5 script was perfect content for him to go wild.

To briefly summarize Episode 5’s content:

Na Min-hee dies, and Lee Yeon-woo subtly frames Seo Jin-wook as the culprit.

Eventually, Seo Jin-wook falls for Lee Yeon-woo’s provocation and charges with a knife, and while Kim Seon-woo tries to stop him, Lee Yeon-woo snatches the knife and slits Seo Jin-wook’s throat, killing him while pretending it was accidental.

Then claiming self-defense… now that the crazy murderer is gone, he suggests they vote for him as originally discussed to end this game.

Jeong Hye-seong and Kim Seon-woo feel uneasy but nod, but when voting actually proceeds the next day… a broadcast comes on.

The voting results announce that Kim Seon-woo has been eliminated.

And it ends with lighting on Kim Seon-woo facing death.

‘It does seem like it’ll be interesting.’

Since it’s a scene where emotions build up very intensely, the difficulty level would be correspondingly high.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s the highest difficulty level among all the scripts given so far.

Hye-seong glanced back at Yeon-woo.

Now the only obstacle remaining between him and victory was just one person, Yeon-woo.

‘Can I win?’

He had thought he shouldn’t obsess over winning… but having come this far, he couldn’t help but obsess over it.

The premium that would come with being the winner, and the 200 million won prize money were rewards that Hye-seong couldn’t easily dismiss from his perspective.

But the same was true for Yeon-woo.

“Heh, heheh. Hehehehe… 200 million, 200 million… Soon I’ll have 200 million.”

…Unlike Hye-seong, it seemed like only the prize money was on her mind, but the problem was that this kind of person acted incredibly well.

Seon-woo looked at Yeon-woo with slightly tired eyes.

“Yeon-woo, you’re definitely not normal.”

“It feels really strange to hear that from you, Seon-woo.”

“? Why is it strange coming from me?”

“Never mind. You’re going to die by my hand soon anyway.”

Yeon-woo chuckled and made a slashing motion across her throat with her hand.

…It felt oddly unpleasant. Seon-woo frowned.

“I mean, dying in the story.”

“Right, exactly. Losing to me in reality and dying in the story.”

“…When you put it that way, I guess that’s true.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll really kill you properly.”

“It’s not like you’re killing me directly. It’s death by voting.”

“Still, if I perfectly deceive Kim Seon-woo in the story… you’ll die feeling more unsettled and unpleasant, won’t you?”

“That’s… true.”

Seon-woo thought for a moment and then nodded.

With a slightly satisfied smile.

“If we do that, the scene would definitely become incredibly beautiful.”

“…”

This wasn’t the reaction she had expected.

Who is this person to call someone else abnormal?

While Yeon-woo let out a hollow laugh, Im Yeong-do, who had been watching them, grinned and spoke to Park Myeong-jin.

“Everyone’s in a good mood.”

“…Yeah.”

“Except your mood is terrible.”

Im Yeong-do clicked his tongue and looked back at Park Myeong-jin.

Park Myeong-jin looked like what could only be described as a complete wreck.

A messily grown beard, hair roughly tied up because he couldn’t get a haircut during the filming period, and…

“How long has it been since you washed this tracksuit?”

“Washed…?”

“…Never mind, I shouldn’t have asked. Sorry.”

Should I go somewhere and buy him some clothes?

While Im Yeong-do was seriously contemplating this, Park Myeong-jin muttered quietly.

“Thanks.”

“…What? Why are you suddenly like this?”

“For connecting me with Writer Ryu. At first it was a bit difficult because he was so eccentric… but now I understand. Why everyone has trouble breaking away once they work with Writer Ryu.”

“…What’s it like?”

“It’s fun.”

It was a simpler answer than expected.

While Im Yeong-do tilted his head at this, Park Myeong-jin looked at Im Yeong-do and soon chuckled.

“Ah, you haven’t heard about episode 6 yet, have you?”

“…Huh? Episode 6?”

Im Yeong-do looked at Park Myeong-jin with a dumbfounded expression.

Park Myeong-jin laughed triumphantly with a “heh.”

“I happened to hear about what kind of plans he has for episode 6. After that… all the parts I was secretly disappointed about were filled in.”

“What? What kind of plans?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“…Ah, damn it.”

Im Yeong-do frowned.

These half-spoilers were the most torturous.

But it didn’t seem like Park Myeong-jin’s mouth would open no matter how much he kept asking. Rather, he’d probably use that curiosity to torment him more.

Im Yeong-do cleanly gave up on getting an answer.

Instead, he brought up a different topic.

“Did you hear the news?”

“What news.”

“[One Room] is already being mentioned as a candidate for next year’s awards.”

“…!”

Park Myeong-jin’s eyes widened at those words.

Park Myeong-jin was particularly unlucky with awards among PDs. Whenever he produced a hit, there would always be an even more tremendous blockbuster that created bigger issues that same year.

Thanks to that, he had been nominated for the grand prize and fallen short three times.

Maybe this time… Park Myeong-jin thought before shaking his head.

“Don’t get my hopes up. There’s no possibility.”

“Why?”

“First of all, the problem is that this broadcast ends in early next year.”

Award candidates were usually selected from the most recent works.

After all, works that hadn’t been forgotten from the public’s memory could generate bigger buzz.

Of course, that didn’t mean the probability of winning was 0%, but,

“And [One Room] is too experimental, and all the actors are too new. It’s impressive that we made this level of work with newcomers in this environment, but… if you look at it objectively, setting all that aside, it’s not grand prize material.”

“Don’t you think it’s too early to be so definitive?”

“It’s necessary. Useless hope only tortures people.”

“Hmm… But is it completely impossible?”

“Well… Just looking at the script, it’s not impossible.”

Park Myeong-jin chuckled as he spoke.

It was honestly an absurd situation. Given [One Room]’s production environment, if there was one thing that should have the lowest quality, it would be the script.

They were fitting the plot developments to match the situation each week.

It was natural for the script quality to plummet vertically.

Despite that, the reason Park Myeong-jin could still be confident about the work’s quality was thanks to that script.

That breathing that appropriately shook the audience was something no one other than Ryu could imitate.

“When I looked at the Episode 5 script just now, I was a bit surprised. It had notably higher quality than all the scripts we’ve received so far.”

Perhaps it was natural.

As the number of characters decreased, it actually became easier to extract the story.

“However….”

“However?”

“It’s also a difficult situation for that reason. This time there are more than just one or two scenes that will be hard for the actors to properly bring to life.”

“So the difficulty is high. But our actors are doing really well. Even considering that, is it still hard?”

“It’s hard.”

Park Myeong-jin stated firmly.

“I don’t want to disrespect our actors, but… it’s that difficult of a script. Even if we brought in active professionals, it’s a script that would inevitably result in a flood of NGs and retakes.”

“…I see.”

Im Yeong-do nodded.

If Park Myeong-jin said so, then it must be true.

“Well, it’ll be fine. I always say it, don’t I? We’re lucky.”

“…Well, I hope so.”

Park Myeong-jin let out a sigh.

This time, honestly, it wasn’t a level that could be handled with luck alone.

Unless all the actors awakened and showed legendary performances, it would be quite a sluggish journey.

Im Yeong-do looked at Park Myeong-jin with a somewhat worried expression.

While thinking he’d handle it well on his own… seeing him complain like this made him think the situation must be really difficult.

That’s why.

The next day, Im Yeong-do visited the film set carrying coffee with both hands full.

He thought he should buy them something and give them some encouragement.

But the moment he actually faced Park Myeong-jin, Im Yeong-do was startled.

“…Yeong-do.”

“What, what? Why are you suddenly calling my name? That’s creepy.”

Park Myeong-jin was looking at Im Yeong-do with a grinning smile.

Looking at Park Myeong-jin’s disheveled appearance as if he hadn’t washed, with gleaming eyes, anyone could see he looked like a madman, and Im Yeong-do was secretly worried.

He said filming would be difficult, so was it really that hard? he wondered.

But that was the moment.

Park Myeong-jin’s eyes sparkled as he opened his mouth.

“You were right.”

“…What do you mean?”

Park Myeong-jin clenched his fist.

“We are lucky.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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