NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 211

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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 211. Baseball Bat and Sword

While Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon were accelerating their investigation and Kim Su-hyeok was dispatched to Japan, time steadily flowed and the CF shooting day approached.

 

– Actor, I’ve arrived at the parking lot.

“Yes. I’ll come down now.”

 

Yeon-woo went down to the parking lot and got into Kim Min-su’s car.

Manager Kim Min-su seemed excited about the schedule that had been set after a long time.

 

“Min-su hyung. You seem excited that I have a schedule?”

“Of course. You know I hate sitting around with my butt glued to a chair.”

 

Hearing Kim Min-su’s words, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

“But you’re sitting with your butt glued to the driver’s seat right now?”

“Ahem, that’s different. I’ve been creating materials to train the new road managers the company recently recruited, but I don’t seem to have any talent for that kind of thing.”

 

Seeing Kim Min-su complaining, Yeon-woo smiled.

 

Having been an instructor and commander in his past life, Yeon-woo knew how difficult it was to organize one’s know-how gained through work into writing and create educational materials.

 

“By the way, it’s really been a long time since I’ve gone to a schedule with Min-su hyung.”

“That’s right.”

 

From Yeon-woo’s perspective, both the theater company’s plays and the recent YouTube variety show filming were all schedules, but unlike drama or movie filming, there wasn’t much for Kim Min-su to take care of.

 

“Min-su hyung. Should we listen to some music on the way?”

“Oh. What’s the occasion?”

 

While filming “New Star Family” this time, he thought he really didn’t know enough about current music.

 

“Let’s listen to the top 100.”

“Understood.”

 

Kim Min-su played music from his smartphone with familiar hand movements.

 

“Do you usually listen to music in the car when you’re traveling alone?”

“Ah, yes. I listen often.”

 

It was the first time he knew this.

Several years had already passed since Kim Min-su became Yeon-woo’s manager, but he had never played music until now.

 

“But why didn’t you ever play music even on long trips?”

“Ah, that’s because you usually read scripts and practice acting in the car, so I didn’t play it thinking it might be distracting.”

 

Yeon-woo smiled awkwardly at Kim Min-su’s answer.

 

“You didn’t have to do that…”

 

Having reached the level where he could finish reading educational books even in the middle of South Sudan’s civil war where rebels would fire RPG-7s whenever they felt like it, there was no problem with concentrating whether music was playing or not.

 

“I like listening to music these days, so please always play it.”

“Oh, understood.”

 

Listening to fast-beat idol music, Yeon-woo and Kim Min-su headed to the CF filming set in Paju.

 

When they arrived and parked in the parking lot, Jeong Cheol-min, who had just arrived, got out from the opposite side.

 

When he lightly smiled and nodded at Im Jae-wook, the manager in charge of Jeong Cheol-min, Im Jae-wook bowed deeply at ninety degrees just like last time.

 

‘I told him he didn’t need to greet me so formally…’

 

Since it didn’t seem like it would change even if he said it several times, Yeon-woo just nodded his head.

Then he approached Jeong Cheol-min.

 

“Teacher. How do you feel about filming a CF today?”

“I feel like I could fly. What a blessing to have such a good student in my later years.”

 

Yeon-woo got slightly annoyed at Jeong Cheol-min’s words.

 

“Hey, what do you mean later years, Teacher? These days the retirement age keeps going up and the period of economic activity is extending too. You’re not even in your 50s yet, let alone retirement age – you’re still young.”

“Is that so? Anyway, you’re really good with words like flowing water.”

 

It would be troublesome if Jeong Cheol-min was in his later years.

Since Yeon-woo was around the same age counting from his previous life, it wasn’t really comfort for Jeong Cheol-min but rather self-justification.

 

“Let’s go in.”

 

Jeong Cheol-min led the way and Yeon-woo followed into the set.

 

‘Come to think of it, I always filmed CFs alone, but this time I’m doing it with colleagues.’

 

It felt refreshingly different for no reason.

When they entered, the other actors had already all arrived.

 

“Teacher Cheol-min! Yeon-woo oppa!”

 

Han Byeol, who had braided her hair in pigtails like Ella’s appearance after a long time, waved her hands high above her head in greeting.

 

“Everyone came early. Where’s the director?”

“We briefly exchanged greetings earlier. I think he went inside to check something.”

 

Just then, as if speaking of the tiger brings the tiger, a familiar figure walked over.

It was Jung Yo-han, who had been the CG director for “White Blood.”

 

“Yeon-woo. It’s been a while.”

“Ah, Director. How have you been?”

“Thanks to our drama doing well, I’ve been very busy.”

“I didn’t expect to see you again as a CF director.”

 

Today, Jung Yo-han came to this place not as a CG director but in the role of a CF director.

When they heard during the advertisement meeting that Jung Yo-han would take on the CF director position, they were initially surprised but soon everyone accepted it.

 

Even when filming “White Blood,” he wasn’t just a simple CG director but was essential for all directing needs, with virtually no part of the overall filming that didn’t go through Jung Yo-han’s hands, so it wouldn’t be strange at all for him to directly hold the megaphone.

 

“I’m not sure if I can do well. But I’ll do my best and try filming once.”

 

Though he said that, Jung Yo-han’s eyes seemed full of confidence.

 

In fact, CG is used more in commercials than in dramas or movies.

 

Commercials need to convey a lot of commercial information in a short time, and while doing so, the process must feel fresh to consumers so it doesn’t become boring, which is why they attempt many more eye-catching new things than other video content.

 

Therefore, it was natural for all kinds of special effects to be used.

 

“You’re just being modest. Director Jung has handled countless commercials in America too.”

 

Jung Yo-han smiled at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“Director Jung… It feels somehow embarrassing when Yeon-woo calls me director. Of course, I’ve participated in many Commercial Films so far, but this is still my first time as director.”

“Then we should consider this your directorial debut?”

“That’s how it turns out. Well then, shall we finish makeup and start filming the group shots first?”

 

The actors nodded at Jung Yo-han’s words.

With familiar actors and even a familiar director, it somehow felt like they weren’t filming a commercial but shooting a White Blood spin-off.

 

***

 

The actors who finished makeup started filming. The group scene they began filming first got an okay quite quickly.

 

But the problem arose with Yeon-woo’s filming portion.

 

The overall concept of the advertisement was a technique used by a sports brand, connecting different videos and editing them to appear as one unified piece.

 

In that advertisement, they split the screen down the middle with a swimmer on the left and a track athlete on the right, both standing at starting lanes warming up, connecting half of each body to match with perfect synchronization, and when a horse with an equestrian rider jumped over the frame, it would change to video of an amateur riding a stunt motorcycle.

 

The smartphone commercial that Yeon-woo was filming this time also used a similar method, sometimes splitting the screen and sometimes overlapping it, composing content that alternately showed realistic appearances and fantastical appearances from dramas.

 

‘The concept would be a smartphone that enhances content immersion with such vivid display and uninterrupted data.’

 

Yeon-woo swinging a baseball bat in amateur baseball should transform into Jeong Do-jin from “White Blood” swinging a sword when crossing the frame.

 

Acting both roles wasn’t a problem, and the editing would be handled by the best director, so that was fine too.

 

But the problem was that the person who wrote the advertisement storyboards seemed to have created them without much understanding of sports movements.

 

“Ah, this is quite troublesome.”

 

Director Jung Yo-han, who was watching the screen, shook his head.

Yeon-woo, who had swung the bat dozens of times in his baseball uniform, saw this and approached while scratching his head.

 

“The connection points don’t match, right?”

 

Jung Yo-han nodded at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“Yes. After all, swinging a baseball bat and swinging a sword are completely different in form.”

 

Aside from swinging something, swords and baseball bats were completely different in body movement, weight, and angle.

 

Most importantly, baseball bats are swung with both hands, but Jeong Do-jin in the drama swings his sword with one hand.

 

“Hmm… How about swinging a tennis racket instead?”

 

Tennis seemed like it could roughly match a similar form to Jeong Do-jin swinging a sword.

 

But at Yeon-woo’s suggestion, the advertising company manager next to Jung Yo-han shook his head heavily.

 

“…The thing is, the advertiser specifically requested that we include baseball.”

“Baseball?”

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head, then looked at the uniform he was wearing and nodded.

 

“Ah, this is an SL Group baseball team uniform?”

 

SL Electronics, which launched the smartphone Universe, was a subsidiary of SL Group, and the group also operated a professional baseball team.

 

Now he understood why they insisted on including baseball.

 

Then Jeong Cheol-min, who had been watching, approached and patted Yeon-woo’s shoulder.

 

“They’re really trying to get their money’s worth.”

“Ahem, ahem.”

 

At Cheol-min’s words, the advertising manager, caught in his true intentions, awkwardly looked away.

 

Since actor Ryu Yeon-woo currently wasn’t signing new advertising contracts except for Ihan Group’s defense industry commercial, he had become the most difficult celebrity to book as an advertising model in the entertainment industry.

 

From SL Group’s perspective, having secured an advertising contract with Yeon-woo using the “White Blood” members as leverage, they probably wanted to achieve multiple effects with one advertisement.

 

‘No wonder most of the group filming scenes were shot with company or university concepts, but amateur baseball suddenly popped up out of nowhere.’

 

If he swung the sword like swinging a baseball bat, White Blood’s Jeong Do-jin would look awkward, and when it was the opposite, it didn’t feel like baseball at all.

 

But what could they do?

Once they had signed the contract, it was professional to accept the advertiser’s demands and create a magnificent work.

 

“Director Jung, could you please bring up the video of Jeong Do-jin swinging his sword? And if you have a stopwatch, could I borrow one?”

 

Jung Yo-han nodded at Yeon-woo’s request.

 

This young world star, even during the filming of “White Blood,” would pause to think like this whenever he encountered a difficult part during shooting, then make some kind of request.

 

And when they did exactly what he asked without complaint, he would solve the problem brilliantly.

Jung Yo-han, who had learned through repeated experience, moved quickly.

 

Jung Yo-han gave instructions to the staff through his radio.

 

Crackle─.

 

“Jae-jun, our production team has a stopwatch, right? Yeah, that black one. Bring it over.”

 

Shortly after, a staff member brought the stopwatch, and Yeon-woo stood in front of the field monitor and began concentrating on his own footage where he had swung a sword while dressed as Jeong Do-jin.

 

Click, tick─.

Tick─.

 

“Please replay it.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Director Jeong replayed the sword-swinging video several times.

 

Yeon-woo continued pressing the stopwatch while staring intently at the video, then this time closed his eyes, matched the rhythm, and pressed the stopwatch.

 

– 2.75

– 2.73

 

The playback time of the video displayed on the monitor almost perfectly matched the timing of the stopwatch that Yeon-woo had timed with his eyes closed.

 

A 0.02-second difference wouldn’t feel awkward even without editing.

 

This time, Yeon-woo measured something with his fingers on his sword-wielding figure in the monitor, then nodded.

 

“Hmm, about this height? Let’s try filming once more. I think I can match it roughly.”

“Mm, then let’s go once more.”

 

Yeon-woo entered the chroma key studio holding the baseball bat.

 

Yeon-woo began swinging the bat again.

He checked the swinging time using the sense he had developed from pressing the timer.

 

‘Hmm, it’s slower because the bat has weight. I need to go a bit faster.’

 

After swinging several more times and finding his feel, Yeon-woo shouted.

 

“I’m starting.”

 

And when the swinging bat reached about the middle of his body, he released one of the two hands holding it.

 

In baseball, this motion is called a ‘one-hand follow through.’

 

Not just in baseball, but in all sports that involve swinging to hit a ball—like golf or racket sports—the follow-up motion after hitting the ball is called a follow through.

 

The motion Yeon-woo was doing now was performing that follow through with only one hand.

 

The moment he swung, Yeon-woo felt it intuitively.

 

‘Got it. The timing is perfect.’

 

Then, as if he had hit a baseball that would be added in post-production, Yeon-woo released the bat and ran out of frame, and Jung Yo-han, who was watching on the monitor, shouted.

 

“Okay. Cut!”

 

Jung Yo-han, who was watching, also got a strong feeling that something had worked.

Yeon-woo approached the field monitor again, and Jung Yo-han displayed both Jeong Do-jin’s sword-swinging video and the just-filmed baseball bat video on the monitor simultaneously.

 

He set the transparency of both videos low so they overlapped on one screen, slowed down the speed, then pressed the play button.

 

Then ‘Jeong Do-jin’ from “White Blood” and ‘Ryu Yeon-woo’ in a baseball uniform began moving simultaneously in slow motion, overlapping each other.

 

Clearly, the beginning was completely different.

 

The shoulder movements while swinging were different, and the heights of the baseball bat and sword didn’t match each other.

 

But when the baseball bat passed his waist, Yeon-woo in the screen released one hand he was holding, and immediately the bat dropped down and began moving to the same position as the sword.

 

After that, all the body movements matched each other perfectly and merged into one, as if they had originally been one scene.

 

At that magical sight, exclamations burst from the mouths of the staff watching the monitor.

 

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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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