I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 52

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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 52

 

The biggest drawback of actor audition programs is precisely the lack of popular appeal.

 

Unlike music genres that can be showcased on stage within 3-4 minutes, acting made it difficult to fully convey the feeling even when performing the most spectacular famous scenes.

 

It couldn’t be helped.

 

There were limits to the emotion that could be delivered through acting scenes cut out without context.

 

Im Yeong-do pondered.

 

Then what if they filmed a survival drama outright?

 

And then viewers would watch as the actors they were rooting for died and left the show based on that drama’s performance?

 

If it was this… wouldn’t actor auditions gain their own weapon?

 

Im Yeong-do was able to resolve to film 【I Am an Actor】 purely thanks to this idea.

 

He thought this had potential.

 

Of course, even so, there were still worrying points that remained.

 

The biggest among them was the screenplay.

 

In dramas, what’s more important than actors is the writer’s capability.

 

Especially in 【I Am an Actor】, with contestants in a situation where no one knows who will be eliminated each week, they had to write the best screenplay in real-time each week to match that.

 

How many writers in the domestic scene could properly handle this?

 

And would such a writer really be willing to do such an experimental work on this kind of program?

 

In fact, at this point, Im Yeong-do’s dream of making an actor audition program successful… almost crumbled once.

 

He couldn’t see any angle for solving this problem.

 

…However, the existence that ultimately allowed Im Yeong-do to continue dreaming was now before his eyes.

 

“…”

 

In a room where pale blue moonlight and only the desk lamp on the table served as the sole light sources.

 

A short-haired male was staring at a document folder without blinking once.

 

He was a man with a mysterious atmosphere.

 

Skin so white it made you wonder if he’d ever seen sunlight in his life, pale to the point of concern… and muscles positioned solidly like a sculpture, incongruous with that paleness.

 

This man with an otherworldly atmosphere whose age was impossible to guess was Im Yeong-do’s hidden card.

 

He didn’t know his name.

 

All he knew was his pen name as a writer.

 

Ryu.

 

Anyone with an interest in dramas or movies would inevitably know this name.

 

As soon as he appeared in the film industry with his debut work, he swept through Baeksang and Cannes, but then disappeared like a mirage when directors and PDs who were eager to work with him started sending love calls.

 

And after several years had passed and he had faded from everyone’s memory, he suddenly collaborated on some rookie director’s script and swept the film festivals again.

 

Due to such irregular work pace, even now, 20 years after his debut, he only had 3 works to his name.

 

‘But wait a minute. Then how old is this person?’

 

No matter what, he wouldn’t have written his first work in his teens.

 

That would mean he was at least over forty… but no matter how he looked, he didn’t appear that way. Even if he estimated generously, he looked like he was in his late thirties. Honestly, he could believe it if someone said he was around thirty.

 

…Does he look young because he’s in good shape?

 

It was the moment when Im Yeong-do was seriously considering whether he should start exercising properly too.

 

“Interesting.”

 

Ryu spoke up.

 

His gaze was still fixed on the document folder, specifically on the questionnaires filled out by the TOP 10 members. Im Yeong-do looked at Ryu and scratched his head with an awkward expression.

 

“…Is that so? I was a bit worried about it.”

 

“Worried? About what?”

 

“I thought there were too few questions. There are only 4 of them, so I wondered if that would be enough to understand the characters…”

 

“There are 4 visible questions.”

 

“…Are you saying there are invisible questions?”

 

“Would you like to see this?”

 

Ryu pulled out two survey forms.

 

One was the survey form filled out by Jae-won, and the other was the survey form filled out by Hye-seong.

 

“Would you like to compare the first question here?”

 

“The first…”

 

Im Yeong-do narrowed his eyes and looked closely at the answers they had written.

 

[Song Jae-won]

 

1. I am an __actor____________.

 

[Jeong Hye-seong]

 

1. I am ___a person who acts___.

 

Im Yeong-do nodded his head.

 

One claims to be an actor, and one claims to be a person who acts. Was he trying to talk about the attitude toward that?

 

But still, in the end, that seems like just one question.

 

Watching such Im Yeong-do, Ryu smiled transparently.

 

“What do you see?”

 

“…Isn’t it a difference in confidence?”

 

“And?”

 

“Other than that… what should I be seeing?”

 

“Take a look at the underlines once.”

 

At those words, Im Yeong-do looked at the answers once more.

 

And only then did he notice another characteristic.

 

Namely, Jae-won’s handwriting carelessly pierced through and crossed over the underlines as if they weren’t particularly important, while Hye-seong’s handwriting never crossed over the underlines as if he had made some kind of promise.

 

“…Does this have meaning?”

 

“Yes. You can know ten things by seeing one. You can see whether this person is bound by rules and frameworks or not, and also… would you like to look at this person’s answer this time?”

 

[Seo Jin-wook]

 

1. I ____will win here____.

 

Im Yeong-do let out a contemplative sound.

 

The notable difference here is…

 

“…He showed what he does, not who he is as a person? Is this right?”

 

“It’s possible to identify from things like this. What this person values while living, what their attitude toward life is like, and so on.”

 

Only then did Im Yeong-do understand why Ryu had prepared only 4 questions.

 

Through one question, he could ask countless questions. What he just explained was about three things, but in reality, the information Ryu obtained from it might be dozens… perhaps even hundreds of things.

 

His entire system of thinking is different.

 

That’s why it was.

 

When Ryu said those words, they sounded quite serious.

 

“PD, is this person perhaps sick somewhere?”

 

“…What? Why?”

 

“The answers are quite unusual.”

 

At those words, Im Yeong-do hurriedly looked at the questionnaire in Ryu’s hands.

 

And he let out a contemplative sound just like that.

 

[Kim Seon-woo]

 

1. I ___don’t know___.

 

2. What makes you afraid?

 

I don’t know.

 

3. If you could make one wish come true?

 

I don’t know.

 

4. You are about to die. If you could leave one last word?

 

I’m sorry. I really don’t know.

 

An Answer Sheet filled with nothing but “I don’t know” responses.

 

Seeing this, Im Yeong-do let out a sigh.

 

This Answer Sheet had indeed seemed a bit strange to Im Yeong-do when he first saw it too.

 

If it had been someone other than Seon-woo, he might have thought they wrote it this way as some kind of protest.

 

But the Seon-woo he knew wouldn’t have done that.

 

“He probably wrote it that way because he genuinely didn’t know.”

 

Im Yeong-do made excuses on Seon-woo’s behalf.

 

“I’m sure he didn’t have any bad intentions.”

 

“I know. That’s what makes it more problematic.”

 

“…What?”

 

“This kid is half dead.”

 

He didn’t quite understand.

 

Why would you say someone who’s perfectly alive is dead?

 

Im Yeong-do made an uncomfortable expression. Seeing him like that, Ryu slowly circled his finger next to his head.

 

“If it were just one question, that might be understandable. But this person couldn’t answer any question. It’s essentially no response at all. Do you know what that means?”

 

“…What?”

 

“It means his interest, will, and senses toward life are all paralyzed. Severe depression, a state of helplessness… in other words, his mind is dead.”

 

“…What?”

 

Confusion spread across Im Yeong-do’s expression.

 

Setting aside how he was making diagnoses like he was some kind of psychiatrist, depression?

 

“Are you saying Seon-woo has depression or something?”

 

“Yes. Usually with this level, it wouldn’t have been easy to do external activities… It’s fascinating.”

 

Ryu stroked his chin and opened his mouth.

 

In his eyes was a deep interest that had never been shown before.

 

“How is he still alive?”

 

* * *

 

‘…In the end, I couldn’t answer a single question.’

 

As a result of continuously examining himself for hours, the only answer Seon-woo could come up with was “I don’t know.”

 

Well, that could be considered an answer in its own way… but it was disappointing.

 

Seung-do, Hee-jae, Mute, and others… He could immediately think of what answers the other characters he had acted would write, but he didn’t know his own answers.

 

This is a problem.

 

If he had forced himself to write something, he could have.

 

But Seon-woo didn’t do that.

 

This was a questionnaire to understand himself, so he couldn’t lie.

 

Giving fake answers would be worse than not giving any answers at all.

 

I don’t know.

 

That was the best answer Seon-woo could give right now.

 

He was secretly worried though.

 

He heard it would be delivered to the Writer, and he wondered what they would think… He worried they might consider this rude.

 

‘I have a lot to worry about these days.’

 

Seon-woo smiled bitterly.

 

It wasn’t just the Writer’s reaction, but the public’s reaction was also a problem.

 

Since the first episode aired, there had been quite a lot of questioning voices about Seon-woo’s career.

 

And today was the day the second episode would air.

 

‘If it’s the room assignment evaluation… public opinion probably won’t change much.’

 

But Seon-woo decided not to worry too much.

 

Thinking about things you can’t help is really wasteful and exhausting.

 

Rather than being anxious for no reason, it’s better to just enjoy it.

 

…or so he thought,

 

But episode 2, which aired soon after… tormented Seon-woo in an unexpected way.

 

—What you want to do is important, but I think you should prioritize what you need to do.

 

“Ohhh, Kim Seon-woo~.”

 

—I just like acting.

 

“Wow, our Seon-woo oppa is so cool, isn’t he?”

 

“Senior, I get it, so please stop…”

 

He hadn’t noticed when he was actually speaking on stage, but now watching from the viewer’s perspective, there were quite a few cringeworthy lines.

 

It was hard to look directly at himself on screen.

 

Hye-seong giggled and patted Seon-woo’s shoulder repeatedly.

 

“What do you mean! You only look cool.”

 

Seon-woo didn’t respond.

 

To his eyes, it was just a cringeworthy scene.

 

Then Min-hee stroked her chin and tilted her head.

 

“But you acted really well back then too. At this rate, the controversy definitely won’t die down, will it?”

 

“…Well, it can’t be helped.”

 

Seon-woo shrugged his shoulders.

 

Min-hee had a point. Even during the room assignment evaluation, Seon-woo’s acting ability had been quite decent.

 

It wasn’t just his acting ability that was the problem.

 

The way he refined Si-on and Hyeong-bin’s acting… even to Seon-woo’s eyes, it looked so skilled that he thought, ‘How could someone with only 6 months of experience look like that?’

 

The haters were probably going even crazier by now.

 

No matter how they looked at it, Seon-woo must have fabricated his career.

 

But Seon-woo didn’t particularly care.

 

Hadn’t he agreed with Im Yeong-do from the beginning? Not to actively clarify controversies related to that.

 

They were suspicions that could be clarified anytime if he put his mind to it.

 

He just needed to wait for now.

 

It was a bit frustrating, but what could he do? He had to think of it as viral marketing.

 

Seon-woo organized his thoughts that way.

 

Let’s wait for now.

 

Then, someday, the day would come when he could make all this attention his own.

 

However,

 

new I’m Kim Seon-woo’s classmate. I’m reaching out regarding the controversy about Kim Seon-woo’s career.

 

It seems like… that wait will end sooner than expected.

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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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