Aura of a Genius Actor

As Yu Myeong stepped into the studio, an FD approached and gave him a brief explanation of the schedule.

[Leave your belongings over there. Once filming wraps up later, everyone will be moving to the accommodations together.]

This was the gateway task for advancing into the main competition.

With fifty teams each performing a ten minute play, the performances alone would take eight hours and twenty minutes.

Once judging, deliberation, and result announcements were factored in, finishing everything in a single day was impossible. The contestants had already been informed that the evaluation process would be spread across two days.

One thing they had not been told, however, was the performance order.

To eliminate any advantage or disadvantage between the first and second day, the order would be determined that morning.

The FD handed Yu Myeong a name tag displaying his participant number and name.

｜34-1st participant｜

｜Youmyoung Shin｜

[Your team will be performing thirty fourth. That puts you somewhere in the latter half of Day Two. Team Thirty Four will be called over for makeup and costume changes once Team Twenty Nine begins their performance.]

[Understood.]

[While you're watching other teams perform, you're not allowed to leave your assigned seat. We'll give bathroom breaks every two hours, so don't drink too much water.]

Yu Myeong headed to his seat and spotted Kai and Jeffrey, who had arrived before him.

Their badges read 34-3 and 34-4 respectively.

[Hyung, over here!]

The studio was impressive.

Massive pillars lined both sides, evoking the atmosphere of a medieval hall. The elegant stage design centered around rich mahogany tones accented by red and green props.

Having expected the flashy spectacle of a typical variety show stage, Yu Myeong found himself staring around in admiration.

[The stage is amazing, isn't it?]

[It really is. It fits our play perfectly, too.]

[They're clearly going all out. Then again, looking at the ratings for Episodes One and Two, I guess they have every reason to.]

Casting Boat, which had aired two episodes so far, was rapidly raising the profile of the newly launched TW Channel.

The biggest contributors to its ratings were the star power of Natalie Kassen and Derek McCurdy.

The production had also done an excellent job creating excitement by editing together brutal missions that forced actors into improvised performances in halls crowded with contestants, the stunned reactions of those actors, and the talented individuals who managed to stand out amid the chaos.

Swoosh.

While chatting with their teammates, the contestants subtly scanned the room.

Among the two hundred occupied seats, everyone was quietly identifying the "serious contenders" who had attracted attention during the preliminary rounds.

The greatest concentration of attention was focused four seats away from Yu Myeong.

33-1.

Do Hyo Jun.

The bold contestant who had portrayed Jesus on Golgotha during the first preliminary round.

It was only natural for attention to gather around him.

Yet behind the magic mirror installed behind the contestant section, one particular gaze wasn't directed at Hyo Jun.

It was fixed on Yu Myeong.

Shin Yu Myeong... so we meet again.

That person lightly nudged the individual seated beside them and directed their attention toward Yu Myeong.

Then they appeared to whisper something.

Naturally, none of [N O V E L I G H T] it was visible from the contestants' side.

[Hello, everyone! Did you all enjoy two wonderful, relaxing weeks off?]

Booooo—!

The moment Jerry High delivered his opening line, boos erupted from the contestant section.

Preparing a play with four complete strangers over the course of two weeks was no easy task.

Sometimes all four participants fought over the same role.

Other times, because the team leader was also just another actor, creative disagreements constantly arose during the rehearsal process.

After enduring all that hardship, Jerry's cheerful teasing was enough to make anyone's blood pressure rise.

[Now then, before we begin judging today's assignments, I should introduce the devils who hold your lives in their hands.]

A protest immediately rang out from backstage.

[Devils? I'm a devout Christian, thank you very much.]

[She knew I was talking about her and stepped right out. That's a writer for you. Always understands narrative flow. Please welcome bestselling writer Eva Dobransky!]

Eva Dobransky.

A renowned writer famous for working on both film and television scripts.

She had even debuted as a playwright, making her one of the rare storytellers whose talent spanned every medium.

When the heavy doors at the center of the set swung open and Eva emerged, Yu Myeong nearly jumped.

Is that... a doppelganger...?

Her face.

Her hairstyle.

Even her gestures.

She looked astonishingly similar to Yuk Mi Yeong.

How could an Asian woman and a Western woman resemble each other so much?

[Eva, you're famous for identifying lead actors for your projects before anyone else. Did you join Casting Boat to discover future stars ahead of time?]

[What are you talking about? These little rookies are decades away from appearing in an Eva Dobransky script. I'm only interested in one person. Derek McCurdy!]

Even their obsession with actors was identical.

[Come on, isn't that a little shameless? Couldn't you at least say something like, "I'm here to discover rough gems before they're polished"?]

[That kind of empty flattery went out of style years ago. Derek! You're back there, right? I've written a suspense project that'll be perfect for you. What do you say?]

Jerry hurriedly ushered the openly ambitious writer toward the judging panel.

[Next... whew. This is another fascinating choice. Everyone knows that the winner of Casting Boat will star in director Kylie Unshaw's next film, right? Yet one of today's judges is known as Kylie Unshaw's greatest rival. Please welcome director George Housley.]

One of the names Yu Seok had mentioned.

George Housley.

In America, he was often called Kylie Unshaw's rival because their release schedules overlapped with uncanny frequency.

It had happened five times already.

So far, Kylie Unshaw had come out ahead three times, while George Housley had won twice.

[One more win and we'll be tied. That's why I've agreed to participate. My goal is to make sure Kylie casts a completely hopeless idiot as the lead of her next film.]

[Good heavens. Your last movie was Life Is the Real Deal, wasn't it? I didn't realize the director was committed to method directing.]

Laughter spread through the audience at George's joke and Jerry's quick response.

[All right. Two judges left. And these are two people everyone here knows very well. In fact, they're the biggest reason Casting Boat has become a nationwide phenomenon.

First, the woman who inspired film critic Oakley Lancer to declare, "If I could see Nelly's smile up close, I'd gladly die afterward." The woman who sparked the Nelly phenomenon across America. Hollywood's goddess. A star among stars. Natalie Kassen.]

Cheers rose from the audience.

Unlike before, Jerry did not immediately call her out.

[And the other is a man who requires no explanation beyond a single title: the greatest actor alive. Derek McCurdy.]

And he truly was.

The kind of actor whose name alone rendered all additional descriptions unnecessary.

[For my own viewing pleasure, I've invited them out together. Natalie? Derek?]

The doors opened once more.

Natalie Kassen emerged with her arm lightly linked through Derek McCurdy's.

Jerry's instincts had been correct.

The image of those two walking out together possessed enough star power to dominate entertainment headlines the moment the episode aired.

For fans of Killing Smile, seeing them standing side by side again after seven years was enough to make their hearts pound.

[No matter how I look at it, you two seem perfect together. Are you really not involved? You don't have to tell anyone else. Just whisper it to me.]

A faint smile tugged at Derek's handsome features as he glanced at Natalie.

[Well... Natalie is an incredibly beautiful and remarkable woman. But she's the wrong genre for me. Nobody watches a coming of age movie and falls in love, do they?]

Jerry gasped dramatically.

[Wow. Calling Natalie Kassen a coming of age movie. Natalie, doesn't that offend you as a woman?]

[Not at all. I'd be grateful to be a coming of age movie. To me, Derek is a horror film.]

Hahaha—!

The audience burst into laughter at her immediate counterattack.

Natalie had spent years recounting stories on talk shows about how relentlessly Derek had pushed her during the filming of Killing Smile.

With the introductions complete, the assignment performances finally began.

The fifty teams had been given twenty five scripts.

The two teams assigned the same script would perform consecutively.

After each team's performance, the judges would discuss and evaluate it.

Then both teams sharing the script would be called back together for a direct comparison and overall critique.

{They really put a lot of thought into this. Looks like they wanted to keep the format from getting boring.}

They did. Though putting the teams side by side like that is pretty brutal.

{Makes for better television.}

That much was certainly true.

The very first team ended with one member in tears.

[I'm honestly not sure whether you even read the script properly. Under the excuse of offering your own interpretation, didn't you completely ignore the situation and emotions the writer intended?]

[That's not what happened...]

Eva Dobransky mercilessly attacked the gap between the script and the performance.

Listening to her heated criticism, Yu Myeong found himself forming a theory.

I bet all the scripts for the main competition assignment were written by Eva.

{Feels that way. We've already seen ten teams perform five different scripts, and they all share the same sort of signature style.}

And she's unusually sensitive about people distorting the intent of the work or altering dialogue.

Interpretation and arbitrary alteration were not the same thing.

Building a character's personality, speech patterns, and underlying intentions within the framework of the script was interpretation.

Just as Yu Myeong and Ryu Shin had developed completely different interpretations from the same Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde script.

But changing things simply to make oneself stand out rather than serve the play naturally damaged the quality of the entire production.

Exactly what was happening to the actor currently being torn apart onstage.

[This is acting before it's an audition. Even an ordinary role can earn plenty of points if it's performed faithfully. Yet you chose to have a woman shopping for groceries enter while performing jazz dance. You knew it didn't make sense, didn't you?]

Then came Natalie Kassen's calm but ruthless criticism.

Apparently that actress had been deeply dissatisfied with her casting.

She had likely decided that her ordinary role offered no opportunity to stand out and had forced her specialty—jazz dance—into the performance.

Natalie then called over the team's leader.

[Surely you realized this was a terrible idea?]

[She kept insisting that if nobody was going to change her role, we should just leave her alone, so...]

[Would you have put this performance onstage if people had paid money to see it?]

[......]

[Exactly. You're also a contestant, not a professional director. We don't expect perfect leadership from someone leading a team assembled overnight. But you should have tried harder to persuade her. And if that failed, you should have asked the production staff for help.]

[Uh... but you were watching the whole time and didn't intervene...]

[Because those were our instructions. If a contestant's behavior becomes disruptive, we only step in when someone requests assistance from the production team.]

The surrounding contestants looked stunned.

[There were two teams where that happened. Contestants who refused casting assignments and stubbornly insisted on their own way. Production staff stepped in to persuade—or force—them. If your performance clearly shouldn't have gone onstage and you simply decided, "Well, I've done all I can," then the team leader and every member of the team approached this production carelessly.]

Under Natalie's stern rebuke, the entire team finally lowered their heads.

Then it was Derek's turn.

The moment he picked up the microphone, tension spread through the audience.

The contestants from the East Coast, in particular, looked noticeably nervous.