Aura of a Genius Actor Chapter 111: Role Truth Game

Jeong So Jin's eyesight asured 1.8 in both eyes.

Those eyes were especially useful when it ca to spotting her singer, her actor, her precious favorite in a crowded sea of people at a single glance.

Rococo? Of course I know Rococo.

The designer brand that launched in 2005 and beca instantly recognizable through its posters alone.

The overwhelmingly beautiful girl and the mysterious "Back Guy" leading her had beco quite the sensation that year.

That back... is Yu Myeong?

After tracking down a higher-resolution image file, she examined it with the focus of a hawk.

The angle of the shoulder blades. The proportions between the shoulders and back. The line running from behind the ear down the neck. And... the lift of the hips!

Then realization struck.

Holy crap... it really is Yu Myeong.

Instantly alert, she hurried to the comnts section.

The place had already beco complete chaos.

└ Back Guy? Back Guy? Back Guy? Back Guy? Back Guy?

└ Oh my god!! I would've never noticed normally, but after playing Find Shin Willy every day... I can tell. This is our Willy!

└ I honestly can't tell... aren't there lots of backs like this?

└ Lots? Please. Backs with this balance between bone and muscle and lines this clean are rare.

└ New / clue / new / clue / new / clue

└ Everyone calm down. Let's approach this rationally and objectively... haaahk!!

So Jin imdiately pinned the thread and gathered every version of the Rococo advertisent she could find before creating a new post.

Post #75874 — I Can State This With Confidence.

────────────────────

It's him.

With the trained eyes of a veteran fan, I can confidently confirm that it's Yu Myeong.

This would've been before his debut in 2003, so he was probably doing modeling jobs on the side.

To the mber who discovered this:

In recognition of your contribution, you are hereby promoted to Gold mber.

I am proud of everyone's dedication.

────────────────────

└ I'm... I'm so moved. I'm proud of everyone too!

└ Wow... even back then he didn't look like an amateur. I rember people wondering who he was.

└ I've always liked Rococo. Ti to buy everything.

└ Now that I know it's Yu Myeong, the clothes suddenly look amazing. Ordering imdiately.

└ Gold mber?! What an honor!! I knew my eyes weren't wrong!

Beginning the very next day, Rococo entered a completely inexplicable golden age.

Only later did designer Anz discover the reason.

When she finally learned the truth, she realized just how lucky she had been.

She had hired the back of a model whose market value was now worth hundreds of millions of won.

A model who was currently worth whatever price people were willing to pay.

For one hundred thousand won.

And the viral marketing ca free.

She had truly hit the jackpot.

Park Jin Hui parked her bright red Crude in the company parking lot.

Beep.

As she stepped out, Team Leader One happened to notice her.

"Ohhh, a Crude. Weren't those backordered for months? How'd you get one?"

"It was a reward."

"A reward? They gave that to you as a reward?!"

"Apparently it was the President's decision."

Several emotions flashed across his face in rapid succession.

Envy.

Jealousy.

Greed.

A small sense of satisfaction stirred within her.

Before her promotion, he had been her superior.

More than once, he had taken credit for her achievents.

If Director Min hadn't recognized her abilities and selected her to lead the new vehicle launch project, she might have quit the company entirely by now.

And if that had happened—

She never would have t Yu Myeong.

The thought softened her irritation slightly.

"When did you get it? Looks good."

"Last night."

"The numbers have been incredible. What exactly did you do?"

Hyunseong Motors was known for producing reasonably priced vehicles with reasonable performance.

Up until now, there had never really been an enjoyable car in the lineup.

When Crude was first proposed, criticism within the company had been widespread.

People compared it to Monami suddenly deciding to sell fountain pens.

But rather than relying on the image of Hyunseong Motors as an umbrella brand, Park Jin Hui had designed an advertisent capable of branding Crude itself directly into consurs' minds.

Then the perfect actor had elevated the campaign far beyond expectations.

The vehicle's specifications certainly helped.

But without Park Jin Hui's concept, Crude would never have beco this successful.

"I used a little magic."

There was no need to give him a report.

Smiling with the precise professionalism of a seasoned office worker, she brushed the question aside.

Truthfully, it had felt like magic.

Anyone who witnessed an ordinary office worker transform instantly into a devastatingly charismatic man would have described it the sa way.

"The comrcial turned out great. Was that really your idea? The agency didn't do most of the work for you?"

Park Jin Hui snorted.

"You think I'm a team leader because I learned tricks like that? Fortunately, I spent enough years under you to avoid picking up that habit."

The coback felt wonderfully satisfying.

Director Min was firmly on her side for the foreseeable future.

Hm?

Surprisingly, Team Leader One didn't explode in anger.

Though his face cycled through red and blue, he sohow restrained himself.

Then he forced a smile.

"You're on good terms with Yu Myeong's company, right? Build that relationship. We should use him for other Hyunseong models too. Actually, the campaign we're planning right now—"

"Team Leader."

"Y... yes?"

"That agency has extrely high standards."

"...Really?"

"Very. Unless your proposal exceeds mine, they probably won't even read it. Though with your talent, I'm sure that won't be a problem."

"I'll send you the manager's contact information through the intranet."

"...Right. Okay."

Responding politely and professionally, she walked away.

Her first day commuting in a Crude.

An excellent start.

It felt as though the road ahead had opened wide.

"Hyung, don't go anywhere alone for a while!"

Calling it the Yu Myeong craze would hardly be an exaggeration.

Late Goryeo, Early Joseon continued posting record-breaking numbers.

Find Shin Willy edits had beco popular enough to appear on entertainnt news front pages.

And the three-minute version of the Crude comrcial was generating countless parodies in real ti.

"H-hello."

One actor bowed politely while passing Yu Myeong on his way into the rehearsal room.

The change in Theater Company July's actors was obvious.

So were now approaching him quite openly.

Yu Myeong.

Ryu Shin.

The two actors generating the greatest buzz in early 2006.

In Artist Jang Nok Su, Ryu Shin had beco an even bigger topic than lead actress Cheon Seong Yeon.

Which only proved how deeply the tragic devotion of a deeply damaged tyrant had touched audiences.

Though the film couldn't quite match the level of attention being received by Late Goryeo, Early Joseon, where both Yoon Han Seong and Yu Myeong were being praised for career-defining performances, it was still drawing more than twice the audience it had in Yu Myeong's previous life.

A clear success.

Naturally, actors began calculating.

If they could secure a role in the upcoming play, attention would follow automatically.

The sight was bittersweet.

But Yu Myeong understood their feelings all too well.

In his previous life, hadn't he desperately fought for every role and every casting opportunity?

"Hello..."

The actor approaching most frequently these days was Chu Se Mi.

He had noticed it even during the Internal competition.

She was ambitious.

And talented enough to justify it.

Much of what made City n and Won morable had co from her performance.

"I... watched the movie."

"Ah, you did? Thank you."

"Your acting really left an impression. I'm sorry for being rude before. If I'd known you were that kind of actor, I would've never acted that way."

"It's fine. We enjoyed ourselves too."

Encouraged by Yu Myeong's smile, Chu Se Mi finally voiced what she had been wanting to ask.

"Any chance there are additional roles in the play you're preparing?"

"Ah... we're still writing the script."

"If there's an opening, please call . I really want to act with you. Not that I'm asking for special treatnt. Audition or whatever—I'm confident."

"I'll rember that."

Yu Myeong nodded.

July's system worked by having actors competing for the major roles form teams.

Once a team won, they selected the remaining cast from among the company's actors.

Peter Pan was currently focused on the principal roles.

But as the production developed, additional characters might erge.

If that happened, July's actors would fill those parts.

And Chu Se Mi would undoubtedly be a strong candidate.

Unfortunately, soone else had overheard the conversation around the corner.

I envy that confidence...

Seol Su Yeon watched Chu Se Mi disappear down the hallway.

A powerful character actress.

Charismatic.

Cool.

She had been deeply impressed by Chu Se Mi's performance in City n and Won.

And suddenly, anxiety crept in.

Did she truly deserve a place beside people everyone admired?

What had they seen in her?

Why had they given her this opportunity?

Yet it wasn't an unconditional opportunity.

Neither of them were that lenient.

She rembered sothing Yu Myeong had said not long ago.

"Su Yeon. I think you possess trendous talent. And I think sothing is blocking it. Soday that obstacle will disappear, and your talent will bloom."

It hadn't sounded like comfort.

It had sounded like sincere conviction.

And yet his voice had remained rational, separating potential from qualification.

"But I can't put an unprepared actor on stage based on potential alone. Before we begin serious production rehearsals, I hope sothing changes for you. I'll do everything I can to help make that happen. But if it doesn't... then Senior and I will prepare the performance ourselves."

Then he had added, regretfully—

"I can't do it alone. Could you trust and open your heart just a little more?"

Like a proper parent she had never truly had.

Strict.

Warm.

Ryu Shin was absent from rehearsal that day because of film-related schedules.

Yu Myeong and Seol Su Yeon diligently completed their physical training and acting exercises.

Then they sat across from one another and moved on to rehearsal for the actual production.

The exercise they began that day had a na.

Role Truth Ga

The fairy-tale characters trapped inside a psychiatric ward required a level of imrsion that bordered on madness.

So they had invented a training thod.

A truth ga played while fully inhabiting the role.

Build the character's history.

Build the character's personality.

Reveal truths that the character would never normally say aloud.

Then reorganize those emotions and confessions into scenes and dialogue.

The exercise demanded two things:

ticulous construction.

And complete imrsion.

"You're really choosing Wendy?"

"Yes. I think that's the better choice."

"Wendy's the most normal person here, isn't she? What did you see in her?"

Originally, Yu Myeong had recomnded Tinker Bell.

Her obsessive attachnt to Peter Pan and irrational hatred of Wendy clearly suggested problems.

Wendy, on the other hand, seed kind from beginning to end.

She cared for her brothers.

She beca a mother figure to Peter Pan's Lost Boys.

What issue had Seol Su Yeon discovered?

"It's a matter of perspective. Psychiatric symptoms don't always manifest in active ways."

Yu Myeong tilted his head.

The terminology rolled off her tongue surprisingly naturally.

"I think Wendy can be interpreted as having dependent personality disorder."

"Really?"

"The first scene begins with Wendy picking a beautiful flower from the garden and giving it to her mother. Her mother says, 'Our Wendy... I wish you could stay this sweet forever.'"

Yu Myeong flipped through the book and found the passage.

"She really is the prototype daughter."

"Exactly."

"When she arrives in Neverland, Peter Pan and the others tell her, 'Wendy, beco our mother. We need soone gentle like a mother.'"

"Right."

"When people expect Wendy to be a certain kind of person, she tries to beco that person."

She paused.

"Rather than asserting who she is, she follows other people's expectations of her."

Sothing strange flickered beneath her words.

It was as if sothing inside her were refracting Wendy through a prism.

Projecting herself onto the character.

Yu Myeong tilted his head again.

She wasn't acting like her usual self.

Noticing his gaze, she took a deep breath.

Then spoke.

"...I thought maybe I could imrse myself in that version of Wendy."

"...?"

"Because this isn't really Wendy's story."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"It's mine."

Talking about herself was not easy.

But the excellence of the actors around her.

The fear that she might accomplish nothing despite having the best possible opportunity.

One pushed her from behind.

And the hand offered by soone who always walked forward with unwavering conviction—

Pulled her one step closer.

Realizing she had made a decision, Yu Myeong straightened his posture.

He wanted to et the trust she had finally opened to him with everything he could offer.

"Good."

He smiled.

"If you've found a clear interpretation, that's valuable too."

Then he gently continued.

"Why don't we hear Wendy's story?"

"Okay."

After a brief mont of thought, he began.

"Hello, Wendy. I'm the doctor."

"I'd like to hear your story."

The Truth Ga.

An exercise where the actor beca the character and answered questions from within the role.

And now—

Wendy's Truth Ga began.