NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

As the third episode of 「White Blood」 concluded, ‘guesthouse Part-timer’ Kim Joo-hyung, who had been holding his breath, took a deep breath.

“Wow. This story is beyond my expectations. I thought it was a medical action series, but it’s pure fantasy.”

Kim Joo-hyung had recently started writing for a play, and suddenly, all media seemed impressive to him.

Movies he had watched without much thought now made him wonder how they wrote such dialogues and how they imagined such scenarios, making the writers’ creativity seem extraordinary.

And 「White Blood」, which he binge-watched as soon as it was released, was on another level.

It had created a new world that he had never seen before.

“And above all, the actors who brought that imagination to life.”

Even the supporting actors seemed to be completely immersed in their roles.

But the best among them was definitely Ryu Yeon-woo.

“Imagine if an actor like that performed in a play I wrote…”

He recalled the time when Yeon-woo had seen his unfinished manuscript in an empty university classroom and performed it for him.

Just thinking about it made his adrenaline surge, causing his hands to tremble.

It felt like his written words were coming to life right before his eyes.

“…I’m a beginner, so I need to give it my all.”

With a solemn heart, Kim Joo-hyung sat in front of his monitor and placed his hands on the keyboard.

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Meanwhile, the internet reactions were also intense.

The first places to show such reactions were various online communities.

Although the extreme tendencies of some people in these communities could sometimes become a social issue, they were undoubtedly among the quickest to react to internet trends.

This tendency was even stronger in anonymous communities.

─Real-time haters in tears [White Blood Launch Event Comment Compilation]

─If you’re going to watch White Blood, do it fast. Soon, the internet will be flooded with White Blood discussions and you’ll get spoiled, lol

─After watching White Blood, I started worrying about my liver. Sorry, humans.

─White Blood <– Currently surpasses all movies and anime.

And such sparks burn even brighter when there’s fuel.

─Those so-called reviewers who trashed White Blood before it even came out are hilarious now, lol.

─Seriously, people who judge without watching are the worst.

─What’s so great about White Blood? K-fantasy is so cringy.

└ Here comes a hater, lol. Got one right away?

Not only was the internet abuzz, but the next day, conversations about 「White Blood」 were popping up in schools, workplaces, and other offline gatherings.

“Manager, have you watched 「White Blood」?”

At Assistant Manager Ha’s question, Manager Oh exhaled a puff of smoke and replied indifferently.

“My daughter was talking about some White something or other yesterday.”

“You should watch it after work. You said you enjoyed 「Sketch」 last time, right?”

“Is it similar to that? My daughter said it’s something kids watch, with sword fights and all.”

Assistant Manager Ha nodded at Manager Oh’s words.

“Well, the protagonist of 「Sketch」 is also the protagonist of 「White Blood」, Ryu Yeon-woo.”

“Hmm. Really? That guy’s a good actor.”

“The content isn’t as childish as you might think. It’s kind of like a Korean version of 「Dwarves and Rings」.”

Manager Oh showed a bit of interest at Ha’s words.

When Manager Oh was in his early twenties, the series of movies that shook the world were still fresh in his memory, so he might have less aversion to fantasy than the younger generation.

“Can I watch it in theaters?”

“No, you can watch it on Netflix. Just ask your daughter to connect it to the TV for you.”

Meanwhile, the production team of 「White Blood」 was gathered at the LN Entertainment headquarters, monitoring real-time statistics through their partnership account.

“We’ve already entered the top 5 in the new content rankings.”

As Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon, who was overseeing the project, gave her briefing, cheers erupted in the conference room.

“Wow! We launched today and already hit 5th place!”

“Come on, Director, it’s too early to be satisfied. We all worked really hard,” said writer Kim Jin-joo, causing Director Hwang Min-kwon to tear up.

“Sniff! It’s all thanks to you for bringing my trashy script to life…”

“Stop being so dramatic. If anything, we should be thanking Yeon-woo.”

“That’s right! Sniff. Yeon-woo!”

Caught off guard by the sudden shift of gratitude, Yeon-woo scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

He had no intention of dealing with a grown man’s tears, so he quickly changed the subject.

“Our first week’s episodes didn’t have many exciting scenes, right? Next week will be even bigger.”

The production team nodded in agreement with Yeon-woo’s words.

While the internet reactions were overwhelmingly positive, both the production team and the cast were more excited about the content yet to be released.

“True, our story gets more expansive and interesting as it progresses.”

“By the way, what do you think our actors are doing right now?”

Director Jung Yo-han’s question naturally made Yeon-woo think of the members of the Lunch Expedition.

Ella, Akhenaton, the Narrator, and even Dipangdal, who hadn’t appeared yet.

In fact, since the Narrator hadn’t shown a physical form, and excluding Dong-ha, who played the already famous idol Akhenaton, only one person remained.

“Ella is probably feeling like her world has completely changed right about now.”

Yeon-woo chuckled, reminiscing about his past.

He remembered how it felt when he went from being unrecognized to a sudden rise to stardom after filming 「Summer’s Promise」, with people recognizing him everywhere he went.

Perhaps the young girl Han Byul, who played Ella, was experiencing that feeling now.

It was both fascinating and somewhat intimidating.

“Ella always looked amazing on screen. And her acting was great too.”

Director Hwang, who seemed to be thinking about Han Byul just like Yeon-woo, smiled warmly.

Seeing Director Hwang’s smile, Yeon-woo continued speaking.

“And Ella hasn’t even shown her true self in our series yet.”

“Yeon-woo is right. Exactly.”

The ‘Lunch Expedition’ wasn’t called an ‘expedition’ for nothing.

In the story, Jeong Do-jin wasn’t the only one carrying the team; each character had their own unique role.

Thanks to writer Kim Jin-joo’s excellent character development, as the series progressed, not only Jeong Do-jin but also the other characters would show diverse aspects and likely gain popularity.

At that moment, Director Hwang turned to Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon.

“Team Leader Yoon, are we also being counted in the global rankings?”

“Hmm. Just a moment.”

Yoon Mi-yeon checked the statistics through the LN Entertainment partnership account and found an unexpected result.

“Huh? Why is this happening?”

Since no overseas promotional activities had been conducted yet, they didn’t expect significant international viewership.

However, the global ranking was higher than anticipated.

“We’re currently ranked 23rd globally…?”

The production team widened their eyes at Yoon Mi-yeon’s words.

“23rd?!”

To the average person, that might not seem like a high number, but the global ranking literally listed the content from all countries where Netflix was available, based on view counts.

Since most people consumed content available in their own country, the rankings naturally favored countries with larger active user bases.

In simple terms, it was a matter of population.

Even excluding China, which wasn’t a service country, the market sizes of the U.S., Japan, and European countries were enormous.

Moreover, compared to the large populations of India or South American countries, South Korea’s population was relatively small.

“How is this even possible…?”

While the domestic success could lead to future overseas promotions and potentially higher rankings, being 23rd already was unexpected.

Thus, Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon began checking the entry routes of overseas users.

Click─.

As Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon busily clicked through the mouse, examining various figures, there was an unexpected influx from certain regions.

“There’s a surprisingly large amount of traffic coming from Canada and the United States through ‘Master Plan’.”

At Yoon Mi-yeon’s words, the production team all turned to look at Yeon-woo.

For a moment, they had forgotten that he was an actor who consistently delivered mega-hits year after year.

Caught in the sudden focus of attention, Yeon-woo smiled awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, whatever the reason, it’s good that things are going well.”

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The Canadian friends who had mispronounced Ryu Yeon-woo as ‘Yeonu Ryu’ were once again at Amy’s house, clicking through Netflix to find something to watch.

“Hey, guys, check this out!”

Sophia, who was most deeply immersed in Korean culture, called over her friends who were trying to match K-POP dance moves in the corner of the room.

“What? What is it?”

“It looks like that Korean actor we talked about has a new show. It even has English subtitles.”

Sophia clicked on the ‘White Blood’ poster, which appeared as a recommended video on the account that had watched ‘Master Plan’. She lay on the mattress, scrolled through the cast list, and started bouncing her feet excitedly.

“Come quick and look at this! Dong-ha from Axis is in it too?!”

“Dong-ha? Axis’s Dong-ha is in it? For real?”

Paula, a fan of the K-POP idol group Axis, stopped her dance practice and rushed over to Sophia.

The idea of both Ryu Yeon-woo and Dong-ha appearing in the same series was too much to resist.

They immediately clicked on the first episode and were engrossed in no time.

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Hollywood production company Snobbish Mount, a meeting was in full swing.

“Let’s conclude the meeting for the film side here. How are things going with Netflix, Catherine?”

At the CEO’s question, Catherine adjusted her glasses and displayed the statistics on the screen.

The graph on the screen showed a rising trend.

“Our newly launched series ‘Alliance’ started off at global rank 5 on its first day. With no significant competition at the moment, we expect it to continue doing well.”

Originally, Yeon-woo was supposed to audition for a supporting role as an Asian male in the series.

It was a spin-off series based on a successful movie, and just by absorbing the fanbase of the original film, it was expected to dominate Netflix’s number one spot for several weeks.

“If ‘Alliance’ doesn’t maintain the number one spot after its launch, it will damage our company’s credibility. Don’t hesitate to pour money into promotions.”

Snobbish Mount didn’t launch ‘Alliance’ with profit as the primary goal.

The series served as a prelude, with subsequent movies sharing the same universe slated to follow, making it crucial to secure the top spot.

Although it wasn’t number one yet on the launch day, Jake spoke as if it had already achieved that rank.

Nodding to meet his expectations, Catherine replied, “Yes, we’ll ensure everything goes smoothly.”

“Oh, by the way, what is Bernard Penton up to these days?”

“He mentioned working on something with an Asian agency, but I haven’t followed up since. Should I look into it?”

Jake shook his head at Catherine’s suggestion.

“Hmm, Asia? Never mind. It seems he’s ready to retire. Probably looking to siphon off some blind China money.”

Jake didn’t even remember the Korean actor Ryu Yeon-woo, who had notified them of his withdrawal from the audition.

While Yeon-woo had made a name for himself domestically and even won an award at the Berlin Film Festival, it was for the work itself, so Jake might have heard of Director Park Chan-hong but not the actor Ryu Yeon-woo.

In the global content market, the distance between Jake and Yeon-woo was greater than that between a lion and a cat.

However, while the lion wasn’t paying attention, the cats were slowly eating their way up, opening their mouths wider and climbing higher.