NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 310

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 310. New York

Yeon-woo left the Conference Room and headed toward the Elevator.

He had heard it would be a simple gathering for judges and organizers to exchange greetings, but it was even more tedious than he had expected.

Each judge would simply stand up and introduce themselves, then the organizers would recite their credentials while everyone applauded mechanically.

Even more frustrating, they said they would handle important matters related to the competition through individual communication later, so nothing substantial was discussed.

In the Elevator heading to the Parking Lot, while Yeon-woo remained calm, Kim Min-su looked rather angry instead.

“Isn’t this too much? You accepting the judge position was basically volunteering out of goodwill, but they call such a busy person over only to conspire among themselves to embarrass you and throw around rude remarks. I was so furious I almost charged at them.”

Hearing Kim Min-su’s words, Yeon-woo recalled the questions he had heard in the Conference Room.

– Heh heh, judging criteria? Does a young person like you even know how to read scripts? It’s different from the already refined scripts that actors usually receive.

– You seem young enough to be my grandson, so I’ll speak casually. Just listen to what your elders say and learn with a humble attitude…

Remembering the clichéd villain-like dialogue they spouted, he smiled wryly.

“Well, I didn’t come here to receive applause anyway. What’s more disappointing is that I couldn’t have a proper discussion about judging criteria with the other judges. It would be good if competition participants could be evaluated more fairly under the same standards.”

“It seems completely rotten. To those people, it felt like nothing more than an annual money-making event.”

Ding─.

As Kim Min-su spoke, the Elevator arrived at the Underground Parking Garage.

Yeon-woo stepped out of the Elevator and nodded quietly.

“That might be the case.”

But inwardly, he thought it was actually good.

After all, he hadn’t accepted the judge position to do volunteer work.

‘If they fail to recognize good gems and eliminate them, that’s good for me.’

In most competitions, when you win, in the worst cases the organizers demand complete transfer of copyright, and even if not, they at least require priority negotiation rights for publication or production.

Simply put, they’re saying since they gave you prize money, you need their permission to do anything with your work.

From the flow of things, it seemed the organizers had offered Yeon-woo the judge position to promote their competition, which was losing interest year by year, but the veteran judges who had been serving seemed to feel their territory was being invaded and were somewhat hostile toward Yeon-woo.

If they wanted him to just provide promotion without deep involvement, Yeon-woo was confident he could do exactly that.

‘That’s why what I’m focusing on are the rejected works.’

Since competitions aren’t only for industry professionals, rejected works were likely to be buried and disappear.

So he planned to separately check the rejected works and pick out gems from among them.

Getting in the car, while Kim Min-su warmed up the engine, Yeon-woo opened the booklet prepared by the organizers and examined the related regulations.

– Article 13, Section 2, Item (D): Copyright of non-winning works belongs to the original creator, and submitted works will be disposed of upon completion of this competition.

After checking the regulations, Yeon-woo nodded.

The greedy eyes he saw today didn’t seem to possess the insight to discover gems.

Looking at them, he recalled words Napoleon left in his later years when exiled to Saint Helena Island.

‘Today’s misfortune is someday the revenge of time once misspent.’

Tapping the booklet containing competition regulations with his finger, Yeon-woo chuckled.

‘Eventually, the regret they’ll experience someday will be the result of today’s misspent time.’

***

“Oh, right. I packed the gochujang.”

While doing a final check of his suitcase, Yeon-woo spoke into his Smartphone.

Since Mother always asked about this whenever he traveled overseas, this time he answered preemptively.

But this time, he heard a somewhat different response.

– Oh my, son, you don’t need to pack gochujang like some country bumpkin. These days there are Korean restaurants everywhere you go. I saw on TV that there’s a famous Soondubu Restaurant in New York?

Hearing Mother’s words, Yeon-woo scratched the back of his Head.

“Is that so? Anyway, I’ll have a safe trip.”

– Yes. Always remember safety comes first and second, so be careful.

After ending the call with Mother and preparing to leave Home, he received a message from Kim Min-su saying he’d arrive in 3 minutes.

Going out to the front of his house right on time, a large bus that could carry all the Staff at once arrived.

When Yeon-woo boarded the bus, he saw familiar faces.

Since filming permission at Madison Square was only for about an hour, they planned to shoot only simple scenes, so the only actors were Yeon-woo and supporting actress Seo Ju-gyeong, who played the Mother role in the drama.

“The protagonist has arrived.”

“Yeon-woo, come here. Even if we can’t stop by the salon, I need to do some simple hair styling before we reach the Airport.”

However, on the bus were Kim Min-su and Lee Ye-eun, as well as Director Kim Han-su and lighting director Im Seong-su, and agent Park Jung-hyeon with codename Tau (τ) was also sitting there with his bear-like build…

‘…Park Jung-hyeon?’

Yeon-woo tilted his Head at the presence of someone who shouldn’t be here.

As Yeon-woo walked toward the seat where Lee Ye-eun was sitting, he looked at Park Jung-hyeon and extended his hand.

“···Nice to meet you. I’m actor Ryu Yeon-woo. I see there’s someone I’m meeting for the first time today.”

“Ah, yes. I’m Park Jung-hyeon.”

“······.”

Yeon-woo briefly looked at Park Jung-hyeon, who gave no other introduction besides his name, then sat down next to Lee Ye-eun.

Then, avoiding the gaze of Lee Ye-eun who was busy styling Yeon-woo’s hair, he quickly sent a message to Han Hae-woon.

– Why is Park Jung-hyeon on the company bus going to the airport?

After a short while, a reply arrived from Han Hae-woon.

– Han Hae-woon: You had ordered them to stay quiet and clean their movement patterns after the Gimpo incident, so Kim Su-hyeok has disguised the other two agents as employees at Friedwen and is operating them. He probably came on a business trip as security chief, but should I check with Kim Su-hyeok to be sure?

After reading Han Hae-woon’s message, he looked at the other security personnel sitting behind Park Jung-hyeon.

Come to think of it, he remembered receiving a similar report from Kim Su-hyeok.

‘Hmm, somehow I ended up traveling with Tau.’

– No, it’s fine. Having a big guy around is reassuring.

Thinking about it briefly, it made sense that either Park Jung-hyeon or Lee Kyu-jin would come.

Since Kim Su-hyeok doesn’t know Yeon-woo’s true identity, the security company Friedwen would currently think of Saebyeol Media as their biggest client, and since it’s an overseas schedule, they would have sent their elite agent Park Jung-hyeon with maximum care.

While Yeon-woo was being tidied up into a neater appearance through Lee Ye-eun’s hands, the bus arrived at Incheon Airport.

Compared to how Manager Kim Min-su and other Saebyeol staff had always struggled, the effect of Park Jung-hyeon and the Friedwen security personnel was tremendous.

Park Jung-hyeon became a human barrier just by his presence, smoothly deflecting the charges of reporters and extreme fans, allowing Yeon-woo and his group to pass through the airport leisurely while going through departure procedures.

“Ah, we should have contracted with a security company much earlier.”

Kim Min-su, who had always suffered being pushed around by people at the airport, nodded his head greatly as he felt today’s definitely different departure experience.

“Min-su hyung has had a hard time all this while.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly suffering, but it’s good that we can check the actor’s safety more thoroughly.”

In fact, Yeon-woo had never worried about his own security, so he didn’t feel much need for a security company.

Unless someone suddenly started firing machine guns from somewhere, there wouldn’t be any danger.

He had simply created another identity so Kim Su-hyeok and other agents could operate comfortably, but experiencing it today, it seemed like the presence of security personnel would be reassuring when other affiliated entertainers perform external schedules too.

“Phew, now it’s going to be a long flight to get to New York.”

***

After finishing the long flight of over 14 hours, they set foot at New York’s JFK Airport.

Since he had spoken to Bernard Fenton in advance, people from a professional company who would help with local guidance and overall filming were waiting.

“Phew, first, before going to the hotel to unpack, how about we have a simple meal?”

At Director Kim Han-su’s question, the staff including Yeon-woo nodded their heads.

“I heard there’s a famous soondubu restaurant in New York, shall we go there since we’re here?”

“Director. I just searched and it’s not too far from our hotel.”

Hearing Director Kim and the FD’s words, Yeon-woo chuckled inwardly.

‘I guess everyone thinks the same way. Mother mentioned that story too before we left.’

It seemed like it was recently introduced on a domestic TV program.

The car carrying the staff found that soondubu restaurant, but the FD who got out first to check the store came back shaking his head.

“The line is incredible? If we wait from now, it’ll take at least an hour and a half.”

“Ah, that’s too long to wait.”

Then Yeon-woo stroked his chin and raised his hand.

“Then shall we search for a gukbap restaurant nearby? I heard there are quite a few Korean restaurants around here. Let’s have a simple meal with spicy gukbap to recover from travel fatigue.”

“Oh, gukbap sounds good?”

“My mouth is watering.”

And one person’s eyes particularly lit up upon hearing Yeon-woo’s words.

One of the staff quickly searched for a nearby gukbap restaurant and turned the car around.

And when they actually arrived at the gukbap restaurant, Yeon-woo rubbed his shoulders and shook his head.

“Hmm, after the long flight, I don’t really have an appetite. I think it would be better for me to sleep and eat after waking up. I’m worried I might get indigestion if I eat now.”

Yeon-woo had eaten his last in-flight meal before arriving in New York, so he wasn’t hungry.

He didn’t eat much to begin with and wasn’t the type who had to eat Korean food just because he was overseas, so Yeon-woo looked at Park Jung-hyeon sitting in front of him.

“Security Team Leader. If the portion isn’t enough for you, would you like to have mine too? I haven’t even touched the spoon yet.”

Then he grabbed the base of the gukbap in front of him and slid it toward Park Jung-hyeon.

Park Jung-hyeon looked at Yeon-woo’s portion of gukbap that had been delivered in front of him and nodded his head greatly.

“Thank you.”

Zzzing─.

Just then, Park Jung-hyeon’s smartphone vibrated.

– Lee Kyu-jin : Hey Gukbap, did you arrive safely in New York?

– Lee Kyu-jin : How’s Ryu Yeon-woo? Don’t tell me he’s got a rotten personality just because he’s a top star?

– Lee Kyu-jin : He seemed really nice on TV though

Park Jung-hyeon checked the messages that had arrived on his smartphone in succession.

Then he naturally twitched his eyebrows upon seeing Lee Kyu-jin’s message calling him Gukbap.

‘Ryu Yeon-woo’s personality?’

Park Jung-hyeon alternately looked at the two bowls of gukbap placed before him and the face of actor Ryu Yeon-woo, who was looking elsewhere.

Steam was rising gently from the gukbap placed before him.

And he moved his fingers.

Tap─.

Tap─.

– A very good person.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————