The Genius Actor Who Brings Misfortune

Chapter 200

We arrived in Venice, known as the city of water.

It had already been a week since we arrived in Italy.

‘In four days, I’ll be back in Korea.’

I had never realized how short a week could feel.

Time with Sung Lee-jun was calm and peaceful.

Even with the cameras around.

‘He’s such a good guy.’

Sung Lee-jun was truly a wonderful person.

His slow speech, the mole under his eye that moved when he smiled, his small laughter.

There was nothing unpleasant about him.

“Yeon-jae, the water isn’t as cold as I thought…!”

Especially seeing him smile like this by the sea.

Sung Lee-jun was squatting on the sandy beach, dipping his hand into the sea.

I smiled and grabbed his shoulder.

“Hyung, get a grip. It’s almost December.”

“…….”

Since yesterday, he had been saying things like, “It would be nice to dip our feet in the sea when we get there.” I thought he was joking.

‘I didn’t think he was serious.’

He really could be like a child at times.

Suppressing a sigh, I handed him a handkerchief.

“You’ll catch a cold. Wipe your hands.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not that cold…! And the weather is so nice.”

That was true.

The weather had been chilly for traveling, but today the sun was bright and warm.

No wonder Sung Lee-jun was running around like an excited puppy.

“You heard what the guide said. This kind of weather is rare.”

“Yeah. But when did that mean it was okay to go into the sea?”

“When did I say I was going in? I just… wanted to dip my feet.”

Sigh.

I barely held back from flicking my two-year-older hyung’s forehead.

“Hyung, let’s soak our feet in the bathtub tonight. How about that?”

“…Sometimes, it feels like you treat me like a child.”

You’re just realizing that now?

Without a word, I wiped the water off his hands, and he uncharacteristically snapped.

“I can wipe my hands by myself.”

Sung Lee-jun pulled his hand away and turned his back on me, stomping through the sand.

I watched him for a moment.

‘…Is he doing this on purpose?’

I glanced over at the staff, and the PD shook his head immediately.

“We didn’t ask him to do that.”

He was chuckling, which didn’t inspire much confidence, but the PD didn’t have a reason to lie.

‘So, is he really upset about that?’

Seriously? No way.

Even if I treated him like a kid, Sung Lee-jun was 17 years old.

And he had been a senior actor in the entertainment industry for seven years.

I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely upset or if he was just playing a part.

‘Well, I’ll play along for now.’

Having made up my mind, I followed him.

Even though he sensed my presence, he didn’t turn around, so I poked his back.

“(Why are you pretending not to see me?)”

“…?”

“(No matter how upset you are, it hurts my feelings when you ignore me like that.)”

I spoke playfully, squinting my eyes.

Sung Lee-jun stuttered in confusion.

“W-What? Why are you speaking in English??”

Seeing his dumbfounded face, I lost my momentum.

‘So, he wasn’t doing it on purpose.’

I quickly wiped the smile off my face, dropping my mouth into a neutral expression.

My quick change in demeanor only made him more confused.

“What’s going on…? Did I miss something?”

“No, I just thought you were doing it on purpose.”

“Doing what?”

He kept asking what I was talking about, so I shrugged.

“This is the location where they filmed ‘Under the Orange Tree.’”

“……Oh.”

“In the scene where the male lead chases after the female lead when she pretends not to see him.”

Sung Lee-jun’s sulking and stomping was exactly like the female lead’s behavior.

I thought he was intentionally setting it up for a cross-cut with the movie.

‘So, he really was upset.’

Dropping the look I had been practicing, I immediately apologized.

“You were really upset earlier. Sorry, did I hurt your feelings?”

“No. You don’t have to apologize. I was just sulking….”

Sung Lee-jun answered vaguely. At least he understood.

After standing still for a while, he suddenly raised his voice.

“Wait, what you said in English just now, was that from the movie?!”

“Yeah.”

“When did you memorize that? Did we need to film that scene? Was that even in the script?”

Sung Lee-jun looked at the PD in confusion.

Once again, the PD shook his head vigorously.

I responded nonchalantly.

“No, it wasn’t in the script. I just memorized it.”

“Why?”

“Because the PD mentioned the movie, just in case.”

I couldn’t come to Italy empty-handed.

Even with my explanation, Sung Lee-jun looked puzzled.

Since I wasn’t trying to make him understand, I let it go.

The PD broke the silence.

“Wow~ How do you act so well? Do actors usually get into character that easily?”

He was pretending not to know anything. It was an art.

‘Maybe he should be the one acting.’

I had already guessed what the PD wanted when we made eye contact earlier.

Innocent Sung Lee-jun shook his head.

“No. Yeon-jae is the amazing one….”

“Since we’re at it, why don’t you both reenact a scene from the movie? Come to think of it, Yeon-jae’s hair is orange! What a coincidence!”

Coincidence, my foot.

I chuckled at the PD’s sly suggestion.

Just as I was about to reply, Sung Lee-jun’s unexpected response caught me off guard.

“Ah… I don’t remember the lines exactly.”

He stammered in embarrassment.

“Sorry. I should have memorized them too, but I didn’t think—”

“Hyung, don’t apologize for weird things.”

I cut him off before he could dig himself deeper.

The PD also seemed surprised and quickly apologized.

“Oh no, I’m sorry, Lee-jun. I didn’t mean it seriously.”

“No, it’s my fault…! It would have been better if I had memorized them in advance.”

Watching Sung Lee-jun blame himself, I couldn’t help but sigh.

‘I should have told him in advance.’

### Chapter 200

The PD didn’t just ask me to dye my hair orange for no reason.

Changing our route to visit a location from a movie?

To me, it seemed like a request to reenact a scene from the actual filming location.

I had assumed that Sung Lee-jun would have figured it out on his own.

‘Now I look like I was showing off by myself.’

I considered apologizing to Sung Lee-jun but decided against it to avoid making the atmosphere awkward.

I watched Sung Lee-jun trying to look up the lines to memorize them, while the PD desperately tried to stop him and apologize.

“Lee-jun hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“You remember some of the male lead’s lines, right?”

‘Under the Orange Tree’ was a movie told from the male lead’s perspective.

Most of the memorable lines were his.

Given Sung Lee-jun’s excellent memory, I expected a positive response, and I wasn’t disappointed.

“Yeah, not exactly, but…”

That’s good enough.

“I’ll play the other role. You be the male lead.”

“What? Is that okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

He mentioned that I was the one with the orange hair, and I laughed.

“The color has faded anyway.”

Just a week ago, it was a vibrant carrot orange.

Now, it had lightened to a subtle orange tint.

“But still…”

Sung Lee-jun hesitated.

What’s bothering him so much?

“It’s fine. Your hair looks orange in the sunset.”

“……What kind of nonsense is that?”

He told me to say something that made sense.

When I told him to get ready and start, Sung Lee-jun made a puzzled face.

“So you memorized the other role’s lines too?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? I understand memorizing the male lead’s lines, but why memorize the female lead’s lines?”

I was more puzzled by his genuine curiosity.

Was it wrong to memorize them?

To get rid of the misfortune factor, I had to practice acting every day, and to increase the duration, I had to study various characters.

It was too much trouble to change the script each time.

‘Why just practice the main character?’

So, I practiced all the characters in the script.

Regardless of gender or age, all of them.

‘I actually liked it.’

What started as a hassle became something I appreciated.

Often, understanding the supporting characters’ lines made the main character build-up more detailed.

In that sense, there was no reason not to do it.

At my nonchalant response, Sung Lee-jun’s lips twitched.

“You’re really strange…”

“Me?”

“Yeah, the way you talk about everything like it’s no big deal. That’s the strangest part.”

Sung Lee-jun looked at me as if I were an alien.

‘You’re strange too.’

I found it fascinating how he was always surprised by little things like a rabbit.

I wanted to tell him he was strange too, but I just nodded.

“Then let’s act together, strange as I am.”

The sun would set soon.

We needed to finish and head back to the lodging.

Since it wasn’t a formal shoot, we just mimicked the tone and lines.

I didn’t alter my voice or exaggerate for the female character.

The PD probably didn’t expect us to get too immersed.

Sure enough, Sung Lee-jun acted well.

He quickly adopted the male lead’s goofy expression, and our chemistry was spot on.

The problem was…

‘Who’s going to say cut?’

We missed the timing to stop.

Sung Lee-jun’s smiling face was slightly stiff.

‘This is quite an experience.’

I never thought I’d come to Italy and end up doing a messy reenactment.

It was both absurd and hilarious, making me laugh.

“(I don’t know what we’re doing.)”

I said without thinking, and Sung Lee-jun paused.

“(Right? But isn’t the sunset pretty?)”

The voice that replied wasn’t the male lead’s, but Sung Lee-jun’s.

Even though it was the same English, I could tell immediately.

That subtle difference signaled the end of the shoot.

I laughed for no reason.

‘This is funny.’

All the staff holding cameras were watching us.

With so many people around, the only ones who knew the acting had ended were us.

It felt like we were passing a secret code out in the open.

With a smile, I told Sung Lee-jun.

“(Let’s come back in summer. Then we can dip our feet in the water.)”

“(…We don’t have to. I was just saying that earlier.)”

“(You didn’t mean it.)”

“(I did….)”

We naturally continued the conversation in English.

As Sung Lee-jun and I chatted comfortably, the PD cautiously interrupted after a while.

“Um, did the acting end?”

As soon as I heard that, I looked at Sung Lee-jun and we both burst into laughter.

The staff stared at us, confused.

“Yes, we finished earlier.”

I said with a laugh, and the PD asked what was so funny.

Right, what’s so funny?

Unable to explain, I just shrugged.

“If you act, you’ll understand, PD.”

“…Are you mocking me because I’m not an actor?”

The PD joked, saying it was tough being a non-actor.

Even that couldn’t stop our laughter.

This feeling was something hard to share with non-actors.

‘This is really fun.’

How could it be this fun?

Acting was so enjoyable, it was almost unbelievable.

I could slip in and out of a character with a slight pause or a tone change.

It was a strange feeling.

I felt like both a powerful ruler and a insignificant person.

‘This is serious.’

Sitting on the beach bathed in orange sunset, I thought.

At this point, it wasn’t just fun.

‘Can I live without acting?’

I laughed at the question I asked myself.

The answer was NO.