NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 120

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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 120. Profit

 

Yeon-woo and Min-su arrived at the set in Paju and entered the building.

 

 

 

“Wow, actor-nim. The scale is quite impressive.”

 

“I know, right. It seems even bigger than the Special Effects Studio in Daejeon we visited when filming 「Stars Beyond the Stream」.”

 

 

 

Manager Kim Min-su was also visiting for the first time, so he was amazed by the grandeur felt from the entrance.

 

He had heard from CEO Kim Ju-seong that they would provide active support, but seeing it with his own eyes was amazing.

 

 

 

Click.

 

 

 

Just then, the door to the internal studio opened and two directors and Writer Kim Jin-ju came out.

 

 

 

“Oh my, Yeon-woo. When did you arrive?”

 

“I came right after class ended. I just got here.”

 

 

 

Then Director Hwang Min-kwon, with tears welling up in his eyes, ran toward Yeon-woo and grabbed both his hands.

 

 

 

“Sob, Actor Ryu. Thank you so much! Without you, how could I have brought my imagination to reality!”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked troubled as he gently pulled his caught hands away and scratched his cheek.

 

 

 

“It’s not me, but CEO Kim Ju-seong of LN Media who did this.”

 

“It’s all because you’re playing the lead role that they’re providing such full support!”

 

“That’s true.”

 

 

 

CG Director Jung Yo-han nodded from behind.

 

 

 

Since he had no taste for watching a grown man sniffle, Yeon-woo quickly changed the subject.

 

 

 

“Director Jung. How’s the Chromakey Set?”

 

“It’s the best.”

 

 

 

Jung Yo-han gave a thumbs up and nodded.

 

 

 

“Ah, we shouldn’t be doing this here. Let’s go take a look around. I’ll guide you.”

 

 

 

Director Hwang Min-kwon spoke in a tone that made it unclear whether he was a director or a guide, politely pointing the way with both hands.

 

Yeon-woo chuckled at the sight and started walking.

 

 

 

Opening the door and entering, they found a fairly magnificent Earth Fortress positioned in a wide space covered with green chromakey walls.

 

 

 

It was literally a fortress wall built up with earth.

 

 

 

“Wow, how did they make this?”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo expressed admiration, Director Hwang Min-kwon followed like a guide.

 

 

 

“It looks like it’s really made of earth, but according to CEO Lee Ju-seok’s explanation, they actually only applied the surface and baked it with a torch. It’s the material used when making saunas.”

 

“CEO Lee Ju-seok must be from the company that built the warship interior in 「Master Plan」.”

 

“They told us not to worry about the budget, so we entrusted it to Korea’s top company. Haha.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo approached and looked closely, but even examining the connecting gaps and various details, it looked like a wall actually made of earth.

 

 

 

‘It’s almost identical to the place where Islamic anti-government forces hold their siege.’

 

 

 

Yeon-woo nodded and started walking again, looking at Writer Kim Jin-ju.

 

 

 

“So in the story, is this the gateway into Cardiac?”

 

“Yes. A large-scale battle scene will be filmed here.”

 

 

 

Cardiac is a medical term meaning heart.

 

The protagonist and the red blood cell supporting characters helping him will engage in a large-scale battle here with the pursuing white blood cell forces before entering the heart.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked at the wall covered with green chromakey cloth beyond the Earth Fortress and muttered to himself.

 

 

 

“Then the Carotid artery will rise toward the sky as a giant pillar of light behind there.”

 

“We’ve already started CG work on it. It will be expressed on a magnificent scale.”

 

 

 

The Carotid artery is the fastest direct route from the heart to the brain.

 

In the work, it will be expressed as an enormous pillar of light leading to another world.

 

 

 

Most of the place names and terms will be filled with medical terminology, and the protagonist doctor looking at them with a bewildered expression is one of the small comedic codes in the work.

 

 

 

‘Who would think of a carotid artery when seeing an enormous pillar of light tearing through dimensions and rising up.’

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked at Director Hwang Min-kwon, who was acting as a guide beside him, and smiled brightly.

 

 

 

‘And who would invest in producing such a scenario. It’s absurd.’

 

 

 

The more Yeon-woo thought about it, the more he felt that Director Hwang Min-kwon being unknown was definitely not due to lack of skill.

 

It was because there was no production company large enough to contain his imagination and no investor bold enough to make such decisions.

 

 

 

‘CEO Kim Ju-seong making such a big investment is of course partly because he trusts the results I’ve achieved, but…’

 

 

 

Fundamentally, it would be because he felt the same emotion that Yeon-woo felt when reading the scenario in the CEO office that day.

 

 

 

Moving to the side, they came to a room filled with red pebbles.

 

Seeing some unidentifiable rubber towers piled up on one side, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

 

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Ah, those are exercise balls. They’re just piled up like that because we haven’t inflated them yet.”

 

 

 

Red pebbles and red exercise balls.

 

 

 

“Then this must be Cardiac.”

 

 

 

It was the ‘heart’ which was an important point in the drama.

 

Not the metaphorical heart that people commonly use, but an actual heart.

 

 

 

“That’s right. We’ll mark each of those gym balls to capture motion and then apply CG processing to each one. It might look strange, but it’s a technique widely used in Hollywood.”

 

 

 

If Director Jung Yo-han says so, then that’s how it is.

 

Having seen his filmography, there was no doubt in his mind.

 

 

 

After that, Yeon-woo and his group finished touring all the sets and came out to the entrance.

 

 

 

“Hmm? Come to think of it, there’s no set for the latter part?”

 

 

 

They had looked around completely, but there was no set that looked like the brain world that would contain the near-future SF background.

 

 

 

Director Jung Yo-han answered Yeon-woo’s question.

 

 

 

“The latter part needs to be captured almost 99 percent with CG, so after filming at Earth Fortress is finished, we’ll tear down all those sets and fill it with full chromakey for shooting.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo nodded at the explanation.

 

Actually, the part he was worried about was chromakey filming.

 

 

 

His only experience with chromakey filming so far was when shooting a telecom company commercial, hanging from wires and filming the transition from classroom to space.

 

 

 

Even that was just lying down and holding a pose, so it couldn’t really be called acting.

 

 

 

“I haven’t done chromakey filming before, so what’s the most important thing? I’d like to prepare for it myself.”

 

“Hmm, the important thing?”

 

 

 

After thinking for a moment at Yeon-woo’s question, Jung Yo-han nodded and spoke.

 

 

 

“It would have to be imagination, I suppose? You have to act as if something is flying at you when nothing actually is, as if bombs are exploding all around when nothing is actually exploding.”

 

“Imagination…”

 

 

 

As Yeon-woo nodded and fell into thought, Writer Kim Jin-ju patted his back.

 

 

 

“Hey, someone like Yeon-woo would do well even without experience, right? And the desert chase scene in 「Stars Beyond the Stream」 was also CG filming in its own way.”

 

 

 

That was true – he had ridden a horse while imagining a virtual army in the distance beyond the desert.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo smiled brightly and spoke.

 

 

 

“I’ll work hard to prepare during the remaining time.”

 

 

 

Watching Yeon-woo like that, Director Hwang Min-kwon spoke up.

 

 

 

“About the other roles. We’re planning to hold auditions, so would you perhaps like to…?”

 

“No. Please select them with your and the writer’s judgment.”

 

“Understood.”

 

 

 

If Yeon-woo interfered any more with production, it might limit the director’s discretion.

 

 

 

‘A work is ultimately a picture drawn by the director’s imagination.’

 

 

 

An actor just needed to be prepared to be the best brush.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

– 「Sketch」 closes its screening run at the end of this week.

 

– An independent film that doesn’t seem like an independent film achieves record-breaking box office success.

 

– South Korea’s independent film box office record concludes with [6.71 million viewers].

 

 

 

The break-even point for audience mobilization for 「Sketch」, which had a total production cost of 4.5 billion won, was 1.3 million people.

 

However, since it surpassed the break-even point in just 6 days after release, it achieved tremendous additional revenue afterward.

 

 

 

After about 40 days, theaters began reducing the screening rooms allocated to 「Sketch」, and although Director Park Chan-hong had already achieved ten million viewers several times, he concluded the screening run with 6.71 million people.

 

 

 

“Well, honestly, when I was stationed overseas, I rarely went to theaters unless it was a ‘movie where Americans come out and smash everything up.'”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo, lying on his bed and rolling around while looking at articles about 「Sketch」 on his smartphone, nodded.

 

 

 

It was a human-documentary genre and an independent film.

 

Even considering that it won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, it was an incredible box office record.

 

 

 

Just then, his smartphone rang.

 

 

 

“Yes, Director.”

 

– You answer the phone right away?

 

“I was just looking up articles about 「Sketch」. The screening ended today.”

 

– That’s right. That’s why I called. Not to the actor, but to the investor.

 

 

 

Excluding the director, the sole investor in the independent film 「Sketch」.

 

That was Ryu Yeon-woo.

 

 

 

“The box office revenue has been tallied.”

 

– I just got a call from the distributor. It’s still a preliminary tally, but the actual sales won’t be much different. The total revenue is 56.3 billion won.

 

 

 

He had expected it, but it was still a large amount.

 

 

 

“It’s an amount that doesn’t feel real.”

 

– Of course, the net profit that comes back to you and me is much less.

 

 

 

Movie revenue has numerous costs deducted from the total sales, including value-added tax, film development fund, profit sharing with theaters, distribution fees, and more.

 

 

 

’10 percent and 3 percent, and considering theaters and distributors…’

 

 

 

Yeon-woo finished the rough calculation in his head.

 

 

 

“Roughly around 23 billion, I’d say.”

 

– Hmm? How did you know? The total distributed amount is 23.4 billion.

 

 

 

Considering the dividend ratio compared to the amount Yeon-woo invested, even excluding the percentage promised to LN Enter, the amount directly distributed to Yeon-woo would be around 5.4 billion won.

 

 

 

“Of course, we’d have to exclude taxes, but it’s still a large amount.”

 

– Congratulations.

 

“That’s what I should be saying to you. Congratulations, Director.”

 

 

 

It truly was catching two rabbits at once—both winning awards and achieving box office success.

 

 

 

This wasn’t the end either, as there were still additional profits to be made from overseas distribution rights and the domestic OTT market.

 

 

 

– If you agree, I’d like to provide bonuses to the staff and actors who participated.

 

“Of course. I’ll leave that entirely up to you, Director.”

 

– Understood. The profit dividends will be paid out by the end of this month at the latest.

 

 

 

After ending the call with Director Park Chan-hong, he fell into thought for a moment.

 

 

 

‘I’ve accumulated quite a lot of earnings from my entertainment activities so far.’

 

 

 

It was an amount that far exceeded the salary he had accumulated during his lifetime of dedication to the country in his previous life.

 

 

 

‘I’m sending enough to my family, and I’ve prepared well for tax issues too.’

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked around the officetel.

 

He had been living here since before graduating high school, and it had been almost two years now.

 

 

 

Though it was accommodation assigned by the company, he had continued using it since he didn’t feel the need to move elsewhere.

 

 

 

‘Hmm, it would probably be better for me to move out.’

 

 

 

Of course, there wouldn’t be any problem if Yeon-woo continued staying here, but considering the other new actors recently recruited by the company, it seemed right to free up one more space.

 

 

 

And hadn’t he resolved not to live stingily and frugally like in his past life?

 

 

 

“Money disappears when you die anyway. Well, at least I did some charity work, so that’s fortunate.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo picked up his smartphone and roughly calculated the money he would soon receive and his current assets.

 

 

 

‘Even after taxes, it should be over 7 billion won.’

 

 

 

Among that, the Ihan Technology commercial and this “Sketch” project made up a large portion.

 

 

 

Besides that, starting from “Summer’s Closet,” he had worked on countless projects consecutively over just two years, so it made sense.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo picked up his smartphone and pressed the call button.

 

 

 

‘When it comes to spending money, this person’s consulting is perfect.’

 

 

 

After a few rings, a familiar voice came through the receiver.

 

 

 

– Oh, Yeon-woo!

 

“Jin-wook hyung, are you busy?”

 

– No, filming for “Prisoner” is over and I’m resting at home.

 

“I’m thinking about moving.”

 

 

 

With an acting practice room in the house and all…

 

The luxury village where not only Son Jin-wook but various celebrities lived had always looked really appealing.

 

 

 

‘Let’s move this time.’

 

 

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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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