The Face Genius Actor

Episode 117

The fan meeting wasn’t planned suddenly.

I always thought it would be nice to have an opportunity to get closer to fans.

So I had made up my mind to hold a fan meeting whenever the opportunity arose.

In that sense, now was the perfect time.

This was because time was needed until the results of “I Am Not a Villain” came out.

But it was also an awkward situation to immediately start a new project.

I decided to consult with Festa Entertainment and use this time for a fan meeting instead of wasting it.

Fortunately, Festa Entertainment also welcomed the fan meeting idea.

Kim Bo-mi spoke up.

“A fan meeting! That’s great! Many people have been disappointed that you haven’t appeared in public often recently.”

I had been showing my face frequently in TV ads and such.

But it was bound to feel insufficient for the fans.

It would be better if “I Am Not a Villain” could be released right away, but that wasn’t possible.

Above all, the problem was that the waiting had been prolonged.

So I started discussing specific fan meeting dates and methods with Kim Bo-mi.

“I think we can promote the fan meeting and prepare related events in a month.”

“A month. That’s perfect. Where should we hold it?”

“It depends on the scale. Are you thinking of doing any performances?”

Before my regression, I had danced and sung at fan meetings.

Although my skills weren’t exceptional, I wanted to give a gift to the fans who had come from far away.

And this thought hadn’t changed even now.

“I’m thinking of dancing to one song and singing another. Would that be okay?”

“That’s great! Then it would be good to have two performances, a keyword interview, and a short viewing time of your works with the fans. We should also have games.”

We also discussed having a photo time and cake cutting ceremony to commemorate the fan meeting.

The content wasn’t much different from my previous fan meetings.

“And I think it would be good to make some merchandise related to you.”

“To sell to the fans?”

“No, as a gift concept. We give a set of merchandise to each person participating in the fan meeting.”

Certainly, if we could give gifts like this, it would be meaningful.

However, if the quality of the merchandise was poor, it could result in a worse outcome than not doing it at all.

When I expressed concern about this, Kim Bo-mi nodded.

“That’s right. But we’ve had good reactions at other actors’ fan meetings, so I don’t think we need to worry too much about the quality of the merchandise.”

The merchandise set included photo cards, a diary, a fountain pen, a file holder, a poster, stickers, and a blanket.

I suggested adding items like a cap or sweatshirt, but Kim Bo-mi shook her head.

“That would be a bit costly…”

I understood what she meant.

Usually, caps and sweatshirts were produced as merchandise for sale.

‘I wanted to give a meaningful gift to the fans, even if just a little. It’s a shame.’

I quickly dropped the idea as I also thought caps and sweatshirts would be too much.

Instead, another idea came to mind.

When I brought this up, Kim Bo-mi’s eyes widened in surprise.

“No way. Would that be possible? At least 3,000 people will come to the fan meeting…”

“3,000 people… It would certainly be a bit difficult. But I should try my best in my spare time.”

“Alright. Then we’ll prepare accordingly.”

With the rough plan for the fan meeting set, I headed to a practice room in Hongdae a few days later.

* * *

The practice room in Hongdae was rented specifically for the fan meeting performance.

Festa Entertainment was an agency focused on actors, so they didn’t have a practice room in their building.

It would have been fine to empty one of the conference rooms to use as a practice room, but I thought there was no need to complicate things.

This way, Yeo Kyung-chan wouldn’t have to trouble himself to come pick me up.

The practice room in Hongdae was within a distance I could easily reach by leisurely cycling from home.

Upon arriving at the practice room, I started dance practice first.

The dance trainer was someone Festa Entertainment had arranged.

From what I heard, it seemed she specialized in training idol trainees.

“You want to dance to KK’s ‘Continue’?”

I nodded at the dance trainer’s question.

Originally, I thought about performing MOST’s “We Must Go,” which I had showcased on “Amazing Sunday,” but I changed my mind.

I felt it was important to show fans a new side of me.

After much consideration, I chose a song by a singer called KK, whom I had liked since childhood.

KK was a male idol group that contributed to promoting South Korea widely before MOST.

“Yes. It’s a song I personally like. Would it be possible?”

“I think it’s definitely doable. By chance, I saw you dancing to MOST’s ‘We Must Go’ on a broadcast, and it wasn’t bad. You even practiced that alone, right?”

“What? Oh, yes…”

“The choreography for ‘Continue’ is a bit intense, but if you could handle that level of dance through self-study, practice shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s start right away.”

The dance trainer responded positively and first gave a brief demonstration.

Thus, the practice began in earnest, and soon after, the dance trainer’s expression stiffened dramatically.

“Why is this…”

The dance trainer seemed surprised by my skills, which were much less than expected.

In fact, it couldn’t be helped.

I hadn’t practiced MOST’s “We Must Go” through self-study.

Even then, I had to struggle for a very long time because the dance didn’t come easily to me.

It was natural, given that I was born with poor coordination.

“Um… For now, let’s not be too ambitious and try to learn just a few moves from the beginning, shall we?”

The dance trainer seemed to ponder for a moment before changing the practice method.

I also thought it would be better to practice in this way.

As I practiced with the changed method, I thought,

‘I wonder if dance practice is impossible with the Method Mask?’

I felt I should try it when I got home.

It seemed possible if I used the Method Mask to analyze the music video.

After practicing with the dance trainer for two hours, I learned three or four moves.

The dance trainer’s face was full of concern as she left the practice room.

I also felt that at this rate, I wouldn’t be able to learn all the choreography before the fan meeting.

“I’ll make sure to practice at home. Don’t worry too much.”

“Yes. If it really doesn’t work out, we can always change the choreography… Anyway, let’s meet tomorrow.”

After the dance trainer left, the vocal trainer arrived at the practice room a few minutes later.

The vocal trainer also started the practice with a bright expression.

But her expression soon hardened.

In fact, I wasn’t very talented in singing either.

“Should we try changing the song to something else?”

The vocal trainer changed the song three times before finally nodding.

“Kang Do-jae’s ‘Soulmate’ seems to be the best option. Let’s keep practicing with this one.”

I started singing as instructed by the vocal trainer.

The vocal trainer interrupted occasionally to correct my pitch.

It wasn’t difficult to follow along as she immediately demonstrated.

However, it seemed it would take some time to sing a full song properly.

‘How do I practice singing with the Method Mask? Is there a way?’

While I was thinking about this as I sang,

The vocal trainer checked the time and spoke up.

It seemed two hours had already passed.

“We’ll end today’s practice here. It would be good if you could memorize the lyrics perfectly at home.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

Left alone in the practice room, I took out the Method Mask from the bag I had prepared in advance.

I thought it would be fine to use the Method Mask here instead of going home.

‘Alright. Shall we begin?’

The real practice was about to start.

* * *

For a month, I diligently prepared for the fan meeting.

Although I was worried because my dancing and singing weren’t improving as much as I had hoped, thanks to practicing with the Method Mask, I was able to complete the preparations safely.

Since both the dance trainer and vocal trainer gave me passing grades, it seemed all I had to do now was show what I had practiced on stage without getting nervous.

For reference, I was able to practice both dance and singing by analyzing music videos with the Method Mask.

So today, I arrived early at Korea University’s Hall of Blessings, where the fan meeting was being held, to conduct a rehearsal.

It was a time to not only familiarize myself with the movements by dancing and singing on stage in advance, but also to grasp the overall order of the fan meeting.

About an hour later.

As I came down from the stage after finishing the rehearsal, Yeo Kyung-chan approached me.

“All of today’s fan meeting guests are in the waiting room.”

“Already? Why did everyone come so early? They’ll have to wait quite a while until their appearance…”

“That’s why the on-site staff are quite flustered right now.”

“I see. Anyway, let’s head over there. I should greet them.”

I moved with Yeo Kyung-chan and arrived at the waiting room.

There were a total of 3 invited guests for today’s fan meeting, and they all had separate waiting rooms.

We first moved to the waiting room of Ji Jung-hyun, the most senior among them.

Knock knock.

“Senior.”

“You’re here.”

“You came early?”

“I’m usually good at keeping time appointments. I would have been the same if you had asked me for a cameo in ‘I Am Not a Villain’.”

Ji Jung-hyun seemed quite dissatisfied that I hadn’t asked him for a cameo in “I Am Not a Villain.”

It seemed he couldn’t understand even though I had explained the situation well.

“I told you. There wasn’t a role significant enough in ‘I Am Not a Villain’ to ask for your help, senior.”

“Yes. I heard that. I understood.”

“It doesn’t seem like it…”

“Ahem. By the way, Park Jun isn’t one of today’s invited guests, is he?”

“No, he’s not. The other two invited guests are senior Cindy and senior Lee Joo-yeon.”

Both of them were people I hadn’t asked for cameos in “I Am Not a Villain.”

I deliberately did it this way.

I felt it would be a bit shameless to ask people who had done cameos to be guests at the fan meeting as well.

But for some reason, Ji Jung-hyun seemed satisfied with this fact.

“Ah, the two who came to greet earlier. I see.”

Also, after that, he no longer mentioned “I Am Not a Villain,” which he had been bringing up at every turn.

‘His personality is really strange, I tell you…’

After talking with Ji Jung-hyun, I also visited Cindy and Lee Joo-yeon’s waiting rooms.

Fortunately, both of them had bright expressions and congratulated me on my first fan meeting.

And a little while later…

“Actor, the fan meeting is about to start soon.”

One of the on-site staff approached me and said this.

Checking the time, I saw that the start of the fan meeting was just around the corner, and I felt a bit nervous.