NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 273

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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 273. The Epic of Victory (1)

Yeon-woo turned on the shower.

And as the water streamed down, he slowly organized his thoughts while washing away the dirt that had accumulated all over his body from wandering the mountain and the sweat he had shed throughout the day.

 

‘Honestly, just my appearance alone would be enough to generate buzz.’

 

This wasn’t arrogance, but a clear understanding of reality.

He knew there was a significant gap between the average casting level of cable variety shows and the influence he currently possessed.

 

But even so, it would only go as far as drawing some interest for a cable variety show.

 

‘Just because I’m appearing doesn’t mean it’ll become a variety show that people of all ages watch. My fans would probably watch it, but…’

 

If it were a variety show he appeared on personally, he would have been satisfied with just his fans watching.

 

But this variety show had the drama “Parabola” team and Saebyeol at stake.

 

So he had no intention of being satisfied with just that level.

 

He would definitely win the survival game, and he planned to make this variety show legendary.

Because he planned to draw all the viewers to “Parabola” which would air afterward.

 

‘For that, I need the charm of sports. This survival game is ultimately sports too.’

 

Various football leagues around the world including the Premier League, NBA, Major League.

And the Olympics and World Cup held every four years.

 

Every year, winning teams emerge and countless medalists are produced.

 

Therefore, unless you’re a fan interested in that sport, you don’t pay much attention to the winners or winning teams.

The winners of survival variety programs would probably be no different.

 

‘Now there are too many other things to enjoy for people to get excited about one story, and tastes have diversified. Honestly, I don’t really know which team won the domestic league recently either.’

 

But even in such circumstances, sports occasionally produce ‘unscripted dramas’ that remain in people’s memories and are talked about for a long time.

 

‘Ultimately, to make this variety show legendary, I need to write an unscripted drama.’

 

That said, he couldn’t plan such a narrative in advance before filming started, and had to create it through quick thinking while watching how the survival progressed.

 

‘I need to dominate the battlefield but win like in a movie to create the best box office success.’

 

In that regard, there was one fortunate thing.

 

Dominating the battlefield and making movies.

Both were things Yeon-woo was best at.

 

‘At least I can complete one of the victory narratives.’

 

Just from the community reactions and the reactions of other players currently participating in the survival, Yeon-woo could clearly feel how much he was being underestimated.

 

But rather, it was good.

 

There are various sports epics that make people enthusiastic, but among them, there are some particularly effective ones.

 

‘The first among them is the underdog’s rebellion.’

 

Leicester City’s fairy-tale victory in the Premier League, which was rated as having a 0.02 percent chance of winning, the same as the probability of a coin landing on its side when flipped.

 

The Boston Red Sox’s miraculous victory in the 2004 World Series after 86 years, and the Houston Rockets’ miracle of winning through consecutive upsets in the 94-95 season.

 

The underdog’s rebellion is talked about for a long time regardless of various sports like football, basketball, and baseball.

 

When the underdog who seems least likely to win breaks through everything and climbs higher and higher to finally grasp victory, only then is the captivating ‘epic of victory’ completed.

 

‘This is actually something that would naturally be achieved just by me winning.’

 

But Yeon-woo wasn’t satisfied with just that.

 

‘I wish there could be one more story here…’

 

The dormitory divided into two, amateur players who were more nervous than expected.

 

If he painted these colors well, it seemed like one more picture would emerge.

 

“Hmm…”

 

Yeon-woo finished his shower and came out wearing the provided casual clothes.

 

Seeing Yeon-woo, a participant who was taking his bowl and heading outside pointed outside with his finger.

 

“Oh, while you were washing, the staff brought dinner. They’re grilling meat over charcoal outside, so come out and eat. They said the dining area will be filmed with installed fixed cameras.”

“Yes. Then I’ll just dry my hair and come out soon. Thank you.”

 

***

 

After roughly drying his hair and going outside, they had placed a grill on top of a drum barrel filled with firewood and were grilling lots of meat.

 

Everyone had wandered around the island exhaustingly all day, so protein supplementation was indeed necessary.

 

“Oh, actor Ryu Yeon-woo has come out.”

“Hey, what’s with the formal ‘actor’? Just call me by my name.”

“Should I? Hmm, then I’ll call you Yeon-woo. Wow, I’ve made a golden connection.”

 

Everyone seemed to want to build a friendship with Yeon-woo, engaging him in conversation on various topics.

Yeon-woo also smiled and gave appropriate responses while continuing his meal.

 

Then one of them spoke up.

 

“But you know what. Do ‘we’ really need to fight each other tomorrow?”

 

At the words of Seo Ju-hyeon, one of the participants, the other participants tilted their heads in confusion.

 

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, twelve people survived, so the probability of a winner being decided right on the second day is low, right? So if we cooperate with each other and don’t attack ‘us’ during tomorrow’s game, our survival probability for the second day will increase dramatically…”

 

Another player who heard Seo Ju-hyeon’s words scratched his cheek and replied.

 

“…Hmm, that does make sense, doesn’t it? It would be nice if ‘all of us’ survive the second day too and compete for victory at the end.”

 

Yeon-woo noticed the speaking technique where they had apparently decided to drop formalities among themselves, calling each other comfortably and referring to each other as ‘us’ while trying to form a community.

 

It was actually a natural phenomenon.

 

While watching the participants’ conversation, Yeon-woo was reminded of by philosopher Hannah Arendt, who covered the trials of German Nazi war criminals.

 

‘When continuously exposed to frightening and tense situations, anyone develops a strong desire to form groups by calling each other ‘us’. In a way, it’s just survival instinct.’

 

Yeon-woo quietly observed the players who were each laughing and chatting while eating dinner.

 

The dinner setting definitely had an atmosphere opposite to the Survival Game that had been conducted in the afternoon.

 

They weren’t being chased by anyone, nor did they have to shoot anyone with guns.

Rather, the meal was as peaceful and leisurely as friends coming to hang out and grill barbecue.

 

Perhaps because of this, while eating dinner, the tension they had felt all day was somewhat relieved, and they could be seen reacting excessively and laughing at even trivial stories.

 

‘I wonder if the people staying at the other accommodation are like this too?’

 

Surely similar stories about cooperation and solidarity had come up over there as well.

Human minds are pretty much the same everywhere.

 

Meanwhile, at Seo Ju-hyeon’s words, the other participants showed interested expressions but also tilted their heads.

 

“But hyung Ju-hyeon. If we team up and fight like that, won’t the Production Team stop us? I think they’d consider it cheating…”

“The Production Team clearly said we’re free to use any method as long as it’s not dangerous behavior. You heard them emphasize it twice before the game started, right? That any creative method is allowed in combat.”

“Mm, that’s right. They did say that.”

 

Seo Ju-hyeon nodded at his supporter and continued speaking.

 

“Originally, cooperating with each other when the situation calls for it is also an ability, right? If we cooperate just for tomorrow and eliminate all the people from the other accommodation…”

“But you know.”

 

At that moment, Yeon-woo cut in.

 

‘This needs to stop here. I need to break the mood at this point.’

 

When Yeon-woo, who had been quietly eating, opened his mouth, everyone’s attention focused on him.

 

In fact, with a world star sitting at the same table, there was no one at this table who wasn’t conscious of Yeon-woo.

 

Seo Ju-hyeon frowned slightly at having his words suddenly interrupted, but the others’ gazes naturally turned to Yeon-woo.

 

Yeon-woo, who had easily taken control of the conversation, looked at the players and continued.

 

“Shouldn’t the people we need to consider be the ‘viewers’ who will watch our program, not the Production Team? After all, this isn’t real combat but a ‘broadcast’. If we gang up and hunt cowardly, it probably won’t look very good to the viewers. I apologize if I’m overstepping.”

 

By deliberately mentioning the words viewers and broadcast, he made the players realize they were entertainers on air, not soldiers dropped on a battlefield.

 

Everyone had come to gain popularity, so no one would want to do something that would get them cursed by netizens.

They had just momentarily forgotten their situation.

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, everyone slightly opened their mouths as if they had been hit on the head.

And they realized once again that cameras were filming even where they were having their meal.

 

In the system, the act of intentionally forming alliances when you’re supposed to be enemies is called teaming.

 

If they continued to advocate for teaming disguised as solidarity here, it was obvious how they would be edited.

 

Seo Ju-hyeon, who had been speaking passionately, seemed to recognize his mistake as he glanced sideways at the camera installed in the yard and hurriedly continued.

 

“Th, that’s right! Now that I think about it, that does seem to deviate from the original purpose. I think it would be better to approach the game fairly and squarely. Haha.”

 

With those words, no one at the dinner table mentioned ‘solidarity’ again.

 

However, perhaps what the Production Team wanted was ‘solidarity’.

 

If two teams were naturally formed from the separate accommodations, there would be one winning side, and the final battle would be a tragic fratricide where former comrades kill each other.

 

‘That won’t happen. That’s not the direction I want.’

 

To complete the planned narrative, it had to flow in a different direction.

 

“Come on, there’s no alcohol, but since this is also fate for us, let’s raise our colas and toast. Today we eat and drink our fill, and tomorrow we fight fiercely again.”

 

When Yeon-woo stood up spiritedly and shouted, the others nodded and raised their glasses.

 

“Okay. Let’s do it!”

“Good, good. Let’s rest well today and fight fiercely again!”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, everyone seemed to get fired up as they stood up and clinked their glasses hard in a toast.

 

‘When the PD sees this scene later, he’ll get a sense of what direction to edit the overall narrative.’

 

***

 

The next day dawned.

 

At ten in the morning, Staff came to the accommodation to pick up the players.

 

The starting point was the location where each player was standing when yesterday’s match ended.

 

Since the place where Yeon-woo finished yesterday’s afternoon match was quite far from the dormitory, it took him considerably longer than others to reach the Starting Point.

 

‘There was definitely a player lying in ambush at a short distance after yesterday’s match ended.’

 

He judged that the priority was to deal with that guy immediately upon starting and secure the surrounding area.

 

Ziiing─!

 

The smart watch on his wrist rang out long.

 

It was the signal to restart the match.

 

Yeon-woo immediately ran toward the direction where he had heard the beep sound when yesterday’s game ended.

 

‘I need to charge in immediately before the opponent can take cover and guard the surroundings.’

 

As he ran through the trees at high speed, he spotted his opponent in the distance surveying the area.

 

Since he had focused on speed rather than stealth while running, the opponent seemed to have heard Yeon-woo coming and turned his body toward him.

 

‘······!’

 

Upon confirming Yeon-woo running toward him, the opponent hastily raised his gun and aimed at Yeon-woo.

 

Yeon-woo used a large tree with considerable girth between himself and his opponent to run at an angle that made accurate aiming difficult while slightly loosening the bag on his shoulder.

 

The opponent, judging it was too late to take cover, alternately aimed his rifle at both sides of the tree where Yeon-woo might emerge.

 

That’s when it happened.

 

Something suddenly shot out from the left side of the tree.

 

Bang─!

 

The opponent who reflexively pulled the rifle’s trigger immediately realized his mistake.

 

What had emerged wasn’t a person but the bag Yeon-woo had thrown.

He hastily turned his muzzle to the opposite side, but it was already too late.

 

Bang─!

Bang bang─!

 

In the meantime, Yeon-woo had slid to the right and emerged lying flat on the ground, immediately pulling the trigger and hitting his opponent’s body with consecutive bullets.

 

The light on the opponent’s protective gear immediately lit up red and his smart watch rang.

 

– Player 7 has eliminated Player 4. (3 hits taken)

 

‘Seeing that it’s 3 hits taken, this must be a player with no points scored and no points lost.’

 

It was probably a player who had been lucky the day before or had intentionally only run away.

 

‘It was pretty good that he calmly provided covering fire as soon as he confirmed he couldn’t take cover, but···.’

 

It was impossible to overcome the difference in experience and physical ability.

 

He quietly observed his opponent, who was staring at Yeon-woo with a dejected expression.

 

With the helmet, goggles, and combat uniform covering most of his body, the opponent probably didn’t know that the one who eliminated him was Ryu Yeon-woo.

 

‘Hmm?’

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head while observing his opponent.

 

He could see that the rope, which had seemed unclear how to use, had been cut short and tied around his forearm.

It looked like it would only interfere with combat.

 

Tied around his forearm like that, it looked like some kind of marking.

 

Seeing that, Yeon-woo chuckled.

 

‘So they ended up making that choice?’

 

It seemed the people from other dormitories had chosen to team up.

 

And it wasn’t long before he could be certain.

 

Ziiing─.

Ziiing─.

 

– Player 1 has eliminated Player 11. (1 hit taken)

– Player 1 has eliminated Player 18. (1 hit taken)

– Player 24 has eliminated Player 15. (1 hit taken)

 

Yeon-woo’s smart watch kept ringing as he cautiously moved while surveying the island’s geography.

 

Kill logs were arriving at intervals of about twenty to thirty minutes.

 

‘All with 1 hit taken?’

 

It was possible that people who coincidentally had one heart left were being eliminated consecutively.

 

But Yeon-woo was certain.

 

‘The guys with rope wrapped around their forearms are moving as a group and hunting.’

 

If multiple people shot simultaneously, only the bullet from the player who delivered the final elimination would be recognized, so it would likely show as 1 hit taken.

 

The participants who used the same accommodation last night were probably being eliminated.

 

Of course, he had expected this would happen, but it seemed the participants from other accommodations had ultimately made the wrong choice.

 

With this, all conditions for the grand narrative were now in place.

 

If the first type of championship story that people go crazy for in sports was ‘the underdog’s rebellion’, then the second was ‘defeating cheaters with skill – true justice’.

 

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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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