I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 187

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 187

Perhaps she should have sensed it from the moment she first saw Seon-woo.

“Ah, good. Today’s finally the day oppa asks me to do my thing, right?”

When she went to the film set, Go Yu-na flirted as usual, using the script’s content as an excuse. But Seon-woo’s reaction was a bit strange this time.

Normally he would have subtly frowned or sighed… but this time he just stared at her blankly.

She wondered if he might be angry, but Go Yu-na deliberately smiled even brighter. There was an old saying that you can’t spit on someone who’s smiling.

And watching such Go Yu-na, Seon-woo quietly said.

“Senior, I’m thinking of acting properly in today’s scene.”

“…Huh? Haven’t you always been acting properly?”

Go Yu-na couldn’t understand those words.

Seon-woo was someone who never did things half-heartedly. Especially when it came to acting.

He was the one who had researched Imugi by digging through academic papers. There was no way such a person hadn’t been acting properly all this time.

But Seon-woo shook his head.

“This time, I mean really properly.”

Go Yu-na still didn’t understand.

What exactly was he planning to do differently from usual?

‘Well, he probably just wants to do even better.’

Go Yu-na just brushed it off casually.

She didn’t think there could be any other hidden meaning beyond that.

…If she had glimpsed the world Seon-woo was seeing right now, she probably wouldn’t have been able to just let it slide.

His world was now completely filled with shimmering light.

It couldn’t be helped since Yeo-ui-ju had finally appeared in his dreary world. Though he still didn’t know whether she was truly the Yeo-ui-ju he had been hoping for, just the fact that this possibility had appeared filled him entirely with hope.

But that hope wasn’t something that merely sparkled.

This was the Yeo-ui-ju he had longed for his entire life. The hope that Imugi felt toward such a Yeo-ui-ju couldn’t possibly be an ordinary feeling.

Imugi’s hope was half-soaked in madness and obsession.

I cannot lose it.

That is mine. It must be mine.

If not, I would have to continue living the life of a mere beast once again.

That much, I had no confidence I could endure.

All sorts of thoughts followed one after another, stretching out long like a snake.

Over his mental landscape that had gradually expanded to become as vast as an ocean, the sight of ripples bearing Yeo-ui-ju’s light shining so brilliantly they were blinding…

Watching that, Seon-woo thought.

Aside from crushing Go Yu-na, it was good that he had pushed his emotions to the extreme like this.

Now it was time to express just how mentally cornered Imugi was.

The unfortunate thing was that the first to face that madness would be,

“Hehe, our Mugi. Please go easy on me.”

The supporting actor playing the reporter role this time.

His name was Im Gi-beom. The only notable thing was that he always called him Mugi. Seon-woo bowed politely toward him in greeting.

“I should be the one asking for your guidance, senior.”

“I don’t usually think this way about juniors, but watching you Mugi is really scary. Whenever I see you, you always seem to be practicing acting.”

“Ah, no. I just do it because it’s fun.”

“These days there are kids who can’t enjoy even the fun stuff, so yeah.”

Im Gi-beom unconsciously glanced toward Go Yu-na and then chuckled.

“So what I’m saying is, don’t hold back.”

“…Excuse me? What do you mean by that?”

“It’s in the script. You grab my collar and push me against the wall. When that happens, I mean… don’t be cautious just because I’m your senior. Do it hard. That’s how we get realism.”

“That’s…”

Seon-woo trailed off for a moment.

It was something he had been worrying about anyway. To show Imugi’s madness and desperation, some violent action needed to be included at this moment, but it wasn’t easy since the other person was a much senior actor.

But watching such Seon-woo, Im Gi-beom smiled quietly.

“If you go easy and we get an NG, I’ll just end up getting beaten up more, so don’t worry too much about it. It’s better for both of us if you do it well and finish in one take.”

“…I’ll definitely finish it in one take.”

“Hey, it’s not something you can control. I’m telling you not to feel too pressured. But if I keep talking, you’ll feel more burdened. Get your emotions ready and rest well. I’m counting on you later!”

“Ah, thank you. I’ll do it properly, senior!”

Seon-woo bowed to Im Gi-beom again.

And he was genuinely moved. There was no need for him to say such things first, but he was so grateful for the thoughtful consideration.

At the same time, he felt respect.

He could clearly feel that sincere heart that truly cared for the work.

So on one hand, it was inevitable that Go Yu-na felt even more pathetic to him.

Even the much senior actors were throwing themselves into making the work like this, so why was she on set with such an attitude?

The more he thought about it, the less he could understand.

He didn’t want to understand.

‘…I really need to show them properly.’

Seon-woo quietly honed his mental state.

The idea of crushing someone with acting wasn’t particularly pleasant. Seon-woo didn’t act for competition or winning.

Everyone gathers together to paint a beautiful picture.

Wasn’t that what filming a work was about?

But if someone stops painting and just lies down on the canvas, you can’t just leave them be.

You have to somehow get them back up.

“Ready….”

If necessary, even if it meant pouring paint all over that lazy face.

“Cue!”

But, as mentioned earlier, unfortunately the first target of Seon-woo’s emotion wasn’t Go Yu-na.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

Go Yu-na screamed.

It was because the reporter who had invaded her home lunged at her.

But her scream was also a signal announcing Seon-woo’s entrance.

Seon-woo pulled away Im Gi-beom’s arms that were gripping Go Yu-na’s shoulders, grabbed him by the collar, and pushed him against the wall.

With a bang, Im Gi-beom hit the wall and looked up at Seon-woo quietly. And at the same time, flowing from him… a color like frozen cherry blossoms.

“Oh my, look who it is. You’re Imugi, aren’t you?”

That wasn’t the original color that Im Gi-beom, the ‘reporter’ possessed.

A color that would give you chills just by touching it, too artificial and alien to be considered a human emotion.

Seon-woo knew who the owner of this color was.

Yeon-woo’s Gumiho.

It was a passage implying that at this moment, it was the Gumiho speaking through Im Gi-beom’s mouth.

What was admirable was that Im Gi-beom was mimicking Yeon-woo’s color almost identically. He probably prepared for this scene by having various discussions with Yeon-woo.

For just this one short scene, he must have studied and analyzed the character of Gumiho for days and nights.

It was a moment where he had no choice but to pay respect as a fellow actor.

And all Seon-woo could send in return instead of praise was to act with all his heart.

“My Yeo-ui-ju.”

Over the cherry blossoms bloomed by the Gumiho, Imugi’s pitch-black paint was layered on top.

Feeling the subtle smell of blood lingering at his nose tip, Imugi growled.

“My Yeo-ui-ju that I’ve never even held, only painted. But that… a lowly creature with fur that can’t even become human, something like you dares to covet it?”

Imugi grabbed the collar of the reporter, no, the Gumiho possessing the reporter’s body.

And watching such Imugi, the Gumiho grinned and asked.

“I can’t even become human? Then you’re rather a lowly snake that can’t even become a dragon…!”

As the Gumiho shouted with a venomous voice, Imugi lifted him and pushed him against the wall. The temporary wall broke completely, the Gumiho’s spell was released, and the reporter lost consciousness.

Then what remained was….

‘Can’t… breathe….’

Only Go Yu-na with a completely overwhelmed expression.

Go Yu-na had been continuously suppressed by their presence while watching this.

It was because both Im Gi-beom’s passionate performance and even Seon-woo responding to it… were acting at a completely different level from what she had seen so far.

She had thought they were similar to her, or at best only half a step ahead… but that wasn’t the case.

At this moment, she had no choice but to know even if she didn’t want to.

That Seon-woo was definitely several levels above her.

The problem was that such Seon-woo, that Imugi was now… walking toward her step by step.

“Wh-what… are you?”

Go Yu-na was surprised that she had delivered her lines at this moment.

It was a presence incomparable to the Seon-woo she had faced so far. Those thirsty eyes… that looked like they would bite her throat at any moment, made it hard to distinguish whether what was in front of her was a person or Imugi.

Dangerous.

Both Go Yu-na and Yeo-ui-ju’s instincts were ringing alarm bells at this moment.

Yeo-ui-ju was afraid of the Imugi’s presence before her eyes, and Go Yu-na was….

“That’s rather what I want to ask. What are you.”

Her mentality was literally shaking in real-time before Seon-woo’s acting ability.

It was because she could already gauge how much this scene would be compared on screen. Seon-woo was alive at this moment. She could feel the existence called Imugi living and breathing.

His breath, gaze, trembling… she felt all the emotions he was experiencing bursting out very clearly from all of that.

Strange.

At this moment, there should be no reason for Imugi to be afraid. He had merely subdued a human bewitched by a Gumiho, and it should be Go Yu-na who should be trembling in fear.

But Imugi was trembling in fear at this moment.

To the extent that Yeo-ui-ju’s trembling didn’t feel like trembling.

“You’re… Yeo-ui-ju? A human?”

“Wh-what do you mean! I, I just happen to be named Yeo-ui-ju….”

“Answer me! Why, why do I appear by your side every time you’re in crisis? When you’ve never once looked for me. Rather, when I was searching for you so desperately, you would somehow tease me and disappear…!”

And, Go Yu-na thought.

Ah, I lost.

At this moment, fear isn’t the main emotion for Imugi.

Rather, anger, relief, and hope toward the finally appeared Yeo-ui-ju would be greater emotions.

But just by expressing the fear subtly hidden in that subconscious… at this moment, the fear expressed by Yeo-ui-ju who almost died was more than Yeo-ui-ju’s main emotion….

‘Big.’

Yes, it was big.

She could feel that the person… his soul itself was enormous. It felt like her stage domination that she had been confident in became pathetic in an instant.

Go Yu-na gritted her teeth.

She could understand being pushed back, but this wasn’t right.

Right now, Seon-woo seemed to be planning to reduce Go Yu-na to the level of a background screen.

‘Is he doing this because he doesn’t like me right now…?’

She didn’t know. And now wasn’t the time to think about the reason.

Go Yu-na desperately pulled up her emotions. She could be hated, but she couldn’t be ignored. Wasn’t that the survival strategy she had chosen to survive in this industry in the first place?

“St-stop it. No, wh-why is everyone doing this to me… Why, why are you doing this!”

Her high-pitched voice rang out with enough force to tear through the microphone.

This was one of the ultimate techniques that every female actor possessed. Somehow, when a high-pitched sound rang out, it could capture the focus of the scene, even if just for a moment.

However,

“Because you’re the Yeo-ui-ju.”

When Imugi’s voice, Seon-woo’s voice, rang out, the atmosphere that Go Yu-na had tried to shift was once again colored with Imugi’s hue.

Melancholy and dangerous… yet strangely impossible to look away from.

“Because you might be the Yeo-ui-ju.”

It was a plain voice.

However, that voice still had the power to make the listener’s hair stand on end. If a real Imugi, not a human, existed, it would probably have a voice like this.

Thanks to this, Go Yu-na reflexively looked at Seon-woo, then trembled with a start.

In Seon-woo’s eyes… there was a light she had never seen even once despite performing countless acts throughout her career.

Yes. Would the eyes of someone truly cornered and on the verge of death look like this?

At that gaze mixed with desperation and greed, determined to have her by any means necessary, Go Yu-na felt as if her spirit was completely overwhelmed in an instant.

It felt as if the countless thoughts and emotional lines in her head turned completely blank in a moment.

At the same time, Go Yu-na realized.

She had no choice but to realize.

“And if that’s the case, you must become mine…!”

This was probably…

She had been completely crushed.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————