NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 131

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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 131. Action Rehearsal (2)

 

“Can you really do it?”

 

“Hey, how can you ask that when you’re the one who created it?”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo grinned and replied, martial arts director Do Gwang-wook scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

 

Seeing Director Do like that, Yeon-woo continued speaking.

 

 

 

“Let’s at least try practicing first. Please show me the movements in detail.”

 

“Okay. Let’s go.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo and the martial arts director walked to the center of the set.

 

 

 

“Alright, we’ll start from the left first. Myeong-jin, let’s begin.”

 

“Yes!”

 

 

 

When Director Do called his team members, men wearing special tights approached.

 

 

 

“I’ll show you in slow motion first.”

 

“Yes. I’ll try to follow as best as I can.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo stood about four steps away from Director Do and began catching the movements.

 

 

 

Director Do extended his foot about half a step while rotating his body, then deflected the white styrofoam rod of the man charging from the left with his arm.

 

 

 

Then, like performing combat technique, he blocked another man’s rod that was striking through the opening by turning his body and extending his back leg horizontally.

 

 

 

“This movement is a bit difficult here. If done quickly, the timing might not match, so you need to learn it by feel.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo nodded after watching the movement.

 

Indeed, deflecting the rod with his back foot where his vision couldn’t reach seemed difficult.

 

 

 

However, since the stunt team swinging the rods would deliberately aim to hit Yeon-woo’s sole, extending it at an appropriate height should work.

 

 

 

‘When CG is applied to those rods, they’ll become the long limbs of the White Blood Army androids, so it would be better to put more weight into the movements than Director Do’s.’

 

 

 

Yeon-woo followed the movements in slow motion while also considering where to place emphasis from an acting perspective.

 

 

 

Martial arts director Do Gwang-wook had only choreographed the action sequences; the acting movements layered on top were Yeon-woo’s responsibility.

 

 

 

After messily executing complex movements while fighting the men, the moment a gap appeared, Director Do ran to the white line drawn in front.

 

 

 

“Now, when you reach this point, an object will come flying. Myeong-jin, give me the sword.”

 

 

 

The stunt team member who ran to Director Do handed him a special effects sword with several dots marked on it.

 

Then another waiting stunt team member threw an object that looked like a baton used in relay races.

 

 

 

Martial arts director Do Gwang-wook timed it and struck the flying baton with all his might using the sword.

 

 

 

“You need to hit this as hard as possible.”

 

 

 

CG director Jung Yo-han, who had been watching the practice scene, hurriedly added an explanation.

 

 

 

“You need to act like you’re hitting something heavy so the recoil can be felt. What’s flying at you is a photon cannon after all.”

 

“···A photon cannon?”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo asked back, Jung Yo-han nodded firmly with a serious expression.

 

 

 

“It’s very important. I thought a lot about whether to use a railgun or photon cannon···.”

 

“Railgun? Well, anyway, I’ll try to express it as much as possible. The recoil.”

 

 

 

He didn’t know exactly what the difference was, but it seemed to be a very important concept to Jung Yo-han.

 

 

 

‘Right. He and Director Hwang Min-kwon are best friends.’

 

 

 

Somehow his head nodded in understanding.

 

 

 

After that, while performing various actions, Director Do gradually began to be pushed back by the men in tights.

 

And that movement naturally connected to lead Director Do toward the large hole in the corner of the set.

 

 

 

“Now you fall from here.”

 

“Yes, that’s right.”

 

 

 

Director Do answered and then got hit by several batons thrown by the men, sending his body flying backward.

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo approached and looked into the hole, there was a ball pit like you’d see at a kids cafe installed inside.

 

 

 

“Phew, that’s one scene.”

 

 

 

Martial arts director Do Gwang-wook stood up, pushing aside the colorful balls in the ball pit.

 

Yeon-woo looked at Director Hwang Min-kwon standing behind him.

 

 

 

“Director. How long is the running time for this scene?”

 

“Well? I’ll have to see after editing, but it’ll probably be around one minute or so.”

 

 

 

This scene would be the first scene to appear right as episode 1 of the series begins.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked at the white lines drawn messily like spider webs throughout the filming set while nodding his head as if reviewing something.

 

 

 

‘Hmm, combat scene here, cylinder there, then left followed by right. Then get pushed back to the hole.’

 

 

 

Soon he nodded and looked at martial arts director Do Gwang-wook who had come out of the ball pit.

 

 

 

“Director, if we do this without breaks at the original tempo, how many seconds would it take?”

 

“Without breaks? Hmm, Myeong-jin, how many seconds?”

 

“It takes about 45 to 47 seconds.”

 

 

 

Clap─.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo clapped his hands together to focus his attention.

 

 

 

“Then shall we try it in one take? We should be able to succeed within today.”

 

“Wow! One take? That would be amazing. Ehehe.”

 

 

 

In contrast to Director Hwang Min-kwon who was grinning foolishly at Yeon-woo’s words, martial arts director Do Gwang-wook smiled awkwardly.

 

 

 

“The thing is, we can do this because we’ve practiced hundreds of times to choreograph it, but it would definitely be too much to digest everything in just one day. Not only the precise movements, but every action needs to match down to the second.”

 

 

 

Then CG director Jung Yo-han also nodded and agreed.

 

 

 

“Well, I can fix minor discrepancies during post-production, but for a one-take shot, the overall margin of error needs to be small.”

 

“Then shall we try it first, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll film it in segments?”

 

 

 

Director Hwang Min-kwon agreed to Yeon-woo’s suggestion.

 

 

 

“Let’s do that.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo headed to the center point where the martial arts director had been standing.

 

 

 

“Alright, let’s begin. First, let’s match the movements at a slow speed. Yeon-woo, are you ready?”

 

“Yes.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo moved his body while recalling the movements he had just seen.

 

First, he stepped half a step forward to the left while rotating his body, and the stunt team swung styrofoam sticks toward Yeon-woo in sync.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo extended his left arm to deflect the approaching man’s styrofoam stick, then naturally used the momentum from his tilted body while rotating to extend his back leg in a roundhouse kick motion.

 

 

 

In sync with that, a white stick flew toward Yeon-woo’s toe tips.

 

 

 

It was a scene of blocking the sticks flying in sequence with precise timing using arms and legs with a ‘thwack’ sound.

 

 

 

While the martial arts director’s demonstration was truly close to martial arts, Yeon-woo’s movements were more fluid, reminiscent of a ballet dancer’s graceful motions.

 

 

 

In fact, it was closer to the opponent hitting Yeon-woo’s foot with the stick rather than Yeon-woo blocking the stick with his foot.

 

 

 

Originally, action acting coordination isn’t real combat, so if my action is fifty percent, the remaining fifty percent is the opponent deliberately getting hit after I extend just enough for them to hit easily.

 

 

 

The stunt team was excited by the movements that clicked into place well for a first attempt.

 

 

 

‘Next was the left side, and after that, two people from behind.’

 

 

 

Ooh─.

 

 

 

As the action continued, the sounds of admiration on the filming set grew louder.

 

 

 

Of course, he wasn’t remembering the movements in detail like skilled choreographers following choreography at first glance.

 

 

 

Since he had done close combat training until it was ingrained in his bones, he left it to the movements embedded in his body and focused mainly on memorizing the sequence of which direction the opponents would attack from.

 

 

 

As a result, while the appearance of his movements differed from the martial arts director’s, the positioning and rhythm all matched perfectly.

 

 

 

Before he knew it, he had reached the midpoint, and he heard voices from the stunt team beside him.

 

 

 

“Throwing!”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo saw a white baton flying toward him.

 

 

 

‘They said to deflect it so the repulsive force can be felt as much as possible.’

 

 

 

Repulsive force is basically repulsion.

 

It’s the force of two objects pushing against each other, and he had felt that countless times in his previous life.

 

 

 

The repulsive force generated between gunpowder and bullet when a gun is fired is more powerful than one might think.

 

 

 

‘I should think of it as roughly when a 50 caliber BMG round is fired.’

 

 

 

Yeon-woo drew his prop sword and deflected the flying baton with the blade.

 

 

 

The moment the blade met the baton, Yeon-woo’s arm trembled finely and was pulled back as if bricks had struck the sword.

 

And while shifting his center of gravity slightly backward, his lower body went down as if trying to maintain balance, while his arms rose slightly in contrast.

 

 

 

Jung Yo-han, who was monitoring, jumped up from his seat at the perfect appearance of deflecting something heavy.

 

 

 

‘Th-this works!’

 

 

 

It was a space covered entirely in green with nothing else, messily tangled with white spider web-like lines in the set.

 

What flew over was an unsightly white plastic baton.

 

 

 

However, with Yeon-woo’s acting added on top, a scene was created as if he had received some heavy attack.

 

 

 

And to Jung Yo-han’s eyes, watching the monitor while imagining the CG that would be overlaid, it seemed as if he could see white clusters of light.

 

Finally, the protagonist’s figure deflecting it with his sword.

 

 

 

Jung Yo-han clenched his fist and cheered at the vivid image playing in his head as if the editing was already complete.

 

 

 

‘I feel like artistic inspiration is just flowing. Ugh! I want to start editing quickly.’

 

 

 

Behind such Jung Yo-han, Yeon-woo continued performing the next movements in sequence.

 

Although it was the first rehearsal, so the speed was slow and there were some rough parts.

 

 

 

However, the stunt team members, amazed that he matched all the movements from the first rehearsal, opened their mouths and collectively turned their heads left and right following Yeon-woo’s movements.

 

 

 

“Hey, at this level, couldn’t we just film it as is?”

 

“R-right?”

 

 

 

He had trained his rejuvenated body with daily exercise, and his combat sense honed over more than ten years was being displayed without reserve.

 

 

 

When he finally reached the last point after being pushed back, the staff shouted again.

 

 

 

“Throwing!”

 

 

 

Watching the multiple batons flying toward him at once, Yeon-woo nodded.

 

 

 

‘It would look cooler in the shot if I deflect at least one of them.’

 

 

 

Though it wasn’t in the demonstration, he raised his sword to deflect the first baton that came flying, then took the rest with his torso while leaping backward toward the hole.

 

 

 

On the monitor, it looked like he was being hit by something heavy and sent flying.

 

 

 

“Oh wow, the shot looks amazing. A day like this comes in my life too!”

 

“Mingwon, you look excited?”

 

However, the one who actually looked more excited than Hwang Min-kwon, with his smile stretching from ear to ear, was Jung Yo-han himself.

 

 

 

‘This is really going to be fun to edit. My body is itching with anticipation.’

 

 

 

And this wasn’t even the actual filming.

 

It wasn’t even the actual filming.

 

It’s just the first rehearsal where we’re getting in sync.

 

No, he was practically salivating.

 

 

 

‘Ah, those movements and that flexibility. It seems like Korea might finally produce a proper action actor…’

 

 

 

The problem was that Yeon-woo was already a sufficiently recognized actor in other genres.

 

The problem is that Yeonwoo is already a well-recognized actor in other genres.

 

And an actor who is still growing and evolving.

 

While the various directors were each lost in their own thoughts, Yeonwoo walked out of the ball pit.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Since it was my first time, I think I made a lot of mistakes.”

 

The stunt teams listening to the story were dumbfounded and tilted their heads in confusion.

 

‘What are you talking about when I got everything right on the first try…?’

 

But Yeonwoo’s expression was serious.

 

‘It’s been a while, so my combat against people feels clumsy. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a gun.’

 

Yeonwoo quietly walked to the center of the set.

 

“I ask you once again.”

 

***

 

After that, the rehearsal was repeated several more times.

 

“Isn’t this pretty much perfect…?”

 

Director Hwang Min-kwon, who had been watching, tilted his head and spoke, while the action director beside him nodded.

 

However, due to the nature of this project, practice would be useless unless the movements were coordinated with the CG, so they inevitably couldn’t practice until the set was completely built.

 

 

 

So today, they had only planned to do camera rehearsals.

 

However, due to the nature of this production, practicing beforehand would have been useless unless the movements were coordinated with the CG, so we inevitably couldn’t rehearse until the sets were completely built.

 

So today I was only planning to do a camera rehearsal.

 

However, as the rehearsals progressed, seeing Yeonwoo perform more and more perfectly changed my mind.

 

It seemed like he had found the answers to the variations he had been trying during rehearsal.

 

 

 

“Let’s do that. I’ve also gotten somewhat used to it now.”

 

Yeonwoo nodded at Director Hwang Min-kwon’s words.

 

It seemed like I had found the answers to the changes I had been trying out during rehearsals.

 

“Let’s do that. I’ve gotten pretty used to it by now too.”

 

“Then let’s start with makeup. Please come this way, actor.”

 

Yeonwoo followed the staff and finished getting his makeup and costume ready.

 

The costume unified entirely in black, and in contrast, the silver sword gleaming at his waist.

 

 

 

But more than that, the completion of the setup was his face.

 

From the boots to the armor extending upward, and the robe that’s torn and looks like a cloak.

 

A costume unified entirely in black, with a gleaming silver sword at the waist that contrasts against it.

 

But more than anything, the face was what completed the look.

 

In fact, the plausibility of the fantasy seemed to be largely carried by Yeonwoo’s unrealistic appearance.

 

Before he knew it, he had stepped out not as Ryu Yeonwoo, but as Jeong Dojin from “White Blood.”

 

Through several rehearsals, it seemed like I had found the perfect balance between ‘complete immersion’ and ‘intentional action acting’.

 

Yeonwoo stood in the center of the set, nodded, and looked at Director Hwang.

 

“Shall we start right away?”

 

Now it was time to show it through acting.

—————
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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