NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 260

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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 260. Clean Shot

Swish─.

 

The basketball passed cleanly through the net attached to the rim, making a satisfying sound.

 

It was a clean shot that traced a perfect arc and fell smoothly.

 

“Nice!”

 

Yeon-woo gave a brief applause while looking at Jin Yu-han, who had thrown the ball.

 

“You must have practiced a lot. Your form and the arc of the ball’s trajectory are completely clean.”

“Well, I just did what the coach told me to do.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s praise, Jin Yu-han smiled awkwardly, and Dong-ha added his comment.

 

“Yu-han hyung came out to practice on his own even on days without scheduled practice, didn’t he?”

“Don’t even get me started. When it comes to anything related to acting, he’s absolutely thorough. In some ways, he’s even more intense than Yeon-woo.”

 

Seeing Son Jin-wook wave his hand with an exasperated expression, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

“Yu-han? He’s an acting enthusiast on a completely different level from me to begin with.”

“You’re not far behind either. I was shocked when I saw your script last time. Every page was covered in black notes – at first I didn’t think it was a script.”

 

It seemed Son Jin-wook had seen Yeon-woo’s script when he was analyzing how to express scenes from “Moon” at the cafe on the 3rd floor of headquarters.

 

Of course, thanks to doing that, he was able to become an acting consultant helping Director Lee Yong-su and Kim Ju-hyeong when they revised the script.

 

“Wow, you still do that? Nothing’s changed since I taught you. You’re definitely my student.”

 

Jeong Cheol-min remembered how when Yeon-woo was in high school, if he taught him one acting technique, the script would become a tattered rag the next day from all the dense notes.

 

It wasn’t just mindless note-taking either – when you looked at the written memos, they were all meaningful content, which is how he recognized Yeon-woo’s potential for greatness from the very beginning.

 

‘Well, of course, at first I decided to make him act just based on his looks…’

 

Tweet─.

 

Just then, a whistle sound was heard.

 

The coach was approaching from the basketball court entrance, waving his hand.

Behind him, the action team that would play the opposing roles followed in.

 

Time had passed while they warmed up, and it was now time to begin the full lesson.

 

Coach Jung Dong-seok, a former Korean professional basketball player who now runs a youth basketball academy, walked toward the actors.

 

“It’s been a while since all five of you gathered together, hasn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

 

Not just Yeon-woo, but the other actors also had quite a lot of non-acting schedules like variety shows, photo shoots, interviews, or event appearances, so there were countless days when only two or three would train together.

 

That’s why having all five gather together was a rare occurrence.

 

“I consulted with the director and writer to pre-plan the choreography for the game scene that will appear in episode 4 of the drama. It should be quality that even professional basketball players would find acceptable.”

 

Coach Jung Dong-seok was also serving as a consultant for this drama.

 

Just as action movies need martial arts directors, sports dramas also need experts to choreograph appropriate movements.

 

“The choreography is finally ready. Now all that’s left is to practice it hundreds of times until it’s completely ingrained in our bodies.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Coach Jung Dong-seok nodded with a sympathetic smile, as if he could clearly see the hardships ahead.

 

Now that they were about to start filming, there was a good reason why there were so few sports movies or dramas, especially those dealing with ball sports.

 

There was a major difficulty in filming – the characteristic of dramas and movies is that there are almost no scenes shot in one take.

 

To complete one scene, you need to ‘reshoot’ using numerous angles like full shots, bust shots, close-ups, over-the-shoulder shots, etc.

 

Even for a scene where two people face each other and talk, you have to alternately position cameras on both sides, reshoot the same dialogue multiple times, then edit them to fit together seamlessly. In sports with multiple people moving, this becomes exponentially more difficult.

 

‘During reshoots, the actors’ movements and positions will vary slightly each time.’

 

It inevitably leads to more directing mistakes commonly called ‘continuity errors.’

 

“Alright, let me show you a demonstration first before we begin.”

 

With Coach Jung Dong-seok’s words, the action team scattered across the court.

 

“We’ll start with Son Jin-wook’s choreography first.”

 

Coach Jung Dong-seok went to the innermost part of the court, under the basket where the center position is located, and began performing the movements in sequence.

 

Squeak─.

 

Each time Coach Jung Dong-seok’s basketball shoes created friction with the gymnasium floor, Son Jin-wook’s expression grew darker.

 

“C-can I even memorize this? I’m completely uncoordinated and can’t dance at all.”

“Jin-wook hyung, haven’t you done quite a few action movies?”

“Well, I’ve shot a couple, but I was always the weak link.”

 

Leaving the despairing Son Jin-wook behind, Coach Jung and the action team began moving in complex choreography.

 

Dong-ha, who was experienced at catching choreography and picking up detailed movements, began memorizing his movements with bright eyes, and Jeong Cheol-min also seemed quite confident in moving with set choreography from his experience in musicals and theater.

 

Jin Yu-han was staring intently with his usual serious expression…

 

Yeon-woo looked around at the other actors and nodded.

 

‘Well, I shouldn’t have any problems.’

 

It actually looked easier than the action scenes he had done when filming 「White Blood」.

 

Before long, Coach Jung Dong-seok, who had finished explaining all the actors’ movements, returned to his position.

 

Clap─.

 

Then Jeong Cheol-min clapped his hands to draw attention and shouted.

 

“Now, what’s the best solution in times like this?”

“Infinite repetition until we get it right.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s answer, Jin Yu-han, who was beside him, nodded and made a determined expression.

Seeing that expression, Yeon-woo chuckled.

 

‘Wait, you’re someone who repeats everything infinitely until you get it right anyway, so why the determined expression···.’

 

Come to think of it, according to the movements Coach Jung Dong-seok had just explained, Jin Yu-han could be considered the most important person in this scene.

 

Since Jin Yu-han plays a guard position in the drama, it would be sufficient to film just the final three-point shot scene separately, but if the ball Jin Yu-han throws actually goes in, filming that part in one-take would definitely boost the viewers’ immersion.

 

“Well then, shall we at least give it a try? It’ll probably be a mess since it’s our first attempt···.”

 

The actors nodded at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“I was here. I think I can get it all right in one go?”

“Me too. Dancing is part of my daily routine. Um, starting from here and going left inside···.”

 

Each person took their assigned position.

They all had fairly confident expressions.

 

“Alright, we’ll start practice with the whistle sound.”

 

Tweet─!

 

Squeak─.

Squeaksqueak─.

 

When Coach Jung’s whistle sounded, everyone began moving along their paths, making sounds as they stepped on the wooden floor, but contrary to their confident expressions, it was a complete mess.

 

And immediately, the whistle sound indicating they were wrong filled the gymnasium.

 

Tweeet─!

 

“Ah, all five of you got it wrong.”

“Ahem, ahem.”

“Huh? I thought I did it right?”

 

As expected, they couldn’t get full on the first spoonful, and it seemed like it would be a long day.

 

***

 

“Phew, this is tough, isn’t it?”

 

Son Jin-wook sprawled carelessly in a corner of the gymnasium and drank an ion drink.

 

Sweat was pouring from his head like rain.

Still, compared to when they first started, there had been considerable progress.

 

“At the end, it seemed like we were doing roughly similar to the demonstration the coach and action team showed us?”

 

Son Jin-wook brightened up and answered Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“Right? At first, when I tried to follow the movements, my body suddenly malfunctioned and I was running like an idiot, moving the same side arm and leg at the same time.”

“We all saw that.”

“Ahem.”

 

Bzzing─.

 

Then Yeon-woo’s smartphone, which had been placed in the corner, rang.

 

“Ah, let me take this call.”

“Sure. I need to lie down for a bit. Oh, my back.”

 

When Yeon-woo picked up his smartphone and checked the screen, it was a call from Han Hae-woon.

 

“Yes. This is Ryu Yeon-woo.”

– Ah, I’m calling because it’s urgent. It seems like my friend is urgently looking for another route because of heavy traffic during commute hours. It seems like there’s something to receive from the homeless people?

“Ah, is that so? I’ll be going home soon, so just leave it in front of the entrance. I’ll check it when I get home.

– Yes, understood.

 

Click─.

 

After exchanging only irrelevant conversation, the call ended.

 

“Delivery guy?”

 

Yeon-woo nodded at Jin-wook’s question.

 

“Yes, I ordered something from Okinawa and it seems like it just arrived.”

“I see. Phew, is it food? Share some with me too.”

“No, it’s not food. I ordered a wallet.”

 

Not Yeon-woo’s wallet, but Baek Sol’s wallet.

 

The primary goal they aimed to achieve through this Okinawa operation was, of course, the elimination of drugs that those guys were obviously going to distribute domestically.

 

And the secondary goal they were aiming for after that was to catch Baek Sol’s tail, who would be moving urgently domestically and leaving traces.

 

‘Heavy traffic congestion during rush hour means their cash flow is blocked and they’re in trouble…’

 

Having something to collect from the homeless means that as Baeksol is getting desperate, they’ve started scraping together various liquid assets including cash and stocks dispersed across borrowed-name accounts.

 

The Financial Real Name System introduced in 1993 prohibited financial transaction parties from holding pseudonymous or bearer accounts other than accounts under their real names.

 

Simply put, it meant don’t secretly hide black money.

But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t hide it.

‘That’s why they mainly use what’s called dummy accounts. Those guys have probably broken down the massive funds they’ve accumulated so far and hidden them by splitting them into hundreds of different accounts.’

The slang term “homeless person” that Han Hae-un mentioned means that borrowed-name accounts opened using shell bank accounts were being moved.

The typical method involves giving small amounts of money to homeless people who are unable to live normal lives and having them open bank accounts for use, and this is a method frequently employed by black operatives operating covertly in local areas, not only in our country but in other nations as well.

‘I’ve only managed to identify two or three of Baeksol’s key members so far, but even if I found out all of them, just taking them all down in one sweep wouldn’t be enough.’

Directly striking Okinawa, Baeksol’s financial lifeline, required a long preparation period and accepting a certain level of risk.

It wasn’t an operation carried out simply to screw those bastards over, nor was it executed solely out of a sense of mission to eliminate drugs.

Organizations at some point begin to move and live on their own like living organisms.

It might seem like we could uproot Baeksol by taking out all of their leadership, but if they have remaining funds, someone else will simply take charge and retreat even deeper into the shadows.

‘Even if we catch all of them, it’s meaningless unless we track down and confiscate all the funds scattered across hundreds of accounts. And realistically, that’s impossible.’

So you make them gather it themselves.

Creak─.

When Yeonwoo looked at the court, he saw Jin Yuhan practicing his shots alone without showing any signs of fatigue, while everyone else was sprawled out exhausted.

Tsk─.

The ball flew in a parabolic arc and went cleanly into the net, making it shake.

Another clean shot.

“Nice shot.”

I woke up in a strange body with no information and started with nothing.

Now he had a clear outline of who the enemy was and a plan for how to deal with them going forward.

 

Whether it’s a basketball or a bullet, they both fly in parabolic arcs, differing only in speed and trajectory.

 

‘My parabola is pretty clean too. I should deliver a clean shot as well.’

 

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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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