Rookie Talent Agent Knows It All-Chapter 569: BiHyungRang (2)

On the arched wooden bridge in the bamboo grove, Miso, dressed as Princess Yu-Hwa, held a small porcelain bowl filled with buckwheat porridge favored by goblins and called out.

『Bandi! Bandi! Do you know where the goblin is?』

Miso's clear voice overcame the sound of the creek flowing under the bridge and rang out vividly. After scanning around, Miso repeatedly called for the firefly she had met before.

『Bandi isn't coming... Sigh~ I really wanted to give this to the goblin today!』

Miso puffed out her cheeks and grumbled. Her naturally adorable expression made me smile involuntarily.

At that moment, Oh Bok-Hee gave a hand signal.

Han Woo-Hyuk, who had been standing outside the camera frame, slowly started walking into it. Emerging from the bamboo grove, he still held a daegeum in one hand and moved slowly toward the wooden bridge.

Then, an astonishing sight began to unfold.

'What... is that?'

Something felt off about Han Woo-Hyuk's slow movements. Though his waist-length hair and white silk robe fluttered, his upper body hardly moved at all. Maybe because of this, it looked like a ghost without feet was gliding across.

Perhaps because he was cast as a non-human goblin, Han Woo-Hyuk had secretly mastered a peculiar way of walking.

Han Woo-Hyuk glided onto the wooden bridge and silently stopped behind Miso.

『Why did you call for me?』

Although his voice was low-toned, it was clearly audible thanks to his articulate diction. Moreover, fitting his character as an immortal goblin indifferent to human affairs, he wore a languid and bored expression.

'The atmosphere and the voice projection... he's no joke.'

I finally understood why Oh Bok-Hee had said I would be amazed by Han Woo-Hyuk's acting. Making a strong impression with just a single appearance was something only few actors could easily pull off.

At that moment, Miso turned around. Her eyes widened as she tilted her head curiously.

『There's a nice scent... Are you perhaps the goblin?』

『Yes. I am the goblin.』

Miso beamed and carefully offered the buckwheat porridge she had brought.

『Please try this! My mom said goblins like buckwheat porridge, so I brought it for you.』

Han Woo-Hyuk looked down at Miso with a weary expression. However, the corners of his mouth subtly lifted.

『Did you call me so desperately just to give me a mere bowl of porridge?』

Miso's eyes widened as if she had just heard something outrageous.

『Mere? Eating is really important!』

『You're right. Eating is important. Hahaha.』

Han Woo-Hyuk finally chuckled and accepted the buckwheat porridge that Miso handed over.

But just then, he set the bowl of porridge down on the railing and slowly closed and opened his eyes. Suddenly, the kindly expression he had shown Miso vanished without a trace, replaced by a chilling air of hostility.

『But child, rats have followed us.』

『Huh?』

『Nevermind. Why don't you just rest for a moment.』

Han Woo-Hyuk gently placed his left index finger on Miso's forehead. At that moment, Miso closed her eyes and relaxed her body before collapsing on the spot. In an instant, Han Woo-Hyuk reached out with his left hand and caught her.

Since Miso had suddenly gone limp, she could have been hurt if he had hesitated. Fortunately, thanks to the prior warning, there was no issue.

Holding Miso in his arms, Han Woo-Hyuk shouted toward the pine forest on the opposite side of the bamboo grove.

『Come out, you jackals.』

In Hwaranjeon, the goblin BiHyungRang was portrayed as the proxy of the heavenly gods and the guardian of all living things, hence uninterested in human affairs. However, BiHyungRang only showed passion, both love and hatred, toward Princess Yu-Hwa and the Second Queen, becoming a completely different being.

Thus, Han Woo-Hyuk transformed into the rampaging BiHyungRang and emitted thick waves of fury.

When Oh Bok-Hee raised her hand, seven men dressed in black suddenly sprang out from the opposite pine forest. Each man wore a black mask and wielded a blackened sword that wouldn't reflect light.

『That guy's the goblin!』

『Kill him first, then get rid of Princess Yu-Hwa.』

『Don't forget to make it look like the goblin killed the princess!』

As the man at the front shouted, the others in black echoed together.

『We accept the command!』

At that moment, the seven men simultaneously charged at Han Woo-Hyuk. Han Woo-Hyuk grabbed the body of his daegeum and shouted.

『Stop, you vermin!』

Thud.

The seven men froze in place with their swords drawn. As if their feet were glued to the ground, they couldn't move and only swayed their upper bodies.

Watching them, Han Woo-Hyuk asked in a chilling voice.

『Who sent you?』

The seven men spat on the ground all at once. When Han Woo-Hyuk smirked and snapped his fingers, the seven men began to writhe and scream in agony.

『Aaargh!』

『Grrrgh.』

『He is...using... sorcery...』

Though the men screamed in pain, Han Woo-Hyuk looked down on them with a blank expression as if gazing at insects.

Eventually, the men cried out.

『P-Please... spare us...』

Han Woo-Hyuk lowered his daegeum. Instantly, the seven men simultaneously dropped to their knees.

Thud.

They gasped for breath, relief washing over their faces.

『I will ask once more. Who sent you?』

Then, the man at the front barely managed to open his mouth.

『The... Second... Queen...』

At that moment, Han Woo-Hyuk clicked his tongue.

『So the chain of fate has finally begun to turn.』

His sorrowful face showed a mixture of complex emotions—regret, resentment, anger, and even sorrow.

After staring blankly into the air for a while, Han Woo-Hyuk shouted toward the seven men.

『I will not take your lives. But you will lose your memories of this place and become fools... Go now. And forget everything!』

As soon as the command fell, the seven stuntmen stood up with vacant expressions. Then, like zombies, they began to stagger off in all directions.

But after a short moment, Han Woo-Hyuk suddenly clutched his chest with his right hand and started to stagger. Then he began to scream in pain.

『Grrrgh...』

Han Woo-Hyuk twisted his body and bit down hard on his lips. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and his face contorted in agony as if he were being tortured. Even while showing such horrifying pain, he never loosened the left arm holding Miso.

Trembling violently, Han Woo-Hyuk finally fell to his knees.

Thud.

Han Woo-Hyuk looked up at the sky with resentful eyes and shouted.

『O heavenly gods... Is this your punishment for interfering in human affairs? This child is the one I have sworn to protect! Grrgh...』

In Hwaranjeon, BiHyungRang, as a proxy of the heavenly gods, was the balancer of all living things. He could control wind and rain and use various spells. However, if he revealed himself in the human world and directly harmed humans, he incurred the wrath of the heavenly gods and temporarily lost his powers.

Thus, BiHyungRang never interfered with human matters except when it concerned the Second Queen and Princess Yu-Hwa, his sworn charges, in which case he broke the rules.

As if cursing his fate, Han Woo-Hyuk poured his resentment toward the sky.

And just like that, Han Woo-Hyuk's breathtaking performance revealing the goblin's fatal weakness was concluded.

Thanks to Han Woo-Hyuk's phenomenal acting, even after the scene ended, the entire set remained engulfed in silence.

***

"Cut~~~!!! Okay, that's a wrap!"

As Oh Bok-Hee shouted Okay, Han Woo-Hyuk, gasped for breath and gently laid Miso down on the ground. Then he collapsed onto the floor, completely drained.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Even while delivering such intense and breath-heavy acting, Han Woo-Hyuk never lost control. Not even when Miso suddenly went limp and collapsed.

As the staff finally snapped out of their daze, they erupted into cheers at Han Woo-Hyuk's incredible performance.

"Wow~ Mr. Woo-Hyuk, seriously. That was even better than earlier!"

"His aura was insane!"

"Whoa... seriously. I got goosebumps~"

Gasping for breath, Han Woo-Hyuk bowed to the staff.

Miso, who had been pretending to be unconscious, opened her big eyes and gave a huge thumbs-up. "Goblin uncle, you were the best!"

At that moment, I shouted toward Lee Yung-Jin. "Yung-Jin!"

"Yes! Mr. Jung!"

Because Han Woo-Hyuk put his whole soul into the acting, he ended up bleeding. Yang So-Ri quickly followed with a first aid kit to assess the situation.

Fortunately, the signal came back that it wasn't a deep wound. Only then could I finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Oh Bok-Hee, after finishing the monitoring, turned her head toward me. Her face was flushed with excitement.

"Mr. Jung, how was it? He is amazing, right?"

Han Woo-Hyuk had always been a talented actor, but he had truly improved by leaps and bounds since the last time I saw him.

I nodded and said, "Yes. He was truly incredible."

"By the way, Mr. Jung, what do you do to these actors? Every time you touch them, monsters pop out!"

I felt an urge to run across the bamboo forest shouting, 'I'm a regressor!' But since I couldn't, I shamelessly answered.

"Just... lucky, I guess?"

Oh Bok-Hee looked at me with eyes saying, 'Don't even try that nonsense.'

"Tch. Always dodging. Anyway, today's atmosphere is really good, so can we keep going? I was hoping to shoot the ending scene of Episode 5 too..."

The ending scene of Episode 5 was when the grown-up Princess Yu-Hwa met the goblin, and the First Princess, Jeong-Hwa, tried to capture him.

However, I was worried about Han Woo-Hyuk's condition. Although he had gotten much better thanks to Kim Soo-Myung, his stamina was still less than half that of an average person. Moreover, after putting his soul into acting earlier, he definitely wouldn't be in normal condition.

At that moment, I locked eyes with Han Woo-Hyuk, who was leaning against the bridge railing. Sensing what Oh Bok-Hee and I were discussing, Han Woo-Hyuk sent a signal that he could keep acting.

Nevertheless, I couldn't trust that he was really okay. Actors, flooded with adrenaline, often didn't realize their own exhaustion while immersed in acting.

Eventually, I decided to check personally and said to Oh Bok-Hee, "Can I give you an answer after checking Mr. Woo-Hyuk's condition first?"

"Hmm. Alright. Then we'll start filming Miss Yoo-Jin and Han Sang-Hee's scene first... Let me know if he's good to go."

"Yes, ma'am."

While Oh Bok-Hee instructed the crew via walkie-talkie to prepare the next scene, I hurried over to Han Woo-Hyuk.

Han Woo-Hyuk, who had been catching his breath leaning on the bridge, braced himself and stood up. "Mr. Jung. I can do it."

Han Woo-Hyuk's legs were trembling. The moment I saw that, I decided it was enough. His spirit was strong, but his body could no longer keep up.

"You're exhausted, aren't you?"

"This kind of exhaustion... everyone deals with it, right?"

"I know you're so drained your body won't move properly. Let's call it a day."

Han Woo-Hyuk pleaded earnestly, asking for just one more chance. "Mr. Jung. Please... Can I film just one more scene? I don't want to lose the feeling I just had."

I hesitated for a moment, as it was a hard decision to make.

'What should I do...'

But a capable talent agent was someone who could fulfill an actor's wishes no matter what. I decided to grant his request with conditions.

"Then will you do exactly as I say from now on?"

Han Woo-Hyuk's face brightened. "Of course. If you let me, I'll do anything."

"Alright. Then let's head to the waiting tent first."

"Huh? I thought if I did as you said, I could film more..."

"You'll understand when we get there."

Supporting Han Woo-Hyuk, I told Lee Yung-Jin,

"Yung-Jin, stay here and look after Yoo-Jin. Tell Mrs. Oh we'll resume filming in thirty minutes."

"Yes, Mr. Jung."

After giving instructions, we headed to the waiting tent.

At that moment, Miso stuck herself to Han Woo-Hyuk's left side and helped support him. "Heave-ho! Goblin uncle, lean on me! I'm strong!"

As Miso placed Han Woo-Hyuk's hand on her shoulder, he had no choice but to rest his hand there too, and together we made our way to the waiting tent.

***

Inside the waiting tent, I laid Han Woo-Hyuk down on the prepared field bed.

After covering him with a thick blanket, Han Woo-Hyuk tilted his head questioningly. "Mr. Jung, what are you planning to do?"

"Just close your eyes and stay still for a moment."

Before the regression, I had learned various ways to take care of actors' conditions during grueling filming schedules. Now it was time to revive that knowledge.

First, what he needed was high-calorie food and drinks, and items to maintain body temperature.

I pulled a hot pack from the supplies in the waiting tent and slipped it under the blanket. Since the temperature outside was minus five degrees, it was easy to lose stamina.

At that moment, Miso looked up at me with her bright, twinkling eyes. It was clear she wanted to help somehow.

"Uncle Yoon-Ho, what can I do to help?"

After thinking for a moment, I asked Miso to do something she could handle. "Hmm. Miso, could you bring the porridge from the warmer over there?"

Inside the waiting tent, there was a large warmer maintaining a temperature of about forty degrees. I had placed squeezable porridge packs and drinks inside that warmer.

"Okay~!"

Miso eagerly ran off and brought back the porridge.

Wearing thick gloves, Miso handed me the porridge and said, "Uncle Yoon-Ho, here's the food! It's goblin food!"

"Goblin food?"

Miso shouted in embarrassment. "No, no, not that. I meant Goblin uncle's food. I mean... Uncle Woo-Hyuk's food."

At that moment, Han Woo-Hyuk, who had been resting with his eyes closed, smiled and said, "Sounds like goblin food to me, Mr. Jung."

"I agree."

I chuckled and accepted the squeezable porridge from Miso.

"Thanks, Miso."

"Hehe~ You're welcome~"

As Miso giggled, a smile appeared even on the exhausted Han Woo-Hyuk's face. As always, I felt Miso was a natural vitamin.

I opened the cap of the porridge and brought it to Han Woo-Hyuk's mouth. "Here you go. It's goblin food."

Han Woo-Hyuk took the pouch with both hands and squeezed it into his mouth.

"Alright. That should be enough."

When I told him to stop after just two squeezes, Han Woo-Hyuk tilted his head in confusion. "Huh? Just this much?"

"Yes. You'll have something else for real."

Feeding him the porridge twice was just to protect his stomach lining. After retrieving the pouch, I pulled out a red tin from the fridge, resembling a shoe polish case. It was a Schokakola.

Schokakola was a German chocolate containing coffee and cola nut extract. Since it had several times more caffeine than an energy drink, it could instantly jolt someone awake.

"Please eat this."

"This...?"

"Yes. Just one piece will do."

Han Woo-Hyuk broke off one of the six segments of the Schokakola and popped it into his mouth, immediately grimacing.

"Ugh, why is this so bitter... Urgh."

"That's the proper strong flavor. Don't chew it and just let it melt."

Han Woo-Hyuk nodded, pulling a miserable face. Gradually, color began to return to his face.

"Phew... I feel wide awake. So now, are we heading to shoot the next scene?"

I grinned and answered, "No, there's one last thing we need to do."

It was finally time to cast the last magic spell to fully boost Han Woo-Hyuk's condition.

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