NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 309

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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 309. Competition

Yeon-woo chuckled as he watched Vincent Clerc suddenly exclaim ‘I love Korea.’

“You fall in love easily, don’t you?”

“No, absolutely not. Mr. Ryu would be surprised to know how conservative a gourmet I am with my palate. My tongue is tingling, but this is really delicious.”

Then Yeon-woo subtly pushed over a plate of fish cake he had brought plenty of.

“Then try this too.”

Vincent Clerc stared intently at the plate with fish cake on it.

“It looks like tree bark… It looks like something that would require quite an adventurous spirit to try. What is this?”

Seeing Vincent Clerc show wariness at the unfamiliar appearance of the fish cake, Yeon-woo scratched his cheek.

“Hmm, how should I explain this… In English, it’s called fish cake.”

Vincent Clerc’s eyes became even more filled with distrust.

“Fish cake…? That sounds terrible.”

Having no choice, Yeon-woo picked up a piece of fish cake first and took a bite.

Whether it was because the lady from the bunsik truck that fans sent today had considerable skill, or the power of corporate-brand ingredients, it was premium fish cake with a chewy texture and savory, salty taste.

After tasting it, Yeon-woo seemed to remember something and spoke again.

“Ah, do you happen to know a Spanish dish called buñuelos de bacalao? It’s a dish where cod meat is finely chopped, formed into balls, and then fried…”

At the familiar dish name, Vincent Clerc nodded vigorously.

“Oh, I know it. I know that one. Are you saying this is similar to that dish?”

At Vincent Clerc’s words, Yeon-woo quietly nodded and put the rest of the fish cake he had bitten into his mouth.

Then Vincent Clerc hesitated for a moment before bringing the fish cake to his mouth.

‘…!’

Seeing his eyes widen, it seemed to suit his taste.

Then Vincent Clerc immediately picked up another piece of fish cake and rolled his eyes.

He then looked back and forth between the fish cake and tteokbokki before moving his hand as if enchanted.

Watching Vincent Clerc dip the fish cake in tteokbokki sauce and bring it back to his mouth, Yeon-woo nodded with satisfaction and gave a thumbs up.

“You’ve become completely Korean.”

“…This has an amazing taste. Why don’t they sell this kind of thing in Paris?”

“If you look carefully, you might be able to find it. I heard it’s quite popular in Europe these days.”

“Phew, this is a dish that should naturally be popular. The spicy taste that tingles the tip of the tongue is truly an adult flavor.”

At Vincent Clerc’s words, Yeon-woo smiled quietly.

‘Adult flavor… Tteokbokki isn’t really that spicy a food.’

He was curious what reaction Vincent would show if he knew that investigating the distribution of tteokbokki shops nationwide would probably show the highest concentration in front of elementary schools.

In any case, he seemed greatly satisfied with coming to Korea so far.

***

The photo shoot wrapped up well, and in the meantime, time passed and the drama had aired up to episode 8.

「Parabola」 contained content where they faced a crisis of not being able to participate in the competition due to regulations requiring substitute players, but barely managed to enter by registering Jeong Cheol-min’s neighborhood juniors and even his daughter Jung Su-yeon as substitute players.

And now that the drama was running through its middle part, the production team and Yeon-woo also became busy.

‘It’s about time to leave the country.’

The dramas Yeon-woo had appeared in were the type that finished all filming first and then aired leisurely afterward, but in reality, looking at the domestic drama production environment, there are many cases where the wrap-up comes after the first broadcast.

That means, in other words, most dramas film the middle part while the early part is airing, and film the ending while the middle part is airing.

That’s why so-called ‘partial scripts’ that modify content on set often run rampant.

‘We’re not quite to that extent, but…’

All other parts had finished filming, and only the shooting of the final scene to be aired in episode 16 remained.

It wasn’t because they had unreasonably set a rushed broadcast schedule like other dramas.

‘If it really didn’t work out, we were going to film at another location and make it look roughly similar with CG, but…’

The basketball stadium located in New York that has the nickname ‘the world’s most famous arena.’

Filming permission for Madison Square Garden had come through.

However, that date was next week when episodes 9-10 would air, and the permitted time was only barely one hour.

From what he heard, even that short time was barely made possible because there was a fan among the team’s board members who had enjoyed watching 「White Blood」.

‘It’s such a famous stadium and the schedule is probably packed tight for years in advance, so the fact that they gave permission at all is something to be grateful for.’

While the drama’s main theme is the growth of youth, the overall content presents itself as a basketball story, so there are bound to be many basketball fans among the viewership, and since protagonist Ryu Yeon-woo’s trip to America occupies an important part in the drama, they thought it was worth flying there directly to film.

‘Thanks to that, it’ll be busy.’

Next week they would depart for America for filming, and they would have to broadcast just 20 days after that filming date.

There was no time for leisure activities like sightseeing while going on overseas location shoots.

As soon as they arrived and finished filming, the production team would have to return home immediately and begin editing.

‘Of course, that doesn’t apply to me.’

Yeon-woo was planning to stop by LA while going to America to take care of other business as well.

‘First, I’ll have that drink with Bernard Fenton that we promised earlier… Check on the progress of “Survival Island – Global Match,” and if I have time, I could even drop by Chrissy Monroe’s house.’

While organizing the tasks to resolve during next week’s trip to America, Kim Min-su’s car carrying Yeon-woo entered the underground parking garage of a building.

Kim Min-su looked back at Yeon-woo, who was sitting in the back seat with his eyes closed.

“We’ve arrived.”

Yeon-woo opened his eyes at Kim Min-su’s words and stretched his body.

“This is the first time I’ve experienced this kind of schedule since I started my acting career.”

Kim Min-su nodded as if he agreed with Yeon-woo’s words.

“That’s right. Being a judge…”

“I’m not sure if I have the capability to judge anything.”

“You’re more than qualified. I’ve been watching from the side as you selected scenarios, haven’t I?”

There truly hadn’t been a single straightforward scenario.

Among them were third-rate sci-fi with monsters and space warships appearing in the body’s inner world, romance by a commercial film director who was virtually unknown in the commercial film industry, low-budget independent films about adopted children, and so on…

It wasn’t that the outward appearance of the scenarios looked good, but rather that Yeon-woo simply had a good eye for them—this was something Kim Min-su, who had observed from beside him more than anyone else, was certain of.

“Is that so?”

Yeon-woo smiled brightly.

When he accepted the role of judge for the scenario competition, his main motivation was to find undiscovered gems that would otherwise be discarded.

In fact, the scenarios Yeon-woo could see were limited.

Since he had already entered the ranks of top stars, most scenarios presented to Yeon-woo were only those written by people who had already achieved success in previous works or were verified, so there weren’t that many of them.

However, due to the nature of the competition, he would be able to encounter raw scenarios that would normally never reach Yeon-woo and would have been thrown in some trash can somewhere, so to speak, ‘without rank insignia’ and without pretense.

“Well then, shall we go up with a light heart?”

As Yeon-woo got out and spoke, Kim Min-su nodded and guided him toward the elevator.

“Today is supposed to be a simple meeting where the judges and organizers greet each other and listen to explanations about the competition. This way, please.”

***

They took the elevator up to the 7th floor of the building.

– Korean Film Council Hosted 8th Scenario Competition

Seeing the sign placed in the hallway, Yeon-woo and Kim Min-su entered the main conference room.

Then everyone sitting inside turned to look at Yeon-woo in unison.

Some murmuring could be heard.

‘Hmm…’

While people murmuring upon seeing the famous Yeon-woo when he entered somewhere was now a familiar situation, today felt subtly different somehow.

Usually, it was mostly younger people murmuring with a feeling like “Wow! It’s Ryu Yeon-woo,” but today, interested gazes were pouring in mainly from veterans in the film production industry.

Even those interested gazes felt somewhat unfamiliar.

‘It’s exactly like the gaze of people watching monkeys at a zoo.’

It was the type of gaze he had felt countless times in his previous life as well.

It resembled the dismissive looks that had been directed at Yeon-woo in his previous life when he participated as the only Asian instructor in UN joint operations.

Yeon-woo received those gazes with a challenging expression and surveyed the main conference room.

He carefully observed the lip movements of those who opened their mouths upon seeing Yeon-woo.

Lip reading was a technique for inferring what the other person was saying through the movements of lips, face, and tongue from a distance or in situations where you couldn’t hear.

– The association was showing off about trying something new, but in the end, what they brought was such a young punk. Really, Advisor Kim. That’s why I should have become the association president this time…

– Oh my, they’re probably just saying to use him as a poster boy since young people’s interest is declining these days. Assemblyman Han, please understand just this once…

‘Hmm, so this is the nature of this association.’

After Yeon-woo’s survey, his impression was simply that it was ‘rotten.’

Among the committee members participating in the judging, there were certainly some with upright eyes, but most were the type of people more interested in the feast than the ritual itself.

Most organizations in the country that carry the name ‘council’ or ‘association’ are bound to rot as time passes.

Since they exercise only rights without receiving any auditing, it ultimately becomes what’s trendy to say these days: ‘pleasure without responsibility.’

After looking around such a conference room, Yeon-woo grinned.

As if he found it interesting.

***

Meanwhile, Hong Yu-ri, who had been living a busy life preparing for job hunting, visited the unmanned certificate machine on the 1st floor of the University Headquarters.

While printing documents, her younger sibling, who was her dormitory roommate, spotted Hong Yu-ri and approached from behind to surprise her.

“Sis!”

“Oh, you scared me! Didn’t you leave earlier saying you were going down to the family home?”

“I was going to go down after a long time, but when I called, both parents had gone to Ulleung-do for a trip. Rather than going down and being alone at home, I should just stay stuck at school. What are you printing, sis?”

At her roommate’s question, Hong Yu-ri slightly moved aside and pointed to the screen.

“NT is doing open recruitment this time, so I was printing things like graduation certificate and transcript.”

Then her younger sibling was surprised to see Hong Yu-ri’s grades.

“Wow, sis, your grades are really good.”

“I worked like crazy for them. But I keep getting rejected at the document screening stage. Is it because I’m a Korean Literature major? I came here just matching the scores, so I’m slightly regretting it.”

At Hong Yu-ri’s words, her younger sibling clapped as if remembering something.

“You say you came here just matching scores, but you usually like writing, don’t you? What you wrote last time was really interesting to me too! Did you see that scenario contest poster on the bulletin board over there? If you have something written, let’s submit it once! Come on?”

“A contest?”

“You never know if you might win!”

Hong Yu-ri stared intently at the poster attached to one side of the University Headquarters’ 1st floor.

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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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