I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 56

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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 56

 

Who would have thought the day would come when I’d receive such passionate gazes from a man.

 

Seon-woo felt inwardly puzzled.

 

He hadn’t really had any particular connection with Park Myeong-jin yet… Had he checked out his acting separately?

 

It was a gaze full of interest.

 

The problem was that this gaze was quite burdensome.

 

Unable to bring himself to meet that stare, he lowered his head, and Jae-won chuckled softly while patting Seon-woo’s shoulder.

 

“Are you nervous?”

 

“…I am a bit nervous. Isn’t PD Park Myeong-jin incredibly famous?”

 

“Yeah. You could say he’s basically the most successful in the drama industry.”

 

“But is it really okay for beginners like us to work on a project together?”

 

“Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible.”

 

Jae-won’s gaze became serious.

 

“A truly incredible opportunity has come our way.”

 

Opportunity.

 

As he was mulling over those words, Hye-seong added with a half-dazed expression.

 

“It’s not an opportunity, it’s a miracle. If I could work on just one project with PD Park Myeong-jin, I’d have no regrets even if I retired…!”

 

Jae-won nodded as if he had been waiting for this.

 

“Then you can retire after this project ends.”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, I was just saying!”

 

“I’m joking.”

 

It was the moment when Jae-won smiled faintly while watching Hye-seong make a tearful face.

 

“Well then, now… shall we all take some time to introduce ourselves?”

 

Im Yeong-do clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention.

 

Then he turned to Park Myeong-jin and grinned.

 

“As you all know, this is our YBS legend, PD Park Myeong-jin! He’ll be taking charge of the production and direction of our drama, ‘One Room.’ PD-nim, would you like to say hello?”

 

“I’m PD Park Myeong-jin. Let’s work together to create a great project. I look forward to working with you all.”

 

“Everyone applaud!”

 

“Waaaaaaah!”

 

Applause echoed from here and there.

 

Seon-woo clapped along with them while gulping down his saliva.

 

‘Now it’s starting to feel real.’

 

The script reading scene he had only heard about in words.

 

There were dozens of staff members watching alone.

 

Plus about ten supporting actors additionally cast for filming Episode 1.

 

His heart seemed to be beating faster for no reason.

 

‘I can… do well, right?’

 

Actually, there might not be much need to be nervous about script reading.

 

Script reading was essentially closer to a place for greeting while checking breathing compatibility. There was no need to show perfect acting… just simply establishing the character’s emotional line would be sufficient.

 

You could call it a kind of warm-up.

 

But even so, acting with a relaxed mind would be ridiculous.

 

Either way, a PD who was said to be a legend in the entertainment industry was watching them, and veteran supporting actors who would be working with them were also present.

 

He had to show something.

 

The problem was…

 

‘Will I be able to show it.’

 

Right now Seon-woo wasn’t very confident.

 

And for good reason…

 

‘The color orb… I couldn’t burst it in the end.’

 

It couldn’t be helped.

 

Every time he tried to burst it, it would turn to powder and scatter, so what could he do.

 

Of course, that didn’t mean he had given up on practice.

 

He couldn’t just not act because there was no color orb.

 

Seon-woo rather took this as a good opportunity.

 

‘I need to learn how to act without color orbs too.’

 

Though it was a bit scary, he had confidence in himself.

 

He had solidly built up his basic skills so far… and had learned technical emotional control through Yeon-woo.

 

If he could properly utilize what he had learned, he believed he could overcome the absence of color orbs.

 

The time given until the script reading was three days.

 

It wasn’t a particularly long time, but during those three days, Seon-woo diligently delved into ‘Kim Seon-woo’ in his own way.

 

To be honest, it wasn’t particularly enjoyable.

 

It was because the character Kim Seon-woo himself was so gloomy.

 

A literally gray person.

 

‘What a depressing character.’

 

It wasn’t like he had never encountered gray-toned color orbs before.

 

The Second Son from [Three Brothers] that he acted during the room assignment mission also had gray imagery. And Seung-do from [Confession] also had imagery stained with gray over a dark red base.

 

But this was the first time he encountered imagery that was entirely gray.

 

To have absolutely no saturation like this…

 

‘Does it mean he never gave his heart to anything?’

 

Thinking about it that way made him feel wronged again.

 

His heart was captivated by acting, so why on earth was he given such a gray character?

 

Even a suicide candidate. He had never even thought about suicide.

 

He didn’t know.

 

Seon-woo put aside his thoughts.

 

The reading was just beginning.

 

“No, please, let me go in! Please?!”

 

Hyeong-bin was the first to deliver his lines.

 

His eyes and voice were so deeply immersed that it was hard to believe this was just a script reading.

 

“I can save them! Please? Team leader, please… if I go in… if I go in, I can save them!”

 

Seon-woo quietly watched Hyeong-bin’s reading.

 

Episode 1 of [One Room] sequentially shows what kind of lives the 10 participants were living before getting caught up in this game.

 

Hyeong-bin was a firefighter.

 

A character who moved with only one goal in mind – saving people – despite the harsh working conditions.

 

Ironically, Hyeong-bin’s color was red.

 

A yellowish red that evoked fire… the firefighter’s greatest enemy.

 

Seon-woo was once again impressed.

 

Even though it was just script reading with dialogue only and no physical acting, the color of fire surrounding Hyeong-bin was burning quite vigorously.

 

‘Hyeong-bin’s acting has become more solid too.’

 

Sometimes he had that thought.

 

That this program itself seemed to be training them.

 

This was a place that was in some ways more frightening than an actual set, where elimination awaited immediately if you fell even slightly short.

 

Thanks to that, Hyeong-bin had already shed much of his amateur appearance.

 

But…

 

“I said no! Hey, you bastard, are only those people’s lives precious? Your life is precious too! If you go in like this, it’s obvious you’ll die, and you want me to send you?”

 

“Send me! I’m, I’m fine!”

 

“No way. I definitely said no… Hey, Bang Hyeong-bin! Hyeong-bin! Don’t you dare stop there, you punk!?”

 

Real actors were definitely different.

 

Seon-woo looked at the middle-aged man who was exchanging lines with Hyeong-bin. Though not famous, he was a supporting actor with some recognition that Seon-woo had seen several times on screen.

 

Even though it wasn’t such an important character, how hard must he have analyzed it… It felt like you could smell ash right at the tip of your nose.

 

It felt like facing a real firefighter.

 

Even Hyeong-bin’s passionate performance paled in an instant.

 

‘…This really won’t be easy.’

 

Seon-woo broke out in a cold sweat inwardly.

 

It was tremendous acting ability. If each and every supporting actor here displayed that level of acting ability…

 

‘The comparison will be huge.’

 

He could already picture the posts that would go up on social media.

 

—Ah, when compared to professional actors, the amateurs really aren’t much.

 

—Can’t those people just advance to the finals? lololol

 

‘…That can’t happen.’

 

He couldn’t give them more fodder.

 

Well, that said, it wasn’t like all the participants were just being overwhelmed by the supporting actors.

 

“It’s true that you put a patient who didn’t need surgery on the operating table, right? But you want me to lie to you about that too?”

 

Min-hee was an orthopedic surgeon who couldn’t abandon her conscience,

 

“What do you want me to do? Huh? Please, Min-yeong… What exactly do you want from me!?”

 

Hye-seong was a family head who was mistreated both at home and at the company,

 

“Fuck, those damn cop bastards…”

 

Jin-wook became a prisoner who would beat people up at the drop of a hat and eventually ended up in jail,

 

“…Well, if it doesn’t work out, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

 

Jae-won became a carefree boxing athlete.

 

And their acting didn’t fall significantly behind even when facing experienced supporting actors.

 

At least it wasn’t terrible enough to be preserved on the internet as a meme.

 

Even Park Myeong-jin was inwardly nodding his head in approval.

 

‘That bastard Im Yeong-do has damn good luck.’

 

Of course, it was still difficult to say that everyone was fully developed.

 

But it was visible.

 

That each one of them had the makings to become good actors given time.

 

Especially in Hye-seong’s case, calling him raw material was inadequate.

 

He wasn’t falling behind the veteran actors he was working with… no, from certain perspectives, he even seemed to surpass them.

 

‘Was he thirty-six…’

 

There was even a sense of pity.

 

To think that despite acting at this level, he hadn’t seen the light until that age.

 

Im Yeong-do’s words about actors needing more opportunities came to mind anew.

 

Of course, not everyone delivered good acting.

 

Yoo Ji-eun, who played a sensitive student repeating college entrance exams for the third time.

 

Park Moon-hyeon, who became an office worker forced into early retirement from the company he’d devoted his life to.

 

Justin, who became an exchange student hitting clubs every night…

 

As if proving they didn’t survive to the TOP 10 for nothing, they all delivered watchable acting… but they lacked the charm to captivate viewers.

 

Thanks to this, just as the interest gleaming in Park Myeong-jin’s eyes was beginning to fade again,

 

“Is there anything you’re curious about? I’ll answer anything, so feel free to ask.”

 

“P-please spare me.”

 

“What? Spare you?”

 

Yeon-woo’s serial killer acting… instantly breathed light back into those eyes.

 

“Yes, please sp-spare…”

 

“No, I told you to ask if you’re curious about anything. To ask questions. Not to make requests. Do you find my words amusing? Am I…”

 

“N-no! Not at all! It’s not amusing at all…”

 

“You’re interrupting me?”

 

Yeon-woo tilts her head.

 

With an expression that finds it impossible to understand the other person.

 

“You really do find it amusing.”

 

Was it a mistake?

 

The thought that the terror on the other actor’s face at this moment… might not be entirely acting?

 

It was impossible to know.

 

But even if the actor was truly terrified, it would be understandable.

 

‘…It’s been a while since I’ve seen an actor with this kind of eeriness.’

 

It had been truly a long time since he’d seen an actress who could pull off such a madness-filled character. And to show this level of emotion with just a script reading.

 

Park Myeong-jin was reminded of Im Yeong-do’s evaluation of Yeon-woo.

 

—Lee Yeon-woo is good at everything. Good completion, good details… but how should I put it. He lacks that one decisive blow?

 

‘Lacks a decisive blow?’

 

Park Myeong-jin frowned.

 

Look at that acting right now. Just reading the lines makes the listener’s hair stand on end – if this isn’t a decisive blow, then what is?

 

Well, he actually knew why Im Yeong-do had said that. He had also watched all of Yeon-woo’s other acting videos.

 

‘She wasn’t originally like this though.’

 

Had she grown?

 

Or was this type of role a perfect fit?

 

He didn’t know. What mattered was that he had gained an unexpected harvest.

 

While chasing the fleeing prey, Yeon-woo gets hit by a car.

 

As someone struck her head with a shovel while she was cursing and digging the ground, her reading also came to an end.

 

And now what remained… was the participant Park Myeong-jin had been looking forward to the most.

 

‘Kim Seon-woo.’

 

In fact, from a production standpoint, Seon-woo’s character felt a bit bland to close out the sequence.

 

Especially considering what came right before was a serial killer.

 

‘…But it could serve as a good pause.’

 

Seon-woo’s character was both a pause that would refresh the atmosphere overheated by Yeon-woo’s murder, and a connecting link that would carry the tension into the game that would soon follow.

 

In the end, Seon-woo’s acting ability was the key.

 

Depending on how realistically… and three-dimensionally he portrayed this character, the immersion level of this work itself would change.

 

Park Myeong-jin looked at Seon-woo with anticipation.

 

If it was Seon-woo, who had even expressed that Mute character attractively… he seemed likely to capture some eye-catching point here as well.

 

‘You need to show them.’

 

Seon-woo felt Park Myeong-jin’s gaze.

 

No, it wasn’t just Park Myeong-jin’s gaze. He could feel everyone in This Place looking at him with expectation. Because he had always shown acting that exceeded expectations until now.

 

In a way, he had accumulated karma that wasn’t quite karma.

 

Seon-woo had to show them something.

 

That he was different from others.

 

That he was worth watching.

 

The problem was whether that was possible for Seon-woo, who couldn’t burst the Color Orb.

 

‘No, I can do it.’

 

Seon-woo’s eyes grew calm.

 

Not being able to burst ‘Kim Seon-woo’s’ Color Orb didn’t mean he couldn’t see colors.

 

Seon-woo could still see what color his acting painted This Place with.

 

It meant he could watch what color his voice carried, and how far… and how clearly it spread.

 

What he had to do now was just one thing.

 

To paint everywhere his voice reached.

 

‘Completely…’

 

In ash gray.

—————
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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