NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 125

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

Episode 125. Acting with Intent (2)

 

‘The key to this scene is switching emotions.’

 

 

 

He nodded while looking at his reflection in the mirror.

 

 

 

The scene he had focused on immediately after receiving the storyboard and scenario for this advertisement was precisely this child soldier character.

 

 

 

While he would need to hear an explanation before filming about what intent the advertising planner had in including this character, Yeon-woo’s interpretation of the child soldier was an ’emotional switch.’

 

 

 

‘If the other characters’ purpose was to inspire patriotism through solemnity, this child soldier converts that patriotism into a sense of loss, sadness, and alarm.’

 

 

 

Since they were filming in reverse order, he hadn’t yet acted as the other characters including Seo Hee, but Yeon-woo planned to act the other characters as solemnly and dynamically as possible.

 

 

 

‘That way, through contrast, I can perform ’emotion switching’ in this role and finish with the first take of the pilot we filmed earlier.’

 

 

 

Before he knew it, the makeup team had finished his disguise.

 

 

 

“As you requested, we removed all the makeup and just made the black smudges look realistic.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo grinned and nodded.

 

 

 

With his makeup completely removed, making his face look slightly gentle, Yeon-woo appeared quite youthful.

 

 

 

The military uniform that was intentionally oversized to look baggy, further emphasizing his boyishness, and his appearance rising with soot smeared on his face was unmistakably that of a child soldier.

 

 

 

“Perfect.”

 

 

 

Though he still didn’t know what intent the advertising planner had in including this character, it was perfect for switching emotions according to Yeon-woo’s intent.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo, having finished his preparations, came out to the filming set, and the staff efficiently completed their preparations.

 

 

 

“Ready, action.”

 

 

 

Hearing the director’s signal, Yeon-woo, who had been leaning against the trench, raised his body.

 

 

 

Before starting filming, there had been no particular instructions about the role from the director and advertising representative.

 

 

 

‘That means they’re leaving the interpretation of the role to my judgment.’

 

 

 

Seeing Yeon-woo exit the trench, a staff member began the countdown.

 

 

 

“Explosion coming. Three, two, one!”

 

 

 

As the countdown ended, a device exploded in front of where Yeon-woo was standing, sending dirt flying upward.

 

 

 

Even with prior explanation, another actor might have been startled, but to Yeon-woo, compared to real artillery shells exploding, this was like children’s firecrackers.

 

 

 

With hollow eyes, he watched the dirt pile exploding and scattering, then resumed walking.

 

 

 

“Hmm?”

 

 

 

Director Lee Yong-su’s eyebrows twitched as he watched Yeon-woo’s performance on the field monitor.

 

It definitely felt completely different from the roles he had filmed earlier.

 

 

 

The part that the advertising officials and Director Lee Yong-su considered the main focus was probably Seo Hee’s role that would appear in the first half.

 

 

 

The Korean War child soldier was a scene included to express militarily important turning points in South Korean history, so it wasn’t actually a very important part within the advertisement.

 

 

 

However, Director Lee intuited that there was something more as he watched Yeon-woo’s acting being projected on the screen.

 

 

 

“Alright, explosion again. Three, two, one.”

 

 

 

With the staff’s countdown heard once more, dirt scattered in all directions again.

 

 

 

As the dust settled and appeared on screen, Yeon-woo was staring straight at the camera.

 

And his eyes were filled with emptiness and sadness.

 

 

 

‘Ah.’

 

 

 

The moment they met those eyes, the camera director, advertising officials, and Director Lee Yong-su all realized it.

 

The intent behind the acting this actor was displaying.

 

 

 

Recognizing that intent wasn’t difficult for anyone to see.

 

Naturally, because Yeon-woo had acted that way.

 

 

 

‘To suddenly switch emotions that have been consistently maintained from the start, I need to convey those emotions strongly and clearly.’

 

 

 

What he came up with while pondering that method was this current scene.

 

 

 

Generally, an actor staring straight at the camera is taboo in the film industry.

 

People instinctively become interested in where others’ gazes are directed, and feel anxiety when that gaze is directed at them.

 

 

 

And when an actor stares straight at the camera like now, it triggers a fight or flight response, creating a desire to either fight or flee from that gaze.

 

In other words, it amplifies anxiety in viewers.

 

 

 

‘But if the purpose is to deliberately instill anxiety, this is the best method.’

 

 

 

As the dust cleared and was captured in the frame, Yeon-woo’s eyes were endlessly hollow.

 

And a small change occurred in those eyes.

 

 

 

The desire to live, the yearning to return to his hometown where his mother was waiting.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo was expressing that small difference by layering another emotion over the emptiness through subtle movements of his facial muscles.

 

 

 

And the baggy military uniform that Yeon-woo, who wasn’t small-bodied, wore in a size even larger than his own body, and his face that looked more youthful by intentionally not wearing makeup, led those emotions into one.

 

 

 

‘It’s compassion.’

 

 

 

Before they knew it, the cinematographer holding the camera, Director Lee Yong-su watching the monitor, and the advertising officials had all held their breath and were only watching that scene.

 

 

 

Though it was a brief moment, the boy soldier conveyed many stories through his eyes, making those who watched feel a sense of pity.

 

 

 

Just a minute ago, a handsome actor of considerable height had been standing on the filming set, but now only a boy soldier who had been knocked around and tumbled through the devastation of the Korean War stood there.

 

 

 

Director Lee Yong-su, who had been lost in thought and blankly staring at the monitor, finally came to his senses.

 

 

 

“···Okay. Cut.”

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, an advertising official from Ihan Group was also watching the scene.

 

The man wasn’t just a simple advertising official but the head of Ihan Group’s public relations strategy division.

 

 

 

‘I can somewhat understand why the Chairman gave direct orders.’

 

 

 

At first, he had been puzzled when direct orders came down just for one commercial film model, but seeing the acting performance on set made him nod involuntarily.

 

 

 

The advertisement filmed last year had produced quite encouraging results when combined with Ryu Yeon-woo’s image.

 

However, he had thought it was just a temporary rebound and didn’t believe they could escape the negative public perception already embedded regarding the defense industry tainted by corruption scandals.

 

 

 

But watching Ryu Yeon-woo’s acting just now, something flashed through the man’s mind.

 

 

 

‘We need to transform the image of the defense industry itself. Until now, we’ve operated in a closed manner, but times have changed. More approachably···.’

 

 

 

Then he looked at Yeon-woo, who was brightly smiling while discussing the next scene with Director Lee Yong-su in the middle of the filming set.

 

 

 

‘For that, we’ll need to use that actor as a model in other areas of our group as well.’

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

The filming that followed proceeded smoothly.

 

 

 

As if responding to the staff’s expectations, Director Lee Yong-su continuously gave ‘okay’ signals, and filming ended early around five in the evening.

 

 

 

The staff, who had to travel the long distance to Wonju where the Air Force Base was located for fighter jet filming, cheered for ‘Ryu Yeon-woo’ because of the hope that they could return home today.

 

 

 

And after returning to the Seoul studio and examining the results, Director Lee Yong-su suddenly stood up as if realizing something.

 

 

 

“Wait, then perhaps?”

 

 

 

Director Lee Yong-su recalled something and hurriedly sat down, beginning to cut and paste the filmed footage using an editing program as if possessed.

 

Very rough editing that cut the footage crudely and pasted it together like an amateur.

 

 

 

It was an incomplete work with a running time of over a minute because no unnecessary scenes were removed, and the scene connections were awkward.

 

 

 

“If he did that intentionally···.”

 

 

 

Director Lee played the video that was too embarrassing to call a rough edit, just randomly pieced together according to the chronological flow of the filmed scenes.

 

 

 

Seo Hee’s tragic determination as he rode alone across the desert on horseback toward the enemy territory where the Liao Dynasty’s great army was stationed.

 

 

 

Since post-processing hadn’t been done yet, it was a scene of riding a model horse on a green chroma key studio, but Director Lee Yong-su nodded involuntarily as he imagined the finished result.

 

 

 

That Seo Hee had somehow transcended time to become a blacksmith with a face flickering with the red light of a furnace.

 

 

 

It was just a scene filmed using crimson LEDs, but thanks to Ryu Yeon-woo’s delicate acting, it truly felt like molten metal rippling inside a furnace.

 

 

 

The unnamed Joseon blacksmith knew that the blades he made would harm people and ultimately drive even the young soldiers holding swords to their deaths on the battlefield.

 

 

 

Nevertheless, knowing it was work to protect the country, there was tragedy in that calm hammering as he silently pounded the boiling iron in the hot furnace.

 

 

 

And passing through the Joseon military commander and the independence fighter of the Japanese colonial period, he became a boy with a young face.

 

 

 

A boy soldier walking wearily with his face covered in soot.

 

 

 

“Ah···.”

 

 

 

Seeing that figure made his heart feel like it was dropping.

 

 

 

For the boy soldier of the Korean War, neither the tragedy of fratricidal conflict nor revenge for fallen comrades mattered in the artillery fire. Beyond all that, he simply wanted to survive and return to his hometown.

 

 

 

An actor who captured the tragedy appropriate to each era in subtle expressions while radiating an aura.

 

 

 

That was Ryu Yeon-woo on the screen that Lee Yong-su was watching.

 

 

 

And finally, Ryu Yeon-woo in a flight suit walked out on the screen.

 

 

 

A fighter pilot moving forward with regular steps and a calm expression.

 

The footage playing on screen was from the first take.

 

 

 

Not the second take that Director Lee Yong-su had been satisfied with, but the first take with the restrained expression that he had evaluated as bland.

 

 

 

Director Lee Yong-su, who had watched the chronological sequence continuously, felt a drop of sweat trickling down his spine.

 

 

 

For a moment, he felt all the hair on his body standing on end.

 

 

 

‘Did he calculate this far ahead···?’

 

 

 

Ihan Tech, which Director Lee Yong-su was handling the advertisement for, was a defense industry company.

 

 

 

Therefore, he had only thought about expressing emotions to inspire patriotism like a public service announcement.

 

 

 

But the regular steps of the fighter pilot walking out with a restrained expression weren’t bland—looking again, they were inspiring trust.

 

 

 

The ‘tragedy’ arising from the fiery passion shown from Goryeo to Joseon was already sufficient to make the hearts of viewers who would watch the advertisement boil over.

 

 

 

And that ‘boiling emotion’ was converted into ‘fear’ of war along with past lessons that the country could be lost, experienced through the independence fighter and boy soldier of the Japanese colonial period and Korean War.

 

 

 

Then the scene changed again to Yeon-woo’s final role, slowly walking out in a flight suit.

 

The position the fighter pilot held in this advertisement wasn’t to make viewers burn with passion again.

 

 

 

‘···The last thing I had to do was instill trust. Considering the corporate image of a defense contractor, trust doesn’t come from fiery passion, but from an ice-cold, restrained demeanor.’

 

 

 

National defense in the modern era cannot be achieved with passionate hearts alone.

 

Only when backed by weapons crafted with precise advanced technology can true self-defense become possible.

 

 

 

In the first take, Ryu Yeon-woo in his flight suit, walking out with his helmet tucked under his arm, was ice-cold.

 

His restrained expression and gestures showed no emotional fluctuation.

 

He looked like a professional pilot who had gained expertise through repeated training and outstanding combat experience.

 

 

 

And Director Lee Yong-su recalled the advice Yeon-woo had added after finishing the shoot.

 

 

 

– Director, when you’re editing, please take a look at the first take of the pilot scene as well.

 

 

 

This meant that young actor had already grasped everything from the moment he looked at the storyboard, even before he started acting.

 

 

 

Director Lee Yong-su hadn’t realized it until the end because they were shooting in reverse order, but looking at the final result, he realized Ryu Yeon-woo had been right.

 

 

 

He had thought it was just bland acting because he wasn’t in the right mood, but it had all been calculated acting from the beginning.

 

 

 

“Hah, this actor… Is he even bigger than I thought?”

 

 

 

During his directing career, Director Lee had met almost all the top domestic actors worth mentioning.

 

 

 

Due to the nature of commercial films, he produced many works each year, so he had met countless stars, and among them were actors like Ryu Yeon-woo who had the ability to catch something beyond the scenario or storyboard through their acting.

 

 

 

‘But there was no actor this young among them.’

 

 

 

Those actors were veteran mid-career actors with at least 30 years of experience acting in front of cameras.

 

 

 

In contrast, Ryu Yeon-woo had shot his first commercial film with him when he was just starting to make a name for himself, so his career was only about 3 years in terms of years.

 

 

 

Of course, he had built quite a brilliant career in that time, but he was certainly not at a level that could be called a great actor.

 

 

 

The most brilliant rising star among recently debuted young actors.

 

However, after experiencing today’s shoot, Director Lee had no choice but to revise his evaluation of Ryu Yeon-woo.

 

 

 

“…A big star is going to rise in Korea’s acting scene.”

 

 

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