NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 207
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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 207. Restaurant
The members who finished the meeting scattered to their respective places.
“You said Dong-ha doesn’t have a schedule, right?”
“Yes. What about you, hyung?”
At Dong-ha’s question, Yeon-woo thought for a moment and shook his head.
“I don’t have one either. Our agency actors have to gather in the meeting room again for dinner later anyway. Want to go down to the 1st floor with Teacher Cheol-min and grab a meal?”
“Oh. Should we? But why are you gathering again?”
“We have our own content we’re doing.”
Tonight, episodes 1-2 of the variety show ‘Saebyeol Family’, which is self-produced content, would be released simultaneously on Saebyeol Entertainment’s YouTube channel.
Even though the members participated in filming, they had never seen the edited version, so they decided to gather in the entertainment company’s meeting room to watch it together.
“Somehow Saebyeol Entertainment looks fun.”
“Really? Don’t you get along well with your members?”
At Yeon-woo’s question, Dong-ha hurriedly waved his hands and answered.
“No way, that’s not it. Of course the members get along well. It’s just, originally actors’ agencies don’t really know each other even among artists from the same agency, you know. Our agency has both actors and singers but they don’t know each other.”
“Most places are like that.”
This was possible because the actors who had joined Saebyeol Entertainment so far had gathered through connections centered around Yeon-woo as a focal point.
Of course, the fact that each actor had a gentle personality and got along well with each other also played a part.
“Let’s go downstairs to eat first. I’ll call Teacher Cheol-min. Where’s the manager who came with you?”
“He probably went down to the underground parking garage.”
“Contact him and tell him to come to the 1st floor. Let’s eat together.”
“Yes.”
While Dong-ha called the manager who went down to the basement, Yeon-woo went to call Jeong Cheol-min.
“Teacher. Have you been to the restaurant on the 1st floor? Director Yoon said it was delicious.”
“Ah, I’ve been there. It was pretty good.”
“Would you like to have a meal with Dong-ha and his manager? You haven’t had lunch, right?”
“I couldn’t eat because I came here in a hurry. Yeah, let’s eat together after a long time.”
***
Jang Han-jun, who opened a restaurant on the 1st floor of Mokwha Building, was enjoying life these days.
Jang Han-jun, who went to France to study cooking and returned, worked at restaurants for several years, saved money, and opened a restaurant near Yeonnam-dong, but he couldn’t operate it for long and went completely bankrupt.
What good would it do to be confident in his food when there were no customers coming in the first place?
Just being good at cooking and making a restaurant successful were completely different dimensions of stories.
Then he moved to this location thinking it would be good for quiet business with cheaper rent than the surrounding area and an entertainment agency upstairs, but the neighborhood that was definitely quiet when he signed the contract saw its floating population increase exponentially day by day even while he was doing interior work on the store.
Jang Han-jun, who didn’t understand why at the time, asked the people standing in line outside for the reason, and heard the same answer from everyone.
“This bakery is the one Ryu Yeon-woo said had delicious bread.”
Come to think of it, he seemed to have heard from the real estate agent when signing the contract that the agency located upstairs was an actor agency.
‘That was the agency where Ryu Yeon-woo is? Wow… I really hope he comes to our restaurant just once.’
Actually, Jang Han-jun only knew Ryu Yeon-woo’s name and face, but had never watched any of his works.
Since he was usually busy with kitchen work knowing only cooking and had no time to watch movies or dramas, it wasn’t just that he hadn’t watched Ryu Yeon-woo’s works specifically – he had lived completely disconnected from video content.
‘Still, he’s our upstairs neighbor, so should I watch some after work?’
Actually, he wasn’t a neighbor but the building owner of the store he operated, but driven by sudden curiosity, he started binge-watching.
Starting with 「Master Plan」, then 「Sketch」, and last night he rubbed his eyes until 4 AM watching all episodes of 「White Blood」.
“Haaaam. Did I rush too much…”
Seeing Jang Han-jun yawning, his younger sibling hit his back.
Since his older brother’s business was doing well lately, he quit his job and was running the restaurant together.
“Hyung, what were you watching all night yesterday? Were you watching porn?”
“What nonsense. I was watching a drama. 「White Blood」.”
“That’s a meme. Saying ‘What nonsense.'”
At his younger sibling’s words, Jang Han-jun shook his head and pushed his sibling’s forehead with his finger.
“It’s not a meme, I said it because you’re talking nonsense. Hurry up and go clear the tables outside.”
“Yes sir. This lowly one is going out.”
When his younger sibling went outside, Jang Han-jun slapped both his cheeks with a smacking sound and grabbed the frying pan again.
Then, suddenly his younger sibling came rushing into the kitchen in a hurry.
“H-hyung!”
“Ah, I told you not to run in the kitchen because it creates dust. You little…”
“No! He’s here! He’s outside!”
“What’s here?”
His younger sibling’s eyes widened as he pointed toward the outer hall with his finger.
“Ryu Yeon-woo is here!”
“What nonsense. Are you trying to fool me again? You lied last time too.”
“No, it’s really true!”
Jang Han-jun, who had been staring at his younger sibling’s face, seemed to sense sincerity, put down the frying pan, and peeked outside through the kitchen entrance.
He could see the part-timer taking orders at a table, and sitting at that table were Akenaton, Dipangdal, and Jeong Do-jin from 「White Blood」 that he had stayed up all night watching yesterday.
“Cr, crazy!”
He immediately fixed his sanitary cap and chef’s uniform properly, and walked out to the hall on trembling legs.
“H, hello. I’m Jang Han-jun, the owner and chef of this restaurant.”
Then Yeon-woo smiled and greeted him.
“Hello. I heard so much from our staff about how delicious this restaurant is that I got curious and came down.”
“Oh my. It’s, it’s an honor! I’ll prepare a delicious meal for you.”
While greeting him, he looked outside the restaurant and could see the silhouettes of people chattering beyond the glass window.
Jang Han-jun hurriedly returned to the kitchen while calming his trembling heart.
It wasn’t just a day or two that he had been envious while looking at the bakery next door.
Of course, it was true that the commercial district around here had come alive due to the increased foot traffic thanks to the bakery, and his business had been doing well recently by receiving the spillover benefits.
No, to be precise, it wasn’t thanks to the bakery but the power of that one young actor sitting at the table.
‘This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I need to put my soul into making this.’
Meanwhile, Yeon-woo sitting at the table hadn’t just come to the restaurant on the 1st floor to grab a meal without any thought either.
Revitalizing this commercial district was also part of his strategy.
When the commercial district thrived, the value of Mokwha Building, which Yeon-woo was the actual owner of, would increase as a secondary benefit, but more importantly, the more foot traffic there was, the easier it became to hide among the public.
Continuous reconnaissance and surveillance needed to be established and maintained consistently to be effective.
But the more ordinary people came and went in the area, the more difficult that became, and psychologically, it would be hard to expect that a secret organization’s hideout was hidden within a thriving commercial district.
In reality, they had already established the hideout first, then used Yeon-woo’s influence to transform it into a thriving commercial district.
‘And the stores that moved into Mokwha Building need to do well in business so the owners won’t change.’
The chef who had just greeted him and left would never dream that Yeon-woo knew about him, but the personal information of the owners and employees of the stores that moved into this building had already been thoroughly investigated by the agents and reported to Yeon-woo through Han Hae-woon.
‘That man’s name was Jang Han-jun. He learned cooking in France and…’
Yeon-woo nodded as he recalled the personal information of those working at this restaurant.
Since it had already been confirmed that they were clean after thorough background checks, it was best if they continued without changing as much as possible.
Who would give up a spot with cheap rent and good business?
***
Jang Han-jun’s soul-infused cooking was indeed delicious.
Dong-ha, who had eaten his fill, greeted them as he walked toward the parked van.
“Hyung. The restaurant is really delicious. I want to come here once with the members too.”
“Well. Now it’ll probably be hard to eat here unless you wait in a long line.”
Jeong Cheol-min and Dong-ha nodded at Yeon-woo’s words.
When they finished eating and came out, people had already flocked to the front of the store like clouds, and they could only return to the building parking lot after giving autographs and taking photographs for a while, so they easily agreed.
“Teacher Cheol-min, Yeon-woo hyung. Then I’ll be going.”
“Alright, go safely. We’ll have one more meeting before the commercial film shoot, so see you then.”
“Yes!”
The car carrying Dong-ha left the parking lot, and Yeon-woo came back up to the 3rd floor with Jeong Cheol-min.
Jeong Cheol-min sat at the table and said while drinking his beverage.
“It would be perfect if we had a company cafeteria like that restaurant on the 1st floor.”
“A company cafeteria?”
Then Jeong Cheol-min, perhaps remembering that Yeon-woo practically owned half the shares of this agency, waved his hand.
“Hey hey. I was just saying.”
But Yeon-woo stroked his chin while looking across from the cafe.
Since the building was quite spacious, one side of the 3rd floor was being used as a cafe, but the other side was awkward to rent out for security reasons, so they had put up temporary walls and weren’t using it.
“Hmm, that sounds good though?”
“Hey, I was just talking. Even without a company cafeteria, the facilities are already good enough.”
Yeon-woo shook his head at Jeong Cheol-min’s dissuasion.
“Our actors basically come to work when they feel like it, but other employees aren’t like that. I heard the biggest concern for office workers is ‘what should I eat for lunch?'”
If they made a company cafeteria in the unused space on the 3rd floor, it seemed like it would also be a solution to the security issues that could become vulnerable when employees went in and out of the building during lunch time.
Yeon-woo got up from his seat and headed toward his business partner who owned the other 50 percent.
“CEO.”
“Hmm? Yeon-woo.”
CEO Kim Ju-seong, who was making coffee, looked at the menu and spoke.
It seemed he thought Yeon-woo was coming to order another drink.
“What should I make for you? Your usual iced Americano?”
“No. Please make us a company cafeteria.”
“…Excuse me?”
CEO Kim Ju-seong tilted his head in confusion at the unexpected order(?), but when Yeon-woo explained the whole story, he soon nodded.
“Actually, during lunch time, the entertainment company employees often come down to the cafe to eat delivery food. We have more than enough capital anyway, and I think we should have that level of employee benefits. That sounds good. Then I’ll take charge of handling that matter.”
“Thank you, CEO.”
CEO Kim Ju-seong wasn’t simply the CEO of the cafe, but the actual owner of a company where he and Yeon-woo each held half the shares.
Since Director Yoon Mi-yeon and CEO Jeong Hyeok still frequently came to seek advice and give reports, he had a thorough understanding of the company.
“Isn’t it about time to head upstairs? We need to monitor it.”
“Yes. That’s right. Would you like to come up with us, CEO?”
At Yeon-woo’s question, Kim Ju-seong smiled and shook his head.
“If I go up, who’s going to make the coffee? I’ll watch it on my smartphone from here like the other subscribers.”
Just then, Jeong Cheol-min, who had finished his drink, approached and returned his cup and tray, placing his hand on Yeon-woo’s shoulder.
“Yeon-woo, let’s head up. CEO, thank you for the drink.”
Yeon-woo nodded and went up to the 4th floor with Jeong Cheol-min.
When they entered the main conference room, several staff members and actors had already arrived.
That’s when Yeon-woo spotted Im Jae-wook.
The manager who had originally suffered under Jeon Ki-hoon, Baeksol’s lackey, quit and drifted between jobs before Yeon-woo scouted him.
“Manager Im. Are you getting used to company life?”
“Ah, Actor.”
When Yeon-woo approached, Im Jae-wook immediately bowed 90 degrees in greeting.
Yeon-woo hurriedly grabbed Im Jae-wook’s shoulders and straightened him up.
“No, why are you greeting me so formally? We’re family here.”
“I have to be grateful to Actor Ryu for the rest of my life.”
Most people tend to forget the warmth of gratitude once their lives improve after receiving help, but among them are those who remain loyal for life to someone who extended a hand during their most difficult times.
And Im Jae-wook was the latter type.
Yeon-woo immediately sensed that look in his eyes.
When carrying out operations in the field, you encounter people like that.
People who are prepared to take a bullet for you.
“It was an easy thing for me to do. Don’t feel too burdened. Just work hard at Saebyeol from now on.”
At Yeon-woo’s words, Im Jae-wook nodded deeply.
“Understood.”
Just then, CEO Jeong Hyeok called for everyone’s attention.
“Alright, let’s begin. Our first original content.”
“My interview was our first original content!”
“Oh, that’s right.”
Everyone laughed seeing CEO Jeong Hyeok’s flustered reaction to Han Byeol’s complaint.
And the first episode of 「Saebyeol Family」 was released on NeTube.
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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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