I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 128

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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 128

Getting close to Do-won, Seon-woo was able to learn so many things.

…Well, there might be some room for debate about this expression of ‘getting close.’ Do-won himself would definitely never agree that they had gotten close.

Still, Seon-woo secretly thought so.

At least Do-won didn’t seem as difficult as he used to be.

‘Was it from that time?’

When he belatedly realized Yoon-seo’s role and desperately wanted a reshoot… Do-won had spoken those words that Seon-woo couldn’t bring himself to say.

The gratitude he felt then, and just facing Do-won in general, made him think that way.

He might have some prickly aspects, but he seemed like someone who was more sincere about acting than anyone else.

In some ways, he was a bit similar to Jin-wook… Seon-woo hurriedly shook his head at that thought.

That was too rude a thought toward Do-won.

‘Well, Senior Jin-wook turned out to be better than expected when I got to know him… yeah, that’s right.’

He suddenly became curious.

What was Jin-wook doing around this time? It seemed like he had found an agency too, but there was no way to know whether he had started filming or not.

He barely said anything in the group chat either.

‘Does Hye-seong hyung know?’

It would be good to ask through him later.

Having thought that far, Seon-woo left a message in the group chat.

Seon-woo: I miss everyone

And the reply that came back as if they had been waiting,

Yechan: Me too, hyung ㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ

Ye-chan: Good luck with filming!!!

Such a puppy-like guy.

Seon-woo chuckled and briefly replied ‘Yeah, thanks.’ The other people seemed to be busy as there were no replies from them.

While he was at it, Seon-woo also searched a bit about Eun-seok and Do-young. More precisely, about the works they were appearing in.

What was interesting was that their release dates were all similar to [Red Zone].

Well, since Eun-seok and Do-young were in movies and Seon-woo was in a drama, there was no need to compete with them… but he thought it could become quite a topic in various ways.

It would mean actors from Cheongseong would be greeting the public one after another.

And not just them, but thinking about works featuring Hye-seong, Jin-wook, Ye-chan and others…

‘Cheongseong might really grow bigger than expected.’

He had heard that Cheongseong was already troubled by having many more applicants than before.

Originally, it was mainly people interested in theater acting who flocked there… but nowadays, it should be said that all people good at acting gather there, regardless of whether it’s theater or screen acting.

There were probably many people applying with expectations of making good connections through Cheongseong. But Seon-woo didn’t see that as particularly bad.

‘In the end, it’s all because they want to act.’

If good connections could create opportunities to act, there was no reason to refuse those connections.

Even Seon-woo himself was benefiting from those good connections. Without Seong Jun-il, he wouldn’t have been able to audition for [Red Zone], let alone appear in it.

‘Should I manage my connections too?’

Well, the answer was already decided. Of course he should manage them.

But treating people with an eye on the benefits didn’t match Seon-woo’s personality in many ways.

Rather than being so calculating… it would be more comfortable to just be a good person to everyone.

If he became a good person, good relationships would naturally keep forming.

Perhaps there was no more reliable method of managing connections than this.

In a way, it meant he just needed to keep doing what he had been doing.

It would be good to attend drinking gatherings without declining them as much as possible.

This wasn’t particularly difficult for Seon-woo either. Thanks to his constitution that didn’t get drunk easily, drinking gatherings had never been physically painful for him.

Of course, these were all secondary matters to think about.

In the end, the most important thing was acting. No matter how much he managed his connections, what would be the point if his acting was fundamentally lacking?

‘I need to grow more.’

Watching Do-won and Seo Ryeong’s acting this time, Seon-woo realized anew how lacking he was.

From the flow of emotions, to character details, to the pictures they painted, they were so far ahead that Seon-woo could barely fathom the distance.

It felt like facing a mountain whose peak he couldn’t even gauge.

And that mountain spoke to him.

—Your acting is passive.

Passive. Honestly, it was somewhat unexpected criticism.

He had thought it was natural for supporting actors to act passively. Of course, if a supporting actor was given a scene to shine alone, they could show proactive acting… but he thought they couldn’t do that beside the lead.

It was like the feeling of wearing white clothes to a wedding.

But there must have been a reason why Seong Do-won said that.

From then on, Seon-woo began to seriously contemplate what ideal supporting role acting was.

And what came to mind then was Lee Mu-beom from [One Room].

Lee Mu-beom was definitely a supporting character. But was his acting passive? Did Lee Mu-beom act cautiously, worried he might overwhelm them?

No, that wasn’t the case.

The Lee Mu-beom that Seon-woo remembered was definitely free.

Sometimes ignoring them, sometimes adding color on top of theirs, freely showing off his presence.

But what was interesting was that this didn’t result in the other leads’ presence being dimmed.

Rather, the more Lee Mu-beom shined… the deeper the colors of the other characters watching him became. …Of course, there was the condition that they had to withstand Lee Mu-beom’s momentum.

Recalling that moment, he felt like he understood.

The ‘proactive supporting role acting’ that Do-won mentioned must have meant acting like Lee Mu-beom. Of course, he couldn’t show the same level of acting as Lee Mu-beom, but he had to at least imitate it.

‘How?’

The problem was this part.

He couldn’t get even the slightest sense of how to act like that.

And this wasn’t just Seon-woo’s problem alone. Min-hee, who had been standing next to Seon-woo and received nagging from Do-won saying ‘You’re no exception either. Don’t listen like it’s someone else’s business,’ was also massaging her temples as if she had a headache.

“…No, that senior asks for incredible things way too casually, you know?”

“Maybe it means he has high expectations for us?”

“Lucky you. Everything just runs through your positive circuits like that. …You seem to follow Senior Do-won really well.”

“I should follow him well.”

“Why?”

“He’s good at acting.”

“…You follow someone just because they’re good at acting? That’s too simple, isn’t it?”

“Simple? How many people in the world are as good at acting as Senior Seong Do-won?”

“When you put it that way, it does seem like that…”

Min-hee nodded at the strangely convincing words, then let out another sigh.

“But really, how should we act? I feel like I might put too much force into it again and hear something like ‘What are you, the lead or something?'”

“…I’m worried about that too.”

Controlling one’s strength wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

Min-hee sighed.

“I think we still don’t know how to act properly.”

“Hehehehe, what adorable things you’re saying.”

Then a voice interrupted between them.

Seon-woo and Min-hee reflexively turned around, then immediately stood up and bowed their heads.

“Ah, seniors.”

Three people wearing doctor’s coats were looking at them.

It was the hopeless three brothers. …Of course, not that they were hopeless in real life, but in the story. The trio of residents from the emergency medicine department.

Ye-ji, who played the role of someone who remained silent with a blank face in any situation.

Yun-seob, with a chubby build, who played the role of always being anxious and spouting negative things.

And Na-sae, who played the role of always fooling around.

Perhaps because these three usually appeared as a set in the story.

Even when not filming, these three often stuck together like this.

Na-sae asked with a grin.

“Did you guys get scolded by Senior Do-won again?”

“…Rather than scolded, we received advice.”

“You got scolded, you got scolded. So what did he scold you about?”

“Well…”

Min-hee hesitated before relaying what she had heard from Do-won.

Then Yun-seob made a tearful face.

“Ah, what? That’s too harsh. Passive… that’s basically saying your acting is dead and boring to watch.”

“…No, he didn’t say it that harshly.”

“It’s okay! This is what juniors do – gather together and grumble like this! Say whatever you want, our youngest ones. Your senior will listen to everything.”

Perhaps because Seon-woo and Min-hee were the only juniors below them, Yun-seob particularly emphasized the word ‘senior.’

But since there wasn’t any real malice behind it… Seon-woo and Min-hee eventually read the room and quietly let their guard down.

“Seniors, when you act… have you ever worried about things like this?”

“Whether it’s passive or active?”

“Yes.”

“But…”

Then Ye-ji, who had been keeping her mouth shut until now, spoke up. She slowly looked around at Min-hee and Seon-woo and asked.

“What is passive acting?”

“Well…”

Seon-woo was about to answer but closed his mouth.

Passive acting. He had simply thought it meant acting where you’re just led around by the other person. But was that really the right answer?

Before he could get an answer to that, Ye-ji asked once more.

“And what is active acting?”

“…”

This was equally impossible to answer.

When he looked at Min-hee, she also had a thoughtful expression, as if she had never deeply considered this either.

Na-sae smiled warmly and patted Seon-woo’s shoulder.

“Think slowly. Don’t try to be too perfect. You’re both doing well. Honestly, there are many times when I think you do better than me.”

“…No, senior. We’re still far from good enough. But thank you. We’ll work hard.”

“Yeah, fighting!”

After the hopeless three brothers left, Seon-woo opened his script.

The next scene to film happened to be one with Lee Hyeok. After the confrontation with Sang-a, Lee Hyeok finally transported the patient to the emergency room and was performing emergency treatment. After somehow securing a bed, completing the treatment, and sending the patient to the operating room, while Lee Hyeok was catching his breath, Yoon-seo hesitates before speaking up.

He trusts Lee Hyeok’s judgment.

That accepting the patient was definitely the right decision.

‘…What would happen if I acted this scene passively, and what would happen if I acted it actively?’

Seon-woo floated Yoon-seo’s color orb for that part above his palm.

A bright yellow flower bud surrounded by blue leaves swayed its petals as if asking to be burst.

When he burst the color orb, the emotion he felt was no different from usual.

Infinite affection for patients. Responsibility. And fear.

At the same time, he noticed the faint crimson stains on those petals.

It was Lee Hyeok’s color. The pressure and fear he had given were so deeply ingrained that Lee Hyeok’s color was stained into every grain of the petals.

It was a trace of Seon-woo’s efforts to understand Yoon-seo three-dimensionally.

But this wouldn’t be enough.

He must understand more.

More things, he must look deeper into them.

Seon-woo looked ahead.

He imagines. That Lee Hyeok is standing before him.

Then, from the point where Seon-woo’s gaze touches, Lee Hyeok’s color begins to surge forth like a raging torrent.

A wave of color that not only paints Seon-woo’s world but seeks to devour even Seon-woo himself.

Seon-woo’s eyes slowly sank as he faced him.

Why he needs to act proactively,

what kind of acting is proactive—he still doesn’t really understand.

But there was one thing he could be certain of.

The reason Do-won told him to act that way… surely it was because he was confident that doing so would make the scene more beautiful.

His eyes must have seen it.

A more beautiful painting.

Seon-woo bursts the color orb.

Against Lee Hyeok’s color that flowed as if to devour the world, Yoon-seo’s bright yellow heart begins to bloom flowers throughout the entire world.

Before the scene of crimson water seeping into each and every petal, Seon-woo’s two eyes began to shine with that same color.

He still doesn’t know.

What proactive acting is.

What kind of acting Do-won expects from him either.

Then he just needs to paint it.

If he paints the most beautiful world he can imagine,

surely the answer will be somewhere within it.

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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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