NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 117

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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 117. I Have an Opinion

 

True to being a high school student, she lived glued to her smartphone, so a reply came immediately.

 

 

 

– Ryu So-hyeon: Of course. What high school student wouldn’t be interested in idols!

 

 

 

After seeing his younger sibling’s message, he thought he should have brought her today, then took a photo of the albums piled up in the corner and sent it.

 

It seemed they had brought several copies including ones for the staff, but there weren’t really any staff to distribute them to.

 

The album with ‘To Actor Ryu Yeon-woo’ written on it along with an autograph was a gift, so it would be polite to keep it, but the extra albums he received were troublesome to deal with.

 

 

 

– Want these? I just received a bunch, but what would I do with them?

 

– Ryu So-hyeon: Whoa! Amazing. What? Where did you get so many? There’s even an AXIS one!

 

– Yeah, you know I’m appearing on a music show today. I’m in the waiting room and they came to give them to me.

 

– Ryu So-hyeon: Music show? What are you talking about?

 

 

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head for a moment.

 

 

 

‘Did I not tell my family?’

 

 

 

Come to think of it, he wasn’t the type to tell his family about every little detail of his schedule anyway.

 

 

 

– I got cast as “Jay Nari” today and I’m appearing on a music show.

 

– Ryu So-hyeon: Huh? But you’re tone-deaf!

 

 

 

The direct attack made somewhere in Yeon-woo’s chest sting for a moment.

 

 

 

“Ahem.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo cleared his throat as his throat somehow felt scratchy.

 

 

 

– No, you saw the movie, didn’t you? I only do the musical performance.

 

– Ryu So-hyeon: Oh, I see. I thought you were going to embarrass yourself nationwide. Got it! I’ll definitely watch the live broadcast! Amazing!

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked at the message and paused, his typing thumb trembling slightly.

 

 

 

– Yeah. This will probably be my first and last music show, so watch it with our parents. And you’re getting no pocket money for a while.

 

– Ryu So-hyeon: Huh?! Why all of a sudden!

 

 

 

Yeon-woo put down his smartphone and stretched.

 

 

 

“It’s getting a bit boring, isn’t it? Feels like we’ve been waiting quite a while. Is it still far off?”

 

“Right. I think it’s about time for us to get ready too.”

 

 

 

As if his intuition was right, a filming set staff member knocked and entered.

 

 

 

“Jay Nari team, please wait backstage.”

 

“Yes.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo and Seo Ji-eun got up from their seats.

 

 

 

The two headed to the backstage waiting area following the staff’s guidance.

 

Team Leader Jeong Hyeok followed them, capturing their backs as they headed to the stage for the making film.

 

 

 

When they arrived backstage, the FD approached and began explaining.

 

 

 

“First, you’re going on in two acts. We removed the pre-stage interview because your agency requested it. You just need to go up, perform on stage, and come down. Please watch the floor markings and stand accordingly.”

 

“Yes. Understood.”

 

 

 

Time passed quickly as they watched the previous team’s performance through the installed monitor.

 

 

 

“Jay Nari team, please standby. You’ll go up on stage while the previous team’s pre-recorded video is playing.”

 

“Yes.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo and Seo Ji-eun stood at the stairs leading to the stage.

 

 

 

“Go up now!”

 

 

 

As they climbed the stairs, they became not Yeon-woo and Seo Ji-eun, but Jay and Nari standing on stage.

 

Looking at Seo Ji-eun standing in front of the stand microphone, he could feel her trembling slightly.

 

 

 

“Nari. Fighting.”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo smiled and called her Nari, Seo Ji-eun seemed to gradually become the singer-songwriter ‘Nari’ who had been preparing for years, and her trembling appeared to subside.

 

 

 

Seo Ji-eun looked at Yeon-woo’s fingertips and bit her lips tightly.

 

 

 

“I’ll do my best!”

 

 

 

He couldn’t tell her to be gentle because of the injury on his finger.

 

Either way, this stage had to show the perfect image of a swan.

 

Then all Seo Ji-eun could do was complete the stage by giving her absolute best.

 

 

 

As the spotlight fell on them, numbers counted down on the prompter visible across from the stage and music began to flow.

 

 

 

 

 

“Aaaah! It’s starting.”

 

 

 

Makeup artist Ju-hee had been consistently active on the fan cafe ever since she did Yeon-woo’s makeup on the filming set of “Spring Lover” where he appeared as a cameo.

 

 

 

This time, Ju-hee won through a lottery on the fan cafe and seized the lucky opportunity to see Jay Nari’s one and only stage.

 

 

 

Since “Sketch” was recently released, the membership of fan cafe Woo’s had explosively increased.

 

Getting audience tickets that selected only 50 people from among them was truly heavenly luck.

 

 

 

Looking at the faces of the Woo’s members who came in with Ju-hee, they all already had expressions ready to shed tears.

 

 

 

Though she didn’t look in a mirror, she thought she must look the same.

 

 

 

Music flowed out and Yeon-woo’s guitar melody naturally layered on top of it could be heard.

 

 

 

Since they had been educated several times before entering that it was a ballad so they shouldn’t scream, she covered her mouth with her hand to hold back the cheers that seemed ready to burst out.

 

 

 

‘This is amazing. He’s exactly like Jay from the movie.’

 

 

 

Without anticipating the performances Yeon-woo would deliver next, the fans’ reaction was no different from Ju-hee’s, even though only the guitar melody had been added so far.

 

 

 

Then, the voice of Nari, another protagonist of the stage, rose above it.

 

 

 

♪ When I turn this corner

 

I feel like the red brick wall

 

And that winding path will appear

 

 

 

Even if another path appears

 

When I get tired from walking

 

 

 

If you are a gray brick

 

I’ll become moss with green paint

 

 

 

If you gradually dry up

 

I’ll become raindrops with blue paint and fall

 

 

 

If the dark path becomes scary

 

I’ll become a sunset with orange paint ♪

 

 

 

As Seo Ji-eun’s clear and cheerful voice filled the public hall, Yeon-woo tapped the guitar with his hand to keep the beat, then soon set the guitar down on the floor.

 

 

 

Then he took out a violin that hadn’t been visible due to the fog.

 

It looked as if he was pulling the instrument out from within the clouds.

 

 

 

Soon chaos erupted in the audience seats.

 

 

 

“Kyaaah! This is crazy.”

 

 

 

Fans went wild seeing Yeon-woo remove his in-ear monitor while holding the violin.

 

 

 

The truth was that Woo’s members had fewer opportunities to meet their celebrity compared to singer fandoms, and there was significantly less content to fangirl over on the internet, so they had been thirsting for this kind of performance.

 

 

 

So even though it was a small gesture, they were simply happy.

 

 

 

“Ahhh! Shouldn’t we be waving our light sticks too?!”

 

“Oh my, we really should have!”

 

 

 

Even though this was a one-time activity ending with today’s retirement, the Woo’s members had secretly envied the other singers’ fans who entered with light sticks during earlier performances.

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo’s insane fast playing followed, the fans couldn’t believe their eyes.

 

 

 

“…Amazing. What can’t our actor do?”

 

 

 

Such reactions didn’t only come from the audience seats.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo’s family, watching the music show live at home, were also left speechless.

 

 

 

“That, that’s Yeon-woo doing it himself, right?”

 

“I think so. Did oppa learn instruments when he was young?”

 

“What instruments? He only tried recorder or tambourine at most.”

 

“Then how is he so good at it?”

 

 

 

At younger sibling So-hyeon’s question, even the parents watching couldn’t provide an answer.

 

 

 

Actually, they had seen him perform in movies, but they thought it was just acting and wondered how they had solved it.

 

 

 

Even before that, when he rode horses in “Stars Beyond the Stream,” or even before becoming an actor when his grades suddenly improved, they had thought good things were good things and let it pass.

 

 

 

But handling instruments was on a different level. Even though the parents were laypeople when it came to instruments, they knew well enough that this level of skill definitely couldn’t be solved by simply having talent.

 

 

 

Then Yeon-woo’s father, Ryu Cheol-woong, who had been quietly watching the broadcast from behind, carefully opened his mouth.

 

 

 

“Could it be that our Yeon-woo…”

 

 

 

At father’s words, the younger sibling and mother’s attention focused on him.

 

 

 

“You know, there’s this Sunday program called ‘Surprising Amazing World’ where I saw a Swedish person who got struck by lightning and almost died, but when he came back to life, he became a genius who was good at everything. Could it be something like that?”

 

 

 

At the nonsensical comment, the two mother and daughter’s heads whipped around.

 

 

 

“But Seo Ji-eun unnie also sings really well.”

 

“Our daughter sings well too.”

 

“Heh, but why is oppa tone-deaf?”

 

 

 

At her daughter’s question, Lee Seon-ok chuckled and looked at the silly man behind them who was still going on about Surprising or whatever it was.

 

 

 

“Being good or bad at things all has reasons.”

 

“Is dad tone-deaf?”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

“Whew! It’s over.”

 

 

 

Seo Ji-eun’s arms trembled as she came down the stairs after finishing the stage.

 

 

 

Following behind her, Yeon-woo chuckled seeing that sight.

 

 

 

“For someone who was nervous, you did the ending pose quite naturally?”

 

“Yeon-woo, you were more shameless! You winked at the end, didn’t you? Right, Min-su oppa.”

 

 

 

At Seo Ji-eun’s question, Kim Min-su nodded with a bright smile.

 

 

 

“I wondered if you were an idol in your past life.”

 

 

 

Hearing Min-su’s words, Yeon-woo scratched the back of his head.

 

 

 

‘Well, I was a spy in my previous life…’

 

 

 

Still, it was an unfamiliar activity so I was quite nervous, but fortunately I finished the stage successfully without any mistakes.

 

 

 

When we returned to the waiting room, Seo Ji-eun, whose tension had been released, sprawled out and then immediately jumped up.

 

 

 

“We’re done now! Your fingers! Your fingers!”

 

 

 

At Seo Ji-eun’s exclamation, Kim Min-su approached, taking out the medical supplies that Team Leader Jeong Hyeok had brought.

 

 

 

“First, let’s disinfect!”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo couldn’t help but laugh seeing Kim Min-su applying disinfectant to gauze and shouting dramatically.

 

 

 

‘Anyone would think I got shot on a battlefield.’

 

 

 

After all the commotion, Yeon-woo had medicine applied to each finger and bandages wrapped tightly around them.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo accessed a portal site on his smartphone using his relatively intact left thumb.

 

 

 

He had accessed the portal site to check the audience numbers since today marked one week since the movie’s release.

 

 

 

“Ah…”

 

 

 

But what he discovered first on his smartphone screen was his own ending pose displayed prominently on the main page.

 

 

 

– Ending fairy Ryu Yeon-woo’s adorable wink. Melts fans’ hearts with aegyo.

 

 

 

‘Now they’re even using it in article titles.’

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo clicked on the article, sure enough, the comments were flooded with ‘aegyo’ jokes.

 

 

 

“I should avoid fan meetings or autograph sessions for a while.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

 

 

 

When Seo Ji-eun, who was sprawled out, peeked her head up to ask what he meant, Yeon-woo waved his bandaged hand dismissively.

 

 

 

 

 

Yeon-woo drove his car directly to the LN Entertainment building from the morning.

 

Writer Kim Jin-ju had requested the first meeting since the initial scenario for 「White Blood」, scheduled to launch on the OTT platform, had been completed.

 

 

 

After parking and going up to the meeting room, Director Hwang Min-kwon, CG Director Jung Yo-han, and Writer Kim Jin-ju had already arrived.

 

 

 

“You all came early?”

 

“Yeon-woo, it’s been a while.”

 

“You’re here!”

 

 

 

Writer Kim Jin-ju welcomed Yeon-woo warmly, and Director Hwang Min-kwon was at full attention.

 

Behind them, CG Director Jung Yo-han, with his quiet personality, simply nodded briefly.

 

 

 

“Yeon-woo, please sit down first. Everyone, please take a seat. I’ll distribute the scenarios.”

 

 

 

Writer Kim Jin-ju took out scenarios printed on A4 paper from her document bag and distributed them.

 

 

 

“Please read through it once. After everyone finishes reading, we’ll proceed with the meeting.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo nodded and began reading the scenario.

 

 

 

‘Hmm.’

 

 

 

She definitely hadn’t touched the main storyline.

 

 

 

The scenario had become more enriched with Writer Kim Jin-ju’s characteristic detailed imagination while leaving the ‘worldview’ itself – the biggest reason Yeon-woo chose this work – untouched.

 

 

 

After quite some time passed, everyone looked up, having finished reading the scenario.

 

 

 

“…How is it?”

 

 

 

Receiving evaluation of one’s creative work is always both exciting and frightening.

 

 

 

Looking at Writer Kim Jin-ju, whose eyes held half expectation and half anxiety, Director Hwang Min-kwon and Director Jung Yo-han gave thumbs up as if they had planned it.

 

 

 

“It’s excellent.”

 

“Our scenario has been completely transformed.”

 

 

 

After confirming their reactions, Writer Kim Jin-ju turned her head toward Yeon-woo.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo quietly nodded and opened his mouth.

 

 

 

“It preserves the reason I chose this scenario while making the story much richer, which is really good?”

 

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

 

 

 

Writer Kim Jin-ju, who breathed a sigh of relief at the continued praise, spoke again.

 

 

 

“Still, I’d like to collaborate with the lead actor, director, and CG director to make it even richer. That’s why I suggested this meeting.”

 

“Hmm, yes!”

 

“I’ll review whatever you suggest within the limits of what’s possible for CG processing.”

 

“Director, don’t you have any ideas?”

 

 

 

At Writer Kim Jin-ju’s question, Jung Yo-han scratched the back of his head.

 

 

 

“I was in the science track.”

 

“What? I was in the science track too…”

 

 

 

Writer Kim Jin-ju tilted her head, wondering what the science track had to do with anything.

 

At that moment, Yeon-woo raised his right hand high.

 

 

 

“I have an opinion.”

 

 

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