I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 51
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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 51
They would be filming a drama.
At those words, the participants’ expressions couldn’t help but become dazed.
A survival drama.
Filming a drama during the competition was already unfamiliar, but a survival drama at that. No one could have predicted this development.
‘So this is what they meant by being able to film a drama if you make it to the TOP 10…’
Seon-woo placed his hand on his chest.
His startled heart wouldn’t calm down easily.
He never expected his first debut work to be decided this way.
The other participants were also generally in a confused atmosphere.
It was too sudden and they weren’t mentally prepared to just be happy about it, so everyone felt good but nervous at the same time.
Even those who were eliminated today felt the same way.
“A drama…”
Ye-chan muttered with a dazed expression.
He knew that making it to the TOP 10 would mean appearing in a drama.
But he never imagined they would provide a debut stage like this so immediately.
‘If I had done just a little better… could I have debuted?’
Just as he was about to feel dejected at that thought.
“Wow, Ye-chan’s lucky. Now he can just do nothing and sleep well.”
Hye-seong was looking at Ye-chan with a grinning, annoying expression.
Ye-chan got emotional and raised his voice.
“Ah, hyung! You’re already teasing me?”
“Don’t cry too much when you go home today! And drink in moderation.”
“I won’t cry! And I won’t drink either. I’m really fine, okay? I already knew this would happen!”
“Yes, yes. Of course you did. Hyung believes in our Ye-chan.”
“No, I’m serious…”
Ye-chan made an aggrieved expression and trembled with frustration.
It must be my imagination that he looks even more upset now than when the elimination was announced, right?
Jae-won grinned and roughly ruffled Ye-chan’s hair.
“Good job, man. You still showed something cool at the end.”
“Ahem, r-right? It was pretty good, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. You did well. Watching you made my body itch to get up there too.”
“…Hehehehehe.”
Ye-chan finally couldn’t hold back and smiled eerily.
Seeing this, Min-hee let out a sigh.
“Still, if you were going to do it anyway, why didn’t you do some acting that would score well? Why be so stubbornly pointless and get eliminated?”
It was said out of regret.
Words that carried a bit of comfort, saying that if you hadn’t been so stubborn, you would have been good enough to pass.
But hearing this, Hye-seong immediately shook his head sharply.
“Even if he had done acting that scored well, he would have been eliminated anyway due to insufficient cumulative points. Since he was obviously going to die anyway, he chose an honorable death. Right, Ye-chan?”
“…Ah, seriously hyung, stop seeing through everything like that!”
Ye-chan even turned red in the face as he shouted.
Seon-woo smiled bitterly and stepped in to mediate.
“Don’t worry about it too much. Hye-seong hyung is just telling you not to be too depressed.”
“…I wasn’t depressed until just now, but suddenly I feel like I’m getting depressed.”
Ye-chan grumbled weakly.
And that’s when it happened. Seo Jin-wook, who had been standing a step away quietly watching their conversation, casually opened his mouth.
“You did do well though.”
“…”
“…”
A moment of stillness. Silence. Disbelief. And shock.
Everyone, even Jae-won, was staring at Seo Jin-wook with eyes twice their normal size.
Seo Jin-wook frowned.
“What.”
“…Wait, are you really Seo Jin-wook?”
“Shut up. I said one thing and you’re all making such a fuss?”
Seo Jin-wook grumbled and ran away.
But even after that, people stared blankly at the spot where Seo Jin-wook had disappeared for quite a while.
The same was true for Seon-woo.
Is it time for him to die?
Why is someone who wasn’t like that suddenly acting this way?
Anyway, thanks to that, they were able to give Ye-chan a more lively send-off than expected.
But Ye-chan wasn’t the only person Seon-woo had to see off that day.
“Oppa, I’m leaving!”
“Yes. You worked hard.”
Seon-woo calmly bowed his head as he watched Kwon So-ri with her suitcase.
She doesn’t look as depressed as expected. She probably anticipated this would happen.
He still doesn’t view Kwon So-ri very favorably.
She’s very immature personality-wise and an extremely self-centered person.
To put it briefly, she’s like a badly-behaved child.
But… has he grown fond of her despite her flaws?
“So-ri.”
“Yes! Oh, should I give you my number?”
“Be prepared. You’ll get a lot of hate comments.”
Seon-woo offered advice that might not have been necessary.
Kwon So-ri blinked her eyes.
“Hate comments? Why? Because of that Si-on thing?”
“…Yes. You know there were problems with your behavior, right?”
“Mm, well, yes. There’s definitely something worth criticizing. But it’s okay. People can’t be perfect, right? You might get hate comments living life.”
It was a very Kwon So-ri-like answer.
Her head is a flower field in many ways.
It won’t be as easy as that… Seon-woo was about to say that, but stopped himself.
Anyway, if she’s okay with it, then that’s fine.
But then it happened.
Kwon So-ri said “Ah,” and turned to look at Seon-woo with that characteristic sly smile.
“But I don’t know. If I actually get hate comments, it might be hard after all. Can I call you then? I can give you my number.”
Seon-woo smiled back at her.
“No.”
That’s a bit too much.
* * *
4 weeks.
That was how long it would take for all the currently filmed content to be aired.
There were still four missions left that hadn’t been aired yet: room assignment, joy-anger-sorrow-pleasure, collaboration, and death.
Considering that episode 2, which covered the room assignment mission, would air tomorrow night…
About 1 month.
That was the time remaining until filming this drama.
After the death mission, this drama would inevitably have to be released as well.
Thanks to that, the production team seemed to be putting quite a lot of effort into drama production.
They handed this out as soon as the eliminated contestants left.
“‘4 Questions for Character Development’…”
Seon-woo looked down at the paper in front of him with a strange expression.
It reminded him of the resume he used when he was job hunting. The difference was that resumes didn’t ask questions like this.
Seon-woo looked down at the questionnaire.
1. I am ______________.
2. What makes you afraid?
3. If you could fulfill one wish?
4. You are about to die. If you could leave one last word?
It was his first time writing something like this.
Creating a character tailored to the actor.
How many actors would have experienced something like this?
Honestly, he was a bit excited.
He was very curious about what kind of person the character created for him would be… what color it would shine with.
The desire to meet this character as soon as possible.
‘…But is it really possible to analyze a character with just 4 questions?’
It was something he couldn’t help but tilt his head at.
Even just the MBTI personality test had about 100 items to answer, so what meaning could there be in answering just 4 questions?
‘Well, but since these are essay questions, maybe it’s a bit different?’
Seon-woo first looked at the question at the top.
1. I am ______________.
A simple question.
But originally, these kinds of questions are the hardest to answer. Seon-woo stared at that question for a long time.
What should he answer?
Actually, the first thing that came to mind was actor.
But honestly, he still felt somehow inadequate to call himself an actor.
He hadn’t even done a proper work once yet, so what kind of actor was he?
But the blank space was too short to write out in detail what kind of person he was.
It felt a bit too much, really. Asking him to talk about himself while giving such a short space.
Seon-woo let out a sigh.
He didn’t know. Something would come to mind if he kept thinking about it.
…That’s what he thought.
And then, 5 hours later.
“….”
Seon-woo looked down at the questionnaire with hollow eyes.
The number of items Seon-woo had written answers for during those 5 whole hours was… 0.
‘What am I doing?’
Even he found it ridiculous.
It wasn’t like he was solving competition problems, but did it make sense that he hadn’t written a single word until now?
Wondering if other people were also struggling like this, Seon-woo asked Jae-won how much he had written.
“Huh? Me? I finished writing everything right after I got it.”
“…Could I take a look?”
“Sure. I don’t mind.”
Jae-won immediately pulled out a roughly folded paper from his pocket.
And Seon-woo barely managed to hold back a hollow laugh when he saw what was written on that paper.
1. I am an __Actor____________.
2. What makes you afraid?
Mother getting sick
3. If you could make one wish come true?
Becoming a ten million actor
4. You are about to die. If you could leave one last word?
I’m going first!
They were clean and clear answers.
The word ‘actor’ written firmly without any trace of hesitation as if it were obvious, and the refreshingly straightforward answers written throughout – should I say they were very much like Jae-won.
Jae-won looked at Seon-woo with puzzlement.
“But why this. You can’t write it well?”
“Yes.”
“What can’t you write?”
“All of it.”
“…Don’t tell me you didn’t write anything?”
Jae-won looked at Seon-woo with a surprised expression as if he couldn’t even imagine it.
An expression that showed he couldn’t understand at all why this couldn’t be written. Seon-woo understood Jae-won. Right now, he himself didn’t understand himself either.
In the end, what the questionnaire was asking was simple.
Who are you, what are you afraid of, what do you want to achieve, and what are the last words you want to leave.
Why was it so difficult to answer those simple questions?
It couldn’t be helped.
No matter what answer he tried to write, it didn’t feel like his answer.
And Jae-won’s response after hearing that was this.
“Don’t you know yourself too little?”
“…Me?”
“Yeah. Even you don’t know yourself well. What you want to do, what kind of person you are…”
When he heard those words, he felt like he’d been hit hard.
He had gone through all sorts of trouble trying to understand his roles, but he didn’t even know that much about himself?
The problem was that he couldn’t really deny those words.
Seon-woo could feel that Jae-won’s words were the right answer.
“Maybe it’s actually a good thing. Why don’t you just take this opportunity to reflect on yourself?”
It was good advice.
It was a bit embarrassing to be so ignorant about himself at this age, but perhaps thanks to this, it seemed like he had gained an opportunity to get to know himself.
Seon-woo thought about it.
Even from his own perspective, he was certainly someone who was hard to call ordinary.
Suddenly wanting to become an actor at this age, talking about a colorful life and all that… His obsession with color itself wasn’t ordinary to begin with.
Why did he want to become so colorful?
Originally, he had thought “just because” in response to that question.
Just because it’s good.
Because it’s natural that color is better than black and white. That’s all he had thought.
But it’s not like others don’t know that.
Most people live black and white lives even knowing that.
What was different about him and Seon-woo?
How did he end up coming this far?
How was he able to come here?
Thoughts led to more thoughts in an endless chain.
And it was around the time he had followed that chain for the hundredth time.
“….”
Seon-woo picked up his pen.
* * *
And that night.
The male staff member who received Seon-woo’s questionnaire… slowly tilted his head in confusion.
“PD, is this person sick or something?”
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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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