NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 134

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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 134. Baeksol’s Informant

 

Kim Ju-seong stared intently at the director who had raised the question before opening his mouth.

 

 

 

“What makes you think that way?”

 

“Given the domestic content industry conditions, the fantasy genre has never succeeded even once. But aren’t we investing a huge amount of money in production? Do you know that the fantasy drama ‘Baldur’ that aired on MBS last time also caused several companies to suffer major losses without even recovering their investment?”

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong tilted his head at the board’s opinion.

 

 

 

“The ‘Baldur’ you mentioned had good initial ratings, but wasn’t the cause of its failure that it couldn’t secure viewership ratings while competing with ‘Stars Beyond Garam,’ starring our LN Enter’s actor Ryu Yeon-woo? I don’t think it’s a genre problem.”

 

“Ahem. But…”

 

 

 

Since the agenda couldn’t pass if CEO Kim Ju-seong, who held the largest voting rights, opposed it, this was essentially a meaningless meeting from the start.

 

 

 

Though it was a formal board meeting, CEO Kim Ju-seong reluctantly nodded since he couldn’t completely ignore the shareholders’ opinions.

 

 

 

“I understand. Appointing outside directors can lead the company in a good direction in the long term, so I’ll agree to it as well.”

 

 

 

Outside directors are a system where external personnel unrelated to major shareholders participate in the board to prevent major shareholders’ unilateral management decisions in advance.

 

 

 

Even if outside directors were appointed, Kim Ju-seong’s influence within the company remained dominant as he was a legendary figure in the industry who had built everything from scratch, so it wouldn’t be easy to challenge his opinions.

 

 

 

Having obtained CEO Kim Ju-seong’s consent, the moderator took the microphone.

 

 

 

“Then I declare that Agenda Item 3, the additional appointment of outside directors, has been approved as originally proposed, with the board and management each recommending one person for future appointment.”

 

 

 

After the board meeting ended, CEO Kim Ju-seong left the conference room and took the elevator to the CEO office on the top floor.

 

 

 

Team Leader Jeong Hyeok followed beside him, shaking his head.

 

 

 

“Aren’t those board members just being unreasonable? There hasn’t been a single failed investment project in the past three years, yet they question your management abilities.”

 

 

 

Looking at Team Leader Jeong, CEO Kim Ju-seong smiled slightly.

 

 

 

“It’s an obvious scheme. Our stock price has risen quite a bit lately.”

 

“Yes. After all, the works featuring Actor Ryu have hit big four times in a row.”

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong shook his head left and right at Team Leader Jeong Hyeok’s words.

 

 

 

“My feeling is that’s not the only reason.”

 

 

 

“Summer’s Wardrobe” was self-produced, and LN Enter was practically the only investor in the independent film “Sketch.”

 

 

 

On the other hand, “Master Plan” and “Stars Beyond Garam” weren’t directly produced by LN, they just had Ryu Yeon-woo as the lead actor.

 

 

 

“Someone is steadily buying up our entertainment company’s stock. Quite aggressively, in fact.”

 

“What? Who…?”

 

“Well…”

 

 

 

Ding─.

 

 

 

The elevator had arrived at the top floor.

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong got off the elevator, lost in thought.

 

In the entertainment industry, there were only rumors circulating about those people.

 

 

 

But CEO Kim Ju-seong knew that their existence was definitely real.

 

 

 

“It seems someone doesn’t like me. This has gotten interesting.”

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong raised the corners of his mouth as if he truly found it amusing.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, at that moment, somewhere in Seoul, a man was respectfully holding a phone and bowing his head.

 

 

 

“Yes. I understand. I’ll make sure there are no mistakes this time.”

 

– Right. We can’t let some entertainer business guy get the better of us, can we?

 

“I apologize.”

 

 

 

Despite the metallic voice coming from the receiver and the fact that the other person wasn’t visible, the man bowed toward empty air while taking the call.

 

 

 

– You see, meat. If it’s too big, your jaw hurts from chewing, and if you’re not careful, you’ll get indigestion trying to digest it. You have to slice it up and eat it when it’s just the right size.

 

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo, who had been focused on filming, released the wire connected to his harness along with the okay sign.

 

 

 

“Phew.”

 

 

 

Chroma key action filming turned out to be more complicated than expected.

 

Kim Min-su ran toward Yeon-woo, who was catching his breath after the forced march that had continued since morning.

 

 

 

“Actor, please have some water.”

 

“Ah, thank you, Min-su hyung.”

 

“When you were flying around with the wire on, you looked exactly like a special agent from a spy movie.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo chuckled at Kim Min-su’s words as he walked to a corner of the filming set while drinking water.

 

 

 

“Really? From my perspective, I probably looked like a very angry flying squirrel.”

 

 

 

Special agents don’t fly around like that, you know.

 

 

 

“Haha. A flying squirrel?”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo returned to his original waiting spot while joking around with Kim Min-su.

 

When he sat in his chair and unlocked his smartphone’s pattern, several messages had arrived while he was filming.

 

 

 

“Um… I’m going to use the restroom.”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo stood up with his smartphone, Manager Kim Min-su nodded.

 

 

 

“Yes. Since your filming is finished for today, I’ll start the car and get ready to leave.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo nodded and went out through the back door of the filming set.

 

 

 

He passed by the restroom and headed to the deserted back alley, then made a phone call somewhere.

 

 

 

– Yes. Team Leader.

 

 

 

“Yeah. You said you have something important to report?”

 

 

 

The sender of the message that arrived during filming was Han Hae-woon.

 

 

 

– It’s information obtained through the device we installed at Plus Ten last time. It seems those guys are plotting something against the movie you’re currently filming, Team Leader.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head at the unexpected story.

 

 

 

“The movie I’m filming? You mean White Blood?”

 

 

 

– Yes. The information I obtained was instructions to drug a certain role, unlike last time with Stars Beyond the Stream, to ensure there would be no mistakes.

 

 

 

“Drug a certain role…? I understand for now. Contact me immediately if anything else comes up.”

 

 

 

– Yes. Team Leader. Oh, and I’ve been transferred to Seoul Northern District Prosecutors’ Office.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

“Oh, really? That’s great. It’ll be much easier now.”

 

 

 

Since Han Hae-woon had been in Busan until now, the distance made it difficult to coordinate quickly when problems arose.

 

 

 

– Then I’ll contact you immediately if there are any other matters to report.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo hung up and fell into thought.

 

 

 

The incident with Stars Beyond the Stream likely referred to action actor ‘Park Kyung-wan’ who was originally cast as the bodyguard role appearing in the latter half.

 

 

 

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise when Son Jin-wook appeared as a cameo instead.

 

 

 

At that time, it was suspected that Baeksol’s minions, who had invested in the competing work “Baldur,” had hastily intervened to bury “Stars Beyond the Stream,” which was emerging as a competitor in the same time slot.

 

 

 

‘But why now…?’

 

 

 

“White Blood” was distributed through Netflix, so there were no real competing works.

 

 

 

There was no competition in the same time slot, and since it was impossible to know when filming would be completed, there was no way to predict which works it would compete against later.

 

 

 

Every action has a motive.

 

And there must be a financial motive behind their movements.

 

 

 

‘Their target couldn’t be me…’

 

 

 

Since there was no way to know about the supernatural situation of reincarnation, the possibility of them discovering Han Hae-woon’s or Yeon-woo’s true identity was zero.

 

 

 

Then if those guys interfered with “White Blood,” what benefits could they gain?

 

 

 

A way to benefit when this series failed…

 

He thought deeply but couldn’t come up with anything suitable.

 

 

 

‘Then it’s not for immediate one-dimensional gain, but a long-term plan.’

 

 

 

If the work isn’t the target…

 

 

 

“Then their target is LN Enter?”

 

 

 

Though he couldn’t know for certain yet, it seemed they wanted to damage LN Enter for some reason.

 

 

 

Since the budget invested in this project was quite large, if it collapsed, the agency would certainly suffer significant damage.

 

 

 

He briefly summarized his deductions and sent a message to Han Hae-woon.

 

 

 

Since Kim Min-su said he’d start the car and wait, he headed toward the parking lot.

 

 

 

‘Drugging a certain role, hmm…’

 

 

 

The certain roles in this series, excluding himself as the protagonist, left four others.

 

 

 

Han Byeol in the role of Ella.

 

Jung Su-yeon in the narrator role.

 

Exis Dong-ha in the role of Akhenaton.

 

Jeon Ki-hoon in the role of Dipandal.

 

 

 

Logically, it would be right to exclude middle schooler Han Byeol and his friend Jung Su-yeon, but he decided to keep all possibilities open for now.

 

 

 

‘If it’s not a pre-planted minion, there’s also the possibility they could work on someone like An Jun-ho.’

 

 

 

An Jun-ho had worked with him in “Summer’s Wardrobe,” but he had a timid personality and wasn’t someone who would touch drugs first.

 

 

 

According to his own words, he only drank champagne distributed at the event, so it was highly likely that they had played tricks to use him.

 

 

 

‘There’s a high possibility they could create controversy by working that way.’

 

 

 

Though he didn’t want to think about such possibilities, if they wanted to create public shock, there was plenty of possibility they could use Han Byeol or Jung Su-yeon.

 

 

 

Of course, if something happened to current idol Exis Dong-ha, they could amplify the noise as they wanted, and the same went for middle-aged actor Jeon Ki-hoon, who was famous for his volunteer work.

 

 

 

Just then, Kim Min-su rolled down the driver’s window from a corner of the parking lot and shouted.

 

 

 

“Sir. Just stay there. I’ll bring the car out.”

 

 

 

Soon the van stopped in front of Yeon-woo and he got in.

 

 

 

“I’m too late, aren’t I?”

 

“Not at all. I told the director that you were leaving for the day.”

 

“Ah, thank you.”

 

 

 

Come to think of it, he had been so distracted by Han Hae-woon’s contact that he went straight to the parking lot without even seeing Director Hwang Min-kwon.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo sank into his seat and stared blankly at the car’s ceiling.

 

 

 

Thinking of Hwang Min-kwon naturally led him to think about the production team rather than the actors.

 

If problems arose with the production team, the fate of this project would be greatly shaken.

 

 

 

“Hmm, the more I think about it, everything’s a problem.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“It’s nothing. I was thinking about the next scene we’re filming.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

After that, filming continued smoothly without any major issues, and more than ten days passed.

 

 

 

He had good chemistry with Han Byeol, who played Ella, so there were no difficulties in filming.

 

 

 

“Today will be the first time all the actors gather together.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo nodded at Director Jung Yo-han’s words, seeing his face after a long time.

 

It was the first day they were having a company dinner since the crank-in.

 

 

 

“That’s right. Senior Jeon Ki-hoon wasn’t present during the script reading.”

 

“That actor couldn’t adjust his schedule because filming for his previous work wasn’t finished yet.”

 

 

 

Veteran actor Jeon Ki-hoon, who played the role of ‘Dipangdal’, one of the protagonist’s main companions.

 

He was an actor famous for his image of doing a lot of volunteer work and good deeds.

 

 

 

Thanks to him, the average age of what used to be the School Meal Expedition Team shot up considerably.

 

 

 

“Then Director Jeong will also have a drink after a long time today.”

 

“I’ve been holed up in a small room just working lately. But since there are guys who came over from America, I always drink beer like a beverage while working.”

 

 

 

Jung Yo-han chuckled thinking about the colleagues who had come over from Hollywood to join them.

 

 

 

“Actor Ryu doesn’t have any scenes with Akhenaton yet, right?”

 

“No. Not yet, but I heard we’ll be filming together soon. I’ve only met Ella so far.”

 

“I’m working on Akhenaton’s solo footage, and I was worried since he’s from an idol background, but his acting is pretty decent.”

 

 

 

‘Akhenaton’ was the role played by Dong-ha from the idol group XYZS.

 

He was the second companion to join in the story, but since filming hadn’t progressed to that part yet, this was the first time seeing Dong-ha since the script reading.

 

 

 

While chatting with Director Jung Yo-han about various things, the restaurant door opened and Director Hwang Min-kwon entered with the actors.

 

 

 

Today, all the main actors and production team were gathering, so he needed to observe each one carefully.

 

 

 

“Hello. I wanted to meet you, but we haven’t had any scenes to film together yet.”

 

“Ah, Dong-ha. That’s right.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo smiled and shook hands with Dong-ha.

 

Then, Jeon Ki-hoon, who was entering behind him, approached Yeon-woo and extended his hand.

 

 

 

“Oh, Actor Ryu.”

 

“Hello. This is my first time meeting you, Senior.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo politely took Jeon Ki-hoon’s hand and smiled.

 

 

 

Though his expression was smiling, Yeon-woo’s eyes were quickly scanning the actors, catching various pieces of information in real time.

 

 

 

Jung Su-yeon and Han Byeol entering afterward.

 

And even the production team members.

 

 

 

After observing several things, the corners of Yeon-woo’s mouth curved up.

 

 

 

‘Hmm, it’s probably this guy, isn’t it? Baeksol’s lackey.’

 

 

—————
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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