LIGHTNOVELONLINE Episode 152 - Art Awards (2)
Upon returning to his seat, Yeon-woo nonchalantly pulled out the smartphone from his pocket, which he had told Jung Tae-seon was left with his manager.
– Target check complete.
– Han Hae-woon: We’ve also confirmed it’s registered in the system on our end. Plan A is successful.
Yeon-woo wore a satisfied expression as he read the message.
‘Thankfully, we succeeded the easy way.’
If Jung Tae-seon had said he didn’t have a smartphone or refused to hand it over to Yeon-woo, they had prepared Plan B to take a different approach.
Since that would have likely escalated the situation, it was better that the easier method, Plan A, had succeeded, and fortunately, things had gone smoothly.
With this, they could now monitor all text-based communications Jung Tae-seon made on his smartphone.
‘Of course, we won’t be able to use this as evidence later.’
According to Article 308-2 of the Criminal Procedure Act, illegally obtained evidence is excluded.
In simple terms, it means that evidence acquired through improper methods cannot be recognized as valid in court.
Of course, even if the evidence were valid, he had no intention of using it.
‘We’re not moving to catch small fry like him anyway. What’s important is to dig up to the top and reveal their true identity.’
As Yeon-woo was lost in these thoughts, time passed, and the awards ceremony resumed.
His family, watching from home, was watching with bated breath, just like last year.
“Mom! Stop cleaning the display case and sit down to watch. The second part is starting now.”
“Last year, dad cleaned the spot in advance, and that’s why your brother won an award.”
Ryu So-hyun shook her head at her mother, who was still standing.
Other awards were presented, and finally, the moment for the TV category’s Best Actor award approached.
Four actors were nominated.
– The winner of the 56th Korea Art Awards TV category Best Actor Award is…
Not only his family but also Joon-soo and Seong-sik.
And the Woos watching from their respective homes all listened intently to the TV.
– Congratulations. Ryu Yeon-woo from “The Stars Beyond the River”.
“Yay!”
Not only his mother who was already standing, but the rest of the family also jumped up from the sofa and cheered.
And at this moment, there was one more person who sprang up from their sofa.
“Hahaha! Yes. That’s right!”
“Ch-Chairman. Please calm down. If you get too excited, your blood pressure might rise.”
As Chairman Seo of the Lee Han Group stood up with his ailing body, the secretary standing behind him tried to dissuade him.
– Actor Ryu Yeon-woo delivered a truly masterful performance last year in KBC1’s “The Stars Beyond the River,” portraying the role of ‘Seo Hee,’ a national hero. We sincerely congratulate him on his award.
As Yeon-woo walked out receiving congratulations from fellow actors around him, Chairman Seo clenched his fist once again while listening to the MC’s guiding comments flowing from the TV.
“Chief Choi! How can I stay calm? Hahaha. You heard it too, right, Chief Choi? Our ancestor was indeed a national hero. That’s right, of course.”
Meanwhile, as Yeon-woo walked towards the stage, countless people flashed through his mind.
The list of people to thank was endless.
Since last year’s Best Actor winner was Jin Yu-han, who had won over Son Jin-wook who was also nominated, it was naturally Jin Yu-han who handed the trophy to Yeon-woo.
As he stepped onto the stage, Jin Yu-han approached with a smile.
He handed the trophy to Yeon-woo and gave him a light hug, patting his shoulder.
“Congratulations. Sincerely.”
Looking at Jin Yu-han, Yeon-woo also smiled softly.
“Thank you. It feels even better receiving it from a friend.”
And as he stood in front of the microphone, he saw numerous actors, camera flashes capturing Yeon-woo, and fans holding placards tightly on the second floor, all looking at him.
Countless people were looking at just one person.
And the feeling of ‘being at the end of those gazes’ was an unfamiliar sensation that was difficult to express in words.
Being one of the many people looking up from below the stage versus being the one person receiving gazes on the stage felt like a completely unfamiliar world, as if the world had been turned upside down, despite being in the same space.
And at the center of it all, Yeon-woo smiled pleasantly and held up the trophy to chest height with one hand.
“Countless people I should thank are flashing through my mind.”
But today, he had no intention of listing many names.
After a brief pause, Yeon-woo looked up at the second floor and shouted.
“I dedicate all this glory to the Woos who always believe in me and support me.”
With this short speech, he left the stage amidst cheers and applause.
But today, that wasn’t the end.
Not long after, the MC’s comments were heard again.
– The winner of the Film category Best Actor Award is Ryu Yeon-woo from “Master Plan”.
TV and film.
He became the first actor to win Best Actor awards in both categories in the same year.
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Yeon-woo got up from bed with messy hair and stretched.
He picked up his smartphone and first contacted Han Hae-woon.
– Did anything come up?
– Han Hae-woon: Ah, this guy is a bigger catch than we thought.
– Really?
After waiting for a moment, another message came from Han Hae-woon.
– Han Hae-woon: Starting from the An Jun-ho case you asked me to investigate before, to Park Kyung-wan, and even Jeon Ki-hoon, they were all this guy’s work. I’ll send you the data.
Soon after, reviewing the data sent by Han Hae-woon, it became clear that the guy was even more deeply involved with Baek-sol than expected.
He was receiving orders from an agent who called himself ‘Gold,’ mainly carrying them out while receiving financial compensation along with hard-to-obtain drugs on the market.
It seemed this guy didn’t know that the organization Gold belonged to was Baek-sol, but from the conversations exchanged, he appeared to be aware that it was quite a powerful organization backing him.
– Han Hae-woon: The acquired conversation content is extensive, so if we backtrack about Gold based on this, we might be able to find some clues. By the way, they use quite a unique alias.
Yeon-woo stared intently at the name Gold, when suddenly an old memory came to mind.
And he immediately sent a message to Han Hae-woon.
– Gold might not be the gold we’re thinking of. There’s a wildflower called ‘Gold’ that originates in China, and I’ve heard before about an agent who mainly uses wildflower names as code names.
Gold is a purple wildflower that is also used medicinally.
If it’s him, Yeon-woo remembered he was in charge of northwestern China, and northwestern China is geographically connected to Eastern Europe, making it a place where drug criminals often hide.
– Han Hae-woon: The wildflower Gold?
– I think he mainly operated in the Uyghur region. Focus the investigation on that area and start there.
– Han Hae-woon: Yes, understood.
After finishing the conversation with Han Hae-woon, he went to the entertainment section of internet news, and articles about last night’s Korea Entertainment Awards were pouring in.
– [Weekly Sports] Ryu Yeon-woo writes new history with 2 crowns at the 56th Korea Art Awards.
– [N Sports News] From Lee Ji-baek to Seo Hee in “The Stars Beyond the River,” Jin Yu-han to Ryu Yeon-woo (Photo)
– [Movie Point] Ryu Yeon-woo sets new record dominating both TV and cinema.
– [News TN] The honor of Best Film goes to Director Park Chan-hong’s “Master Plan”.
– [Korea Economy] The status of K-culture as “White Blood” approaches its finale…
Clicking on the comments, there was a lot of talk about last night’s awards.
– But isn’t the Excellence Award for Ryu Yeon-woo too weak? I thought he’d get the Grand Prize. It did have 10 million viewers after all.
– He didn’t create 10 million viewers alone, the Excellence Award is enough. Besides, he got the Best Film award instead.
– Maybe it’s because he received awards for both TV and film at the same time?
– Honestly, it seems like next year is already set for him too.
– That’s right, there was “Sketch” this year.
– There’s “White Blood” too!
– White Blood? Isn’t Netflix neither a drama nor a movie? Won’t they not give awards for that?
– No, no, from next year they’ll definitely give awards to OTT too. Our country creates new awards if something does well abroad.
– Honestly, watching foreigners’ reaction videos to White Blood these days makes my heart swell with pride.
Yeon-woo scrolled down reading the article comments, and while brushing his teeth, he also checked the fan cafe.
– I couldn’t sleep yesterday ㅠㅠ Yeon-woo only mentioned Woos in his acceptance speech, I was in tears
– I was a muggle but became a late fan as of yesterday
– Yesterday [#RyuYeon-woo_2Crowns] even trended, did our cafe do something?
└ It probably trended naturally! The power of my actor is something else
Yeon-woo stared blankly at the posts as he scrolled down, then put his smartphone down and focused on brushing his teeth.
‘Hmm, it seems the fans are happy about me winning awards. But honestly, I don’t understand half of what they’re saying.’
The only ‘silt’ I know is the German-made body bunker Schild used against personal firearms or grenades, but that’s obviously not it…
But when they talk about ‘destructive power,’ it seems similar…
Yeon-woo finished washing up quickly while having these odd thoughts.
Today, as it was the release of the final week of “White Blood,” although it wasn’t exactly a wrap party, the cast and production team were gathering to watch it together in a similar spirit.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen the faces of the expedition team.”
It had been over two months since filming ended, and he thought of the actors who had been living together for several months.
Ding─.
– Min-soo hyung: Yeon-woo, I’ve arrived in front of your house. Please come out slowly.
Yeon-woo saw the message, quickly put on some clothes, and went outside.
When he arrived at LN Entertainment’s main conference room in Min-soo’s car, all the actors and production team members were already there, having arrived early.
“Looks like I’m the last one to arrive.”
As Yeon-woo entered making a joke, everyone welcomed him warmly.
“There’s still 20 minutes left, but somehow we all gathered already.”
“Oppa! Congratulations on your award yesterday!”
When Han Byul, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, congratulated him on the award, Yeon-woo happily ruffled her hair.
“Eung.”
“Are you doing well in school?”
“Yes! The kids have asked me to get your autograph over a hundred times already.”
Yeon-woo chuckled at Han Byul’s words.
“Don’t they ask for your autograph?”
“Well, I do get some…”
“How many autographs have you given so far?”
“A lot…”
Then Dong-ha, who was standing behind, smiled and poked Han Byul’s cheeks.
“Ooh. Superstar.”
At that moment, Jung Cheol-min, who had stopped by the bathroom and came in late, raised his hand as he entered.
“I’ve been giving out a ton of autographs these days too.”
“Ah, teacher, you’ll soon catch the celebrity disease at this rate.”
“Hey, I am a celebrity too, you know.”
Jung Cheol-min laughed, seemingly embarrassed as he touched the back of his head.
As they were chatting, Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon finally opened the door and entered the conference room.
“Everyone, it hasn’t been updated yet, but I checked with the partner account, and our global ranking is currently 3rd. We might go up one more spot when it’s released.”
With those words, she displayed the screen at the front of the conference room.
1. Alliance [-]
2. C.A New lawfirm [-]
3. White blood [+7]
Global 3rd place.
Among the numerous contents supplied in all countries where Netflix provides service.
It means 3rd place among all of those contents.
“Wow…”
“Honestly, it doesn’t feel real.”
Since the end of last week’s broadcast, it had already achieved an overwhelming 1st place among domestic content.
Yeon-woo smiled gently as he looked at Director Hwang Min-kwon’s dazed expression.
“How do you feel, Director?”
“Hahaha…”
Hwang Min-kwon couldn’t quite grasp how to express this feeling.
At the beginning of this year, all he did was sit in his room scratching his behind while watching TV.
And now, the actor who appeared on that TV every day promoting national prestige was right in front of him.
And more than anything, he was happiest about the fact that his imagination had become reality.
Although it might be a bit much to compare it to the birth of a child for the unmarried Hwang Min-kwon, the feeling seemed quite similar.
“It’s about time.”
The episodes that had been released weekly now had only three left.
And the final chapter began.