NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 157

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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 157. Star of the Small Theater

 

Yeon-woo headed to the upscale restaurant they always went to, as CEO Kim Ju-seong had called him to have lunch together.

 

 

 

Drrrk─.

 

 

 

“You’re here, Yeon-woo.”

 

“CEO. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you.”

 

 

 

Although he often went to LN Enter’s office building, there was no occasion to run into CEO Kim Ju-seong, so they hadn’t seen each other during the filming of 「White Blood」, making it quite a long time.

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong smiled and offered Yeon-woo a seat.

 

 

 

“Let’s sit. Since Actor Ryu films works every year without rest, having meals here has become like an annual event.”

 

“Now that I think about it, that’s true.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo also smiled back and took his seat.

 

 

 

“As an investor and as an agency CEO, I’m pleased with this work’s success, but I also enjoyed it as a viewer. 「White Blood」 was interesting.”

 

“Thank you, CEO.”

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong was the very person who had readily decided to produce it after seeing the unorganized script in the beginning.

 

 

 

Of course, Yeon-woo had advocated for it first, but it was clearly a series that would cost an enormous amount in production costs, so without CEO Kim Ju-seong’s approval, it would have been an impossible project.

 

 

 

“Hmm, it was truly a strange book, that script Director Hwang brought at first.”

 

“Yes, it really was. Dinosaurs and even spaceships.”

 

 

 

Although the macrophages’ appearance changed from dinosaurs to something closer to tentacle monsters, the space warship eventually appeared too, and the original story didn’t change much.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo and Writer Kim Jin-ju had simply secured plausibility and made it more refined through their meetings together.

 

 

 

“From now on, LN’s promotional strategy team will work hard. Instead of the existing old-fashioned promotion methods, they’ll start marketing in a different way suited to these times, so even though the series has ended, the response will get hotter and hotter.”

 

“I see. Our company’s staff are all veterans anyway.”

 

 

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Kim Ju-seong chuckled and spoke again.

 

 

 

“Oh, the outside director position that Yeon-woo recommended last time was approved for Professor Kim Tae-kyung. He’s an interesting person when you meet him?”

 

“Did he also tell you about the rock band story, CEO…?”

 

 

 

Before Yeon-woo could finish speaking, CEO Kim Ju-seong nodded.

 

 

 

“Yes, he’s definitely a person with character.”

 

“He really is.”

 

 

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong nodded and continued eating, then spoke again.

 

 

 

“Yeon-woo. If you keep colliding strongly, cracks will appear somewhere and eventually it will break. Everything needs rest. I made a recommendation once before you started 「White Blood」, but this time you should listen to me and take some rest.”

 

 

 

Though it came out of nowhere, Yeon-woo understood what he meant.

 

 

 

Looking back at his previous life, it wasn’t wrong at all.

 

He had collided with the world more strongly than anyone and eventually shattered miserably.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo obediently nodded and answered.

 

 

 

“I understand. I’ll take a break for a while.”

 

“Oh.”

 

 

 

Seeing such a Yeon-woo, Kim Ju-seong looked at him with interested eyes.

 

 

 

“You agree more easily than I thought?”

 

“Haha. I do need to rest too.”

 

 

 

He would take some rest from ‘activities’ to a certain extent.

 

But of course, he had no intention of resting from ‘acting’.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

As CEO Kim Ju-seong said, 「White Blood」 finished airing until the last episode, but public interest grew even more.

 

 

 

If you asked most experts to pick the most successful work in the second half of this year, both domestically and internationally, the majority would choose 「White Blood」.

 

 

 

And to add fuel when the fire was lit, LN Enter’s PR team released 「White Blood」’s making films and filming sets through YouTube.

 

 

 

Movie YouTubers immediately took that source material, reprocessed it, and started uploading, and since it was currently the hottest content plus the special effects studio footage had a completely different feel from the actual scenes, it was enough to be chosen by YouTube’s algorithm.

 

 

 

“Hello everyone. This is CineTube. 「White Blood」, which used CG in over 80% of the entire series, is really hot these days. Today we’ll take a detailed look through the filming set footage released directly by LN Media.”

 

 

 

On screen, Yeon-woo was hanging from wires against a chroma key background while wearing a special costume.

 

 

 

Staff in tights were pushing green styrofoam walls from both sides, and Yeon-woo became Jeong Do-jin himself, squeezing through between them and supporting with both arms.

 

 

 

Then Han Byeol with pigtails came rolling in through the gap between Yeon-woo’s arms as he held the opening.

 

 

 

– I’ll help open it!

 

 

 

And in the next scene, the faces of the two forcibly opening the barrier together were enlarged.

 

 

 

The screen was composed so you could compare both at once – the left side showing the raw filming footage as is, the right side showing the edited final scene.

 

 

 

On the right screen, electric currents crackled as the blue barrier tore and discharged, but the actual filmed original just had green styrofoam.

 

 

 

The key point of the video was in Yeon-woo’s face.

 

 

 

Even though in reality it was just staff in tight suits pushing around a shabby green styrofoam box, Yeon-woo showed detailed acting by controlling even his eyelids and cheek muscles to create a trembling expression as if feeling the current generated by the tearing barrier.

 

 

 

It was method acting with complete immersion in the role.

 

 

 

“Did you see that, everyone?”

 

 

 

The YouTuber played the screen in slow motion, pointing out and explaining each detailed piece of acting.

 

 

 

“These subtle facial expressions probably weren’t written in the script. I assume this is acting that actor Ryu Yeon-woo delivered through complete immersion in his role.”

 

 

 

He alternated between checking the split-screen footage of before and after editing, then continued speaking.

 

 

 

“When such detailed acting is conceived and presented in advance, the post-production experts who receive it would proceed by adding special effects to match it. Let’s keep watching.”

 

 

 

Not just this scene, but most of the following scenes continued with such highly immersive acting that made you wonder how it was even possible.

 

 

 

Thanks to LN Enter’s promotional strategy team that scattered an abundance of fan content and the secondary content uploaded by YouTubers analyzing each piece, fans were on the verge of happiness overload.

 

 

 

– SlimeCreamDoorOpens (4 minutes ago)

 

Give us more content! Feed us until we throw up from eating too much!

 

 

 

– Plee’sASMR (3 minutes ago)

 

I watched this scene with tension, but the filming set looks somehow ridiculously funny lol

 

 

 

– Ryu So-hyeon (3 minutes ago)

 

Look at Ella’s rolling speed, I thought it was a kitten going to eat treats, so adorable for real

 

 

 

– I’llGiveItFreeJustBuyWell (2 minutes ago)

 

Everyone look at Yeon-woo’s facial expression acting! How can he move like that with nothing there? Amazing, right?

 

 

 

– JeonLeeManGapOReform (1 minute ago)

 

For real, he’s someone born to act

 

 

 

– ForeignMomHongdaeKondae (17 seconds ago)

 

Everyone’s forgetting this fact, but he’s from Korea University. This is what happens when a smart person also has talent

 

 

 

 

 

And at this moment, Yeon-woo was in a cramped studio apartment.

 

 

 

“Why are you coming to my studio apartment when you have Yeon-woo’s spacious house…”

 

 

 

Woo Seong-sik grumbled as he quickly picked up clothes scattered here and there, roughly stuffing them into the storage cabinet.

 

Jun-su sat down on the floor with a thud as if this scene was familiar, shrugging his shoulders.

 

 

 

“This place is closest. We’re just having some simple chicken and beer, no need to go all the way to Gangnam.”

 

 

 

Today was the day of Jin Yu-han’s musical “Dejandor” opening performance.

 

The survival shooting range members had been invited to watch together after a long time, and Jin Yu-han, who was the musical’s protagonist, had joined them as well.

 

 

 

“But Yu-han, are you really okay being with us? Don’t you have like a company dinner or something?”

 

 

 

Jin Yu-han nodded with a smile.

 

 

 

“I don’t usually go to after-parties or company dinners anyway.”

 

 

 

Then the doorbell rang.

 

 

 

Ding-dong─.

 

 

 

“I’ll get it!”

 

 

 

‘Pension part-timer’ Ju-hyeong got up and ran to the entrance, then returned carrying chicken.

 

 

 

Soon they sat around the delivered chicken on the floor, tearing into it, and naturally the conversation flowed toward today’s musical “Dejandor” that they had watched.

 

 

 

“Honestly, this was my first time actually watching a musical, and it was really fun.”

 

 

 

When Seong-sik said this while tearing into a chicken wing, Ju-hyeong nodded.

 

 

 

“You guys didn’t see Yeon-woo and Yu-han acting together, right? I saw it last time when I went to cheer during practice.”

 

“Huh? Why was Yeon-woo acting when you went to cheer?”

 

“I don’t know. It just happened that way, but anyway, it was amazing.”

 

 

 

Then Jun-su tilted his head.

 

 

 

“But it’s a musical. This guy’s singing is terrible though?”

 

“…Terrible?”

 

 

 

At Jun-su’s unfiltered words, Yeon-woo became dejected, and seeing this, Ju-hyeong spoke up for him.

 

 

 

“There was no singing in that part. Oh, I’ve seen Yeon-woo do theater acting one more time.”

 

 

 

It was when Yeon-woo had acted out the script that Ju-hyeong himself had written.

 

As if remembering that time, Yeon-woo also nodded and asked Ju-hyeong.

 

 

 

“Have you written a lot of scripts since then?”

 

“…I’ve almost finished it.”

 

 

 

Then the other three, who had been putting chicken in their mouths, opened their eyes wide.

 

 

 

“What script?”

 

“Ju-hyeong is writing a theater script.”

 

“Huh? Really?”

 

“Ju-hyeong, did you have that kind of ability?”

 

 

 

At the kids’ reaction, Kim Ju-hyeong scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

 

 

 

“No, it’s not really a grand ability or anything, just something I’m scribbling as a hobby.”

 

 

 

At Kim Ju-hyeong’s words, Yeon-woo shook his head.

 

 

 

“I acted out something he wrote as a test, and it’s pretty high quality for a hobby. I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but Teacher Jeong Cheol-min’s acting academy has a small theater and aspiring actors, so we’re planning to maybe put on a play on stage someday.”

 

 

 

Then Woo Seong-sik’s eyes lit up.

 

 

 

“Hey. Then do you need any minor roles or staff? After watching Yu-han’s musical today, I thought I’d like to try something like that at least once before going to the military.”

 

 

 

Then Kim Jun-su pondered for a moment before raising his hand.

 

 

 

“If you’re going to do it, include me too. I’m also going to the military soon, so I want to do something productive before I go.”

 

“What do you think? Writer Kim Ju-hyeong.”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo poked Kim Ju-hyeong’s side and asked, Kim Ju-hyeong stammered in confusion.

 

 

 

“Uh, huh? I’m fine with anything…”

 

“Oh, good. This should be fun.”

 

“Hey. Then even if we only get minor roles with just a few lines, shouldn’t we learn some acting? Can we even do it?”

 

 

 

When Kim Jun-su worried, Woo Seong-sik pointed at Yeon-woo with his finger, asking what there was to worry about.

 

 

 

“The god of acting is right here. What are you worried about?”

 

“Ah, I guess so.”

 

 

 

As the atmosphere among the friends shifted toward actually doing something together, Jin Yu-han, who had been quietly listening, raised his hand.

 

 

 

“Include me too.”

 

“…”

 

 

 

After a moment of silence, Kim Jun-su looked at Jin Yu-han and asked.

 

 

 

“By include you, you mean going up on stage…?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You just started a musical! Today’s the opening night, isn’t it?”

 

“Well, we’re not starting right away, are we? My musical will be over in about two and a half months anyway.”

 

 

 

Then Jin Yu-han looked at Yeon-woo and continued.

 

 

 

“Yeon-woo, instead of just directing, why don’t you go up on stage with us? We talked before about how it would be fun if we did a play together.”

 

 

 

At Jin Yu-han’s suggestion, Yeon-woo stroked his chin.

 

Since he had decided to take a break from entertainment activities for a while anyway, there really wouldn’t be any problem.

 

 

 

“Hmm, should I?”

 

 

 

Then Kim Ju-hyeong’s jaw dropped as he opened his mouth wide.

 

 

 

Originally, when Yeon-woo said he would act after finishing the play script, that was meant for testing purposes like proofreading or directing, not actually going up on stage.

 

 

 

“Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han are going to perform in a play I wrote…?”

 

 

 

Unexpectedly, massive stars began falling onto the small theater stage.

 

 

—————
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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