NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 196

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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 196. Bakery

“Then for now, I’ll think about cross-progressing all three – the movie, drama, and YouTube channel – and set them up so there’s no scheduling conflicts as much as possible.”

 

Yeon-woo nodded while listening to CEO Jeong Hyeok’s words.

 

Since he couldn’t just start filming immediately when he wanted to, they decided to proceed a bit more slowly with the projects for now.

 

Since he didn’t know how long today’s meeting would continue, he had instructed Manager Kim Min-su to leave work first, so he was planning to go home in his personal car in the parking lot.

 

Yeon-woo got on the elevator and looked at the 5th floor button that was blocked from being pressed, thinking of the agents.

 

‘Since I can’t reveal my identity to anyone except Han Hae-woon yet, I can’t go up to the 5th floor.’

 

Maybe in the very distant future after complete trust was built, but right now he had no intention of revealing his identity to the other agents.

 

Yeon-woo was about to press the basement button but changed his mind.

 

Ding─.

 

Yeon-woo got off the elevator that stopped on the 1st floor and came out of the building.

Then he looked at the bakery that was the only tenant in the building.

 

– Stern bakery

 

Stern Bakery.

A compound word of German and English that literally translates to “Star Bakery.”

 

“Hmm, the only store that’s moved in here. Should I buy some bread after a long time.”

 

Yeon-woo opened the bakery door and went in while wearing his hat and mask.

 

“Welcome.”

 

A young woman at the counter greeted him warmly.

Yeon-woo also bowed his head in greeting and picked up a tray to start choosing bread.

 

‘They said it was a young couple. The husband is German.’

 

Since Mokwha Building was practically owned by Yeon-woo, he had naturally done thorough background checks on the employees of the only store that had moved in.

 

The same would apply to other stores that would move in later.

 

The couple running this bakery was an international couple – a German man and Korean woman who met and got married.

 

‘They said they came to Korea the year before last, opened the bakery, and have been barely maintaining it until now.’

 

Since the commercial district was dead, it seemed they didn’t have many customers except for neighborhood business.

 

When Han Hae-woon visited the bakery in Teren’s appearance and offered to reduce their rent, they were so grateful that they packed up an armful of bread for him.

 

‘Hae-woon said the bread was quite delicious.’

 

Perhaps because he had worked in Europe for a long time and adapted to local tastes, after his reincarnation, while Korean food was overwhelmingly delicious compared to other cuisines, he thought Korean bread just wasn’t good and rarely ate it.

 

Though less than Yeon-woo, Hae-woon had also been abroad for quite a while, so it would be similar.

 

While thinking about various things and choosing several pieces of bread, Yeon-woo’s eyes caught sight of a familiar-shaped white mass.

 

A white snowball-like bread wrapped in plastic wrap was tied with a ribbon.

 

“Is this perhaps Stollen?”

“Oh? You know Stollen?”

 

Seeing the woman at the counter slightly surprised as if Yeon-woo’s question was unexpected, Yeon-woo nodded.

 

“Christmas has passed but you still have Stollen?”

“Ah, actually it’s not for sale, I asked my husband to make it for me to eat. I like it.”

 

Stollen is a German-style bread made by baking bread with dried fruit, nuts, and spices, then spreading butter on it and sprinkling sugar powder.

 

Since it’s mainly eaten to commemorate Christmas, while its form is very different from what people generally think of as cake, in some ways it could be called a cake rather than simply bread.

 

“Ah, so you don’t sell it?”

 

When Yeon-woo asked disappointedly, secretly wanting to eat it after a long time as it reminded him of his time stationed in Germany, the woman at the counter spoke quietly toward the back.

 

Then she soon nodded and smiled brightly at Yeon-woo.

 

“It’s available for sale. My husband says he’ll make another one. Still, I’m happy that a famous actor is eating bread made by my husband.”

“How did you know?”

“What? I knew right away when you came in. Anyone can see you’re Ryu Yeon-woo…”

 

At the bakery owner’s words, Yeon-woo smiled awkwardly and took off his hat and mask.

It seemed the hat and mask weren’t very useful after all.

 

Then the husband who was baking in the back showed himself briefly and said to his wife.

 

“Tell the customer it tastes better if you let it age a bit more before eating.”

 

Then Yeon-woo smiled and answered in fluent German.

 

“I know how to eat it well. I really love Stollen.”

“Oh. You speak German well? Your skills are much better than my wife’s.”

 

Then the bakery owner playfully nudged her with his elbow.

 

“Got it. I’m going back in to make bread.”

 

The husband went back inside and Yeon-woo looked around the bakery while asking the owner.

 

“By any chance, would it be troublesome if the bakery does well?”

 

The owner tilted his head at Yeon-woo’s unexpected question.

 

“Huh? That can’t be. The better it does, the better it is, naturally.”

“I see. If you get too busy, you might have to work all the time without being able to rest.”

“Oh come on, if business goes well and I bake tons of bread every day, I’d have no other wishes.”

 

As Yeon-woo nodded and brought the bread to the counter, the owner began calculating.

 

After swiping the card Yeon-woo handed over and finishing the transaction, the owner greeted him with a bright smile.

 

“Enjoy your meal and please come again!”

“Yes. I’ll come again.”

 

After Yeon-woo left, the owner tilted his head and smiled slightly.

 

“As expected of someone in the arts, he has some unique aspects. Asking if it would be troublesome if the bakery does well – of course it would be good.”

 

The bakery couple was the only shop that had been in this building, so they naturally knew well about the newly moved-in companies.

 

‘I don’t know much about the company on the 5th floor, but it’s fortunate that big companies moved into the other floors.’

 

Business wasn’t good because it was already a dead commercial district, but lately it had gotten somewhat better since entertainment staff often stopped by to buy bread.

 

‘Fortunately, the new building owner is also such a kind person.’

 

Sales were rising and rent was decreasing, so it was the most breathing room they’d had since coming to Korea.

The bakery owner had no idea that the person who just left was the building owner and was expressing gratitude toward someone else.

 

Meanwhile, Yeon-woo, who was going down to the basement with bread, fell into thought while looking at the bakery logo written on the bread envelope.

 

“Hmm, having a bakery with lines on the 1st floor of the company building would be nice too.”

 

As Yeon-woo had originally planned, perfectly controlling the inside of the building and having a structure with many people outside was best for hiding something.

 

By having the entertainment company move in below the operations headquarters, the justification for controlling the entrance to the building interior and the people going in and out was now solid, so now he needed to gather people outside the building.

 

For that, he needed to revive the commercial district near the building.

 

Returning home, Yeon-woo began eating bread with milk for the first time in a while.

Feeling the chewy texture of the bread as it tore, he could tell how much effort had been put into kneading the dough.

 

“Not bad.”

 

It was a taste that satisfied his palate, which had become discerning from eating bread in Europe for a long time.

 

And that day, news was uploaded to Yeon-woo’s personal SNS for the first time in a while.

 

– I found a life-changing bakery on the 1st floor of the new company building. The baker is German and it’s so delicious. I recommend it! Oh, this isn’t an advertisement.

 

When he posted a photo of bread that looked deliciously golden brown and a selfie he had taken earlier, fans began sharing the long-awaited photo everywhere.

 

– Why is saying “it’s not an ad” so cute lol An actor who turns down all the big corporate ads, who would think they’d advertise for a neighborhood bakery lol

– But where is that place? I mean, I know it’s not an ad, but why didn’t you tell us the bakery’s name?

└ When I searched the address of Ryu Yeon-woo’s agency Byeol Star Entertainment, there’s a bakery on the 1st floor

└ You can find it in 5 seconds, are you pretending to be clueless?

 

Internet news reporters who spend all day staring at celebrities’ social media also began writing articles about this big catch after a long time.

 

– The bakery that Ryu Yeon-woo visits daily becomes a hot topic on the internet! Where is the address?

– German-style bakery to enjoy in Seoul. The star who frequents this bakery is none other than…

 

He had only posted one feed about discovering a delicious bakery, but it was instantly transformed into him being a regular customer and articles began being mass-produced.

 

Since “bread pilgrimage” – wandering in search of bread – had become popular in recent years, articles that made people curious about Ryu Yeon-woo’s name value and bakery information were enough to draw people’s attention.

 

 

The next day, the bakery couple who came to work early in the morning as usual to open the bakery tilted their heads at the line of people surrounding Mokwha Building.

 

When they parked their car in the parking lot and came up, the people waiting in line seemed to murmur when they saw the couple.

Seeing the German husband, they recognized them as the bakery owner couple.

 

“That person must be the baker. I guess they’re opening now.”

“They open earlier than I thought. It said 9 o’clock opening on the internet, so I thought we’d have to wait a long time.”

 

But the bakery couple, who never dreamed that these people were waiting for them, tilted their heads and turned the corner.

 

“Why is there a line? They must be doing something around here.”

“Maybe the entertainment company that moved in upstairs is doing something? Like a fan meeting. It’s Korean culture.”

“Is that so? They usually don’t do that at regular companies though…?”

 

As the couple talked and walked, they got closer to the bakery entrance.

 

“Really, why are there so many people?”

“…Huh?”

 

The amazing sight of that long line leading to the bakery entrance came into the couple’s view.

 

And at the same time, the conversation the wife had with actor Ryu Yeon-woo yesterday came to mind.

 

– By any chance, would it be troublesome if the bakery does well?

– Huh? That can’t be. The better it does, the better it is, naturally.

 

The couple, unable to distinguish whether this was a dream or reality, hurriedly opened the bakery door and went inside.

 

The husband didn’t understand what was happening but immediately changed clothes and entered the kitchen, while the wife opened the door toward the customers waiting outside and shouted.

 

Ding─.

 

“P-please wait just a moment! It takes some time to open the bakery. I’ll open as soon as everything’s ready before the regular opening hours!”

 

And she went inside and turned on her smartphone screen.

 

Yesterday, she had been too tired from kneading dough and letting it ferment in advance, thinking the employees from the newly moved-in entertainment company might want to buy some bread, so she hadn’t had time to check her smartphone.

 

When she searched for the bakery on the internet just in case, it was exactly as she expected.

 

“Oh, oh my… This isn’t the time for this. I need to bake bread quickly!”

 

***

 

A few days later, Yeon-woo heard from CEO Jeong Hyeok that he had prepared several plans for the NeTube channel and went up to the CEO office.

 

Knock knock─.

 

When he knocked and entered, the working-level staff had gathered.

 

“Am I late?”

 

When Yeon-woo entered and spoke, Director Yoon Mi-yeon shook her head.

 

“We were gathered for a preliminary meeting.”

 

When Yeon-woo took his seat, Gong Min-jeong, who was assigned to this project, stood up and began the briefing.

 

“First, I’ll tell you about the plan that has taken shape to some extent through contact with PD Joo Hyeon-seok, who recently left SBC Variety Department.”

 

Gong Min-jeong briefed while flipping through the presentation materials.

 

To summarize, it was a competitive format plan where they would take an existing real variety show format and have Saebyeol’s actors participate in corners prepared by the production team at travel destinations to win pocket money or late-night snacks.

 

“Hmm. I definitely understand what concept this is. It’s a format that’s become very popular in domestic variety shows. But wouldn’t this lack freshness?”

 

At Yeon-woo’s question, Min-jeong nodded as if she had expected it and continued.

 

“First, a NeTube variety channel run by an entertainment company is still an unfamiliar field, and if we make a mistake, it could fail and get buried, so we used the most popularized and proven format. And this plan definitely has freshness.”

 

Seeing Gong Min-jeong briefing with a confident expression and nodding, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

“What is that freshness?”

 

Then Gong Min-jeong pointed to Yeon-woo respectfully with both hands and said.

 

“The fact that actor Ryu Yeon-woo will be appearing.”

 

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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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