NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 111

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 111. Identity

Not long after waiting at the park parking lot near the officetel, a silver car entered through the entrance.

 

Whirr─.

 

“Congratulations on your award, Team Leader.”

 

Seeing Han Hae-woon rolling down the driver’s window to offer congratulations, Yeon-woo couldn’t help but chuckle.

 

“What congratulations. Thanks though.”

 

Opening the passenger door and getting in, Yeon-woo quietly pointed at the dashcam.

Han Hae-woon then unplugged the power cord of the dashcam.

 

“Don’t record the information I’m about to share anywhere, just memorize it.”

“Yes.”

 

Seeing Han Hae-woon nod in response, Yeon-woo steadied his breathing and began sharing the information he had obtained from Berlin’s dark intelligence network.

 

“First, Baeksol is the name of an organization. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say it’s a secret organization within a larger group.”

“As expected, it’s a secret organization within the National Intelligence Service?”

 

Yeon-woo nodded at Han Hae-woon’s words and continued.

 

“October 13th, 1990.”

“The day the South Korean government declared ‘War on Crime and Violence.'”

 

In late 1990, through a presidential address announcing the ‘10.13 Special Declaration,’ the government began a massive crackdown operation against violent organizations.

 

It was such a monumental event that a movie with a similar name was released and achieved great box office success.

 

“While all the drug organizations in the country were eliminated then, within less than a year, organizations under China’s triads and Japan’s yakuza entered the country to fill that void and started the drug business.”

“That makes sense. As long as there’s demand, the drug business can’t disappear. Hmm, I wasn’t even in elementary school back then.”

 

It was 30 years ago. He remembered Baek No-ya saying he went to prison after getting caught up in factional fighting when he was young.

 

“So the National Intelligence Service, or rather, it was called the ‘National Security Planning Agency’ back then. That infamous NSPA began secretly controlling the drugs distributed domestically.”

“If they couldn’t eliminate it, they’d put it under their control and manage it. It’s an unimaginable plan by today’s standards…”

“But that’s continued until now.”

 

Han Hae-woon’s eyes widened at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“What? It’s continued until now? So that thing from back then is ‘Baeksol’? A secret organization maintained within the National Intelligence Service for 30 years… Is that possible? I heard there was a massive personnel change when the NSPA was disbanded and the NIS was established.”

“That’s right. I joined in 2001 and there are only two classes above me. Most high-ranking officials were appointed from outside.”

“Then how were those ghosts maintained?”

 

Yeon-woo stroked his chin before speaking.

 

“If you manage all domestic drug distribution, the financial benefits from that would be enormous. Initially, they managed it under orders from above, but when the military regime ended, all those who gave the orders suddenly disappeared.”

“They would never have thought of giving that up.”

 

Yeon-woo nodded and continued.

 

“Hae-woon, listen carefully. White and to lead . These people have only one purpose. To share the enormous financial benefits from controlling white powder among themselves while maintaining this system.”

“Hmm, then what should we do from now on?”

“They strictly maintain their number at seven people. Only when one of the members dies do they select a successor, give them thorough ideological education, and then admit them.”

 

Han Hae-woon’s eyes lit up at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“Then the person we recently identified, agent Ha Ju-ran who’s disguising herself as Ministry of Culture Deputy Minister ‘Jung Chan-suk.’ That woman is…”

“One of them. And there’s a person called ‘Kim Gye-sik’ who mainly deals with overseas suppliers, so his identity is known to foreign intelligence agencies.”

 

Han Hae-woon pondered the name ‘Kim Gye-sik’ that came from Yeon-woo’s mouth.

 

“It sounds like a name I’ve heard somewhere… Though it is a common name.”

“You might have heard it. After all, he’s officially a person within the National Intelligence Service.”

“So we’ve identified two out of seven.”

 

Yeon-woo nodded at Han Hae-woon’s words.

 

“And there’s someone called the ‘Chairman’ who manages all of them. Ultimately, we need to identify all seven and take them down simultaneously. If an official investigation begins on the two we know about, the rest will tuck their tails and wait quietly underwater for years.”

 

Han Hae-woon fell into thought for a moment at Yeon-woo’s words, then soon grinned.

 

“Still, now we have a clear direction. Then all we need to do is run forward, right?”

“You should quit smoking. Can you even run with those lungs?”

“Ahem. I’m gradually reducing it.”

 

***

 

“What? What do you mean? There’s no personnel to send to Korea?”

“Jake wasn’t pleased about using Asian actors. It’s always like this.”

 

Hollywood casting director ‘Bernard Fenton’ roughly put down the documents he was holding and pressed his forehead.

 

“Even so, after formally sending a contract proposal, does it make sense to tell the actor to go to China or Japan for the audition?”

 

Bernard Fenton had proposed a casting audition for a new Netflix production to Korean actor Ryu Yeon-woo through LN Enter.

 

However, the Hollywood production environment still showed lukewarm reactions to using Asian actors, and unless they were targeting the Chinese market for so-called ‘China money,’ they didn’t seem to find much appeal.

 

“You saw Ryu, whom I had my eye on, win the Golden Bear at Berlin. Why the hell is this damn Hollywood still stuck in place in their own world?”

 

Fenton shook his head with a gloomy expression, fed up with the whitewashing prevalent in Hollywood.

 

Whitewashing refers to the practice in Hollywood that goes beyond prevalent white supremacism to even changing characters of other races from the original work or scenario to white people for filming.

 

“The role we were going to propose to actor Ryu was also an Asian-American, but they can’t spare even one day of schedule? Seriously.”

“There’s nothing we can do. If he won’t participate, they said to just forget about it. Ever since Jake became the representative, he’s been completely doing whatever he wants.”

 

The staff member’s words made Fenton rise from his seat.

 

“I should probably go and apologize in person. This isn’t about the contract, but about our future relationship. Korean content is growing in real time. The center of the times is gradually shifting this way… Anyway, those idiots in LA.”

 

***

 

“Hey, do you think we can actually meet him by just showing up like this?”

“You saw the interview too. If it’s actor Ryu Yeon-woo, he’ll understand our passion.”

 

Unknown director Hwang Min-kwon, whose eyes were burning with baseless confidence after watching the interview Yeon-woo gave at the airport upon his return.

He recklessly entered LN Entertainment headquarters into the navigation and set off.

 

Jung Yo-han, who had no choice but to follow his friend who couldn’t be stopped once his switch was flipped, even though he knew it wouldn’t work.

 

“Look, even if we made a phone reservation and set up a meeting, it’s questionable whether it would work, but if we just show up, we’ll just get kicked out by security.”

“Let me borrow your reputation. You’re still a successful CG director from Hollywood, so they might meet with us.”

 

Jung Yo-han looked at Hwang Min-kwon with incredulous eyes at his words.

 

“Hey. Who in Korea would know me? Say something that makes sense.”

“Still, LN is a place that also produces movies, so wouldn’t they know somehow?”

 

Jung Yo-han looked at Hwang Min-kwon with tired eyes as he spouted nonsense.

 

“I don’t know. Do whatever you want. If I think I’m going to be embarrassed, I’m running away.”

“Hey, brother. Is that all the passion you have for the movie we’re going to make?”

“Bullshit. You only call me brother at times like this.”

 

Thus, Bernard Fenton, Hwang Min-kwon, and Jung Yo-han were each heading to LN Entertainment headquarters with different thoughts and purposes.

 

 

Meanwhile, at that time, Yeon-woo, who had met Han Hae-woon, had also taken a nap at home and was on his way to the company with Manager Kim Min-su.

 

“Bernard Fenton suddenly said he wanted to meet? The audition schedule should still be a bit away…”

“Hmm, maybe he’s anxious that your value will increase since you won an award this time and ‘Master Plan’ had good box office results?”

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head at Kim Min-su’s words.

 

“If that’s the case, there wouldn’t be a need for him to meet me directly…”

 

Before long, the car carrying Yeon-woo entered the underground parking garage of the entertainment building.

 

“Let’s go. He’s waiting in the CEO office.”

 

Yeon-woo and Kim Min-su took the elevator to the top floor of the building.

 

Ding─.

 

When the elevator doors opened, the hallway was unexpectedly noisy.

 

“Please, I’m begging you. I’ll wait quietly in this corner until you have time, so please let me meet him just once.”

“It’s difficult since you don’t have an appointment. But I’ll pass along your message.”

 

In front of the CEO office, there was a pleading man and a management team leader with a troubled expression.

 

“Hm? What’s going on.”

 

As he approached to enter the CEO office, the man who had been pleading spotted Yeon-woo and was startled.

 

“Gasp! Ryu Yeon-woo…?”

 

Jung Yo-han, who had been hanging his head in embarrassment, looked up at Hwang Min-kwon’s words.

 

“Ahhh. What, it’s really him? This is crazy.”

 

Watching the two of them, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

‘…That’s a fresh reaction for men in their late thirties?’

 

Yeon-woo found it interesting when the bearded man who looked like a bandit and the nerdy-looking man with glasses were surprised like teenage fans right in front of him.

 

“Hello. I have business here, may I pass through.”

 

Seeing Yeon-woo speak with a light smile, Hwang Min-kwon rushed forward to grab his pants leg.

 

“Hello! I’m film director Hwang Min-kwon. I saw your interview and the romance…, ugh!”

 

Manager Kim Min-su blocked Yeon-woo’s path faster than Hwang Min-kwon could approach and restrained him.

 

As it got noisy outside, the CEO office door opened and CEO Kim Ju-seong and Bernard Fenton came out.

CEO Kim Ju-seong quickly assessed the situation seeing Manager Kim Min-su restraining a man and spoke up.

 

“Hmm, Team Leader Lim. We should call security.”

“Yes, CEO.”

 

When the situation turned out this way, Jung Yo-han stepped forward with a deep sigh, wishing the ground would swallow him up.

 

“I’m really sorry about my friend. We absolutely didn’t intend to cause trouble, we have a scenario we’d like to request production for…”

 

Bernard Fenton watched the man carefully and then clapped his hands as if he finally recognized him.

 

“Director Yo-han?”

“Hm…? Mister Fenton?”

 

Watching Fenton, CEO Kim Ju-seong tilted his head sideways.

 

“Do you know him?”

 

 

In the CEO office sat Yeon-woo, CEO Kim Ju-seong, and Bernard Fenton.

 

They told the two people who had caused the commotion that there was an important matter to discuss, so they should wait outside for a moment.

 

Of course, if it weren’t for the mention of a scenario they absolutely wanted to show and Bernard Fenton’s guarantee of their identity, they would have called security to throw them out immediately.

 

“···So that’s how it came to this. It’s all my fault. I want to maintain good relationships with both this company and actor Ryu.”

“Hmm, I understand what you’re saying, Mr. Fenton. So you’re saying that to audition, we’d have to match the Japan or China schedule and audition there.”

 

Bernard Fenton shook his head while looking at CEO Kim Ju-seong, who didn’t show it professionally but was clearly in a bad mood.

 

“That’s absolutely not my intention. The newly appointed CEO over there is a bit···.”

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong nodded at Fenton and looked at Yeon-woo.

 

“What would you like to do, Yeon-woo?”

 

Yeon-woo chuckled softly as he looked at CEO Kim Ju-seong asking in Korean.

 

“CEO, I think my head has grown quite a bit now. Is there really a need to go when they don’t want me?”

“Hahaha. Your head grown big? You’re the actor with the smallest face in our agency.”

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong laughed and responded playfully to Yeon-woo’s joking answer.

 

While he had no intention of becoming arrogant as an actor, he had even less intention of being treated like a fool.

 

With this kind of treatment when they should be drastically revising the provisional contract made during the casting audition, it was obviously right not to go.

 

Then Yeon-woo looked at Bernard Fenton with a slight smile and spoke.

 

“Unfortunately, this matter doesn’t seem to be our destiny. Still, I’m always grateful to Mr. Fenton for recognizing my talent early and valuing it highly. I trust Mr. Fenton’s eye, so please keep me in mind if there are good projects in the future.”

 

Bernard Fenton’s eyes lit up at Ryu Yeon-woo’s response and extended his hand for a handshake.

 

“I’m glad Ryu thinks that way. Besides this company, I handle many companies in LA, so I hope we can maintain a good relationship.”

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong was inwardly surprised watching the conversation between Yeon-woo and Fenton.

 

For the company that made first contact to ask them to come on an expedition for a casting audition was crossing the line from the start.

So he expected Ryu Yeon-woo to show at least some emotion.

Even CEO Kim Ju-seong himself was angry right now.

 

Having debuted only 3 years ago, at just twenty-one years old, he had grown this much, so even if not completely arrogant, he could certainly be cocky enough.

But this kind of politically tactful, diplomatic rejection.

 

‘I always feel like there’s a cunning snake inside him.’

 

Looking at CEO Kim Ju-seong, Yeon-woo spoke again.

 

“About the people waiting outside. I’m really curious about the scenario they’re so desperately trying to deliver.”

 

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————