NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 102

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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 102. 「Sketch」 (1)

Nothing was reflected on the black screen as majestic music flowed out.

 

Beep beep beep.

 

A beeping sound that had mixed with the music at some unknown point.

Eventually only that beeping sound remained and the music stopped.

 

It sounded like the heartbeat of a patient fighting for their life in the Emergency Room.

The feeling that at any moment it would stop with a long ‘beeeep─’ sound.

 

The repetitive beeping sound strangely made the audience feel anxious.

 

– I am Jay Miller. I was adopted to America through Saint Children’s Welfare Center when I was seven years old. I barely have any childhood memories left now, and that space has been filled with memories of growing up happily in a harmonious white family.

 

As the narration stopped, the upper body of a man standing blankly in front of a hospital room with a hesitant expression was captured in close-up.

 

‘Wow, his looks really are the most handsome among Asians I’ve seen.’

 

Film student ‘Neil Benson’ from California inwardly admired the visual that dominated the Screen.

 

The man opened the hospital room’s Sliding Door by pushing it to the side as the mysteriously tension-building beeping sound cut off.

And simultaneously, the screen transitioned from the hospital room’s Sliding Door to the airport’s departure gate Glass Door.

 

 

Subtitles appeared in bold font.

 

6 month ago.

Incheon Airport. Republic of Korea.

(6 months ago. Incheon International Airport.)

 

“Yes, Mother. I’ve arrived.”

– Good, you must be tired. Still, since it’s the country where you were born, how about traveling around in your spare time while working.

“You know I didn’t really want to come to this country. It’s just work, so I have no choice.”

– Jay. You know what mom always says, right?

 

Jay let out a deep sigh at Mother’s admonishing words.

 

“Yes, I understand. I’ll keep a good heart. It must already be night there, so please sleep, Mother.”

 

Through the natural English pronunciation and phone conversation content, it suggested that this man was American and had returned to his homeland with a reluctant heart.

 

The man looked around his surroundings.

Then he heard someone calling him.

 

“Mr. Miller?”

 

An Asian actor with a somehow warm impression that even foreigners could feel appeared on screen and approached Jay, and Jay extended his hand first to him.

 

“I’m Jay Miller. You’re from A Music Company, right?”

 

Jeong Cheol-min wiped his hands on his Suit jacket and politely bowed his head while shaking hands.

 

Hahaha!

 

Light laughter burst out in the Screening Room at Jeong Cheol-min’s somehow comical acting.

 

In Korea it was just an action that sales Staff often did to show sincerity, but to foreign eyes it seemed somewhat over the top.

 

‘The laughter threshold is lower than I thought, so will the tears threshold be low too?’

 

Seeing laughter burst out from unexpected places, Yeon-woo briefly had other thoughts before focusing on the Screen again.

 

“I’m Jeong Cheol-min. The pronunciation is a bit difficult, so please feel free to call me Manager Jeong.”

“Thank you. Then I’ll call you Mr. Jeong. The title Manager feels awkward.”

“Ah, I understand. Let’s go this way. I’ve prepared a vehicle.”

 

Following Mr. Jeong’s guidance, they left the Airport and he spoke up inside the Car moving to Seoul.

 

“Do you happen to like indie music too, composer?”

 

At Mr. Jeong’s question, Jay looked toward the driver’s seat.

After thinking briefly, Jay’s answer followed.

 

“I listen to music regardless of genre.”

“Oh, then would you like to stop by the company and go to a festival together? There’s no album work that would take a month or two anyway, and they said they’d give you time to adjust.”

 

Looking at Mr. Jeong who was actively trying to take care of him, Jay nodded.

 

“Sounds good. Let’s go. I’m curious about Korea’s indie music, not K-POP.”

 

Jay shifted his gaze back outside the Car window.

 

The Screen showed luxury Apartments lined up along the blue Han River.

 

Although the Korean Wave was gradually expanding its territory these days, it was still definitely subculture.

Many were seeing Seoul’s scenery for the first time, as the audience admired while watching the Screen.

 

‘Wow, Korea is a developed country. The high-rise Buildings look just like viewing New York Manhattan.’

 

And the Screen deliberately showed contrasts, alternately displaying the high-saturation Han River and Park, blue sky and Buildings reflecting it, then the achromatic gray bridge filled with black and white Cars.

 

After the intense color contrast, Jay gazed outside the window with a calm face.

Shadows cast by passing bridge pillars repeatedly fell across Jay’s face then brightened again.

 

Through such direction, it seemed to naturally convey to the audience that his heart was confused without saying anything.

 

***

 

“Don’t live life like that.”

“That’s what I should be saying. Honestly, what do you even do? Does it make sense for you and me to split things equally from the start?”

 

One man roughly took off the guitar he was carrying, and another man threw his drum sticks to the floor.

The two glaring at each other were on the verge of throwing punches at each other’s faces.

 

“Please stop it, guys. I’ll reduce my share a little more. If we succeed in the future, this kind of thing will be pocket change. Let’s not fight. Okay?”

 

Looking at the woman trying to stop the fight in the middle, the man who had thrown down the drum sticks shouted roughly.

 

“Sister Nari, you stop it too! Because you keep giving in, that bastard acts like this. You do all the composing, lyric writing, and singing alone, so why give away your share?”

“I just…”

 

Nari suddenly felt her heart pounding too hard and her head became dizzy.

She didn’t know how it had come to this.

 

The beginning when they started because their hearts were aligned had disappeared without a trace, and only an ugly ending seemed visible.

 

Mocha Band.

 

They formed in the ensemble practice room on the upper floor of a coffee shop called Mocha Cafe and named it without much meaning.

During the past two years of struggling together, various memories were embedded in the meaningless name and it gained significance.

 

Mocha Band had gradually expanded their recognition through busking and was invited to an indie festival.

 

A mere five million won.

When divided among the members, it was far less than a monthly convenience store part-time salary.

 

Because of that money, everyone was getting red-faced with anger and pointing fingers.

Was society too cold to endure with just passion and heart?

Or was the passion not as hot as they thought?

 

Nari exhaled a heated breath amid the rising voices.

 

***

 

The indie festival had started, and Jay felt anticipation along with a slight sense of superiority.

 

From his position collaborating with a famous agency, indie music seemed to lack commercial appeal and didn’t appear to be of particularly high quality.

 

“So this is about the level, I guess.”

 

Various bands and singer-songwriters had come up, but there were no songs that caught his fancy.

 

Then a woman came up on stage to prepare for the next performance.

 

“Hello! We’re Mocha Band.”

 

Jay tilted his head while looking at Lee Na-ri.

 

“Coming up alone and calling it a band… Does Korea have a different definition of band?”

 

Then Lee Na-ri on stage played recorded sound and began playing guitar over it.

 

– Even if those words I understood were lies, it’s okay. We’re incomplete in the end anyway.

 

“The guitar playing is a bit clumsy. If she’s going to play like that, she should have recorded the guitar too.”

 

Of course, he couldn’t understand it.

The lyrics sung in Korean sounded like French chanson to him.

 

The singing was quite good, but whether her guitar skills were immature or it was difficult to sing and play guitar simultaneously.

 

– I’ll throw away those words now. I’ll empty you from my heart.

 

After the song ended, the self-proclaimed band vocalist and guitarist bowed with a bright smile and exited.

 

“Better than I thought.”

“That woman just now?”

 

Hearing Jay’s muttering, Manager Jeong asked.

Jay nodded.

 

“I couldn’t understand the lyrics at all, but her voice was quite good, wasn’t it?”

“What would I know from listening? Haha. It sounded good.”

 

Most of the audience seats watching this scene felt the same way since the song lyrics weren’t translated with separate subtitles.

 

‘They deliberately didn’t translate the lyrics. The protagonist ‘Jay Miller’ has black hair and black eyes, Korean features, but he’s a foreigner within the screen. They’re trying to make us feel the same way and increase immersion in the protagonist. It’s a small detail, but it’s detailed.’

 

Benson’s friend Chris nodded while thinking to himself.

In LA, where California State University where he studies film is located, there are many Korean restaurants.

Since Korean food is trendy these days, when Chris occasionally goes to Korean restaurants with friends, there are times when he’s reluctant to order because of overly translated names.

 

‘Fish cake, really. If I hadn’t had a friend from Korea, I would never have eaten fish cake until I died.’

 

When conveying information to someone, there are times when paradoxically ‘not conveying’ can deliver more.

 

And then the after-party dinner that followed.

 

Even in the dinner scene, the director intentionally didn’t translate the Korean, so they could infer more information while watching the screen.

 

The indie festival participants approaching Jay and Manager Jeong Cheol-min one by one, pouring alcohol into small glasses and turning their heads to drink – even without knowing Korean drinking culture, you could fully feel that they wanted to make a good impression on the famous agency representative.

 

Rather, by being in Jay’s position, listening to incomprehensible Korean with Koreans they were seeing for the first time and trying to infer what situation it was, the audience naturally became emotionally invested in the protagonist.

 

After that, it was briefly edited to show Jay’s few days of living in Korea.

 

– Jay. Will you be okay?

“Mr. Jeong. I’m a healthy adult man. Don’t worry too much.”

 

As Jay chuckled and spoke, Jeong Cheol-min’s voice came through the phone receiver.

 

– Okay. But if you run into any trouble, call me right away. Taking the red bus will get you out of Seoul, but you probably won’t leave Gyeonggi Province.

“Got it. Red. Thank you.”

 

Today, Jay planned to leave Seoul with just a guitar on his back to gain musical inspiration.

 

‘This is what you could really call going into the unknown.’

 

Jay took the red express bus as Mr. Jeong had recommended and left Seoul.

He just took the first bus that came, not even knowing where it was going.

 

“Somehow I’m traveling before I even start working. Following Mother’s advice is good.”

 

Jay looked out the car window, tapping his fingers on the window frame as if thinking of a melody.

It seemed like he had definitely left Seoul.

 

Neither Jay on screen nor the audience outside the screen could understand the announcement, but seeing the forest of buildings disappear and rice fields and lush greenery appear, they could naturally tell he had left Seoul.

 

In the following scene, the audience naturally became absorbed in Jay and felt drawn into the screen as if they had gone on a trip to Korea.

 

Rather than watching a movie, it felt more like watching a kind of ‘vlog’ of someone traveling overseas on YouTube, which made them more deeply immersed.

 

‘Wow, hangover soup? I don’t know what that stew is, but I’d like to try it once.’

‘Hahaha. This movie is somehow funny. I never thought his bicycle would get stolen. I wonder if those bird sounds in the background are real or post-production.’

 

The audience swallowed their saliva at Jay’s hangover soup eating show and laughed watching Jay stare blankly in dismay at only the front wheel of his bicycle left pitifully alone.

 

Around that time, the audience began to have questions about this movie’s story and composition method in the back of their minds.

 

‘What message is the director trying to convey by making a movie in this style? Will he accidentally fall in love with that character Nari who appeared earlier and turn into a teen romance music movie?’

 

The audience attending the film festival, who had broken through fierce competition and stood in line from morning to buy expensive tickets to watch movies, were mostly film enthusiasts or industry professionals, so they thought about the director’s intentions and message while watching the interesting progression.

 

And when the veteran actress, who was Director Park Chan-hong’s mother and played Nari’s grandmother in the movie, appeared, the audience laughed at the scene where they couldn’t communicate with each other and anticipated how the story would flow in the next scene.

 

Film student Neil Benson felt the same way.

 

‘Korean movies really have this charm where you can’t specify what genre they are. I have no idea what kind of story the middle and latter parts of the movie will flow into.’

 

So far, no particular content had progressed, but it was interesting.

 

And after the scenes filmed in the suburbs appeared, the movie’s content began to flow in earnest.

 

Jay wore a cute little apron that didn’t suit his broad shoulders, getting scolded by Grandmother while coating vegetables with some kind of red seasoning.

 

Jay on screen sighed.

 

Just then, Lee Na-ri came home, opening the front door with a black plastic bag in her hand.

 

“Huh? Whose men’s shoes are these?”

 

Lee Na-ri entered the kitchen, looked at Jay with slight wariness and asked.

 

“…Who are you?”

 

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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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