I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 222

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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 222
Seon-woo’s reputation was something Seong-hee knew well.
Recently, alongside her friend Cha Do-young, he was one of the most talked-about newcomers in this industry.
The last Script Reading had certainly surprised her. She’d never imagined that a newcomer barely a year into his debut could engage in such evenly matched discussion with Seo Tae-rok.
And now, speaking with him directly like this……
‘He’s extraordinary.’
Seong-hee’s smile deepened inevitably.
Certainly, this young man was different. There wasn’t a trace of that awkward quality typical of actors in their twenties.
Conversation flowed with remarkable ease.
His grasp of every character—Yi Bang-won, certainly, and Kang-ssi alike—was so thorough it was as if he’d written the script himself.
Talent? No, this wasn’t about talent.
It was passion. Obsession.
You could see it.
Seon-woo had clearly calculated every conceivable possibility for this scene. How he’d position himself, what tone his voice would carry, what emotions would inhabit his face when addressing Kang-ssi……
That’s why, whatever question she posed, an answer came right back. For him, all these considerations were already resolved.
“My son.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“You…… will last a long time. Yes. I feel it.”
The words came from genuine conviction.
Watching her, Seon-woo smiled quietly.
“That’s what I want. Truly, I want to act for a long time. If possible, right up until I die.”
“Good. If you keep going like this, you will. Just don’t go stirring up any strange controversies. You don’t drink and drive, do you?”
“Of course not. I’ve never even thought about driving after drinking.”
“Good, good.”
Seong-hee patted Seon-woo’s back with a pleased laugh.
Then, as if she’d never smiled at all, her expression turned serious again. As Seon-woo hesitated under the penetrating gaze of her eyes, she spoke.
“When creating a work, when do you think is most important?”
“……Hmm, wouldn’t it be now?”
“Mm. Why do you think so?”
“What you prepare for now determines what you can show in front of the camera. Ultimately, the outcome of this work is decided in this moment, isn’t it……?”
“I agree.”
Seong-hee smiled.
“Most people think the moment in front of the camera is most crucial. But it isn’t. As you say, stepping before the camera without preparation is like cooking without ingredients. How thoroughly you match stage movements, how carefully you fit the details together—that determines whether the audience will remember this work forever or forget it immediately.”
“I don’t want to be forgotten right away.”
“Neither do I.”
Seong-hee smiled.
It was curious. Despite the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes bearing witness to the years she’d lived, in this moment she appeared endlessly like a girl.
Dreams seemed to turn people into children.
Seon-woo felt the weight of this truth anew and opened his mouth.
“……So then, what do you think? Is this level of preparation sufficient now?”
“Well.”
Rather than answer, Seong-hee looked around.
More than a dozen actors were gathered in their vicinity. From Yun-kyeong and Kim Yeon-jun to the child actors playing her own sons, Bang Beon and Bang Seok.
“What do you all think? Does it seem sufficient?”
“……There’s one part I’m still uncertain about.”
It was Yun-kyeong who spoke.
Seong-hee turned to face her.
“Which part?”
“After listening to the conversation between you and Seon-woo, I became more confused. Should this scene focus on the urgency of our family possibly falling into Choi Young’s hands……?”
Seong-hee would have appreciated if Seo Tae-rok explained this, but he didn’t.
He held the belief that a director’s message should fundamentally be conveyed through the script. If he directed these details before filming even began, he believed the actors would have less room to express their own acting.
‘I’ve never seen a director who leaves things this open.’
She’d heard he was a perfectionist, so she’d expected him to meddle constantly from beginning to end.
But Seo Tae-rok’s perfectionism only manifested after filming had begun.
Usually, he didn’t interfere with them at all.
This was precisely why such moments could occur.
Approaching how to structure each scene as if every actor had become a director themselves.
Seon-woo opened his mouth.
“I don’t think it can be urgent.”
“……Really? But isn’t it naturally an urgent scene?”
Yun-kyeong tilted her head at Seon-woo’s words.
How could sneaking away to avoid soldiers not be urgent?
“The audience already knows about history. Even someone unfamiliar with it wouldn’t fail to know that Lee Seong-gye’s family wasn’t captured during the Wihwado Retreat……right?”
Midway through speaking, Seon-woo’s confidence wavered.
From his perspective, it was just basic common knowledge, but reconsidering it now, he realized it might not be.
Watching him, Seong-hee cleared her throat and spoke.
“Well, some people might not know, but…… if they’ve watched historical dramas regularly enough, it’s usually the kind of thing they’d know. I’d say more know it than don’t. Anyway, so? If it’s not urgent, how would you want it to be?”
“Fleeing is inherently dynamic rather than static, and to portray escape dynamically…… but without urgency, there’s only one way to do it, I think.”
Seon-woo’s eyes shone.
As he spoke, he seemed genuinely excited by the prospect itself.
“Joyfully.”
“Joyfully……”
At Seon-woo’s words, everyone wore different expressions.
Some nodded as if they understood, while others looked puzzled. Seong-hee smiled slightly before speaking.
“As if at play?”
“……At least from Yi Bang-won’s perspective, I think so.”
And if this scene had a protagonist, it was Yi Bang-won.
The scene’s emotional tone had to follow the protagonist. But Seong-hee shook her head.
“But that’s only Yi Bang-won’s story.”
His logic wasn’t incomprehensible.
But it proceeded entirely from his perspective alone.
“Kang-ssi must be anxious and uncomfortable at this moment. It’s my responsibility to protect the household. Therefore, your suggestion that we abandon this estate is in fact displeasing to me. And of course, I won’t hide that.”
“That’s how it should be.”
Seon-woo nodded.
If Kang-ssi were caught up in Seon-woo’s joy, that would be impossible emotional continuity. The excitement should stop with Yi Bang-won and the feeling this scene imparts. Kang-ssi had to maintain her composed, weighty character.
And here, a problem arose.
“Of course, the Director can control the atmosphere through Direction, but essentially your acting needs to be able to lead the scene.”
In the end, Seong-hee was worrying about one thing.
Could Seon-woo actually do it? There were more than two actors in this room. With all of them soaked in anxiety, could Seon-woo’s performance alone overwhelm that emotion?
And among the actors Seon-woo had to face was Seong-hee herself.
If he performed Yi Bang-won as someone for whom all this was play, in front of Seong-hee who had grasped her weight and tone perfectly……
“If I perform it poorly, the whole thing could end up feeling terribly unsophisticated.”
Right.
The character of Yi Bang-won himself could come off as ridiculous.
Seong-hee was essentially asking Seon-woo this: Yi Bang-won wasn’t simply childish. Young though he might be, he was clearly a man of such great capacity that he could hold a nation in his heart.
Could Seon-woo express that properly?
She could.
The problem was she hadn’t yet found her chemistry with everyone, including Seong-hee.
“Just being good with words won’t help…… how about we try matching our chemistry first?”
Then they’d simply need to find the chemistry.
Seon-woo’s eyes shone.
A problem was actually a good thing.
Because a problem ultimately pointed toward the answer.
Working through each piece, there would surely be something there.
Close, pure, and bearing a truly immense vessel……
His Yi Bang-won.
* * *
—You speak of military retreat?
—Yes. The war will occur not in Yodong, but in Gaegyeong.
Watching Seon-woo, who played Yi Bang-won, on the screen, Seo Tae-rok’s expression was profoundly ambiguous.
As if smiling, yet also as if troubled.
Well, in truth, that was exactly his emotional state.
Seon-woo’s Yi Bang-won was extremely captivating.
He understood clearly what feeling Seon-woo intended to express. And there was genuine anticipation at the thought of editing it.
But separate from that, it was impossible to deny this was an extraordinarily difficult challenge.
Both actor and director would need considerable contemplation to master this Yi Bang-won.
‘Kim Seon-woo’s Yi Bang-won regards all of this like a festival.’
That attitude inevitably left a light impression on the character.
Fortunately, Yi Bang-won’s appearance alongside Cho Young-gyu didn’t seem shallow. Beyond the ostensibly light demeanor, you could vaguely sense something grave anchored beneath it.
But in this present scene, that wouldn’t be enough.
The presence Seong-hee possessed as an actor was so intense it was regrettable she didn’t appear in more works. Playing the childlike Yi Bang-won opposite such a Seong-hee?
It was possible, certainly.
But for Yi Bang-won’s persuasion of Kang-ssi to feel convincing, an atmosphere befitting such persuasion had to emanate from Yi Bang-won.
Ah, no matter how stubborn Kang-ssi was…… seeing Yi Bang-won like that, she’d have no choice but to change her mind.
An atmosphere that would make the audience naturally accept it.
‘Even words are difficult.’
Seo Tae-rok smiled thinly.
To properly capture this scene, it would likely take at least dozens of takes. In the worst case, Seo Tae-rok was prepared to shoot over a hundred takes.
Because getting Yi Bang-won’s essence right here was crucial for making future filming smoother.
And naturally, Seo Tae-rok didn’t wish for that either.
There were rumors circulating that Seo Tae-rok intentionally pushed for many takes to drain actors of their vitality…… but why would he engage in such foolishness?
Far from draining them, it was a dangerous move that might break their will.
If it wasn’t necessary, he wouldn’t do it.
In any case,
‘Thirty…… no, if it could wrap within fifty takes, that’d be nice.’
Seo Tae-rok’s wishes were modest.
The fortunate thing was that Seong-hee had taken the initiative to lead the actors into a preliminary meeting. Given her leadership and experience, she might produce reasonably decent results before he stepped in.
A dozen or so fewer takes could be cut before arriving at a satisfactory finish.
Going into the set, that was precisely the extent of Seo Tae-rok’s expectations.
Ah, seeing the expressions on the actors’ faces on set, he did momentarily think that. They all looked somewhat dazed, or rather flushed as if intoxicated by something, so the energy didn’t seem bad at all.
Of course, he couldn’t know the reason.
Probably they were just excited since filming was about to start.
Seo Tae-rok made this assumption and picked up his megaphone.
“It’s cold today. Everyone move to your positions, please.”
“Yes!”
The actors moved in perfect synchronization.
Meanwhile, Seo Tae-rok scanned Seon-woo’s image on the screen. Visually, there was nothing to criticize.
That ease emanating from him…… was certainly aristocratic, as if he’d just stepped out from the Goryeo era.
Had he already completed his immersion? Watching the anticipation seeping from those eyes, the thought suddenly occurred to him.
‘…… Could do it with five fewer takes.’
A vague instinct.
Usually, when actors had eyes this good, they grasped the feel quickly and showed appropriate acting.
Seo Tae-rok raised his voice.
“Going into the shoot. Ready— Action!”
With the clean action cue, the atmosphere on set shifted.
“I cannot leave this place.”
The first line was Seong-hee’s.
Gazing at Seon-woo with stern, composed eyes, like looking upon an immovable wall. A wall one could never surmount.
“I won’t ask you all not to leave. But I must protect this place. If I don’t guard the estate for the General’s return, who will?”
Her tone was like that of one regarding an orchid raised with utmost care.
A dignity flowed from every word, difficult to approach carelessly. Hearing it, Seo Tae-rok reconsidered.
‘Add five more takes.’
Seong-hee was indeed Seong-hee.
With such weighty acting before him, persuading her as a childlike Yi Bang-won?
It was impossible.
Interpreting Yi Bang-won as boyish was certainly a good approach, but a boyish Yi Bang-won seemed to lack something against these titans of the age.
Even prepared to film this scene again tomorrow night, Seo Tae-rok now thought perhaps even that wouldn’t suffice.
It couldn’t be helped.
Seo Tae-rok released his expectations and turned to look at Seon-woo.
Still, Kim Seon-woo was Kim Seon-woo. Considering what he’d done so far, he surely came with a decent answer. From then on, they’d need to work through it together.
How to cultivate this Yi Bang-won.
And then,
“Don’t you already know that where Mother resides will become where Father returns to?”
Seon-woo gave his answer.
And in that moment, Seo Tae-rok’s eyes began to waver.
“What Mother must guard is not this estate, but Mother herself and our family.”
By most measures, it wasn’t remarkably different from what was expected.
Seon-woo executed Yi Bang-won’s boyish aspect straightforwardly. Yi Bang-won wore a faint smile despite the situation’s unfitness, and his face bore no tension regarding their current circumstances.
Yet somehow.
Somehow, in this moment…… everyone present felt it vaguely.
Not that it was merely a feeling.
It was simply too clearly visible.
Namely,
“So please, Mother, guard what you said—the place Father will return to. To do that, you must leave this estate.”
That Yi Bang-won was overwhelming Kang-ssi.
…… But how?
Confusion. His mind tangled in knots.
In that moment, Seo Tae-rok intuited it.
The same vague instinct as when he’d seen the light in the eyes of the actors present.
‘This is absurd.’
He didn’t think they’d need to go until tomorrow after all.

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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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