I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 227

The robotic female voice that echoed through the subspace startled Woo-jin, who had been lying down, causing him to quickly sit up.

“What was that?!” he exclaimed.

The unexpectedness of the moment was evident in the surprise that spread across Kang Woo-jin’s face. His eyes widened. Simultaneously, he recalled the robotic woman’s words.

‘Acquiring understanding of role synthesis.’

Woo-jin questioned the invisible woman again.

“What are you acquiring? Understanding of role synthesis? What is that?”

However,

[“······”]

The female voice was no longer heard in the subspace. If she wasn’t going to answer, she should have at least done something! When he gained abilities like languages or martial arts, a large gray mass always enveloped Kang Woo-jin after her pronouncements.

But now.

“What, is that all?!” he asked, bewildered.

Silence. Nothing happened. Only the endless darkness of the subspace was visible. Woo-jin frowned and slowly stood up. He wondered if it was because he had been sitting. But even after standing, nothing changed. Could it be a joke? The thought briefly crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it.

‘There’s no way the subspace would do something so pointless,’ he muttered to himself.

He turned his head to check the array of white squares. There didn’t seem to be any significant changes there either. What could it be? She clearly said she acquired something, didn’t she? Woo-jin tilted his head, scratched it while standing, and then,

“Hmm.”

Just in case, he looked inward, or rather, he felt it. His inner world was already quite extensive. The worlds of many works were imprinted, and his abilities were densely layered. The worlds of the works that Kang Woo-jin possessed were, how should he put it, like small rooms lined up for each work.

That was the image.

It wasn’t clear whether Kang Woo-jin or the subspace had decided it, but Woo-jin always started by opening the door of the room when he needed to access the world of a particular work. Then, the world of that work would instantly permeate Kang Woo-jin. Of course, he would experience it through the eyes of the role he was embodying.

Another reality.

From lines to emotions, thoughts, habits, etc., the role existed within the world of that work. It was impossible to bring out only the role without the work. That’s why when Kang Woo-jin started acting, his freedom was somewhat limited.

‘Because there’s a set framework,’ he thought.

Although the owner was Kang Woo-jin, the process of living in the world of a set role and then coming out was the same. That’s why when a role was brought out, the background of the work naturally unfolded before his eyes. This was the default. Of course, Woo-jin could add to the acting, but it was no match for the power of the subspace. Anyway, Kang Woo-jin’s inner world had been like that until now.

But.

“Huh? Something feels a bit…” he trailed off.

Kang Woo-jin, who had just scanned his inner self, recognized a change. It wasn’t drastic, just a slightly different image than before. If he had to put the inner feeling that only he could sense into words, it was like the characters Kang Woo-jin had played were standing in front of the small rooms of each work.

As if waiting for their master’s call.

It was similar, but definitely different. At this point, Kang Woo-jin became certain.

‘Is it telling me to use them as I please?’ he wondered.

It seemed like he could use each role freely, unrelated to the worlds of the works. While maintaining the personality, tendencies, and charm of the roles, they were clearly disconnected from their background works.

Yes, it was like acquired skills in a game.

Or like summoned creatures? It felt like the S-class summoned creatures he had painstakingly acquired were waiting at the door. S-class ‘Kim Ryu-jin’, ‘Manager Park’, ‘Han In-ho’, ‘Lee Sang-man’, and many others. Those who had made Kang Woo-jin who he was now were waiting for their master’s choice, independent from the world that had been suppressing them.

For a moment, Kang Woo-jin, who was standing blankly in the subspace, muttered to himself.

“Role synthesis—so, it means I can use the roles regardless of the worlds of the works?”

It meant he could summon ‘Lee Sang-man’ from ‘The Layabout’ or ‘Kim Ryu-jin’ from ‘Island of the Missing’. Soon, for some reason, Woo-jin immediately recited the exit command. His surroundings changed from darkness to reality, inside the tent where he had been waiting. Of course, as expected, there was no one in the tent except Woo-jin.

Outside, there were some bustling shouts, but no one seemed to be coming to the tent.

“······”

Kang Woo-jin, with a genuinely serious expression, not a fake one, shifted his gaze while sitting. He looked at the ‘Strange Gisaeng’ script placed on the desk in front of him. How exactly would role synthesis work?

“Well, thinking about it won’t give me an answer,” he said.

Woo-jin chuckled softly and then let out a small breath. Let’s experiment. Next, he brought out ‘Iyota Kiyoshi’ from ‘Island of the Missing’. It was instantaneous because of the repeated reading (experience) and frequent implementation. The scenery inside the tent that had been in Woo-jin’s vision disappeared like smoke, and Kiyoshi’s world began to unfold.

A refined but bizarre life.

Woo-jin’s slightly excited heart became withered. It was calm and stiff. Kang Woo-jin had become ‘Iyota Kiyoshi’. His lines, thoughts, emotions, and senses were transmitted to his fingertips and toes.

Here, at this timing, Kang Woo-jin did something he had never tried before.

The process was strangely easy, even though he hadn’t learned it. Was this also thanks to the subspace teaching him? Kang Woo-jin, in the state of being permeated by ‘Iyota Kiyoshi’, called out another role, or a waiting S-class summoned creature. Who? He didn’t know, anyone. Kang Woo-jin chose Kim Ryu-jin from ‘Errand Agency’. He felt Kim Ryu-jin, who had been standing in his inner world, walking out.

And it was painted over Kiyoshi, who had already spread.

Kang Woo-jin felt a strange sensation. It was subtle. His current feelings were jumbled and tangled. Maybe it was because it was the first time, but Woo-jin felt a slight nausea. It lasted for a few seconds.

“······”

Kang Woo-jin, who had calmed down, was still in Kiyoshi’s world. The worldview was the same. Of course, Woo-jin was still Kiyoshi. His lines, purpose, thoughts, and heart were the same. But.

“A cigarette,” he said.

The current Kiyoshi wanted a cigarette. He was deeply fatigued. He was full of curiosity. The expression on Woo-jin’s face also showed a lack of motivation. He also had a touch of clumsiness. All of this was not something the original Kiyoshi had. But right now, Kang Woo-jin was Kiyoshi.

“You don’t have to go that far, Misaki Shutoku-ssi,” he said.

It was clear that the imprinted lines were coming out as if they were his own. However, the intonation, emphasis, and tone were different. Synthesis. Yes, Kiyoshi and Kim Ryu-jin were synthesized now. However, it wasn’t that Kiyoshi was completely deleted and only Kim Ryu-jin was visible.

Both existed.

Thanks to that, a very subtle and completely different being was born. What Kiyoshi and Kim Ryu-jin had was mixed and expressed. He was dry but full of curiosity, and while being detached, he was also clumsy. Ah—I see, Kang Woo-jin, who was seeing Kiyoshi and Kim Ryu-jin, realized the method.

So, what if he removed one of the S-class summoned creatures?

Woo-jin extracted and removed only Kim Ryu-jin from the two mixed characters. This also happened naturally, even though he hadn’t learned it. Instantly, he felt Kim Ryu-jin disappearing from his body. Then, Kang Woo-jin spoke the line again.

“You don’t have to go that far, Misaki Shutoku-ssi.”

Only Kiyoshi remained. He was dull like dry firewood, with no moisture at all. It was completely different from before. All of this happened in seconds. It was the first time he had experienced it, but Woo-jin was sure that it would become faster once he got used to it.

If someone else were to witness this, they would surely think he was crazy.

Regardless, Kang Woo-jin thought,

‘How’s my body? It’s fine.’

This time, he pulled out another summoned creature. It was Manager Park. And.

‘Next,’ he thought.

He repeated this process.

After a while,

Kang Woo-jin, sitting in the tent, didn’t seem to have changed much at first glance, but in reality, an enormous amount had happened. He had synthesized all the summoned creatures or roles he had with Kiyoshi.

Each one was an extraordinary character.

Soon, after removing all the roles, he returned to being Kang Woo-jin and recalled everything he had experienced. He soon reached a conclusion. He even smiled slightly.

“It’s going to be useful?” he wondered.

Well, it was impossible for him, who had only been in the entertainment industry for a year, to grasp everything, but Woo-jin could instinctively tell. What he had just done was definitely a non-existent technique. Then, where could he use it?

Woo-jin, who had become serious in an instant, lowered his head and opened the ‘Strange Gisaeng’ script in front of him.

‘You know how there are things like acting within acting,’ he thought.

There are more scenes than you might think where a role completed through acting acts within a work. They pretend to be someone else depending on the situation, make up lies, or are in a situation where they have to act from the start. If the actor is the protagonist, they can openly show their acting.

‘Even if it’s not something like that, if there’s a similar situation, the actor can create the scene themselves,’ he mused.

Kang Woo-jin’s thoughts became faster, as if he had done some acting. Of course, his guess was not wrong. That’s usually called ‘analysis’. It was something that real actors did as easily as eating. If it made the character stand out more than the existing direction, actors would do anything.

They also call it ‘creating acting’.

Of course, this was an area that Kang Woo-jin had never tried before. Since the subspace injected everything, it was a meaningless process.

And now, Woo-jin thought,

“Let’s see—which part would be good.”

He started creating acting that he hadn’t done before. He opened the script and read the parts that came to mind. He selected scenes, and he replayed the acting he would do in his head. Would it be okay? Is it bad? Maybe it’s not bad. Ah—but just reading it isn’t very engaging.

Kang Woo-jin picked up one of the pens scattered on the desk.

-Scribble.

Then, he started writing something on the script. Where should he incorporate the role synthesis he had just acquired?

‘Where should I use it to make it known that I did a good job?’ he wondered.

However, he shouldn’t shake the foundation of the character Iyota Kiyoshi. He should basically maintain Kiyoshi, but have a cut where he can amplify his character traits for a moment.

-Flip.

Woo-jin, who had his eyes fixed on the script, was lost in his own time. He looked like a real actor at that moment. Then,

“Ah, this part seems good,” he said.

Woo-jin’s pen stopped. It was the part that was scheduled to be filmed today in the script, and he created acting to be used in the experiment while keeping the purpose of the scene and Kiyoshi as they were, only up to a point where it wouldn’t cause a big problem. He started writing it in the blank space next to the script.

About five minutes later, Woo-jin, who had finished creating all the acting, slowly nodded his head and muttered to himself.

‘Hmm—wouldn’t this make Kiyoshi look more bizarre? I don’t know, let’s just try it.’

About an hour later,

The preparations for the ‘Strange Gisaeng’ filming, which had been slightly delayed, were all finished. The location was the recycling area behind the high school. To be precise, it was a warehouse in the recycling area. It was a surprisingly large warehouse filled with supplies and various sports equipment.

The ‘Strange Gisaeng’ filming crew set up their equipment in front of it.

One camera inside the warehouse, several in front, lights, boom mics, etc. The ‘Strange Gisaeng’ actors, who had finished their makeup, stood around. About 10 men and women. Of course, they were all wearing school uniforms. Kang Woo-jin, with his messy hair, was the same.

The actors were all.

“The main camera is this one, so focus on this side,” a crew member instructed.

“Ah, okay,” an actor replied.

“And Woo-jin-ssi, you don’t have to look at the camera,” the director said.

“Yes, director,” Woo-jin responded.

He was having a rehearsal with director Kyotaro, who had a lot of gray hair, and the key staff, including the cinematographer and lighting director.

A group of foreigners was watching the situation from about ten steps away.

It was Megan Stone, with her brown bob, and her team.

As a casting director, she had been busy contacting the film company and figuring out the situation because of the video related to Kang Woo-jin and ‘Last Kill 3’ that had just surfaced. But now, she had calmed down somewhat. The conclusion was to wait and see how the situation unfolded.

When she asked Choi Sung-gun, it seemed that BW Entertainment was not involved in this matter, and there was no way to contact that YouTuber right away.

Anyway, the foreign members of Megan’s team were muttering in English while watching the filming site.

“What’s going on all of a sudden? If it’s not from Kang Woo-jin’s side, where did it leak from?” one asked.

“There’s no way it was leaked from the ‘Last Kill 3′ team. Especially to a Korean YouTuber? That doesn’t make sense,” another replied.

“But the photo in the video was definitely from the screen test. Then, it must be from Kang Woo-jin’s side—” a third said.

“It’s possible, but that’s also a bit strange. They had a confidentiality agreement, so why would they? Kang Woo-jin is doing well. He wouldn’t be so desperate for an issue that he would risk such a loss,” another countered.

“Hmm,” they murmured.

As the team members were whispering, Megan Stone, the leader, crossed her arms and cut them off.

“That’s enough. Pointless speculation and suspicion are meaningless,” she stated.

“Y-yes, that’s true. More than that, Kang Woo-jin didn’t seem surprised at all even though he saw us,” one of them said.

A chubby man chimed in as if he was also surprised.

“He was so calm that I thought he knew we were coming. But he didn’t know?” he asked.

Megan, who had swept her bob, nodded.

“Yeah. But Kang Woo-jin had a similar vibe during the screen test. He wasn’t excited about anything,” she said.

“He’s a very unique character. So, Megan, did you hear an explanation about that scene? They’re wearing school uniforms, so is it a flashback scene?” another asked.

Megan nodded to the chubby man, who had gestured towards the scene being filmed.

“Yes, it seems they’re filming the characters’ past,” she confirmed.

At this time, another foreign team member chimed in.

“I read the original ‘Strange Gisaeng’ book. Three times,” he said.

“Oh—are you a fan of writer Akari?” someone asked.

“Not that much, but ‘Strange Gisaeng’ was so interesting that I read it several times. The current scene is also in the original. It’s probably going to show the protagonist being bullied,” he explained.

“In Japanese, is it ‘Ijime’ [bullying]?” someone asked.

“That’s right. But Megan, this scene might be a bit boring to see Kang Woo-jin’s acting,” he added.

Megan Stone, who had been watching Kang Woo-jin on set, turned her head.

“Why?” she asked.

“The protagonist, Iyota Kiyoshi, is a character whose heart is dead, and he probably won’t take much action here either. Kiyoshi is like that throughout the work,” he explained.

The chubby man sighed softly and added at the end of his sentence.

“Oh, it seems we came when it was a bit easy for him to act. The timing was bad,” he said.

“······”

Megan Stone, who had been looking at her team members, silently turned her gaze to the set. Around that time, director Kyotaro, who had finished the rehearsal, was moving. He sat down in front of the monitor. Then, after opening the filming script and exchanging a few words with the surrounding staff,

“Standby!!” he called out.

The assistant director shouted loudly in Japanese. It meant that filming was about to begin. In response, the actors, including Kang Woo-jin, who were in front of the camera, took their positions. Everyone was standing, and Kang Woo-jin, with a nonchalant face, was sitting with his back against the wall.

Then,

-Clap!!

The male staff member in front of the camera hit the slate, and director Kyotaro, who had put his mouth to the megaphone, shouted the signal.

“Hai- Cue!” he yelled.

At the same time, the Japanese actors looked at Kang Woo-jin, who was sitting, and giggled. The camera captured them all in a group shot. Before Misaki Toka appears in the script. In other words, it was the situation where Kiyoshi was being bullied. Everyone was lively. Tsugumune Shinnosuke, who had a sharp face and was the first to fall from the rooftop following Toka. The handsome Konakayama Ginzo. The heavily made-up Horinochi Amie, and so on.

About nine people.

The three people standing in front of Kang Woo-jin, who was sitting with a dry face, were Shinnosuke and the other men. The rest were gathered in the back, busy laughing and talking.

At this time, Shinnosuke squatted down in front of Woo-jin.

“Hey—you, Kiyoshi. Did you bring the allowance you were going to give me?” he asked.

“······”

“Did you bring it?” he repeated.

“Yes,” Woo-jin replied.

“Then give it to me,” Shinnosuke demanded.

Kang Woo-jin took out a few bills from his pocket. At the same time, Ginzo, who was next to him, raised the corner of his mouth.

“Oh, that’s quite a bit? Let’s go to karaoke after this. And call some girls,” he suggested.

“Ginzo, you should stop chasing after girls,” Horinochi Amie, who had approached, said, glancing at Kang Woo-jin, who was sitting quietly, and slightly trembled.

“It’s creepy, doesn’t his face look unpleasant every time you see him? He’s like a robot,” she said.

Shinnosuke, who had heard the story, met Woo-jin’s withered face. Then, he grabbed his chin and shook it slightly.

“It’s true. That’s why it’s a bit boring? It’s a bit dull. You annoying brat. Hey Kiyoshi, react to something. Huh? React,” he said.

Shinnosuke, who had been shaking his chin, tapped Woo-jin’s cheek with moderate force.

“······”

But Kang Woo-jin only looked at him with a moistureless gaze. He didn’t do anything. Gradually, the intensity of Shinnosuke’s slaps increased.

“Don’t look at me with that disgusting look. React. Huh?” he demanded.

The nine people, including Ginzo, chuckled. The camera zoomed in on Woo-jin’s lifeless profile. In the script, Kiyoshi just calmly tells them to stop. In response, Shinnosuke gets even more angry.

In other words, it was now Kang Woo-jin’s turn. Stop it. A short line.

However,

-Sigh.

Woo-jin’s breath gradually quickened as he looked at Shinnosuke. His scent changed in an instant. A cunning sense of fear spread in his dry eyes. It was strange. Except for his eyes, the rest of his face was similar to Kiyoshi, but only his eyes had changed. Kang Woo-jin, with his lips trembling slightly, said,

“S-stop it. Don’t do it. I-I’m scared. Don’t hit me. I-I gave you the money,” he stammered.

What was that? The actor playing Shinnosuke flinched slightly. The tone of his voice was Kiyoshi’s, but the color was completely different. Was he timid? Did he have low self-esteem? But why was the rest of his face, except for his eyes, maintaining the dry Kiyoshi? The current Kang Woo-jin was literally bizarre.

No, he was even grotesque.

He was Kiyoshi, but he wasn’t Kiyoshi.

Moreover,

“Is that enough?” he asked.

The strangeness or grotesqueness disappeared from Kang Woo-jin’s appearance in an instant after he spoke the line. It was as if two people had come and gone in just a few seconds. Now, he was back to being the usual Kiyoshi. Shinnosuke had only blinked, but he felt like he had experienced two people.

Shinnosuke froze without realizing it.

“······Ah,” he said.

The expressions of the actors standing in the back also hardened. Director Kyotaro, who was watching Kang Woo-jin on the monitor, narrowed his brow at the unexpected situation.

‘A deflated fear. Or a withered timidity? How did he do that? He was Kiyoshi, but he wasn’t. And he returned to Kiyoshi in just a few seconds. Is that even possible? What was that? What did he bring?’ he wondered.

And,

“······”

The group of foreigners seemed to have stopped in time. Among them, Megan Stone, with her brown bob, who had her gaze fixed on Woo-jin, widened her pupils and muttered without realizing it, as if she had been bewitched by something.

“That, that actor. What on earth did he just do?” she whispered.