NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 103

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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 103. 「Sketch」 (2)

Jay was having a miserable time.

 

He understood that this was the process of making Kimchi.

His adoptive Parents in America had also deliberately included Kimchi in his diet, telling Jay not to forget his nationality.

 

He didn’t know what he was doing wrong, but every time he mixed the seasoning with the Napa Cabbage, Grandmother’s incomprehensible nagging fell like bombs.

 

Of course, he couldn’t understand it, but he could tell he was doing something wrong.

 

“Sigh, how on earth did I end up making Kimchi at a stranger’s Home.”

“What are you muttering in that foreign language again. If you do it like that, all the cabbage leaves will tear. Mix it more gently.”

 

Just then, the sound of a Wind Chime jingling came from the Entrance Hall, and a young woman entered.

 

‘Is she this Grandmother’s family?’

 

Hoping they might be able to communicate, he spoke to her in English language.

 

“···Hello. My name is Jay. We had some communication issues, so this is how things ended up.”

“Are you a foreigner?”

 

The answer that came back to Nari was welcome English language.

 

“Oh! You can speak English language.”

 

Today Jay had set out boldly in a foreign country, only to have his bicycle stolen, catch a ride in a stranger’s Car to their Home, and get scolded while applying seasoning to Napa Cabbage.

 

To him, the welcome English language that came from the woman before him was like an oasis found in the Desert, like sweet rain during a drought.

 

***

 

After explaining the situation so far, he also received a Charger for his Smartphone and was fortunately charging it.

Nari looked at the Guitar standing in one corner of the Living Room, then looked at Jay.

 

“Jay, do you play Guitar?”

“Ah, I’m a composer. I came to Korea to work.”

“Huh? Really? I do music too.”

 

Was he right after all?

Jay had thought from the moment Nari first entered that she resembled the singer he saw at the festival.

 

“By any chance, were you the one who performed at the indie festival…?”

“Eh? That’s right!”

“What an amazing coincidence.”

 

Nari seemed delighted as her excitement rose and she shook Jay’s arm.

 

“Jay Jay! Will you listen to the music I made? I have my studio over there? Actually, it’s embarrassing to call it a studio given its level.”

 

When Jay nodded, an excited Nari grabbed Jay and dragged him to the studio.

 

Upon entering the studio, it was better equipped than he had expected.

 

The Ceiling was covered with Glow-in-the-Dark Stars, probably put up when she was young.

 

“The interior is pretty.”

“Ah, these are just things I put up when I was young, but I was too lazy to take them down… Anyway, let me play you some music!”

 

Nari played several songs she had composed.

Jay had already transformed into an Expert’s gaze and listened to the music seriously.

 

“Hmm.”

 

Jay nodded while listening to some parts and tilted his head at others.

 

Beside him, Nari stood tensely like a child having their homework checked.

 

Before long, all three songs had ended, and Nari looked at Jay with a slightly anxious expression.

 

“H-how was it?”

 

Jay stroked his chin in contemplation, then looked at Nari and opened his mouth.

 

“It’s good. You have talent.”

“Whoa! Really?”

 

At Jay’s praise, Nari covered her face with her small hands and stepped back several paces.

Jay watched her and walked toward the Computer in front of the studio.

 

“I think the quality would improve with some minor modifications to a few parts…”

 

When Jay pointed to the Computer and asked, Nari nodded vigorously.

 

“Please do. You can completely overhaul everything. I know it became crude from me fumbling around with self-study!”

“It’s not crude.”

 

Jay chuckled and sat down, and the scene of the two leaning their heads toward the Monitor and operating complex programs was quickly edited and flowed past.

 

“Wow, amazing. So this is how you utilize that.”

“Mm, this part would be better if we put in actual Guitar sounds. You have an Audio Interface, right?”

“I’ll connect it right away!”

 

While Nari busily moved around connecting the Electric Guitar, Jay brought his Acoustic Guitar from the Living Room.

 

Before recording, Jay loosened up by holding his Guitar and lightly playing a song he always played.

 

“Hm?”

 

Nari bobbed her head to the familiar melody and opened her mouth.

 

“The snail crawls along. Today too, without rest, forward. Today too, without rest, forward.”

 

Jay smiled slightly upon hearing Nari’s song.

 

“Did you just sing that improvised to match my playing?”

“Huh? This is a famous Korean children’s song. The Snail. Um, in English it would be… Snail? But wait, Jay, you’re American, so how do you know this song?”

 

Upon hearing Nari’s words, Jay made a dazed expression like someone who had been hit by something.

 

It was a melody that had been circling in his head since childhood, so he thought he had naturally composed it while humming. In fact, he had thought it was the first song he ever created.

 

Suddenly, a powerful old memory returned to Jay’s mind.

 

“Mom, I’m cold.”

“Ji-hoon, come here. If we stick close together, we’ll warm up quickly. Mom will sing you a lullaby. Red snail. Blue snail. The snail crawls along. Today too, without rest, forward.”

 

Looking at Jay standing there in a daze, Nari waved her hand in front of his eyes.

 

“Jay? Are you okay?”

 

Jay, who had been bewildered by the sudden memory, came to his senses and shook his head.

 

“…Ah, I’m fine.”

 

***

 

A week had passed since Jay had coincidentally visited Nari’s home.

 

The two had become quite close during that time.

 

“Jay!”

 

Nari, who was wearing her uniform and scooping ice cream with a scoop, waved her hand cheerfully.

 

“I get off work in just 10 minutes, so sit down and wait for a moment.”

 

As Jay smiled and nodded, heading to a seat, a coworker working beside her poked Nari’s side and asked.

 

“Who’s that? Did you get a boyfriend? He’s totally handsome.”

“No way, it’s not like that. He’s a friend I recently became close with while doing music.”

 

Looking at Nari like that, the coworker chuckled and added.

 

“Yeah right, your face is blooming with smiles. Before you know it, your friend becomes a father.”

“I told you it’s not like that!”

 

Jay, who couldn’t understand Korean at all, had no idea he almost became a father without knowing it and just stared blankly.

 

Soon her work hours ended and Nari came out changed into casual clothes.

 

“Did you wait long? Shall we start again today? This is already the third time.”

“Yeah, sounds good. Did you get permission?”

“Yes!”

 

Today they were planning to go busking at a suburban camping ground.

 

After becoming close, Jay had started slightly modifying songs that Nari created and they began busking together – this was the third time.

 

Jay walking with his guitar slung over his shoulder under the warm sunlight, and Nari chattering and laughing beside him.

 

Even on the bus heading to the suburbs, they sat in the back seats where Jay played guitar and Nari sang.

 

Waaah!

Clap clap clap!

 

The few elderly passengers on the bus lightly applauded, and Nari smiled brightly as she started the next song.

 

The fresh cinematography that simultaneously conveyed freedom and youth naturally brought smiles to the faces of the audience inside the Berlin Potsdamer Platz Theater.

 

“Instead of just busking like this, should we film it and upload it to the internet?”

 

At Jay’s suggestion, Nari turned to look at him.

 

“The internet?”

“Yeah, if we film it as a video and upload it, we can keep a record and it would be nice. Maybe someone might see it and like our songs.”

 

At the mention of video and record, Nari’s face darkened slightly for a moment, but she shook her head and then nodded.

 

“Okay! Let’s upload it. But Jay, is it okay if you appear in it too? I don’t want to appear alone.”

“Hm?”

 

Jay, who had no intention of appearing in the video since he was only providing accompaniment while Nari did everything from singing to lyric writing and composition, stroked his chin.

 

“Hmm, sure. Why not appear in it.”

 

When Jay nodded and gave permission, Nari clenched her fist.

 

“Awesome!”

“What’s ‘awesome’? Korea has a lot of unique exclamations.”

 

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the camping site where they planned to busk, and through an announcement, people who were camping nearby and wanted to listen to busking gathered around.

 

“Wow, there are more people than I thought?”

“Still, compared to the indie festival, it’s not that many.”

 

Jay and Nari busily set up the microphone and speaker and started their busking.

 

First song, second song.

After singing song after song, by the time they reached the final song, Nari seemed to have completely relaxed and had the leisure to look around at the surrounding audience while singing.

 

From couples embracing each other tightly as they listened to families sitting together peacefully, everything entered Nari’s view.

 

“Mommy, give it to me. I want to do it.”

 

Among the family sitting across from Nari, a little girl with her hair prettily tied in pigtails kept jumping with her small body, trying to snatch the smartphone her mother was holding.

 

When the mother gave in and handed it over, the young daughter took the smartphone, turned on the camera, and started filming her mother.

 

“Mom, you’re moving.”

“I’m not even wearing makeup, what are you doing filming me? Oh my, it’s a video.”

 

‘Ah…’

 

Nari, who had been singing while watching that scene, suddenly felt a surge of emotion welling up from her chest, choking her throat so she couldn’t continue the song.

 

Seeing Nari suddenly bow her head and shed tears while singing, the audience began murmuring.

Jay, who was beside her, was equally surprised.

 

“Nari, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

 

The busking ended abruptly due to the sudden burst of tears, and the camping site guests sent applause of comfort and encouragement for the singer’s inexplicable tears.

 

After packing up their equipment, the two sat on the embankment by the small stream next to the camping site.

 

Jay sat quietly without saying anything until Nari would speak first.

Before they knew it, the sunset had fallen and the world was dyed red.

 

The light descending from the sun passed through the atmosphere longer than during the day, scattering all the short-wavelength visible light, leaving only the long-wavelength red light to illuminate the world.

 

The time when the sunset shines is an extremely short period of the day, and because that light is so different from the usual colors of the world, it stirs emotions.

 

After quietly watching the stream flowing by the creek and the red-tinted sunset for a long while, Nari opened her mouth.

 

This was a story she had never told even to Grandmother since Mother passed away.

 

“Jay, my mother really loved hearing me sing.”

 

Jay looked at Nari and quietly nodded.

Then Nari continued speaking.

 

“My mother would always accompany me even when I skipped school to enter singing contests, filming me with an old camcorder. She would always say afterwards that our daughter sang the best, that our daughter was the prettiest.”

 

Then Nari looked at the flowing stream again, sighed, and continued.

 

“But when my mother suddenly passed away in a traffic accident and I was living with Grandmother, it was only after several months that I remembered the camcorder Mom always carried around. So I connected the camcorder to the computer and found 206 videos of me in the media folder.”

 

Jay looked at Nari intently and opened his mouth.

 

“She must have been really proud of you singing.”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

 

Nari pulled her knees together and buried her head.

 

“But you know what’s funny? In the camcorder, on my smartphone, nowhere was there a single video of Mom. Why didn’t I ever film Mom in a video? I really regret that.”

 

Nari wiped the flowing tears with her sleeve, and Jay handed her a handkerchief from his inner pocket.

 

Taking the handkerchief, Nari wiped her tears and continued speaking.

 

“My mother’s face is gradually becoming fixed in my mind as the smiling image in her memorial photo. As time passes, I can’t remember her other expressions, and it’s only been 4 years but her voice is becoming hazy. Will I not remember her voice later? If only I had filmed just one video…”

 

What Nari regretted most wasn’t anything else, but that there wasn’t a single video of her mother.

That’s why whenever she had time, she would record videos of Grandmother.

 

Jay nodded after hearing those words.

 

‘So that’s why she didn’t want to appear alone in videos to upload online, and asked me to appear together.’

 

Jay also looked at the setting sun and opened his mouth.

 

“I was adopted to America when I was seven. The children’s song I played as a warm-up the first day I went to your house was a melody that had always remained in my head from childhood, so I thought I had created it in my mind. That’s how I became interested in composition and have walked this path until now.”

 

Nari, who had been burying her head and crying, gently lifted her head upon hearing Jay’s words.

 

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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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