Chapter 57
Chapter 57
The Ace’s Debut
How are the actors supposed to feel if we crush their spirits like this?
- Just came back from watching ‘White Tiger’
There aren’t many movies to watch lately, so I went just to see the actors’ faces.
The story is pretty predictable, yeah. But the action is seriously insane, and there’s a jump scare scene.
└Is it that insane? Everyone who’s seen it is talking about the action.
└└My boyfriend, who saw it with me, was so impressed he started calling him ‘Brother Yeon-seo,‘ lol, even though he’s older.
└So you’re saying you have a boyfriend?
└└This.
‘White Tiger’ premiered on Wednesday and got off to a good start with a 9.3 out of 10 rating from actual viewers.
Then, on Saturday of its opening week, the variety show episode that Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol had filmed to promote ‘White Tiger’ was broadcast. In line with their roles as special forces agents in the movie, they played a survival game at a paintball arena, splitting into a team of entertainers and a team of actors.
“Seriously, why is Team A so good?”
“We’re not going to win like this...”
As expected, the entertainers, who had more experience with these kinds of games, had the upper hand. After all their teammates were eliminated, the remaining Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol complained to the camera.
“The fact that we were short one person from the start...”
“It makes no sense. Isn’t the balance completely off?”
Park Min-woo blurted out, full of grievance. It came off as a cute complaint, and the producer watching had to hold back a laugh.
“There’s a reason you’re one person short.”
At the staff member’s words, Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol’s eyes widened.
“You’re getting reinforcements.”
“Reinforcements?”
Just then, as if on cue, the sound of a paintball gun firing and someone’s scream echoed from a distance. Soon after, an announcement declared that someone from Team A had been eliminated.
“Whoa.”
“What was that? Who is it?”
Then came another gunshot, followed by another announcement. Two people were taken out in such a short time.
“Let’s go join the fight.”
Lee Han-gyeol snapped out of it and led Park Min-woo forward.
The screen cut to a figure secretly assisting Team B. It was Yu Yeon-seo, his face hidden by a helmet, goggles, and a mask.
“How many are left now?”
“Team A has six, and Team B has two.”
His voice was modulated, as if to keep his identity a secret from the viewers.
“...Should I go up?”
While Lee Han-gyeol and Park Min-woo were complaining to the camera about how difficult it was, Yu Yeon-seo, who had been strolling through the woods as if on a walk, found a suitable tree and stopped.
He climbed the tree effortlessly, using only one hand. A staff member watching gaped at the light movement as he swung his body around and settled on a branch.
“Huh? Why is there a camera here?”
Not long after, someone from Team A wearing a red helmet looked around. The veteran entertainer spotted a VJ who hadn’t managed to pull back in time and grinned.
“Means they’re somewhere around here!”
The camera shifted focus behind the entertainer, revealing Yu Yeon-seo aiming his gun from the tree.
“Aargh!”
Hit in the back by a paintball, the entertainer fell with an exaggerated motion. Sensing the commotion, another entertainer from Team A rushed over.
“What’s going on!”
“In the tree! Watch out...!”
His exact position revealed, Yu Yeon-seo leaped from the tree, rolling to break his fall. He immediately hid behind another tree. The opponent fired a volley of paintballs, but thankfully, not a single one hit him.
‘Five, six...’
He should be out by now. Yu Yeon-seo calmly turned and fired his gun with one hand. A splash of paint appeared on the chest of the entertainer, who had been frantically trying to reload.
“Wow! Amazing! I thought I was watching a movie!”
“But who are you?”
Having taken out two in a row, Yu Yeon-seo turned without a word and went to find his next target.
“He’s... cool?”
The entertainer who fell first muttered softly, watching his retreating back.
Strolling through the survival course as if on a walk, Yu Yeon-seo murmured.
“Four left now, huh.”
His voice modulation turned off. Yu Yeon-seo’s voice was on the lower side and had a unique quality. Just as the viewers watching were thinking, ‘No way...’, Yu Yeon-seo sensed a presence nearby, quickly ducked behind cover, and raised his gun, aiming at the newcomers.
Two figures rustled nearby. Seeing their blue helmets, he realized they were allies, Team B.
“Huh? I think I just saw a blue helmet.”
“Isn’t he over there?”
Yu Yeon-seo waved a hand from behind his cover. Excited by the unexpected reinforcement, Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol approached.
“Hello!”
“But who are...”
“It’s me.”
Yu Yeon-seo slightly lifted his mask and goggles to show his face. The screen briefly cut to a highlight reel of Yu Yeon-seo. Perhaps thinking his old acting clips were too wooden to use, most of the footage was from his role as Chunbaek in ‘Dreaming’ and the trailer for ‘White Tiger’.
“Whoa, Yeon-seo? When did you get here?”
“Just now.”
It was a well-known fact in the industry that Yu Yeon-seo disliked variety shows. But the Yu Yeon-seo of today was different.
He had felt bad that only Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol were working hard on promotions, so he had agreed to make a brief appearance at the end.
“Were you the one who took out those two earlier?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you get them? They’re the aces; we were having a hard time with them.”
“It just worked.”
Lee Han-gyeol and Park Min-woo leaned back with exasperated expressions.
Even during the filming of ‘White Tiger,‘ whenever asked how he performed difficult action stunts, Yu Yeon-seo’s standard reply was, ‘You just do it, and it works.’
“If this was the case, you should’ve joined us from the start...”
“Wouldn’t the game have been over already?”
“Ooh, confident.”
That wasn’t actually the reason. He had agreed to show up only at the end, so they really did send him in near the finale. They’d brought him on without much thought, since his appearance alone guaranteed buzz, even if he didn’t do anything spectacular.
“Yeon-seo is so good. Producer, did you know he was this skilled?”
“I had no idea. He didn’t even attend the pre-production meeting...”
“At this rate, it looks like Yu Yeon-seo will take them all out by himself. How about we change the rules?”
However, surprised by Yu Yeon-seo’s unexpected performance, the producers and writers watching the monitors went into an emergency meeting. After a short meeting, they radioed Team A.
“What do we do now?”
“What do you mean? ...We find them, and we shoot.”
Yu Yeon-seo raised a fist, then extended his index and middle fingers one by one. Park Min-woo sighed.
“I had the same thought when the game first started...”
“Me too.”
“But why does it sound so easy when Yeon-seo says it?”
“It’s because we were brainwashed on set.”
Yu Yeon-seo’s acrobatic action sequences, performed without a stunt double, were unforgettable even after a year. It was still unbelievable that he had pulled off such moves less than half a year after being discharged from the hospital.
“So, why are you the only two left?”
Yu Yeon-seo cut himself off. It wasn’t good to stay in such an open space for long.
“Well...”
From what they said, the other team had an entertainer who was a survival game enthusiast and a former competitive shooter, which gave them a hard time.
On their side, however, was a rookie actor who had never even played an FPS game, and an idol who was so busy with his belated chart-climbing success that his only leisure activity had been a brief game for his group’s own content.
“Isn’t the balance weird?”
“It is weird.”
Yu Yeon-seo stared blankly at the two of them, who were protesting earnestly.
Can’t you just take it easy on these promotional variety shows? But Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol were burning with a desire to win, determined to come out on top no matter what. They work hard at everything; that must be why they’re so popular as rising stars.
“Still, it’s a good thing you came.”
“Shouldn’t we come up with a plan?”
As the three of them put their heads together to strategize, a member of the production crew came running over, out of breath.
“Everyone, right after Yeon-seo joined, two players were eliminated... Due to his unexpected performance, we’d like to change the game rules.”
“Ah, you can’t do that.”
Park Min-woo whined, while Yu Yeon-seo crossed his arms and looked at the crew member.
“How are they changing?”
Honestly, I don’t care if the rules change... but let’s hear him out.
“The rule is... Capture the Flag.”
“Capture the flag?”
“You remember the clearing where we started?”
Lee Han-gyeol and Park Min-woo nodded. Yu Yeon-seo glanced at a map sign nearby.
“Team A is currently occupying that clearing. Your goal is to capture it.”
“Is the clearing in the center?”
“Yes. Also, instead of being eliminated after one hit, it’s now five hits. If you capture the flag in the zone within the time limit, you win.”
While the other two listened blankly to the crew member, Yu Yeon-seo looked at his watch.
“The time limit is... 15 minutes, starting now.”
It’s 2:15 now... so until 2:30. Yu Yeon-seo gave a slight nod and walked over to the map.
“Fifteen minutes... Can we do it?”
“We have to try. Everyone, come here.”
Even though Yu Yeon-seo had joined late, Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol naturally followed his lead.
“How long has it been?”
“About five minutes.”
“When are they coming?”
Meanwhile, Team A, scattered around the capture zone, waited listlessly for a Team B that showed no signs of arriving.
“Did we do too well? How can we face the actors after crushing their spirits like this?”
“This ended too anticlimactically.”
Team A was already predicting their victory. The production crew had given Team A a different rule: defending the flag was the same, but Yu Yeon-seo would be eliminated if he was hit more than twice.
“But I heard that Yu Yeon-seo, the last one to join, is really good.”
“No matter how good he is, he’s no match for me.”
At that moment, the sound of a paintball gun fired, and a member of Team A fell backward.
“They’re here!”
“Everyone, hide!”
Two more paintballs struck the fallen entertainer. Everyone scattered in a panic, hiding behind trees.
“Where did that shot come from?”
They had been caught off guard and couldn’t yet figure out which direction the shots were coming from. While they were scrambling in confusion, another paintball shot rang out. An announcement declared that the person who was hit first had been eliminated. It was now a 3-on-3 standoff.
“Agh! I’m hit!”
“Don’t panic! It’s only one hit!”
The leader of Team A, the survival enthusiast and former competitive shooter, shouted.
“Over there!”
Park Min-woo, hiding behind a tree, fired his gun indiscriminately. From the opposite side, a hidden Lee Han-gyeol hit two of them, one shot each.
[Team B’s Park Min-woo is out!]
“Aww...”
The score was 2 vs. 3. Park Min-woo lay down on the ground. For someone who had been burning with the desire to win and protesting to the staff earlier, he didn’t seem too disappointed. He was the bait.
While everyone’s attention was on Park Min-woo, Lee Han-gyeol emerged from the other side and sprinted to capture the flag.
“Our flag!”
“There!”
And in that opening, Yu Yeon-seo, who had been concealing his presence, took aim. Another member of Team A was eliminated. The score was now 2 vs. 2. With time still on the clock, they now had to defend the flag.
“Wow, seriously, where is he shooting from?!”
A member of Team A, still unable to locate Yu Yeon-seo, yelled in frustration.
“Five hits! That’s five hits, Han-gyeol!”
“You got hit five times too.”
Lee Han-gyeol and the entertainer from Team A took each other out, leaving the score at 1 vs. 1. The flag was left where Lee Han-gyeol was eliminated.
While Park Min-woo and Lee Han-gyeol acted as decoys, Yu Yeon-seo had circled around to the back and was shooting the remaining members of Team A.
[30 seconds remaining.]
“The flag!”
As the leader of Team A ran for the flag, Yu Yeon-seo, who had gotten behind him, aimed his gun with a sharp gaze.
[15 seconds remaining.]
“Agh!”
The Team A leader also turned and fired his gun. Yu Yeon-seo ducked low to dodge, simultaneously rolling forward to close the distance with the Team A leader.
He’d already been hit three times, and that made four...
“Five hits.”
Yu Yeon-seo stood right in front of the Team A leader, who had fallen on his backside from the final hit, and leaned down. He casually picked up the flag, which lay just inches from the Team A leader, and spoke softly.
“It’s over.”
[Team A’s Bae Yeong-jae is out! Team B wins!]
The camera showed a full shot of Yu Yeon-seo as he tossed off his goggles and helmet, focusing on his face.