NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 217

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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 217. Programming

Kim Su-hyeok’s boat, floating quietly on the dark sea, had been observing the island while remaining stationary in the same spot for several hours.

Of course, the same was true for Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon, who were watching the screen connected to the drone.

The drone repeatedly returned to the boat every hour to have its battery replaced with a prepared one, and was transmitting various information while hovering over the island.

What they were trying to find out from the information gathered was how many workers were stationed inside the island and their armed status.

“Two new personnel are approaching from the right side of camera 4 right now.”

– Confirmed. It looks like they’re changing the security shift. Since the back of the island is a cliff anyway, it seems they only guard the white sand beach side where boats can dock.

“That makes sense. After all, this island has probably never been invaded even once since it was created.”

The security post personnel worked in three shifts, and two security guards were deployed per shift.

“Hmm, so that means there are at least six armed personnel, and considering the size of the dormitory, there are probably around ten workers inside.”

– Yes. I think the same. Then there’s a high possibility that the total personnel inside the island doesn’t exceed twenty people.

When Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon relayed their deductions to Kim Su-hyeok, he nodded and replied.

– The personnel count isn’t that high compared to the size of the island. It looks like dawn will break soon, so should I infiltrate directly for additional investigation?

As Kim Su-hyeok said, it seemed the sun was about to rise beyond the horizon, as dim blue light was gradually spreading across the pitch-black night sky from the distance.

It was like the appearance of Yeon-woo and the agents advancing step by step, encroaching on the territory dominated by Baeksol.

However, Han Hae-woon shook his head upon hearing Kim Su-hyeok’s words.

– No, conducting solo infiltration investigation is too risky. There’s no rush. We’ve found our target and they don’t even know we exist, let alone that they’ve been discovered.

Listening to the communication between Han Hae-woon and Kim Su-hyeok, Yeon-woo also nodded.

Processing the facilities they had was certainly important, and more information was needed for that, but as Han Hae-woon said, there was absolutely no need to rush.

Yeon-woo opened secure communication with Han Hae-woon and continued speaking.

“Of course we’re not starting the operation right now, but dealing with that island should probably be disguised as a fire.”

– By fire, do you mean to make it look like it was caused by the negligence of the internal workers?

“Handling it that way won’t raise unnecessary suspicion from Baeksol. And if we use weapons in earnest, casualties will inevitably occur.”

Of course, if armed conflict was unavoidable to eliminate Baeksol, he had no intention of hesitating.

However, the wisest strategy in battle was always to win without fighting.

– If we do that and those workers succeed in extinguishing the fire, their vigilance might increase, making it harder to deal with them in the future.

“That’s why we need to make it impossible for them to succeed in fire suppression. With an unextinguishable fire.”

Han Hae-woon understood what Yeon-woo’s words meant.

– Ah, you’re thinking of using that. Well, if it’s ‘that thing,’ by the time they discover the fire, the flames will already be fierce, so rather than suppressing it, they’ll all be terrified and run straight to the white sand beach.

“And later Baeksol will conduct a scene investigation for the cause of ignition. It burns fiercely when it burns but leaves no traces, so we’ll need to create and manipulate an appropriate ignition cause. There must be smokers among those workers. It would be good to manipulate it with something like cigarette butts.”

Han Hae-woon nodded at Yeon-woo’s words.

It was one of the unofficial weapons mainly used for illegal operations in his previous life.

White phosphorus, a yellow waxy solid that spontaneously ignites when exposed to air, when improved using a special mixing method, ignites while simultaneously vaporizing its main components, causing fire to spread at a terrifying speed. Moreover, even while burning fiercely, the exact cause cannot be determined later.

After thinking for a moment, Han Hae-woon tilted his head.

– But isn’t Team Leader the only one who can do that mixing method? I can’t do it either. Even within the NIS, aren’t there few people who know of its existence, let alone can do it?

Since the mixing ratio had to be determined on-site according to the surrounding vegetation and humidity, it couldn’t be prepared in advance and delivered.

It required know-how gained through countless trials and errors, and that know-how was, strictly speaking, pure intuition.

If the mixing ratio wasn’t right, the ignition intensity would be too low, or conversely, too much benzene or sulfur would leave traces.

In that case, they would either fail to burn all of Baeksol’s facilities and fail the operation, or succeed in the operation but make them realize it was a fire caused by external attack.

Still, considering all aspects, Yeon-woo’s method was indeed the best and optimal strategy.

Other than that, the only methods to strike the isolated island were rather extreme approaches.

Unless they were going to deploy agents to the island, kill all personnel, install bombs to blow up the entire island, then engage in full-scale war with Baeksol who would pursue them with all their might using any means necessary.

Ironically, Yeon-woo moving directly was actually the safest and most reliable method.

“If it really doesn’t work, we’ll have to prepare meticulously and either you and I run the operation directly with support from our agents, or find another method.”

Yeon-woo had only moved directly for operations a few times so far.

Once in Berlin, and once each at Plusten Headquarters and the Awards Ceremony Venue.

If he had no choice but to move directly, he would need to plan the operation with near-perfect precision.

Actually, the operation wouldn’t be difficult.

The opponents were amateurs with formal security posture on an island that hadn’t been attacked for years, maybe even decades.

Even the security personnel were too few compared to the island’s size, and seeing that even those personnel only guarded the white sand beach side, it wasn’t originally preparation for attacks, but a security post set up in case boats unknowingly approached the island.

Honestly, this level of operation was too easy to even call a warm-up compared to the countless operations he had experienced in his previous life.

What was important wasn’t the difficulty of the operation, but Yeon-woo’s entry route to Okinawa, a meticulous alibi, and perfect disguise so it couldn’t be thought of as an attack.

He had to make it appear as if all coincidences overlapped to produce the result.

No, he had to plan the operation so they wouldn’t even perceive that such coincidences had occurred.

‘Either way, they’ve interfered enough in my previous life, I have no intention of letting them influence even a hair’s breadth of my current life.’

***

Kim Su-hyeok continued his reconnaissance mission for several more days, going out to sea every night.

Although it was slower than infiltrating directly to find out, remote reconnaissance through drones was sufficient to gather information for future operations.

During this time, Yeon-woo focused on his life as an actor.

After all, these were matters that the agents and Han Hae-woon could handle sufficiently for now.

While digesting his schedule with interviews and photo shoots he had postponed, Yeon-woo heard from CEO Jeong Hyeok about something he hadn’t thought of.

“Broadcasting stations? But we haven’t even started production yet?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. This is all because our agency actors have tremendous name value. They somehow caught wind of it and are all clamoring to work with their broadcasting companies. Contacts are coming from everywhere, so at first I felt good thinking we’d become the one with the upper hand, but now it’s getting tiresome.”

Every other day, everyone from directors to PDs at various broadcasting stations would call, and somehow knowing CEO Jeong Hyeok’s schedule, they would naturally approach him, making it increasingly troublesome.

“Hmm, then each broadcasting station will present conditions?”

“That’s right. Actually, since we’re planning to produce this drama through self-investment, the conditions broadcasting stations can offer are pretty much the same across the board.”

Yeon-woo nodded at Jeong Hyeok’s words.

There are roughly three ways to produce dramas, and simply put, the criterion is whose pocket the money comes from.

When broadcasting companies provide production costs, production companies participate as outsourcing partners, and in exchange for intellectual property (IP) rights belonging to the broadcasting company, about 80 percent of production costs are guaranteed.

Instead, broadcasting companies take the additional revenue from future drama rights sales.

Production through OTT is almost identical in method, except for receiving larger investment funds than broadcasting stations.

‘But we have absolutely no need to do that.’

This drama would actually have the lowest production costs among all the dramas Yeon-woo had filmed so far.

Of course, that’s excluding appearance fees.

‘Since we cast most of the lead actors with only our agency actors, appearance fees are basically like taking money from the left pocket and putting it in the right pocket.’

There was no need to use external investment for a drama with low production costs excluding appearance fees.

This method where production companies directly produce and only find platforms to service it is called self-investment format.

‘From the broadcasting stations’ perspective, they’d want to take it somehow since they can enjoy additional advertising effects just by airing it without spending their own money.’

But at the same time, since broadcasting stations take less, there weren’t many special conditions they could offer Saebyeol Media.

“If most broadcasting companies offer similar conditions, wouldn’t it be better to go with a place that can flexibly adjust their schedule to our expected airing period? Since we haven’t even entered production yet, covering various variables seems more important than the small advantages broadcasting stations provide.”

CEO Jeong Hyeok nodded vigorously at Yeon-woo’s words.

And he was once again amazed inwardly at Yeon-woo, who at barely twenty years old could accurately grasp the essence with just a few words of conversation.

“Actor Ryu is right. You can’t quantitatively calculate in advance how long it will take to produce a drama.”

And trends change continuously in unpredictable directions like living organisms, so to air when a work has optimal timeliness, the most important factor was whether broadcasting companies could adjust airing schedules to match Saebyeol’s schedule as much as possible – this was the conclusion reached through executive meetings.

This was content that executives with considerable experience in this industry had gathered opinions on over two hours, but Yeon-woo reached the same conclusion after just exchanging a few words with CEO Jeong Hyeok.

Jeong Hyeok scratched his head briefly and continued speaking.

“Maybe from now on it would be good to consult with Actor Ryu first before having meetings.”

Then Yeon-woo shook his head with a troubled expression.

“Ahem, no. Management issues should be decided by management. I’m quite busy myself.”

It felt like he briefly experienced the annoyance that CEO Kim Ju-seong, who was probably making coffee on the 3rd floor, would feel.

And at the same time, a good idea came to mind.

“Then cable or general programming channels would be better than terrestrial broadcasting – TVM or JNBC would be good?”

“Yes. Those two are actually on the main candidate list.”

Recently, with drama competition between terrestrial, general programming, and cable channels, it became difficult to say that airing on terrestrial broadcasting guaranteed viewership superiority unlike in the past.

That’s how much successful dramas began appearing on general programming and cable channels too.

‘If we go with general programming or cable channels where we can decide airing schedules relatively freely, we could use the drama as a weapon too.’

Until now, they had been in a position of being hindered by Baeksol directly or indirectly.

Of course, they weren’t attacks targeting Yeon-woo specifically, but they were scheduled in the same time slots as blockbuster productions sponsored by Baeksol, or their planted pawns were cast as actors.

‘There’s no need to always respond passively from a defensive position. I could even strike first and get scheduled in time slots that clash with works they’ve invested heavily in.’

He had dodged all their jabs so far, but if the opponent threw punches, wouldn’t it be natural to throw counter punches?

If he squeezed their money supply with a two-track approach from both the shadows and the light, it would probably create even greater synergy.

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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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