NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 261
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 261. Clean Shot
After basketball practice ended, Yeon-woo returned home and headed straight to his studio.
Yeon-woo sat down, put on his headset, and opened a private communication channel with Han Hae-woon.
“You said they’ve started moving?”
– Yes. I just got off work and arrived home, so I only have what Kim Su-hyeok reported to me. First, abnormal fund movements were detected at one of the production companies we were monitoring.
“A production company means the media sector?”
– That’s right. It’s a small company called Lake Film. Do you happen to know it? There wasn’t much information even when I searched for it.
Yeon-woo stroked his chin and searched for Lake Film on the internet.
As Han Hae-woon said, there wasn’t much information exposed.
“Lake Film… Director Yoon Mi-yeon and Representative Jung recently talked about it, saying they were producing a blockbuster-scale drama.”
Originally it was just an ordinary small-to-medium production company, but they suddenly started a major drama project after apparently getting backing from somewhere big.
Since he only caught fragments of the conversation in passing, he didn’t know more detailed information, but now it seemed that backing was Baek Sol.
“That was quite a while ago too, before we even started filming the movie ‘Moon’, so it was more than half a year ago.”
– A person named Lee Hyeong-rak, who owned a large stake in that company, suddenly moved enormous funds overseas this morning through overseas remittances and cryptocurrency. The Financial Supervisory Service immediately suspected money laundering or tax evasion and launched an investigation.
Hearing Han Hae-woon’s words, Yeon-woo chuckled.
“And the fact that the FSS was investigating suddenly disappeared, right?”
– Correct. It seems they applied pressure from the top.
They applied pressure to erase traces, but they were caught by Han Hae-woon, who had been on high alert expecting them to move.
“Hmm, anyway, that means it’s a borrowed-name account. What about the actual person named Lee Hyeong-rak?”
– Our agents are trying to locate him, but it’s difficult to find him since he’s homeless. There are homeless people scattered all over Seoul. In fact, it’s unclear if he’s even in Seoul.
They probably didn’t kill him. If problems arise with financial institutions later, they’d need to bring him in, clean him up, dress him, and ‘use’ him.
“Hmm, let me find out more related information. Wait a moment.”
Yeon-woo immediately opened his smartphone and called Director Yoon Mi-yeon.
After a few rings, Director Yoon’s voice came through the receiver.
– Actor Ryu? Is something wrong?
Since Yeon-woo wasn’t usually one to make calls, Yoon Mi-yeon asked with a worried voice, seemingly surprised by the unexpected call.
“Ah, nothing’s wrong, I just wanted to ask you something.”
– Phew, when you suddenly called, I thought maybe one of our actors got injured during basketball practice.
“The lesson ended safely and everyone went home. As expected of professionals, everyone had been practicing hard.”
– Really? That’s a relief. What did you want to ask about?
Yeon-woo looked at the monitor showing Lake Film search results and continued speaking.
“Last time you talked with Representative Jung about Lake Film. I overheard briefly that they were proceeding with a major project?”
– Ah, that place? I think the drama was called ‘Daytona’, and they must have met an investor with deep pockets. I heard they even cast actor Yoon Seung-seol as the lead.
Yeon-woo knew Yoon Seung-seol well.
He was a great actor in his 40s who had been invited to Cannes and Venice and was currently at the peak of his career, but he was an actor who only worked in films – his most recent drama was over 10 years ago.
“Yoon Seung-seol in a drama? It must really be a major production.”
– Well, it’s only a major production if it succeeds. Anyway, they seem to have poured enormous production costs into it. But why are you suddenly curious about that company?
“Ah, isn’t their launch timing roughly similar to ours? ‘Parabola’ will probably air early next year once we start cranking in soon, and I thought their timing might be similar.”
Yoon Mi-yeon agreed after briefly calculating based on Yeon-woo’s words.
– That sounds about right? Hmm, should we get the broadcasting schedule in advance to avoid conflicts…
“Do we really need to avoid it? If we end up competing, we’ll just compete.”
– Were you always this aggressive, Actor Ryu?
“Come on, you said theirs is a major production with a big budget. Our target audience is probably different anyway. Let’s think about scheduling when the time comes.”
Since they were planning to work with comprehensive programming channels or cable, scheduling would be relatively flexible.
It was a drama featuring not only Ryu Yeon-woo but also Jin Yu-han and Son Jin-wook – what conditions couldn’t they meet?
After continuing the conversation appropriately with Director Yoon Mi-yeon and ending the call, Yeon-woo stroked his chin.
“Hmm, did you hear that?”
– Yes. I’ll focus on gathering information about ‘Daytona’ and ‘Yoon Seung-seol’. Following actor Yoon Seung-seol should naturally connect us to Lake Film.
“Lee Kyu-jin and Park Jung-hyeon will handle that side, right? Kim Su-hyeok needs to find the homeless person.”
– Correct.
Yeon-woo looked back and forth between the monitor and calendar before speaking again.
“About that homeless person. It might not be right, but I have a hunch.”
– What aspect are you referring to?
“The place where that person’s name was used is a media production company, right? I think it might be a part that ‘Hwang-geum’ was in charge of before he was eliminated.”
The agent who clashed with agents when Yeon-woo extracted Kim Ju-seong, then used the interests between Chinese triads and Baek Sol to make Baek Sol handle it themselves.
– That’s highly likely. He was in charge of the entertainment industry from LN to Plus Ten.
“Then it’s likely a borrowed-name account that ‘Hwang-geum’ created directly, but where did he find that homeless person?”
Han Hae-woon seemed to understand Yeon-woo’s meaning and clapped his hands as he answered.
– He would have found him along a route he could frequently travel and monitor. Skullcap Corporation.
The officetel where Hwang-geum had hidden and the paper company he operated.
“The nearest station is Seodaemun Station. Seodaemun Police Station is right in front too.”
Would they avoid crime because a large police station was right in front?
Not at all.
Agents’ habits were better understood by Yeon-woo and Han Hae-woon, who were both former agents themselves.
– It’s the brightest lamp, isn’t it.
The habit of making good use of the fact that it’s darkest under the lamp.
– I’ll give instructions to Kim Su-hyeok right away.
“Well, since we don’t know where they are anyway, we have nothing to lose. Let’s start searching from Seodaemun. By the way, is the security company almost at the final stage now?”
– We’ve assembled all the initial members, and once the security-related training is finished, we should be able to start operating immediately.
“Have you decided on a name? Should I come up with one for you?”
At Yeon-woo’s words, silence flowed from the other side for a moment.
He could almost feel the silent protest desperately rejecting Yeon-woo’s naming sense.
“…I was just saying.”
– Phew, that’s a relief. We’ll consult well with Kim Su-hyeok and come up with something ourselves.
***
The agents began their investigation, and the security company Prydwen, created jointly by Han Hae-woon and Kim Su-hyeok, had almost finished preparing for its official launch.
‘Prydwen… That was the name of the legendary King Arthur’s shield. Why did they make it so grandiose? Something like Jeil Security or Daewon Safety Management would be perfect since it wouldn’t be memorable.’
Having lived as a spy for so long in his previous life, his naming standards had become focused on being easily forgotten, resulting in what others would consider the worst sense.
If Han Hae-woon had heard the names Yeon-woo was thinking of, he would have shuddered.
Anyway, using the spare funds they had, they purchased a building suitable for use as Prydwen’s office. The area around Mokwha Building, which had no special features before Saebyeol moved in, had now become a very active commercial district and what you’d call a hot neighborhood on SNS.
Of course, real estate prices had risen considerably due to the activated commercial district.
‘Hmm, it cost quite a bit to purchase the building for Prydwen’s office, but the value of Mokwha Building has skyrocketed accordingly, so… Overall, it’s profitable.’
At the center of the activated commercial district was the Saebyeol Entertainment office building.
Including the restaurant and bakery that had moved into the 1st floor, and the goods shop that started operating in the back, the area around Mokwha Building was always surrounded by long lines and crowds.
‘It’s a natural protective barrier. Even if those guys wanted to conduct surveillance or wiretapping, it would be impossible because of all the fans and tourists.’
While thinking about various things, the car carrying Yeon-woo arrived at the gymnasium.
“You’re playing a game today, right?”
At Kim Min-su’s words from the driver’s seat, Yeon-woo nodded and answered.
“That’s right. They arranged a friendly match to use for the follow-up variety show.”
“Then who’s coming out on the opposing team?”
“They said it’s a celebrity basketball team, but I didn’t ask about the members. We’ll have to see when we go in.”
As Kim Min-su parked, Yeon-woo got out of the car.
Originally, they rented the entire facility on the weekly closing day for practice, so the parking lot was completely empty, but today there were quite a few cars parked.
It seemed most had arrived, from the follow-up variety show filming crew to the cars the opposing team came in.
As Yeon-woo entered the gymnasium, Jin Yu-han and Dong-ha approached him.
“Yeon-woo, you’re here?”
“Hyung. Did you know that person is on the opposing team?”
“That person?”
At Dong-ha’s words, Yeon-woo tilted his head.
Then Dong-ha came closer and whispered quietly.
“Jae-yoon from N-Boys.”
“…Who was that again?”
Since his agent days, he rarely forgot names once he memorized them, but idol names were particularly hard to remember.
Whether his abilities as an agent were weaker than the typical middle-aged man’s idol-specific memory decline…
“You know, when we played futsal, you cruelly…”
“…Ah!”
Hearing Dong-ha’s words, Yeon-woo remembered and made a slightly apologetic expression.
At that time, he had become slightly combative while playing sports and had given him a hard time with dangerous tackles, but thinking back, he wondered if he had been too harsh on a young idol.
Yeon-woo looked around, searching for Jae-yoon.
‘There he is.’
Spotting Jae-yoon, Yeon-woo walked toward him.
Jae-yoon, who was among the other members of basketball team Fast, suddenly felt a chill and looked around, then spotted Yeon-woo walking toward him with long strides and unconsciously took a slight step back.
“Hup…!”
But Yeon-woo approached with a smile and extended his hand.
“I’m sorry about the unintentional collision last time. I was going to apologize afterward, but the variety show continued right away so I couldn’t say anything. Still, it’s nice to see you again like this, Jae-yoon.”
Ooh─.
He could feel the other Fast members around looking at Jae-yoon.
Among the actors playing basketball today, Yeon-woo was probably the most mysterious person since he was rising as a world star recently but had the least image exposure.
Jae-yoon felt complex emotions as he disliked and feared Yeon-woo, but on the other hand felt somewhat proud and pleased that a world star had approached him first and offered a handshake.
“Ah, yes. No, it’s not. Since I’m clumsy at soccer, it was an accident that happened when I made an excessive tackle by mistake.”
After that incident, he became a target of teasing and mockery, and he received quite a lot of hate comments as videos like ‘Achae University Dangerous Tackle Compilation’ circulated.
Jae-yoon said it was a ‘tackle made by mistake,’ but it was never a mistake.
Yeon-woo said it was ‘unintentional,’ but it was very much intentional.
In any case, the scene of the two shaking hands was being quietly captured by the variety show team’s camera director from a distance.
Thanks to this, the related video ‘Achae University Futsal – Sister Jae-yoon’ would once again decorate the rankings of rapidly rising popular videos.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————