I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 272

Camera focuses on a close-up of Kiyoshi’s expressionless face from the side.

“……”

Kang Woo-jin, or rather, Kiyoshi, who had been silently gazing at the corpse, reached into his pocket and pulled out several recorders. He stared at them for a few seconds.

His face was blank, but his eyes flickered.

Something stirred within Kang Woo-jin, who was already consumed by the persona of ‘Iyota Kiyoshi.’ What was it? He couldn’t quite grasp it, it was hard to articulate. Woo-jin lifted his head, gazing at the sky. Stars dotted the inky blackness.

Normally, it would have been an ordinary sight.

It should have been the same today.

But why did it seem so radiant?

Woo-jin ignored the subtle feeling that was spreading through his heart. He could suppress it; it was so faint. He lowered his head, his indifferent lips moving slightly.

“It’s a strange feeling.”

His eyes gradually lost their moisture. He was intentionally erasing his emotions. The resonance that had been so strong just moments before was gradually fading, a change clearly captured by the camera. How was that even possible?

The staff around Director Kyotaro covered their mouths or widened their eyes, but they remained silent.

“……”

“……”

No, they were speechless. It was hard to look away from that powerful expression. Acting? Yes, it was acting. But the actor’s performance was somehow more potent and nuanced. He seemed to have complete control over his body.

-Thud.

Kang Woo-jin roughly scattered the recorders he was holding onto the cold body of ‘Tsuzuki Itsuma’. The recorders bounced off the corpse’s head, stomach, and thighs, landing haphazardly.

Of course, Kiyoshi hadn’t directly killed him this time either.

He had taken his own life.

Kiyoshi had merely pushed him from behind. He had manipulated Tsuzuki Itsuma, sending him to Horinochi Ami, the owner of the karaoke bar, and Iiya Saki. At the same time, Kiyoshi had quietly gathered evidence: photos and recordings of the murder scenes. If handed to the police, it would be more than enough to label him a murderer.

With this evidence, Kiyoshi had pressured Tsuzuki Itsuma.

‘All your murders, which you thought were perfect, are in my hands. Unfortunately, I don’t like you. Itsuma, I’ll give you three days to sort things out. After that, I’ll hand this evidence over to the police. Make sure you finish it well.’

Kiyoshi’s voice was as cold as ice.

Tsuzuki Itsuma was driven to the edge.

Three days. The pressure mounted with each passing minute, each second.

It wasn’t the guilt of having committed murder or the fear of punishment. It was the tightening grip of greed. Itsuma, who came from a mid-sized company owner’s family, had a smooth path ahead of him. But the more one has, the greater the fear of loss.

The wealth, reputation, power, honor, and connections he had built up until now.

All that splendor would turn to ashes in an instant. Kiyoshi had advised Tsuzuki Itsuma to turn himself in. Turn himself in? Itsuma thought it was better to die than lose everything. It was an obsession to protect the brilliant future he had always dreamed of and believed was his.

For him, that future was an ordinary life, a normal daily routine.

One only realizes the preciousness of normalcy after losing it. Thus, Itsuma, pushed by Kiyoshi, eventually swallowed pills on the rooftop of the company that should have been his. The pills instantly ended his life.

Kang Woo-jin. No, Kiyoshi.

-Swish.

He looked down at the corpse with an indifferent face and took something out of his pocket. The camera followed his hand. What Kiyoshi pulled out was a worn piece of paper, folded and refolded many times. Starting with Konakayama Kinzo, many names were written on it—all the completed ‘homework’ assignments.

And at the end.

-’Tsuzuki Itsuma’

The name of the corpse in front of him was written there.

“I wonder if you’re watching…”

Woo-jin muttered softly and crumpled the worn paper. He put it straight into his mouth and swallowed it. It was an action befitting Iyota Kiyoshi.

A moment of silence.

“Cut!”

After Director Kyotaro’s signal, the camera angle was changed, and several retakes were done. After about three retakes, the current scene was finished. But there were still more scenes to be filmed here.

Especially.

“Ah, is this the scene?”

“Yeah, the one where Iyota Kiyoshi’s first prominent emotion comes out.”

“It’s going to be difficult.”

The acting for the scene that was about to follow was not easy. Perhaps that was why the expectations of the dozens of staff members were even higher. Director Kyotaro in front of the monitor felt the same.

‘This cut is crucial.’

There were several key scenes in ‘Stranger’, but the current scene was the most important of all.

‘If this scene is done well, the impact of the changed ending will be amplified several times over.’

But Director Kyotaro.

“……”

He didn’t approach Kang Woo-jin, who was having his makeup touched up in the filming area. He had no intention of giving directions. He was confident that the actor, Woo-jin, would create a scene beyond imagination.

On the other hand, Kang Woo-jin.

‘Ugh-’

He looked composed on the outside, but inside, he felt a faint flutter.

‘Isn’t this the first time I’ve done this kind of acting? Hmm- it is the first time. I’ve never done it before.’

He had already embodied Iyota Kiyoshi’s life, but it was the first time he was showing this kind of acting in reality. Still, he needed to remain calm. He was strangely nervous, but he suppressed it. It was a little better because there were fewer eyes watching, Woo-jin thought.

And then.

“It’s done!!”

Woo-jin’s makeup touch-up was complete.

A moment later.

The staff stepped back. The cameras turned towards Kang Woo-jin. Director Kyotaro picked up the megaphone. The slate was clapped.

“Hi- Action.”

Soon, Kang Woo-jin pulled out Kiyoshi, whom he had set aside for a moment. His vision quickly changed. The cumbersome cameras and lights disappeared. It wasn’t a filming set. For Woo-jin, it was just the final destination.

Late at night, the world was quiet. There was no one around.

There was a body lying at his feet, but it was already dead, so it wasn’t a person.

“……It’s kind of boring.”

It was after he had swallowed the paper with the ‘homework’ written on it. Woo-jin, with no expression, touched his neck. His throat felt scratchy.

“Was swallowing the crumpled paper a bit too much?”

He muttered to himself and scratched his head for no reason. He glanced around once for no reason. He looked down at the corpse again. A person had died. But Kang Woo-jin, or Kiyoshi, was dry. Emotions? Feelings? No, the very concept was like that. His perception was like dry firewood.

His detailed actions, his gaze, his breathing.

‘Innocence- so clear.’

To Director Kyotaro, who was watching the monitor, he looked like a child. He probably was. What was starting to spread throughout Woo-jin’s inner self was something clumsy.

Camera, facing Kang Woo-jin directly.

Woo-jin turned his body. He paused. He looked back at the corpse again. He stared at it for a moment. It was a pointless act. ‘Let’s go.’ He tried to take a step, but his foot stopped again.

Stiff.

He couldn’t easily take a step. It was around this time that a waterfall suddenly burst within Kang Woo-jin. It wasn’t cold or hot. It was lukewarm, but it made Woo-jin’s breathing slightly irregular. The breath coming out of his nose, not his mouth.

“Huuuh-”

His face was still expressionless. But the eyes looking down at the corpse became subtle. A glimpse of emotion was visible. His mood could be guessed.

“It’s not good.”

A quiet depression. Kiyoshi, who had never been shaken by anything, Kang Woo-jin, was showing emotion at the final destination of all his ‘homework’.

It was vividly captured by the camera.

Why? Why was that?

Why was he standing here foolishly, unable to take a step? Kang Woo-jin suddenly raised a hand and wiped his face. It was because the lukewarm emotion was gradually increasing in temperature. Yes, it was screaming. It was echoing somewhere in his inner self.

‘It’s over! This is the end!’

Yes, it was the end. There were no more targets to eliminate. And Iyota Kiyoshi was gone too. This was the final destination of the ‘homework’. And Kiyoshi’s reason for existence was also over.

“Huu, huuh!”

Kiyoshi’s, or Kang Woo-jin’s, shoulders visibly heaved. Something moist seeped out from between the hands covering his face.

A child’s tears.

The reason he couldn’t leave was not because he was bothered by the corpse. It was because he was scared. He was afraid. He was afraid that if he left this place, his meaning in the world would be erased, that his existence would disappear, that he wouldn’t be seen in the unknown world where nothing was left.

Emptiness? No.

“Kkeuek! Huuh! Keuhup-”

Rather, Kiyoshi’s heart was full. It was because he had lived to get here and had arrived. He was satisfied. Now, all that was left was to finish well.

So, what was next?

For several years, he had lived quietly to become a ‘stranger’. And he had done it. But tears came out. They weren’t tears based on sadness.

“Keuheup!”

It was pity. For me, or for you. It was unfair. The world that had been useless until it reached this point. It was regret. That his reason for existence had ended with this.

-Sigh.

Kang Woo-jin, whose shoulders were heaving, bent down. His face turned slightly red. His eyes were the same. Tears were dripping. He put his knees on the ground and released the latch he had tightly locked.

Something tremendous pushed out from his heart.

“Keuheuk! Kkeuheuk! Heuheuheup!”

Woo-jin’s, or Kiyoshi’s, face instantly contorted. It was a wail. Moisture was streaming out of all the holes in his face, his nose, and his mouth. But he suppressed the noise.

If there was a withered sob, this would be it.

Kang Woo-jin’s restrained, controlled wail seeped into the ears of dozens of staff members. It was captured in their eyes. It touched their skin.

‘A sob without sadness… is possible.’

‘Even though he’s wailing so statically- he moves people. I don’t know what kind of emotion that is.’

‘It looks like a tribute to a life that was ignored. He’s really a good actor… I wonder which actor could express something like that.’

Gradually, Woo-jin’s voice became hoarse. Snot flowed. Saliva hung from his chin. If it was a sob, they would have comforted him, but his withered wail made the people watching feel…

‘We can’t do anything. Except watch.’

It had a power that made them feel heavy.

Until now, life for Iyota Kiyoshi was like a coin dropped on the floor. It was dust that got into his eyes. It was water he drank when he felt thirsty. It was a stretch he did casually when he woke up from sleep.

It was a trivial life, roughly to that extent.

Even that was over.

Kang Woo-jin’s wail, his tears, were a scream about recognizing his own meaning, which was less than a grain of millet. It was a lament. It was a pity that he couldn’t leave that meaning behind. It was compassion for his own empty shell that had returned without being able to leave the final destination.

“Kkeuheuhheup- Keuheuk!”

His legs gave way. Woo-jin, who was wailing with his mouth open, knelt down. He slammed his head on the ground. His hands touched the ground and trembled slightly. The hoarse wail continued to be heard. The camera captured the trembling Kang Woo-jin and the corpse together.

It looked like he was bowing before death.

No. This scene was a tribute to his own meaning that he was leaving behind, a memorial, and the scene where Kiyoshi’s grown emotions were expressed for the first time. Although it was the meaning of a trivial existence, he had lived thanks to it. He was able to return to the starting point.

This cut had a dual meaning.

His own meaning at the end of revenge was so insignificant and small, but that revenge was not futile or meaningless at all.

Kiyoshi found emotional growth here, and it was like a sprout of hope.

It was the beginning of a new life.

Preparation to return to a normal, ordinary life. Kang Woo-jin’s silent wail gradually decreased, but the heightened senses of the dozens of staff members watching the scene showed no signs of cooling down.

What the actor was trying to express was too vast.

“……”

“……”

“……”

All they could do was feel it.

Now it was Director Kyotaro’s turn. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds. He had reached the end of the scene. He had to cut off this wondrous sight.

‘A little more, just a little more.’

But Director Kyotaro was greedy for the intense silence that was being maintained. Because this cut, the current Kang Woo-jin, was breathing life into the changed ending of ‘Stranger’. The audience had to witness this before seeing the ending, so they could understand the final gaze of ‘Iyota Kiyoshi’.

The new beginning of the ‘stranger’ mixed with many people.

Finally.

“……C-Cut!!”

Director Kyotaro, who had jumped up from his seat, shouted, even taking off his hat. Soon, the dozens of staff members around him realized they had been holding their breath and exhaled. Some even clapped.

-Clap clap clap clap clap clap!

It was praise for Kang Woo-jin, who was still lying face down. It was high praise for the incredible acting he had shown. There was no way to express it in words, so they just clapped.

But for some reason, Kang Woo-jin, who was kneeling and leaning forward, didn’t move. He was frozen in the same position as when he was acting.

He wasn’t wailing. Because the silent, hoarse sound wasn’t heard. Woo-jin was just lying face down, still. In response, the corpse, no, the Japanese actor, who had been lying in front of Kang Woo-jin and had gotten up first, looked down at the prone Woo-jin and twitched his eyebrows.

‘Yeah… he poured out that much acting. There’s no way there wouldn’t be a lingering emotion. Even if he’s the acting monster Woo-jin, it’s hard to shake it off right away. The acting just now was really- amazing.’

The staff watching felt similarly.

“It seems like he’s gathering his emotions.”

“It’s understandable, if you show such crazy acting as just now and then get up right away… you’d be close to a god.”

“A restrained wail. It’s probably something that will be talked about in the history of Japanese acting. It’s better to let him rest a bit.”

“It would be more of a hindrance to help him up now. Because heightened emotions can only be sorted out alone.”

Director Kyotaro also stopped walking when he saw Kang Woo-jin, who had fallen and was not moving.

‘…Yeah, he poured out that much emotion- if it was a normal actor, they would have gone crazy. He needs enough time to recover his emotions.’

And the prone Kang Woo-jin.

‘Ugh- damn, I got so much snot and saliva. Wipe it, wipe it. Keep the concept!’

He was just wiping his snot.