NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 158

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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 158. Theater Company Myeongseong

 

Han Hae-woon was assigned the task of creating a recruitment list to select field agents who would serve as hands and feet for Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon in the fight against Baeksol.

 

 

 

And that was a job that would take quite a long time.

 

 

 

They had to investigate all the selected personnel so thoroughly that there would be nothing left to uncover, and any potential connections with Baeksol had to be pursued relentlessly and tracked down if there was even the slightest suspicion.

 

 

 

And since that was almost entirely legwork, there wasn’t much Yeon-woo could help with, as he could no longer walk around outside freely.

 

 

 

‘Hmm, what should I do in the meantime.’

 

 

 

Just then, Yeon-woo’s smartphone rang.

 

 

 

“Hm? So-hyeon?”

 

 

 

Not Han So-hyeon, but his younger sister Ryu So-hyeon.

 

 

 

“Yeah. So-hyeon.”

 

– What are you doing, oppa?

 

“Nothing really.”

 

– Then come down home. Mom and Dad want to have a meal together after a long time.

 

 

 

It had been quite a while since he’d gone down to his family home due to filming “White Blood,” and he didn’t have anything particular to do in Seoul.

 

 

 

“Alright. Got it. Tell them I’ll come down today.”

 

 

 

He hung up the phone and prepared to go down to his family home.

 

Though preparation was just putting on clothes and leaving since he didn’t have much to pack.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

While eating home-cooked food with his family after a long time and having a cozy chat, his younger sister So-hyeon grabbed his arm and shook it.

 

 

 

“Oppa! Get me an autograph.”

 

“From who? Jin Yu-han? Dong-ha?”

 

 

 

So-hyeon shook her head left and right at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

 

 

“No. Ella!”

 

“···Han Byeol?”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head at the unexpected words.

 

She used to be a Jin Yu-han fan···.

 

It was surprising that she suddenly wanted Han Byeol’s autograph.

 

 

 

“You like Han Byeol?”

 

“Yeah! She’s like a kitten, so cute.”

 

“What’s a kitten. A baby gangster?”

 

“···A baby cat.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo stroked his chin at So-hyeon’s words.

 

If she had asked earlier, he could have gotten it at the last wrap party.

 

 

 

He remembered the conversation Han Byeol had with her mother during script reading.

 

 

 

‘She said she wanted my autograph. An exchange would have been perfect. What a shame.’

 

 

 

Though now that they’d become quite close, he wasn’t sure if she’d still want an autograph.

 

 

 

“Hmm, filming is over and there’s no particular reason to meet right now. But I’ll see her sometime. If there’s really no occasion, I’ll call and get it for you.”

 

“Awesome! Oh, and oppa, you need to do about a hundred autographs too. For my school friends.”

 

“···A hundred?”

 

 

 

Then his parents sitting across also chimed in.

 

 

 

“Dad needs about that many too.”

 

“Mom doesn’t need that many, just about fifty.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

The next day after catching up with family he hadn’t seen in quite a while.

 

 

 

“Hmm. What’s this. Even shooting an automatic shotgun continuously never made my forearm muscles ache like this.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo groggily got up, massaging his slightly sore right arm from signing autographs late into the night.

 

 

 

Soon after getting ready to leave, Yeon-woo left home and headed to Jeong Cheol-min’s academy.

 

 

 

He took the elevator up to the floor where the academy was located, but since it was morning, there were no people around.

 

 

 

‘That’s fortunate. I was worried about getting mobbed like last time.’

 

 

 

He recalled when he had just finished “Summer’s Wardrobe” and came to get advice for his cameo appearance in “Spring Lover.”

 

 

 

That was during evening hours, peak time when students came to the academy after school ended, so he was surrounded from the entrance.

 

 

 

Yeon-woo passed through the quiet academy lobby and carefully opened the door to the director’s office.

 

 

 

Creak─.

 

 

 

“Is Teacher Dipangdal in?”

 

“Huh? Yeon-woo?”

 

 

 

Jeong Cheol-min, who had been looking at the suddenly opened director’s office door, spotted Yeon-woo entering.

 

Since he had come without notice, Cheol-min was completely caught off guard and startled.

 

Seeing Cheol-min’s reaction, Yeon-woo grinned.

 

 

 

“I came down yesterday.”

 

“You rascal. You could have at least said you were coming!”

 

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

 

 

 

Jeong Cheol-min had actually seen Yeon-woo at the wrap party, but even though it had only been a few days, he was happy to see him.

 

 

 

“Teacher, how’s the academy these days?”

 

“What’s there to say? It’s at its peak. There are even students coming down here from Seoul.”

 

 

 

While being left behind in competition with Seoul was the fate of provincial areas, a reverse phenomenon was occurring due to the title of being the academy that produced Ryu Yeon-woo.

 

 

 

After chatting about various things, Yeon-woo looked at Jeong Cheol-min and asked.

 

 

 

“Teacher. The small theater that the academy operates. There are days when the company members don’t use it, right?”

 

“The small theater? Why are you suddenly asking about the small theater?”

 

“Well…”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo explained the whole story of what had happened.

 

 

 

“…Hmm. You want to do theater in a small theater with your current stature? And with Jin Yu-han too?”

 

“Would it be too much?”

 

 

 

When Yeon-woo asked, Jeong Cheol-min thought for a moment then shook his head.

 

 

 

“No. That sounds completely interesting.”

 

 

 

Right now, to exaggerate a little, the world wanted Ryu Yeon-woo.

 

 

 

His market value was skyrocketing, but when contracting for this “White Blood,” he had signed a ‘running guarantee’ contract that gave him profits proportional to box office success, so for financial reasons, there was absolutely no need to accept other offers.

 

 

 

That’s why, aside from pre-contracted advertisements, he wasn’t doing any additional filming at all, and the same went for variety shows.

 

 

 

He was thinking of doing one variety show soon as fan service, but it definitely wasn’t for money or promotion.

 

 

 

And since he was still young, he could build up his filmography plenty more in the future, but his status had already risen so high that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say his career high had already begun.

 

 

 

‘But here he wants to do small theater plays, which could be called the very bottom?’

 

 

 

And not even with a theater company, but just with amateurs?

 

 

 

Of course, there was no hierarchy in acting, but from social and economic perspectives alone, he was taking the lowest path from the highest position.

 

 

 

Paradoxically, it was a choice possible precisely because he had achieved both social and economic success.

 

 

 

“Thinking about it again, it sounds so interesting. Suddenly Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han doing theater in a small theater.”

 

“Right?”

 

“So will you do promotion and all that?”

 

 

 

At Jeong Cheol-min’s question, Yeon-woo shook his head.

 

 

 

“No. It’s still a distant story, but we won’t even put our names or faces on the posters or tickets.”

 

 

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Jeong Cheol-min thought of future audiences who would accidentally find a small theater and suddenly see Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han appearing on stage, and laughed.

 

 

 

“Youth really is different. What a novel thing to do.”

 

 

 

Then Jeong Cheol-min scratched his head as if troubled and continued.

 

 

 

“But there’s a problem.”

 

“A problem?”

 

“Our small theater. After the flood last summer, something came loose somewhere and water keeps leaking from the ceiling, so it’s under repair right now, but the leak is hard to fix.”

 

 

 

So even the academy students couldn’t do theater right now.

 

 

 

“Really? Hmm. Then we’ll have to rent one in Seoul.”

 

 

 

Hearing Yeon-woo’s words, Jeong Cheol-min clapped his hands.

 

 

 

“That’s right! If you’re going to rent in Hyehwa-dong, I have a place to recommend.”

 

“A place you’d recommend, Teacher?”

 

 

 

Jeong Cheol-min nodded.

 

 

 

“The theater company where I first started doing theater. It’s on the verge of closing now, so you could say it’s practically disbanded.”

 

 

 

The theater company ‘Myeongseong’ where Jeong Cheol-min first started theater had, contrary to its name, lost almost all its fame, and had been in such bad shape for the past five years that it was difficult to maintain.

 

 

 

This year, they hadn’t even put on a single performance on stage.

 

 

 

“But the small theater itself is pretty decent. It’s a small stage with less than 150 seats, but the lighting and sound system are quite usable.”

 

“Then I like it. We can pay the rental fee and rent it long-term.”

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

After spending a few days at his family home, today he came up to Seoul with Jeong Cheol-min.

 

 

 

“So you last visited two years ago, Teacher?”

 

“Yeah. But it probably hasn’t gone under yet.”

 

 

 

Following the path Jeong Cheol-min guided and parking, it was indeed Hyehwa-dong administratively, but it was quite far from the places you’d think of when hearing Daehangno.

 

 

 

Pointing to a basement in a secluded area, Jeong Cheol-min said.

 

 

 

“Here it is. In the old days, there were quite a few theater companies around here too, but now only those on the main street have survived and the rest have been weeded out.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo looked around and nodded.

 

Given the conditions, it made sense that business wouldn’t work.

 

 

 

“Actually, that’s good. For amateurs to start.”

 

“What do you mean amateurs when you and Jin Yu-han are there?”

 

“Hey, this is my first time doing theater too, so I’m an amateur. Oh, is Yu-han a pro?”

 

 

 

While chatting, Jeong Cheol-min went down the stairs with familiar steps and Yeon-woo followed.

 

 

 

“What? Nobody’s here. Yeon-woo, take a look around the theater first. The office is on the 2nd floor here, okay? I’ll go up and check first.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

 

 

Jeong Cheol-min went back up the stairs and Yeon-woo looked around the theater.

 

 

 

The chairs installed along the slope looked to be in better condition than expected.

 

Thinking that the facilities were quite decent for being in such a secluded location, Yeon-woo went up onto the stage.

 

 

 

“Ah.”

 

 

 

When he made a sound, his voice reflected off the rounded ceiling and echoed loudly.

 

 

 

“At this level, we wouldn’t need to use separate sound facilities.”

 

 

 

Since amateurs would be performing anyway, the less equipment used, the better.

 

 

 

Standing in the center of the stage and looking at the seats, he could feel some inexplicable power from the space itself.

 

 

 

He had felt it at the awards ceremony too when people looked at the stage, but the stage had a special power.

 

 

 

It was a distinctly different feeling from acting in front of a camera.

 

 

 

“Hmm, but he’s not coming down?”

 

 

 

Quite a bit of time had passed while he was looking around at various things, but there was no word at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Jeong Cheol-min, who had gone up to the 2nd floor, was excitedly chatting after meeting a theater company classmate he hadn’t seen in a long time.

 

It was a classmate who had started theater company life together and shared all kinds of hardships.

 

 

 

He had given up on his acting dreams before Jeong Cheol-min and got a job at a company, but he never expected to see him here.

 

 

 

“Hey man, how long has it been? I never even dreamed you’d take over a theater company.”

 

“Tell me about it. I retired early and had nothing to do, so I’m just sitting here. I kept missing the old memories, you know.”

 

 

 

The classmate, who had been staring blankly outside the window, looked at Jeong Cheol-min and spoke again.

 

 

 

“By the way, it’s nice to see you doing well these days. You bastard. Living the good life thanks to having a good student, huh? You’re practically a celebrity now.”

 

 

 

At his classmate’s words, Jeong Cheol-min scratched the back of his head as if embarrassed.

 

 

 

“What celebrity? I just played a small role.”

 

“But you really taught Ryu Yeon-woo? I still can’t believe it. The guy who used to get hit with bats with me all the time. Hehe.”

 

“What old story are you bringing up? What bats?”

 

“How’s Ryu Yeon-woo? His acting is killer whether it’s movies or dramas.”

 

 

 

Only then did Jeong Cheol-min remember that he had left Yeon-woo in the basement.

 

 

 

“Ah, right. Wait a moment.”

 

 

 

Creak─.

 

 

 

Just then, the door opened and Yeon-woo came in.

 

 

 

“Ah, sir. I was waiting downstairs but you weren’t coming down, so…”

 

“Hup.”

 

 

 

Seeing Yeon-woo, the classmate jumped up.

 

It was natural to be surprised since South Korea’s hottest star had suddenly opened the door and walked in.

 

 

 

Watching his classmate’s reaction, Jeong Cheol-min chuckled.

 

 

 

“I actually came with him. Yeon-woo, say hello. This is my theater company classmate and the current president of this theater company.”

 

 

 

After hearing the introduction, Yeon-woo bowed his head in greeting.

 

 

 

“Hello. I’m Ryu Yeon-woo.”

 

“Oh my, yes, yes. Of course I know you. I’m Yoo Ho-cheol, running theater company ‘Myeongseong’. Well, running it means it’s always empty, but still.”

 

 

 

Yeon-woo smiled broadly looking at Yoo Ho-cheol.

 

 

 

Well, what need was there to say anything else?

 

This would be the best news for the president of a theater company where only flies buzz around.

 

 

 

“Then this works out perfectly. I’d like to rent this theater company for about six months.”

 

“Ah, yes, yes. …What?”

 

 

—————
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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