I Acted Once, and Now They Call Me a Genius - Chapter 87

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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 87

The real-time chat in the [One Room] thread would explode with scrolling activity during every live broadcast.

Episode 3 was no exception.

james_new: Episode 3 is starting!

eyesonyou: Yoo Ji-eun is going to die today… Is this a spoiler?

눈_눈: I’m so curious about what they’ll say about Justin being dead…

Kim Jun-pyo: But it’s kind of boring since I know who’s going to die.

AnxiousPing: Even if you know who’s going to die, you don’t know how they’ll die. I’m already scared, just how horribly are they going to kill Yoo Ji-eun…

눈_눈: I think I’ll sleep with mom tonight

The most frequently mentioned topic was undoubtedly Yoo Ji-eun’s death.

It couldn’t be helped. Death was one of the most thrilling elements to expect in this drama.

And as if to remind viewers that this was a survival drama, Episode 3 began by showing Justin.

His miserable form leaning against the wall with his neck twisted at a grotesque angle.

For a moment, the chat room’s scrolling stopped,

—Who the hell would do such a thing…

—They… killed someone?

—Fuck, this is really unbelievable.

The participants could be seen biting their nails and expressing their anxiety.

And Lee Yeon-woo, who had been quietly watching everyone, slowly stood up and approached Seo Jin-wook.

—It, it was you, wasn’t it?

—…What? What nonsense are you talking about.

—You kept saying that. That we should eliminate that person. When things weren’t going your way, you went and killed him. Right?

—Don’t talk nonsense, damn it… Why would I do such a thing!

Rising tension.

And when Seo Jin-wook finally slapped Lee Yeon-woo across the face, the chat literally began to explode.

Emotional guy: Holy shit, that crazy bastard actually looks like he really hit him

eyesonyou: Wow… Sister Yeon-woo really went and provoked him

Anonymous One: The acting is fucking amazing

Ppoppo: Yeonwoo killed him himself and now he’s going there acting like that? What a psychopath, so scary

Chris Park: We don’t know if Yeonwoo killed them yet, do we? For all we know, Yu Jieun could have done it lololololol

Ppoppo: That’s a bit…

Gahyun: Yeon-woo is so pretty though…

cat-ddg3x: But since he slapped Yeon-woo, Seo Jin-wook is probably going to die soon too…

It was a development that had everyone excited from the start.

No one had expected Lee Yeon-woo of all people to get slapped.

But the following development was even more shocking.

—Sit down.

—…Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?

—I won’t say it twice.

—This bastard has been talking so fucking annoying since last time…!

The moment Song Jae-won magnificently knocked down Seo Jin-wook who was about to charge, the chat window began to be flooded with refreshing “kya” sounds again.

Ppoppo: Kyah, I knew I could trust Jaewon-god!

j77393: Pyapya Seo Jin-wook really fell down so pathetically lololol

Hoybox: Wow, Song Jaewon is seriously so cool… Can a guy throwing punches really look this awesome?

눈_눈: Wait, but they’re already tying up Seo Jin-wook. Isn’t he not going to die in this episode?

Unanping: …Ah, this is kind of scary. I feel like he’s going to do something…

Seo Jin-wook is thrown into a room while tied up.

The participants talk about voting.

They discuss what to do about today’s voting. Meanwhile, Na Min-hee’s facial acting while talking about whether they should vote for Seo Jin-wook was quite impressive.

—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 person might do to whom.

—Are you saying… we should vote for that person?

—That’s…

It was an attractive expression.

The woman who would do everything to save people outside was now talking about killing someone. The self-loathing, disillusionment, and inevitable fear and anxiety she felt were exquisitely embedded in her expression.

Just from that expression alone, one could naturally understand what Na Min-hee was feeling.

—Let’s, let’s go with that person! Okay? He’s someone who might do anything if we leave him alone anyway!

And the same was true for Hye-seong.

He perfectly recreated the image of an ordinary citizen who couldn’t handle his anxious emotions.

Thanks to this, even though the situation itself wasn’t particularly impressive,

Kim Quokka: Jung Hye-sung’s acting is truly world-class…

눈_눈: I’m not even an actor but I can totally feel the awkwardness lol

meteor: It really seems like they brought regular people and locked them up to play a game lololol

eyesonyou: Minhee is great too, so why don’t you talk about Minhee ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Kim Quokka: I did like Minhee, but after seeing Hyeseong’s acting, she’s been forgotten

Thus, the chat was filled with praise for Hye-seong.

Despite showing an ugly side of being unable to control his emotions, there were no complaints about him.

More than disliking the character, people were busy admiring his delicate and vivid acting.

Of course, not everyone was only talking about Hye-seong’s acting skills.

Ppoppo: But wait, so who the hell killed Justin??? It’s gotta be Lee Yeonwoo, right?

Gahyun: If Lee Yeon-woo killed him, that’s too obvious. Wouldn’t it be Seo Jin-wook?

Ppoppo: Even if Seo Jin-wook killed him, it’s kind of out of nowhere. Didn’t we say we’d vote on it?

Drama Ghost: Justin, I’m betting my entire fortune that Kim Seonwoo definitely killed him ㅇㅇㅇ

Gahyun: Kim Seon-woo seems somewhat convincing

The real culprit who killed Justin was also one of the topics that took up quite a bit of chat space.

The scene of Justin being murdered hadn’t appeared yet. It was a situation where anyone could be the culprit without it being strange.

Of course, the most likely candidate was Lee Yeon-woo. She was experienced, after all. She was bound to be the most suspicious.

But Kim Seon-woo was equally unsettling.

Kim Seon-woo’s reaction when Park Moon-hyeon and Justin died was definitely not normal.

Kim Seon-woo, who had only shown a corpse-like appearance throughout the work, had light swirling in his eyes when they died. As if their deaths were triggering dopamine release.

So, this subtle confrontation between Lee Yeon-woo and Kim Seon-woo made the viewers even more tense.

—You never know. I might be the one who killed that person.

—…Hmm, I don’t think that’s it.

—Why not?

—Just because. I just don’t think it is.

In a way, these two were maintaining the most composure in this space.

But maintaining composure in a space where composure doesn’t belong naturally feels eerie.

Especially those gazes that seemed to slowly probe and observe each other…

Bruin2021: Breathtaking..

Ppoppo: But seriously, didn’t Kim Sunwoo actually kill this? It really feels like that’s what happened

Not a critic: Don’t let it slide so easily. It might actually be leading us to think that way and then take a different turn

WWJ: Both of them are really good at acting

Freshwater Snail: Seon-woo is just too handsome as a human being

Their combination instantly generated comments like that.

Just looking at the scroll speed, it was more overwhelming than anyone else’s.

It was around then that Yoo Ji-eun appeared on screen.

Whether she had panicked from the situation of people dying one after another, she was hugging her knees and constantly rolling her eyes back and forth.

It was during this time that the chat window filled up with ‘ㅠ’ characters in response to that heartbreaking sight.

Clueless and blunt: But what was that thing Jieun just hid in her sleeve? It looked like there was some kind of injury on her hand

Strongly support AI judge implementation: They probably just got hurt doing something

ObliviousAndImpulsive: But why are you suddenly showing us that? It feels like some kind of hint. It’s not like Yoo Ji-eun actually killed Justin or something, right?

Strongly support introducing AI judges: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ How did Yoo Ji-eun, who acts all sharp but is actually not, kill Justin? She’s such a total coward character

Gahyun: Yeah, I’m pretty good at sensing these things, but no matter how I look at it, Seonwoo is definitely the one who killed Justin

Someone brought up suspicion about Yoo Ji-eun, and that opinion was immediately denied.

It was because no one thought Yoo Ji-eun could be the real culprit.

But when Lee Yeon-woo looked at such Yoo Ji-eun with sparkling eyes,

—Are you okay?

—…Huh?

—You can tell me honestly. I know. It was you, Ji-eun, right? You… you did that to that man.

—…D-don’t say strange things!

When he said that, and especially when Yoo Ji-eun ran away from that conversation, the chat froze for a moment.

Kind Comment Fairy: ???

Freshwater Snail: ?

AEIOU: ???

meteor: Yoo Ji-eun?

Gahyun: No but seeing Yeon-woo say that, it does seem like it’s Ji-eun…

Proper and Kind Words: Crazy…

Truly chaos and terror.

And as if to drive the nail in for them, a flashback plays over Yoo Ji-eun hugging the toilet and vomiting.

—Hey! You there! Give me a sec! Come in, just for a moment!

Right before the vote.

Justin calling out to her as she was about to enter her room.

Yoo Ji-eun enters Justin’s room with a blank face. Seeing such Yoo Ji-eun, Justin brightens up.

—H-help me untie this! I can pay you well! Huh? Please.

—…Why should I?

—I mean… If you don’t help me, those assholes will kill me! Right?

—Apologize.

—Huh?

—Apologize for what you did to me.

—…What did I do?

A stupid expression as if he had no idea.

Justin’s random attacks were the biggest reason this place felt like hell, but he himself couldn’t even remember properly.

Yoo Ji-eun gritted her teeth and turned her back.

—Forget it, I’m an idiot for having any hope in you.

—S, stop! If you don’t stop there, I’ll kill you! Stop! Hey, bitch!

—…

—R-right. Good. Come here. Come here and untie this…

—…Why are you cursing at me?

Justin sensed something was wrong when Yoo Ji-eun turned around.

All the stress and panic that had steadily built up since being trapped here had finally crossed the critical point and exploded.

Yoo Ji-eun approaches Justin.

—You’ll kill me? Who do you think you are? You drug addict bastard tied up and unable to do anything, exactly how?

—Y-you, d-don’t come closer… Gah, gasp…

—Why, why, why… Why does everyone only pick on me. Huh!? Why!!! Why can’t you just leave me alone!

Yoo Ji-eun strangles Justin’s neck and wails.

When she came to her senses, what lay before her was Justin’s corpse with his tongue sticking out. Seeing that, Yoo Ji-eun leaves the room with a pale face.

And then, the broadcast announcing Justin’s elimination follows…

AEIOU: …

Park Jin-wan: Fuck… That’s crazy.

AEIOU: Wow damn I really didn’t expect this

Kim Quokka: But why is Yoo Ji-eun’s acting so good… If she had shown this in the previous episode, I don’t think she would have been eliminated ㅠㅠㅠ

White Rat: Wait, but you’re saying Yu Ji-eun was the one who killed them…?

Park Jin-wan: Now that I see how it unfolds, it makes sense… the emotional development was insane

Cali: Bring Yoo Ji-eun back to life!!!

White Rat: Calm down, I’m not dead yet

Cali: She’s going to die soon! Bring her back to life!!!!

The chatroom erupted in chaos.

The atmosphere was one of feeling sorry for Yoo Ji-eun in many ways. Both the fact that she had been eliminated in reality, and all those harsh things she had to go through in the story…

And because of that,

—Mister, you know what? The college entrance exam is next week.

That line felt even more heartbreaking.

Perhaps he was worried about her pale, sickly appearance. When Kim Seon-woo approached and asked if she was okay, she said those words to him.

—But… the moment I realized we were trapped here, I also thought this. Ah, maybe it’s actually a relief. I was worried about what would happen if I failed again this time… but at least now I won’t have to worry about bombing the college entrance exam.

—No, you’ll do well.

—…On the college entrance exam?

—Yes, Ji-eun will get out and take the exam… and get good scores, and go to the university you wanted. So… don’t worry too much.

—…Thank you, mister.

If only it could really turn out that way, there would be nothing more to wish for.

But everyone knew it was almost impossible. Kim Seon-woo, Yoo Ji-eun, and the viewers beyond the screen.

White Mouse: Ji-eun, don’t die…

Park Jin-wan: Death flags everywhere

AnxiousPing: Ugh, getting spoiled about one-room apartments like this sucks, my hopeful thinking isn’t working ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

Great Sage: If you don’t want spoilers, you have to turn it off right after the drama part ends… watching Actor prevents spoiler protection

White Mouse: That’s why I didn’t watch Actor last time, but got spoiled by YouTube thumbnails saying Yoo Ji-eun eliminated

Freshwater Snail: Oh no

The tension escalated.

Knowing that Yoo Ji-eun was going to die, from the viewers’ perspective, every moment had to feel like a chunk of suspense.

The feeling that something could happen at any moment wouldn’t be strange.

Indeed, when Yoo Ji-eun approached Seo Jin-wook who was trapped in his room,

—Are you naive or stupid? Who do you think they’ll vote for tomorrow? Well, maybe it won’t be you tomorrow. But gradually someone will think like this. Ah, instead of voting, let’s just kill them directly. That way I can survive. Like that.

—…Stop it.

—Wake up, you idiot. Do you think this place is the same as outside? The bastards who locked us up don’t even blink when people die. Idiots like you who just sit still are the first to die!

—I said stop!

White Mouse: Is she dying now…?

Cali: Noooooooooo

The chatroom went crazy again like that.

Somehow, with this atmosphere, it felt like trouble could break out again at any moment.

If Yoo Ji-eun rushed at Seo Jin-wook like she did to Justin, and Seo Jin-wook counterattacked… Yoo Ji-eun would exit right there.

But instead, Yoo Ji-eun ran out of the room.

And,

—…Are you okay?

—Mister…

—What is it. What happened.

She encountered Kim Seon-woo.

And at this moment, viewers couldn’t help but feel their hearts flutter in a different way.

Park Jin-wan: …What the hell, I’m a guy but why is Kim Seon-woo so heart-fluttering

Face Supremacist: He’s just incredibly handsome with insane decadent beauty… but it’s a subtle decadent beauty that looks like a model student at first glance, which makes it even better

How should I put it. Kim Seon-woo’s atmosphere was really mysterious whenever he was with Yoo Ji-eun.

Mysterious, dangerous, friendly… an atmosphere that was completely unpredictable. Sometimes it seemed like he genuinely worried about Yoo Ji-eun, but other times it seemed like he was just observing, and sometimes… it seemed like he admired her.

While wondering what kind of emotion that could be, that hard-to-understand feeling was also very characteristic of Kim Seon-woo.

—…I killed him.

—…What?

—That drug addict, I killed him…

At this moment, they couldn’t help but feel even more thrilled.

The expression that crossed Kim Seon-woo’s face the moment Yoo Ji-eun confessed was truly mysterious.

It seemed like his heart ached, like he was thrilled, a complexity that couldn’t be explained in words was all contained in that momentary expression.

—…It’s okay.

AEIOU: Kim Seon-woo is really fucking crazy for real

Grand Sage: Your presence is fucking ridiculous

Great Sage: Looks like he’ll be securing leading roles within the next 5 years for real lololol

AEIOU: 5 years? I don’t think it’ll even take that long

These were chats that showed they couldn’t control their emotions.

It meant it was acting that excited the viewers that much.

Meanwhile,

White Mouse: But when exactly does Yoo Ji-eun die?

Drink Cup: At this rate, isn’t she really going to survive? Just because she was eliminated doesn’t mean she has to die right away in the next episode. Maybe she’ll survive episode 3 and die in the beginning of episode 4?

People like this who were starting to get their hopes up were appearing.

From the outward atmosphere, it didn’t seem like Yoo Ji-eun would die immediately. Rather, she was showing signs of gradually overcoming fear and pulling herself together as if she were some kind of growth-type protagonist… so some people were thinking ‘maybe’.

And that’s when it happened.

The lights went out in Seo Jin-wook’s room, and Shadow entered. Seo Jin-wook looked at him in horror and raised his voice.

—What, what… What are you trying to do, fuck!

The viewers were just as shocked.

Questions about what kind of development this was appeared in the chatroom, and not long after, Shadow placed a steak knife in front of Seo Jin-wook and left.

At the same time, Shadow took out a small piece of cloth and stuck it in the gap of Yoo Ji-eun’s door. So the door wouldn’t close.

And finally, the chatroom exploded.

White Mouse: Ah, no way…

BlueVillage5thComplex: Please… ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I want to see more of Jieun

999K: It’s been fun, Ji-eun…

Cali: No, don’t say goodbye!!

He anticipated the development that would soon follow.

Indeed, Seo Jin-wook soon began cutting away the blanket that bound him with a knife.

—We will begin voting shortly.

—All players please return to your rooms for voting.

—Fuck, fuck…!

Seo Jin-wook rushed out amid the echoing broadcast. To avoid dying by vote, he had to kill first.

But the participants had already entered their rooms. Even trying to open the doors, they wouldn’t open.

Right.

Except for one.

—…Huh?

Except for Yoo Ji-eun’s door.

Seo Jin-wook entered Yoo Ji-eun’s room and faced the bewildered Ji-eun.

And he let out a sigh of relief and smiled brightly. A truly boyish smile that didn’t suit a criminal at all.

—Ha, haha… Hello?

And the scene that followed… blood droplets splattering on the pure white wall, and Yoo Ji-eun’s voice sobbing and screaming.

And,

—Player Yoo Ji-eun has been eliminated.

—Due to an early elimination, today’s voting will not be conducted.

A calm and composed voice that didn’t match the scene conducted the broadcast.

The participants, drawn by that broadcast, gathered one by one in Yoo Ji-eun’s room, and as they stared at Seo Jin-wook with blank faces, Seo Jin-wook smiled with his blood-stained face.

—You came? You bastards.

While everyone froze looking at such Seo Jin-wook, only one person slowly approached him.

It was Kim Seon-woo.

Whether he couldn’t see the bloody knife in Seo Jin-wook’s hand, everyone cried out for him to stop as he approached in a daze.

But Kim Seon-woo walked steadily forward.

Even Seo Jin-wook hesitated watching such Kim Seon-woo, and finally Kim Seon-woo, who arrived in front of Ji-eun, crouched down before her.

Suffocating silence.

Tension where anything could happen at any moment.

In that tension, Kim Seon-woo spoke to Ji-eun in a daze. Word by word, as if chewing them out… with an endlessly hollow voice.

—…Why are you doing this. Get up. You wanted to take the college entrance exam, go to university… and even date. Then you should get up.

Naturally, no answer came back.

Kim Seon-woo, who had been staring blankly at Ji-eun, slowly closed her eyes. And that was the moment.

The chat room scroll stopped.

It was because Kim Seon-woo’s stage presence at this moment was so overwhelming that they couldn’t spare any attention for chatting.

They couldn’t take their eyes off him.

That man’s gait, gaze, breathing, trembling… everything looked so precarious as if it would burst at any moment.

The chat window with broken conversation represented the viewers’ confusion.

What is this.

Is this really a rookie’s acting?

Clearly it’s Kim Seon-woo who’s fallen into sorrow right now, so why do their hearts ache like this?

They could feel it.

Soon, something would explode.

A tsunami of emotions that couldn’t be easily experienced in daily life would come crashing down.

Right.

—Why.

—…What?

Right now, as Kim Seon-woo looked up at Seo Jin-wook.

—Why… did it have to be this way.

—What are you saying, you bastard.

—Why— whyyyy…!

A scream of anguish.

The dictionary definition is a sound that cries out as if breaking when driven to extremes.

Seon-woo’s scream felt like it embodied that definition exactly. How chilling a human cry at their limit could be—watching him, you could understand it in an instant.

At this very moment when the sense of crisis surged as if something would happen at any moment, [One Room] painted the screen pitch black through a fade-out.

And facing that blackened screen, the chat window remained quiet for a while.

As if they were too shocked to even think of speaking.

A chat finally appeared… after about ten seconds of silence had passed.

PoliteAndKindWords: …Fuck that was amazing

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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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