NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 61

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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 61. Stars Beyond the River – Reading (1)

Since there was no pre-arranged code phrase, it didn’t seem like someone was being threatened or forced to make the call against their will.

 

“Han Hae-woon, where are you? Tell me your current location.”

– Incheon Metropolitan City···, Bupyeong District···.

 

Hae-woon gave the address over the phone receiver with labored breathing.

 

Yeon-woo immediately hung up the phone and left the house.

He went down to the parking lot, got in his car, and started driving at high speed.

 

After driving for quite a while, he arrived at the address given – it was a columbarium.

 

It was already getting dark, so there were no visitors’ cars, and Hae-woon’s silver SUV sat alone in the parking lot.

 

He carefully checked inside the car, but no one was there.

 

As he walked toward the entrance to enter the columbarium, he heard a faint sound from the grass field nearby.

 

Yeon-woo cautiously took a defensive stance and followed the sound.

 

Pushing through the grass a little, he saw Hae-woon collapsed against a tree, clutching a notebook in his hand.

Yeon-woo quickly approached and checked his pulse, then examined his body all over.

 

‘His pulse is normal, and there are no signs of bleeding, so it doesn’t look like he was attacked.’

 

Hae-woon had said he collapsed whenever he regained memories, so perhaps some trigger had caused him to recover more memories.

 

Yeon-woo took out the notebook that Hae-woon was clutching and opened it.

It must have been a precious notebook, as he held it tightly even while unconscious, unwilling to let it go.

 

When he opened it, it was filled with sentences written in code that only he could decipher, making it completely incomprehensible.

 

“But why did he come to a place like this and collapse?”

 

For now, Ryu Yeon-woo supported Hae-woon and carried him to the parking lot where Hae-woon’s car was.

 

Beep―.

 

He searched through Hae-woon’s pants pocket, took out the smart key, opened the back seat door, and laid Hae-woon down.

 

Hae-woon seemed to be gradually regaining consciousness, tossing and turning like a drunk person.

 

Yeon-woo, who had been considering whether to take him to the hospital, thought he would wake up soon, so he sat in the front seat of Hae-woon’s car and turned off the black box.

 

After a few minutes, Hae-woon regained consciousness.

 

“Ugh···.”

 

Hae-woon held his head and let out a groan.

 

“Prosecutor Han. Are you conscious?”

“Ah, former team··· no, Team Leader Ryu.”

 

That day in the underground of the National Theater of Korea, they had decided to address each other as Hae-woon and Ryu Yeon-woo in case they might be caught somewhere.

 

Though Yeon-woo wondered if calling him Team Leader Ryu defeated the purpose of changing their forms of address.

 

“It seems you contacted me just before collapsing. I came right away and laid you down in the car for now.”

“Ah, thank you.”

 

After greeting Ryu Yeon-woo, Hae-woon hurriedly felt around his body.

 

“If you’re looking for the notebook, it’s here.”

 

Yeon-woo handed the notebook back to the rear seat.

 

“Ah, thank goodness.”

 

Hae-woon received the notebook and held it preciously, then opened his mouth while grimacing from what seemed to be a severe headache.

 

“This is the investigation notes I wrote when I was Baek Yu-hyeon···, and looking at the last entry I wrote just before this Middle East assignment, I think I’m getting some clues.”

 

As Yeon-woo listened silently, Hae-woon spoke again.

 

“I can’t know the exact identity, but even the high-ranking officials in the National Intelligence Service suspected that a private organization might exist within the NIS.”

 

Hae-woon endured his headache and opened the notebook again to look at the last page.

 

“So it seems I was also dispatched to investigate the overseas department agents.”

“I had some idea about that.”

“I thought you might have.”

 

It was suspicious from the start – an additional agent was dispatched without any request, and upon arrival, instead of coming straight to the safe house, he stopped by the embassy first and came two days later.

 

However, even if he was being investigated, the only thing Jeon Su-hwan had done secretly from the organization during his entire tenure as a National Intelligence Service agent was appearing as a movie extra, so he didn’t worry about it.

 

Rather, since they had sent personnel, he properly utilized and worked them hard to get his money’s worth.

 

That’s why even when they encountered each other in the underground parking garage of the National Theater of Korea, he couldn’t completely abandon his suspicions about Hae-woon.

 

“The problem is that I’m just a low-level agent, so I can’t know where this order came from. Right now, you’re the only person I can still trust, Team Leader.”

 

In a way, for Hae-woon, Jeon Su-hwan from his previous life had proven his innocence through death by becoming a target for elimination along with him.

 

“Then for now, go find the person I told you about last time. Getting answers will be quite difficult, but if you mention my name, you should at least be able to have a conversation without dying.”

 

Hae-woon recalled the name written in the diary in the underground of the National Theater of Korea.

 

“You mean ‘Old Man Baek’ in Busan. I’ll get started as soon as possible. I was a bit late because I had some personal matters to resolve in the meantime.”

 

Han Hae-woon’s face darkened momentarily as he thought of Jung Hye-min.

 

After some more time passed and Han Hae-woon’s condition improved, the two got out of the car.

 

Seeing Han Hae-woon’s dark expression, Yeon-woo patted his shoulder.

 

“Don’t think too complicatedly. Your new life must have its reasons too, if it’s God’s will as you say.”

“Yes, former team leader.”

 

At the unconscious use of “former team leader,” Ryu Yeon-woo shook his head left and right.

 

“I’m Ryu Yeon-woo, you’re Han Hae-woon.”

“Ah, yes. Team Leader Ryu.”

 

Watching Han Hae-woon insist on adding “team leader,” he sighed as if there was no helping it.

Then Yeon-woo asked Han Hae-woon as if something had just occurred to him.

 

“By the way, what’s your main field?”

“Pardon?”

“Prosecutors each have their own areas of responsibility, right?”

 

Understanding the question from Yeon-woo’s words, Han Hae-woon nodded.

 

“I belong to Criminal Division 2 of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office. It almost exactly matches what Domestic Division Team 3 handled at the National Intelligence Service.”

“···If it’s Team 3, that includes drugs too? Hmm. Then there’s something I’d like you to investigate.”

 

With an interested expression, Ryu Yeon-woo took out his smartphone and sent a message to Han Hae-woon through a secure application.

 

“Look into this within reasonable limits. It might be nothing, but I have a hunch about something.”

 

Han Hae-woon looked at his smartphone and nodded.

 

“Understood. I’ll let you know as soon as I investigate.”

 

***

 

Seo Ji-eun got takeout coffee as usual from the cafe in front of her house that she visits daily.

Taking the coffee cup, she smiled brightly and bowed her head in greeting.

 

“Thank you.”

“Yes, have a safe trip.”

 

The part-time worker watched Seo Ji-eun leaving the cafe.

The cafe manager saw the part-timer and poked his side with a laugh.

 

“Hey, that young lady is really pretty, isn’t she? You’re smitten again, you rascal.”

“···Yes, she is.”

 

Soon withdrawing his gaze, the part-timer started washing cups again.

 

As she bought coffee and rode the elevator up, Seo Ji-eun’s smartphone rang.

 

“Hm?”

 

It was a call from the vice president after a long time.

After messing up her last project, casting offers hadn’t been coming in much, so her break period had gotten quite long.

 

Since it was a small management company, when the vice president, who usually went around to broadcasting stations and Chungmuro for business himself, called like this, it was when casting offers came in.

So Seo Ji-eun answered the phone with anticipation.

 

“Yes, Vice President.”

– Ji-eun, what are you doing?

“I’m just on my way home right now.”

– Really? That’s perfect. Tell your mother the good news.

 

At the vice president’s words, Ji-eun’s heart started pounding.

 

“Is it a project? What kind of casting is it?”

– Hahaha. KBC historical drama female lead. It’s a historical drama so you’ll suffer quite a bit, but that’s okay, right?

 

At the vice president’s words, Seo Ji-eun, who had gotten off the elevator, cheered in the hallway.

 

“Yes! Ah hot-!”

– What’s that sound? What’s wrong?

 

She was so happy that while cheering, coffee spilled on her hand. It was fortunate that it had cooled down a bit, or she could have gotten burned.

 

“Hehe. I was so happy I spilled my coffee. What’s the title of the project?”

– It’s called “Stars Beyond the Stream,” a KBC1 historical drama. Don’t be surprised, Ji-eun.

“Why, why? I don’t think I could be more surprised than I am now anyway.”

– The male lead is Ryu Yeon-woo, and the sub male lead is Jin Yu-han.

 

Seo Ji-eun spilled her entire coffee.

 

“What?! Ah, it’s hot-!”

 

After finishing the phone call with the vice president, Seo Ji-eun ran home and opened the door.

 

“Mom, please give me a towel or rag I can throw away.”

“This girl, what did you spill again?”

“Hehe, coffee.”

“What? Did you hurt your hand?”

 

Seo Ji-eun took the rag her mother handed her and held out her hand.

 

“It’s tough. I’ll go clean the hallway and come back. And I have good news too!”

 

***

 

Han Hae-woon returned to Busan and began his investigation, and before long, the script reading day for “Stars Beyond the Stream” approached.

 

Before that, the internet went wild due to the articles that were released.

 

– KBC1’s new historical drama “Stars Beyond the Stream” targets living rooms

 

– “Stars Beyond the Stream” Ryu Yeon-woo X Jin Yu-han X Seo Ji-eun filming to start soon

 

– Next-generation actors all gathered in one comprehensive gift set “Stars Beyond the Stream”

 

As the articles went out, the flood of comments also couldn’t hide their excitement at the surprising news.

 

– Huh? Jin Yu-han and Ryu Yeon-woo? This is basically forcing us to watch

 

– That combination is really happening? And it’s a historical drama? Crazy. Yeon-woo and Yu-han

└ I don’t know what the drama’s about but it’ll definitely get good ratings

└ Are the shills already here lol

 

– At this point, Ryu Yeon-woo’s acting skills need to be reevaluated. Everything he does is a lead role.

└ What reevaluation, he just gets picked because he’s handsome

 

– I used to like Seo Ji-eun, why is she coming back after so long?

└ Han Jun-kyung’s drug incident ruined Seo Ji-eun’s career.

 

– This will definitely be the start of a legendary drama. And this post will become a holy site.

└ Log in right now to this site you are lucky. Really high-paying side job [link]

 

“Hahaha. Look at this. Young people these days really write interesting comments.”

 

Director Lee Sang-hoon excitedly kept refreshing the article comments.

 

Actually, there weren’t particularly funny comments, but as someone who usually produced epic historical dramas with high viewer age demographics, this was his first time working with young actors, so the flood of online attention was fascinating.

 

“Ah, they should be arriving soon. Did you prepare well?”

 

At Director Lee Sang-hoon’s words, the assistant director nodded.

 

“Yes, Director. We’ll film right from the elevator.”

 

This director had always been secretly envious watching other broadcasters’ dramas film making films and such.

 

The epic historical dramas he mainly directed were of course attractive and good genres, but due to the high average age of the cast and the somewhat rigid organizational culture characteristic of KBC1 channel, he had regrets about not being able to try various things.

 

“Let’s film everything and release teasers on NeTube.”

 

Then Yeon-woo entered with cameras hanging all over behind him.

 

It was really a making film crew following from the KBC main building elevator, just as the assistant director said.

 

“Oh my, Actor Ryu.”

 

Actually, this director had done countless shoots, but since he had rarely been exposed to cameras himself, he approached Ryu Yeon-woo with a somewhat stiff appearance.

 

Yeon-woo extended both hands to the director with a smiling face and shook hands.

 

“Director. Have you been well?”

“Of course. Every day has been happy for me.”

 

Ryu Yeon-woo smiled slightly as he seemed to feel some sincerity in Director Lee’s words.

Then the door opened and another man entered with cameras in tow.

 

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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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