NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 31

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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 31. Jung Su-yeon

Hong Yu-ri entered the Korean Literature Department at Yeonha University and is living the hectic life of a first-year freshman.

 

Her stomach, gradually trained through grade-level mixers, transformed into organs that could handle alcohol, and the countless human archetypes she met while experiencing the brutal reality of group projects for the first time slowly toughened her mental strength.

 

“Ugh, this is hard. So hard. Where did my campus dreams go?”

 

Even amid all this, the dramas and follow-up variety shows of Ryu Yeon-woo, Yu-ri’s high school junior and favorite celebrity, serve as sweet rain and a sanctuary for her harsh freshman life.

 

– Jin-wook hyung, put some water in the pot…

 

Today too, she sits at her dormitory desk with her laptop open, homework on the screen, her mobile phone propped up beside it, playing Yeo-reum’s Table that she’s watched countless times.

 

For Hong Yu-ri, who lives this ordinary university freshman life, something has been bothering her lately – a burden that came from accepting a teacher’s request when she visited her old high school on Teacher’s Day.

 

Ding—.

 

A KakaoTalk message appeared over Yeon-woo and the octopus on the screen.

 

– Kim Jun-su: Sister, did you eat?

 

It’s the school’s grand plan to create a mentor-mentee system between seniors who entered good universities and juniors aiming for those universities to increase the Seoul Metropolitan Area university admission rate.

 

The junior assigned accordingly was a guy named Kim Jun-su, who she already knew, but after being paired as mentor-mentee, he’s been contacting her several times a day, constantly making her worry about him.

 

Tap— tap tap.

 

Hong Yu-ri’s fingers moved busily, touching the smartphone screen.

 

-No, I’m busy with homework today. You should study too.

 

Actually, she could just ignore him if it was bothersome, but somehow thinking that he was a junior who looked up to her, she found herself replying.

 

– Kim Jun-su: The June mock exam is right around the corner, so I’m nervous. I need to get grades good enough to definitely get into Yeonha University.

 

With messages coming first several times a day asking “Did you eat?” and “Are you feeling sick anywhere?”, Yu-ri would suspect “Does he like me?” but seeing texts like this, she’d relax, realizing he’s just a high school junior dreaming of Yeonha University.

 

-You need to manage your time well. There aren’t many problems you can’t solve because you don’t know them anymore.

 

Ding—.

 

As soon as she put down her phone after sending the reply, a quick response came back.

 

– Kim Jun-su: Yeah. I need to manage my time well. By the way, Yeon-woo seems like he’ll easily get into Korea University.

 

Jun-su cleverly mixed in casual speech and shifted the topic to Yeon-woo’s story.

 

“He’s subtly using casual speech again.”

 

Yu-ri, who was the number one fan of the unofficial fan club, knew well that Jun-su had been Yeon-woo’s best friend since their school days.

 

Occasionally hearing about Yeon-woo’s daily life as a fan was a side benefit of the mentor-mentee relationship.

 

– Are you subtly using casual speech again?

 

Hong Yu-ri typed that, then deleted it again.

 

– Fighting.

 

Yu-ri worried that she might seem like a stuck-up senior over just a one-year age difference.

 

“No, but what does it matter how I look to him? Why am I worrying about that? Really!”

“Huh?”

 

At Yu-ri’s unconscious muttering, her dormitory roommate lifted her head groggily from the alcohol she’d consumed all night.

 

“It’s nothing, Sister. Sleep more.”

“Mmm.”

 

***

 

– Hong Yu-ri: Fighting.

 

Kim Jun-su looked dejected at the dry, short reply and went back to solving problems.

 

‘What if Yuri Sister gets a boyfriend before I get into Yeonha University?’

 

Hey, is that the problem? Getting accepted is hard enough in the first place.

 

Jun-su shook his head to clear his thoughts and began solving the problem he’d been stuck on step by step.

But how could a high school boy in love focus on studying?

The white things were just paper and the black things were just letters.

 

While solving problems, he looked to the side and saw Yeon-woo with his picture-perfect looks smoothly working through his problem book.

 

‘Ha, you’ve got the face and body, so couldn’t you share some of your study skills? My friend.’

 

“Hmm? Why?”

 

Yeon-woo felt the gaze from beside him and looked at Jun-su with a bright smile.

 

“Never mind. Dude, don’t just smile like that. It makes my heart flutter.”

 

Pfft.

 

Yeon-woo laughed in disbelief at Jun-su’s sudden random comment.

Regardless, Jun-su sighed deeply beside him as if the ground would cave in.

 

‘Is he going through puberty like So-hyeon too?’

 

Yeon-woo tilted his head as he looked at Jun-su like that.

 

 

Time passed and the June mock exam approached quickly, and students who received their scores each let out their own cries of despair.

 

“Sigh, my score definitely went up but it’s ambiguous.”

 

Jun-su was no exception.

 

His score had definitely improved from March, but if you asked whether it was good enough to give up early admission and go all-in on the regular admission, that was a problem that required consideration.

 

Rather, Seong-sik’s score was at a better level than Jun-su’s.

 

Jun-su decided to use his last resort.

 

“Um, Yeon-woo?”

“Hmm?”

 

Yeon-woo put down the book he was reading and looked at Jun-su.

 

“Well, you know. I have a favor to ask.”

 

Yeon-woo looked at the hesitating Jun-su and spoke first.

 

“Want to study together at your house until the college entrance exam?”

“Huh? Really?”

 

Jun-su’s eyes widened at Yeon-woo’s preemptive words.

 

There was no way Yeon-woo, sitting next to him, wouldn’t notice Jun-su’s worries as he openly let out deep sighs.

 

“I don’t know if I’ll be helpful, but let’s try studying together.”

 

Jun-su’s eyes welled up with emotion at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“My friend! Thank you. I’ll prepare a full course of snacks every single day!”

“Hey, forget the snacks. That would just make your mother suffer. I need to manage my diet.”

“Our school’s top student is tutoring me, so I have to do something. I pledge my loyalty!”

 

Yeon-woo had taken first place in the school rankings in this mock exam as well, and alien theories were seriously spreading throughout the school.

 

Whether it was sports or studying.

The rumor that his inability to sing was just because he wasn’t familiar with Earth’s songs was a bonus.

 

So Yeon-woo ended up doing about two hours of individual study after school at Jun-su’s house with Jun-su and Seong-sik.

 

 

Kim Jun-su’s older sister Kim Yeon-ji was pleased to see her younger brother, who was three years younger and had been obsessed with PC games all the time, talking nonsense about promotion matches and such, finally come to his senses and study now that he was a senior.

 

Yeon-ji had taken a leave of absence before entering her fourth year of university and came down to her parents’ house to build up her specs for job preparation, and was currently attending a TOEIC academy.

 

Today too, she finished academy and returned home, but from the entrance there were a bunch of unfamiliar men’s shoes scattered around.

A deep irritation that boiled up from some unknown core.

 

‘Did he bring friends over to play games again?’

 

I thought he had come to his senses, but apparently not.

 

Yeon-ji walked with big strides and flung open Jun-su’s room door.

 

“Hey, Kim Jun-su!”

 

Jun-su and Seong-sik, who were sitting on either side of Yeon-woo listening intently to his explanation, and Yeon-woo looked at the wide-open door.

 

“Sister?”

“Oh, hello. I’m Jun-su’s friend, Ryu Yeon-woo.”

 

Yeon-ji froze with the door still open.

 

“Eeeek?”

 

A scream involuntarily came out due to the unexpected situation and Yeon-woo’s visual bombardment.

 

“Sister, what’s with that weird sound.”

“Oh, no. Study hard.”

 

Bang!

 

Yeon-ji, who had closed the door, opened it slightly again.

 

“Kim Jun-su, come out for a moment.”

 

At his sister’s quiet whispered call through the door crack, Jun-su came out to the living room.

 

Yeon-ji grabbed Jun-su and poured out words like rapid fire in a hushed voice.

 

“Hey! What’s this? When I asked you to get me an autograph, you totally ignored me.”

“Ah, he’s my closest friend, so what autograph? You can just see him in person.”

 

Jun-su somehow became confident and his shoulders rose high.

 

“Don’t you want anything to eat? Should Sister cut some fruit for you?”

“Suddenly?”

 

Jun-su’s eyes widened, as his sister had never cut fruit for him in her life, and would even beat him if he secretly ate a single snack.

 

“What do you mean suddenly, this kid. Originally when you have a senior brother, sisters do things like that. Just go in and study. Hohoho.”

 

Yeon-ji walked quickly to the kitchen.

 

“What are you talking about…? You don’t even know how to peel fruit.”

 

Jun-su shook his head and went back into the room.

 

Knock knock―.

 

After studying for a while, there was a knocking sound he had never heard at home before, and Yeon-ji came in.

 

“Hey guys. Study while eating some fruit. Hehe.”

 

Peeled fruit on a large plate.

Crooked knife marks. It was the first time the kids had ever seen fruit peeled in such a way.

 

“Sister Yeon-ji. Thank you. We’ll eat it well.”

 

Yeon-woo smiled warmly with his eyes and expressed his gratitude to Yeon-ji.

 

“Mm-hmm. Y-yeah. Tell me if you want more. Haha.”

 

Yeon-ji left, showing off her noticeably reddened ears.

 

“Sigh.”

 

Jun-su shook his head with a sigh.

 

“Wow, peeling it like this must have wasted more than half of it, right?”

 

Jun-su’s sigh deepened as he watched Seong-sik chattering obliviously beside him.

 

***

 

Jung Su-yeon, like Yeon-woo and his friends who were busy studying, was also a senior in high school, so she started studying again as soon as this movie filming ended.

 

Growing up under strict parents, she couldn’t even dream of rebellion and had always lived properly since starting as a child actor.

 

Su-yeon worked in the entertainment industry but also studied hard, achieving grades good enough to aim for top universities in Seoul.

 

Having always done only what her parents told her to do, her biggest act of rebellion was asking a male actor she met for the first time on set for his number for the first time in her life.

 

Jung Su-yeon wondered twelve times a day whether she should contact Ryu Yeon-woo first, who hadn’t contacted her since they exchanged numbers.

 

Su-yeon still couldn’t understand where she had gotten the courage to do such a thing that day.

 

Rather than asking for his number because she was interested in him as a man, she thought his aura of commanding the filming set despite being the same age as her was cool as a fellow actor, and she really wanted to become close friends.

 

Ring―.

 

She quickly looked at her ringing mobile phone and saw it was a Kkaekkaeo Games advertisement.

 

“Phew.”

 

Shaking her head at her uncharacteristic behavior, Su-yeon decided to just contact him first.

 

Tap― tap tap.

 

She opened her mobile phone and started typing.

 

***

 

Buzz―.

 

As usual today, after studying and tutoring at Jun-su’s house after school, Yeon-woo was returning to his home in the apartment right next door when he felt a vibration and opened his mobile phone.

 

– Jung Su-yeon : Hello!

 

A greeting that arrived with a cute rabbit emoticon.

 

‘Ah, right. We exchanged numbers.’

 

He had thought it would be nice to have a friend his age in the same industry, but had completely forgotten about Su-yeon’s existence.

 

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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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