I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 150

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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 150

Fortunately, as [Red Zone] began, Seon-woo’s lecture also came to an end.

Episode 4 starts with a close-up of Lee Hyeok’s resignation letter.

The Hospital Director naturally refuses to accept Lee Hyeok’s resignation. Instead, he sighs and scolds him.

—Why are you always so extreme? Are you protesting right now? If you’re going to stop me from accepting patients, should I just fire you? Is that what you’re saying?

—No. If I wanted to say that, I would have changed hospitals instead of quitting medicine.

—Everyone says the same thing. That if things continue like this, I’ll end up killing someone.

—…What?

—That accepting patients endlessly without limits is ultimately just self-satisfaction on my part.

—…

—These days, I’m starting to think they might be right.

Lee Hyeok confesses honestly.

With a half-collapsed expression, as if he has no strength left to do anything more, with a completely burned-out face.

—I’m scared. Really scared that if things continue like this, someone will die because of me.

—…Lee Hyeok.

The Hospital Director ultimately doesn’t approve Lee Hyeok’s resignation.

Instead, he gives him indefinite leave.

And in the Emergency Room where Lee Hyeok disappeared, people enjoy a moment of peace.

The working environment had definitely improved. While an Emergency Room can never truly be leisurely, the situations where they were pushed beyond their limits had significantly decreased.

Of course, even in such an environment, there were still people who missed Lee Hyeok.

—I wish the professor would come back soon.

The representative among them was Yoon-seo.

With a tired complexion, lying face-down on the On-Duty Room desk, Yoon-seo muttered. So-hee, who was practicing sutures with a surgical needle beside her, tilted her head.

—Why are you thinking such harsh thoughts?

—The professor didn’t do anything wrong.

—Well, he didn’t do anything wrong. But he left because he felt responsible. The fact that a patient caused such a commotion that you got hurt means the Emergency Room wasn’t properly controlled… and there’s only one reason why the Emergency Room became such chaos.

—…

At those words, Yoon-seo touched the bandage on her neck with a forlorn expression.

Then she opened her mouth with a resolute expression.

—This isn’t the professor’s fault.

—I don’t think the professor did anything wrong either. But someone has to take responsibility. The Emergency Room management wasn’t proper, and that’s because Professor Kwon I-hyeok pushed everyone too hard.

—The professor is human too.

—Yes, he’s human. But he’s also a doctor. And doctors must take responsibility.

So-hee clenches her fist. Then she answered with a stubborn voice.

Her somewhat pained expression was telling. At this moment, she was thinking of the patient she ultimately couldn’t save.

—We deal with lives. Saying we made a mistake, we were lacking, that doesn’t work. Neither patients nor guardians want to hear such excuses from us.

—But it’s okay.

—Did you hear me properly? Are you saying it’s okay for doctors to make mistakes…

So-hee, who was frowning irritably, stops speaking and freezes.

And the same goes for Sora, who had been holding her breath and watching the confrontation between the two. She looked at Yoon-seo on the screen with eyes full of excitement.

‘What kind of look is that…’

This isn’t something to brag about, but Sora had received quite a few confessions from men so far.

Well, some of them were dry confessions, but there were also those who talked about thousand-year love, saying things like ‘No matter who you meet in the future, no one will love you more than I do.’

But did their eyes look like that back then?

‘No.’

Sora shook her head.

If they had, Sora might have been enchanted and accepted those confessions. It was such an unfairly captivating look.

If someone with such eyes mentioned something like ‘thousand-year love,’ it wouldn’t feel like nonsense at all.

Rather, she would think this way.

Yes, that’s why your eyes look like this right now.

But to use such a look not even during a confession, but in this situation?

—It’s not your fault.

What Yoon-seo spoke wasn’t a confession.

It was comfort, perhaps understanding.

Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.

Eyes that seemed to say she didn’t want to see her in pain.

Her heart pounds.

Sora covered her mouth.

This is illegal. It’s a crime.

‘No wonder there are real-life couple rumors!’

Viewers were already talking about Seon-woo and Min-hee in various ways.

They’re from the same Theater Company, appeared together on 【I Am an Actor】, and now their activities overlap even in [Red Zone]… The chemistry they show is unbelievable, so people can’t help but ship them.

Of course, she knows they’re not actually dating, but seeing this, she can’t help but have doubts again.

No matter what, is that a look that can be expressed through acting?

Such a look that seems like it would embrace every aspect of a person… can that really be created without genuine love?

‘It’s possible. It’s possible, but…!’

She wants to believe it’s impossible.

More precisely, she wants to believe that look is really love. It was too beautiful a look to think of as fake.

If someone could receive such a look even once in their lifetime, wouldn’t that already be a successful life?

But the most chilling thing was that the owner of those eyes was sitting right next to her.

Sora glanced back at Seon-woo.

And she was immediately startled. Seon-woo’s gaze as he watched the work had a completely different feeling from Yoon-seo’s.

If Yoon-seo had calm yet round eyes, Seon-woo’s gaze watching [Red Zone] now was burning hot.

Eyes that seemed to want to deconstruct and analyze every element appearing on screen. Seeing those eyes filled with such intense heat that it felt somewhat eerie, she wondered if this was really the same person who acted as that pure-hearted man on screen.

‘He’s really different.’

Sora thought.

From when they first met, when he talked about acting like a child babbling about dinosaurs, she had noticed that Seon-woo’s attitude toward acting was definitely unique.

It was remarkable. Among the people who had gathered at Cheongseong because they loved acting, there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t serious about acting.

Yet the fact that she thought ‘he really loves acting’ while watching Seon-woo meant that his passion for acting was so enormous that others’ love seemed ordinary in comparison.

That passion must be what makes him different.

‘Could I do that too?’

Could she indulge in acting like that? As if acting were everything in this world.

She wanted to.

Sora turned back to the screen. Before she knew it, the scene between Yoon-seo and So-hee had ended. So-hee had fallen asleep and collapsed on her desk, and Yoon-seo was covering So-hee with a blanket.

And the look in Yoon-seo’s eyes as she sat beside her, resting her chin on her hand while gazing at So-hee’s face…

‘So pretty…’

It was enough to make Sora’s expression dreamy once again.

But whether he knew that his acting was completely captivating his junior or not, Seon-woo was still watching [Red Zone] with burning eyes.

More precisely, the character of Yoon-seo.

‘What should I do?’

He wanted to make Yoon-seo unforgettable.

Perhaps it was an impossible desire. Even people who were once close naturally have their faces and voices fade with time, so wanting to permanently engrave a mere drama character in people’s memories… what an absurd dream that was.

But there are people in this world who make such absurd things reality.

He didn’t need to go as far as Do-young. In Seon-woo’s memory, there were countless characters and performances that had left impressions he would never forget for life.

If it’s human nature to challenge the impossible, then there’s even more reason when it’s possible.

One moment.

Just one moment of impact would be enough.

Seon-woo took in all the scenes that [Red Zone] portrayed.

And he asked himself.

‘…Will people be able to remember Kwon I-hyeok forever?’

He didn’t need to think long.

They would have to remember. Just the rage-filled face he showed when Lee Hyeok first appeared, waking from the nightmare that killed his father… it was acting that would shock the brain into awakening permanent memory cells.

It wasn’t just that scene.

The face when he was angry at Yoon-seo.

The face when he stubbornly insisted to the chairman that he would treat patients.

The face when he felt sorry toward Seo Ryeong.

And even that face mixed with relief and guilt when he submitted his resignation… all those faces remained so vividly in memory.

What exactly created that difference?

Was this the difference between Lee Hyeok and Yoon-seo?

Or was it the difference between Do-won and Seon-woo?

‘How can I…’

Seon-woo looked at the screen.

Just then, Yoon-seo and So-hee appeared on screen again.

This time the atmosphere wasn’t very good. They were arguing in the emergency room about constantly refusing patient transfers.

In episode 4, the screen time for Yoon-seo and So-hee had increased considerably.

It wasn’t just the two of them. To show what the emergency room looked like without Lee Hyeok and how things were flowing, most characters inevitably had to be dealt with deeply overall.

Would the emergency room just become ordinary without Lee Hyeok?

That wasn’t the case.

After Lee Hyeok left, an unexpected disaster occurred at Hanwool Hospital.

A pregnant woman rejected by Hanwool Hospital ended up dying after being bounced around to different hospitals.

Using that incident as a catalyst, patients who had died due to emergency room bouncing began gathering to protest, and during this, stories about Lee Hyeok started being mentioned in the media.

Hanwool Hospital had been the only one among metropolitan emergency rooms without bouncing, and that was solely thanks to a person called Professor Kwon I-hyeok.

But rumors began spreading that this professor had ultimately been forced to leave the emergency room due to hospital pressure, and even Hanwool Hospital had fallen to become a place that caused emergency room bouncing.

Thanks to this, at some point, Lee Hyeok began to be seen as a keyword for change by people crying out for emergency room structural reform.

Episode 4 ended with scenes of protesters demanding Lee Hyeok’s return.

The problem was that in episode 5, the protesters began to view the other medical staff remaining at Hanwool Hospital as the axis of evil that drove out Lee Hyeok.

In some ways it was correct, but it was actually more wrong—a one-dimensional way of thinking.

[Red Zone] showed the protesters outside crying out for medical reform and the medical staff busily moving inside the emergency room in alternating scenes, suggesting something.

That neither side was the right answer, and neither side was the wrong answer.

A confrontation between people who desire perfection and those who are demanded to provide it, within a structure that inevitably cannot be perfect.

Naturally, those who would suffer most in such confrontation had to be Yoon-seo and So-hee.

The emergency room, which had become harder to refuse patients compared to before, began to get crowded again… and the interns inevitably became the busiest.

And at the point when everyone’s nerves had become extremely frayed, an incident occurred.

The protesters had entered the hospital lobby. The moment one of them, who had been shouting ‘Bring back Professor Kwon I-hyeok!’, spotted So-hee and threw a plastic cup filled with coffee…

—Kim Yoon-seo!

—…Are you okay?

Yoon-seo pulled So-hee into her arms and took the hit from the cup instead.

Her hair wet, her gown stained coffee-colored, So-hee’s figure staring blankly at him while embraced by Yoon-seo.

The moment So-hee’s pupils begin to shake violently,

—Bring back Professor Kwon I-hyeok!

—Abolish the deadly rotation system!

Just then, the protesters’ arrows turn toward Seo Ryeong, who had been watching with startled eyes.

It was actually a tomato. But Seo Ryeong wasn’t hit by the tomato. Just before the tomato could strike Seo Ryeong, a large hand blocked it.

The owner of the hand was Lee Hyeok.

As people freeze momentarily upon seeing him, Lee Hyeok lets out a deep sigh.

—Can’t get a moment’s rest, really.

Then he raises the corners of his mouth with eyes full of irritation.

—If you want my return, why are you throwing things at my woman? Hm?

And with cheerful yet humorous OST playing, episode 5 ends.

Seon-woo slowly exhaled.

Certainly, even at this very moment, Do-won was somehow alive. A violent acting that seemed to forcibly tear through the gaps of consciousness and carve his memories into it.

It was a time of reflection once again.

That Seon-woo too must somehow acquire that violence.

…But then,

“….”

“….”

Seon-woo looked around.

And he let out a groan for a moment. All the Troupe Members were looking at him. More precisely, at him and Min-hee.

…For a moment, he had that thought.

Somehow those faces, those gazes also seemed like something he’d never forget for the rest of his life. Though it was different from what he was aiming for… it was violent in a different sense.

“What is it. Why is everyone staring like that?”

Naturally, Min-hee couldn’t help but be flustered.

Watching such Min-hee, Hye-seong stood up with a serious face.

“I’ll ask you straight up.”

“…What?”

“Since when have you two been dating?”

“What are you really saying.”

“No, never mind. It can’t be helped. Fine. I’ll make up my mind.”

“Make up your mind about what.”

“To give permission.”

“What permission are you talking about!”

Hye-seong nodded with a resolute expression.

“Have a beautiful love.”

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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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