NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 18

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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 18. Summer’s Closet

The cast and staff all gathered in the main conference room of the LN Media building to watch the first broadcast together.

 

Normally, they would gather at the JNBC building where the drama was being aired or rent out a restaurant, but the cast and staff gathered at the outsourcing production company LN Media’s building out of consideration for Director Kim Han-su and the production team who were passionately editing until the very last moment.

 

“Alright! It’ll start as soon as this last commercial ends.”

 

The final commercial before the start was still playing, and Yeon-woo’s mobile phone kept vibrating.

 

He changed his phone settings to silent mode and checked the KakaoTalk messages.

 

 

Starting with the family group chat.

 

– Mom and Dad are so nervous we could die. Son.

– Looking at the real-time talk on the green window, everyone seems really excited. Oppa!

 

Yeon-woo sent a private message to his younger sister So-hyeon asking her to keep any malicious comments or negative content from their parents, then looked at other group chats where the numbers kept rising.

 

– Yeon-woo, I made all my guild members watch it live too

– Me too, even all my relatives!

 

These were messages from his school friends saying they had each made everyone around them watch the live broadcast.

 

Yeon-woo smiled happily and focused on the screen again.

 

‘Summer’s Closet’ began with the intro playing.

 

Waaaah!

Clap clap clap!

 

The main conference room was filled with applause and cheers celebrating the fruition of all their hard work.

 

Everyone was busy in their own way, from Director Kim Han-su constantly talking on the phone with JNBC Drama Department in the corner to staff members taking photos of the intro screen with their phones.

 

“Ugh! This moment always makes me so nervous I could go crazy!”

 

Even So-hyeon, already a top actress who had played leading roles multiple times, covered her face with both hands and peeked at the screen through her fingers.

 

And the first broadcast began in earnest.

 

Yeon-woo, taking on his first work and first leading role, was equally nervous inside.

 

He was a veteran who had crossed war zones with artillery shells flying around and conducted all kinds of special operations including infiltration, intelligence, and VIP protection, but facing the public with his name on the line was a completely new territory.

 

The first broadcast that began this way started with scenes showing the freshness and exciting atmosphere of the campus, followed by cheerful and lively scenes, and dialogue between Seo Jun and Yeo-reum as they bickered back and forth, and the internet reactions were also good.

 

 

「Green Window Real-time Talk – JNBC Summer’s Closet」

 

– 꾸리망고(sky14***) : 생각보다 여름이랑 한소현 찰떡인데?

– 곰팅s(mwlsd***) : 웹툰 분위기 잘 살린 듯, 뭔가 벌써 설렌다.

– 귤민이(answlt***) : 손진욱이랑 한소현이 주연 맡은 것부터 게임 끝. 난 아직도 저 A급 둘이 캠퍼스물 로코에 출연한 게 신기함.

 

 

Ryu So-hyeon, who was half-watching the drama while mainly monitoring real-time reactions, watched more anxiously than anyone, praying internally that only positive comments would appear even when her brother showed up.

 

The middle of episode 1 was approaching, and now it was time for Cha Woo-ju’s first appearance.

 

Fast-beat music played as Cha Woo-ju walked out onto the runway.

 

“Wow, amazing. I was surprised when we filmed that too.”

“Right. I really thought they brought in someone who used to be a model.”

“Well, but Yeon-woo could definitely make it as a model right now, couldn’t he?”

 

Exclamations burst out in the main conference room.

 

Since Yeon-woo wasn’t a model, this was a scene they had planned to shoot with short full shots and mainly bust shots in case the visuals didn’t turn out as expected.

 

However, as if the production team’s worries were unfounded, Yeon-woo showed off his visuals to his heart’s content, and when he demonstrated walking like a real model, they edited and aired that scene as a full shot like a real fashion show.

 

Since this was the first time the staff and actors, except for a few production team members, were seeing the edited final version, everyone gave short applause and cheers toward the director and Yeon-woo for the perfect scene.

 

Yeon-woo smiled sheepishly and gave a light bow to those around him.

 

 

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo’s family, who had been anxiously worried, were also rejoicing.

 

“Oh my, oh my, whose son is that.”

“That kid, he takes after me and looks absolutely amazing.”

 

Ryu So-hyeon, who looked back and forth between the screen and her dad with a puzzled expression, looked at her phone.

 

 

「Green Window Real-time Talk – JNBC Summer’s Closet」

 

화성갈끄니까(suin4***) : 뭐···지? 이 비주얼?

짱구는옷말려(danbe3***) : 이건 캐스팅 미스네요. 얼굴이 웹툰보다 더 만화 같으면 어쩌자는 거임.

박지현(hyeo***) : 누구냐, 저 남자. 갖.고.싶.다.

준수대왕(forbes***) : 류느님 외모 개사기쥬?

 

 

The real-time comment window refreshed two pages at a time with each refresh, with comment speed faster than when the drama started.

 

“Mom and Dad! This is amazing. All the comment reactions are incredibly good. Everyone says he’s so handsome.”

“Of course! Whose son is he?”

 

Contrary to Yeon-woo’s worries, the reactions were extremely good, with no need for So-hyeon to hide anything from their parents.

 

With various supporting characters appearing this way, episode 1 ended with the scene where Chairman Cha furiously scolds his son Cha Woo-ju, which Yeon-woo had rehearsed with Director Kim Han-su during script reading.

 

Even though Yeon-woo knew all the content and had even filmed more than half of the scenes himself, he watched the drama with sweaty palms and thrilling excitement.

 

Facing himself on screen, something he had yearned for since his past life, was more exhilarating and joyful than he had imagined.

 

An hour passed without him knowing how, and the staff members each searched for ‘Summer’s Closet’ on the green window to check the viewership trends.

 

The first to speak up was Director Kim Han-su, who had been making phone calls continuously.

 

“Everyone! According to the broadcasting station’s internal survey, our first episode’s viewership rating is 8.3%.”

 

At the director’s words, applause and cheers erupted from all directions, and writer Choi Mi-hyeon and Han So-hyeon looked at each other and clapped their hands together.

 

Then, while everyone was cheering, the assistant director who hadn’t put down his mobile phone shouted.

 

“According to the green window, it’s a bit higher. It’s 8.7%!”

 

Jin-wook also looked at Yeon-woo and gave him a high-five.

 

“Alright, alright, I’d like to have a company dinner today, but since all our main character filming will be finished once we wrap up Saturday’s shoot, let’s push through the weekend.”

 

Wheeew!

 

Whistle sounds could be heard as the large conference room was filled with excitement.

 

***

 

Initially, Han Hae-woon tried to forget about Jeon Su-hwan due to pressure from above. But how could he forget someone who appeared in his dreams every day?

 

“Ha, this is ridiculous. It’s not even first love, damn it.”

“What’s wrong?”

 

Seeing the prosecutor sighing and getting irritated unusually, investigator Lee Hyeong-ryeol from the same prosecutor’s office asked.

 

“Oh, investigator Lee. Sigh. Would you like to go smoke?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

 

Han Hae-woon went out to smoke with Lee Hyeong-ryeol and just puffed on his cigarette before opening his mouth.

 

“The chief came by last time, remember?”

“Yes, I was actually curious about what it was about. Hmm.”

 

Han Hae-woon usually trusted and followed the veteran investigator Lee Hyeong-ryeol with 25 years of experience like a father, so he shared his concerns.

 

Of course, he left out the dream story and just explained that there was something suspicious.

 

“Hmm, in cases like this…”

 

Investigator Lee, who had been pondering while stroking his chin, continued.

 

“Prosecutor, when I was a rookie, so it was the mid to late 90s, I once got burned while investigating such an ordinary person due to interference from above.”

 

At investigator Lee Hyeong-ryeol’s words, Han Hae-woon’s ears perked up.

 

“I found out later that the person we were investigating was an ANSP agent.”

“ANSP, you mean the current…”

“Yes. The National Intelligence Service.”

 

The moment Han Hae-woon heard the words National Intelligence Service, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

 

“Are you okay? Prosecutor!”

“Oh, yes. I’m fine. I suddenly got a headache.”

 

Lee Hyeong-ryeol, looking at Han Hae-woon with concern, raised his voice slightly.

 

“What if you collapse like last time? I keep telling you to take it easy with work, really.”

 

Han Hae-woon smiled at Lee Hyeong-ryeol’s expression of genuine concern for him.

 

Several days passed after that, and if there was a change, it was that memories that were definitely not his own began appearing in his dreams.

 

This time it was a woman named ‘Jung Hye-min’ and a young child who seemed to be her daughter.

And people whose names he couldn’t identify but who treated him familiarly.

 

Quite a number of dreams appeared repeatedly every time he fell asleep.

 

“Ha, am I going crazy or something? But if I’m mentally ill, why is ‘Jeon Su-hwan’ a real person?”

 

Then the other people in my dreams must be real people too, but where on earth should I start?

 

***

 

Time passed and the weekend came, and as Director Kim had said, the end of filming was approaching.

 

The viewership rating for episode 2 rose slightly from episode 1, settling in the 9% range, and the broadcasting station seemed to expect that if they continued gathering viewers at this pace, they might be able to finish in the mid-10% range.

 

Of course, with the emergence of other media, market share was gradually increasing and more people were watching in different ways. Because of this, TV viewership ratings measured by sample survey methods were said to be decreasing in importance and reliability, but still, when evaluating dramas, the measure of success was undoubtedly viewership ratings.

 

Due to JNBC’s characteristics, drama viewership ratings were inevitably lower than other terrestrial broadcasting stations, and considering that the average early viewership ratings of dramas they usually launched ranged from as low as 3% to generally 5%, ‘Summer’s Closet’ was a huge hit from the broadcasting station’s perspective.

 

Thanks to this, the filming set where they were doing the final shoot also had an even more excited atmosphere than usual, which was already good.

 

As for the final scene, the airport scene where Seo Jun and Yeo-reum leave for Paris Fashion Week and Woo-ju departs for studying in New York, blessing each other’s futures, was the last scene of the drama.

 

However, according to the filming order, the last filming scene was a bit earlier in the story – the scene where Seo Jun, having made up his mind, confesses his feelings to Yeo-reum.

 

“Okay! Cut! ‘Summer’s Closet’ filming complete!”

 

In the restaurant they had rented entirely for filming, after Seo Jun confessed his feelings and Yeo-reum showed tears, the okay sign was given.

 

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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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