I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 258

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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 258
Do-young remembered the look in Seon-woo’s eyes.
When he watched Seon-woo on stage, there was something distinctly unusual about his gaze.
In fact, people’s eyes when they looked at Do-young typically fell into one of two categories: jealousy or admiration.
But Seon-woo’s eyes were different.
Hope, perhaps—that was what it seemed like. Seon-woo appeared to be thinking something along those lines as he watched Do-young.
Something like: Ah, one day I have to act like that too.
To be honest, it was a little embarrassing to be the object of such a gaze, but Do-young found himself grateful for the way Seon-woo looked at him.
So few people ever looked at him that way.
—Do-young is different.
That’s what everyone said.
Cha Do-young wasn’t a rival. He was born different from the start, they said.
If only they wouldn’t resent him even while saying such things, but there were always people who envied Do-young.
Sometimes that envy escalated to actual hatred.
He understood them, though.
To their eyes, Do-young was like a wall.
A man born to act, plainly and simply.
Do-young’s very existence planted a persistent thought in ordinary people’s minds.
What if I’m not meant to act after all?
Acting is what people like Cha Do-young do, so isn’t it presumptuous of me to harbor such ambitions?
Those worries and anxieties twisted into anger, which naturally became resentment.
By now, how many people had confessed such twisted feelings to Do-young?
That was why Do-young was grateful to Seon-woo.
Seon-woo was one of the rare few who could make his passion burn brighter rather than dimmer when looking at him.
There was a reason he’d sought out Seon-woo the last time, when caught in his own slump (though it was far too brief to deserve the name).
And because of that,
‘……wow.’
In this moment, Do-young could do nothing but marvel.
The memory of his last scene with Seon-woo remained vivid. The way Seon-woo’s character, the young priest, had appeared opposite Do-young’s Priest—that raw, unpolished acting had carried him back to his earliest days as an actor.
And because of that, the acting Seon-woo displayed now was startling in an entirely new way.
Electric.
Sharp, finely honed emotion cutting through like a wire, explosive feeling that seemed to pierce the skin.
When Seon-woo’s eyes—full of resentment—turned toward him, Do-young felt his entire body go rigid with a chill.
Was this Seon-woo?
The Kim Seon-woo he knew?
He’d admired Seon-woo’s acting even during that audition, but Seon-woo had grown again in the meantime.
Both his emotions and technique had reached a new stability.
In that short span, he’d demonstrated astounding growth.
‘Terrifying.’
In this moment, Do-young finally understood what his seniors must have felt.
A junior growing at such a fearsome pace.
It was impossible not to feel terror. One moment of carelessness and Seon-woo could surpass him—the danger was real enough to tighten his chest.
But…….
‘Not yet.’
Do-young summoned his emotion.
Someday the moment might come when they traded places, but he couldn’t allow it now.
This wasn’t just for himself.
Seon-woo would need a landmark to gauge his direction when looking ahead.
Do-young had no intention of surrendering that role as a landmark.
He was the senior, after all.
“Then quit it. You’re complaining like that and still asking for my help?”
Do-young still had no intention of ceding first place to Seon-woo.
Not yet, at least.
* * *
“You know there’s nobody quite as unique as you, right?”
At Park Myeong-jin’s words, Im Yeong-do frowned.
“What? Why are you suddenly picking a fight?”
“Because I’ve never seen anyone try to turn theater into variety entertainment before. I mean, nowadays they just take celebrities and send them traveling, and viewership works out fine.”
“You’re supposed to be a PD and you’re that out of touch with trends? That material’s been dead for ages. Nowadays just mindless travel shows don’t pull ratings. You need at least scorpions and snakes for anyone to even bother watching.”
“They don’t eat those anymore?”
“If you try that, they won’t even appear.”
“Everyone’s gotten picky, it seems.”
Park Myeong-jin chuckled and sprawled out on the Entertainment Division sofa.
Im Yeong-do let out a dry laugh, looking at Park Myeong-jin.
“You’re acting like you own the place. Hey, what’s a Drama Division person doing here causing trouble?”
“I’m bored. Just bored. Writer Ryu said he’d give me a project but then disappeared and never shows up…….”
“There should be scripts from other writers.”
“I’m lacking dopamine. Nothing sounds appetizing.”
“So who’s calling whom picky now?”
Im Yeong-do chuckled.
Park Myeong-jin picked up a lollipop from the table and started unwrapping it.
“But I heard the cast is impressive. Record-breaking, supposedly.”
“……well, that part’s true. If this were a drama, we’d burn hundreds of billions just on appearance fees.”
“Can you possibly lend me some of the cast?”
“Can you?”
“Didn’t think so.”
Park Myeong-jin nodded with a gloomy expression.
The lollipop wrapper still hadn’t come off.
“They’re saying everyone’s in it—the National Theater Company, everyone. And Baekya too.”
“Noeul’s in it as well.”
“……So there’ll be quite a few established actors from Noeul?”
“That’s right. Yun Jae-mun, Seo Myeong-hee, and even Kang Tae-oh…….”
“……The 40-50 age group will go absolutely crazy over this. Aren’t you guys creating a second Trot craze?”
“Even so, that’s a bit much…… theater has such high barriers to entry compared to trot.”
“Well, I suppose. But why won’t this stupid thing come off?”
“……want me to do it?”
“Never mind. I’ll get it off no matter what.”
Park Myeong-jin began attacking the wrapper with his teeth.
As Im Yeong-do watched with a look of disgust, Park Myeong-jin mumbled a question.
“So which one are you most looking forward to?”
“Well, I’m looking forward to all of them.”
“Skip the boring answer.”
“Well, where my heart pulls the strongest…….”
“It’s Cheongseong, right?”
Park Myeong-jin grinned as if he’d figured it all out.
Im Yeong-do scratched his head.
“I can’t really help it. I owe Cheongseong a lot.”
“That makes sense. Without Cheongseong, would I Am an Actor have even lasted through season two?”
“I don’t think it’s quite that simple…….”
Im Yeong-do bristled slightly, then paused to think.
He was imagining how I Am an Actor might have unfolded without Cheongseong’s faces in it.
“……maybe it wouldn’t have been very entertaining, honestly.”
“Founding contributors are always the prettiest. You should treat them well. But……will Cheongseong be okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know Cheongseong’s talented, but……the age range is really too young, isn’t it?”
Park Myeong-jin asked with a shrug.
He acknowledged Cheongseong’s skill.
That’s precisely why they’d been able to perform as they did in I Am an Actor.
But they were young. Hye-seong, already in his thirties, was the oldest among them.
In that respect, Cheongseong carried a handicap compared to the other theater companies.
There were certain performances that required seasoning and experience.
But,
“You’re speaking needlessly.”
Im Yeong-do chuckled.
Park Myeong-jin wore a puzzled expression.
“Needlessly? What do you mean?”
“There’s nothing more pointless in the world than worrying about Cheongseong. I thought you’d know that much. You saw it during One Room filming.”
“Everyone was excellent, sure, but…….”
“It’s not a matter of being excellent or not.”
Im Yeong-do shrugged.
“You don’t need to worry about Cheongseong.”
“……how can I not? You’re saying the cast is too thin? I get that they’re good, but without middle-aged and senior actors, the stage itself will inevitably lose its weight and substance.”
“That’s exactly why you don’t need to worry.”
Im Yeong-do spoke with a detached expression.
“They’ll figure it out on their own.”
“……huh.”
Park Myeong-jin regarded Im Yeong-do with a skeptical look.
This wasn’t the kind of friend who blindly trusted someone like that…… but Im Yeong-do had his own conviction.
‘Because they’re the kind of people who make things work no matter what.’
There were such people in this world.
People whose path seemed blocked to everyone else, yet who carved out new roads and pressed forward anyway.
Cheongseong possessed that kind of power.
Especially…….
‘Seon-woo in particular.’
Kim Seon-woo.
As the name formed in Im Yeong-do’s mind, his expression grew complex.
Seon-woo could fairly be said to be the brightest star produced by I Am an Actor. Of course Yeon-woo, Min-hee, and others were doing quite well too, but in terms of buzz, Seon-woo was overwhelming.
Just among the friends who appeared in I Am an Actor Season 2, when asked why they’d agreed to participate, nearly half dropped Seon-woo’s name.
It was ironic.
Yeon-woo had actually won I Am an Actor, yet it was Seon-woo who captured everyone’s attention.
Im Yeong-do believed that was precisely what star quality meant.
‘……it’s like the whole universe has gathered its energy to push him forward.’
Didn’t they say that those destined to become stars inevitably find circumstances bending in their favor, environment molded to make them into stars?
Im Yeong-do saw Seon-woo as the perfect example of that principle.
Just look at where he’d started.
He began by appearing in a short film his brother had directed, then entered Cheongseong via that path, and by chance Im Yeong-do’s connections led him to I Am an Actor, didn’t it?
And everything that happened afterward……seemed as though every single event had unfolded with the singular purpose of making Kim Seon-woo into a star.
‘Maybe I Am an Actor succeeded precisely because it was receiving Seon-woo’s momentum.’
It might be overstepping for a PD to think such thoughts, but Im Yeong-do felt little worry as long as Seon-woo was in the picture.
Wasn’t he being too dependent on the cast?
Couldn’t be helped. Broadcasting was ultimately created by its performers.
If they didn’t deliver good material, no PD could achieve success no matter what.
And because of that, in fact, Im Yeong-do could feel less anxious now.
‘The Theatrical Competition will succeed.’
And the Theatrical Competition would breathe new life into the stagnant theater world.
Just imagining it made Im Yeong-do proud. Lines never ending at theaters, an era where everyone watched plays……wasn’t that quite romantic?
Of course, someone might still ask.
Will that really happen?
And Im Yeong-do’s answer was simple.
‘It will happen no matter what!’
Because he had Kim Seon-woo, he had Cheongseong, and he had countless actors who hadn’t let go of their dreams.
So it would definitely work!
It would work…….
Im Yeong-do turned to look at Park Myeong-jin with an exasperated gaze.
“……how much longer are you going to keep at that?”
“……want to give it a try?”
Park Myeong-jin extended the candy with slightly defeated energy.
He still hadn’t managed to unwrap it.
Im Yeong-do shook his head and took the lollipop from him.
And,
Rip.
“……huh?”
“So that’s all it was?”
“Wait, I’m pretty sure it didn’t come off…….”
Park Myeong-jin’s expression turned injured.
Looking at him, Im Yeong-do smiled with confident flair.
See?
Those who are meant to succeed will always find a way.

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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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