NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 226

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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 226. Invitation to São Paulo

Yeon-woo came up to the 5th floor of the Mokwha Building where only Han Hae-woon remained, as all the agents had gone out for information gathering.

 

From Yeon-woo’s perspective, although he had seen it daily through cameras, this was his first time coming up to the 5th floor since the company moved in and agents began accessing the building.

 

Yeon-woo touched the additive that Han Hae-woon handed him with his gloved hand and shook his head.

 

“I can’t use this.”

“Is the condition that serious?”

“Yeah. It’s completely unusable.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Han Hae-woon shook his head with a troubled expression.

 

“This was the limit of what we could obtain through Baek No-ya. Since it’s an item used only for military purposes and is strictly prohibited from export…”

 

Yeon-woo watched as the color changed when he added a reagent to the additive.

 

The liquid Yeon-woo was currently checking was a fuel mixture used in the U.S. military’s main incendiary bomb called Mk-77.

 

It was an essential substance to ensure that the incendiary weapons used in attacking Okinawa wouldn’t leave traces of an artificial attack.

 

“Hmm, if the condition is this poor, the vaporization will be too weak and traces will inevitably remain. Baek Sol will eventually discover that it wasn’t a fire accident but an attack by someone.”

 

But there was no other choice.

 

The region where Baek No-ya mainly operates is South Korea.

Our country is so clean regarding weapons that even if an individual is caught possessing not just large bombs, but even automatic rifles or handguns, it would make headline news that day.

 

The only arms dealers that could be reached through Baek No-ya, who operates in such a country, were small-time dealers in Macau who traded simple firearms.

 

“In my previous life, I received state support when I was active, so I didn’t need to worry about procuring strategic materials…”

“Sigh, it can’t be helped. Team Leader, you even know information brokers from Berlin – don’t you have any information about illegal arms dealers? Regions where rebels run rampant like West Africa, the Middle East, or South America would be perfect…”

 

When Han Hae-woon asked Yeon-woo in frustration, Yeon-woo unexpectedly nodded readily.

 

“I do.”

“…Excuse me?”

 

Han Hae-woon’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

 

“The first mission I was assigned after joining the overseas division was tracking arms dealers who traded with North Korea.”

“Oh, then perhaps?”

 

But Yeon-woo immediately shook his head.

 

“To be precise, I don’t know them now – I ‘used to know them.’ The problem is that was over ten years ago. Unless I go to that region and search directly, if I make clumsy inquiries with just the old information I have, they won’t reveal themselves. Rather, the CIA or Interpol would get the information first.”

 

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

 

It’s not like illegal arms dealers operate like online marketplaces where you post ‘Looking for incendiary materials used in U.S. special operations weapons’ and a seller with high ratings appears saying ‘Please make an offer.’

 

“Hmm, then there’s no way for now. Just in case, I’ll make one more inquiry through Baek No-ya toward Macau.”

“Right. If we really can’t get it, we’ll just not use it. We can plan the operation more perfectly so they can never uncover the mastermind even if they start investigating.”

“Understood.”

 

Taking off the latex gloves with additive residue, Yeon-woo looked at Han Hae-woon.

 

“How’s the prosecutor work? Are you busy living a double life?”

 

Han Hae-woon shook his head.

 

“Speaking of double lives, aren’t you busier, Team Leader? You go between the brightest light and the darkest shadows.”

“Not really. I’m busy when filming starts, but when I’m preparing for projects like now, I’m more idle than anyone. I have no schedule except acting practice and daily exercise routines.”

“I’m not particularly struggling either.”

 

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

Compared to his previous life, there really wasn’t much to be busy about.

 

He didn’t have to cross a desert larger than South Korea’s area with just a backpack and no transportation to avoid radar detection, nor did he have to infiltrate Yamoussoukro in Côte d’Ivoire where rebels shouting revolution were having gunfights in the middle of the city to lead trembling diplomats to escape.

 

“Good to hear it’s not difficult.”

“You too, Team Leader.”

 

Han Hae-woon chuckled, seemingly thinking of something similar to what Yeon-woo had just thought.

 

***

 

The next day, Yeon-woo sat in the 3rd floor cafe from morning, reviewing scripts.

 

Then Son Jin-wook got off the elevator and stretched.

 

“Yawn. Good morning, Yeon-woo. Good morning, CEO.”

 

At Son Jin-wook’s greeting, CEO Kim Ju-seong smiled and asked what he would like to order. Jin-wook ordered his usual coffee and came to sit heavily at the table where Yeon-woo was sitting.

 

“Hm? A script?”

“Yes. I’m thinking of doing a movie this year too, so I was reviewing them.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Son Jin-wook shook his head.

 

“Wow. I can’t even think about the next project until I completely finish one.”

 

Come to think of it, the year before last it was “Stars Beyond Garam” and “Master Plan,” and last year it was “Sketch” and “White Blood.”

As Jin-wook thought about it, he realized that Yeon-woo had always done one movie and one drama each year.

 

“I figured it out. Yeon-woo, is that what you are? You don’t drink, don’t date women – I wondered what you live for, and it’s the desire for fame.”

“What?”

“You’re aiming for simultaneous awards in drama and film at every awards ceremony each year, aren’t you? If you win next year too, that’ll be three consecutive years.”

 

Receiving excellence awards simultaneously in both fields was already unprecedented, and by winning best actor awards simultaneously this year, he had set an unbreakable record in many ways.

 

However, since Yeon-woo didn’t create works to win awards, he didn’t respond to Son Jin-wook’s nonsense and simply smiled lightly before turning his gaze back to the script.

When Yeon-woo lightly ignored his teasing, Son Jin-wook continued speaking.

 

“So, are there any decent scripts?”

 

At Son Jin-wook’s words, Yeon-woo shook his head.

 

“Nothing’s catching my interest.”

“What genre are you looking at?”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m just looking for a script that gives me a feeling, but there’s nothing so far.”

 

In fact, the basketball drama currently in planning wasn’t started because of a strong attraction like his previous works, but was quite strategic.

 

‘Since Saebyeol Media will produce it in-house, I chose a genre that wouldn’t cost much in production costs while allowing many cast members to appear to introduce and show off what kind of actors Saebyeol Entertainment has.’

 

It was a declaration thrown to the industry to PR Saebyeol’s production capabilities and actor pool, and would be a kind of milestone project that the people gathered around Yeon-woo would start for the first time.

 

But for the new movie he would enter, he wanted to find something purely attractive from the script itself, without such purpose.

 

Looking at the scripts piled high on the table, Son Jin-wook thought for a moment then advised Yeon-woo.

 

“Hmm… Then try calling the directors you’ve worked with before, just to check in.”

“The directors?”

“There might be works that haven’t progressed to the script circulation stage yet, and directors have their own community even if they’re not producing themselves, so they know quite well what other directors are preparing through word of mouth.”

 

At Son Jin-wook’s advice, Yeon-woo stroked his chin.

 

“Hmm, come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I called to check in, so I should contact them once even if it’s not just for scripts.”

 

While Yeon-woo was having various conversations with Son Jin-wook and examining whether there were any good scripts, Yeon-woo’s smartphone rang.

 

– Director Yoon Mi-yeon

 

Confirming the name on the screen, Yeon-woo answered the phone and heard Director Yoon’s voice.

 

– Ah, Yeon-woo. Are you at the company right now?

“Yes. I’m on the 3rd floor.”

– I’d like to talk about schedules on the 2nd floor for a moment. Is now a good time?

 

At Director Yoon’s words, Yeon-woo put down the script he was holding and nodded.

 

“Yes, that’s fine. I’ll come down now.”

 

Yeon-woo hung up the phone and stood up, speaking to Son Jin-wook.

 

“Jin-wook hyung, I’ll go down for a moment and come back.”

“Okay. I’m bored anyway, so I’ll look at some scripts.”

 

Yeon-woo nodded and went down to the 2nd floor, where Director Yoon Mi-yeon and several planning team employees were in a meeting.

 

Reading the title on the screen, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

‘São Paulo K-pop World Festival?’

 

He knew what it was.

Dong-ha had postponed his basketball lessons for drama filming to participate in that concert.

 

However, he wondered why an actor agency was having a meeting about that concert, and moreover, why Media was having the meeting instead of Entertainment.

 

Then Director Yoon Mi-yeon, who noticed Yeon-woo entering through the door, spoke up.

 

“Ah, Yeon-woo. You came right away. Please sit anywhere comfortable.”

 

Yeon-woo briefly greeted the planning team employees and took a seat.

Then Yoon Mi-yeon continued the meeting.

 

“This is an additional promotion schedule requested by SL Electronics. The sales performance of their newly released smartphone in South America seems particularly encouraging. So it looks like they want to do promotion in connection with the ‘K-pop World Festival’ originally planned in São Paulo, Brazil.”

 

Listening to the explanation, Yeon-woo raised his hand.

 

“So you’re saying we received a casting offer for this? It’s not that Jay Nari received the offer, right?”

 

Since they were an actor agency with no singers, Director Yoon Mi-yeon answered as if Yeon-woo’s question was natural.

 

“That’s why we were puzzled at first too. Jay Nari didn’t receive the offer, but the ‘Hwabul’ cast did, and they especially wanted you, Yeon-woo. When we looked into it, it turns out the K-pop festival invites not just singers but also models and actors as celebrities to watch from special audience seats.”

 

In fact, Director Yoon Mi-yeon had never received a K-pop related casting request before, so she didn’t know much about it.

So she added with a reluctant expression.

 

“SL Electronics is a sponsor of this festival, so if the actors accept the casting request, they want to proceed with promotion in fan meeting format in connection with the Universe smartphone, but honestly, it feels like they hastily put this together because their South America performance was suddenly good, so the company isn’t really keen on it.”

 

Although the advertiser requested it, it wasn’t in the original contract, so there was no need to comply.

 

Since SL Electronics was also just testing the waters to see if it might be possible, Yoon Mi-yeon was half-thinking of refusing.

 

Still, since the decision maker was Yeon-woo, who received the casting offer and was the company’s actual owner, she was reporting in meeting format after some review.

 

“São Paulo…”

“The casting fee seems to be even larger than CF fees, but since it’s so sudden, I was thinking it would be better to refuse.”

 

Listening to Director Yoon Mi-yeon’s additional explanation, Yeon-woo thought for a moment and recalled Han Hae-woon’s words.

 

– Do you happen to know any information about illegal arms dealers? Regions where rebels run rampant like West Africa, the Middle East, or South America would be perfect…

 

West Africa is mainly where civil wars occur, and the Middle East and North Africa are perceived as dangerous because jihadists engage in armed struggle under extreme Islamic fundamentalism.

 

But South America was, in a way, the dream team.

From drug lords to corrupt dictatorial military regimes, plus guerrilla rebels – in terms of illegal weapons markets, it was the world’s largest scale.

 

“I’ll go. I’ll go alone without the other actors.”

“Right. I suppose we should decline… Huh? You’re going?”

 

He had been thinking about whether there was an excuse to go overseas with proper justification like in Berlin, and this was perfect timing.

 

Though that’s what he thought inwardly, he smiled outwardly as he answered Director Yoon Mi-yeon.

 

“A startup like ours can’t refuse a request from a major corporation like SL Electronics. Especially since they specifically want me, I’ll just make a quick trip alone. We need to make money.”

“Hmm, of course it is a major schedule…”

 

If the illegal weapons markets in the Middle East or Africa were neighborhood marts, then South America was a large department store.

This Brazil schedule would likely be an opportunity to buy plenty of high-quality weapons.

 

And it was different from Berlin, where Yeon-woo had to tackle everything physically by himself.

Now that he had subordinates to deploy, he needed to approach things more systematically and safely.

 

‘I should send Kim Su-hyeok, who’s resting in Hawaii, to Brazil in advance. No, this time I should send Lee Kyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon too.’

 

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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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