NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

The noisy classroom suddenly fell silent.

“Okay, everyone, pay attention. We have a new transfer student as of today. How about you introduce yourself?”

The teacher asked, and Yeon-woo nodded his head.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Ryu Yeon-woo, and I transferred from Seoul. Nice to meet you all.”

Wow!

A transfer student always makes for an interesting subject. Even though he was a boy, his arrival drew intense interest and excitement.

“Wow! Damn, he’s good-looking.”

Although his face still had some baby fat, his appearance was quite appealing for a high school student.

“Hey, Woosung-sik. What’s with the swearing in front of the homeroom teacher?”

Without realizing it, Woosung-sik had blurted out a curse word and got into trouble.

“This guy, always making a fuss. All talk, no action.”

The opening ceremony ended shortly, and with each break, Yeon-woo found himself bombarded with questions from friends. Lunchtime came quickly, and as he worked to win the hearts of his energetic and lively classmates, it felt like a piece of cake compared to his covert operations in his past life.

“Hey, Yeon-woo, have you never played League of Legends? Did you grow up in the mountains instead of Seoul?”

“Now’s my chance to try it out. After school, let’s go to a PC bang, and you can show me the ropes.”

Yeon-woo hadn’t played any games other than traditional Korean ones like spinning tops and marbles during his childhood, so he had never experienced video games before.

************

Meanwhile, in a dimly lit conference room, a man was waiting for a report. As he waited, another man entered through the door, emitting a creaking sound that seemed like a scream due to the lack of oiling.

The waiting man stood up and respectfully lowered his head as the fierce-looking man with piercing eyes entered. With a heavy demeanor, the man who had been waiting opened his mouth.

“How many times do I have to say this?”

The chilling voice mixed with a hint of a shiver sent a slight tremor through the body of the man who had been waiting.

“Why do you always turn off the lights? It’s dark enough. Are we some kind of secret organization?”

As the lights came on, the ominous atmosphere disappeared, revealing an ordinary office scene.

“Why are you turning off the lights and playing a melodrama in the dark?”

“I apologize.”

Unable to hold back, he shrugged his shoulders and walked to his seat, sitting down heavily in the chair, a man with a strong presence.

“Speak. Give me the report.”

“I have completely erased the traces of the two cases we dealt with before.”

After hearing the report, the man nodded his head, and then the report continued.

“Due to handling it discreetly, we’ve been facing increased surveillance. So, we need to be careful for a while.”

After listening to the report, the man nodded and opened a drawer, taking out a pressure point tool. Then, he spoke in a voice mixed with a chilling tone.

“Things haven’t been digesting well lately, so I need to apply some pressure. If there are any blockages, I need to clear them out. That’s how circulation works, right? After all, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

The man who had been reporting silently lowered his head in response to the man sitting at the head of the table.

“Still, this much effort is appreciated, Jun Soo-hwan. Did you make sure he had an easy departure?”

“Yes. A shot to the head with a sniper rifle…”

“Hey, now. It’s almost time for a meal. Let’s not talk about gruesome things that ruin our appetites.”

Interrupting the reporting man’s words, the man started massaging his pressure points with the tool in his hand.

“All of this is for the greater good. That guy was just unlucky.”

************

Yeon-woo had become quite close to his classmates during that time, and with his exceptional memory from his days as an agent, he approached students of the same grade, regardless of gender, calling out their names and getting friendly.

During that time, as promised, he went to the PC bang with Junsoo and played games together. Unlike his remarkable reflexes, Yeon-woo kept dying repeatedly in the game due to his lack of gaming skills, only staring at the gray screen throughout.

Friends would come over to his house, and Yeon-woo’s changed demeanor brought relief to his parents and younger sister.

“Yeon-woo, let’s go to Coin karaoke.” As they walked home shoulder to shoulder with Yeon-woo, Woosung and Junsoo naturally followed.

“Coin karaoke? What’s that?”

“Wow. Did you really live in the mountains and not in Seoul?”

Woosung and Junsoo exchanged puzzled expressions at Yeon-woo’s words. They had no interest in singing at karaoke places, and by the time coin-operated karaoke rooms became popular, Yeon-woo was already working overseas. After listening to Junsoo’s brief explanation, Yeon-woo seemed to understand and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ve seen it in dramas. Anyway, let’s go. What do you think?”

Yeon-woo stroked his chin in response to Woosung’s words.

“In my past life, I was tone-deaf, but maybe I’m not in this life.”

In his previous life, Jeonsuhwan was good at all fields, but he had always avoided singing due to his terrible singing ability.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Of course, it’s great that Yeon-woo doesn’t back down when suggesting something.”

************

“Yeon-woo, it’s good not to refuse, but for singing, it’s better if someone else goes first.”

“Pfft.”

A sense of frustration, unfamiliar since his rebirth, filled him.

Junsoo shook his head seriously, and Seongsik pounded his thigh desperately, trying to stifle his laughter.

‘It seems singing isn’t something you can do even after reincarnation.’

‘Yeah, it feels like even reincarnation won’t make this work.’

No, it’s not that; he’s already been reincarnated.

With that thought held back, Yeon-woo shook his head.

Whether he said it or not, the next song had started, and his friends began to sing.

As time passed, the last song came to an end.

Of course, Yeon-woo had been a clapping robot all the while.

“But why were you so focused on the evacuation guide?”

Seongsik asked Yeon-woo on their way out.

It was curious to see Yeon-woo intently staring at the fire evacuation guide hanging in the karaoke room.

“I have this professional habit.”

“Are you a student in that profession?”

“Well… sort of.”

************************

Time passed, and the midterm exams were rapidly approaching.

“It was a good idea to study diligently even though it’s somewhat difficult to solve problems from the common sense section.”

Yeon-woo, a former agent armed with a sharp mind and a wide range of general knowledge, found it challenging to tackle subjects he hadn’t studied thoroughly.

Despite his efforts, he ended up getting three questions wrong.

In his previous life, Yeon-woo had excelled in his studies enough to enter a university in Korea, so he had some expectations for his performance, but the reality at school turned out to be different.

“This is a real shocker.”

“From your appearance to your physique and grades? This transfer student is crazy.”

His friends looked at him with astonished expressions.

“Hey, what can’t you do?”

During lunch breaks and physical education classes, Yeon-woo was flying around the soccer field and basketball court. Junsoo, who heard the question from behind Yeon-woo, answered on his behalf.

“This guy is perfect in every way, except for singing…”

Pfft—

Perhaps recalling that shocking incident, Woosung, who was nearby, sprayed the water he was drinking. Yeon-woo’s achievements surprised not only his parents but also himself. However, his adorable younger sister Sohyun couldn’t help but mutter, “Why did you raise their expectations for me?”

************

“Sigh, I need to take care of this before it gets any later.”

Since his rebirth, over four months had passed, and Yeon-woo decided it was time to take action on something he felt was essential.

In this life, he was determined to pursue his dream of becoming an actor, something he hadn’t tried in his previous life. To achieve this, he felt it was necessary to sever any lingering connections from his past.

Although it’s impossible to establish a connection with a previous life if you don’t believe in reincarnation, Yeon-woo felt it was better to be certain.

Through prior research, he mapped out the geography and collected information from various places, including playing futsal and going to karaoke with school friends. Using CCTV data, he traced routes and arrived at an old public telephone booth in a neighborhood far from his home.

Yeon-woo first rummaged through his father’s drawer to prepare different styles of clothing. He combined his own clothes to create several outfits and gathered his bags in one place. He placed a bag containing clothes inside his father’s largest hiking bag, and continued with smaller bags nested within each other, reminiscent of Russian nesting dolls. He put a bag with clothes inside another bag, and repeated the process until he had multiple layers of bags.

With the fully packed hiking bag making him feel like a soldier in full gear, Yeon-woo set out. He crossed the back mountain he usually exercised on, taking a route without CCTV cameras, and headed to a different neighborhood.

Arriving at the run-down Joo-gong Apartment he had pre-investigated, Yeon-woo took out the contents of the second bag.

“Hmm, this…”

In an empty hallway, Yeon-woo swiftly changed into different clothes. He put his original outfit into the hiking bag and carefully hid it in a corner of the apartment rooftop, which led to the stairs. Then, with the second bag in hand, he completely transformed his appearance by wearing entirely different clothes and a hat.

As the transformed Yeon-woo, he followed a route that avoided CCTV cameras as much as possible and moved to a neighboring area. Having previously surveyed the area, Yeon-woo arrived at a commercial building. He climbed up to the third floor, following the same method as before. Now, in front of the run-down repair shop that was closed and abandoned, Yeon-woo once again changed his disguise.

This time, he put on a hiking mask and wore a cap to make it difficult to estimate his age. He continued to disguise himself in various ways a few more times, even altering his gait, and followed a convoluted route to his final destination. After a few hours, he stood in front of the public telephone booth he had targeted. While a bus ride would have taken fifteen minutes, it had taken several hours to get here.

Yeon-woo, currently hunched over with a hesitant smile, wearing a mask and a cap, was mimicking his grandfather’s appearance. With disposable hygiene gloves on, he inserted a coin with no trace of his fingerprints into the payphone.

Then, he pressed a complex set of numbers with codes and asterisks, and soon the call was connected. The sound of a typical telephone operator’s voice came through the receiver.

This is the service company. How can I assist you?

“Product number 478-54221. The category is Yoon Dongjoo’s New Path.”

With a deeply altered voice and an unwavering tone, Yeon-woo stated the operation number and the encrypted password.

After a few seconds of silence, a mechanical voice responded with an automated message.