I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 166

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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 166

While Hee-tae was trembling with such emotion, Seon-woo quietly gazed at Layla.

If people felt beauty watching Seon-woo’s acting, Seon-woo was feeling exactly the same sentiment while looking at Layla.

‘Is romance… supposed to make you feel emotions like this?’

Lovely.

Cute, beautiful, and someone he wanted to protect.

He had felt these emotions before when immersing himself in the boyfriend role. But now, far more explosive emotions were raging within him compared to then.

Why?

—If you love someone, you have to stay by their side.

That one statement from Park Hoon had been the trigger.

That unreasonable attitude of insisting that a boyfriend must stay by one’s side no matter what, without any plan. Perhaps that attitude had served as inspiration.

Thinking about it, Seon-woo had always tended to try understanding and analyzing love too logically.

Love wasn’t such a logical emotion to begin with.

Even if he couldn’t be by her side, he would be there.

Even if he couldn’t protect her, he would protect her.

He wouldn’t leave.

Rather, speaking that way would surely be the attitude of someone in love.

Though a bit late, Seon-woo understood that even being stubborn like that was a virtue of a boyfriend.

So, now.

“….”

Even with darkness lurking everywhere trying to engulf him, his world could shine this stubbornly bright.

That darkness represented the boyfriend’s fear.

The fear coming from the reality that all of this was over, and ultimately nothing would remain.

He knew. He was dead, the relationship was over, and all of this would eventually become a thing of the past.

Nevertheless, Seon-woo couldn’t give up like that.

Because he had to protect her.

Even if he couldn’t do anything, he couldn’t give up.

It was a moment when he felt particularly regretful about having no lines.

He wanted to embrace and comfort her. He wanted to tell her it was okay. But Seon-woo couldn’t do anything.

Just like the boyfriend in the story actually couldn’t do anything.

Perhaps that’s why he could immerse himself even more.

Throughout watching Layla, only one sentence kept floating in Seon-woo’s mind.

‘It’s okay.’

Even if she couldn’t see him, even if she couldn’t hear his voice, it didn’t matter.

Because he could see her. Because he could be by her side.

So.

“—Cut!”

Ann’s voice cut through Seon-woo’s immersion completely.

Seon-woo closed his eyes briefly, then slowly opened them. The first thing he saw was Layla with a very strange expression, and Ann with a somewhat frightening look on her face.

“Seon-woo, your acting has changed quite a bit compared to our previous meeting?”

“…Ah, yes.”

Seon-woo slowly inhaled and his eyes sparkled.

“I thought it would be good to have a more reckless feeling.”

“Reckless?”

“Yes. That feeling of ‘even if I can’t be by your side, I’ll somehow stay with you.’ Was it okay?”

Instead of answering, Ann turned to look at Layla.

After all, this kind of emotional line was Layla’s decision to make. Ann might be the director of the music video, but ultimately this song belonged to Layla.

Whether Seon-woo’s emotional line suited the piece or not, that was for Layla to judge.

Fortunately, Layla seemed to like Seon-woo’s new interpretation.

She clenched both fists and nodded her head.

“Even if you can’t do anything, you won’t give up on me. That’s it, right?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Good. I really, really like this direction now. It’s more stimulating too… Anyway, even if your heart burns like that, you still can’t make eye contact with me or touch me.”

Layla’s eyes sparkled.

She seemed to love that dynamic so much that even her breathing had become quite rough.

“Whew… Isn’t that really attractive?”

“It’s attractive. And also… heartbreaking.”

“The more heartbreaking it is, the more thrilling it becomes!”

“That’s true.”

Seon-woo nodded.

He thought that was the most attractive part of this work too.

Wanting to do anything in his heart, but the reality of being unable to do anything.

“Please keep that feeling. That sense of seeming like you’ll approach any moment, but never being able to… You can look even more pitiful and more forlorn than now. You understand, right?”

Layla said while scrunching her nose.

It wasn’t a difficult request. He had planned to do that from the beginning anyway.

The narrative of the music video was as follows.

In an empty room, Layla makes a phone call.

And she talks endlessly. Saying she misses him, asking him to be by her side. But no answer comes back, and the boyfriend quietly looks down at Layla from behind as she wears a hollow expression.

Layla continues to speak.

Didn’t you say you would always be there for me?

You said you wouldn’t leave me alone, so where are you now?

Of course, there’s still no answer.

When Layla’s heart finally breaks and she covers up the photo they took together, her boyfriend is watching her from the mirror behind that photo.

Even when Layla eats alone, even when she sits by herself on the bus looking out the window, her boyfriend is there beside her, watching over her.

Her boyfriend isn’t just crying sadly through all those moments.

Rather, he sometimes makes funny faces trying to make Layla laugh, and forces a smile while trying to wipe away her tears.

But Layla’s gaze doesn’t reach him, and her tears don’t come away on his fingertips either.

Because he’s dead.

The two continue their time together like this, yet unable to truly be together.

The loneliness isn’t soothed, and needless to say, neither is the sadness.

The only times they can actually look at each other and smile are during the flashback scenes that appear intermittently.

Layla actually shed tears several times during this scene.

Every time there was a scene like this where they were playfully bickering together, the sense of loss when filming the moment he left hit her even harder.

“…Acting with you is really fascinating, Seon-woo.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. It feels like aspects of myself that I never thought of are coming out.”

This was something she hadn’t experienced with Layla’s other male leads before.

Working with them had produced good results, but the process had been quite difficult. Since they were all accomplished actors, dealing with their acting ability wasn’t easy.

But Seon-woo’s acting was fundamentally different from theirs somehow.

It was like he created a path for her emotions to flow. The feeling that emotions naturally bubbled up without having to try to immerse herself or act.

This was something Seon-woo had intended.

He had learned long ago that just radiating his own presence while acting was meaningless. He couldn’t expect great acting ability from Layla, who wasn’t an actor.

So he needed to create an atmosphere where she could act naturally.

Seon-woo prepared space for emotions to flow so Layla could act naturally.

In scenes where she needed to look sad, he deliberately filled his eyes with a sense of loss to show her, and in scenes where she needed to be happy, he reached out his hand with loving feelings.

So she could be happy just by taking that hand.

The fact that Layla wasn’t an actor sometimes worked as an advantage too.

Since she didn’t have her own acting philosophy, her emotions seemed to move easily as Seon-woo led them.

Of course, Layla’s rich sensitivity probably played a part in this too. If she had been emotionally dry, they wouldn’t have achieved such good chemistry.

Thanks to this, Seon-woo was able to fully display the acting he wanted.

Black mist continuously writhed at the edges of his vision, trying to color his world.

Its name might be death, or it might be reality.

Perhaps it could be separation.

He knows. This world is ultimately Seon-woo’s… the boyfriend’s heart.

That black mist is ultimately coiled deep in his heart, watching him with eyes that flash as if ready to devour him at any moment.

It means the boyfriend also finds this entire situation desperate and frightening deep down.

So how should he deal with that mist?

The answer is simple and brutish.

As Park Hoon had said, just ignore it.

He said he would stay by Layla’s side, so he stays.

He doesn’t make any clumsy excuses about it.

He doesn’t care about things like how she can’t see him even though he’s watching over her, or how she can’t hear his voice.

Whether she knows it or not, that’s a problem for later.

He paints.

So that the darkness of reality won’t overwhelm her, he paints his responsibility and loving emotions all around her. Even if those emotions are meaninglessly erased the moment he paints them.

And… this remained unchanged even in the ending scene of this music video.

As the song ends and only quiet breathing echoes in their ears… Layla puts down the phone receiver.

Seon-woo looks down at her with a gentle smile he forced himself to make, and Layla slowly gets up while still gazing into empty space.

And just as her head slowly lifts up, about to reach where Seon-woo’s eyes are…

“…Cut!”

Ann called cut.

Her eyes were burning so brightly that her usual hazy, absent-minded feeling was nowhere to be found.

It felt like her blood vessels had been pumped full of caffeine and alcohol.

She could feel each fully awakened brain cell savoring this scene right now.

It had been a beautiful scene.

Ann’s eyes flashed.

Just thinking about how to edit this footage was already so exciting she could barely contain herself. She wondered if she’d even be able to sleep tonight.

‘Kim Seon-woo, this person…’

He’s a monster.

Ann came to that conclusion cleanly.

She had known he was being called a genius, but since geniuses were as common as anything in this industry, she hadn’t paid much attention… but seeing today’s acting, she could tell for certain.

How many actors in that age group could gift a scene like this?

The fact that barely any faces came to mind already proved Seon-woo’s worth.

At this moment, Ann couldn’t help but be caught in ambivalent feelings.

Because if he created such a beautiful scene like this…

Ann absentmindedly fidgeted with the cigarette pack in her pocket.

‘…Should I quit?’

Ann felt inexplicably depressed.

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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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