NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

Lily stared at Yeon-woo’s outstretched hand with a surprised expression and grabbed it reflexively, but she couldn’t look directly at Yeon-woo and only kept looking at Chrissy next to him.

“Um, Mom. What’s this all of a sudden…?”

“I told you last time, didn’t I? I said Jay would come visit our house when he comes to America.”

“…Well, I did hear it, but.”

Until now, even though Mom had participated in numerous productions as a music director, there had never been a star close enough to visit their home.

That’s why she thought it was just casual talk and didn’t pay much attention to it.

Moreover, not only were there few occasions for a music director to directly meet actors during work, but Hollywood actors also rarely socialized with ordinary people outside their inner circle.

At that moment, Dong-ha and Han Byul, who had been organizing the tteokbokki ingredients they bought in the kitchen, also came out to the living room.

“Oppa! We finished organizing!”

“Yeon-woo hyung. The rice cakes are really hard. Should I soak them a bit?”

And when Lily saw Ella and Akhenaten walking out of the house kitchen, her eyes widened once again.

“What?!”

After some commotion at the entrance, Yeon-woo went into the kitchen and quickly finished cooking, whipping up a delicious-looking tteokbokki in no time.

And as everyone sat down to eat, Lily kept poking at the innocent rice cakes with her fork.

Her eyes moved busily back and forth.

It was clearly the same kitchen where she had eaten cereal this morning, but it felt 180 degrees different from the morning.

“You ate it well saying it was delicious when Mom made it for you last time. Why are you just torturing the rice cakes now?”

“But, how can I just eat food when such an unreal situation is unfolding before my eyes!”

It was the most shocking day in Lily’s life.

Dong-ha laughed as he watched Lily.

“Come on, try it. It’s the first tteokbokki I’ve ever made in my life. Though Yeon-woo hyung did most of it.”

“Yes, okay!”

At Dong-ha’s words, Lily hurriedly picked up a rice cake and put it in her mouth.

“I’ve watched all of AXIS’s music videos! I’m even in a K-POP cover dance club at school!”

As Lily spoke with sparkling eyes, it was actually Dong-ha whose eyes sparkled even more.

“Oh, really? Then you must know our choreography well?”

“Of course!”

“Want to do a dance challenge together after we eat? We’ll upload it on TikTok!”

“Really?!”

Jeong Cheolmin was a given, and Yeon-woo and Jeong Suyeon weren’t interested in idols or dancing either.

The only one who reluctantly joined in when Dong-ha asked was Han Byul, but she was unexpectedly uncoordinated and had trouble learning the choreography.

Yeon-woo had thought Chrissy’s daughter would get along better with Han Byul, who was the same age, but he chuckled as he watched Dong-ha unexpectedly hitting it off so well.

Seeing Yeon-woo like that, Chrissy asked.

“You said you came for the talk show this time, right? How was it? Did you do well?”

Han Byul answered that question.

“Totally! I thought only oppa had a script!”

“Is that so? Jay definitely has a sense of humor that works well in official settings. He’s a man who cracks jokes even in bleak Germany.”

Understanding that she was talking about the Berlin Film Festival, Yeon-woo tilted his head.

“Chrissy. Did you come to the Berlin Film Festival?”

“I didn’t go, but it was a film I participated in, so I looked it up online. Someone had filmed and uploaded an interview before the movie started.”

“Ah…”

Yeon-woo nodded at Chrissy’s words.

After chatting about this and that while eating tteokbokki, Dong-ha took Han Byul up to Lily’s room.

Judging by the thumping sounds and music coming from upstairs, it seemed they were filming the dance video they had talked about during the meal.

“It was a good idea to bring them.”

“It’ll be an unforgettable memory for Lily. Thanks to this, I’ve saved on the Christmas present.”

Yeon-woo smiled slightly as he heard Chrissy’s words.

‘Come to think of it, Christmas is coming soon.’

After Christmas ends, it’ll soon be the new year.

It seemed that they would have to start rehearsing in earnest early next year to put on the play.

‘I’ll have to prepare other things besides rehearsals too. I wonder if the kids are doing well with what I’ve asked them to do…’

Meanwhile, Junsoo and Seong-sik in Seoul were thoroughly watching every play currently running in Daehangno.

“Hey, but doesn’t it feel a bit off…?”

It was a sentence missing both subject and object, but Junsoo nodded at Seong-sik’s words.

“Right? Something about the level…”

The plays were definitely entertaining. The content was good, and the actors gave passionate performances.

Although they were viewing it from a non-professional perspective, the actors in Daehangno had solid diction and confident body movements.

But something was lacking.

“How should I put it. There’s no vivid feeling. Like, um… Ah, I can’t express it.”

“I know what you mean without you saying it.”

“But if those actors from earlier heard us talking like this, they’d probably sneer, right?”

Junsoo shook his head at Seong-sik’s words.

“Why? We may not know how to act, but we have eyes to see, and it’s our freedom to express our impressions. It’s not like you can’t even open your mouth while watching soccer unless you’re a former player.”

“That’s true. I guess it’s because we started with Yeon-woo’s acting for our first play?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

After first experiencing Yeon-woo’s acting, where emotions seemed to pour out as if alive and breathing, all other acting felt faded in comparison.

“By the way, I wonder if Yeon-woo is doing well in America.”

“Who are you worrying about?”

“True.”

===

**

===

The day after returning from Chrissy’s house.

Yeon-woo and the expedition team members attended a mini fan signing event prepared by Bernard Fenton’s side.

Looking at the members sitting at the mini signing event that lasted for two hours from lunchtime, they all seemed to be gaining energy rather than feeling tired.

“Oh my gosh. Ella you so cute!”

“Th, thank you!”

A black woman with an afro perm in the next seat held Han Byul’s hand and praised her with sparkling eyes as if she had seen an angel.

A fan also came up to Yeon-woo and shyly held out a piece of paper.

“What’s your name?”

“Mike!”

After signing with Mike’s name, Yeon-woo spoke first.

“Thank you for watching our series.”

“Wow, it’s nothing. I really enjoyed watching it. And you’re really kind. It’s so amazing to be able to meet and talk with a star like this.”

“Is that so? We can’t come often, so we have to meet the fans when we do come.”

Yeon-woo smiled slightly as he looked at Mike.

After all, in America, fan meetings or signing events were relatively unfamiliar cultures except for Comic-Con and other big events.

Moreover, such events are usually held in New York or San Diego.

Although Hollywood is the city of stars, there were rarely opportunities to meet actors publicly like this.

“Um, can I shake your hand?”

“Of course, Mike.”

Unlike Korean fans who were already accustomed to various fan signing events and made diverse requests, American fans simply got autographs and shook hands once.

‘To be honest, I was prepared to do the deer antler pose about a hundred times.’

Of course, it’s not that I dislike showing aegyo service to fans.

Compared to the love received, such effort was a small gesture.

However, this project was a bit different.

Yeon-woo looked at the members beside him.

One was his mentor, one was a friend. And the other two were like younger siblings.

‘Hmm. Doing the deer antler pose in front of them…’

Yeon-woo shook his head slightly.

‘It’s really fortunate that it hasn’t spread here yet. Phew.’

Just as Yeon-woo breathed a sigh of relief, the fan who finished shaking hands moved on to Ella next to him, and the next fan came up to the stage.

‘Looks like a Korean-American.’

It was a young woman who appeared to be Korean.

Originally, LA has the largest Koreatown and the most Korean-Americans residing there.

“Nice to meet you. Are you a Korean-American?”

“No! I’m Woo’s! Oh my gosh, really! I was just visiting LA and heard about this surprise fan signing event, so I rushed here!”

“Really? It’s nice to meet you. I didn’t expect to see Woo’s here.”

Yeon-woo smiled as he looked at the fan.

At that moment, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

‘Don’t tell me?’

And such premonitions were never wrong.

“Um, I’ve watched it on YouTube more than a thousand times, but if it’s not too much trouble, could I also…”

“Umm…”

Originally, “Did you take care of it?” is a magic spell that should never even be thought of.

===

**

===

After finishing the fan signing event and sightseeing, Yeon-woo and his group boarded the plane heading back to Korea.

Since American fans didn’t even know what it was yet, there weren’t as many fans requesting the deer antler pose that day as expected.

Afterward, while sightseeing, various production companies tried to approach Yeon-woo, and James Choi constantly attempted to intervene each time.

For most of these, Yeon-woo stepped in to prevent James Choi from interfering by meeting them alone, and when that wasn’t possible, he passed it on to Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon.

In the end, unable to achieve his intended goal, James Choi sat in the back seat of the return flight with a distorted face, endlessly staring out the window.

‘I don’t know yet if that guy is a direct underling reporting to Baek Sol, but I’ll be able to find out by tracking him after we return to Korea.’

Even if he reports, he can’t say that things went wrong because he couldn’t manipulate one young actor.

That would only be boasting about his own incompetence.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter even if he reports like that. They don’t move for such simple reasons in the first place.’

They never move rashly unless backed by economic reasons.

Yeon-woo would be spending the first half of next year doing theater, so there wouldn’t be any business conflicts with them.

As he was organizing these thoughts and looking at the clouds flowing by in the Pacific sky outside the window, Dong-ha in the seat next to him called out to Yeon-woo.

“Yeon-woo hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like futsal by any chance?”

He had liked ball sports since his previous life, and even after reincarnation, he often played futsal since high school.

“Well, sort of? I used to play often with friends.”

“Then, do you know about ISAC, hyung?”

Yeon-woo shook his head as he listened to Dong-ha’s story.

“Well, I’ve never heard of that university. Is it famous for futsal?”

“…Ah? Ahem, no. It’s short for ‘Idol Star Athletics Championships’.”

“I see.”

Dong-ha broke out in a sweat as he watched Yeon-woo nod calmly.

The ‘Idol Star Athletics Championships’ was a special program where idols compete in sports events every Lunar New Year and Chuseok.

“You see, our team is participating in this Lunar New Year special, but all our members are uncoordinated, so we hardly have anyone who can play futsal. We could somehow manage track and archery, but when it comes to kicking the ball forward, it just flies sideways…”

Dong-ha, who had been speaking, glanced at Yeon-woo’s reaction and carefully continued.

“So, each team can recruit one outside player, and I was wondering if you might be interested…”

Yeon-woo seriously considered Dong-ha’s words.

‘I was thinking about appearing on variety shows for fan service anyway, and if it’s a program where idols appear, it might not be bad?’

Since he enjoyed playing futsal in high school, it seemed like it could be more fun than expected.

He also wanted to help with Dong-ha’s work…

“Well, I’m fine with it. I’ll have to discuss it with the agency, but I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t appear.”

“Oh, really?!”

Dong-ha looked at him with hopeful eyes, but Yeon-woo tilted his head.

“But there seems to be one problem.”

“A problem?”

“I’m not an idol.”

Dong-ha looked at him as if to say, “What are you talking about?”

“Hyung, you are an idol. J from the co-ed group J-nari.”

“Ah…”

That’s right.

He was an idol who had even appeared on music shows.