NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 89

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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 89. Commercial Film Proposal

“Melt my heart with aegyo.”

“Uwaaah, thank you.”

 

It was already the hundredth time doing aegyo.

The autograph signing event that had started in the morning had been going on for over 4 hours now.

 

The originally scheduled time was until 1 PM, but wanting to give back even a little more to the fans who had been waiting since morning, he was pushing through without even eating lunch.

 

Fortunately, they had closed the waiting line in the middle, so there weren’t many fans left waiting.

 

“Kim Ji-ah, it’s already morning. You need to wake up.”

“Let’s fight on today too, Ju-yeon.”

“Melt my heart with aegyo.”

 

The fan service requests from fans were diverse.

 

Some recorded audio to use as morning calls, while others filmed videos of Yeon-woo to watch when they were exhausted and struggling with life.

 

Among them, the overwhelmingly popular request was “aegyo,” though he didn’t know where it had spread from.

 

The aegyo that had appeared in the movie and was now being imitated by idols as cute acts, gradually becoming somewhat of a meme, was first requested when he had dinner with invited fans after the VIP screening.

 

Although he was the original creator of that aegyo, Yeon-woo had been just as embarrassed when he first started the autograph signing today, but after doing it all day, he had adapted to the point where it would come out at the push of a button.

 

“Writer and actor, you’ve worked hard.”

 

Finally, the autograph signing ended and staff came in to start organizing the gifts received into boxes.

Writer Kim Jin-ju got up from the seat next to him and approached Yeon-woo.

 

“Yeon-woo, thank you so much. Really.”

“It was fun thanks to you.”

“I’m so grateful, what should I do. Should I buy you a meal?”

 

Just then, manager Kim Min-su approached.

 

“Um, Writer, today would be difficult. You need to go to the talent agency right away. We have a meeting scheduled.”

“Ah, I see. Then next time, whenever I can help with anything, just tell me! Whatever it is, if it’s about Yeon-woo, I’ll definitely do it!”

 

At Min-su’s words, Writer Kim nodded and repeatedly thanked Yeon-woo before leaving.

 

“Min-su hyung, did we have a schedule today?”

“Team Leader Jeong told me to bring you to the company as soon as the schedule ends. I’m not sure what kind of schedule it is.”

“Hmm, then let’s hurry and go.”

 

Yeon-woo got in the car to head to the talent agency and spoke to Min-su while moving.

 

“Ah, Min-su hyung. Please get me some decent guitar and violin. Director Park Chan-hong told me to practice.”

“Hmm, understood. But is that possible in a short period?”

“Well, I can play a little basically, but I just remembered now because I was so busy with the drama ending.”

 

Since it was a music film and Yeon-woo was playing the role of a composer in the story, he was relieved that he didn’t have to sing, but there were many scenes of playing instruments in the scenario, so he was in a situation where he urgently needed to practice.

 

When they arrived at headquarters, not far from the bookstore in Gangnam, Team Leader Jeong and practical team staff were having a meeting.

 

When he opened the door and entered, Team Leader Jeong welcomed him warmly.

 

“Oh, Yeon-woo, welcome. Since the schedule wasn’t far from headquarters and we were in the middle of a meeting, I thought it would be faster to talk directly, so I asked you to come here.”

“Yes, I see. Hello.”

 

Yeon-woo sat in the seat Team Leader Jeong guided him to.

Then a practical team staff member put up a screen and started talking.

 

“The commercial film projects we’ve been continuously checking were mainly automobiles and banking apps, but there’s a new proposal that came in yesterday that we’re reviewing as top priority.”

“Yes, I see.”

 

As Yeon-woo nodded and looked at the screen, the staff member moved to the next page on the screen.

 

「Ihan Technology」

 

“I think you of course know about Ihan Group, but Ihan Technology might be unfamiliar.”

“It’s a defense industry company.”

 

Team Leader Jeong’s eyes widened in surprise at Yeon-woo’s words.

 

“You know? When the proposal came in, I knew it was an affiliate of Ihan Group, but I wondered what kind of company it was.”

“Ah, yes. It’s a large-scale company.”

 

Defense industry company.

 

It means a company that develops and produces equipment necessary for national defense, or constructs facilities. Simply put, it’s a high-tech company that produces weapons.

 

Of course, it’s a company that ordinary people rarely encounter, but in fact, when Yeon-woo worked in the domestic division, he had numerous connections through tasks like monitoring industrial spies related to defense companies and new weapon development.

 

Since Yeon-woo had directly used the equipment produced by Ihan Technology in the field, it was a company he couldn’t not know.

 

“Yesterday, a commercial proposal came in from Ihan Technology. The amount is also very large.”

 

Hearing Team Leader Jeong’s words, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

 

“Do defense companies advertise? They do it a lot in America, but I don’t think I’ve seen it in Korea…”

 

In America, where lobbyists are active, companies need good corporate images to win business rights, and they usually do other businesses besides defense industry.

For example, if they make fighter jets, they also make civilian aircraft.

 

But in Korea, they’re usually companies selected under government leadership, and in the fields where they’ve won business rights, they basically operate as monopolies due to concerns about information leakage, so they’re businesses that don’t need advertising.

 

“Well, that part is unusual, and we couldn’t figure out why advertising suddenly came in either. The storyboard isn’t bad though.”

 

At Team Leader Jeong’s words, the staff member pressed a button to move to the next screen.

 

The screen showed various versions of a man in uniform dedicating himself to protecting the nation.

 

There were several concepts, including the basic Army, Navy, Air Force, as well as research scientists and what appeared to be white hackers.

 

“Looking at how they’ve planned these short image advertisements with various concepts, I think it might just be an advertisement for simple image renewal. But there are two more peculiar points.”

“Peculiar points?”

 

At Yeon-woo’s question, Team Leader Jeong cleared his throat, held up two fingers, and spoke while folding them one by one.

 

“First, the advertisement fee is extremely high. It’s about 10 times what you received for the telecommunications company commercial you shot last time.”

“…Excuse me?”

 

Yeon-woo was surprised by the unexpected figure.

 

His last guarantee was around 200 million won annually. Even with his increased market value, he had expected about two to three times that amount, but ten times was unexpected.

 

“Other commercial offers that have come in are usually around 500 million won. This offer is four times larger than that, so we’re actually worried about it. We’ve looked over the contract proposal, but there are no particular problematic clauses. Of course, such a large company wouldn’t play games with contracts anyway.”

 

Yeon-woo stroked his chin after hearing Team Leader Jeong’s words.

 

‘Certainly, if it’s Ihan Tech, they have more money than they know what to do with. But why me? I haven’t even completed my military service in this life.’

 

It wasn’t like he had played roles as special agents or soldiers in dramas, and while he was popular these days, considering the company’s nature, shouldn’t they select based on trustworthiness rather than popularity?

 

Anyway, Team Leader Jeong had said there were two peculiar points.

 

“What’s the other one?”

 

At Yeon-woo’s question, Team Leader Jeong folded his remaining finger and continued.

 

“Chairman Seo Tae-gwang of Ihan Group says he wants to have dinner with you. So I’m thinking this large guarantee might have been set simply because the Chairman is a fan of yours.”

 

After hearing Team Leader Jeong’s words, Yeon-woo fell into deeper thought.

 

Even when he was in charge of Ihan Technology in the Domestic Division in his previous life, there was no occasion for Yeon-woo, just an agent, to meet the group’s chairman, let alone the management directly.

 

‘Is it really just because he’s a simple fan?’

 

Recalling his filmography that had targeted relatively young audiences, he found it puzzling.

He couldn’t imagine Chairman Seo Tae-gwang of Ihan Group, who he knew to be in his 70s, watching romantic comedies with youthful sensibilities.

 

“Then please schedule it for now. Having dinner isn’t a difficult thing to do.”

“Yes. Understood. I’ll contact you as soon as the schedule is set.”

 

After discussing other commercials as well, Yeon-woo returned home.

 

“A car and a bank app…”

 

And Ihan Technology.

 

While resting at home and organizing his thoughts, the phone rang.

 

“Did Team Leader Jeong already set up the schedule?”

 

He picked up the smartphone from the table and looked at the screen, but it wasn’t Team Leader Jeong—it was Director Park Chan-hong.

 

“Yes, Director.”

– Yeon-woo. The filming schedule and movements have been roughly set. Casting is finished and we’ve also recruited a music director.

 

Since this independent film was a musical film with music sources, the music director was important.

 

“You’ve worked hard, Director. Who is the music director?”

– She’ll be entering the country in two days. She’s a Norwegian-American named Chrissy Monroe. We spent quite a bit of money recruiting her.

“That’s because she’s that important.”

– How about you? I mean the guitar and violin.

 

Yeon-woo looked at the guitar and violin tucked in a corner of his room and scratched his head.

They were instruments that Min-su had quickly obtained during their meeting.

 

“Yes, I think it’ll be fine.”

– Well, we can solve some of it with editing, but still get the basics down.

 

In his previous life, he had played instruments as an artistic accomplishment to naturally blend into European high society, but it had been quite a while since he’d put them down.

Still, having played for over 10 years, even if he’d been away from them for about 4 years, he should be able to regain his touch with practice.

 

And Director Park Chan-hong’s voice came through the phone receiver again.

 

– Oh right. About the female lead. How about you try looking for an actress you think you’d work well with? I’m looking at candidates, but there’s no one I particularly like.

“You mean Lee Na-ri’s role.”

– And think about the manager role too. If there’s no suitable actor, let me know, though I do have candidates.

 

Normally, this would be handled by a casting director. No matter how independent the film, Director Park Chan-hong’s team wouldn’t be without a casting director, but since they had decided to create this together as director and persona, Director Park Chan-hong was asking for his opinion on finding a female actress he might work well with.

 

Actors he had worked well with came to mind.

 

“I’ll look into it.”

– Good, once the roles are confirmed, let’s start filming right away. I’ve set it up with minimal personnel. Our filming team will be less than ten people.

 

Director Park Chan-hong’s voice through the phone receiver sounded somewhat excited.

 

“You seem to be in a good mood, Director.”

– Haha, I suppose so. I feel like I’ve become a rookie director making my debut.

 

A master of domestic commercial films who had drawn ten million audiences twice. His current master plan was also aiming for ten million viewers.

And the lead actor of that film, who had recently made hits in both dramas and movies, was Chungmuro’s blue chip.

 

If the fact that these two had suddenly come together to make not a blockbuster but an independent film became known to the outside world, the entertainment industry would probably be in an uproar once again.

 

Whether they knew this fact or not, two men were simply enjoying themselves with pure passion.

Don’t artists originally find joy in doing eccentric things?

 

Yeon-woo ended his call with Director Park Chan-hong and fell into deep thought.

 

“A comfortable actor I’d want to work with…”

 

The first ones that came to mind were naturally the three he had worked with before.

 

Yeon-woo called Jung Su-yeon, who had become his friend first.

The call connected shortly after.

 

– Oh? Yeon-woo, how did you know to call? I was about to call you.

“Huh?”

 

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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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