NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’ll hold on tight.”

When Yeon-woo asked Ji-eun behind him, she nodded, wrapping her arms around his waist.

After checking their condition, the director shouted the cue sign again.

“Okay, let’s start again. Yeon-woo.”

With the director’s cue sign, Yeon-woo moved his feet again.

The horse bolted out at a fast speed upon Yeon-woo’s signal.

Yeon-woo slightly lowered his posture, and Ji-eun, who was behind him, tightly wrapped her arms around his waist with all her strength.

The two smoothly advanced several meters on the horse.

Ji-eun, balancing herself well on the horse swaying up and down, relying on Yeon-woo’s waist.

The director nodded as he watched the field monitor.

‘This posture is definitely much more dynamic.’

Tingle.

At that moment, due to the aftermath of yesterday’s stalker incident, a sharp pain spread again in Ji-eun’s left arm, causing her strength to weaken suddenly.

She tried to exert strength in her arm, but the pain was too severe, so she tightened her grip on Yeon-woo’s waist with her right arm.

“Ahh-!”

With only one side exerting strength on the moving horse, Ji-eun began to tilt more and more, almost falling to the side.

The costume Ji-eun was wearing was made of silk, making it difficult to maintain her posture even more slippery.

“Uh-oh.”

The startled staff froze in the sudden situation.

Sensing the loosening of Ji-eun’s arm around his waist, Yeon-woo quickly released the reins he was holding and fixed his toes on the stirrup, then turned his waist sharply.

Seeing Ji-eun slipping to the right from the horse’s back, he swiftly grabbed her left shoulder and pulled her up.

“Whoa-whoa.”

He made a sound, trying to stop the horse, but since he wasn’t holding the reins, the horse didn’t listen.

He tapped the horse’s neck again to stop, but it kept moving forward.

Although he managed to lift Ji-eun’s body that was tilting, if they continued like this, Ji-eun, who couldn’t use one arm and was losing her balance, might fall, and they both might end up falling.

Ji-eun, panicking, tightly closed her eyes.

“Ji-eun! Straighten both legs forward.”

Yeon-woo didn’t have the luxury of calling her by first name in this urgent situation.

Still, upon hearing her name, Ji-eun slightly opened her eyes and regained consciousness.

“Straighten both legs forward!”

At the sound of Yeon-woo’s voice once again, Ji-eun stretched her legs forward as he instructed, lifting her up with both hands and spinning her around to bring her in front of him.

Ji-eun, who had been sitting on Yeon-woo’s back, moved forward and was now facing him.

Yeon-woo wrapped one arm around Ji-eun and leaned forward, searching for the loose reins swaying in the wind with his other arm, hastily bringing the horse to a stop.

“Whoa-whoa.”

The horse that had been galloping stopped slowly.

The staff who had been watching hurriedly rushed over.

“Are you okay?!”

Director Lee Sang-hoon, who had been eagerly watching to capture more dynamic movements, came running, abandoning the script he had been holding.

It was a precarious moment that could have turned into a major accident due to his desire for more dynamic action.

Ji-eun, opening her eyes upon seeing the staff rushing towards her, found herself in front of Yeon-woo instead of behind him and looked puzzled.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay?!”

“I-I’m fine.”

Ji-eun answered, nodding her head in response to the staff who had rushed over in surprise.

Seeing Ji-eun like that, Yeon-woo’s expression hardened.

He could feel Ji-eun’s body trembling less as he held her.

“What do you mean you’re fine? Hyung, could you please help Ji-eun down?”

Yeon-woo asked the big-sized lighting technician among the rushing staff to assist Ji-eun.

With the help of the staff, Ji-eun dismounted from the horse, and the shooting was temporarily halted.

Director Lee Sang-hoon, who almost caused a major accident due to his desire for more dynamic action, came over to the actors and bowed his head repeatedly, apologizing.

Although she needed to go to the hospital to be sure, Ji-eun felt that her left arm ligament might have stretched slightly.

She comforted the director, saying it wasn’t his fault but rather her own for overexerting her arm yesterday.

Today’s scene, which involved riding a horse in pursuit, was the last shooting of the day, and the first scene they shot was also usable without any problems, so the shooting was concluded as it was.

Upon hearing the news, the manager who rushed over hurriedly took Ji-eun to a nearby hospital for an examination, and after the actors left, the staff collected the equipment at the remaining shooting location.

As he watched the set being tidied up, Director Lee Sang-hoon, who had blamed himself for his greed for a while, couldn’t help but be curious as his profession demanded.

“Hey… the scene we shot earlier. That almost-accident situation, was it captured well on camera?”

Upon the director’s inquiry, upon reviewing the footage, it was evident how well Ryu Yeon-woo had handled the urgent situation, all captured on camera.

“… If we cut the scene here, it might be usable.”

And then, Director Lee Sang-hoon lightly slapped his cheek and shook his head.

“Ah, I’ve really gone mad with shooting. Sang-hoon, get a hold of yourself.”

However, contrary to his self-reproachful words, Director Lee Sang-hoon couldn’t tear his eyes away from the footage on the screen.

In the car heading back to Seoul, MIn-soo asked to Yeon-woo.

“I heard there was a big incident on set today.”

“Oh, it wasn’t me, it was Ji-eun noona.”

“Still, be careful. I’ve heard there are many accidents on historical drama sets.”

Yeon-woo smiled wryly as he looked at MIn-soo, who was worried about him.

When Yeon-woo’s phone rang, he looked at the screen and saw that it was Ji-eun calling.

“Yeah, did you go to the hospital?”

[Oh, Yeon-woo. It’s just that my ligament stretched a bit. Nothing serious.]

“That’s a relief. It’s not something majorly injured.”

[Thank you so much today. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve been seriously injured.]

Expressing her gratitude to Yeon-woo over the phone, he suddenly realized that they had already passed through the Seoul tollgate.

“Yeah, noona, just rest up. Besides, you’re going to have other scenes to shoot in the next few days due to Yu-han’s overseas location shooting.”

The director decided to give Ji-eun a few days off, adjusting the schedule to focus on scenes where her character wasn’t needed.

[Okay. Yeon-woo, thank you so so much today!]

After ending the call with Ji-eun, Yeon-woo arrived at his apartment shortly after and, feeling the exhaustion from the historical drama compared to modern dramas, he fell asleep as soon as he got home.

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Han Hae-woon found a clue about ‘Baek No-ya’ from the note Ryu Yeon-woo had written.

‘No-ya’ is a term usually used to respectfully address an elderly man.

Han Hae-woon took out his smartphone and read the message.

[When you approach Baek No-ya, comply with his demands, and mention Jeon Su-hwan’s name. And…]

He pondered over Ryu Yeon-woo’s message, which provided instructions and precautions for several actions.

Afterward, he heard information that Baek No-ya frequents a fishing spot near his jurisdiction, so whenever he had time, Han Hae-woon investigated the area around the fishing spot.

Days passed, and it was time to consider searching other fishing spots near Busan.

– Click. –

At the sound of a metallic sound from behind, Han Hae-woon felt a sensation and quietly raised his hand.

“I heard a young man is looking for me.”

As he turned his body slowly while raising his hand, he heard the voice of an elderly man from behind.

In Han Hae-woon’s view, the elderly man was holding a fishing rod, a common tool for fishing.

He initially thought it was a gun due to the metallic sound, but it seemed to be the sound of the fishing rod.

However, one of the old man’s arms was missing.

This matched the description provided by Ryu Yeon-woo.

“Sir, I’ve come to ask you something.”

“Where are you from?”

“What? I’m from Busan.”

The elderly man nodded quietly at Han Hae-woon’s words.

“No, where did you come from? Down there, they said you came from the prosecution.”

It seemed that the information he had conveyed to the owner of the fishing spot a few minutes ago had already reached the old man’s ears.

Or perhaps he had known since a few days ago when he was searching at another fishing spot, but he had been observing him steadily.

“Are you indeed Baek No-ya?”

“My name might change depending on where you’re from.”

With certainty that the elderly man was indeed Baek No-ya based on his words and demeanour, Han Hae-woon slowly reached into his pocket.

Despite his actions, the old man’s expression remained unchanged.

Han Hae-woon, considering whether to draw gun from his holster as he looked at the sharp end of the automatic fishing rod the old man was holding, recalled Ryu Yeon-woo’s message and took out the note from his pocket.

“I’ve come on behalf of Jeon Su-hwan.”

Carefully opening the note containing Ryu Yeon-woo’s handwriting, Han Hae-woon looked at the old man.

Upon seeing this, the old man raised his hand towards the bushes.

“That’s enough.”

Responding to the old man’s words, the bushes shook. From within, a burly man holding an automatic rifle emerged.

‘… If I had drawn my gun, I would have bullet holes in my body.’

Cold sweat ran down Han Hae-woon’s back.

Then, the old man approached Han Hae-woon and extended his hand.

Thinking he was offering a handshake, Han Hae-woon reached out to take his hand, but the old man withdrew his hand.

“No, the note.”

“…Oh, yes. Here it is.”

With a puzzled expression, Han Hae-woon handed the note Ryu Yeon-woo had written to the old man.

“Hmm, that’s correct. Would it be alright if you closed your eyes and moved to another spot?”

“Oh, yes. That’s fine.”

Then, the burly man holding the rifle approached with a mask.

“I’ll send you off safely, so don’t worry.”

Han Hae-woon got into the car wearing the mask and was taken somewhere.

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Meanwhile, the day Han Hae-woon met Baek No-ya was the day the first episode of ‘The Star Beyond the River’ aired.

Because ‘The Star Beyond the River’, a major production created with considerable investment from MBS, started airing a week earlier, the production team and actors were concerned.

Last week, during the same time slot, the first episode of the competing drama “Valdor” recorded a viewer rating of 24 percent, leaving Director Lee Sang-hoon with dark circles under his eyes.

At a barbecue restaurant reserved for watching the first episode together, he made a toast, trying to conceal his nervousness.

“Let’s toast for the success of our drama.”

“Cheers!”

As the attention of the staff gathered, the director looked at Yeon-woo beside him.

“Shouldn’t the lead actor start the toast with a few words?”

Since they had naturally become closer during filming, the director, who made the actors feel comfortable, handed the toast to Yeon-woo.

‘It always seems like I’m the one giving the toast whenever we have a gathering.’

Whether when he was the youngest or when he was the main character, Yeon-woo stood up.

As they were about to start the toast for the first broadcast of ‘The Star Beyond the River’, Yeon-woo raised his glass.