NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

“Oh my, it’s been so long since you came out.”

“Yeah, well, life’s been busy.”

As soon as Yeon-woo’s mother, Lee Sun-ok, sat down, she regretted coming to the reunion. She shot a glare at her best friend, Han Kyung-mi, who had coaxed her into coming with multiple phone calls.

“You said the chatterbox wouldn’t come.”

Lee Sun-ok whispered as she nudged her friend. However, Han Kyung-mi also looked troubled.

“She hasn’t shown up for three years, so why is she here again? Who keeps informing her?”

Across from them, Choi Sook-young, who had been obnoxious since their school days, was laughing loudly. Known as the ‘chatterbox,’ she was always flitting around, spreading gossip and saying things no one wanted to hear. She wasn’t popular among their classmates.

If someone could be that consistently annoying, it was almost commendable.

Sure enough, the chatterbox, Choi Sook-young, couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke up, her eyes gleaming.

“By the way, I heard you moved to the countryside? Isn’t it inconvenient?”

“Where did you hear that? Besides, Sejong City isn’t the countryside.”

Hearing Lee Sun-ok’s response, Choi Sook-young covered her mouth and laughed exaggeratedly.

“Oh my, hohoho. In my mind, anything outside of Seoul is the countryside.”

Then, ignoring the uncomfortable looks from everyone, she started bragging about her son.

“My Young-jun got accepted into Yeonha University this time. Even though I told him to take it easy, he studied all night. I was worried he’d wear himself out.”

“Haha, congratulations, Sook-young.”

Listening to the chatterbox, Han Kyung-mi, who was sitting next to Lee Sun-ok, nodded and whispered to her.

“That’s probably why she came. She hasn’t shown up for years because her son was retaking exams.”

“Seems like it.”

Although Lee Sun-ok wasn’t happy about the chatterbox’s presence, she was glad to see the faces of other classmates she hadn’t seen in nearly a decade.

“Why don’t you reveal that your son is Ryu Yeon-woo and shut her up for good, Sun-ok?”

Han Kyung-mi poked Lee Sun-ok’s arm repeatedly, her eyes filled with anticipation. Lee Sun-ok shook her head.

“What’s the point? She’ll just make up stories, and it’ll only bring trouble for my son.”

“True. She would do that.”

While drinking beer and chatting with other classmates, a friend from the table across looked at Lee Sun-ok and asked,

“By the way, isn’t your son about college age now?”

At that moment, the chatterbox, sitting next to her, added in a seemingly concerned tone.

“Why are you asking such things? If he went to a good school, we would have known already.”

“Oh, really?”

Seeing this, Han Kyung-mi, who was sitting next to Lee Sun-ok, flared up.

“Seriously, her son is…”

“Kyung-mi.”

Lee Sun-ok quietly called her friend to stop her and then smiled as she looked at the chatterbox.

“Yes, he went to college last year. He’s attending Korea University now.”

Choi Sook-young’s face stiffened as if she had bitten into something bitter. The friends around them started making a fuss.

“Oh my, he’s attending Korea University? That’s amazing. What’s his major?”

“Sun-ok, you were good at studying too when you were in school. He must take after you!”

“Yes, he’s majoring in Economics. Oh, he doesn’t take after me…”

The focus of the conversation naturally shifted to Lee Sun-ok, and the chatterbox’s excitement about her son’s acceptance to Yeonha University was quickly overshadowed, leaving her pouting.

“Is your husband still a civil servant?”

“Is it okay living on a civil servant’s salary with four people?”

“I heard house prices in the provinces are dropping like crazy these days. Are you okay?”

“I’m really into golf these days. Do you want to play together, Sun-ok? Oh, but the infrastructure in the provinces might not be that great, right?”

Choi Sook-young, trying to find any weakness, kept asking questions with a venomous edge, causing the friends around them to frown.

Lee Sun-ok tried her best to ignore the chatterbox and immersed herself in conversations with other friends. Meeting friends she hadn’t seen in over ten years made her feel like she was back in her girlhood, laughing and losing track of time.

“Shall we start heading out? Those who need to get home should go.”

It was already close to ten o’clock, and everyone started getting up from their seats.

As they walked towards the parking lot, the chatterbox spoke up.

“Sun-ok, you have to go back to the provinces, right? Are you taking the train?”

“Yes, I need to catch the KTX. I already booked my ticket.”

“Shall I give you a ride to Seoul Station?”

For a moment, it seemed like she was being kind, but then she added,

“My husband bought me a foreign car for our anniversary. How about a test ride?”

“No, it’s okay.”

At that moment, they heard some commotion from the friends who had gone out to the parking lot first.

“Oh my, is that Ryu Yeon-woo? Is he filming around here?”

“Really? Oh my, my daughter is a huge fan.

“It seems like you’re the fan.”

Yeon-woo stepped out of the sports car, grinning as he approached the excited ladies.

“Oh my, did he come to this restaurant?”

“This is amazing. We hit the jackpot, seeing such a famous person up close.”

“Didn’t he win some sort of Bear award recently?”

Yeon-woo spotted his mother coming out of the restaurant amidst the murmuring ladies.

“Mother!”

He waved cheerfully and walked over.

“Huh? Did he just say ‘Mother’?”

“Is Ryu Yeon-woo’s mother in this restaurant?”

Lee Sun-ok stepped forward, smiling awkwardly.

“Son, how did you know I was here?”

“Father called me. I’ll give you a ride home.”

The jaws of the surrounding classmates dropped.

“What? What’s going on?”

“Ryu Yeon-woo is Sun-ok’s son?”

“Then the son who got into Korea University is…?”

Feeling triumphant, Han Kyung-mi put her hands on her hips.

“That’s right, it was all over the place last year. The actor who got into Korea University’s Economics Department through regular admission. He’s Sun-ok’s son.”

Hearing Han Kyung-mi’s words, the classmates finally seemed to grasp the situation and gathered around.

“Oh my goodness! I’m such a big fan. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“This is amazing. Do you remember me? I saw you at a wedding when you were this small.”

Yeon-woo smiled warmly at his mother’s friends.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ryu Yeon-woo.”

Seeing Yeon-woo, the classmates couldn’t help but smile.

“Oh my, he’s so handsome.”

“Sun-ok, why didn’t you tell us you had such a wonderful son?”

“I did brag about him… saying he got into Korea University.”

One of her friends lightly hit her arm, giving her a sideways glance.

“Hey, it’s not about Korea University. He’s a great actor representing our country now.”

“Haha, no, I’m just barely out of being a rookie.”

“Oh my, he’s so humble too.”

Although she had refrained from mentioning it to avoid any gossip on the internet, now that it was out in the open, Lee Sun-ok began introducing her friends to her son.

This is Aunt Young-Sun.”

“Hello.”

“Oh my, I used to buy you toys when you were little. You don’t remember, do you?”

“And you know this one, right? Mom’s closest friend, Aunt Kyung-mi.”

As she introduced each person, Lee Sun-ok glanced at Choi Sook-young, who was standing in the corner with a sour expression. She then took out her smartphone to check the time.

“Oh dear, the train time is approaching.”

“Oh, then let’s go quickly. See you later, aunts.”

“Did I just become Ryu Yeon-woo’s aunt today? My daughter will faint when she hears this.”

After saying goodbye with a smile, Yeon-woo ran over to open the passenger door of the red sports car for his mother.

“Oh my, my son has such good manners.”

Yeon-woo helped his mother into the passenger seat and started the car.

“Mother, what time is your train? Should I drive faster?”

“Huh? No, we have plenty of time. It’s the 11 o’clock train.”

Yeon-woo looked at his watch and spoke.

“What? You said the train time was approaching…”

Remembering the chatterbox standing there dumbfounded, his mother chuckled.

“Well, there’s that. It feels quite satisfying.”

In the car heading to Seoul Station, only Yeon-woo was left puzzled.

====

***

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After officially coordinating the music show schedule, Yeon-woo headed to the practice room to match up with Seo Ji-eun when his smartphone rang.

[+1 (213) 807-67…]

Seeing the complex number on the screen, Yeon-woo thought it might be a phishing call and was about to reject it but then hesitated.

“If the country code is 1, it’s the U.S., and 213… where was that again…”

As he answered the call, it came to him. In this life, there was only one person who would call him from Los Angeles.

“Chrissy?”

– Oh, how did you know? Do you have my number?

Hearing the cheerful voice of Chrissy Monroe, the music director of ‘Sketch’, Yeon-woo smiled.

“213. The only person who would call me from LA is you, Chrissy. How have you been?”

– Congratulations! First of all, congratulations on Berlin.

“Thank you. It’s all thanks to the great music you provided.

– I heard that Jae Inari is going to perform on stage, so I made a slight rearrangement of the song.

Chrissy explained that the original song wasn’t quite suitable for a live performance, so she added a guitar solo in the middle. Even though the contract had ended and the movie had already been released, Yeon-woo felt grateful to Chrissy for putting in the effort as if it were her own project.

“Thank you, Chrissy. When I visit the U.S., I’ll definitely treat you to a meal.”

– A meal? I’d love it if it’s Korean food. I made Korean tteokbokki for my daughter at home, and she loved it. She’s really into K-POP these days.

“Oh, really? The program where Jae Inari will perform is also a music show primarily featuring K-POP idols. Your daughter will probably love it when she hears the song you composed.”

As they laughed and chatted, Chrissy’s voice took on a slightly worried tone.

– By the way, I got a bit carried away with the rearrangement, and the solo part became quite difficult. But I believe Jae can handle it. She’s done it all before.

“Do you think so?”

From the conversation, Yeon-woo couldn’t quite grasp how the rearrangement would sound. Soon, Min-soo’s car arrived at the building with the practice room. Yeon-woo got out of the car and took the elevator up.

“Producer, it’s been a while. Hmm, it looks like Noona isn’t here yet.”

“Oh, yes. Seo Ji-eun will be about an hour late.”

After greeting the mixing engineer and producer who had worked on ;Sketch’, Yeon-woo played the rearranged file that Chrissy had sent. The original song, ‘Paint’, was a simple acoustic guitar melody sung in the back seat of a village bus in the movie, which felt a bit plain for a music show. The rearrangement retained the original feel while adding more structure.

“Hmm, this is nice.”

The producer, listening along with Yeon-woo, nodded in agreement. Then, the solo part began, and the strong guitar sound was followed by a dull thudding noise in sync with the beat.

“Hmm?”

Both the producer and Yeon-woo tilted their heads in confusion. It didn’t sound like a drum…

“Is that the sound of someone tapping the guitar?”

Reading the attached notes, the producer clapped his hands.

“That’s right. The sound is from tapping the guitar, and then the next part involves bringing in a violin…”

As the producer spoke, the sound of a violin began to play.

“This part wasn’t in the original song at all.”

It seemed Chrissy had added a solo to make Yeon-woo stand out, considering the original might be too plain for a music show.

“But is it possible to play the instruments live? I’ve heard that most bands just pretend to play while the recorded track plays.”

“Oh, that’s because bands have multiple overlapping sounds, and it’s hard to capture all of them live due to background noise and the audience’s cheering. Since you’ll be playing solo, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll make sure to confirm this with the music show staff.”

Nodding, Yeon-woo checked the altered parts of the rearranged sheet music. The producer, looking at the same sheet music on the monitor, clicked his tongue.

“Actor, this is quite high-level.”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

Yeon-woo picked up the violin while looking at the sheet music.

“But with enough practice, nothing is impossible.”

The music still playing through the speakers featured rapid, intricate notes that ascended and descended swiftly.

‘This is going to be tough. I’ll probably have to live in the practice room for a while.’

Practicing in his current officetel was challenging, so he needed to pour all his energy into it while he could. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the strings with his fingers while looking at the sheet music.

For someone who majored in violin, this might seem trivial, but for Yeon-woo, it was certainly beyond his current skill level.

Yeon-woo soon became absorbed in practice, and the producer, watching him, fell into thought.

‘This actor… Chrissy Monroe must be thinking the same thing as I am.’

In just a few days, Yeon-woo had shown remarkable progress, meeting every demand effortlessly, which must have sparked a desire in Chrissy as a musician.

As the night deepened, the first practice for the stage that would astonish fans began.