I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 2

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

Episode 2

‘…What is this?’

Seon-woo looked down at his body with a bewildered expression.

His entire body was dyed purple. His clothes, his skin, everything without exception.

But Seon-woo was strangely calm.

It was because he instinctively realized what this color meant.

It was a character’s color.

The Painter.

The only character who appears in this work, [The Greatest Self-Portrait].

The plot is simple.

The Painter draws a self-portrait while looking in a mirror.

The first self-portrait he draws looks remarkably identical to the Painter, but for some reason he’s not satisfied and slightly adjusts the nose.

Then, after being satisfied for a moment, he fixes the eyes again, shaves the chin, adjusts the ears… and eventually tears up the painting and starts over.

And after countless self-portraits are torn up like this, the final self-portrait that emerges looks completely different from him—a stranger.

The movie ends with the Painter’s smile as he gazes at it.

Purple is the color that captures such a Painter’s inner thoughts.

‘…I feel like emotions are rushing in.’

The Painter’s purple that has colored him can be felt through all his senses.

It feels like the Painter’s longing and obsession with beauty is being carved into his soul.

Everything his gaze touches looks different from before.

The beautiful and ugly aspects of this world that he never even paid attention to before keep catching his eye.

An overwhelming stimulus that makes his brain tingle.

“…Kim Seon-woo!”

“Huh, what?”

What ended that stimulus was Seon-jun’s voice.

Seon-jun was shaking Seon-woo’s shoulder with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you spacing out like this? I called you several times from right next to you.”

“Huh? You called me?”

He hadn’t heard it.

Was it because he had been overwhelmed by the Painter’s emotions?

Seon-woo looked down at his hands. His body, which had been stained purple just moments before, had somehow returned to normal.

Something… felt disappointing.

That sensation just now had been incredibly thrilling.

“…You still haven’t come to your senses. Was my script that interesting?”

But perhaps misunderstanding this, Seon-jun looked at Seon-woo with a strange expression.

It would be fun to disappoint that face… but unfortunately, Seon-woo was the type to acknowledge what deserved acknowledgment.

“Yeah. It was interesting. Impressive.”

“Hehe… Good. Do you understand what I was trying to express?”

“Yeah. The title says it all. ‘The Greatest Self-Portrait.’ It matched the content perfectly.”

Seon-woo recalled the Painter’s colors he had just felt.

His heart that worshipped beauty was… pure, even if a bit strange.

How should he put it, it felt alive.

But what exactly was this?

Why did this suddenly happen?

He didn’t know. Was it because he was shocked by a stimulus he had never even imagined? His heart was still pounding.

Seon-woo took slow, deep breaths to calm his startled heart.

Seon-jun watched Seon-woo and tilted his head.

“So, how about it?”

“What?”

“Can you act?”

It was the moment he heard that question.

The moment he became conscious of Acting… a bubble appeared before Seon-woo’s eyes again.

The Painter’s bubble.

Seeing it, Seon-woo unconsciously nodded.

“…I think I can do it.”

“You’re cooler than I expected.”

Seon-jun looked at Seon-woo as if surprised.

At first, he had been screaming that he didn’t want to act, so had there been some change of heart?

“Well. This is better than being scared. Good. Let’s go with this.”

Then he began setting up the camera.

The place they rented as a studio today was actually a location that operated as an art studio.

There was no separate staff.

Cinematographer Kim Seon-jun.

Art Director Kim Seon-jun.

Lighting Director Kim Seon-jun.

Writer Kim Seon-jun.

A film where everything was produced by Seon-jun.

For Seon-woo, this was fortunate.

It would have been embarrassing if other people were watching.

Of course, acting in front of Seon-jun probably wouldn’t be a particularly pleasant experience either, but that didn’t bother him much.

It was thanks to the thought of facing that Painter’s color again—the one he had felt just moments ago—which was already making his mouth go dry with anticipation.

“…Woo-ya.”

Throughout the work, the Painter’s gaze is directed toward only two places.

The mirror, and the portrait.

What did he see when he looked at those two things?

How did he end up painting a portrait that wasn’t himself?

It felt like he could understand, yet something kept…

“Kim Seon-woo!”

“Huh, huh. Me?”

“Well, who else is here besides you? What are you thinking about so deeply again?”

“No, I was just wondering what the Painter liked so much, and what he didn’t like…”

“You were thinking that deeply about it?”

Seon-jun narrowed his eyes.

Then he soon shook his head.

“…Never mind. The lighting setup is done. Let’s do a camera test first. Sit down.”

“Okay.”

Seon-woo sat in front of the canvas.

It wasn’t a canvas with his painting on it, but rather a canvas covered with chroma key cloth.

Later, Seon-jun would draw his portrait himself and overlay it with CG.

Anyway, he was a person with many unnecessary talents.

“I won’t give you a separate cue sign, so just start when you’re ready.”

“…I understand.”

Seon-woo nodded awkwardly.

This was his first time acting in his life.

But when he thought about it carefully, acting wasn’t exactly new to him.

What he’d been doing in the Interview Room all the time was acting too.

The masks people wear when meeting others in daily life are also acting.

What if he just thought of this as one of those times?

Just doing the same acting he did every day.

As he was steeling himself with this thought, the familiar purple orb swayed before Seon-woo’s eyes.

It seemed to be asking him something.

Shall I help you? it seemed to say.

There was no reason to refuse.

He burst the orb. Then, as if it had been waiting, the Painter’s purple color dyed Seon-woo… and in that moment he realized.

Now all he had to do was surrender his body to the Painter’s emotions.

He picks up the Brush.

He draws him. That lacking, pathetic, insufficient self of his.

Every time he looked at his Portrait drawn that way, the Painter… Seon-woo became frustrated.

Irritation settled into his gestures, and his chest filled only with stifling anger.

I need to get better. I must become more excellent.

More, more, more…!

He doesn’t remember well what happened after that.

Perhaps because he became too immersed. It felt like he momentarily forgot he was even acting.

When he came to his senses, what was in front of Seon-woo were Papers crumpled into a mess.

And Seon-jun’s face, even more crumpled than those Papers.

“…What are you?”

* * *

When he asked Seon-woo to act, Seon-jun honestly didn’t have high expectations.

Seon-woo wasn’t an actor to begin with.

It would be stranger to expect great acting from him.

If it hadn’t been a role without a single line, he wouldn’t have asked Seon-woo in the first place.

The reason for hiring Seon-woo as an actor was simple. His looks.

First of all, he needed to have a basically handsome face for the scene of him being dissatisfied with his self-portrait to carry more meaning.

But the moment Seon-woo received the script, something happened that Seon-jun hadn’t anticipated.

No matter how many times he called, Seon-woo didn’t respond.

It’s a scene you occasionally see on film sets. When actors properly immerse themselves in the script, they sometimes completely forget their surroundings.

But that’s the case for real actors, and ones with tremendous immersion abilities at that.

It wasn’t something Seon-woo, who had no acting experience, should be showing.

The thought crossed his mind: Could this guy have talent for acting? But Seon-jun shook his head.

He’s just been smart since he was young. It’s probably just because he has good concentration. That’s what he thought.

But the moment Seon-woo’s acting began…

Seon-jun realized that what he felt then wasn’t a mistake.

‘…Did I know he could make expressions like that?’

It felt like the air had changed.

It was as if he wasn’t Seon-woo at all. The guy who was always monotone and dreary… suddenly bloomed with vitality and brightness.

It felt like the painter he had imagined while writing the script had actually appeared before his eyes.

The painter draws a painting.

Then, as if something doesn’t please him, he furrows his brow and modifies the painting.

He nods satisfactorily, then crosses his arms as if he’s found another part he doesn’t like.

And modifies it again.

Nothing particularly special about these actions.

But even with the same actions, the atmosphere changes dramatically depending on what expression and what look you wear.

Seon-jun felt like the person called Seon-woo had disappeared.

What’s here isn’t Seon-woo, but someone else named ‘Painter.’

Eventually, Seon-jun’s mouth slowly fell agape.

‘Does this… make sense?’

This is his first time acting today.

So how is this kind of expression possible?

It felt like the air around Seon-woo was changing.

Creating his own world… and becoming a character within that world.

But what’s impressive isn’t just that expressiveness alone.

‘This is Kim Seon-woo’s energy?’

There’s something considered the most important quality for an actor.

That person’s innate energy.

Seon-woo’s energy was literally exploding right now.

He draws a painting.

Then, he revises it and tears it apart.

And draws again.

Actually, it’s nothing special of a script to show explosive acting.

But look at Seon-woo right now.

Look at that presence that seems to fill the camera.

…That’s a kid trying acting for the first time today?

His younger brother, Kim Seon-woo?

And what shocked Seon-jun the most was… the final scene Seon-woo acted.

The scene where the painter who finished drawing the final portrait smiles while looking at the canvas.

This scene is written like this in the script.

(The painter smiles while looking at the canvas.)

There are no more detailed directions beyond that.

It doesn’t even say what kind of smile it is.

But right now, at this moment, Seon-woo is…

‘…What is that smile?’

He bloomed a smile more complex than anything else.

As if satisfied, yet as if unsatisfied.

As if he had everything, yet perhaps as if he had lost something.

A smile so complex and subtle that even while watching with his own eyes, he couldn’t describe what kind of smile it was.

“…What are you?”

Thanks to that, Seon-jun even forgot to call cut.

Whether he knew what kind of acting he had just displayed or not, Seon-woo was looking at him with a blank expression.

All sorts of words swirled around in Seon-jun’s head.

What was that. How exactly did you act like that. Do you even know how your acting just now was….

But what actually came out of Seon-jun’s mouth were these words.

“Why did you smile like that?”

“…Huh? What?”

Seon-woo tilted his head with a slightly blank expression.

Finally realizing his explanation was insufficient, Seon-jun elaborated.

“In the last part of the script, it just says the Painter simply smiles.”

“Yeah.”

“But why did you smile like that? That wasn’t just a smile.”

“Hmm….”

Seon-woo answered hesitantly.

“If I were the Painter… it felt like I should do that?”

Seon-woo scratched his head.

As if there wasn’t really anything more difficult to think about, as if that was just natural….

“It just happened that way?”

Seon-jun swallowed a hollow laugh.

Just. Did this kid know how much effort other actors put in to understand and possess that “just”?

But by this point, it had become certain.

Incredible Expressiveness, and incredible energy.

“Do Acting, you.”

“…Huh?”

He really never thought he’d say something like this but…

“You’re a genius.”

His younger brother was a genius.

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