I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 282

Dozens of Japanese voice actors filled the spacious booth. A huge monitor displayed the first episode of the anime ‘My Best Friend: Remake.’ As they watched, each voice actor passionately performed their roles.

It was interesting to see how different each voice actor’s dubbing style was. Some constantly checked their heavily annotated scripts, while others used exaggerated body movements, and some glanced at their fellow actors. All the voice actors participating in ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ were veterans with high recognition, each with their own unique recording methods. The female leads, Natsumi Umi and Asami Saya, were no exception.

This was not unusual at all.

Most voice actors were probably like that.

However, one person stood out noticeably in the large booth: Kang Woo-jin. He was remarkably ‘static.’ He performed the actions of the male lead, ‘Sengoku Tooru,’ calmly, without even looking at his script. The fact that he wasn’t using a script was a huge shock to the other voice actors.

‘What’s going on? Is he seriously going to do the whole thing without a script?’

‘At first, I thought it was just a bluff, but…’

‘He hasn’t made a single mistake so far. Is that even possible?’

Yes, there were geniuses who could perform by feel without looking at the script. Such outliers existed in every industry, not just voice acting.

But.

‘Kang Woo-jin is an actor, isn’t he?!’

This was his first time recording a voice dub. So, it was natural that the veteran voice actors were shocked. Of course, it wasn’t just the voice actors; most of those watching from outside the booth were also surprised. The general director, the staff of ‘A10 Studio,’ the voice actors’ staff, and so on. In particular, Sakuiichi Mahiro, a famous director in the anime industry, had his brow furrowed and never relaxed.

“…I noticed it during the last reading too. He doesn’t look at the script, yet his lip-sync and mouth movements are flawless.”

The main reason voice actors look at the script while recording is to perfectly match the timing of their voices with the characters’ movements in the anime. Where to breathe, pause, give a beat, cough, and many other details.

All these minute movements are recorded in the script, and then the voice is produced.

But Kang Woo-jin was perfect without any of that.

And that wasn’t all.

“I can understand him not looking at the script, considering he’s an actor… but his dubbing performance is so realistic.”

“Right?”

“Yes, I don’t know how to put it. It’s like he’s pulled ‘Sengoku Tooru’ out of the anime and into reality.”

“Right. And he’s managing to capture the acting, emotions, and even the liveliness.”

The general director muttered with an unconscious smile.

“If he weren’t such a successful actor… I’d want to keep him as a voice actor no matter what.”

Inside the booth, Kang Woo-jin was outstanding among the numerous famous Japanese voice actors. A girl in a wheelchair watched him, mesmerized. Asami Yusako, whose dream was to become a voice actor, thought. No, she imagined.

‘Mom… is envious.’

Of the day she would become a professional voice actor and stand in the same booth as Kang Woo-jin. And to her right, among the many people waiting, Choi Sung-gun, with his arms crossed and ponytail, was smirking.

‘I thought the anime quality was good. But—’

The ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ without sound was also being shown on the monitor outside the booth, and the voice actors’ voices boomed through the audio. In other words, Choi Sung-gun was previewing the first episode of ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ after mixing. Actually, Choi Sung-gun wasn’t one to enjoy anime. He belonged to the side that had no interest.

Even Choi Sung-gun.

‘Adding Woo-jin and the voice actors’ voices makes it insane?’

He was so engrossed in watching ‘My Best Friend: Remake.’

‘Then what will happen when the Japanese who are crazy about anime see this??’

Later.

Kang Woo-jin’s first dubbing recording finished late at night. It was well past 10 PM. There was no significant change in Woo-jin’s stiff expression after finishing his first recording.

‘Whew—it’s not easy after all. It’s a good thing I went back and forth to the subspace during breaks.’

In his mind, he was quite taken aback. Well, nothing was easy in any field, but voice acting was tough too. Honestly, it would have been close to impossible without the cheat item called subspace [a personal pocket dimension]. Anyway, they had covered up to the fourth episode of ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ today. Although it didn’t reach the fifth episode that the general director had expected, there was no major change to the scheduled plan.

At this pace, they could finish the entire dubbing in three days.

After finishing the meeting about tomorrow’s recording with the ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ director and staff, Kang Woo-jin got into the van at 11 PM. By the time he arrived at the hotel and finished getting ready for bed, it would be well past midnight. And the call time for tomorrow’s dubbing recording was 9 AM. Considering the preparation time, it was still tight.

Still, Kang Woo-jin’s mood wasn’t too bad.

‘If I finish ‘My Best Friend: Remake,’ then the Japanese schedule will be mostly over, right?’

Because the two big projects scheduled in Japan, ‘Naked Kisaeng’ and ‘My Best Friend: Remake,’ were coming to an end.

The next day, morning.

May had ended, and June had begun. On the morning of the 1st, Kang Woo-jin, as expected, ate a simple breakfast in the van while heading to ‘A10 Studio.’ It was a donburi [Japanese rice bowl dish] from a famous restaurant near the hotel that Jang Su-hwan had bought.

‘What is this??! It’s so delicious.’

He was moved by the taste, but with his habitual stoicism, Woo-jin turned to Choi Sung-gun in the passenger seat. He was also eating donburi.

“Woo-jin, after you finish eating, check the Japanese media. They’re going crazy about you right now.”

After finishing his meal, Woo-jin checked the issues on Japanese portal sites, and there were roughly three main topics. The first was ‘Naked Kisaeng.’

『「Naked Kisaeng」 Officially Enters Post-Production Editing, Film Company Aims for Release in the Second Half of the Year』

Originally, they would have taken some time to market it, but since the decision to expand Kang Woo-jin’s influence was confirmed, the film company and distributor moved immediately.

‘Wow—they’re really spreading the articles?’

As a result, news about ‘Naked Kisaeng’ was circulating not only in articles but also on various social media platforms. For reference, Director Kyotaro officially started post-production editing yesterday, and some of the actors from ‘Naked Kisaeng,’ except for Woo-jin, were already on promotional schedules. On Japanese variety shows and YouTube.

The second was ‘My Best Friend: Remake,’ where Woo-jin was currently heading.

[Hello, this is A10 Studio! The official dubbing recording for ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ has finally begun. We are sharing photos of Kang Woo-jin and Asami Saya’s reunion!!]

[#MyBestFriend:Remake #KangWoo-jin #AsamiSaya······]

Along with posting promotions on their official social media, ‘A10 Studio’ also jumped into a full-scale promotional war for ‘My Best Friend: Remake.’ ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ was already highly recognized due to various issues, but when the actual recording site was revealed, fans quickly flocked to it.

Furthermore.

『Netflix ‘My Best Friend’ Original Anime 「‘My Best Friend: Remake’」 Dubbing Begins, Kang Woo-jin Involved in OST and Piano Performance in the Show!』

The OST [Original Sound Track] and piano recording scenes of Woo-jin, which were one of the key points of this ‘My Best Friend: Remake,’ also became a hot topic. Since Kang Woo-jin’s vocals and piano skills were already proven, the expectations of the Japanese public were bound to soar.

Of course, this was also unprecedented for Kang Woo-jin.

And the remaining third.

This was covered more loudly by the Japanese media on the 2nd, a day after Kang Woo-jin participated in the second recording of ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ on June 1st.

『「Kang Woo-jin’s」 First Lead Role ‘Island of the Missing’ Becomes a Hot Topic in Korea for Surpassing 10 Million Viewers in Years』

It was the movie ‘Island of the Missing.’ Although it was an event in the Korean film industry, not Japan, its growth was unusual, and since the male lead of ‘Naked Kisaeng’ was Kang Woo-jin, the Japanese media also focused on it.

The box office performance of ‘Island of the Missing’ as of June 1st had exceeded 11 million.

It was the most explosive momentum in the Korean film industry in years. Seeing that, Japanese media outlets, rather than just reporting the performance of ‘Island of the Missing,’ were asking.

“Wow—Kang Woo-jin is really going strong in both Korea and Japan.”

“I know, honestly, I thought it was just a temporary thing when he got popular with Netflix. If he keeps going like this, isn’t he going to surpass all the Korean actors who have ever debuted in Japan?”

“The atmosphere is good so far, but—hmm, how do you think ‘Naked Kisaeng’ will do?”

“Well. The anime side still has a firm grip on the box office, so… wouldn’t it be difficult?”

They were questioning whether Kang Woo-jin’s ticket power would explode in Japan as well. Almost all media outlets and magazines were asking the same question.

“Will ‘Naked Kisaeng’ surpass 10 million in Japan too?”

“10 million?? Well, since the director is Tanoguchi Kyotaro and the original work is by Akari, it will be strong at the beginning due to the original fans and issues, but—10 million is difficult. There hasn’t been a movie in Japan that has made millions in years, right?”

“True. No matter how hot Kang Woo-jin is, the box office ticket power is another story.”

“Still, with this momentum… I think it will easily reach 3 million?”

“I say 5 million.”

“The later performance will depend on the content of ‘Naked Kisaeng.’”

Like this, the whole of Japan was noisy with numerous issues, but Kang Woo-jin didn’t care. No, it was more accurate to say he didn’t have time to care.

“Cut, let’s move on to the next episode, 10!!”

He was completely immersed in the final stages of the ‘My Best Friend: Remake’ dubbing recording. Moreover, today was the last schedule for the entire recording.

The final signal for the 12th episode of the dubbing recording was given.

“Cut! Everyone, you’ve worked hard!”

It was past 11 PM.

Two days later, Korea.

The date was June 4th. Late in the morning. The conference room of ‘BOX Movies,’ one of the major film companies in Korea, was bustling. Roughly 30 people had gathered, and most of them were executives of the film company, including those at the director level.

The atmosphere in the conference room was slightly heavy.

“…Hmm.”

“Hoo—”

The expressions of the film company executives sitting around the U-shaped table were also like that. The conference room of the major film company ‘BOX Movies’ was slightly dim, and various information and data were being displayed on the PPT [PowerPoint] screen in front. Of course, a team leader was giving the presentation about it.

The interesting thing was.

“This chart shows the 16th-day performance of ‘Naval Battle.’”

The movie being displayed on the screen was ‘Naval Battle,’ which had firmly held the throne of ‘Korea’s All-Time No. 1 Audience’ for years. The reason was simple. The major film company ‘BOX Movies’ was the film company that had made ‘Naval Battle.’ Then, the team leader who was giving the presentation operated the remote control.

—Swish.

Then, the movie displayed on the front screen changed from ‘Naval Battle’ to something else.

“Next is ‘Island of the Missing.’”

It was ‘Island of the Missing,’ which was breaking numerous records in the Korean film industry since its release. Soon, when he operated the remote control again, the current performance of ‘Island of the Missing’ was displayed on the screen.

[Audience Count for June 3, 2021]

[Daily Domestic Box Office]

1. Island of the Missing / Release Date: May 19 / Audience: 550,215 / Number of Screens: 1159 / Cumulative Audience: 12,592,969

A number that was relentlessly running towards 13 million after surpassing 12 million. The team leader in charge of the presentation muttered.

“This is the performance up to the 16th day, as of yesterday, the 3rd.”

Soon, the executives of ‘BOX Movies’ who had gathered in the conference room began to murmur slightly. Most of them had a tone mixed with embarrassment, and the team leader who had operated the remote control continued the presentation.

“As of this week, the momentum of ‘Island of the Missing’ has slightly decreased. The number of viewers, which had been over 700,000 on weekdays, has dropped to 400,000 to 500,000, and the weekends have also shown a similar decline.”

However, this was a natural phenomenon, and ‘Naval Battle’ could only be in despair.

“However, even though it has lost a little momentum, the speed of ‘Island of the Missing’ is still fast, and if we compare the data with ‘Naval Battle’ in the past, ‘Island of the Missing’ is still about two days faster in terms of performance.”

One of the director-level executives interjected.

“I, if ‘Island of the Missing’ keeps going like this… when will it be overturned?”

“…At the earliest, next week. At the latest, the week after next, ‘Island of the Missing’ will surpass 16.7 million and be looking at 17 million.”

In other words, the analysis was that ‘Naval Battle’ would have to hand over its crown and step down from the throne very soon. Therefore, most of the executives were quite flustered. Honestly, they were a bit surprised by the tremendous firepower of ‘Island of the Missing’ at the time of its release, but they didn’t expect it to cause such an excessive syndrome. Moreover, they really hadn’t expected a performance of over 16 million.

The reason was simple.

Many things had changed when comparing the past when ‘Naval Battle’ was released with the present. If one had to point out, the past when ‘Naval Battle’ was released was a more prosperous time for theaters. There weren’t as many competing works as there are now, and there was less content to watch, such as Netflix.

Still, there was still hope for ‘Naval Battle.’

“A, are there any tentpole movies [major, high-budget films] that are expected to be released next week?”

“That’s right! If we subtly give a little boost to the promotion of those movies?”

“It’s not bad, but if we do it too obviously, it could cause unnecessary noise.”

“Is that the problem now?? History is about to change!”

The current domestic theater market was in its peak season. Therefore, new domestic and international tentpole movies were being released every week. In other words, they would give a boost to the competing works that would reduce the firepower of ‘Island of the Missing.’

Also.

“Looking at the fact that the performance of ‘Island of the Missing’ is decreasing little by little, isn’t that proof that interest is waning?”

“That’s right, if a strong movie comes in the middle, the reservation rate will flip in an instant.”

“What does the picture look like this week? How many new releases are there?”

“There are a total of three highly anticipated movies. ‘Island of the Missing’ is still in first place, but the key is from today until the weekend.”

Although it was a natural phenomenon, the wind was going out of ‘Island of the Missing.’

The reduced performance was clear evidence.

“It’s a sign that the bubble is slowly being removed, so there’s a possibility that the number of viewers will decrease significantly.”

“Hmm, we’ve already done all the promotion, marketing, and word-of-mouth, so there’s nothing much that stands out, right? Other new tentpole movies will also be promoting just as much.”

“Hollywood movies that are about to be released will also be crashing in, probably.”

Gradually, a light of hope brightened for ‘Naval Battle.’ Some of the director-level executives even smiled. The good news of other new movies was also good news for them. However, there was one person in this conference room. The team leader in charge of the presentation still had a stiff face.

“I, there is something that you should not overlook.”

“Hmm?”

“…The current ‘Island of the Missing’ has been at this level from its release until now, even though one key piece was missing in terms of promotion and everything else.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“It’s Kang Woo-jin.”

In an instant, cold water was poured into the conference room. Exclamation marks appeared in the eyes of most of the people.

“!!!”

“Ah!”

Then, the team leader in charge of the presentation delivered a fact that would crush the hope of ‘Naval Battle.’

“That Kang Woo-jin has returned to Korea as of today.”