I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 228

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

Episode 228
Facing an acting scene with Kwon Seong-min, Seon-woo was bracing himself mentally for a thorough defeat.
He’d already struggled to hold his own against Jeong In-gi.
But if his scene partner was Kwon Seong-min? The screen presence he’d witnessed in footage was breathtaking—there was no other way to describe it.
Naturally, acting alongside him would be far more demanding than working with Jeong In-gi.
That’s what he’d thought.
But then—
“Bang-won. What do you think those lights of the Capital are trying to say to you?”
It wasn’t like that at all.
Kwon Seong-min’s Lee Seong-gye didn’t carry the kind of crushing pressure that made you want to falter just by facing him, the way Jeong In-gi’s Jeong Do-jeon did.
He could see it.
A river of blood-red light filling the space around Lee Seong-gye.
It surely meant the life he’d lived. Get even a little closer, and it feels as though the stench of blood seeps from him.
On the surface, you’d expect to feel something vicious and brutal.
Yet the reason Seon-woo’s immersion didn’t waver was simple.
Lee Seong-gye’s blood soaked the ground where he stood, but it didn’t flow at all toward Yi Bang-won.
……That probably showed his nature—to handle dirty work himself.
And perhaps too, his resolve not to turn a blade against those around him.
But that wasn’t the only reason Seon-woo could act with such ease.
Kwon Seong-min’s acting was refined. So refined that rather than crushing an opposing character’s emotion, it seemed to draw it out—if you could call that a style.
It was a style Seon-woo had tried before himself.
Acting that considered not just his own performance but the entire scene.
Especially a technique he used often when the other actor was still beneath his level—creating space for the other person to pour their emotion into, rather than focusing only on his own feelings.
But he couldn’t say that Kwon Seong-min’s acting was identical to that approach.
To give the other person room to flourish, Seon-woo had to suppress his own emotion considerably.
He couldn’t simply immerse himself in his own performance.
But what about Kwon Seong-min now?
Was he deliberately holding back his power for Seon-woo’s sake?
“……I hear nothing at all, sir. Everyone there is already speaking in every direction imaginable. It’s become nothing but noise.”
“And yet that noise, in the end, is still a voice.”
No, wait.
It showed in his voice and expression—Kwon Seong-min had become Lee Seong-gye completely in this moment. There was no gap or shortfall in his acting.
And yet it was comfortable to act alongside him.
No, rather…… it almost felt as though Kwon Seong-min was leading his own acting forward first, in a way that made Seon-woo wonder if he’d ever acted this comfortably before.
So when the scene ended,
“……Thank you, sir.”
Seon-woo had no choice but to say that.
Kwon Seong-min shrugged as if playing innocent.
“Thanks for what? What did I do?”
“I’ve never acted like this before. I’m not sure how to explain it…… Ah, words are failing me.”
It was a feeling beyond explanation.
Jeong In-gi, who’d been watching, let out a soft chuckle and spoke.
“You seem quite taken by your senior’s performance.”
“It wasn’t anything special.”
“……Sir, do you realize that one remark just made several actors feel rather unremarkable?”
Kwon Seong-min avoided his gaze with an embarrassed expression.
He was a man who never grew comfortable with flattery, no matter his age. He slowly steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Your emotional arc was good. That made it pleasant for me too. I felt it during script reading as well…… Yes, even that terrifying Bang-won was just a young man back then, I thought.”
“Ah…… Yes, that’s right.”
“Now that we’ve actually run it together, I see it more clearly. Isn’t it difficult to act?”
Kwon Seong-min grasped instantly what struggles Seon-woo must be facing. With decades of acting experience, he could tell at a glance what effort would be needed to truly inhabit such a character interpretation.
Seon-woo nodded honestly as he looked at Kwon Seong-min.
“That…… Yes. To be honest, I’ve regretted it at times. Wondering if I chose an unnecessarily difficult path.”
“The path is difficult, but it’s not unnecessary.”
And watching Seon-woo like that, Kwon Seong-min spoke plainly to him.
“You’re genuinely compelling. Given that Yeokjeok is a two-part production, there’s anticipation in wondering how Bang-won will grow later…… I’m already enjoying it. But I’m curious about one thing. What do you think about Lady Kang?”
“Ah, that’s…….”
Seon-woo’s eyes brightened as he answered.
Despite their decades-wide age and experience gap, there was no trace of tension. Jeong In-gi, seeing this, chuckled quietly to himself.
‘Still the same, I see.’
Those unfamiliar with Kwon Seong-min assumed he must be a difficult person. They remembered the extraordinary screen presence he’d shown on screen and assumed he’d be just as hard to deal with in everyday life.
But the real Kwon Seong-min wasn’t particularly difficult at all. In fact, his everyday self was understated, almost plain. Being around him wasn’t particularly entertaining, but he had a way of putting whoever he was with at ease.
Of course, when the subject turned to acting, he became another person entirely.
‘Is that it? Those two…… they’re rather alike.’
Watching Kwon Seong-min and Seon-woo engage in deep discussion about Yeokjeok, Jeong In-gi smiled quietly.
Somehow, looking at the two of them gave him that impression.
Jeong In-gi, once young, had somehow become almost elderly, and by his side now stood a boy with that same light in his eyes.
Just watching the two of them, you could feel it—how time flows on, regardless of whether you will it or not.
Like seeing a fully ripened grain of rice and a newly sprouted seedling side by side.
They were truly like father and son.
With that thought, Jeong In-gi’s eyes could only shine brighter.
Somehow, he thought, the story of this master and student…… would paint a very fine picture indeed.
* * *
The expression might seem a little corny, but the encounter with Kwon Seong-min was…… truly like magic for Seon-woo.
Not because he was actually meeting an actor he’d always admired.
Kwon Seong-min displayed an almost flawless command of everything—character and script both.
A feeling of witnessing what an actor who wasted not a moment of his given time could accomplish.
‘……Suddenly I’m exhausted.’
After finishing his discussion with Kwon Seong-min, Seon-woo simply collapsed into a chair.
Worn out as if he’d run a marathon.
It couldn’t be helped. A conversation with Kwon Seong-min demanded that much from him emotionally.
—When you talk about Gaegyeong, I’d like more of that sense of fulfillment. Yes, try holding back a smile—not in the mouth, but in the eyes. Yes. Like that.
Kwon Seong-min pelted Seon-woo with real-time feedback.
Though Seon-woo had acted with various seniors before, he’d never received such direct feedback.
And most remarkably, that feedback was always precise.
He delivered exactly the feedback Seon-woo hadn’t even realized he needed, right when he needed it.
‘……He seems to have grasped acting completely.’
Yes, that was Seon-woo’s thought.
It was an impression he’d never had even when meeting Do-young. In a way, that made sense—if Do-young understood acting at such a complete level, that would be strange given his age.
Do-young could offer his perspective on Seon-woo’s concerns, but not answers.
But Kwon Seong-min felt different.
When listening to him, Seon-woo just thought—
This is right.
You must do it this way, without question.
It wasn’t blind faith born from Kwon Seong-min’s reputation.
Whenever Seon-woo followed his advice, he felt Bang-won’s essence come alive with fresh vitality.
And the way Bang-won appeared, painted by him…… created a more beautiful tree.
That image was still vivid.
Centered on Bang-won’s tree, the river of blood flowing from Lee Seong-gye…… split and flowed away on either side, as if cut by a blade.
What Seon-woo could feel from that flow was Lee Seong-gye’s love.
The karma of blood that had always walked with him, the wish that it not stain his own son.
A father’s heart—hoping that Bang-won, who had always been his pride, could live a noble life forever.
It was not an emotional arc typically explored.
Because of it, Seon-woo received multiple inspirations from Kwon Seong-min’s Lee Seong-gye in that moment. He caught a glimpse of the picture Kwon Seong-min was painting.
‘Lee Seong-gye is proud of Bang-won.’
It was already something he knew.
The only son to pass both the civil and military service exams.
The fact that Bang-won was the pride that allowed Lee Seong-gye to stand tall in Gaegyeong was historically well-known.
But he hadn’t expected Kwon Seong-min’s Lee Seong-gye to focus on that aspect.
Generally, Lee Seong-gye’s bearing toward Bang-won felt rather disapproving instead.
Of course, that turning point came from when Bang-won didn’t follow Lee Seong-gye’s words and beat Jeong Mong-ju to death…… but according to Kwon Seong-min, it was different.
“You will be my pride forever.”
Pride eternal.
……Even when he made his half-brother—not Bang-won—crown prince, Bang-won would still be Lee Seong-gye’s pride. That’s what he meant.
How could that be?
He didn’t know. What Seon-woo could understand now was something different—if Lee Seong-gye truly held such feelings for Bang-won, then not only the Princes’ Rebellion to come, but the entire narrative of Yeokjeok itself would unfold quite differently than he’d imagined.
“Could it be…… that not making me crown prince was also for my sake?”
“……Who knows.”
Kwon Seong-min offered no definite answer on this point.
He only said this much.
“From what I see, Taejong’s life doesn’t look particularly happy. And Lee Seong-gye surely saw it coming. What kind of life his fifth son would live, if he became king.”
As he spoke, Kwon Seong-min reached out and gently touched Seon-woo’s shoulder.
As if Seon-woo were truly his own son, his eyes warm and tender.
“And a father, of course, couldn’t bear to watch that.”
“…….”
A father’s heart.
To Seon-woo, still unmarried, it was as hard to grasp as a woman’s heart. He could only guess at it.
Yet simply by making that guess……
‘……Ah.’
Something swelled up in his chest, welling over.
He felt Lee Seong-gye’s heart, and through it, Bang-won’s heart. A feeling of both joy and anguish at once.
And that was the moment.
Even though Seon-woo wasn’t actively performing Kwon Seong-min’s scene at that moment, the river of blood Kwon Seong-min had released reached him.
And the land of Bang-won’s spring, so full of green, began to slowly drink in that blood.
At the moment the son comes to understand his father, the very thing Lee Seong-gye feared most unfolds—the path of blood he’d so hoped his son would never walk now extends to Bang-won.
‘Not yet.’
Seon-woo clenched his teeth and shook the feeling away.
This was an emotional arc he couldn’t afford to harbor now. Bang-won still needed to hold to the pure colors of spring.
But the encounter with Kwon Seong-min had been enough to transform how Seon-woo intended to unfold Bang-won in that brief span.
Each word from him felt like a nugget of inspiration.
And so—
“Sir. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble…… in scene 35, would it be alright if I played it looking at you?”
“……Hmm, if we do that, the flow of emotion…….”
He had no choice but to keep speaking like this.
Even if it was presumptuous, he genuinely couldn’t hold himself back now.
For Seon-woo, who had always thirsted for instruction, Kwon Seong-min was like an oasis itself.
An oasis full of sweet, cool water.
Talking with him felt more wondrous than acting itself—there was no way Seon-woo could resist.
It couldn’t be helped.
To Seon-woo, who had wandered without a teacher, without direction…… at last a signpost had appeared.
A magnificent signpost that would keep him from losing his way even in the darkest night.

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