I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 22

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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 22

 

Are you going to do it?

 

Wouldn’t it be good to at least give it a try?

 

They’re even letting us skip the document screening. I don’t think there’s anything to lose by going to the preliminaries, right?

 

…But won’t it clash too much with the theater troupe’s schedule?

 

That’s true. Why did the Director introduce this to us?

 

After hearing about the unexpected audition announcement, that was the general feeling among the troupe members’ reactions.

 

Everyone had the desire to go to auditions, but they were worried that if they all left for auditions as a group, it might cause trouble for the theater troupe.

 

However, Ji-hwan eliminated any reason for such concerns.

 

“To match the audition schedule, our theater troupe will also take a one-month break. During that time, we’ve decided to rent out the theater to other troupes.”

 

The atmosphere was one of complete support for this audition.

 

In fact, this was something even PD Im Yeong-do hadn’t expected. So when he first heard about this, he waved his hands dismissively.

 

“I have no intention of taking actors while putting a burden on you. Isn’t this pushing things too far?”

 

“Senior. I want our kids to be able to act for a long time.”

 

“…What does that have to do with this?”

 

“It might sound strange coming from someone who runs a theater troupe, but… theater doesn’t make money. If they stay here forever, they’ll eventually have to quit acting someday.”

 

That was an undeniable reality.

 

People who continue theater activities even as they age are either those who do it in their spare time while filming dramas or movies, or those who work as instructors.

 

Making a living solely from theater is practically impossible.

 

Keeping actors tied to Cheongseong might be beneficial for now. But in the long run, it ultimately wasn’t.

 

If their livelihood isn’t guaranteed, there will inevitably come a time when they have no choice but to quit acting.

 

“What if they become so famous that they never come back here at all.”

 

“Then that would be a good thing in its own way.”

 

“…You really have no ulterior motives.”

 

Im Yeong-do smiled bitterly.

 

But he could fully understand Ji-hwan’s feelings. And that this was the method that could create the healthiest virtuous cycle for Cheongseong as well.

 

If word spreads that they’re a theater troupe that produces many good actors… wouldn’t that bring in much more young and healthy blood?

 

“Well, it’s actually good for me too. In the end, who appears on this kind of audition show is what matters most. The more dark horses there are to drive up ratings, the better.”

 

“You’ll feel confident if our kids participate. There are really many decent ones, I tell you. Don’t even think about doing something like Devil’s Editing. If you do, I really won’t let it slide.”

 

“…Ahem, I don’t do that kind of thing. Anyway, you’re overflowing with confidence. Are you that confident in the kids?”

 

Ji-hwan nodded without hesitation.

 

Despite Cheongseong being a relatively small-scale company, the reason it was considered the hottest theater troupe was entirely thanks to the actors.

 

How could he not be confident?

 

“I don’t know about other things, but I can guarantee this one thing.”

 

“What?”

 

Ji-hwan smiled contentedly.

 

“The victory will belong to our kids anyway.”

 

* * *

 

I should go on the audition program.

 

Seon-woo made up his mind decisively.

 

Ji-hwan himself had postponed even Cheongseong’s auditions and performance schedules so he could focus on this, so wouldn’t it be too disappointing not to take on this challenge?

 

He had already been feeling frustrated with his situation of just repeating supporting roles and waiting for an opportunity that might never come.

 

If an opportunity was given like this, he absolutely had to seize it.

 

And most of the other troupe members had similar attitudes.

 

“I’m going to do it.”

 

Hye-seong spoke up.

 

“It’s up to each person to decide, but… you guys should probably apply too if possible. You all know that audition programs like this rarely happen for actors, unlike singers.”

 

“I’m going to do it too.”

 

Min-hee also nodded.

 

“I’ve been having headaches lately because there haven’t been any audition opportunities… If I can go on a program like this, I couldn’t ask for more. Plus, they’re giving prize money too, right?”

 

“How much was it?”

 

“200 million won.”

 

“…That really is enormous.”

 

Hye-seong clicked his tongue.

 

200 million won was an amount that would allow him to focus on acting comfortably for at least several years.

 

But if he reached the point of receiving that 200 million won, he probably wouldn’t need to worry about focusing on acting or not.

 

The winner of this program, [I Am an Actor], would receive the benefit of becoming the lead in a new drama produced by YBS.

 

Actually, they didn’t even need to become the winner.

 

Just making it into the top 10 would guarantee a role as a supporting actor in this drama, even if not the lead.

 

“Just making 10th place is enough. Just 10th place… and a broadcast network debut wouldn’t be a dream.”

 

“When you put it that way, it does feel a bit easier, doesn’t it?”

 

“It won’t be easy though. There’ll be at least thousands… no, tens of thousands of participants.”

 

It was indeed tremendous competition.

 

They said only the top 100 from the preliminaries would be selected to advance to the finals, so the competition ratio for just the preliminaries was hundreds to one.

 

Even if many people got eliminated in the document screening… they’d still need to break through competition of at least dozens to one.

 

“If we act half-heartedly, we might get completely eliminated in the preliminaries.”

 

“Still, we can’t just get eliminated in the preliminaries. We should at least experience the atmosphere of the finals.”

 

The atmosphere among the troupe members was roughly like that.

 

Let’s somehow make it to the finals.

 

To do that, they had to polish their acting for the preliminaries as much as possible and prepare thoroughly.

 

The audition acting required for this [I Am an Actor] was free acting.

 

However, they had to act out scenes that appeared in existing movies.

 

It was a somewhat risky condition.

 

In most cases, they wouldn’t be able to surpass the original acting. They’d be lucky if they didn’t get criticized.

 

Ye-chan muttered with a tense expression.

 

“If we mess this up, we’ll really be completely humiliated, won’t we?”

 

“…Well, if our skills are lacking, we’ll have to accept it.”

 

“Ugh, but I really hate the idea of having our inadequate performance preserved in front of the entire nation…”

 

That was probably the reason.

 

Not all of Cheongseong’s troupe members expressed their desire to participate in [I Am an Actor]. Some felt burdened by having to appear on a variety show format program, and others thought they weren’t ready yet.

 

Well, speaking of readiness, Seon-woo, who only had a few months of acting experience, should probably decline this opportunity too.

 

But if he had cared about such things in the first place, he wouldn’t have auditioned for the lead role in [When I Was Four] either.

 

Seon-woo immediately began preparing his acting.

 

The problem was what scene to perform, but the troupe members were unanimous on this point.

 

“It has to be as provocative as possible.”

 

“Right. Passing the audition is one thing, but ultimately it’s also important not to get edited out.”

 

In programs like this, there are often cases where people make it to the top ten but become background characters.

 

If they were only thinking about immediate drama appearances, aiming just for the top ten wouldn’t be bad either… but wouldn’t it be good if they could prepare for future opportunities as well?

 

Considering that, they had to show acting that would leave a definite impression on the public and the PD from the very beginning.

 

‘What kind of emotion should I show?’

 

Seon-woo thought.

 

There were many emotions that came to mind.

 

Anger, sadness, love, self-hatred, jealousy….

 

For each emotion, scenes that suited them came to mind. Countless masterful scenes that he had personally watched and been moved by.

 

Now he had to choose one of them.

 

‘This is fun.’

 

Just thinking about meeting new characters after so long was already making him excited.

 

Seon-woo smiled as he looked at the Color Orbs floating before his eyes.

 

Now, which color should he choose?

 

* * *

 

Time really seems to fly by.

 

To think it was already the day of 【I Am an Actor】’s preliminary round.

 

Well, that didn’t mean it was too short a time to prepare for the audition.

 

Seon-woo had prepared for roles with enormous amounts of material like Hee-jae’s. Preparing just one scene wasn’t particularly difficult.

 

At least he could be confident about this.

 

For this audition… he had prepared the best he could show.

 

But apart from that, feeling a bit nervous was unavoidable.

 

Just looking at Min-hee,

 

“Seon-woo, do my Dark Circles show?”

 

“Just a little bit. Couldn’t sleep?”

 

“Yeah. I couldn’t fall asleep.”

 

She looked extremely tense like this.

 

Seon-woo smiled bitterly as he watched Min-hee touching up her eye makeup.

 

Dark Circles so deep that even makeup couldn’t cover them.

 

But it wasn’t just Min-hee.

 

Hye-seong, Ye-chan, and the other troupe members also had sunken eyes… anyone could tell they hadn’t slept.

 

“By the way, quite a lot of people came.”

 

Just then, Jae-won, who was next to Seon-woo, looked around with a strange expression.

 

There seemed to be a crowd of at least several hundred people lined up around the area.

 

“They said the preliminaries would run for a week, so this is how the participants are divided up?”

 

“It means there are that many desperate people.”

 

“…Well, I suppose so.”

 

Jae-won nodded as if he understood.

 

All the Cheongseong troupe members appearing on 【I Am an Actor】 today were gathered without exception. The organizers probably decided to just bundle them all together for the show.

 

And among them…

 

‘He’s quiet.’

 

Seo Jin-wook was there too.

 

Sitting quietly in a corner with his mouth tightly shut.

 

Seon-woo looked at Seo Jin-wook with a strange expression.

 

Something he learned after getting closer to the seniors was that Seo Jin-wook couldn’t really assert himself within the theater troupe.

 

He only acted tough around the youngest members, but among the seniors he was actually somewhat looked down upon.

 

…Well, with behavior like that, it would be stranger if he wasn’t looked down upon.

 

Seon-woo turned his gaze away from Seo Jin-wook.

 

And looked around at the other participants.

 

There was a surprisingly diverse group of people here.

 

From middle-aged men who clearly looked like salarymen… to an elderly person who must have been at least sixty.

 

‘…Truly admirable.’

 

Seon-woo felt his nose tingle as he looked at that elderly person.

 

Somehow, all the journeys that elderly person must have taken to get here seemed to flash before his eyes.

 

‘This place… is full of people with dreams.’

 

What a wonderful sight.

 

But he couldn’t just stand there admiring it. Those people would soon be his competitors. If he didn’t want to be eliminated in the preliminaries, he couldn’t let his guard down.

 

He had to show his best.

 

“Number 591! Please enter the audition room!”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

At the number that was just called, Seon-woo quickly stood up.

 

Somehow he ended up being the first from Cheongseong to be auditioned.

 

“You know the first button is important, right? Go show them what Cheongseong class is all about.”

 

“Yes, I’ll come back with a pass right away.”

 

Seon-woo entered the audition room.

 

And only then did he truly realize that he was appearing on a TV program.

 

It was because among the dozens of cameras surrounding the audition room, he spotted faces he had often seen on TV since childhood.

 

Seong Jun-il, who had been steadily maintaining lead roles across movies and dramas.

 

Yu Mi-yeon, who in her younger days was always mentioned when counting South Korea’s top three actresses.

 

And… Lee Mu-beom, a veteran actor with 50 years of experience, also called the nation’s father.

 

Each and every one of them could be called giants in this industry.

 

No one had spoken yet, but their gazes alone were intimidating enough.

 

Seon-woo swallowed.

 

It reminded him of when he was going around for job interviews. Perhaps it was because all the judges were dressed in suits.

 

Seeing so many cameras filming him that they were hard to count… he couldn’t help but realize anew.

 

That he was now challenging the broadcast networks.

 

That’s when Seong Jun-il opened his mouth while flipping through documents.

 

“Your application form says your acting experience is… just 5 months now?”

 

“Yes. That’s correct. I’m late to start, but I’m learning earnestly!”

 

“…Hmm, I see. Good.”

 

Seong Jun-il answered in a lifeless voice and nodded.

 

Perhaps it was because he had been judging for hours. His energy seemed a bit low.

 

“What did you prepare for today’s free acting?”

 

“It’s the scene from [Fair and Square Love] where the protagonist confesses to the female lead.”

 

“Hmm… confession scenes are surprisingly difficult to get the emotions right.”

 

Yu Mi-yeon looked up at Seon-woo.

 

Her gaze seemed to ask if he was really confident.

 

But Seon-woo didn’t bother to speak. This wasn’t something to answer with words.

 

“Well, let’s see the acting first.”

 

“Yes, understood.”

 

This was something to answer with acting.

 

Seon-woo closed his eyes.

 

He had confidence in himself. He had prepared sufficiently.

 

There was nothing to be nervous about.

 

He just had to do as he always did.

 

He just had to paint.

 

Him, and all the judges too…

 

In vibrant colors.

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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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