NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

Jay was having a miserable time. He understood that they were making kimchi. His American adoptive parents had always included kimchi in their meals, reminding him not to forget his nationality. However, he had no idea what he was doing wrong, but every time he mixed the seasoning with the cabbage, the grandmother’s incomprehensible scolding rained down on him like bombs. Although he couldn’t understand her words, he knew he was doing something wrong.

“How did I end up making kimchi in a stranger’s house?”

“What are you mumbling about in that foreign language? If you do it like that, you’ll tear the cabbage leaves. Mix it more gently.”

Just then, the wind chime at the entrance tinkled, and a young woman walked in.

‘Is she related to this grandmother?’

Hoping to find someone who could understand him, Jay spoke in English.

“Hello. My name is Jay. I ended up here because I couldn’t communicate properly.”

“Are you a foreigner?”

To Jay’s relief, the woman responded in English.

“Oh! You speak English!”

Jay had set out boldly in a foreign country, only to have his bike stolen, hitch a ride with a stranger, end up at their house, and get scolded while making kimchi. The English words from the woman in front of him felt like an oasis in the desert, a much-needed rain during a drought.

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Jay explained the situation so far and was relieved to have his smartphone charging, thanks to the charger he received. Inari glanced at the guitar standing in the corner of the living room and then looked at Jay.

“Jay, do you play the guitar?”

“Oh, I’m a composer. I came to Korea for work.”

“Really? I do music too.”

Was his guess right?

Jay had thought Inari looked familiar from the moment she walked in, resembling the singer he saw at the festival.

“Were you at the indie festival by any chance…?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“What an incredible coincidence.”

Inari’s excitement grew, and she shook Jay’s arm enthusiastically.

“Jay, Jay! Would you like to listen to the music I made? I have a studio over there. Well, it’s a bit modest to call it a studio.”

Jay nodded, and an excited Inari grabbed his arm and led him to her studio.

As they entered the studio, Jay noticed that it was more well-equipped than he had expected. The ceiling was covered with glow-in-the-dark stars, likely put up when Inari was a child.

“The decor is pretty.”

“Oh, those are just from when I was a kid. I was too lazy to take them down… Anyway, let me play you some of my music!”

Inari played a few of her composed tracks. Jay’s demeanor shifted to that of a professional, listening intently and seriously.

“Hmm.”

He nodded at some parts and tilted his head at others. Inari stood beside him, tense like a child having their homework inspected. After three songs, she looked at Jay with a slightly anxious expression.

“So, what do you think?”

Jay stroked his chin thoughtfully before looking at Inari and speaking.

“It’s good. You have talent.”

“Really?”

Inari covered her face with her small hands and took a few steps back, overwhelmed by Jay’s praise. Jay, watching her, walked over to the studio computer.

“With a few tweaks, the quality could be even better…”

Jay gestured towards the computer, and Inari nodded vigorously.

“Please, go ahead. You can overhaul everything if you want. I know it’s a bit rough since I learned everything on my own.”

“It’s not rough.”

Jay chuckled and sat down, leaning in to manipulate the complex software. The scene quickly transitioned, showing the two of them working together, editing the music.

“Wow, that’s amazing. So that’s how you use this.”

“Hmm, I think it would be better if we added some live guitar here. Do you have an audio interface?”

“I’ll connect it right away!”

While Inari busily connected her electric guitar, Jay went to the living room to fetch his acoustic guitar. Before recording, he played a familiar tune to warm up.

“Huh?”

Inari nodded her head to the melody and started to sing.

“The snail crawls. It keeps moving forward today, it keeps moving forward today.”

Jay smiled at her impromptu singing.

“Did you just make that up to my playing?”

“What? No, it’s a famous Korean children’s song. ‘Dalpaengi,’ or ‘Snail’ in English. But Jay, how do you know this song if you’re American?”

Jay stood there with a dazed expression, as if he had been struck by something. The melody that had been lingering in his mind since childhood, which he thought he had composed himself, turned out to be a famous Korean children’s song. He had always believed it was his first original composition.

Suddenly, a vivid memory from his past surged into his mind.

“Mom, I’m cold.”

“Jihoon, come here. If we stay close together, we’ll warm up quickly. I’ll sing you a lullaby. Red snail. Blue snail. The snail crawls. It keeps moving forward today.”

Inari waved her hand in front of Jay’s face, snapping him out of his reverie.

“Jay? Are you okay?”

Jay shook his head, trying to clear the sudden rush of memories.

“…Yeah, I’m okay.”

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A week had passed since Jay’s unexpected visit to Inari’s house. During that time, they had grown quite close.

“Jay!”

Inari, wearing a uniform and scooping ice cream, waved cheerfully at Jay.

“I’ll be off in ten minutes. Just sit and wait for a bit.”

Jay smiled and nodded, taking a seat. Meanwhile, a coworker nudged Inari’s side and asked.

“Who’s that? Did you get a boyfriend? He’s really handsome.”

“No, it’s not like that. We just became friends through music recently.”

The coworker chuckled.

“Sure, sure. Your face is blooming with smiles. Before you know it, that friend will become a dad.”

“It’s not like that!”

Jay, who couldn’t understand a word of Korean, had no idea he was almost being labeled as a future dad and just stood there, oblivious.

Soon, Inari finished her shift, changed into casual clothes, and came out.

“Sorry for the wait. Ready to start? This is our third time already.”

“Yeah, let’s do it. Did you get permission?”

“Yep!”

Today, they were heading to a nearby campsite for busking. Since becoming friends, Jay had been helping Inari refine her songs, and they had started busking together. This was their third time.

With the warm sunlight shining down, Jay slung his guitar over his shoulder, walking alongside Inari, who chatted and laughed beside him.

On the bus heading to the outskirts, Jay sat in the back seat playing his guitar while Inari sang.

“Wow!”

“Clap, clap, clap!”

The few elderly passengers on the bus clapped lightly, and Inari, with a bright smile, started the next song. The youthful and free-spirited atmosphere of the scene brought smiles to the faces of the audience at the Berlin Potsdamer Platz theater.

“Why don’t we record our busking sessions and upload them online?” Jay suggested.

Inari turned to look at him.

“Online?”

“Yeah, if we record videos and upload them, we can keep a record and maybe someone will like our songs.”

At the mention of videos and records, Inari’s face momentarily darkened, but she quickly shook her head and then nodded.

“Sure! Let’s do it. But Jay, will you be in the videos too? I don’t want to be in them alone.”

“Hmm?”

Jay, who had only planned to accompany her, hadn’t thought about appearing in the videos himself. He stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Hmm, alright. Why not.”

As Jay nodded in agreement, Inari clenched her fist in excitement.

“Awesome!”

“What’s ‘awesome’? Korea has so many unique exclamations.”

They soon arrived at the campsite where they planned to busk. An announcement over the loudspeaker drew people camping nearby to come and listen.

“Wow, there are more people than I expected.”

“Still, it’s fewer than at the indie festival.”

Jay and Inari set up their microphones and speakers and began their busking session. They sang the first song, then the second. By the time they reached the final song, Inari seemed completely relaxed, singing and glancing at the surrounding audience.

She noticed couples hugging each other, families sitting together, and a little girl with pigtails trying to grab her mother’s smartphone.

“Mom, let me have it. I want to do it.”

The little girl, jumping up and down, finally got the smartphone from her mother, who handed it over with a resigned smile. The girl turned on the camera and started filming her mother.

“Mom, you’re moving.”

“I didn’t even put on makeup. How can you took a photo me? Oh, it’s a video.”

‘Ah…’

As Inari sang and watched the scene, a sudden surge of emotion welled up inside her, choking her voice and stopping her from continuing the song. The audience began to murmur as they saw Inari bow her head and start to cry. Jay, standing next to her, was equally surprised.

“Inari, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

The busking session ended abruptly due to Inari’s unexpected tears, and the campers offered applause filled with comfort and encouragement for the singer whose tears they couldn’t understand.

After packing up their equipment, Jay and Inari sat on the bank of a small stream next to the campsite. Jay remained silent, waiting for Inari to speak first. The sun was setting, painting the world in shades of red. The light from the sun, passing through the atmosphere longer than during the day, scattered the shorter wavelengths of visible light, leaving only the longer red wavelengths to illuminate the world.

The time when the sunset cast its glow was brief, and the light was so different from the usual colors of the world that it stirred deep emotions. After a long silence, watching the stream and the reddened sunset, Inari finally spoke. It was a story she hadn’t shared with anyone, not even her grandmother, since her mother’s passing.

“Jay, my mom loved to hear me sing.”

Jay looked at Inari and nodded quietly.

Inari continued, “My mom always accompanied me when I skipped school to enter singing contests. She would film me with an old camcorder, always telling me afterward that I sang the best and looked the prettiest.”

Inari sighed, looking back at the flowing stream before continuing.

“But then, my mom suddenly passed away in a car accident. I lived with my grandmother, and it wasn’t until a few months later that I remembered the camcorder my mom always carried. I connected it to the computer and found 206 videos of me in the media folder.”

Jay watched her intently and then spoke softly.

“She must have been so proud of you singing.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Inari pulled her knees to her chest and buried her head.

“But you know what’s funny? There isn’t a single video of my mom on the camcorder, my smartphone, or anywhere else. Why didn’t I ever film her? I regret that so much.”

Inari wiped her tears with her sleeve, and Jay handed her a handkerchief from his inner pocket. As she accepted the handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes, she continued speaking.

“My mom’s face is becoming fixed in my mind as the smiling image in her memorial photo. As time goes by, I find it harder to remember her other expressions. It’s only been four years, but her voice is already fading. What if I can’t remember her voice at all someday? I wish I had just one video of her…”

Inari deeply regretted not having a single video of her mother. Because of this, she made sure to record videos of her grandmother whenever she had the chance. Jay nodded as he listened to her.

‘That’s why she didn’t want to be in the videos alone. She wanted us both to be in them together.’

Jay looked at the setting sun and began to speak.

“I was adopted to the U.S. when I was seven. That children’s song I played when I first came to your house—it was a melody that always stayed in my mind. I thought I had made it up myself. That melody sparked my interest in composing, and that’s the path I’ve followed ever since.”

Inari, who had been crying with her head down, slowly lifted her head at Jay’s words.