NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 306

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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 306. Ambassador

“Where are you going?”

When Yeon-woo stood up, Jung Su-yeon, who was sitting next to him, looked at him.

“Yeah, I’m just going to the restroom for a moment.”

Yeon-woo passed through the nodding actors, opened the sliding door, and left the room.

Then he slowly walked down the long hallway, trying to figure out who was inside each room.

The small windows facing the hallway from each room were covered with curtains in some places, while others were slightly open for ventilation.

Since it was a weekday, there seemed to be quite a few empty private rooms.

‘Since this is a high-end Korean traditional restaurant, there are many private rooms.’

He quickly scanned the rooms with slightly open windows or sliding doors, but it was difficult to spot reporter Kim Jun-kyung through those small gaps.

Actually, he didn’t intend to make contact even if he found him; his purpose was to figure out who he was with.

Since he had just written an exclusive article and was likely gathering information for a follow-up story, Yeon-woo wanted to identify who he was with to guess what channels he used to get his sources.

‘But given the restaurant’s structure, it seems almost impossible to find him. Well, that’s probably why CEO Kim Ju-seong and other figures frequent this place.’

Of course, the food’s taste and quality were good, but the reason they preferred this restaurant was probably because privacy was protected.

Just as Yeon-woo finished washing his hands in the restroom and was about to return to his room, a sliding door opened and someone came out into the hallway.

Slide─.

“Huh?”

And that person recognized Yeon-woo and pointed at him with his finger.

At first, he thought the person just recognized him as a celebrity, but when he looked closely at the face, he saw someone he knew standing there.

“Professor?”

“Oh my, Yeon-woo.”

The person pointing at Yeon-woo and greeting him was Kim Tae-kyung, his college classmate from his previous life and his advisor in this life.

Yeon-woo smiled brightly at the welcome face he met in an unexpected place.

“I never expected to see you here suddenly. I’m so happy to see you like this, Professor.”

“Me too. What brings you here? Did you come for business?”

Yeon-woo nodded at Professor Kim Tae-kyung’s words.

“I came for a dinner party for the drama that’s currently airing.”

“Ah, I watched it too. The basketball drama, right?”

Yeon-woo’s eyes widened slightly, seemingly surprised by Professor Kim Tae-kyung’s words.

“You watched my drama too, Professor?”

“Oh come on, of course I did. I even watched the romance movie you filmed before. Thanks to that, I went to the movie theater with my wife for the first time in a while.”

Yeon-woo smiled warmly.

‘So Tae-kyung got married too. Thinking back to his college days, he was such an odd character that I wondered who would take him.’

He remembered the interview he had with Kim Tae-kyung when he first visited the school in this life.

At that time, Kim Tae-kyung was full of complaints about Yeon-woo neglecting his school life due to entertainment activities right after entering Korea University’s Economics Department, and treated him quite harshly.

‘Well, that was quickly resolved by talking about the band he likes.’

Come to think of it, he had offered Professor Kim Tae-kyung a position as an outside director of LN Media, but then Yeon-woo left LN.

As they were having a longer conversation in the hallway than expected, the sliding door of the room Professor Kim Tae-kyung came from opened.

And a man who was sitting and reached out to half-open the door asked Kim Tae-kyung.

“What’s up? Did you run into someone you know, hyung?”

“A student from our department. Well, no, that’s not quite right since he’s someone the entire nation knows, so that simple explanation might be insufficient.”

Yeon-woo poked his head out, thinking he’d help Professor Kim Tae-kyung save face.

Then the people inside saw Yeon-woo’s face and their eyes widened in surprise.

“Huh? Ryu Yeon-woo…?”

“…”

Yeon-woo also looked at the faces of the people inside and paused for a moment.

Then he smiled as if nothing had happened and greeted them.

“Hello. I’m Ryu Yeon-woo, currently studying under Professor Kim Tae-kyung.”

And Yeon-woo looked at the man who was sitting, opening the sliding door, and awkwardly receiving his greeting.

‘Found him. Reporter Kim Jun-kyung.’

***

Saying that since they met like this it must be fate and he’d like to briefly pay his respects before leaving, Yeon-woo jokingly entered the room Professor Kim Tae-kyung had come from.

Inside, a total of four people were having a meal, and after brief introductions, two were high-ranking public officials from the National Tax Service, and the other two were, as expected, Professor Kim Tae-kyung and reporter Kim Jun-kyung.

And the surprising news was.

‘So they were brothers…’

Professor Kim Tae-kyung’s younger brother was said to be reporter Kim Jun-kyung.

‘I didn’t specifically ask them to investigate Kim Jun-kyung’s family relationships.’

Since the article had just been published, he had only instructed them to find out his current whereabouts.

Yeon-woo looked at the middle-aged men in the room.

Then the men in the room also looked at Yeon-woo and opened their mouths.

“Haha, thanks to Professor Kim, I get to share a table with such a famous person.”

“By the way, we’re all going Dutch, so please don’t misunderstand. This is absolutely not some kind of entertainment gathering.”

Conscious of the anti-graft law commonly called the Kim Young-ran Act, they waved their hands and made excuses to Yeon-woo.

Then Yeon-woo smiled lightly and replied.

“I didn’t think that at all. I was just a bit curious about what kind of relationship you all have with each other.”

“Us old folks? The three of us are university classmates.”

Excluding Kim Jun-kyung since he was Kim Tae-kyung’s younger brother, the other three were classmates with each other.

Suddenly Yeon-woo tilted his head.

“Classmates? Then are you my seniors?”

If they were classmates with Kim Tae-kyung, that would mean they were also classmates with Jeon Su-hwan from Yeon-woo’s past life, but they were all faces he’d never seen before.

“Ah, that’s not it. Strictly speaking, we met in graduate school. Now that I think about it, it’s quite an old connection.”

Then Yeon-woo nodded as if he understood.

Yeon-woo from his past life had entered the National Intelligence Service immediately after graduating from university, so there was no way he would have known Kim Tae-kyung’s graduate school connections.

“It’s quite fascinating to meet my advisor’s graduate school classmates. If it’s alright, let me pour you all a drink.”

When Yeon-woo spoke with good humor, everyone seemed pleased.

“My goodness, when would I ever receive a drink from such a celebrity.”

Yeon-woo poured drinks while looking at the man who had introduced himself as a high-ranking civil servant from the National Tax Service’s Investigation Bureau.

‘The National Tax Service…’

It seemed he had found the source from which reporter Kim Jun-kyung obtained his information.

‘These people would have been able to track Lake Film’s suspicious money flow.’

***

After getting acquainted appropriately and returning to the room where the drama team was, Yeon-woo sat down and Son Jin-wook poured alcohol into his empty glass.

“What took you so long in the restroom?”

“Ah, I ran into a university professor on the way back and briefly greeted him.”

“Oh, by coincidence? That’s interesting.”

Yeon-woo nodded and took out his smartphone under the table to send a message to Han Hae-woon.

– Reporter Kim Jun-kyung is the younger brother of Professor Kim Tae-kyung from Korea University’s Economics Department. The informants who provided the sources for his article are Yu Do-hyun, Investigation and Analysis Division Chief at the National Tax Service’s Investigation Bureau, and Oh Young-jin, Inspection Officer at the National Tax Service. First, investigate these two to see if they’re clean. Also check if Baek Sol is surveilling them.

– Han Hae-woon: Understood. But how did you find this out so quickly?

– I ran into them by chance while passing by.

– Han Hae-woon: …Excuse me?

Leaving behind Han Hae-woon’s message, who probably had question marks floating over her head, he put his smartphone in his pocket.

“Alright, nobody’s escaping today. Especially you, Yeon-woo, don’t think about quietly slipping away like usual.”

Jeong Cheol-min, excited about the long-awaited company dinner, raised his glass with a smile.

“Hey, I won’t run away. Let’s drink slowly for a long time.”

There was a high possibility that Baek Sol’s minions who had tracked down reporter Kim Jun-kyung’s location were surveilling the restaurant from outside.

Probably when Kim Jun-kyung left the restaurant, the surveillance personnel would also withdraw, so Yeon-woo had no intention of leaving the restaurant before Kim Jun-kyung did.

While they were drinking for a while, CEO Jeong Hyeok, who joined the company dinner late, came and sat next to Yeon-woo.

“Actor Ryu.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“It’s a bit awkward to talk business at a company dinner, but I just came from a meeting with guests from overseas, which is why I’m late. About that matter we discussed before.”

Guests from overseas?

Yeon-woo tilted his head and asked.

“Are you talking about the global match?”

“Ah, that’s still a long way off. I’m talking about the global brand ambassador position.”

At those words, Yeon-woo nodded.

He recalled saying they would actively pursue overseas activities to raise the corporate evaluation ranking of the domestic entertainment company.

“Did we receive an offer?”

“Of course, offers always come from various places. I met with a few of them and came back, but I think Actor Ryu should make the final decision. The conditions are more or less the same, and I’ve checked that there are no problematic clauses. I’ll send you the list on your smartphone now.”

At Jeong Hyeok’s words, Yeon-woo opened the file that arrived on his smartphone.

– Jean-Pierre Raphael

A French fashion brand established in 1937.

Known domestically for perfumes, it also handles bags, shoes, clothing, etc.

Every year in Paris, the Jean-Pierre fashion show named after the brand is held.

– Capela

A Swiss luxury watch brand established in 1908.

One of the most recognizable brands and a symbol of high-end watches.

Currently utilizing various sports stars as ambassadors through sponsorship.

– Armand

A French fashion brand established in 1907.

Specializes in formal suits for men and is a high-end fashion brand.

The proposal came from the global fashion division.

Currently has no Asian ambassadors.

While Yeon-woo was checking the files, CEO Jeong Hyeok beside him explained in detail about contract conditions and activity details.

“There are quite a few other proposals besides these brands, but considering conditions and brand value, these three are the best among them.”

Yeon-woo stroked his chin while listening to CEO Jeong Hyeok’s explanation.

Of course, they were famous brands, so naturally they were names he knew.

However, throughout both his past and present life, he had been far from luxurious things, and being a novice in fashion, it was difficult to decide which brand would be good.

Then Jung Su-yeon, who was sitting beside him, peeked her head out.

“Wow. These brands made proposals?”

“Yeah. Which one would be good?”

At Yeon-woo’s question, Jung Su-yeon pondered for a moment before speaking.

“Rather than Jean-Pierre, which focuses on perfumes and bags, wouldn’t Armand be better? Suits look really good on you, Yeon-woo.”

Yeon-woo nodded at Jung Su-yeon’s words.

It made sense.

Being a brand ambassador isn’t just being a simple advertising model, but a kind of image icon that expresses the brand’s orientation through a person, and even thinking about it himself, Armand seemed to suit him better than Jean-Pierre.

Then Yeon-woo’s eyes caught Lee Ye-eun having a meal at the next table.

‘I have my dedicated stylist, so why was I worrying? She’s the world’s greatest expert when it comes to my style and fashion.’

When Yeon-woo called Lee Ye-eun, she came over and sat down.

“I’m thinking of becoming an ambassador for one of these brands. What do you think, Sister?”

“Wow… You can choose any of them and do it?”

Then it was CEO Jeong Hyeok, not Yeon-woo, who nodded.

“After ‘White Blood’ succeeded and SL Electronics’ Universe marketing achieved results in South America, everyone was scrambling to recruit him. If he just accepts, the marketing manager would probably be overjoyed with both hands and feet raised.”

Then Lee Ye-eun, who had been looking back and forth between the list and Yeon-woo, spoke up.

“Do you have to do just one? Watches and fashion don’t even overlap in fields, so it seems like you could do two at the same time?”

“Oh?”

Yeon-woo looked at the list again.

Certainly, Jean-Pierre and Armand overlapped in fields so doing them simultaneously would be impossible, but Capela seemed like it wouldn’t matter.

‘The reason for accepting the ambassador role in the first place is to increase the overseas recognition portion of the corporate evaluation, so that would be fine too, right?’

If he accepted ambassador roles for two world-class brands simultaneously, the reporters would probably go crazy writing articles about it.

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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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