I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 141

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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 141

[Red Zone] is a 9-episode drama.

The broadcast schedule is structured to air 3 episodes in the first week, then 2 episodes each week after that.

Thanks to this, today episodes 1 through 3 were scheduled to be released.

Because of this, people watching [Red Zone] now had to make a choice.

Whether to watch only episode 1 and go to sleep, or push through to episode 2… or even all the way to episode 3.

And that choice depended on episode 1 of [Red Zone].

Depending on how much it captivated their hearts, it would determine whether they’d watch all 3 episodes in a row or save them for later.

If a terrible product came out, they might not even finish watching episode 1.

Perhaps that’s why.

[Red Zone] appeared with an intro captivating enough to grab people’s attention from the start.

The ear-splitting sound of sirens.

An ambulance racing at full speed down a rainy night highway flashes across the screen, and the siren sound gradually fades into the distance.

And what follows are emotionless voices heard through the phone.

—Sorry. We don’t have any beds available right now.

—Ah, we’re full right now.

—It would be difficult for us… I think it would be better if you tried other hospitals.

And as those voices flow out, the patient lying on the stretcher in the ambulance is illuminated.

A middle-aged man who seems to have lost consciousness, staring blankly at the ceiling with clouded eyes. Seeing the light in his eyes growing dim, the paramedics shook him with urgent voices.

—Patient, you need to stay conscious! Patient!

—Ah, my son…

—Patient, just hold on a little longer! Soon… you’ll be transported to the hospital soon. You just need to hold on until then!

—It’s not… working…

As The Man’s eyes slowly lose focus, the phone in his pocket falls to the floor of the stretcher.

On the screen, a father and son are smiling.

A young man wearing a doctor’s coat and smiling brightly, and The Man placing his hand on the young man’s shoulder, smiling proudly.

And the next moment,

—Lee Hyeok?

The young man who was in that wallpaper, Lee Hyeok, appears on screen.

Inside the emergency room. Lee Hyeok, who had been flipping through charts with a tired expression, turns around. A nurse asks Lee Hyeok with a troubled expression.

—We’ve been getting the same call over and over. It’s a multiple trauma patient from a traffic accident, and they keep asking urgently if there’s anything we can do.

—…You know all our beds are full.

—I know. I know, but… they keep saying it’s urgent. What should we do?

—If we force ourselves to take patients, the professor will throw another fit. Are you confident you can handle that?

Lee Hyeok sighed.

—Let’s follow the manual.

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation in that voice.

As if he believed there was nothing problematic about what he had said.

—That’s the hospital policy.

And then, the scene changes.

—Heuuuuuup…!

Lee Hyeok, who had just been guarding the emergency room, suddenly sits up in bed, his whole body drenched in sweat.

As if he had just had a terrible nightmare, he gasps for breath while eyes filled with fear and rage glare at the camera lens. As if glaring at the viewers on the other side.

At the same time, the title cut of [Red Zone] appears,

“…Wow.”

Newcomer, who was next to Ye-chan, let out an exclamation.

And then startled, she covered her mouth.

Ye-chan didn’t blame her.

Rather, he felt relieved that she had expressed admiration on his behalf.

‘Indeed, Seong Do-won… should I say.’

Do-won was one of the actors always mentioned when it came to acting ability.

No matter what role he was given, he showed the best one could imagine, and in the drama industry, he was considered almost a guaranteed box office success.

Just from watching this short intro, he could feel why that was the case.

Just by looking at that face, he felt like he could immediately understand what kind of work [Red Zone] was.

It was as if he could picture how much Lee Hyeok had been living through hellish days, blaming himself ever since that day when he directly prevented his own father from coming to the emergency room.

Soon the screen shows Lee Hyeok getting ready for work.

And Chae Seo-ryeong, Sang-a, smiling from the bed while watching him.

—Did you have a nightmare?

—No.

—That dream again?

—I said I didn’t have it.

Lee Hyeok turns to look at Sang-a with annoyed eyes.

Though it’s a brief conversation, it feels like their relationship is being explained. Not only that they’re long-time lovers, but also what kind of lovers they are.

Sang-a stares intently at Lee Hyeok.

—Honey, Dad wants to see you this weekend.

—…Your father? What’s the occasion.

—What do you mean why. He wants to meet his prospective son-in-law.

—You know I don’t have any days off this week.

—Why don’t you have any days off when you’re a supervising professor?

—It’s because I’m a supervising professor that I don’t have any. It’s better for everyone if I’m in the emergency room as much as possible.

—So you’re saying you can’t make time?

—…Next time.

Lee Hyeok avoided Sang-a’s eyes.

—Tell them I’ll greet them next time.

The door closed, and Sang-a, who had been staring blankly at the door he left through, sighed and ruffled her hair.

—…This is so frustrating I could die.

The screen transitions.

And the moment they saw the two faces filling the screen, the atmosphere among the Cheongseong troupe members heated up.

“Wow! Finally!”

“It’s nice seeing them both in a two-shot from the beginning.”

“Wow… I’m getting goosebumps. Why does this feel so unreal?”

Min-hee and Seon-woo were captured on screen.

Min-hee with a somewhat relaxed expression, and Seon-woo looking quite tense. Watching the two of them, Ye-chan thought to himself.

‘Seon-woo hyung can play roles like that too…’

All the roles Seon-woo had shown so far were somewhat chic, or rather, mostly strong-willed characters.

But the Seon-woo on screen right now seemed somewhat fragile…

‘Harmless.’

Yes, it was a harmless feeling.

Ye-chan suddenly remembered what Min-hee had posted in the group chat before. That Seon-woo was asked to act cute.

He couldn’t hear the detailed explanation back then… Could this be one of those things? While he was thinking this, the story continued to unfold.

The story of episode 1 overall showed what kind of atmosphere the Hanul Hospital Emergency Room usually had.

It felt like naturally delivering information while pretending to unfold the story.

The information delivered in that brief time was as follows:

First, the residents, the hopeless three brothers, were pitiful people caught between superiors and subordinates.

Among the two interns, So-hee was regarded as a reliable elite within the emergency room, while conversely, Yoon-seo was treated as a half-wit who absolutely couldn’t be trusted with patients.

And most importantly, Lee Hyeok was practically reigning as an object of fear within this emergency room…

—We’ll take them.

—B-but Professor… we’re short on beds right now.

—When have we ever treated patients while counting beds? If we need to, we can borrow stretchers. Tell them to come. Right now!

There was no such thing as refusing patients at Hanul Hospital Emergency Room.

If an emergency room nurse tried to refuse a patient according to manual procedures, Lee Hyeok would appear and immediately stop it.

Whether they could handle it or not, they would somehow accept and save the patient.

—Professor Kwon I-hyeok is walking a very dangerous tightrope. Twenty-four-seven at that. The problem is that our hospital has to bear the risk of that tightrope walking.

And the higher-ups at Hanul Hospital didn’t like that.

The chairman asks.

—Can’t Professor Kwon I-hyeok be controlled?

—Well… it can’t be helped. If an accident happens, we’d at least have an excuse, but right now he’s somehow handling all the incoming patients.

—That’s just another way of saying it’s a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

From their perspective, it couldn’t be helped.

Patients? Of course it’s good if we can save them. But if they carelessly accepted patients they couldn’t handle and let them die without proper treatment, that would be a problem the hospital would have to bear entirely.

So the chairman eventually began pressuring Lee Hyeok directly.

—If we accept all incoming patients as Professor Kwon I-hyeok does, we can’t manage them. If we can’t manage them, there will be casualties, lawsuits will come in, and naturally legal costs will arise. These costs are…

—So you’re saying don’t accept patients?

And all that came back was Lee Hyeok’s cold gaze.

The chairman, overwhelmed by Lee Hyeok’s momentum that didn’t back down regardless of whether he was chairman or not, eventually decided to wait for an opportunity.

And just then, a good excuse presented itself to him.

—You’ve been in pain for 4 hours… and you’ve been vomiting. No diarrhea?

—Yes. D-doctor, I’m not going to be seriously ill, am I?

—Don’t worry. Could you wait here for a moment?

The emergency room saturated with patients.

Eventually, intern Yoon-seo was examining the symptoms,

—Doctor… I can’t, breathe well…

—…Ox-oxygen. Give me oxygen! Oxygen!

—Pulse is over 120!

She failed to catch the patient’s intra-abdominal bleeding and put them in critical condition.

And the acting Seon-woo showed at this moment seemed to reveal how he had secured the role in [Red Zone].

—Pu-pulse over 120 means blood pressure again… No, no. IV-IV fluids first… No, that’s not it. Oxygen. Oxygen too…

—Doctor!

—Ox-oxygen… give me oxygen. If it’s bleeding, we need a CT… we need to take a CT.

—Get it together! Doctor!

Shaking pupils. Trembling shoulders. His pale face was already beaded with cold sweat, and his breathing was rough as if hyperventilation would come at any moment.

It was textbook acting that seemed to show what panic symptoms were like.

The strange thing was…

‘I don’t hate him.’

A doctor who freezes up in front of a patient.

An undoubtedly frustrating sweet potato character. Usually, this kind of character should make you irritated just by looking at them, but strangely enough, Yoon-seo wasn’t hateable.

Why?

Questions arose in the Newcomer’s eyes.

Admiring Seon-woo’s acting was one thing, but his curiosity was greater. Just how did Seon-woo act to make this character, who should rightfully be hated, not hateful at all?

The answer could be found soon enough.

—You… what the hell are you doing?

—S-sorry. I’m sorry. I, I didn’t mean to… I really didn’t mean to…!

—What are you? Are you a doctor? You, freezing up in front of a patient, call yourself a doctor?

The patient eventually falls into a coma, and Lee Hyeok enters emergency surgery.

And finally, after finishing the surgery, Lee Hyeok fiercely berates Yoon-seo. And in front of him, Yoon-seo still only has tears welling up in her eyes.

…What a pathetic sight.

Yet despite that, why was it that somehow he seemed understandable?

‘…Because he’s human?’

The answer that momentarily came to the Newcomer’s mind was something like that.

Doctor. When you think of a doctor, some rigid image comes to mind. The stuffy air of hospitals, the stiff material of doctor’s coats, the cold feeling of a scalpel naturally come to mind.

But Yoon-seo didn’t give off that feeling.

Yoon-seo was human.

It was felt.

The young man on that screen wasn’t some great and special being who handles life… but just a person like them. Weak, lacking, clumsy, that kind of ordinary person.

The Newcomer thought.

How?

How could he create such a feeling? How could he express a character who should rightfully be frustrating as a human you’d want to protect?

Was it thanks to his appearance?

Or those eyes?

I don’t know.

But somehow, whenever Yoon-seo appeared on screen… she kept feeling her gaze drawn to Yoon-seo.

He kept catching her eye. As if that man had already entered her heart.

That was probably the reason.

—Kim Yoon-seo.

—…Yes, Professor.

—Patient Lee Jeong-ja has regained consciousness. Her language and behavioral responses are normal too.

—Yes…?

When Lee Hyeok delivered this news to Seon-woo, the Newcomer felt relieved.

Thank goodness. If something had happened to that patient, Yoon-seo would have really collapsed completely… It was truly fortunate that didn’t happen.

—But don’t breathe easy over this. This was just lucky. If you can’t properly pay attention to what you need to pay attention to, patients will end up having to rely on luck rather than doctors. So, get it together.

—Th-thank goodness.

—What?

—Th-thank goodness…

And it seemed she wasn’t the only one who thought that way.

Yoon-seo collapses.

Crying like a child, unable to even distinguish whether what he’s feeling is relief or guilt, as if he can’t handle the emotions flowing in at all… fragilely.

—Th-thank goodness. Thank goodness. Sniff…

Lee Hyeok glares at Yoon-seo.

But why was it? In those eyes looking at Yoon-seo… for just a moment, it seemed like envious feelings were revealed.

—You fool.

In an instant, the Newcomer arrived at an answer before even thinking.

No, more precisely, Yoon-seo had naturally imprinted that answer in her subconscious.

What makes a doctor great isn’t being good at surgery, being quick, or having lots of experience.

A doctor can be great because of the heart that wants to save patients by giving everything.

And inside Yoon-seo was only that heart.

I want to save people. I must not lose patients.

…A heart that Lee Hyeok, who once refused his father’s transfer, couldn’t have.

That pathetic and young doctor with fragile eyes as if he’d collapse any moment, unable to even breathe properly and choking up… ironically, already embodied the kind of doctor Lee Hyeok wanted to become more than anyone.

The moment he realized all of that, Ye-chan’s words came to the Newcomer’s mind.

—Seon-woo hyung… really does painting-like acting.

Is that so? I see.

This was it. The phrase “painting-like acting,” I couldn’t quite understand what it meant… but seeing this, I could understand it in an instant.

The sense of not only recognizing one’s own emotions, but perceiving and cultivating the flow of the scene itself.

Kim Seon-woo. That person is acting not just on the level of an actor, but on the level of a director.

Amazing.

The Newcomer looked back at Ye-chan.

And was about to ask. Whether what he said was this. Whether this was exactly that painting-like acting.

But he couldn’t.

‘…Senior?’

Ye-chan was staring at the screen with his mouth hanging open.

With a completely dumbfounded expression, as if he never imagined he’d see something like this.

The Newcomer’s expression became awkward.

What? He talked about “painting-like acting” and whatnot as if he was already familiar with Seon-woo…

But it seems like he’s the most surprised right now?

…Ah, drool. You’re drooling, Senior! Drool!

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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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