I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 317

Kim So-hyang, the head director of Netflix Korea, wondered if Song Man-woo PD, sitting across from her with a serious expression and a stubbly beard, had gone slightly mad. Choi Nana, the writer with round glasses, clearly shared the same thought.

‘Did he suffer too much in Bangkok? Did he get heatstroke?’

‘Are you okay, PD-nim [PD-nim is a Korean honorific title for a producer or director]?!’

It was understandable. It was already absurd that a new actor had joined when casting should have been finished, but for that actor to be Miley Cara, a global superstar from Hollywood, was beyond belief. It was just too sudden.

After a moment.

“Um, PD-nim?”

Slender writer Choi Nana spoke cautiously.

“Are you sick or… something?”

Song Man-woo PD’s answer, without any change in expression, was concise.

“I’m fine.”

Kim So-hyang, the plump head director, took over.

“Then is this a joke? Who suddenly joins ‘Beneficial Evil’?”

“I said Miley Cara is appearing in our ‘Beneficial Evil’.”

The situation worsened. Kim So-hyang frowned, and Choi Nana’s face went blank as if she had heard an alien language.

“It’s so far-fetched I can’t even laugh. Stop joking, PD-nim.”

“That’s right. There’s no build-up at all!”

“I was a bit nervous because you called us in the morning, but I feel a little better now.”

They clearly didn’t believe Song Man-woo PD’s words. But Song Man-woo PD didn’t seem frustrated and wore a smile that suggested he understood.

“I reacted exactly the same way when I first heard about this a few days ago.”

He had shown a similar reaction when Kang Woo-jin first told him. No, probably anyone would have reacted the same way. Anyway, Song Man-woo PD, with a smile, put his hands together and continued.

“Haha, but it’s true. Why would I call you two busy people here to play around?”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“It’s true. Miley Cara is joining ‘Beneficial Evil’. Woo-jin is the guarantor.”

Suddenly, Kim So-hyang and Choi Nana’s expressions changed.

“Kang Woo-jin-ssi [ssi is a Korean honorific title]??”

Song Man-woo PD nodded and took out his phone.

“Yeah, Woo-jin-ssi. Actually, I didn’t do anything for this; it’s all Woo-jin-ssi’s plan.”

Song Man-woo PD murmured and opened an email on his phone. The content was full of English. Simple greetings, contact information, and a request for information about the drama. It was sent by Miley Cara’s agency. Song Man-woo PD showed the email to the two in front of him.

“It’s top secret, so I received it in my personal email, but I’m sharing it with you two for now.”

Choi Nana was a bit weak in English, but Kim So-hyang, the head director of Netflix Korea, had no trouble understanding the email. More than anything, the logo and agency name included in the email caught her eye.

It was clearly Miley Cara’s agency.

At this point, it had to be considered reality.

Then.

-Swish.

“…Oh, my god.”

Kim So-hyang’s eyes widened as she began to read the email carefully. Soon, Choi Nana also opened her mouth wide. When Kim So-hyang finished reading the email, Song Man-woo PD chimed in.

“When I was in Bangkok, Woo-jin-ssi suddenly called me. At first, he said he wanted to cast an actor, so I was quite puzzled. But it turned out to be Miley Cara.”

Song Man-woo PD, with his stubbly beard, explained the whole story to the two, starting from his call with Kang Woo-jin. Kim So-hyang and Choi Nana listened to the briefing with half their souls gone.

Finally.

“Even after receiving this email, I still feel like I’m dreaming.”

Song Man-woo PD, having finished his explanation, met the gaze of Choi Nana, whose mind had stopped working.

“But we need to pull ourselves together. Writer-nim, this is an absurd opportunity. No, it’s unbelievably extraordinary. You’re the only writer in the country who will experience this, right? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

“…Ah? Eh??”

Choi Nana’s reaction was like a broken robot. On the other hand, Song Man-woo PD became serious again.

“We need to create a new role for Miley Cara and write the lines and direction. Of course, that’s for you, Writer Choi. I will help too, of course.”

Humans tend to panic when caught up in a huge event they’ve never faced before. Just like Choi Nana’s current state.

“…M-me, I’m writing a role for Miley Cara?”

“Then who else would? ‘Beneficial Evil’ was born from your hands, Writer-nim. You can do it.”

At this point.

“Ha-”

Kim So-hyang, the head director, swept back her hair, which was longer than a bob. Her face showed that she had experienced something beyond shock.

“Is this even possible? How did this happen? What kind of magic did Kang Woo-jin-ssi use?”

“I don’t know the details either. Woo-jin-ssi is like an alien, isn’t he? Would you understand even if you heard the explanation?”

Kim So-hyang covered her mouth with one hand and pinched her cheek with the other. A gasp was a bonus.

“Still, this is… Wow… What is this? Is this a dream? This is an event that would turn not only Korea but also Hollywood upside down. Something that Netflix as a whole would struggle to do – Woo-jin-ssi did it alone?”

“It’ll probably be the first and last time that Miley Cara participates in a Korean production.”

“The scale has become this big.”

‘Beneficial Evil’ was already aiming for the global market, and Song Man-woo PD and Netflix Korea were prepared for numerous challenges. But somehow, after Kang Woo-jin officially joined, the picture of how things were going became too distant.

In the midst of this, Kim So-hyang barely regained her composure.

“…If it’s a secret that only the three of us know, does that mean you want to keep it completely hidden?”

Song Man-woo PD nodded.

“Of course. If this gets out carelessly, it’ll be a disaster. If reporters start snooping around, there’s no answer. It’ll break before we can even get an estimate.”

“Y-yes, that’s right. Until we make some progress, we need to keep it tightly under wraps even within ‘Beneficial Evil’. And at Netflix Korea too.”

“For now, only the three of us know, and even later, we’ll keep it top secret except for a few key staff members. Until the right timing comes. Oh, we’ll have a video meeting with Miley Cara’s side in a few days, and the head director-nim will have to participate then.”

Kim So-hyang nodded slowly. Then, Song Man-woo PD’s eyes turned back to Choi Nana. Her expression was now filled with a firm resolve.

“Writer-nim, Miley Cara is special, and it’ll be hard to give her a lot of screen time. But according to Woo-jin-ssi, Cara’s side said that it doesn’t have to be a fleeting cameo; a supporting or minor role is fine. That means there can be a role name, lines, and some acting.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Additionally, Woo-jin-ssi said that it would be good to film the Bangkok overseas location for the first and second episodes of ‘Beneficial Evil’. We need to discuss it in detail with Cara’s side, but she probably won’t be able to come to Korea. So, we need to finish filming in Bangkok.”

“The Bangkok overseas location is for the past scenes, so, then, Miley Cara must be mixed into ‘Jang Yeon-woo’s’ past.”

“That’s right.”

With the inclusion of ‘CQC’ [presumably a fictional technology or organization], which was being upgraded in collaboration with Ethan Smith, and the addition of Miley Cara, a new picture began to form in Choi Nana’s mind in an instant.

“…Remnants or scars. Or a corresponding trigger.”

Choi Nana muttered to herself and suddenly jumped up. Her face was full of inspiration.

“Wait a minute! My laptop!!”

She ran into the room. Song Man-woo PD watched her with a satisfied smile. Then, he turned his gaze to Kim So-hyang, the head director, who still had wide eyes.

“After the first video meeting with Miley Cara, when the additional script is completed, we need to go to LA to meet Cara. We need to officially hand over the script and brief her on ‘Beneficial Evil’ directly. We also need to coordinate the Bangkok filming schedule.”

He spoke calmly.

“You need to come with us then too.”

It was obvious. ‘Beneficial Evil’ was a joint production between DM Production and Netflix Korea.

“Of course, leave the interpretation to me.”

After that.

Song Man-woo PD began to move in earnest, and the weekend came to an end. And then, the weekdays began again. Monday the 26th, Kang Woo-jin’s schedule started very early.

It was around 5 AM.

‘Ugh- it’s tough. I need to hit the subspace [likely a reference to a personal space or method of relaxation] once before going to the salon.’

Today, Woo-jin’s schedule was, of course, packed. Recording related to ‘Kang Woo-jin’s alter ego’, reviewing the edited version, participating in various events, and even filming a newly contracted commercial. In fact, it was hard to find any gaps in his schedule until next month.

Thanks to that, a day was disappearing at the speed of light.

『’Best Friend: Remake’ is doing great in Japan! This time, the viewership rating rose again to 15.9%』

On Tuesday, while still managing his crazy schedule, Kang Woo-jin checked the news from Japan.

‘Oh- it’s rising again!’

Yesterday, Monday, a new episode of ‘Best Friend: Remake’ had aired. The result was, as expected, a record-breaking viewership rating. A viewership rating in the late 15% range. Currently, Woo-jin was in Korea, but Japan was in an uproar.

Nevertheless, Kang Woo-jin maintained his composure.

“Woo-jin-ah, ‘Best Friend: Remake’ is on a roll, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I saw it too.”

“Hahaha, yes, yes, this is easy for you, right?”

He was thrilled, but acting recklessly didn’t fit his persona. Meanwhile, the music charts in Korea and Japan were also buzzing. The OP [opening] song sung by Kang Woo-jin was having a fierce impact. It was number one on the Japanese Oricon chart, and in Korea, it was mostly within the top 5, although there were slight differences depending on the platform.

However, Kang Woo-jin’s power as an ‘issue king’ didn’t end with ‘Best Friend: Remake’. Around Thursday, the domestic media was flooded with news about Miley Cara. Of course, Kang Woo-jin was involved.

『[Star Issue] ‘Kang Woo-jin’ and ‘Miley Cara’ working on a new album, posted photos of their work on SNS』

It was already noisy when Woo-jin returned to Korea, but Cara’s post on her SNS, which had over a billion followers, amplified the firepower again. The content was just that she was happy with her work with Woo-jin and that it was well finished, but the two photos she posted became quite a hot topic among many fans overseas.

One photo of Kang Woo-jin and Cara actually working, and one photo of them filming a music video on a huge set.

In a way, it was similar to a trailer or still cut, and Kang Woo-jin, who saw himself in Cara’s music video scene, thought.

‘Ugh- man, I was there, but why does it feel so strange to see it in a photo??’

He felt embarrassed and strangely subtle. He couldn’t get used to the fact that he was mixed into the music video shoot of a global pop star. But thanks to the crazy flood of messages from Kang Hyun-ah and his close friends, he didn’t have much time to think about it.

Whatever it was, this became the trigger.

『Kang Woo-jin, building global recognition, his YouTube channel and SNS ‘soaring’!』

Unspecified masses of people distributed around the world visited Kang Woo-jin’s YouTube channel and SNS. It was like a nuclear explosion. Thanks to that, his SNS quickly surpassed 30 million followers.

-@Wooji_n

Posts 266

Followers 31.08 million

Following 92

Numerous posts were overflowing with comments in various languages from around the world. The ‘Kang Woo-jin alter ego’ channel had nearly 20 million subscribers. Of course, it was still increasing exponentially at this moment. As things stood, many videos uploaded to ‘Kang Woo-jin’s alter ego’ were frequently making a comeback.

In between, other issues such as ‘Beneficial Evil’ also broke out, but.

『[Issue Talk] ‘Kang Woo-jin’ on a roll, what will he look like in global superstar ‘Miley Cara’s’ music video? Various speculations are rampant』

As expected, the Miley Cara-related news was the most powerful.

About two weeks melted away like that. The hot month of July ended, and August began. Until September, there were ten days and a few more.

In other words, summer was ending, and autumn was approaching.

August 17th, Tokyo, Japan.

The time was late morning. A large ‘Toei-ga’ film company near Tokyo Station. ‘Toei-ga’ film company was already known as a large company in Japan, but this film company was being mentioned quite noisily these days. It wasn’t quiet in the past either, but recently it was even more turbulent.

The reason was simple.

‘Strange Geisha’ was being produced at ‘Toei-ga’ film company.

‘Strange Geisha’, which had been a bit quiet after entering the editing phase, was once again being talked about like crazy in the Japanese media and public opinion. The starting point was ‘Best Friend: Remake’, which was a huge hit around July and was still continuing its explosive power.

To be more precise, it was thanks to Kang Woo-jin.

‘Strange Geisha’, with Woo-jin at its center, was now being output in the editing room inside ‘Toei-ga’ film company. It was an editing room with a wide variety of monitors of various sizes. In front of the monitors where various scenes of ‘Strange Geisha’ were being played randomly.

-Tap, tap!

There were at least six people sitting with the sound of dazzling equipment operation. The one leading them was a man standing in the center, with more gray hair than before.

It was director Tanoguchi Kyotaro.

The editing of ‘Strange Geisha’, which started around May, was already in its mid-to-late stages, and it had been four months. Kyotaro’s skin had become very rough, probably because he had been staying up all night.

But as befitting a master of Japan, his eyes were still full of life and sharp.

“No, this scene is not good with a full shot. We had a front bust shot of Kang Woo-jin-ssi in this cut, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s see that one.”

At that moment.

-Click!

The thick door of the editing room opened, and a middle-aged man in a suit entered. He was the president of ‘Toei-ga’ film company. At his appearance, Kyotaro, who was focused on editing, turned his head, and the president of ‘Toei-ga’ film company spoke to Kyotaro with a slightly nervous face.

“Director, the official production presentation for ‘Strange Geisha’ has been confirmed. It’s this week.”

Kyotaro nodded slowly and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice due to fatigue.

“Let Kang Woo-jin-ssi know first.”

‘Strange Geisha’ stretches its wings.

End