The Face Genius Actor

Episode 119

What Jo Sung-ho held up was a chubby macaron wrapped in pretty packaging.

And it was…

“I made it myself.”

“Really? You actually made this and put it in this box?”

“Yes.”

The goodie set distributed to each fan attending the fan meeting.

Originally, I wanted to include items like hats or sweatshirts in this set.

But realizing that was practically impossible, I came up with a new idea.

It was to personally make macarons and include them in the goodie set, just like now.

Of course, I didn’t make the macarons entirely by myself from start to finish.

The unique crispy yet chewy texture of macarons couldn’t be imitated just by learning for a few days.

So I made handmade macarons with expert advice.

I received help with ingredient proportions from experts, but I did the mixing and filling the cream between macarons myself.

That’s how 3,000 macarons were born through my hands and included in the goodie sets.

Not stopping there, I wrote a sentence on each card and included it in the goodie set.

“The card Jo Sung-ho is holding is a sample, so nothing is written on it, but our Syrups each have a card with a different sentence written on it. I wrote each one differently myself.”

Hearing my words, fans who had received the goodie sets without much thought checked the contents again.

At the same time, chaos broke out.

“It’s true! The sentences are different!”

“So you personally wrote all 3,000 sentences? Are you crazy?”

“Waaah! This is the first time I’ve ever received such a gift in my life!”

Some fans were so moved that they shed tears.

Seeing this, I too felt choked up and at the same time felt a sense of pride.

Coming up with 3,000 different sentences and writing each one on a card didn’t feel difficult at all.

I felt like I could do it again for the fans.

As the atmosphere reached its peak,

Jo Sung-ho, thinking this was the right moment, began his closing remarks.

At the same time, flower petals were sprinkled on the stage, and music suitable for an ending played.

It was the music used for the ending of “Let’s Live Together, Princess”.

“With this, we’ll wrap up actor Lee Si-joon’s first official fan meeting. Please say a few last words.”

Jo Sung-ho passed the mic to me.

Holding the mic, I tried to engrave each fan’s face in my memory as I began to speak.

The sight of fans wiping their tears amidst the flower petals seemed more beautiful than the face I see in the mirror every morning.

“Syrup. I was so happy and had so much fun meeting you all today. Let’s meet again soon. Please get home safely, everyone. I love you.”

* * *

After the fan meeting,

Various types of reviews dominated social media.

Initially, the reviews spread mainly among Syrups who couldn’t attend the fan meeting.

But soon, even non-Syrups showed interest in the reviews.

This was due to the opinion that the fan meeting content was very substantial and the contents of the goodie sets given to each fan were touching.

First, the behind-the-scenes stories from guest stars Ji Jung-hyun, Cindy, and Lee Ju-yeon became known through reviews and were reported in articles.

Thousands of articles poured out in real-time, and even people who weren’t interested in me received the news.

Especially, the fact that I almost played the role of high school student Hwang In-seop in “Arrest” became a big topic.

People everywhere were curious about how I would have acted as Hwang In-seop, and a few days later, ITBC sent an official letter to Festa Entertainment.

They asked if it would be okay to release past footage of “Arrest” on their YouTube channel.

Unless it was FQ where Ahn Myung-hyun, who had now left Nex, belonged,

It wasn’t a big problem for me, so I allowed ITBC’s request.

So, the footage of me acting as high school student Hwang In-seop was released to the world and received quite a positive response.

Whether ITBC paid attention to it or not, they edited the scenes like actual footage and even added music.

And this brought joy to Syrups who had been craving my psychopath acting.

-Ah… That was awesome… No wonder he got an internal promotion to the role of high school student Shin Han-jae

-What’s with that acting where his eyes seem to have really gone crazy? Is that even possible?

-I think I would have liked it even if Lee Si-joon had debuted as Hwang In-seop lolㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-But doesn’t it feel like his psychopath acting fits better because he’s insanely handsome?

-Yeah, it feels like a twist so I can’t take my eyes off it;; Might appear in my dreams;;

-I hope it appears in my dreamsㅋㅋㅋㅋ Please appear ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Lee Si-joon is not only handsome, but I like him more because his acting spectrum is wide bbb

-But no matter how wide his acting spectrum is, it can’t beat the fact that he’s handsome ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

This wasn’t the only thing that became a hot topic.

The contents of the goodie bag seemed to make even idol fans envious, beyond just actor fans.

While actor fans and idol fans were the same in the broad sense of liking celebrities, they were very different when looked at closely.

But the goodie set from this fan meeting received good evaluations from everyone, regardless of such distinctions.

And this news spread by word of mouth even to people who didn’t like any particular celebrity, like a kind of touching true story.

-Lee Si-joon’s fans must be so happy…

-Exactly ㅋㅋ The fact that each card has a different sentence means it’s a one-of-a-kind gift ㅋㅋㅋ

-The people who went to Lee Si-joon’s fan meeting that day are the real winners;;

-If they sell the cards later, they’ll make a lot of money, right? I wonder if anyone’s already selling them?

-Why would they sell that ㅋㅋㅋ The people who received the cards are Lee Si-joon fans in the first place ㅋㅋㅋ

-There’s no one selling the cards, but everyone’s revealing the contents on SNS ㅇㅇ

-I guess people would be curious about what sentence each person received ㅋㅋㅋ

-Even if it only contained handmade macarons, it would be touching… This is amazing ㅋㅋ Really ㅋㅋㅋ

-If Lee Si-joon had been an idol, he would have been top-tier in fan service ㄷㄷㄷ

-Lee Si-joon just seems to have top-tier personality ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

I hadn’t predicted this result at all and had prepared the gift solely with Syrups in mind.

But I couldn’t help feeling happy hearing positive things from others.

“The fan meeting seems to have been very successful. There’s no place where people aren’t talking about you.”

“Indeed. By the way, where is Director Choi Seo-young?”

“I think she said she was around here… Ah! There she is!”

I, Yeo Kyung-chan, and Song Jin-ah were currently at Incheon International Airport.

This was because the French release of “I’m Not a Villain” was just around the corner.

We planned to stay in Saint-Étienne for three days and greet the audience at the theater.

‘Although we’re releasing it in France to meet the conditions for international film festival invitations…’

I couldn’t help but be interested as it was a movie I had written and been involved in producing.

Director Choi Seo-young seemed to feel the same way, wanting to directly observe the audience’s reaction at the Saint-Étienne theater.

So, Director Choi and I decided to depart for France.

When Festa Entertainment found out about this, they made it an official schedule.

This was why Yeo Kyung-chan and Song Jin-ah joined the group.

“Actor!”

Director Choi, who spotted the three of us, waved her hand.

We had about an hour left until our departure for France.

* * *

I was convinced that I would be able to spend quite a comfortable time, like a vacation, heading to Saint-Étienne.

Compared to places like Paris, Saint-Étienne was a place with relatively few Korean tourists.

Because of this, I thought there would be almost no one who would recognize me.

And it was just as I thought.

In Saint-Étienne, there really was no one who recognized me.

The proof was that I didn’t hear “Oh! It’s Lee Si-joon!” as I usually do when walking around the city.

It was natural since none of the works I had appeared in were likely to be popular in France.

However, this didn’t mean I could freely show my face.

Just like when I first went out without a hat and mask after my regression, there were people who would look at my face and whisper.

What’s more, what started with just one or two people quickly grew to dozens.

“See? What did I tell you? Sigh…”

Yeo Kyung-chan, who had come out to Saint-Étienne city with me, sighed and said this.

“I’m sorry, Manager.”

I apologized immediately without adding anything else.

I felt so sorry for having said just 10 minutes before leaving the hotel that no one would recognize me, so he could relax.

So, Yeo Kyung-chan and I struggled through the crowd and returned to our accommodation.

And we vowed never to wander around Saint-Étienne city like this again.

The problem was that we had gone out into the French city without a local guide in the first place.

Most French people either didn’t know English or were reluctant to converse in English.

Even earlier, Yeo Kyung-chan had to use all sorts of hand gestures to order a cup of coffee at a café.

“Anyway, today’s incident confirms that you’re handsome enough to draw crowds even in France.”

Yeo Kyung-chan said this as if to comfort me, but I wasn’t happy at all.

“I was hoping to be a bit more comfortable in France… It’s a shame.”

Just as my fantasy about the Saint-Étienne schedule was shattered,

Suddenly, my phone signaled that several messages had arrived in succession.

Checking my phone, I saw they were messages from my brother.

[Short Answer Man][19:31] Where’s your current accommodation?

[Short Answer Man][19:31] Saint-Étienne Proust?

[Short Answer Man][19:31] Right?

[Si-joon][19:32] Yeah, Proust

[Si-joon][19:32] Are you in France too?

[Short Answer Man][19:33] Nope, I’m in Korea

[Short Answer Man][19:33] My friend wants to see you

[Short Answer Man][19:34] He’s heading there now

[Si-joon][19:34] Who?

[Short Answer Man][19:34] Jean-Drulot Meyère

I couldn’t help but be surprised by my brother’s message.

Jean-Drulot Meyère was the chief designer of Louis Vuitton who had unexpectedly given me a gift during my appearance on “New Quiz” before.

‘Why is he in Saint-Étienne instead of Paris?’

Above all, I couldn’t understand why he wanted to meet me.

But my thoughts couldn’t continue for long.

Suddenly, a phone ring was heard from somewhere.

Turning my head, I saw it was the phone in the hotel room.

“What’s this?”

Yeo Kyung-chan tilted his head and answered the phone.

The hotel staff here used English, so there was no problem communicating.

Moreover, Yeo Kyung-chan was an English Literature major and was quite good at English.

As Yeo Kyung-chan was on the phone, he suddenly asked back in English, surprised.

“What? Really? Jean-Drulot Meyère is here?”