I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 81

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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 81

The script they received this time covered the story up to the middle of episode 3.

The players who saw Justin lying dead began to suspect each other.

It was certain that one of them had killed Justin.

The first to be suspected was Seo Jin-wook.

Whether it was his way of speaking or his appearance, Seo Jin-wook was full of criminal vibes.

He was even the one who had voiced the opinion to vote for Justin. He couldn’t help but be the most suspicious.

Perhaps that’s why.

Lee Yeon-woo: It, it was you, wasn’t it?

Seo Jin-wook: …What? (Frowning) What the hell are you talking about.

Lee Yeon-woo: You kept saying that. To vote that person out. When things weren’t going your way, you went and killed him. Right?

Lee Yeon-woo cornered Seo Jin-wook as if he had been waiting for this moment.

Seo Jin-wook naturally reacted roughly.

Seo Jin-wook: Don’t talk nonsense, damn it… Why would I do such a thing! You guys were obviously going to vote for that druggie bastard anyway.

Lee Yeon-woo: You might have been anxious.

Seo Jin-wook: But this fucking…!

Seo Jin-wook slapped Lee Yeon-woo across the face.

That was the moment.

Through the disheveled hair from being slapped, Lee Yeon-woo let out a faint smile, and the moment Seo Jin-wook felt a strange eeriness before that smile and froze, Song Jae-won stepped in front of them.

Song Jae-won: Sit down.

Seo Jin-wook: …Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?

Song Jae-won: I won’t say it twice.

Seo Jin-wook: But this bastard has been talking so fucking annoying since before…

Song Jae-won kept his word.

Before Seo Jin-wook could finish his sentence, Song Jae-won’s fist knocked him down.

In the end, after tying up the unconscious Seo Jin-wook just like they had done with Justin, the people naturally entered a state of extreme tension.

Na Min-hee: That person… what should we do?

Bang Hyeong-bin: …What do you mean?

Na Min-hee: You heard him. He said it’s easier to kill someone else than to die from being voted out. If we leave him like that, we don’t know what that man might do to whom.

Bang Hyeong-bin: (Laughing weakly) Are you saying… we should vote for that person?

Na Min-hee: That’s…

Na Min-hee couldn’t answer.

Outside, she was someone who had been prepared to make a conscience declaration about medical accidents in the hospital. There was no way she, who had been so sincere about life, could bring up the topic of killing someone.

It was then that Song Jae-won stepped forward.

Song Jae-won: Don’t worry about that bastard. If he tries to do anything weird, I can beat him half to death.

Jeong Hye-seong: I saw earlier that you’re really good at fighting…

Song Jae-won: I used to do boxing.

A reliable appearance.

But like everyone else, it wasn’t just reassuring.

Jeong Hye-seong: Um, excuse me… but then should we vote for that person today?

Na Min-hee: That’s…

Jeong Hye-seong: (Trembling anxiously) We, we have to vote! They said if we don’t, we’ll all be eliminated. You heard those screams! Shouldn’t we survive somehow?

No one could refute Jeong Hye-seong’s words.

He was right. In the end, they would have to vote. If they weren’t going to vote, they’d have to kill someone… compared to that, voting inevitably felt easier.

Jeong Hye-seong eventually took the lead.

Jeong Hye-seong: Let’s, let’s go with that person. Okay? He’s someone we don’t know what he might do if we leave him alone anyway!

It was ironic.

Jeong Hye-seong was the most ordinary citizen-like character among them. But precisely because of that, he reacted faster to the approaching crisis and spoke up.

Let’s vote.

Let’s kill one person.

Jeong Hye-seong: First… we have to survive first, don’t we!

A line that perfectly showed what kind of person he was.

Kim Seon-woo was quietly watching everyone while staying one step away from this chaos.

And Lee Yeon-woo approached him.

Lee Yeon-woo: (Sitting next to Seon-woo) Are you okay?

Kim Seon-woo: Ah… yes. Actually, I think I should be the one asking you that. Your cheek is quite swollen.

Lee Yeon-woo: Well, it’s fine. What’s a swollen cheek in this situation? Rather, Seon-woo, you’ve seemed out of it since this morning. (Looking at Seon-woo with worried eyes) You were somewhat close… to Park Moon-hyeon, weren’t you?

Kim Seon-woo: (Smiling bitterly) Rather than close… we had some conversations.

Lee Yeon-woo: In today’s world, if you had a heart-to-heart conversation once, that’s being close. You rarely get to do that even with friends. (Slowly looking Seon-woo up and down.) …But, that’s interesting.

Kim Seon-woo: (With a puzzled expression) What is?

Lee Yeon-woo: For someone going through a hard time, your face looks pretty good.

Kim Seon-woo: My face…?

Lee Yeon-woo: Yes. Just looking at your face, you look exactly like someone who got a good night’s sleep. Ah, is it rude to say something like this?

It was a strange line.

As if Kim Seon-woo was actually enjoying this situation.

The problem was Kim Seon-woo’s response here.

Kim Seon-woo: You’re quite unique.

Lee Yeon-woo: (Grinning and making eye contact with Seon-woo) Me?

Kim Seon-woo: Yes, the way you don’t lose strength even in this situation… everyone’s pretending otherwise but they’re all wary of each other. Aren’t you afraid of me? You never know. I might be the one who killed that person.

Lee Yeon-woo: …Hmm, I don’t think that’s the case.

Kim Seon-woo: Why?

Lee Yeon-woo: (Erasing his smile) Just because. I just don’t think it’s you.

It was a strange conversation.

A scene that seemed to suggest the culprit was hiding among Kim Seon-woo and Lee Yeon-woo.

The script they received was cut off right at this point.

That was why Min-hee came looking for Seon-woo.

“No, before I saw this part, I naturally thought Yeon-woo killed Justin… but now I’m thinking maybe it wasn’t him.”

“…That’s understandable.”

It was something Seon-woo hadn’t considered.

Since Seon-woo knew he hadn’t killed Justin himself. Neither Park Myeong-jin nor Ryu had mentioned anything about it, right?

Of course, it was possible that even Seon-woo didn’t know he was the culprit, but neither Park Myeong-jin nor Ryu seemed like they would handle things so amateurishly.

They wouldn’t let an actor perform without knowing that.

“Did you ask Yeon-woo?”

“Yeah. But he said it wasn’t him. So I was sure it had to be you.”

“It’s not me either.”

“…I don’t know if I should believe that. The PD might have told you to deny it if anyone asked.”

Min-hee looked at Seon-woo with a troubled expression.

Then she soon let out a sigh.

“Well, whatever… Since Na Min-hee doesn’t know who the real culprit is either, not knowing might actually help with immersion.”

“Hmm… Who do you suspect most right now? Doesn’t Yeon-woo seem more likely?”

“It would probably be Lee Yeon-woo.”

Min-hee nodded.

“But you never know, right?”

You never know…

It certainly made sense. Maybe Lee Yeon-woo really wasn’t the culprit. That might be the twist.

Then who could it be? Who killed Justin?

The first person that came to mind was Seo Jin-wook.

Excluding Lee Yeon-woo, he was the character that best fit with murder.

But the motive part was hard to understand. Actually, this applied to all characters except Lee Yeon-woo.

Was there anyone who had a reason to kill Justin?

It would seem more plausible if Kim Seon-woo had killed him.

Kim Seon-woo, who couldn’t feel life, experiencing the value of life for the first time through another’s death… Wouldn’t that be perfect for a story about the birth of a new killer?

But Kim Seon-woo wasn’t a killer.

‘Kim Seon-woo has goodness in him.’

And Seon-woo had goodness too.

Just because he lacked the will to live didn’t mean he denied the value of life that others possessed. Rather, because he couldn’t have that will himself, he seemed to respect others who tried to live even more.

There was no way Kim Seon-woo had killed Justin.

Seon-woo concluded this to himself and sent Min-hee away.

‘Let’s focus on acting.’

Episode 3 was quite an important turning point for Seon-woo.

The first episode showing Kim Seon-woo finding his will to live.

Depending on how naturally he expressed this change, the very appeal of Kim Seon-woo as a character would be different going forward.

So he had to answer this question first.

How had Kim Seon-woo changed?

‘…It’s a bit different from what I thought.’

Seon-woo had thought that when Kim Seon-woo found his will to live… he would feel exactly like Seon-woo did now.

Just as Seon-woo regained vitality through acting and came to devote everything to acting… Kim Seon-woo would also become absorbed in what gave him the will to live.

What gave Kim Seon-woo his will to live?

That was simple.

One Room.

This kill-or-be-killed game itself was… no different from Seon-woo’s acting for Kim Seon-woo.

In this place, Kim Seon-woo could feel that he was alive.

But then what was different from his expectations?

That was…

‘…The visual is quite menacing.’

It was this Color Orb.

Seon-woo looked at Kim Seon-woo’s Color Orb floating before him. A sphere made of ash-gray… with blood-red lines streaking here and there.

It looked exactly like a small planet made of volcanoes.

Those red lava-like lines probably represented the attachment Kim Seon-woo came to feel toward life.

An attachment so hot and sticky it seemed almost fanatical.

It was unexpected.

Though the object of his devotion was a rather brutal death game, Seon-woo had thought Kim Seon-woo would become somewhat brighter because of it.

But to think he would change to feel even more menacing than before.

‘…I was hoping I could finally feel some bright emotions.’

Seon-woo had been sticking to Method Acting lately.

As such, Kim Seon-woo’s gloomy emotions had been quite an ordeal for him. It felt like his mind was getting sick.

But for a good work, he would have to endure this much pain.

‘Let’s start by bursting the Color Orb.’

He had already missed the chance to burst the Color Orb because of Min-hee.

Seeing the menacing appearance, he was worried about how heavy the emotions would be when he burst it… but Seon-woo had experienced all kinds of characters so far.

This much was nothing.

Seon-woo squeezed his eyes shut and burst the Color Orb.

He waited for the lava and volcanic ash flowing from it to embrace him. Then, an enormous wave of emotion that made his brain tingle—

———wasn’t felt.

‘…?’

Seon-woo slowly tilted his head.

He couldn’t understand it. The color orb had definitely burst. It wasn’t like during script reading where he couldn’t even make the color orb burst.

But he felt no change at all.

For what reason?

Seon-woo blankly looked down at his body.

Kim Seon-woo’s color… the color of ash and lava was dyeing his body without any gaps. It meant the color orb was functioning properly.

Yet despite that, why couldn’t he feel any change?

…Frustrating as it was, there was only one answer.

An answer Seon-woo absolutely didn’t want to accept.

‘Don’t tell me, this is…’

He had thought it was vicious.

Too aggressive and extreme of a color.

But all those thoughts had apparently been spitting while lying down.

‘Is this my usual… color?’

Seon-woo let out a bitter laugh.

If the color covered him but he felt no change… the reason was simple.

It meant that very emotion was always with Seon-woo.

He had never even imagined his mental state would be such a color.

It really felt awful, annoying, and hurt his pride, but…

He had no choice but to acknowledge it.

Ryu.

He knew Seon-woo too well.

Better than Seon-woo himself.

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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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