I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 120

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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 120

‘Cheongseong, huh.’

With a konjac jelly in her mouth, Chae Seo-ryeong looked at Seon-woo with a peculiar expression.

She was known as the entertainment industry’s information hub. Naturally, she wasn’t unaware of what kind of stories were circulating about Cheongseong, and furthermore, about Seon-woo these days.

“I heard that guy’s a genius?”

Nevertheless, she pretended not to know and approached Yu Eun-jeong to strike up a conversation.

Yu Eun-jeong’s eyes sparkled.

“Really? A genius?”

“Oh my, is this the first time you’re hearing this, Writer?”

“It’s the first time I’m hearing the word ‘genius.'”

“Everyone says so. That’s why he was incredibly popular during 【I Am an Actor】.”

“Oh, really? I only watched [One Room] but didn’t watch 【I Am an Actor】 separately. But… genius? I’m still a bit unsure if it’s to that extent.”

“…Writer, do you perhaps not know Seon-woo’s career?”

“Career? I know about as much as he came from acting in Cheongseong.”

“One year.”

“…?”

“He’s only been acting for one year.”

Yu Eun-jeong looked back at Chae Seo-ryeong with a dazed expression.

It was an expression that showed she couldn’t understand it at all.

“One year?”

“Yes, one year. Surprised?”

“No, it’s not that I’m surprised… is that even possible?”

“It’s usually difficult.”

Chae Seo-ryeong shrugged her shoulders.

And she grinned as if she had found an interesting topic to chat about.

“But isn’t that why they call him a genius? Because he accomplished something that difficult?”

“…Hmm.”

Yu Eun-jeong nodded as if she understood.

“So he’s the type of genius who learns quickly.”

“…Are there other types of geniuses?”

“There are also geniuses who grow endlessly. They’re not as noticeable though.”

Growing endlessly.

Considering that actors frequently encounter something called a ‘wall,’ it was truly an enviable thing to say. But perhaps that’s exactly why it didn’t feel realistic.

“…Do such people really exist? I don’t think I’ve met any yet.”

“I wish they didn’t exist, but they do. Annoyingly so.”

Yu Eun-jeong stared blankly into space for a moment, as if recalling someone.

Then she slowly shook her head and spoke.

“It’s a different field, but isn’t Director Yu Chan-woo exactly that kind of person?”

“Oh, that’s true.”

“Anyway, it’s annoying. I’d be happy if I didn’t know I was a sparrow, but there’s always a stork next to me tearing apart my legs.”

“…Well, couldn’t you just not tear your legs? What’s the big deal about having easily torn legs?”

“Don’t you care about that kind of thing?”

“Well, I used to care. When I was younger.”

Chae Seo-ryeong chuckled and chewed her konjac jelly.

“But even when I cared about that stuff, only my legs hurt. So I decided to compete with character instead of talent. Like now, being cheerfully cheeky.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Being cheerfully cheeky?”

“No? The part about only your legs hurting. I should try using that as dialogue sometime.”

It wasn’t just idle talk – Yu Eun-jeong actually took out her notebook and dutifully recorded it.

…Writers really are all abnormal. As Chae Seo-ryeong chuckled and shook her head, Yu Eun-jeong spoke again.

“But that’s good too.”

“What is?”

“Your cheerfully cheeky character. There really aren’t many characters like you. So when I was writing the script this time and they asked who I wanted to cast, you were the first person who came to mind.”

Chae Seo-ryeong was momentarily at a loss for words.

Surprisingly, she had a trait of malfunctioning when receiving compliments. Seeing such Chae Seo-ryeong, Yu Eun-jeong smiled.

“In a way, isn’t that cheerful cheekiness the result of you tearing your own legs in your own way?”

“…Writer.”

“Ah, that line just now was good too. I should write this down too…”

Ah, she really doesn’t give me a chance to be moved.

Chae Seo-ryeong turned her head again. Seon-woo’s acting was already beginning.

A scene where the patient’s condition worsens and panic sets in.

“Pu-pulse over 120, so blood pressure again… Ah, no. IV, IV first… No, no. Oxygen. Oxygen too…”

Seeing him stammer and recite the treatment process, it really felt like watching a flustered intern doctor.

‘His immersion ability is really good.’

Chae Seo-ryeong was impressed anew.

It wasn’t just Chae Seo-ryeong. The eyes of everyone on set watching Seon-woo’s acting were wide open, seemingly deeply impressed.

They had felt it during the script reading too, but the feeling was stronger now that he was acting in earnest.

It wasn’t simply a matter of skill.

The three-dimensional quality of the character.

The vividness of it, as if a real doctor had jumped out of the work… someone even muttered this:

“That guy’s going to have a fandom soon.”

What are the conditions for an actor to gain fans?

Generally, what comes to mind would probably be acting ability and looks. Those two are indeed important.

But the most important thing that draws in a fandom is ultimately vitality.

The vitality that makes it seem like the other person isn’t trapped in the screen, but is expressing emotions right before your eyes.

That living feeling makes the public connect with the actor and eventually admire them.

From that perspective, it could be said that Seon-woo already showed glimpses of star quality.

The problem was,

‘It’s the next scene…’

The scene where Lee Hyeok and Yoon-seo face each other.

Seong Do-won wasn’t your average difficult actor. Usually he didn’t particularly throw tantrums or anything… but when filming, if there was something about his scene partner he didn’t like, he would relentlessly pursue it like catching a mouse.

At least it was fortunate that he knew how to restrain that temperament with seniors. If that weren’t the case, she probably would have… found acting with Seong Do-won quite frightening.

Anyway, it was a two-shot with that Seong Do-won.

Moreover, a scene where he had to handle Seong Do-won getting furiously angry.

Honestly, even if she were asked to film it, it seemed like a scene that would be a bit scary…

‘Well, maybe he’ll show a rookie’s spirit?’

Chae Seo-ryeong’s eyes sparkled as she moved her feet.

She approached Min-hee.

“Min-hee.”

“Ah, yes. Senior.”

“I told you to call me sister, not senior.”

“Th, that… seems too impolite somehow.”

“Aww, so cute.”

She wanted to pinch those cheeks.

But she couldn’t do that since it would ruin the makeup. Chae Seo-ryeong chuckled and opened her mouth.

“How about it? Your colleague and junior. Think he’ll do well?”

“…He’s my junior. And he’ll do well.”

It was a voice without the slightest hesitation.

Chae Seo-ryeong’s eyes widened slightly.

It wasn’t easy to trust someone to this extent… but Min-hee shook her head with a slight smile.

“Worrying about that guy is the most useless thing in the world… I’ve learned that by now.”

“That’s tremendous faith.”

“You’ll understand when you see him, Senior.”

I told you to call me sister.

…Is a twelve-year age gap too uncomfortable to call someone sister? No. I shouldn’t be having such depressing thoughts. Chae Seo-ryeong deliberately shook off her distracting thoughts and turned her gaze to Seon-woo and Seong Do-won.

And…

“Wow. Nice picture.”

“Both of them have such refreshing faces… just looking at them is healing.”

She nodded at the voices heard from around.

If there was a hospital with doctors like that, it would have an endless stream of patients in a different sense – such a heartwarming visual.

But that alone wouldn’t be meaningful.

“Alright, we’re going into the shot soon!”

With PD Han Jeong-hun’s call, Seong Do-won’s atmosphere instantly reversed.

Anger began to slowly spread across his expressionless face that seemed uninterested in anything in the world, and when it started boiling up…

“Ready, action!”

The signal dropped.

And simultaneously, Seong Do-won exploded.

“You… what the hell are you doing?”

Chilling.

It wasn’t just Chae Seo-ryeong who felt it. Everyone watching their acting from this spot got goosebumps for a moment.

And naturally, Seon-woo was no exception.

“What are you? Are you a doctor? You freeze up in front of a patient and you call yourself a doctor?”

Colors scattered.

Centered around Seong Do-won… crimson silk cloth began covering all directions. That cloth sometimes became bandages, sometimes became tubes for blood transfusion.

He could feel it. That the character Lee Hyeok was a human who functioned entirely to save people.

A person who lived with saving people as their greatest mission in life.

‘Incredible…’

He had expected it.

Even during the script reading, he had sufficiently felt that Seong Do-won’s depth was extraordinary. But his presence was so tremendous that for a moment, Yoon-seo’s color surrounding Seon-woo was torn apart in an instant.

Beyond the level of Yoon-seo being influenced by Lee Hyeok… his immersion was completely disrupted.

As a result,

“We’re going again.”

A retake was called.

…Well, getting an OK sign in one take wasn’t usually easy, but still, this was entirely Seon-woo’s fault. So just as he was about to bow his head and apologize,

“What are you doing?”

Seong Do-won was frowning and glaring at Seon-woo.

A voice that sounded too displeased to tolerate.

“Do it properly. Everyone here is busy. We don’t have time to waste because of you.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Words aren’t necessary. Show it through your actions. Get your head straight.”

It was a tone that contained not even a hint of comfort or encouragement.

An aggressive and irritable tone that would be enough to hurt most people. But thanks to that, it actually felt like his mind was snapping awake.

Seong Do-won was right.

If it were someone else, maybe not. But he was still just a newcomer. While it was natural for a newcomer to be lacking, at the same time, precisely because he was a newcomer, he needed to show a more proper performance.

A contradictory situation.

Just moments ago he had heard “it’s okay if you don’t do well,” but now he was hearing “do well” – it was quite ironic.

A situation where he couldn’t tell whose words to listen to.

But precisely because of that, his thoughts became clear.

‘Don’t worry about doing well or not.’

Acting isn’t about ‘trying to do well’ in the first place.

It’s about acting.

What he needed to think about was Yoon-seo’s heart… and Lee Hyeok’s heart that was overwhelming her. These two were enough.

More precisely, just thinking about these two left no room to think about anything else.

“Ready~ Action!”

The action signal dropped, and once again tremendous emotion flowed out from Seong Do-won.

“You… what the hell are you doing?”

Even though he had just poured out his emotions once, as if he wasn’t tired at all, the waves of color flowing from him were still rough.

No, if anything, it felt like his emotions had risen even stronger than before…

He could feel it.

How angry Lee Hyeok was.

And how much Yoon-seo was blaming herself. Every time Lee Hyeok’s anger seeped into the gaps of her heart that had been torn to pieces, how bitter and painful it was.

Just now, he had been so shocked by that pain that his immersion had broken.

But now he wouldn’t let that happen.

Yoon-seo was weak.

Gentle and naive.

But… that didn’t mean she was someone who would give up.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I, I didn’t mean to… I really didn’t mean to…!”

Even though her heart was being torn to shreds, even though it seemed impossible to endure… even so, somehow managing to hold on – that was Yoon-seo.

That was exactly the point Seon-woo needed to express right now.

Like a weed that swayed helplessly before the storm that was Lee Hyeok, yet whose roots wouldn’t be pulled out.

He had no confidence that this would please Seong Do-won… Han Jeong-hun.

He would simply portray it.

No, he would simply help portray it.

So that the picture Seong Do-won wanted would fill this camera.

And,

‘Ah…’

Seeing Seong Do-won’s color that had torn apart his own color fill the hospital corridor as it was, and further take the form of a tree with red bark, Seon-woo was inwardly overwhelmed.

And only then could he understand what Seong Do-won was trying to express.

‘So this was… it.’

Lee Hyeok was a doctor.

Not only when saving patients, but even when getting angry, he was a doctor. Every moment he remained faithful to his essence as a doctor, loyal to the great principle of having to save lives.

And that temperament of his would be expressed in the form of a tree, ‘life’.

Right now, in this moment when Lee Hyeok was angry at Yoon-seo, he wasn’t getting angry at a subordinate.

He was angry that a doctor must be perfect in front of patients, that she mustn’t crumble.

And what lay at the foundation of that was affection for patients.

In a way… this hot-tempered doctor wasn’t fundamentally much different from Yoon-seo.

The moment he felt that,

‘…’

Seong Do-won was inwardly surprised.

Seon-woo’s acting had changed texture in an instant. If until just now there had been a feeling that his emotions were somehow bouncing away… now every time he screamed, every time he frowned, it felt like all those emotions were piercing Seon-woo like thorns.

Thanks to that, he could pour out his emotions freely without worrying about anything else…

“——Cut!”

Before he knew it, Han Jeong-hun’s cut signal had fallen.

Seong Do-won slowly calmed the anger that had been boiling up like wildfire in his chest. He couldn’t quite distinguish whether this was anger toward Seon-woo or anger toward Yoon-seo. And he didn’t particularly want to distinguish either.

Seong Do-won narrowed his eyes and looked at Seon-woo.

“Kim Seon-woo.”

“Yes.”

“In the next scene too, do it just like you did now. Don’t be naive.”

It was unclear whether it was praise or what.

Actually, Seong Do-won hadn’t said it intending to praise either. Acting properly was natural. It wasn’t something that warranted praise.

Well, saying it this way probably wouldn’t make the other person feel good… but that wasn’t something he needed to consider.

He had come here to act, not to socialize.

But,

“Yes, understood!”

Seon-woo’s reaction was a bit outside his expectations.

It had definitely been a tone that wouldn’t be strange to think he was being sarcastic… but instead his eyes were sparkling as he nodded, seeming somehow pleased.

…Why?

While thinking he couldn’t understand, Seon-woo bowed his head.

“Thank you for the teaching!”

He had never given any teaching though.

Seong Do-won’s expression became uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure exactly, but he had a feeling. He vaguely seemed to know.

‘This guy….’

He’s a lunatic.

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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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