Chapter 142: Invincible Joseon (2)
It was thirty minutes after arriving at the hospital before Jung Pil-gyu and his family finally greeted Kim Si-woo.
Jung Pil-gyu’s parents, who had been quietly waiting in the back, noticed him and asked their son about the stranger.
When Jung Pil-gyu explained, his eyes widened in shock before he quickly introduced Kim Si-woo to the family.
“Father, Mother, Father-in-law, Mother-in-law—this is Writer Kim Si-woo. He’s the benefactor who gave me this opportunity. In the film and drama industry, there’s hardly anyone who doesn’t know his name.”
“Oh my… so this is the…”
The family, having heard about him before, welcomed Kim Si-woo with bright, grateful faces.
“Oh my, thank you so much. How can we ever repay this kindness…”
Especially Jung Pil-gyu’s parents tightly held Kim Si-woo’s hands and bowed repeatedly.
While the situation wasn’t bad, Kim Si-woo felt a little overwhelmed.
“No, no—it’s all because Actor Jung Pil-gyu is so talented. I don’t cast people who don’t have the skill.”
“Still… just bringing him here today is already more than enough…”
“I just did what needed to be done.”
Kim Si-woo gave the classic, humble response one uses in these kinds of moments.
Naturally, he soon found himself surrounded by the family, receiving endless thanks and questions about how Jung Pil-gyu was doing on set.
“Is our son doing well on the set?”
“Yes, even the veteran actors are keeping an eye on him—he’s that good.”
“Our boy may look big and tough, but he’s actually soft-hearted and cries easily. Please take good care of him, Writer-nim.”
“But now that he’s about to become a father, he’ll get stronger.”
For a moment, Kim Si-woo was dumbfounded—Jung Pil-gyu, who was five or six years older than him, was being treated like a child.
‘I’m five or six years younger than Actor Jung Pil-gyu, yet…’
Feeling embarrassed, Jung Pil-gyu quickly pulled his parents and in-laws away from Kim Si-woo.
“I’m so sorry, Writer-nim. My family is… overly protective.”
“It’s fine. Anyway, looks like the delivery went well.”
“Huh?”
When Kim Si-woo pointed behind them, the light above the delivery room had turned off.
“Uh… uh…”
“Then please give my regards to your wife. I’ll contact you separately when it’s time to return to set. Until then, stay by her side.”
A short while later, the doctor came out and announced that both mother and baby were safe, then called Jung Pil-gyu inside.
Kim Si-woo quietly left and returned to the filming location.
***
When Kim Si-woo arrived back at the set, everyone looked at him with curious eyes.
“Both mother and baby are safe. I didn’t hear whether it’s a boy or a girl, so anyone curious can visit separately later.”
At his words, everyone let out relieved sighs.
“That’s a relief.”
Especially Choi Seung-yong, who was close to Jung Pil-gyu and knew his wife personally, had been more tense than most.
“By the way, where are the kids?”
Upon returning, Kim Si-woo looked around for the children who were nowhere to be seen.
“Ah, the little ones? They’re sleeping in my car right now.”
Shim Ji-young answered on their behalf.
“Ah… thank you, noona. For taking care of them.”
“What’s there to thank? Soo-hyuk is Soo-yeon’s little brother, and Da-on listens well anyway. More importantly—do you have time after we wrap today?”
“Huh? Uh… yeah, I’ve got time.”
“Then let’s talk.”
“Ah… sure. But since I’m living with the kids for a while… could we talk at my place?”
“Sure.”
Shim Ji-young inwardly cheered at the thought of going to Kim Si-woo’s house.
“Alright! Let’s get back to shooting!”
Suddenly full of energy, Shim Ji-young began hurrying the actors along.
The rest of the cast and crew started moving too.
Her influence on set was just that strong—almost as powerful as the director’s.
“Haa…”
Of course, seeing her like this, Choi Seung-yong and a few others let out quiet sighs.
They all knew how exhausting it was to act opposite a fired-up Shim Ji-young.
“Today’s gonna be brutal.”
“No kidding.”
A genius like Shim Ji-young could perform at full strength even on an average day, forcing everyone else to give 100% every single take.
Otherwise, the difference in acting level would be painfully obvious on screen.
And now that genius was fully ignited and giving everything she had for every shot?
To the other actors, this was nothing short of a disaster.
Sometimes her performance was so immersive that it left her co-stars dazed and completely outmatched.
“Come on, come on—hurry up and get to your places!”
Whether she knew how the others felt or not, Shim Ji-young was the only one enthusiastically pushing everyone forward.
One hour later…
Just as the actors and Director Park Se-yong had predicted, everyone was drenched in sweat after each take, letting out heavy breaths.
“Phew… why is today so intense?”
“If only it were just other sunbaes here today…”
Choi Seung-yong found himself particularly missing the veteran actors today.
At least if they had been here, they might have been able to rein in Shim Ji-young.
Unfortunately, none of those sunbaes were on set today.
“Um… sunbae-nim. Should I try asking once?”
“What? Who? Director Park Se-yong? Forget it… Honestly, the more fired up Shim Ji-young gets, the better the movie turns out. The director’s probably thrilled.”
“No, not the director… There’s one other person who can control Ji-young sunbae.”
“Huh? Uh…?”
In that instant, Choi Seung-yong’s gaze landed on Kim Si-woo.
‘Right… now that I think about it, if it’s Writer Kim Si-woo…’
From everything he’d observed so far, Kim Si-woo just might be able to pull it off.
“Jun-ho-ya.”
“Yes, sunbae-nim.”
“Can you do it?”
“Well…”
“Alright, go. Park Jun-ho, you’re the one who’s going to save the actors.”
“Yes, sunbae-nim.”
And so Park Jun-ho confidently approached Kim Si-woo.
“Uh… Writer-nim.”
“Ah! Yes.”
When Kim Si-woo turned at Park Jun-ho’s call, Park Jun-ho spoke with a slightly awkward expression.
“Um… I’m really sorry to ask, but could I make one request?”
“Go ahead.”
“It’s just that… Ji-young sunbae is working so hard that the other actors are really struggling. But there’s no one who can rein her in… Could you maybe talk to her a little?”
“Uh… is this something the director agrees with?”
“Huh?”
“Then I’ll go ask the director.”
“Ah… no, wait a second!”
Despite Park Jun-ho’s urgent voice, Kim Si-woo walked over to Park Se-yong and explained the situation from earlier.
A short while later, for the first time on set, Director Park Se-yong’s voice boomed out loudly.
“Who the hell is it?!”
At his shout, the actors and staff instantly fell silent.
Everyone except Kim Si-woo, Shim Ji-young, and Kim Ji-hyun.
The atmosphere on set turned tense in an instant—Park Se-yong almost never raised his voice.
“What? You want me to take it easy on the acting? You want this movie to flop? If your performance is lacking, you should be thinking about practicing more—not asking me to go easy!”
At Park Se-yong’s sharp reprimand, Park Jun-ho and most of the actors wore expressions that screamed, “We’re done for.”
“Jun-ho-ya, what happened?”
“It’s not wrong, so…”
Park Se-yong’s words were actually correct.
At some point, everyone had gotten too comfortable, thinking things were going smoothly—and had started slacking off without realizing it.
Park Jun-ho suddenly seemed to snap back to reality. He slapped his own cheek with full force.
“Get it together, Park Jun-ho! Have you caught the celebrity disease? Huh?!”
When Park Jun-ho suddenly shouted and hit himself, Choi Seung-yong, standing beside him, panicked.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Sunbae-nim… I’m just going to work hard from now on. My thinking was too shallow. I think I went crazy for a moment because things felt too comfortable.”
“What?”
Starting with Park Jun-ho, a few other actors began recalling their own tough early days and reigniting their determination.
“Hey, now that you’re making a living, is acting suddenly easy to you?”
“I’m sorry.”
And at that moment, Park Jun-ho was getting thoroughly scolded by Shim Ji-young in real time.
“If you just want to make a mediocre movie, then leave. I’ll even use my own money to bring in another actor.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You think I cast you so you could perform like this? I cast you because I saw you give everything for your acting in <Gangster Detective>.”
“I’m sorry.”
Every single one of Shim Ji-young’s words pierced Park Jun-ho’s heart.
They were all undeniably true, and Park Jun-ho was too ashamed to lift his head.
The other actors overhearing the conversation felt exactly the same.
Had they really been giving their all?
Was it really okay to be satisfied with this level of performance?
Was this really the kind of actor they had dreamed of becoming?
Overwhelmed by these thoughts, the actors began apologizing one after another.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry.”
Before long, the entire set was filled with the sound of actors saying “I’m sorry.”
“Now this is more like it… I wasn’t satisfied at all before…”
Shim Ji-young wore a satisfied expression. Soon after, Director Park Se-yong shouted to the staff.
“You guys too—give it everything you’ve got. Got it?”
“Yes! Understood, Director!”
With even the staff fired up, the set felt like it was blazing with energy.
Filming ended up running much longer than expected and only wrapped at 11 p.m.
“It took longer than I thought. I’m heading to Si-woo’s place today, so you guys can head out first.”
“Yes!”
Shim Ji-young sent her manager home early, then walked over to Kim Si-woo.
There, she found Kim Si-woo receiving goodbyes from the crew while two children slept leaning against him.
“What is this… Anyone who saw would think you’re the father of two kids.”
“Father? Let’s keep it at uncle level, please.”
“Do you like kids?”
“No.”
“Then how come they follow you so well?”
“Well… these two are just really well-behaved kids.”
“Is it something else?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely different.”
“Hmm… Anyway, let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Kim Si-woo gently woke the sleeping children.
“Hey, kids. Time to go home.”
“Mmm… okay.”
He took their hands and headed toward the car.
Shim Ji-young sat in the passenger seat, while the kids climbed into the back.
“Alright, we’re off.”
On the drive home, Kim Si-woo brought up Kim Ji-hyun, who had been unusually quiet today.
“Ji-hyun-ssi seems really quiet today. Normally she’d have tagged along.”
“Ah… she’ll probably say let’s talk tomorrow. That’s just how she is.”
“Why?”
“Because I won rock-paper-scissors.”
“Ah…”
As they got closer to the house, Shim Ji-young started frowning, sensing something off.
“Where are we going?”
“Hm? Home.”
“This isn’t the way to your house, is it?”
“Ah… I moved.”
“What? When?”
“Uh… it’s been a little while.”
Shim Ji-young raised her voice in surprise upon hearing that Kim Si-woo had moved.
“What?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”
“The kids will wake up…”
“Ah… sorry. So… who else knows besides me?”
“My parents, Yoo-jin, and Soo-yeon? Yoo-jin found out at the office, and Soo-yeon probably figured it out when I told her I was keeping Soo-hyuk for a few days.”
“Who’s been over?”
Shim Ji-young asked urgently.
“Just my parents and these two little ones.”
“Huh? Then… I’m the first woman to visit?”
“Well… yeah?”
“Then it’s fine. I’ll forgive you for keeping the move a secret.”
Kim Si-woo didn’t quite understand why he was the one being forgiven, but he decided to let it slide—good things were good things.
“We’re here.”
When the car pulled up in front of the house, Shim Ji-young stared blankly at the unexpectedly impressive residence.
“It’s way bigger than I thought. How much did it cost?”
“10 billion won.”
“10 billion?”
Even for a top actress like Shim Ji-young, 10 billion won was no small amount.
“I might live here for the rest of my life. And it’ll probably go up in value. It was built by a famous architect couple who had to sell it urgently.”
“Ah…”
“Let’s go inside.”
Kim Si-woo woke the kids again and led everyone into the house.
“Both of you, shower quickly and go to bed. Brush your teeth properly.”
“Yes~.”
As the children headed off to their respective bathrooms, Kim Si-woo sat at the dining table, looked at Shim Ji-young, and asked,
“So… what did you want to talk about?”
“Um… well… how about a light drink first?”
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TL Note:
This novel is now translated and finished at Chapter 176
If you’d like to continue right away, the remaining chapters are available on My Patreon Premium tier and Plus Tier, but if you want to read my other 5 translated novels, join the Premium Tier
Link: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Vritratls
For this novel specifically, check the collection under “Genius Writer”
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