NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

Everyone was tired from the long journey, but it seemed they didn’t want to go straight to sleep after coming all the way to LA. Instead, they spent an excited time wandering around inside the accommodation.

“Yeon-woo hyung! The private pool is quite big, want to go for a swim?”

“It’s 10 degrees Celsius right now.”

“Yeon-woo hyung! You saw me filming earlier, right? Want to do a dance challenge together?”

“No.”

Dong-ha, who had been quietly sleeping in the car on the way, seemed to have recharged his energy and kept buzzing around.

At that moment, Han Byul and Soo-yeon, who had gone out to the hotel lobby to ask something, came back.

“Oppa! Look at this. Ta-da!”

What Han Byul was holding in her hand was a card pack and a small silver bell.

Yeon-woo remembered playing a game using a silver bell and cards at the last housewarming party.

“…Halli Galli?”

“Correct! We asked the concierge desk if they had anything fun to play, and they gave us this!”

“The hotel has something like this?”

At the mention of Halli Galli, Jung Cheol-min, who had been lying on the sofa, also sat up.

“Count me in.”

“Teacher, you know how to play Halli Galli too?”

Cheol-min chuckled at Han Byul’s words.

“That game was first imported to our country when I was in college. I played it a lot when it was all the rage.”

Yeon-woo tilted his head at Cheol-min’s words.

‘Was that so…? We should be around the same year in college. Why did I only learn about it last time?’

Well, it wasn’t strange that he didn’t know, considering that in his previous life he had focused on studying to get into Korea University and hadn’t had any memories of playing after that.

As Han Byul and Soo-yeon sat down and spread out the cards, Dong-ha and Cheol-min approached.

“Yeon-woo oppa, aren’t you playing?”

“Hmm, it might be troublesome if I play. I’m pretty good at it.”

“What’s with that confidence? I’ve never lost at our school either, you know?”

Yeon-woo smiled awkwardly.

Sungshik and Junsu had said the same thing.

‘When we played last time, it wasn’t that level at all…’

He reluctantly sat down.

And once again, the tyrant of Halli Galli was reincarnated under the Los Angeles sky.

===

**

===

The next morning, while jogging on the beach near the hotel, Yeon-woo spotted Kim Min-soo and Lee Ye-eun.

“They must be dating.”

Come to think of it, the staff and company officials had taken a different car from the airport and were assigned to the adjacent building for accommodation, but they hadn’t been seen all day yesterday.

Yeon-woo caught up with the two walking ahead and suddenly appeared between them.

“Isn’t this dereliction of duty for you two?”

They both jumped in surprise.

“Oh my god! You scared me!”

“Aaah! Actor-nim?”

Yeon-woo smiled mischievously at their reaction.

“You weren’t seen all day yesterday, so you two came out for a walk?”

“W-well, since the bodyguards are handling everything, we didn’t really have anything to do…”

“I’m just kidding. You two should rest too while you’re here on a trip. I’ll continue my workout!”

Then Yeon-woo dashed forward again.

‘Hmm, must be nice.’

Or wait, I’m actually younger.

After finishing his jog and coming back in for a shower, he could hear signs of life as if the other members had just woken up.

“Yawn. Hyung, did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. I could hear your snoring all the way to my room, though?”

“Huh? Me? Wasn’t it Teacher Cheol-min?”

At that moment, Cheol-min came down the stairs from the upper floor and protested.

“No way, man. I might look like I snore, but I don’t. Don’t pin this on me.”

“Yeon-woo hyung, which room did you use?”

Yeon-woo pointed upwards in response to Dong-ha’s question.

“Me? The inner room on the second floor.”

“I slept on the third floor though?”

Cheol-min also shook his head, pointing to himself.

“I was on the third floor too. Soo-yeon used the first floor alone, and I think Han Byul probably used the second floor?”

“…Huh? Then?”

It was a morning of discovering new facts about Han Byul.

As the other members came down and were talking about the culprit of last night’s snoring, the doorbell rang.

Ding dong─.

“I’ll go check.”

Dong-ha ran to open the door, and Bernard Fenton came in.

“Did everyone rest comfortably last night?”

“Yes, we rested well thanks to you, Mr. Fenton.”

Satisfied with Yeon-woo’s response, Bernard Fenton pointed outside.

“Shall we start heading out now? To Hollywood.”

Although there was plenty of time until the scheduled filming, it seemed good to leave now as they needed to prepare for makeup and costume setting.

“Let’s go.”

At the Hollywood filming location they arrived at by car, they received makeup from the team that came along from Korea, and Ye-eun was in charge of styling for the other team members except Dong-ha.

“Hmm, nice. K-beauty is indeed the trend these days.”

Ye-eun smiled contentedly as she looked at the fully styled team members.

They said they brought the entire makeup team because the local makeup style didn’t suit Koreans, but Yeon-woo, being unfamiliar with that area, just thought, ‘I guess that’s how it is.’

A staff member from the show knocked on the door from outside.

“Are you ready?”

===

**

===

After finishing a brief rehearsal, the main filming began.

Yeon-woo and the members were waiting backstage, while the show’s studio was packed with audience members.

The team members watched the scene on the monitor.

“Whoa, I’m suddenly nervous.”

“Honestly, I still can’t tell if this is a dream or reality. We’ve never even been on Korean variety shows, and somehow we’re on an American talk show.”

Yeon-woo smiled as he looked at the nervous members.

“If you’re not sure what to do or can’t think of a good answer, just pass it to me.”

“Yeon-woo, when you say that, I feel so much more at ease. When did you grow up so much?”

“Hey, I’ve always been taller than you.”

“You brat.”

At that moment, a staff member approached.

“Guests, please standby now.”

And finally, the host’s voice introducing the “White Blood” expedition members was heard.

“Please welcome with applause, the actors of ‘White Blood’.”

Along with David Powell’s voice, cheers erupted.

Then Yeon-woo and his group appeared from behind the screen, waving their hands.

Woah─!

The cheers grew even louder.

Powell made a surprised expression at the audience’s reaction, which was bigger than expected.

‘Actually, that’s all staged too.’

How many stars must he have met after being in the show business for so many years?

It was a calculated move to show such a surprised expression and make the guests appear even more impressive.

Watching this, Yeon-woo smiled and approached Powell, shaking hands and giving him a light hug.

“Nice to meet you, Powell.”

“Welcome to our show.”

Powell also lightly hugged the other members following Yeon-woo, and after greetings were finished, everyone took their seats.

“Alright, Mr. Ryu.”

“Please, just call me Yeon-woo.”

Powell smiled at Yeon-woo’s words, which were timed perfectly to set the tone.

“I like that. To think I can become friends with the lead actor of the world’s best-selling series right now.”

Gentle laughter flowed from the audience at Powell’s banter.

And Powell continued speaking.

“How is it being in America? Yeon-woo, do you realize your popularity right now?”

Hearing the question, Yeon-woo smiled slightly.

‘I need to take control with the answer to this first question. To lead the atmosphere of this entire talk show.’

Having made his decision, Yeon-woo casually crossed his legs and rested one arm on the sofa.

Then, with a confident smile, he looked at Powell.

“Well, you just saw it, didn’t you?”

As Yeon-woo pointed to the cheering audience while speaking, Powell laughed and clapped, seemingly caught off guard by the unexpected answer.

This prompted laughter to burst out from the audience as well.

If it were a Korean variety show, there might have been immediate controversy about the arrogant attitude, but American shows were meant to be carried with this kind of cheerful atmosphere.

‘Seems like a good start.’

Immediately, Yeon-woo uncrossed his legs as if nothing had happened and spoke again.

“Haha. I’m just kidding. We were surprised that more people recognized us than we expected since coming to America.”

“You’re really keeping me on my toes here. How about the other actors? Ella? Do you know your popularity is soaring in America these days?”

Yeon-woo smiled slightly as he watched Powell call Han Byul ‘Ella’.

‘Fenton called her that too. I guess Ella’s popularity in America is so high that her role comes to mind as soon as they see her.’

Meanwhile, Han Byul, who received the question, shook her head with a bright smile.

“No! I haven’t been outside the hotel since coming to America! This is my first outing.”

Yeon-woo nodded as he watched Han Byul’s innocent answer.

‘Anyway, Han Byul is Ella herself, so she’ll play her part well even if left alone.’

The following questions were also well answered by Dong-ha and Soo-yeon in quite fluent English, while Jung Cheol-min was assisted by Yeon-woo, who provided interpretation.

It was evident from Powell’s expression that the show was flowing in a rather pleasant atmosphere.

‘Looks like it’s going in the desired direction.’

Powell, excited, moved on to the next segment.

“I’ve brought a few questions here on this list sent in by viewers of ‘White Blood’.”

“Sounds interesting.”

While looking at Powell holding the question sheet, Yeon-woo thought to himself.

‘It’s probably not serious questions asking for curiosity to be satisfied. I guess they want quick-witted answers, so I should answer.’

Powell looked at the question sheet and opened his mouth.

“If the last jewel had been in the stomach or bladder instead of the tear duct, what would you have done?”

Before the question was even finished, Yeon-woo took on the arrogant posture he had shown in the opening and shook his head.

“Never. I would have given up right away.”

As Yeon-woo spoke, he raised both hands, shrugging his shoulders and pouting his lips nonchalantly.

This prompted small laughter again.

Now everyone knew that this was Yeon-woo in a playful state.

“Haha. Next question. If you look at the screen behind, there’s a meme showing.”

As Yeon-woo and the members looked back, the large screen showed a scene of Jung Cheol-min opening a door and saying, “Guest, I think it’s love,” and Yeon-woo responding with, “What nonsense.”

“Was this scene planned in the script?”

At those words, Yeon-woo smiled and opened his mouth.

“That’s a very good question. Actually, this scene was 100% ad-lib.”

At Yeon-woo’s words, sounds of admiration were heard from the audience.

“What was the original line? Dong-ha?”

As he naturally shifted the focus of the conversation to Dong-ha, Dong-ha immediately picked it up and answered.

“Um, I think the original line was ‘Guest, I now have a reason to go up too,’ right?”

Then Yeon-woo nodded and continued speaking.

“When the car door opened, Dipangdal ad-libbed the line, and I just responded in kind.”

Thinking he had found a good topic, Powell nodded with a satisfied smile and agreed.

“Oh, I see. Then for the next question, I’ll ask Dipangdal sitting next to you.”

Jung Cheol-min tensed up as his name was called.

“What happened between Dipangdal and Emillin afterwards?”

It was a question he had seen once before on domestic internet communities.

However, caught off guard by the sudden question, Jung Cheol-min’s mind went blank on how to answer.

He quickly whispered to Yeon-woo sitting next to him.

“Yeon-woo, how should I answer this? It’s not even in the script.”

“Well, should I just answer it myself?”

Jung Cheol-min nodded vigorously in response.

‘Hmm, how should I answer?’

It seemed that Americans were viewing the roles and actors as one and the same, given that they called Han Byul ‘Ella’ and Jung Cheol-min ‘Dipangdal’.

For other Hollywood actors, people know the actor themselves, so such background is visible, but for unfamiliar Asian actors, it seemed that the image of the role might have been directly projected onto the actor and solidified.

Yeon-woo nodded and answered simply.

“He’s still looking for Emillin in real life too. He’s still single, you know.”

At this unexpected answer, both Powell and the audience burst into laughter.

And this time, Jeong Soo-yeon and Han Byul, who were behind, laughed along.

“What? Why is everyone laughing? Yeon-woo, what did you say?”

“I’ll tell you after the show.”

And Powell continued with another question.

“This is the last question. What was the driving force that made the cells, who were living well in their own places, decide to follow the protagonist upwards?”

Yeon-woo stroked his chin as he heard the question.

‘Hmm, that’s quite a serious question.’

He couldn’t carry the entire show’s atmosphere with just laughter.

Rather, doing so might make it seem too light.

‘I think it’s better to seriously express my real thoughts on this one.’

Having organized his thoughts, Yeon-woo opened his mouth.

“Hmm, there’s a line in Oscar Wilde’s comedy ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ that goes like this.”

After a brief pause, Yeon-woo looked at the faces of the members next to him once and continued speaking.

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”