NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor

On the first floor of the five-story Mokhwa Building, there’s a small privately-owned bakery, while the rest of the commercial spaces are still vacant.

The entrance to the building’s interior is equipped with double security doors, making it difficult for outsiders to enter.

Since each store on the first floor has its own entrance, only the three companies that have moved in use the internal access corridor to enter the building.

Now, they plan to attract cafes or brunch restaurants to the other shops on the first floor by offering lower rents compared to the surrounding commercial areas.

‘The more it becomes a popular tourist spot with frequent gatherings, the safer it actually becomes. After all, it’s darkest under the lamp.’

That’s why even when conducting operations abroad, safe houses are set up near busy markets or downtown areas with high foot traffic, rather than in remote locations.

Yet, security must still be maintained.

It would be problematic if outsiders frequently entered the building’s interior.

‘In that sense, an entertainment company is the most suitable for maintaining security.’

On the second floor, ‘New Star Media,’ a company responsible for content production and planning that LN Media used to handle, has moved in, with Director Yoon Mi-yeon set to be in charge. The fourth floor houses the entertainment company managed by CEO Jung Hyuk.

Originally, talent agencies don’t have many sasaeng (obsesive) fans camping near their offices, and their contracted actors don’t visit the company often, so security isn’t typically tight.

However, Yeon-woo aimed to create a community where contracted actors frequently come to the office, similar to idol agencies.

The third floor was created for this purpose.

Yeon-woo took the elevator down to the third floor.

Inside the bar of the luxurious cafeteria, styled like a VIP lounge, stood a middle-aged man with stylish pomade hair.

“Yeon-woo. Would you like a latte?”

It was CEO Kim Joo-seong.

Yeon-woo nodded with a smile.

“I can’t resist your coffee, sir.”

Originally, there was no intention of putting Kim Joo-seong in charge of the cafeteria like this.

But as soon as he saw this space, Kim Joo-seong volunteered to take charge and run it himself.

After experiencing all these incidents, CEO Kim Joo-seong, who had grown weary of company management and the entertainment industry, instinctively felt that running this place would be his time for rest and healing.

It was then that Yeon-woo first learned that CEO Kim Joo-seong was a coffee enthusiast and even had a barista certification.

‘Come to think of it, he was always drinking coffee whenever we met in his office.’

This doesn’t mean they’re wasting high-quality personnel.

Placing him in this position, it became clear that there was no one more suitable than CEO Kim Joo-seong.

‘The reason for designing the third floor like this is precisely for the “spark-like creativity on set.”‘

This was a point that Director Park Chan-hong always emphasized when filming movies.

The theory is that when already accomplished actors, each an expert and maestro in their field, exercise their creativity on set, masterpieces are born.

The second floor is expected to have many visitors related to the production of visual content such as dramas and movies.

‘Mainly directors, writers, producers, and distributors, I suppose.’

And on the fourth floor, apart from employees, only the contracted actors were allowed to enter.

By designing the third floor in between as a space where people can gather, the aim was to naturally bring together producers and actors, allowing them to exercise their creativity on-site and generate sparkling ideas.

For Yeon-woo, who had spent most of his time before dying stationed in Europe, infiltrating various companies and sectors, this flexible work environment was more familiar.

As he was lost in these thoughts, CEO Kim Joo-seong prepared a latte and offered it to Yeon-woo.

“Wow. You can even do latte art?”

“Just tried drawing something.”

The latte that the smiling Kim Joo-seong handed over had a cute cat face drawn with milk.

“The cat is really cute.”

“…I drew a bear, though?”

“Ah…”

Yeon-woo quietly sipped his coffee.

CEO Kim Joo-seong is a self-made man who built LN Media and LN Entertainment from scratch.

With an eye for works that’s second to none in the industry, he would be able to provide excellent advice to numerous actors and production staff here.

‘I guess CEO Jung Hyuk will be seeking advice the most.’

Yeon-woo could vividly imagine Jung Hyuk scurrying down, calling “Sir!” and asking for advice on what to do.

===

**

===

A few days later, Kong Min-jung, who had passed the document screening and came to the Mokhwa Building for an interview, tried to calm her nervous heart while looking up at the company building.

“I must get in! Fighting!”

After clapping her hands, she approached the building entrance and saw an employee who had come out to guide her.

“Are you here for an interview today?”

“Yes, yes!”

The employee smiled and opened the security door, guiding Kong Min-jung.

“Please go up to the third floor.”

“Thank you!”

Kong Min-jung got into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

Ding─.

When the doors opened, a cafe with an interior that anyone would consider as luxurious as a VIP lounge appeared.

“Huh…? Wasn’t it supposed to be the third floor?”

At that moment, an employee in casual attire approached and asked Kong Min-jung, who had not yet stepped out of the elevator.

“Are you Ms. Kong Min-jung, here for the interview today?”

“Huh? Yes! That’s right.”

The employee then smiled gently and gestured towards the inside.

“Ms. Kong Min-jung. Let’s go inside and have a chat.”

Kong Min-jung had expected to be called into a space with two or three interviewers sitting in front, like a troublemaker being dragged to the teacher’s office, so she was internally very flustered as she entered the cafe following the employee’s guidance.

“So, Ji-eun unnie. That’s when the director suddenly appeared and told us…”

As Kong Min-jung walked, she saw women laughing as if telling an interesting story.

“Huh…?”

At first, she thought she had seen wrong.

‘Seo Ji-eun and Han Byul…?’

It was impossible not to recognize actress Seo Ji-eun, who was active in various fields including variety shows these days, and child actress Han Byul, who had risen to stardom with “White Blood”.

‘Are they really Seo Ji-eun and Han Byul…?’

Just as her mind was filling with confusion, she heard the voice of the employee who had been walking ahead.

“Ms. Kong Min-jung, how about we chat over here? Our company conducts interviews in a simple conversation format.”

“Ah, ah yes!”

At the table the employee pointed to, she could see Son Jin-yuk sitting in the back.

‘Oh my… What kind of place is this?’

Although the cafe had an incomparably more comfortable atmosphere than an interview room, Kong Min-jung sat down stiffly, frozen by the sight of famous actors filling the surroundings.

At that moment, the man sitting in front of Son Jin-yuk turned around.

“Oh? Aren’t you ‘yeonwoolaegiwoojjoojjoo’? Senior Min-jung!”

It was Ryu Yeon-woo.

Having met even her favorite celebrity, Kong Min-jung looked around, wondering if she was being pranked on camera again, like on the YouTube channel ‘Fan Search’.

“Wh-what is this place? I’m scared…”

===

**

===

There wasn’t just one route to join New Star Entertainment through open recruitment.

Lim Jae-wook was out at the labor market at dawn, wrapping his cold body while looking for work.

In winters like this, it was even harder to find work because most construction projects were on break due to the frozen ground.

When he was working as a manager for Jeon Ki-hoon, who was arrested for drugs, he felt extreme mental stress every day, but he considered it fortunate that he could at least pay his mother’s hospital bills on time.

His eyes, which had been dying like those of a rotten pollack, had come back to life, but when he thought of his sick mother, a part of his heart seemed to crumble again in proportion.

“Phew… It’s cold.”

The weather, his heart, and society were all cold.

Yesterday, he had barely found work and after a full day of manual labor, he had fallen asleep as soon as he got home, exhausted. In the meantime, a few text messages had come in.

‘I bet it’s just another notice about something being overdue…’

It seemed like he was living quite diligently at this point, but with most of it going to his mother’s hospital bills, his circumstances weren’t improving.

While checking various things on his smartphone, he found an unexpected message.

– Hello, Mr. Lim Jae-wook. This is Team Leader Kim Min-soo from New Star Entertainment. If you’re interested in becoming a manager, please contact this number anytime.

‘…Manager Kim Min-soo? Wasn’t he Actor Ryu Yeon-woo’s manager?’

At that moment, Lim Jae-wook thought the message was glowing.

Of course, the smartphone’s screen was emitting light, so it was indeed shining, but he felt it was particularly radiant.

“…Should I call?”

It wasn’t intentional, but when he quit being Jeon Ki-hoon’s manager, he had resolved never to do this job again.

But remembering the brief conversation he had with Ryu Yeon-woo in the parking lot that one time, he thought that not all actors would be like Jeon Ki-hoon.

And Lim Jae-wook pressed the call button.

===

**

===

After that, Lim Jae-wook passed the subsequent interview in just one day and started working in the management team.

The celebrity he was assigned to is ‘Jung Cheol-min’.

Jung Cheol-min had always done everything by himself without a manager his entire life, so it felt awkward to have someone young enough to be his son taking care of him.

“Oh, come on, I’m telling you it’s fine. I can just drive myself home, you should just go home…”

“No, no, Mr. Jung. This is my job.”

“What’s with the ‘Mr. Jung’? Just call me Uncle Cheol-min.”

“Pardon?”

Then Jung Cheol-min, sitting in the back seat, laughed casually.

“Is ‘uncle’ a bit weird? But calling me ‘hyung’ would be too much. How about calling me Teacher Cheol-min?”

“Ah, yes. Teacher.”

Finally, they arrived at the Seoul apartment Jung Cheol-min had gotten due to his schedule, and he got out of the car.

“Jae-wook, there are some gift sets I received from various places in the back seat. I don’t know what to do with them, so take them all when you go home. Share them with your family. Got it? You must take them all.”

Jung Cheol-min grinned as he entered the building.

“What? Teacher! Teacher Jung Cheol-min!”

Lim Jae-wook called out urgently, but Jung Cheol-min didn’t even look back, just waving his hand above his head as he disappeared inside, and the glass door of the officetel closed.

When Lim Jae-wook checked the back seat, he saw gift sets wrapped in fancy cloth that looked like premium beef sets and all sorts of fruits.

There was also a handwritten note attached.

– You really must take everything. If even one thing is left, you’ll be in trouble. Got it?

Lim Jae-wook scratched the bridge of his nose, which had suddenly become sore, and grabbed the steering wheel again.

Arriving at the hospital where his mother was staying, Lim Jae-wook entered the ward carrying a fruit basket for the first time in a while.

Then, someone who had been talking to a nurse in the center of the ward approached Lim Jae-wook.

‘Is it someone from the billing department…?’

He thought they were coming to press him about unpaid hospital bills, but the approaching staff member said something unexpected.

“Are you Lim Jae-wook, the guardian of patient Kim Su-young?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Someone came this morning and paid all the hospital bills, but we couldn’t process it yet because we didn’t get the guardian’s consent.”

Then the staff member handed him a document.

“You need to sign here for us to process it.”

– Consent Form for Medical Expense Payment on Behalf

Lim Jae-wook’s eyes widened as he looked at the document handed to him by the staff member.

“What? Who on earth…?”

“If you look at the second page of the document, you’ll see the name of the person paying. Please check and sign quickly. We need to process this today.”

As Lim Jae-wook turned to the second page and scanned it, he saw the name of the person paying the medical expenses.

– Ryu Yeon-woo

The moment he saw those three characters, tears suddenly welled up in Lim Jae-wook’s eyes.

And he sat down right there and sobbed.

It felt like someone’s warm, helping hand had reached out to him for the first time in his cold, difficult life.