A Dangerously Sincere Kid
The interpreter, Kim Min, was beginning to doubt the situation he found himself in.
Am I really...?
Was he actually talking with Lee Yeonjae? Truly? That Lee Yeonjae?
How does this even make sense?
Lee Yeonjae, the top star he'd never imagined meeting face-to-face in his entire life—let alone conversing with—was standing right in front of him.
When Kim Min stared at him blankly, Yeonjae asked with a puzzled look.
"Min-i hyung, what's wrong?"
Wow.
He even called him Min-i hyung.
Lee Yeonjae is calling me 'hyung.'
As Kim Min's expression grew even more dazed, Yeonjae's face clouded with dissatisfaction.
"Hyung?"
"Ah, sorry. I zoned out for a second."
"Are you very tired? Should we meet another time?"
"No, no. I'm fine. Wasn't there something you were curious about?"
At Kim Min's question, Yeonjae pulled out a book as though he'd been waiting for exactly that.
"I was reading the book you recommended last time, and there's a part I don't understand."
"Okay."
Even as he answered meekly, Kim Min had to relive the past all over again, unable to believe this situation was real.
It had been just last week, when he'd received an urgent summons from his agency and rushed out to interpret.
He'd been called simply because he was the interpreter closest to the client's location, so no one had briefed him on anything.
Kim Min, who usually did simultaneous interpretation for business executives, was surprised to find that his destination was Wooyeon Entertainment. He'd had absolutely no connection to the entertainment industry before, so it felt novel, too.
But there was no time to savor the strangeness. The moment he pushed through the heavy security cordon, he sprinted breathlessly to wherever the client was waiting.
And there stood Lee Yeonjae.
...Thinking back on it, that moment was terrifying.
At the memory, Kim Min shuddered.
Beneath those gentle features had been an expression of pure frost. The air around him had been so frigid it felt like it might actually freeze over.
Even Kim Min, who spent his days working with the titans of the business world, had faltered for a moment. That was how intense Yeonjae's presence had been.
'Hello. I was told interpretation was needed, so...'
Before he knew it, he'd bowed his greeting from a cringing, hunched posture.
Fortunately, Lee Yeonjae had been courteous. At least, to Kim Min.
The novelty of seeing a celebrity wore off quickly, and Kim Min focused on his job. Listening to the client's side of things, he managed to piece together roughly what was going on.
So the client is in the wrong here.
Kim Min promptly arranged his face into an appropriately apologetic look and began interpreting.
What struck him as odd was that Lee Yeonjae—who had worn an expression of unrelieved boredom the whole time—suddenly fixed his gaze squarely on him.
Yeonjae's eyes darted busily, as if analyzing something. His expressions, his gaze, his hand gestures—even his manner of speaking.
It felt as though the performance Kim Min had spent years honing for his profession was being laid bare under that penetrating stare, element by element.
It wasn't long before he learned it hadn't just been his imagination.
When they met again in a different conference room, Yeonjae politely asked whether he might have permission to ask some questions about interpretation.
The moment Kim Min nodded, an avalanche of questions poured out—so many that it was hard to believe he'd been holding them back all that time.
Questions delivered with that guileless, innocent face turned out to be surprisingly sophisticated.
Their unintended conversation turned out to be so substantive that Kim Min lost all track of time. If Yeonjae's manager hadn't stepped in midway, Kim Min could confidently say he'd have kept talking for another five hours.
'If it's all right with you, interpreter-nim, could we meet again sometime?'
Apparently Kim Min wasn't the only one reluctant to end it—Yeonjae had been the one to propose their next meeting first.
And that was how today had become their fourth meeting already.
And yet, it still didn't feel real.
I'm actually speaking casually to Lee Yeonjae.
Their age difference had naturally led them to drop the formalities, but to Kim Min, Lee Yeonjae remained a formidable presence.
It wasn't simply because he was a famous actor. If anything, their conversations were so utterly ordinary that Kim Min more often forgot he was talking to a celebrity at all.
The problem lay somewhere else entirely.
"It's easier to approach that part this way. Got it?"
"Yes. Hearing you explain it, hyung, it finally makes sense. Thank you."
The Lee Yeonjae before him smiled serenely.
He looked as docile as a fawn, but Kim Min could never let his guard down.
He couldn't afford to.
The memory of the day they first met was still far too vivid.
'(Stop wasting any more of my time.)'
Kim Min recalled how Yeonjae had said that to the client, cold and clipped.
Is this what all actors are like?
Having told the client never to show his face again in a voice like ice, Yeonjae had then walked right up to Kim Min.
A soft smile bloomed across his face as he asked whether Kim Min had time afterward.
Smiling like the most harmless creature on earth—that image alone sent a chill down Kim Min's spine.
What is this, Jekyll and Hyde?
The way he swapped his expression and tone in an instant looked almost like a split personality.
Granted, he hadn't shown any such thing since that first meeting.
Am I overthinking this?
The Lee Yeonjae of today looked for all the world like a well-mannered boy to anyone who saw him.
Kim Min was just thinking, Is this kid possessed by a demon or something?—when—
"Min-i hyung."
"Huh? What?"
"Shall we stop here for today? You seem pretty tired."
Yeonjae smiled, apparently having noticed that Kim Min's mind was wandering more than usual.
"I'm sorry for reaching out when you're so busy."
"No, I'm not busy at all, really... Sorry. I wasn't focusing on our conversation."
"It's fine. You're doing me a favor by agreeing to this in the first place."
Kim Min looked at Yeonjae as he smiled, quiet and warm.
"Yeonjae-ya, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"...Do you have any thoughts about becoming an interpreter? You seem a lot more interested in it than I expected."
A meeting that should have been a one-off was now on its fourth round. No matter how he looked at it, Yeonjae's interest in interpretation was no passing fancy.
Yeonjae studied Kim Min for a moment, then chuckled.
"No. I like my job. Acting is the most fun thing in the world."
He added that interpretation was a magnificent profession too, of course.
"Earlier this year, I filmed a Korean Sign Language drama."
"Ah, you mean February 3rd? I watched it. It was good."
At Kim Min's words, Yeonjae's eyes widened slightly.
"Really? Thank you. You must have been busy."
"No, it was nothing..."
At that completely unguarded reaction, Kim Min hid a flicker of exasperation.
Finding someone who hasn't seen that drama would be harder.
He really doesn't act like a celebrity at moments like this.
"You know how the drama ends with the main character saying he wants to become an interpreter?"
Yeonjae explained that he'd bought and read a stack of books to research the interest his character might have had in interpretation.
"Going through that, my interest naturally deepened, so—"
"Wait, hold on."
Kim Min's eyes went wide.
"You read all those books for that? For a single line of dialogue?"
He could've just said he wanted to be an interpreter and left it at that, couldn't he? Who buys and reads multiple books over one line?
When Kim Min asked, incredulous, Yeonjae only looked more puzzled.
"It's not just a single line, though. After his brother's death, the main character was living as if he were already dead—and then he starts dreaming of something again. It's the scene that means he's come back to life, that he's breathing again."
Yeonjae said it had been about building the character anew—like a fresh sprout just unfurling its first leaves, all bright eagerness and endearing awkwardness.
"If a character's personality is developed enough to tell his teacher about it, he must have wrestled with the question for a long time. He'd have spent time wondering whether he was chasing some absurd, empty dream. And in that process, of course he would've read books. So I just acted it the same way."
...
At words delivered as if they were the most obvious thing in the world, Kim Min could only gape.
He really does love acting.
His affection for the craft radiated off him.
"That's incredible, you know..."
Kim Min was genuinely in awe.
Yeonjae let out a small laugh.
"You're the incredible one, hyung."
"Me? I'm incredible? Why?"
"Every time I ask you something, you have an answer right away. Your knowledge, your experience—you can feel how deep they run every single time. It's cool. It's like you were born to be an interpreter."
Delivered as naturally as breathing, the compliments left Kim Min flustered. And like so many Koreans, he deflected them with characteristic modesty.
"No, I have far too many shortcomings for that. My voice is so deep, you know? It tends to sound rough, so when I'm interpreting on sensitive topics, I have to be careful in a way that's several times more demanding than for other people."
He was in the middle of a lighthearted laugh, insisting that calling him a born interpreter was a stretch, when—
Yeonjae slowly tilted his head.
"That's exactly why I liked it."
"What?"
"It's so clear how delicately you control your voice, hyung. And I love that you speak with such care no matter what the conversation is about."
Those dark eyes shone bright and clear.
"If you can make someone feel that what's usually called a flaw is a strength—doesn't that make it all the more impressive?"
...
Kim Min was struck speechless.
He felt like he ought to say something, but all he managed was to open and close his mouth like a fish. A tingling warmth crept slowly up from the tips of his toes.
This kid is going to kill me.
Having utterly failed at managing his expression, Kim Min bowed his head deep.
"What's wrong? Are you unwell somewhere?"
"...I'm fine."
Seeing that face—utterly unaware of what it had just done—made his chest tighten for no reason.
This kid is genuinely dangerous.
He has such a strange effect on people's hearts.
Kim Min was just lifting his head, doing his best to smooth his expression back into place, when his eyes met those of a large man sitting at the next table over.
The moment Yeonjae's manager caught Kim Min's expression, he sent back a look that said, I completely understand how you're feeling.
Thanks to which, Kim Min's head spun all the more.
This is just... an ordinary day for them?
For some reason, he suddenly began to envy the people around Lee Yeonjae.
"Get home safe, hyung. Thank you again for today."
When Yeonjae bowed his head lightly in farewell, the interpreter hesitated.
"Yeonjae-ya, just so you know... it doesn't have to be about interpretation. If anything's on your mind, reach out anytime."
Followed by a plug about his years of professional experience, assuring Yeonjae he could answer just about anything.
Why all of a sudden?
It was odd, but Yeonjae agreed anyway. Perhaps it was the nature of the man's profession—he seemed to know an enormous amount about everything, and thanks to their talks, Yeonjae felt his own horizons widening too.
"See you next time, then!"
The interpreter walked away with a face noticeably brighter than before.
As Yeonjae watched the retreating figure for a moment, Jinbae hyung came up beside him.
"You truly carry a heavy burden of sin, Actor-nim."
"...I'm sorry, what?"
What's wrong with him now?
Having delivered this completely unprompted remark, Jinbae hyung just laughed and said it was nothing.
"Shall we head home?"
"Yes. It's almost dinnertime already."
Jinbae hyung must have run the air-conditioning in advance—the car's interior was comfortably cool.
After checking my seatbelt yet again today, as reliably as ever, Jinbae hyung pulled out onto the road.
That was a rewarding conversation.
Every time he talked with the interpreter, the same thought came to him: interpretation and acting were remarkably alike.
A Spanish interpreter, for one, essentially memorized by heart the history, culture, and even the values of the people of every Spanish-speaking country.
Just as Yeonjae himself searched out and memorized every scrap of relevant information in order to sink into a character.
Interpretation required fully understanding the person being interpreted for; acting required fully understanding the person being portrayed. That was the common thread.
And thinking about it just makes it feel more impossible.
When the sigh escaped him unbidden, a gentle voice drifted over from the driver's seat.
"Actor-nim. You do remember, don't you? You don't have to take this project."
"I know. The problem is that I want to."
"Haha."
A warm laugh answered his grumbling.
Yes, that was the problem.
Setting aside the impossible feeling of it all, he genuinely wanted to do this work.
The problem was that none of the strategies he'd relied on until now would work for this project.
Because the character he was about to play was not a person.
...Seriously, how on earth does one act as a puppy whose soul has been swapped with a human's?
That, too, was the one-line summary of the script currently held in his hands.