I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 37

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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 37

 

“This is completely protagonist editing, isn’t it?”

 

Min-hee’s muttering spoke for everyone’s feelings.

 

Protagonist. It really was direction that made him look like a protagonist. They portrayed him as if he was the very reason this program should be watched.

 

Seon-woo stared blankly at the screen with a pale, shocked face.

 

What is this?

 

Is this a dream?

 

Why are they suddenly focusing on him to this extent?

 

Moreover, wasn’t it just yesterday that Lee Mu-beom called him a genius? Did they already insert yesterday’s filming into the editing?

 

Their execution speed was truly admirable. The problem was that they used that execution to portray him like some ridiculous genius of the century…

 

‘Well, that makes sense.’

 

Hye-seong wasn’t surprised.

 

Having been in this industry for a long time, he understood well what kind of logic this place operated on.

 

The reason Seon-woo was receiving such a push from the production team wasn’t because he was good at acting.

 

It was because of his star quality.

 

‘Seon-woo is definitely different.’

 

It was something he’d felt from the first time he saw him.

 

When Seon-woo suddenly appeared as a parachute, Hye-seong felt more of a “What is he?” rather than “Who is he?”

 

Should he say that something about him captures people’s attention?

 

An atmosphere that seems like he’ll show something… that makes you curious about him for no reason.

 

That’s probably what star quality is.

 

Im Yeong-do must have seen it too.

 

Having worked at the broadcasting station for decades, he would naturally have the eye to distinguish stars.

 

Well, Seon-woo does seem to feel a bit burdened.

 

But it was a burden worth feeling.

 

If he overcomes this, then he won’t just be treated like a protagonist—he could actually become one.

 

‘I’m already looking forward to it.’

 

This was Seon-woo, who had felt burdened just by Lee Mu-beom’s single word about being a genius and had been struggling to do even better somehow.

 

If he received this much spotlight, just how hard would he work?

 

Moreover,

 

“Gasp! There are already so many comments!”

 

“How many? …Already over 100!?”

 

The preview for 【I Am an Actor】 was already overflowing with comments.

 

Blue Angel: Now there’s even an audition program for actors

 

┕Grumpy: It was about time. There hasn’t been any audition program for actors until now.

 

Anonymous3: But I’m really worried about what they’re saying in the preview. Feels like it’ll just be overflowing with bad actors?

 

┕ Gangnam Dumpling: That’s why they said in the video that there are many talented people.

 

┕ Garden Mom: You believe what the broadcasting station says? lol

 

Bruin: But what’s up with those visuals? I thought I was going blind for a moment

 

┕Jot: Stop exaggerating, it’s not that much

 

┕Aquarius: Exaggerating my ass, you think it’s easy for regular people without professional care to look that good?

 

sj97: But what’s with that person at the end? They edited him like some final boss lololol

 

┕Dried Corn: Looks like the production team is subtly pushing him

 

┕North Star: His face is really handsome though

 

┕쓱이: That person used to do theater in Daehangno. They’re from “Cheongsong,” a theater company that’s really popular these days ㅇㅇ

 

┕Dried Corn: Ah, he was from Cheongseong? I used to go watch them often when I was in university.

 

┕Dried Corn: Wow damn, looking at the theater troupe poster, his face is really handsome..

 

That’s how it was.

 

At a glance, the proportion of comments about Seon-woo was quite high.

 

It made sense. The production team had blatantly edited him like a protagonist, so naturally people’s attention would be drawn to him.

 

Seon-woo swallowed a sigh.

 

‘…Now I really need to work my ass off.’

 

Actually, he hadn’t planned to half-ass it from the beginning anyway.

 

But people’s attention had become too focused on him. He’d even been called a genius, so if he showed mediocre acting, he might get beaten up by everyone.

 

That’s when it happened.

 

“Kim Seon-woo? Could we do a quick interview right now?”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

The production team immediately called Seon-woo out as if they had been waiting for this moment.

 

In the interview room, Im Yeong-do was looking at Seon-woo with his usual sinister smile.

 

“Did you receive the gift I prepared well?”

 

“…You’re not talking about the preview, are you?”

 

“Oh my, that’s right. Didn’t it feel like a gift?”

 

“What if a friend suddenly offered to buy you a foreign car?”

 

“Uh… I’d be happy but also flustered, right?”

 

“That’s how I feel right now.”

 

Im Yeong-do burst into chuckles at Seon-woo’s honest reaction.

 

“I thought you’d react like that, Seon-woo. You’ve always seemed a bit weak to compliments.”

 

“…Is there a reason you’re pushing me like this?”

 

“Well, don’t worry. I’m not doing this for your sake. I’m a PD after all. I only do things that help the program.”

 

“Does pushing me help the program?”

 

“Hmm. Seon-woo, are you good at taking photos?”

 

Photos?

 

It was a somewhat random question, but Seon-woo nodded.

 

“I think I take them decently enough.”

 

“Photography is quite interesting, isn’t it? Even when shooting the same thing, the atmosphere changes completely depending on where you focus.”

 

“…Mm, that’s true.”

 

“I’m just looking for the right focus right now.”

 

Im Yeong-do stared intently at Seon-woo.

 

Seon-woo was momentarily surprised seeing that look in his eyes. It was a familiar gaze. The same look he’d often seen when fellow actors talked about acting, when they subtly revealed the dreams in their hearts.

 

“And this time, I’ve simply focused on you, Seon-woo.”

 

“…So, do you think you’ve captured a good photo?”

 

“Hmm, would this be an answer?”

 

Im Yeong-do smiled.

 

It was such a boyish smile that his middle-aged appearance seemed to fade for a moment.

 

“I hope… you’ll continue to be my focus, Seon-woo.”

 

* * *

 

After finishing the interview and returning to the break room, the atmosphere among the participants had become quite heated.

 

Even though they were always surrounded by cameras, they hadn’t really felt it until now, but it was finally starting to hit them.

 

That they were truly stepping out in front of the public.

 

“…Top ten. Really, no more, no less, I just want to survive to the top ten.”

 

“I don’t know about that, I just want to act properly in the remaining missions. Who knows? Maybe a director who likes my acting will contact me.”

 

“That’s really possible.”

 

The participants rekindled their motivation once again, regardless of their rankings.

 

And naturally, their attention was focused on…

 

“What’s the next mission?”

 

“Right… We already did emotional acting, so something different will come up, won’t it?”

 

“I don’t think it’ll be solo acting this time either. Maybe we’re going full team battles now?”

 

“Team battles are possible. But then we’d really need to choose our teammates well….”

 

“Exactly. Even last time, teammates were pretty important.”

 

The mission and teammates.

 

They didn’t know what mission would come up. But at least they could discuss in advance who they might team up with.

 

That’s why.

 

“Um, Seon-woo, if there’s a mission that needs teammates… would you like to team up with me?”

 

People began approaching Seon-woo one after another, asking him to be their teammate.

 

From the participants’ perspective, there was no teammate as appealing as Seon-woo. First of all, wasn’t he clearly a participant that the PD was pushing?

 

Being with Seon-woo would mean more opportunities to get screen time.

 

And aside from such calculations, there were also expectations about Seon-woo’s skills.

 

Lee Mu-beom had even praised him as a genius, so there was hope that teaming up with him would at least guarantee a decent performance.

 

In fact, even from their perspective, Seon-woo’s acting ability was outstanding.

 

‘This is troublesome.’

 

But for Seon-woo himself, it was giving him a headache.

 

While he was grateful that they viewed him favorably, with so many people asking him, it was difficult to tell them all to team up together.

 

The best answer he could give was something like “let’s see how the situation goes and team up then.”

 

And actually, there was someone specific that Seon-woo wanted to team up with right now.

 

‘It would be good to team up with Si-on.’

 

Si-on’s current score was 5 points.

 

He was clearly in the danger zone of elimination.

 

Of course, he didn’t have the luxury to look after others during the competition.

 

But he didn’t think teaming up with Si-on would be such an unreasonable thing to do.

 

It would be different if Si-on’s acting was terrible right now. But that wasn’t the case.

 

‘If he just had a bit more confidence, he could definitely deliver good acting.’

 

So if possible, Seon-woo’s honest feeling was that he’d like to team up with Si-on and help him out.

 

After all, hadn’t he himself received tremendous help from Yeon-woo during the last mission?

 

If you receive help, you should know how to give it too.

 

“Seon-woo, want to team up with me again?”

 

By the way, he hadn’t expected even this person to act like this.

 

Seon-woo looked at Yeon-woo with a reluctant expression.

 

“All of a sudden?”

 

“Huh? Why are you being so cold? We were a pretty good duo, weren’t we?”

 

“To be precise, it was a trio.”

 

Min-hee interjected with an incredulous look.

 

It would be one thing if she wasn’t there. But to blatantly call it a duo when she was right there? Yeon-woo pretended to be startled and waved her hands dismissively.

 

“Oh, of course! I just misspoke! Don’t misunderstand!”

 

“…Well, there’s nothing really to misunderstand. But why don’t you ask me if I want to team up?”

 

“Sister is a bit scary…”

 

“What’s so difficult about me!”

 

She didn’t seem to say difficult though.

 

Instead of getting involved between the two, Seon-woo stayed quiet.

 

Still, it was quite fascinating.

 

‘This person is a psychopath.’

 

It wasn’t surprising that someone you’d only see in movies was next to him.

 

What was surprising was that all those actions, expressions, and speech patterns were coming from someone without empathy.

 

Emotion is technique, wasn’t that what they said?

 

If he could absorb all that technique from Yeon-woo… he was thinking about that when—

 

【 We will now announce the next mission. 】

 

The Production Team’s voice flowed from the speaker mounted on the ceiling.

 

It was a surprise mission announcement.

 

【 The theme of the next mission is ‘collaboration.’ 】

 

“Collaboration…?”

 

“Are you telling us to do teamwork?”

 

“Shh, the broadcast is continuing.”

 

【 From now on, you will be divided into seven teams of five members each to compete. 】

 

【 Regardless of your team members, everyone will receive the same script, and in this mission, you can earn a maximum of 20 points total: 10 points for individual score and 10 points for team score. 】

 

【 You have 1 hour to decide on your team members. 】

 

【 Form your teams within 1 hour. 】

 

Countless pieces of information were scattered in an instant.

 

But what to focus on among them was clear. Seon-woo’s eyes sparkled.

 

‘I need to find team members.’

 

And good team members at that.

 

This was a mission where team score was just as important as individual score. If he ended up with disappointing team members… he might face a regrettable result like Jae-won did last time.

 

Now then, who should he team up with? It was at that moment when Seon-woo turned his head.

 

Seon-woo had no choice but to freeze like a frog before a snake.

 

He had no choice because…

 

“…”

 

About a dozen pairs of eyes were sparkling as they looked at him.

 

Their purpose was simple. To recruit him as a team member.

 

The moment he saw those eyes burning with determination to somehow make Seon-woo their team member, Seon-woo chuckled and thought.

 

‘…Should I run away?’

 

This is kind of scary.

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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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