I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 221

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 221
Seo Tae-rok knew well how people evaluated him.
A tyrant and perfectionist who had to have everything his way.
Honestly, Seo Tae-rok didn’t much agree with either assessment. He had no interest in imposing his will on others.
What he wanted was simply a more compelling result—something that would stir the human soul.
Even if his preferences were overruled, as long as it led to a better final product, he didn’t care.
But in practice, his preferences were rarely overruled.
Because other people’s opinions usually led to ruining the film. Why should he listen to the voices of those who drifted along without genuine intuition or reflection, chasing whatever was easy? It was only natural that he didn’t.
And so, having ignored the voices of the mediocre, Seo Tae-rok had somehow become known as a tyrant.
From Seo Tae-rok’s perspective, it was deeply unfair.
Why did their inadequacy become his stubbornness?
Of course, not everyone was merely lacking, just like everyone else.
Sometimes, there were those who could create scenes so perfect and beautiful that Seo Tae-rok didn’t even need to insist on his way.
Yes.
Just like Seon-woo right now.
“Cut.”
Seo Tae-rok spoke.
And everyone turned to look at him. All startled expressions. In a scene that everyone had thought unremarkable, Seon-woo and Kim Yeon-jun had pulled off something far more sensual than anyone expected.
Accordingly, their eyes on Seo Tae-rok gleamed with curiosity.
Whether he could accept this—that’s what they wanted to know.
“Come here, Seon-woo.”
“Yes, Director.”
Seo Tae-rok called Seon-woo over immediately.
The staff members who saw this clicked their tongues and shook their heads. They assumed Seo Tae-rok’s nitpicking was about to begin. Usually, when Seo Tae-rok called an actor over like this, endless directing and retakes followed.
The tea would be cold before filming finished…… While the staff harbored such thoughts, Seo Tae-rok asked.
“Do you understand what impact that performance just now could have on this work?”
For the staff listening, it was a statement that made them tilt their heads in confusion.
Impact on the work? It seemed like an unnecessarily grand way to put it. If they wanted a bit more weight to Yi Bang-won, they could just direct it that way.
But Seon-woo’s answer was in many ways far more unexpected.
“I apologize. I did think that I might be taking too much of the spotlight, but to perform most properly within the scene given to me…… I felt this was the right answer.”
“……Taking the center of the work?”
At Seo Tae-rok’s words, Yun-kyeong, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, sharply drew in a breath.
Taking the center. The moment those words registered, she understood what that strange sense of discomfort had been while watching Seon-woo’s performance.
Seo Tae-rok was right. Seon-woo’s acting had the power to make the narrative of The Traitor flow around him in an instant.
While those centered on Lee Seong-gye agonized and worried over Goryeo’s fall and the founding of a new nation, Yi Bang-won’s presence—one who seemed to relish it all—could not help but capture the audience’s gaze.
Just as a black dot on a blank white page steals one’s sight, Seon-woo was now trying to become the single point of a different color within The Traitor.
‘……He did that knowing it?’
She couldn’t even muster a hollow laugh.
In Part One, the protagonist is ultimately Lee Seong-gye. Of course, Yi Bang-won plays an important role—killing Jeong Mong-ju and the like—but narratively and in terms of screen time, Lee Seong-gye must be at the center. It’s only in Part Two that Yi Bang-won comes to the fore.
And yet, with just a few details seized, Seon-woo had placed Yi Bang-won at the very center of the work in an instant.
This couldn’t even be called scene-stealing. He was attempting to rob the entire work.
But even as he was caught, Seon-woo showed not a trace of shame.
“Yes. But ultimately it will melt away. By the moment Yi Bang-won kills Jeong Mong-ju, he can no longer remain a boy. Even Yi Bang-won, shining uniquely and alone, will come to bear the same color as all the other human figures. In Part One, Yi Bang-won’s arc must emphasize this moment. I believe that’s why you accepted me in the audition, Director.”
“…….”
Seo Tae-rok did not answer.
Only massaging his temples with a face full of thought and great displeasure, he gazed at Seon-woo.
‘……The same breed as me.’
It was something he’d felt from the moment he first saw Seon-woo.
When acting, Seon-woo showed no trace of personal greed. For him, screen time and self-validation through it were secondary concerns.
His gaze was always trained on one thing: the aesthetic of the work.
How could the completion level of this work be raised? Seon-woo’s eyes looked only toward that.
And so, in this moment, Seo Tae-rok could not bring himself to scold Seon-woo.
Even though his performance was intense enough to shatter the balance of the work, this was truly appropriate and precise……perfectly executed acting.
Now it fell to Seo Tae-rok, the director, to restore that balance.
In a sense, Seon-woo was now telling Seo Tae-rok something like this.
Balance and all that—don’t you know this is the right answer? I’ve done my part, so now you figure out how to handle what comes after. That’s what he was saying.
Truly provocative.
But,
“Good. I understand.”
Seo Tae-rok ultimately raised the white flag.
Honestly, his mood wasn’t entirely sour. Working with an actor who shared the same vision as him was always a pleasure. When he’d seen Seon-woo’s performance at the script reading, he’d already anticipated things might go in this direction to some degree.
Seo Tae-rok disliked variables.
But he wasn’t so rigid that he’d deny a variable if it was the right answer.
As mentioned before, he was nothing like a perfectionist.
“Let’s go again.”
Seon-woo had done his utmost as an actor.
Now it was time for him to fulfill his duty as director.
* * *
—Young-gyu, your feel right now is just perfect. Let’s keep it like this.
After filming wrapped, upon hearing Seo Tae-rok’s praise, Kim Yeon-jun’s mouth corners were practically touching his ears.
“It’s all thanks to you! Thank you so much, Seon-woo!”
“Please. A film is always made together.”
“Still! Thanks to you, I really understood how important that first step is.”
It was somewhat anticlimactic, if he was honest.
Until now, Kim Yeon-jun had believed that a character couldn’t be perfected from the very start. He’d thought that with each performance, one gradually melded into the character and better captured its details.
But Seon-woo’s approach to a character was entirely different.
Apart from becoming familiar with the character, he calculated from the start how best to position the character to shine most brilliantly. ……Though “calculated” might be the wrong word. Seon-woo had never touched an abacus.
He simply sensed it through intuition.
How this person could shine most brightly.
In any case, thanks to him, Jo Young-gyu had undergone a complete transformation from his existing bland character.
A believer in Yi Bang-won.
The moment sacred, almost religious eyes and demeanor came together, Jo Young-gyu’s loyalty took on a polish that was beyond reproach.
A Jo Young-gyu like this would certainly leave a lasting impression on audiences.
Content as he was after filming wrapped, Kim Yeon-jun nevertheless grew restless as evening approached, his leg beginning to tremble.
It couldn’t be helped.
Having conquered one scene, another awaited them from that very evening.
The scene where Kang-ssi and the household are spirited away.
While Choi Young’s soldiers surveil them from all across Gaegyeong, Yi Bang-won must persuade Lee Seong-gye’s second wife, Kang-ssi, to flee before King Woo learns of the general’s return. They had to escape before it was too late.
But Kang-ssi is not so easily swayed.
How could she flee alone when her husband is on the battlefield? That was her logic. Meanwhile, Yi Bang-won’s logic was that she must leave precisely so as not to become a burden to that husband.
And the scene where the two clash was to be shot in the mansion’s courtyard, with all the household watching.
And what warranted attention was,
“Good evening! Everyone’s looking particularly well tonight. Did you eat something delicious?”
The actress playing Kang-ssi—Im Seong-hee.
A veteran actress whose debut had been over twenty years ago. Famous for her distinctly intense and commanding presence.
She’d shown powerful charisma at the script reading too.
And now she smiled at them with a quiet smirk.
Not that she seemed particularly self-aware about it, but she carried an aura around her that was difficult to easily dismiss.
Seeing her, Kim Yeon-jun felt his spirit dampened anew.
Im Seong-hee possessed an aura as though Kang-ssi herself had stepped straight out of history.
You could sense the resolve of a woman who, knowing that a single misstep would lead to her clan’s complete annihilation, had chosen to become the wife of a traitor. It was like watching a lioness sitting quiet and still.
Fortunately or not, Jo Young-gyu had no lines to speak with Kang-ssi, but…… merely being in her presence made his mouth feel parched.
But Seon-woo was different.
He was already laughing casually and making light conversation.
“Yes, Mother. Please guide us well with filming today.”
“Really, I didn’t know I’d have such a handsome son.”
Im Seong-hee laughed softly and patted Seon-woo’s forearm.
Then, looking at Kim Yeon-jun standing beside Seon-woo, she tilted her head.
“Why are you so frozen, Yeon-jun? Is it because of me?”
“I, I…… I apologize.”
“Relax your shoulders. You haven’t done anything wrong. I heard you acted well today. Keep that momentum going.”
“Ah, understood!”
Kim Yeon-jun straightened his posture like a newly enlisted soldier and raised his voice.
He couldn’t help it. Im Seong-hee had been one of the respected seniors he’d admired since childhood. To him, it was rather Seon-woo’s ease that was incomprehensible.
……Does one’s liver really swell when you become a star?
He couldn’t understand how Seon-woo could carry himself so comfortably. That kind of charisma from Im Seong-hee shouldn’t go unfelt, even if one was a star.
But Seon-woo didn’t stop at simply being at ease.
“So, how are you planning to handle the emotional arc for this scene?”
As if dismissing small talk, Im Seong-hee pivoted directly to acting. Like a professor asking a student how they’d completed their assignment; Kim Yeon-jun could only gape, though he’d thoroughly prepared his thoughts. The question somehow scrambled everything in his mind.
But Seon-woo’s eyes sparkled as if he’d been waiting.
“Since the scene’s rhythm is fast, I think it would be good if we matched it with speedier acting on our end.”
“Speedier—in what way?”
“You stay composed, Mother, while I’m overwhelmed by emotion and my speech accelerates. I’m so worked up that the words come faster than thought. And I think it would be good if you’re swept up in that momentum—what do you think?”
Seon-woo subtly proposed not only how he’d act, but also the direction of Im Seong-hee’s performance.
Seeing this, Kim Yeon-jun’s face paled. It was true that matching emotional arcs before filming was standard procedure, but……wasn’t it generally unusual for a junior to make suggestions like that to a senior?
Kim Yeon-jun stole a glance at Im Seong-hee’s expression. Fortunately, she didn’t seem displeased. Rather, her eyes sparkled as she opened her script.
“……Oho, so then, here, when you deliver the line ‘Father will surely return,’ I should play it as my heart shifting?”
“That works, but……actually, up until that point, I could maintain a tone of doubt, and then here—’Father is a man who makes the necessary decisions when necessity calls’—that’s where my heart truly shifts. That way, it becomes clearer that Kang-ssi is not Yi Bang-won’s biological mother. That this is a relationship maintained through rational judgment…….”
It was fast.
Like trying to chase words that moved too quickly. Yet Im Seong-hee and Seon-woo exchanged opinions without pause, endlessly. The intention in every word, and how the scene would transform because of it—it was all visible in real time.
And witnessing this exchange, Kim Yeon-jun understood something anew.
He’d felt it when he received advice about Jo Young-gyu, but seeing how Seon-woo held his own in a back-and-forth with a veteran senior made it even more real.
‘This guy…… is different.’
Not a character that could be judged by ordinary standards.
It’s a worn phrase, but yes. There’s no other way to express it.
His junior, who seemed to have a screw loose somewhere…… was a genius.
So much so that, as an ordinary person, it was nearly impossible to comprehend.
Even Kim Yeon-jun, who’d been watching Seon-woo up close these past few days, felt it.
For Im Seong-hee, seeing Seon-woo properly for the first time, the moment allowed for even deeper thought.
She regarded Seon-woo with a peculiar gleam in her eye.
‘Now this…… is something.’

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