I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 215

Park Cheol-gyu, a giant in an ‘OTL’ pose [a kneeling posture with head down], and Kang Woo-jin, looking down at him with a cold face. The dozens of onlookers were silent. The action school fell into a pit of silence for a brief moment. But Kang Woo-jin’s cynical expression didn’t waver.

He was just calm and collected. There was no sign of panic.

At this moment, the martial arts director of ‘The Righteous Evil,’ with a hardened face, looked at Kang Woo-jin and was convinced.

‘Indeed—it wasn’t a mistake. It’s a situation he created on purpose.’

Wrong. It was a clear mistake. As proof, Woo-jin, whose mind had momentarily frozen, was blaming himself. Looking at the exposed silhouette of Park Cheol-gyu’s butt.

‘I’m going crazy. What is this… Ah—should I at least pull up his pants??’

Conversely, the martial arts director was confidently walking in, under the illusion of conviction. Because he had no idea what Woo-jin was thinking.

It was generally a natural flow.

It was a very absurd scene, but Kang Woo-jin’s martial arts were so precise and smooth up to this point. Even though Park Cheol-gyu’s movements had gone wrong. But the finish of the pose was exactly the same as the storyboard.

Except for Park Cheol-gyu’s pants being down.

In the end, the beginning and end of the previous action scene were the same as the storyboard. Only the process in between was changed by Kang Woo-jin. Then there was only one answer.

‘Woo-jin guided it?’

He used the misaligned movements in reverse.

‘He even lowered his opponent’s pants to block his movements, making it a more ‘Jang Yeon-woo’ like performance from ‘The Righteous Evil’ than the existing martial arts storyboard.’

The scene was professional yet added a bit of levity, reducing the seriousness, and had the effect of making the protagonist of ‘The Righteous Evil,’ who is portrayed as a true villain, several times more distinct.

The problem was.

‘How on earth in that short moment…’

It was Kang Woo-jin’s ability to grasp martial arts. Or, should it be called martial arts improvisation? It was a short moment, but the technique itself was flawless. But was his understanding of martial arts also that broad? Otherwise, such a creative movement could not have been produced in that instant.

To lower pants to block movement.

The martial arts director looked at Woo-jin and was genuinely impressed.

‘Wha, what is he really? Is he really… a genius among geniuses or something?’

To be precise, it was admiration caused by a misunderstanding.

How could an actor be more amazing than a staff member who had trained in martial arts? Then the martial arts director flinched. It was amazing, but he wondered why Kang Woo-jin, who was demonstrating martial arts for the first time today, had done such a thing.

Around this time, the martial arts director suddenly recalled Park Cheol-gyu’s mistakes.

The first was that he didn’t fall as planned, and the second was a small but definite misaligned movement. It would have been difficult to notice if it wasn’t for Kang Woo-jin.

“Could it be—that crazy Park Cheol-gyu.”

At that moment, the martial arts director seemed to realize something, and he glanced at the martial arts team members in the back. After seeing some of their guilty faces, he became more convinced of his suspicion.

‘What kind of place is this to be playing such pranks!!!’

He quickly ran to where the martial arts team members were gathered. On the other hand, Song Man-woo PD, a big shot in the drama industry, remained still, maintaining the interest and sparkle in his eyes.

He was only looking at Kang Woo-jin and reviewing the martial arts movements he had shown.

‘Amazing, it was amazing. Just like ‘Jang Yeon-woo’ himself. Did Woo-jin come up with it himself? I don’t know the situation before and after, but anyway, it’s amazing. Haha, Kang totem [a nickname for Kang Woo-jin] really surprises people every time.’

He, too, was caught in a misunderstanding, regardless of being a big shot or not. No, Song Man-woo PD was the original source of the misunderstanding.

Then, Park Cheol-gyu, the giant in the ‘OTL’ pose, twitched.

He was just spacing out, regardless of his ridiculous pose. His mind was confused.

‘Why am I like this? How did this happen?’

In fact, Park Cheol-gyu had intended to stop at the first prank. It had worked well, too. That was the limit. But a little curiosity caused a disaster. He wondered what Kang Woo-jin would do if he slightly twisted his waist, but when he came to his senses, his pants were off and he was on the ground in an OTL pose.

The section where he twisted his waist was a very small movement. Of course, it was intentional.

‘He, he noticed it in that short moment?’

From then on, Park Cheol-gyu had been genuinely trying his best in martial arts. But what was the result? This huge body had collapsed endlessly. And the final pose was the same as the storyboard.

In other words, Kang Woo-jin had used Park Cheol-gyu.

That was Park Cheol-gyu’s conclusion.

‘Wait… he said it was his first time doing action??’

Park Cheol-gyu had been in the field for nearly 10 years. He was somewhat known, and his foundation as the martial arts director’s right-hand man was solid. Well, he had shown the end of a conceited person now.

At this time.

-Swish.

Woo-jin slowly extended his hand to the fallen Park Cheol-gyu. Followed by a low voice.

“It wasn’t intentional.”

For now, he maintained the persona he had been keeping, but inside, he desperately wanted to pull up Park Cheol-gyu’s pants.

‘Ha—I’m really sorry. The pants, the pants. I need to pull up his pants first.’

Fortunately, Park Cheol-gyu.

“······”

Silently got up and started to pull up his pants. Soon, it was the moment when Kang Woo-jin was about to apologize.

“Hey!! Park Cheol-gyu!!”

The martial arts director, mixed in with the martial arts team in the back, called out to the giant Park Cheol-gyu.

“You, come here!!”

He was very agitated. No, he was furious. Woo-jin wondered what was going on, but behind the scenes, things were moving quite rapidly. The called Park Cheol-gyu was being questioned by the angry martial arts director, and Song Man-woo PD, who had been interested, also joined in and started talking.

Woo-jin, left alone, had no idea what was going on.

‘What is it? What’s happening?’

So he decided to just stay still. But the situation did not calm down. Soon, even Choi Sung-gun with the ponytail joined the group. Strangely, Song Man-woo PD, the martial arts director, and the martial arts team, except for Park Cheol-gyu, were bowing their heads deeply to Choi Sung-gun, who had narrowed his brows.

Kang Woo-jin was slightly confused.

Wait, aren’t I the one who should be apologizing?

Then, the dozens of staff members gathered at the action school began to murmur, and Kang Woo-jin tilted his head in confusion. Soon, Song Man-woo PD, the martial arts director, and Choi Sung-gun approached him. First, Song Man-woo PD with the beard apologized politely.

“I’m sorry, Woo-jin.”

Next was the martial arts director.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for not managing things properly.”

What? Why are they suddenly doing this? Woo-jin had no idea why. I was the one who took off his pants, so why am I receiving an apology? Things were going strangely. In times like this, silence is the answer.

“······”

At this, Choi Sung-gun, who sighed, whispered to Woo-jin.

“Why didn’t you teach him a lesson more thoroughly?”

Just as Woo-jin was about to ask, ‘Who?’, Choi Sung-gun explained the whole situation. About 5 minutes. A prank? They played a prank on me? In what part? According to what he heard, Park Cheol-gyu had intentionally pretended to make a mistake.

Then, the martial arts director bowed to Woo-jin again.

“I’m sorry, Woo-jin. I will replace all the staff, including that Park Cheol-gyu. If you want, we can even bring in a team from outside. It’s my responsibility.”

Song Man-woo PD let out a long sigh and continued seriously.

“If it wasn’t for Woo-jin, no one would have noticed the second cut [a second, subtle mistake].”

Choi Sung-gun with the ponytail added.

“Woo-jin, you knew about it, right? Since when? From the beginning?”

“······”

A thick smell of misunderstanding wafted around. This familiar scent. Woo-jin lowered his voice.

“Yes, roughly.”

Soon, the martial arts director apologized several times and then ran back to the martial arts team members, and Song Man-woo PD, who was left, recalled Park Cheol-gyu’s OTL pose and whispered to the calm Woo-jin.

“But how did you come up with that idea in that short moment? I think I would have just gotten angry.”

“I think ‘Jang Yeon-woo’ would have done that.”

“······”

A faint smile spread across Song Man-woo PD’s lips.

“How about inserting that last martial arts movement of taking off the pants into ‘The Righteous Evil’?”

At this time, in Japan.

Japanese media was in full swing with publicity about a movie.

『[Official]「Strange Geisha」 has started』

It was the movie ‘Strange Geisha.’ It seemed to be calming down a bit, but it was noisy again.

The reason was simple.

『Director Tanoguchi Kyotaro’s 「Strange Sacrifice of a Stranger」, filming confirmed for the 21st』

A few days ago, ‘Strange Geisha’ announced its official position regarding the start of filming. Not only that. They released information about the first filming location and other things.

『In the end, the first filming location for 「Strange Geisha」 is Inefunaya Village』

Since it was originally a movie like a blast furnace [a very intense and attention-grabbing movie], the articles about ‘Strange Geisha’ quickly took over the main pages. And along with that, Kang Woo-jin’s name also rose rapidly. He was already hot because of the advertising model deal with the Japanese conglomerate ‘Kashihi Group,’ but as ‘Strange Geisha’ became hot again, mentions of him increased again.

『Kashihi Group’s advertising model issue 「Kang Woo-jin」, what kind of acting will he show in ‘Strange Geisha’?』

『Kang Woo-jin, who is back in the spotlight with 「Strange Geisha」, is still in the Netflix rankings with ‘The Playboy’ and ‘My Best Friend’』

The public opinion in Japan was extreme. Praises including Kang Woo-jin’s Japanese fan club.

-The long-awaited Strange Geisha is starting filming! I support Kang Woo-jin!

-Don’t be intimidated just because you’re the only Korean actor!!

-I’m curious… I’m so curious about what role Kang Woo-jin will play in Strange Geisha… I want to see it…

-I never thought I’d fall for a Korean actor! I love you, Kang Woo-jin!!

-Wow! Inefunaya Village is close to my house!! If I go sightseeing, can I see Kang Woo-jin?

-I’m going to be the first to see Strange Geisha when it’s released!!!

·

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And the negative comments including the extreme fans of the original ‘Strange Geisha’.

-In the end, they’re filming the movie with Kang Woo-jin included in Strange Geisha… I don’t like it.

-Why does Kang Woo-jin’s popularity keep rising? Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird?

-I don’t understand why Director Kyotaro included Kang Woo-jin, and why Kashihi Group uses him as an advertising model.

-Sigh… I really like Strange Geisha, but I’m depressed because it’s obvious the movie will be ruined…

-Kang Woo-jin, Kang Woo-jin, it’s so noisy!

Either way, it was explosive. The comments on the articles, as well as the communities and social media, were all consumed by talk about ‘Strange Geisha.’

Well, broadly speaking, it was positive.

-I don’t really like Kang Woo-jin, but regardless, the issue power of Strange Geisha is amazing. I’ve never seen a movie like this before. Whoever it is, I’ll probably watch it when it’s released.

It was the first time a movie was this hot in Japan.

Around that time, in Los Angeles, USA.

It was morning in Korea and Japan, but it was afternoon in LA. It was almost 6 o’clock, and two large vans driving on the road caught the eye. Because they were followed by a string of paparazzi cars.

-Vroom!

In the back seat of the first van, Miley Cara, with long blonde hair, was visible. She had her long legs crossed and was watching the TV installed in the van with her blue eyes.

A talk show was on TV.

It was ‘The Jamie Show,’ one of the top 3 talk shows in the US, and recently ranked almost first in viewership. ‘The Jamie Show’ was currently live, and the guest was.

“······”

Miley Cara herself, watching TV with a cold expression. Unlike reality, Cara on TV was smiling a lot. Soon, Jamie, the chubby host of the talk show, asked Cara on TV in English.

[“Kang Woo-jin? Haha, but an alien. You said he’s an impressive actor? Your evaluation is unique.”]

Cara on TV changed her crossed legs and shrugged her shoulders.

[“I mean he was as amazing as an alien.”]

[“Ah! That’s what you meant? How impressive was he to be called an alien—but Kang Woo-jin… I like K-dramas, but I’ve never heard of him?”]

[“Of course. He’s an actor who’s not yet known in Hollywood.”]

[“What part of him was so alien-like?”]

[“He acts like he’s doing method acting, but he’s also a top-notch vocalist and cook. Even martial arts. I saw it myself. He was really amazing.”]

[“Oh! I’m getting more and more curious? Wait a minute, I need to search him up.”]

[“Start with YouTube, he already has close to 10 million subscribers.”]

[“Re, really??”]

Soon, ‘The Jamie Show’ briefly showed Kang Woo-jin’s YouTube situation and the 8 awards he had won at the Korean year-end award ceremonies. Then, on the TV that changed the screen back to the set, Cara said.

[“Jamie, what’s really amazing is that all of his abilities other than acting are hobbies. Can you believe it?”]

At this time.

“Cara.”

The half-shaved manager next to her, who was watching TV with her arms crossed, called out to Cara.

“The reaction to this movie is good, it’s number one in the box office as soon as it was released in Korea, as well as in Europe. You worked hard promoting it.”

Cara swept back her long blonde hair.

“It needs to stay that way.”

“Don’t worry, the critics and evaluation sites are responding well.”

“Okay.”

“But Cara, why did you talk about Kang Woo-jin on ‘The Jamie Show’ when it wasn’t even planned? And you even gave him a lot of screen time.”

Only then did Cara, who met eyes with the manager, answer nonchalantly.

“It’s ‘The Jamie Show,’ so he’ll be mentioned in Hollywood, and won’t it be a big deal in Korea too?”

“Of course. Especially since Kang Woo-jin is so popular in Korea.”

“I took action before making a proposal. And I need to do this much so that there won’t be any noise when I work with him later, right?”

“······What are you thinking?”

“I told you when I came over from Korea. I want to work with Kang Woo-jin no matter what.”

Cara, who had her blue eyes back on the TV, continued.

“Send him an offer for a feature and music video appearance soon.”

A global superstar with millions of subscribers and hundreds of millions of SNS followers. Her quite enormous proposal. Cara was saying it very simply.

And she was quite firm.

“Of course, this is about my new album that I’ll be working on after this movie schedule is over.”

The next day, in Korea.

A large conference room in a film company. The faces of the people gathered around the U-shaped table were unusual. They were all quite old, but they seemed like they had a lot of experience. Maybe it was because of the hot heater, but the atmosphere in the conference room was quite heavy.

Among them, an old man sitting at the head of the table near the entrance caught the eye.

“Okay, next.”

It was Director Ahn Ga-bok. Short white hair and a face full of wrinkles. But he was the most relaxed among them. At his signal, which exuded the force of an old master or a spirit, everyone in the conference room turned over their tablets and papers.

Various information appeared.

Set design, location scouting, casting, production recruitment, various props, filming equipment, storyboard of the scenario, filming schedule, etc. It was the start of the production meeting for ‘Leech.’ Of course, this wasn’t the first production meeting. It was already the second.

Thanks to that, many of the major parts had already been decided.

At this time, Director Ahn Ga-bok, who was stroking his wrinkled chin, put down his tablet and said to the casting director and production staff next to him.

“Did you revise the casting board?”

“Yes, Director.”

Soon, the casting director touched the tablet screen a few times, and the others did the same. Soon, the faces of two familiar actors were plastered at the top of everyone’s tablet screen.

-Actor Shim Han-ho, Actor Kang Woo-jin.

They were the actors who were confirmed as the two main leads of ‘Leech.’ And below them, there were numerous actors listed as main characters, main and supporting roles, supporting roles, and minor roles. At this time, one of the first production staff members whispered without realizing it.

“Woah—the lineup is like… I can’t believe these are the candidates.”

Because all the actors being displayed were top or A-list or higher. In other words, actors who would play the lead role anywhere were hanging around as candidates. The key staff members who saw this picture felt something strange.

‘…These amazing actors are all candidates, and Kang Woo-jin is confirmed as the lead. I never thought I’d see a day like this.’

‘Leaving aside his acting performance, a first-year actor is confidently playing the lead role in Director Ahn Ga-bok’s work… Haha, is it unique or special?’

Meanwhile, Director Ahn Ga-bok slowly nodded his head and opened the conversation.

“Did you get confirmation that they will all audition?”

The casting director answered immediately.

“Yes, Director. But… are you really going to have them all audition?”

“No. There’s no way. Only a few important roles. The reason I spread the word to the agencies that they had to audition was to see if these actors could lower their pride.”

“Ah—I see.”

“What does Shim Han-ho say about the audition?”

“He said he can attend as a judge as per your request, Director.”

“Hmm.”

Director Ahn Ga-bok, who let out a groan like an old master, stroked his chin for a moment and asked again.

“How about having Woo-jin next to actor Shim Han-ho at that time?”