I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 103

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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 103

“Is it even possible for someone’s face to change this much in just one day?”

“Try being in my situation.”

Park Myeong-jin didn’t bother to suppress the laughter that kept bubbling up.

“You’d have no choice but to smile like this too.”

“What exactly happened? Just yesterday you said it wouldn’t be easy. Was it easier than you thought?”

“Rather than easier than I thought, I’d say they did better than I expected.”

Park Myeong-jin looked at the actors with eyes dripping with honey.

“They’re doing so, so well.”

“…How is that even possible?”

Park Myeong-jin had been watching the actors perform all this time.

There must have been good reasons why someone like Park Myeong-jin said it would be difficult.

But if that same Park Myeong-jin witnessed a performance beyond his expectations…

“Did they grow in that short time?”

“…Rather than in that short time, they’ve been growing all along. I just failed to see it properly.”

Park Myeong-jin had his own excuses for this part.

First of all, their growth rate was ridiculously fast.

‘Maybe it wasn’t growth at all.’

They might have already been fully grown birds inside their shells.

All they needed was a little stimulus to break out of their shells.

And Lee Mu-beom, who appeared in the last episode… provided enough opportunity for them to break out of their shells.

Thanks to that, throughout the filming of Episode 5, Park Myeong-jin never once felt that the actors lacked the necessary caliber.

Of course, filming wasn’t completely finished yet, but he didn’t think this opinion would change going forward.

He could already feel it.

That all of them were experiencing their first golden age.

‘…Now I just need to do well myself.’

Initially, Park Myeong-jin said he at least had no worries about the script.

And now even his worries about the actors had disappeared.

All that remained was his direction.

Park Myeong-jin put strength into his half-closed eye.

Even after filming ended, he couldn’t rest. He had to adjust things like the composition and color tone of the footage, and consider the details of future scenes one by one.

It meant there wasn’t even enough time to sleep.

But Park Myeong-jin didn’t complain.

That’s what being a PD is like. A position where even if you want to grumble, there’s no one to grumble to. Nothing looks worse than the person who should take responsibility at the top making excuses.

He had to pull it off.

He wanted to pull it off.

‘Leave it to me.’

Park Myeong-jin’s eyes flashed.

‘…I’ll turn your debut work into a masterpiece.’

* * *

“PD Park Myeong-jin’s gaze has been a bit scary lately.”

“…He was always a bit scary, but he’s been more so lately.”

Seon-woo nodded at Hye-seong’s words.

“Still, it’s good that he seems satisfied. When I saw the script, I really thought we were in trouble…”

“Everyone seems to have grasped their emotional lines really well. The hardest part is actually the physical scenes.”

“…Ah, that’s true.”

Seon-woo nodded.

While filming Episode 5, the most difficult scene was surprisingly the one where they had to restrain Seo Jin-wook. Pulling Seo Jin-wook away as he lunged at Lee Yeon-woo, and holding him back as he kept trying to charge… it was harder than expected to make it look natural.

But the fact that only such things were difficult meant they had handled the emotional expression aspect cleanly.

Park Myeong-jin didn’t make any harsh comments regarding the emotional lines.

‘Have I grown a lot too?’

He had grown.

That was certain.

But Seon-woo still couldn’t be satisfied.

Because the more his acting improved, the more he could see.

How much he was still lacking.

How much more he needed to grow as an actor.

‘I want to do better.’

Someone might say this.

You’ve already been eliminated, so why work so hard? What’s going to change because of it?

‘It’s okay if nothing changes.’

He wasn’t doing this to build a better portfolio.

For Seon-woo, everything happening now wasn’t like a process toward success. This place itself… was the world he had wanted to come to.

Someone might not understand, but this small world was like the paradise Seon-woo had always longed for.

For him who had wished for a colorful life, a brush had finally been placed in his hands.

Then he had to paint properly.

And most importantly…

‘I want to give Kim Seon-woo a proper ending.’

This character had now become embedded too deeply in his heart.

Seon-woo looked into the colors of Kim Seon-woo that surrounded his body. His body was still shrouded in a hazy gray mist.

But the lava-colored veins that had flickered above it… were now completely different.

The colors of all the characters who had appeared in [One Room] flickered here and there.

As if their traces had filled Kim Seon-woo completely.

‘Has there ever been such a stained character before?’

The other characters in [One Room] all had their own stains, but Kim Seon-woo was completely different from them.

If the others showed various stains centered around their own colors… what stood out most in Kim Seon-woo were actually these stains.

Considering that stains ultimately originated from other characters… it was quite mysterious.

The most prominent part of Kim Seon-woo came not from himself, but from other people.

‘I understand.’

Kim Seon-woo was originally an empty person.

So empty that he couldn’t even hold onto reasons or will to live.

What filled such a Kim Seon-woo were the lives and deaths of the [One Room] people.

Then when such a Kim Seon-woo dies… what kind of appearance should he show?

‘The time I can express is just a moment.’

The stage directions for Kim Seon-woo’s death aren’t very long.

Along with the broadcast announcing his elimination, all there is is showing his final expression before being removed from ‘One Room’.

In that moment, Seon-woo had to contain everything.

The sense of betrayal toward Lee Yeon-woo.

Regret for the life he finally wanted to live.

Self-blame for never properly facing life even once.

‘How should I do this?’

Acting out death wasn’t completely new to him.

There was Hee-jae from [When I Was Four], and Kim Seon-woo himself had tried to end his life before entering [One Room].

But then and now were different.

The current Kim Seon-woo understood the value of life.

Unlike before, the weight of death had to feel much heavier.

He had to express that change.

How well he expressed this would determine whether this work was well-made or not.

The problem was how to do it…

“What are you doing?”

Jin-wook appeared.

Still that blunt way of speaking. Though he had become much more civilized compared to the old days.

Had Yeon-woo’s ‘be kind’ mission been somewhat effective?

Now he probably didn’t need more coaching from Yeon-woo, and there was no need to follow that mission… but compared to before, much of his venom seemed drained.

“I was thinking about how to die.”

“What, you’re going to commit suicide?”

…But just because his venom was drained didn’t mean he’d gained social skills.

There are jokes you make and jokes you don’t.

Seon-woo answered with a serious expression.

“That kind of joke isn’t very funny.”

“…Damn, you’re picky.”

“Why did you come?”

“Well, my death scene.”

“Yes.”

“…How do you think I should die?”

It seemed he was having the same concerns.

Seon-woo continued thinking for about ten seconds before slowly opening his mouth.

“Seo Jin-wook, what emotion is he feeling right now?”

“Resentment.”

“He killed someone anyway, and even so, he still feels resentful?”

“Because he thinks he did it to survive. That’s why he charges at Lee Yeon-woo at the end. Because he thinks he was screwed over.”

“Then what if it were you, senior? If you were in that situation, would you think all my wrongs were unavoidable… this is all Lee Yeon-woo’s fault?”

“…”

Jin-wook closed his mouth for a moment.

Then slowly shook his head.

“No.”

“Then?”

“…I think I’d think, lived like an idiot, dying like an idiot.”

“So he blames himself.”

“Right.”

“Then I think you should focus on that.”

Even as he spoke, Seon-woo found it fascinating.

If Seo Jin-wook had been a role Seon-woo needed to act, it probably wouldn’t have been organized this easily… Was it because it was someone else’s role? He could see too easily how to act it.

They say your skills improve when you give advice from the sidelines – was that really true?

“Resentful and frustrated, but… ultimately this is all my fault. Because I did wrong, this situation came about… expressing that hatred and dislike for himself, wanting to cry – I think expressing that kind of feeling would be good.”

“…You want me to bawl?”

“Isn’t that like Seo Jin-wook?”

“…”

Jin-wook looked at Seon-woo with a sour expression.

It was like Seo Jin-wook… but since they were namesakes, it felt like he was talking directly to him.

“You….”

“Yes?”

“Never mind.”

Jin-wook was about to bring it up but stopped himself.

It would seem like he was being nonsense to someone who had just given him advice, and more than anything… even if he asked about it, he didn’t think he’d get a particularly pleasant answer in return.

‘…My pride is completely shot.’

Jin-wook scratched his head irritably.

Then he opened his mouth to speak to Seon-woo.

“So you. How’s your preparation going?”

“…Well, I’m still thinking about it.”

“The death scene, it’s difficult for you too, right? It seemed like it would be.”

“Yes. Where and how to focus. That’s what I’m struggling with.”

“What focus points have you thought of.”

“Well.”

Seon-woo shrugged his shoulders.

“Betrayal, regret, self-blame?”

“That’s damn complicated.”

“…It’s not a simple situation. Can’t be helped.”

“No, but still, it’s complicated. Your acting is overwhelming to watch.”

It was criticism that came completely out of nowhere.

So Seon-woo was about to frown for a moment, then tilted his head slightly.

“Overwhelming to watch?”

“Yeah. There were often comments like that too. Didn’t you see them?”

He had seen similar comments like that.

That the character Kim Seon-woo was so complex that people kept looking for other people’s interpretations.

That wasn’t exactly a good phenomenon in Seon-woo’s opinion.

No matter how complex Kim Seon-woo was as a character, viewers should be able to understand him intuitively when watching.

“…So, in your opinion, how should I act?”

“What thoughts would there be right before dying.”

Jin-wook answered as if asking something obvious.

“I don’t want to die, wouldn’t that be enough?”

I don’t want to die.

At those words, Seon-woo’s expression went blank for a moment.

It was an absurdly simple answer.

But at the same time, it made sense. Right. What could be more appropriate as a thought for someone facing death?

Of course they wouldn’t want to die.

Just that thought alone would fill their head completely, making it impossible to think of anything else.

Actually, when you think about it, it was such an obvious thing, so why hadn’t he been able to think of this?

Seon-woo’s eyes began to sparkle.

All the emotional lines he had thought of so far felt somewhat lacking, but this felt like it resolved everything.

Kim Seon-woo who doesn’t want to die.

Actually, there probably wasn’t any other image more fitting for his final moments.

It was a moment of certainty.

Certainty that he could properly decorate Kim Seon-woo’s ending.

Seon-woo looked back at Jin-wook.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he had to. That if it weren’t for Jin-wook, he might have missed the most important thing.

He should properly give his thanks.

“…Senior.”

“What.”

“That….”

“Why do you keep trailing off so frustratingly. Speak quickly. You’re about to annoy me.”

He should do it.

“…How do you know about those comments on my posts? Were you checking my comments for me?”

No good. He absolutely couldn’t bear to see this guy getting cocky.

Jin-wook frowned.

“…Nonsense. I just happened to see it. Don’t talk bullshit.”

* * *

And when filming finally began… Park Myeong-jin smiled with satisfaction once again.

“I really am 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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