Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: The Mute's Silence
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“Jeong Hyeseong.”
Yi Mubeom looked at Hyeseong.
His voice was as serious as ever.
Hyeseong gazed up at Yi Mubeom with a tense expression.
“Yes!”
“Personally, I have high expectations for you, Hyeseong. Can I look forward to you leading the team to create a great stage?”
“Yes. You can definitely look forward to the stage! But... I don't think I can say I led it. Everyone did so well, one by one.”
“Is that so?”
Yi Mubeom smiled quietly.
“That in itself gets me excited.”
Yi Mubeom slowly looked over Jeong Hyeseong and the rest of his team.
It was a team packed with points to observe from every angle.
Yeonwoo, showing astonishing levels of detail.
Seo Jinwook, with the raw charm fully alive.
Hyeongbin, where the wear and tear of office life peeked through.
And Hyeseong, who could be called all but complete as an actor.
Well, the one generating the most anticipation among them was undoubtedly Seonwoo.
'How did this kid... understand the mute's silence?'
Yi Mubeom had called Seonwoo a genius.
The surface-level reason was Seonwoo's tremendous pace of growth.
But digging to the real core, it had to be Seonwoo's heightened sensitivity to emotions.
What is acting?
Every actor would have their own answer. But Yi Mubeom's was this:
Expressing the heart.
The reason Seonwoo's skills had skyrocketed was that his ability to comprehend and internalize emotions was several times keener than anyone else's.
Because he could instinctively sense what his performance looked like right now—and how to make it shine even brighter.
And now, that Seonwoo's mute.
It might come off as overly sentimental, but in this moment, Yi Mubeom's heart was racing.
Already thrilled at the thought of the fresh shock it would deliver.
And Yi Mubeom wasn't the only one feeling his pulse quicken right now.
'...This is kinda nerve-wracking.'
Seonwoo took a slow, deep breath.
He figured it was about time he got used to it, but the tension that hit every time he stepped onto the stage was still unavoidable.
The judges and other contestants watching him were part of it, but what kept flashing in his mind was the audience beyond the cameras.
The preview had already cemented him as a full-blown genius.
One mediocre showing here, and the fallout would be massive.
Well, truth be told, that wasn't a huge worry.
He hadn't prepared anything mediocre.
But as for whether he'd prepared something worthy of the 'genius' label... well, that was what he had to prove starting now.
“Let's see the performance.”
With Yi Mubeom's words, the stage plunged into darkness.
And moments later, with a sharp pop, the lights came up, illuminating them.
Or more precisely, the 'sealed room' trapping them.
The characters stirred to life.
Eyes filled with confusion and wariness groped at one another, then at the sealed room itself.
The first to speak was the coward.
Yeonwoo.
“Wh-where is this place! Wh-what are you all? Did you kidnap me?”
Yeonwoo's acting was, as always, beyond reproach.
Leaf-like hues of imagery wrapped around her—so fragile it seemed it might crumble at the slightest touch.
An expressiveness that could only be called perfect.
But Yeonwoo wasn't the only one worth watching on this stage.
“Cut the bullshit and sit down. We're all kidnapped here.”
A hoarse, deep-purple voice began filling the sealed room like drifting fog.
The bully: Seo Jinwook. His tone edged sharp, as if ready to slash at anyone. In Seonwoo's eyes, the purple aura cloaking Seo Jinwook gleamed like blades ringing him tight.
A finesse the old Seo Jinwook never had.
People thought he only knew how to explode. He couldn't wield emotions refined to this degree.
Proof he'd grown far beyond his past self.
“...Wh-what?! Who? Why?”
“If we knew, would we be stuck here like idiots?”
“Okay, everyone! Calm down! I-I think I've got a rough read on this situation!”
And the braggart piped up.
Hyeseong. A vivid golden aura dusted with pink glitter.
His breezy, upbeat tone—oddly mismatched to the moment—instantly eased the thick tension.
“Setting up a room like this... whoever locked us in here must really hate our guts!”
“...So we've got a grudge? Then it's someone with beef against all of us?”
“Can't say for sure! But here's what we can figure out...”
“Shut it... B-booze, any booze around?”
A mangled voice cut Hyeseong off.
The drunkard: Hyeongbin. A muddy wine-red hue? His whole form steeped in the drunkard's vibe, he scanned them all with unfocused eyes.
“Wherever the hic hell this is... doesn't matter...! Booze! Gimme booze!”
“...Sc-scary. Someone do something about that old creep.”
“Shut your trap! Booze!”
“This drunk fuck... you wanna die? Can't shut up?”
“Hic, try it!”
The judges' eyes lit up watching Hyeongbin.
With every other member a powerhouse, they figured he'd get left behind... but he was holding his own better than expected.
...All those years in the corporate grind, seeing one drunk too many?
The braggart's smooth talk had started to settle things, only for the drunkard's ramblings to plunge it back into chaos.
And amid all that chaos...
“......”
The mute stayed utterly still.
The judges' eyes gleamed as they watched him.
Every other team's mute had fallen into one of two camps.
Over-the-top reactor played for laughs, or some vague air of mystery.
Obvious ways to vitalize a character with zero lines.
But Seonwoo's mute was neither.
Seonwoo's gaze fixed on no one.
Just staring blankly into empty space, alone.
The others ignored the mute entirely.
No stage directions calling for it, sure—but even casual interplay felt natural... yet they acted like he wasn't even there.
Naturally, this was pre-arranged with Seonwoo.
—Ignore me completely.
The mute doesn't speak.
Unable to voice a sound in this world. A rejection of all connection.
So no one spares him a glance.
The world never initiates with those who've forsaken communication.
“Uh, but what's with that guy...?”
“Ignore him. Hasn't said shit since we woke up. Freak's as weird as the rest.”
That fleeting spotlight from the others was all the mute ever got.
Utterly peripheral. A total outcast, ignored by all.
The kind of role that, no matter the talent, should hold zero appeal.
So why?
Right now, countless eyes refused to leave Seonwoo.
'What kind of human gaze is that...'
Eerily inorganic.
Not human, not even beast. Doll eyes crudely transplanted... utterly lightless.
Those eyes alone made it clear.
Nothing dwelled in that chest.
No dreams. No hopes. Not even pain.
And in that instant, the audience grasped it.
The mute wasn't some presence-less extra, as they'd assumed.
Sung Junil clenched his fist.
Yi Mubeom's words echoed in his ear.
—Look close, and you might see it too. What I saw.
'...This what you saw, sir?'
Good acting always brought a smile to Sung Junil's lips.
It just felt good.
But he couldn't smile now.
This wasn't 'good' territory.
An unimaginable mute.
Unimaginable acting.
Yeah. Time to admit it.
Shocking, straight up.
What Seonwoo conveyed was dead simple, really.
Can't talk? Cut off from the world. Mute's the same.
But no mute here had unpacked it—not a single one.
Not even Sung Junil.
'Same script?'
No. No way.
Different script entirely. Seonwoo's mute was a whole other beast from what Sung Junil read.
At last, Sung Junil got Yi Mubeom's 'genius' label.
Genius isn't faster, sharper, better.
It's a whole different benchmark altogether.
Meanwhile,
“...Fuck, no door—how the hell we s'posed to get out?! What do they even want, locking us in here?!”
“I-I wanna go... Please, let me out...”
“Heh heh, shit... We're screwed. Totally fucked~. No booze—might as well die!”
“......”
“Everyone, calm down! I'm an escape room pro too! I'll sniff out some clues somehow...!”
“This loose screw's still flapping his gums. Clues? Bullshit! Escape room? They stuck us here for a damn game?!”
“......”
The drama hurtled toward its peak.
Amid the razor-edged nerves, Seonwoo's mute remained motionless.
No words. Silence now second nature. Just... still.
Even as each character confronted their flaws, confessed their burdens—his demeanor never shifted.
“...Don't wanna sober up. Scared. Sober me... too pathetic.”
Even as the drunkard wailed,
“Yeah... I know. Knew I was the problem all along. But what now? What the hell can I even...!”
Even as the bully embraced his self-loathing,
“...Should've spoken up louder. Felt like I'd shrink away otherwise.”
Even as the braggart owned his smallness...
The mute changed not at all. Just those empty eyes on them all.
But one by one, they departed the sealed room. Until only the coward faced the mute at last.
“I'm getting out now.”
“......”
“Not coming?”
“......”
“...Guess I'll head out.”
The lights went dark... then up again. No one left but him. Only then did the mute rise.
And locked eyes with the camera.
That was the moment.
Everyone watching Seonwoo's face on screen... felt their breath catch.
“......!”
Seonwoo's eyes had changed.
That near-lifeless void slowly regaining light, focus—sharpening. Like death reviving,
Seonwoo's mouth parted,
Lights out.
...And everyone sank into mute silence, as if struck dumb themselves.
No sound anywhere.
No applause. No cheers. Not even breaths.
Yeah.
They were utterly overwhelmed.