I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 327

The arrival hall of ‘Suvarnabhumi International Airport’ in Bangkok, Thailand, was filled with an enormous crowd in front of Kang Woo-jin, whose poker face was as strong as ever.

-Flash flash flash flash!!

Dozens of Thai reporters were frantically snapping photos, and behind them, countless onlookers with their phones were eagerly calling out to Kang Woo-jin. Most of them were Thai. Dozens of Thai reporters lined up along the pre-installed rope fences, some even on small ladders, were taking pictures of Woo-jin without wasting a single second.

-Flash flash flash!

It was easily a crowd of over several hundred people.

“Kyaaak!!!”

“%)(#%Kang Woo-jin!! Woo-jin!!”

The arrival hall, filled with screams and shouts, instantly began to surge. The flow of the arrival hall became chaotic due to the extremely excited reporters and onlookers. The crowd was visibly swaying. Guards and airport staff were desperately trying to hold them back.

The louder they tried to hold them back, the higher the shouts in the arrival hall became.

“······”

Despite the sudden and overwhelming scene, Woo-jin remained calm. His solemn expression didn’t change much. He simply scanned the throng of Thai reporters and onlookers. On the surface, he appeared very composed, but in reality, Kang Woo-jin was inwardly shocked.

‘Wow, shit!! I was really surprised!! I almost screamed!’

He was already used to crowds of reporters and onlookers, but he never expected this scene to unfold in Bangkok, Thailand. He hadn’t anticipated it at all. In other words, Kang Woo-jin was more frozen and unable to react than trying to maintain his composure.

‘What’s going on?! Is some other celebrity arriving??’

He could understand this in Korea or Japan, but seeing this in Bangkok, Thailand, made Kang Woo-jin’s thoughts a bit jumbled. For a moment, he wondered if it was because of him, but upon closer inspection, the dozens of reporters were definitely taking pictures of him. And so were the hundreds of Thai people gathered there.

‘My name? They’re shouting my name, right??’

They were shouting Woo-jin’s name at the top of their lungs. Some Thai people were even enthusiastically waving papers with ‘Kang Woo-jin’ written in Korean. At this point, it was clear that they had gathered because of Kang Woo-jin. But why? Just then, the other supporting and minor actors who were following behind Kang Woo-jin exclaimed in amazement.

“Incredible.”

“Did all these Thai reporters and people gather because of Kang Woo-jin??”

“This is crazy, really!”

“No wonder there were so many guards!”

The conversations were loud enough for Kang Woo-jin to hear, but they went in one ear and out the other. At the same time, the guards from the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team rushed to Kang Woo-jin’s sides and front, and at the end of them, Choi Sung-gun, with his ponytail, whispered to Kang Woo-jin.

“Oh my, this is insane, it’s chaos. This seems like twice as many people as the Line PD [Line Producer] told me about beforehand??”

The Line PD was the key staff member in charge of the overseas location part of ‘Beneficial Evil.’ It seemed that Choi Sung-gun had received a heads-up about this scene from the local Line PD in Bangkok.

“Woo-jin, it seems like there are more people than I told you about earlier, so let’s just give a quick greeting and get out of here.”

‘Told me?’ When? Choi Sung-gun spoke as if he had told Kang Woo-jin, but Woo-jin didn’t remember it at all. Was he too out of it to remember? Kang Woo-jin couldn’t remember everything because his schedule was like hell. Anyway, Kang Woo-jin, with the guards in front, slowly broke through the crowd of hundreds.

The screams and shouts that seemed to tear his ears apart increased in volume.

‘Wow, shit, this is crazy!’

Barely maintaining his composure, Kang Woo-jin managed to get out of the arrival hall, leaving behind the blinding flashes and the gifts thrown by the Thai people. However, the crowd of hundreds was still following behind Woo-jin. Soon, several cars parked on the shoulder of the road came into Woo-jin’s chaotic view.

‘Are we getting in those??!’

Several vans and mini-buses were already waiting on the shoulder of the airport road, and Kang Woo-jin, his team, and a few guards got into the black van at the front. As soon as the car door closed, the van with Woo-jin inside immediately departed. The chaotic crowd would disperse once Kang Woo-jin was gone.

-Vroom!

The ‘Beneficial Evil’ team was still at the airport, but Choi Sung-gun, who already knew the hotel where they would be staying, and the driver, who was hired locally, smoothly started driving on the road. Kang Woo-jin was looking out the window with a silent expression, but inwardly, he was repeatedly tilting his head.

‘What just happened??’

It felt like a short but intense scene had just flashed by. Because of that, the scenery of Bangkok, which he was seeing for the first time, didn’t quite register in his mind.

Soon, Woo-jin.

-Swish.

Turned his head to the right and asked Choi Sung-gun, who seemed to have just finished a call, in a low voice.

“CEO, you said the crowd at the airport was larger than expected.”

Choi Sung-gun, who was wiping his sweat while making eye contact with Kang Woo-jin, immediately replied.

“Huh? Ah, yeah, yeah. I just talked to Song PD, and it seems there was some miscommunication with the Line PD. They said it’s being sorted out without any major incidents, so don’t worry.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. We expected it to some extent, but we didn’t expect them to swarm like that. I told you before, right? That ‘Han Ryang’ [a Korean drama] and ‘Boyfriend Material’ [another Korean drama] did well in Thailand too. It’s the aftermath of that, and your SNS and ‘Kang Woo-jin’s Alternate Persona’ channel also played a part.”

Only then did Woo-jin understand, thinking ‘Ah-’. In reality, Kang Woo-jin hadn’t paid much attention, but the Korean Wave [Hallyu] had been strong in Thailand for a long time. The fact that many Korean works were in the top 10 of Netflix Thailand was proof of that. Among them were ‘Profiler Han Ryang’ and ‘Boyfriend Material,’ and Woo-jin was a full-fledged giant influencer with thousands of subscribers and followers.

In short, the scene at the airport just now was not strange at all.

It was all Kang Woo-jin’s influence.

Meanwhile, Han Ye-jung, who had changed to a light red bob, chimed in with her usual blunt tone.

“Was it that crowded? I was a bit disappointed, actually. I even posted something like an announcement on SNS before coming to Bangkok.”

Choi Sung-gun, who was untying his ponytail, replied.

“We didn’t see it, but they said a few hundred more people gathered on the side of the airport. They arrived late, so the airport staff blocked them.”

“Ah, then I acknowledge it.”

“So.”

Then, Choi Sung-gun, who was grinning, nudged Kang Woo-jin’s side, who still had a stiff expression.

“You don’t seem very impressed, but how do you feel seeing your Thai fans in person? You know, there aren’t many actors who get this kind of reception, unless they’re idols. You’re not feeling bad, are you?”

“No.”

“Hehe, such a bland guy.”

Woo-jin, who was indifferent, turned his gaze back to the window. He was in Thailand for the first time, beyond Korea and Japan. Kang Woo-jin, who had witnessed hundreds of his fans here, was feeling it anew.

‘This is insane, really.’

That his influence was gradually spreading globally.

Several tens of minutes later,

The van carrying Kang Woo-jin had entered the downtown area of Bangkok. It was about 10 minutes away from the reserved 5-star hotel. A very large park appeared outside the car window. It was called ‘Lumpini Park.’ Soon, Woo-jin’s team members were sticking to the windows, looking at the scenery of Bangkok.

Of course, Kang Woo-jin wasn’t as boisterous, but he was also glancing out the window.

‘Oooo, Bangkok!’

The ‘Beneficial Evil’ team, including Kang Woo-jin, who had arrived in Bangkok today, were scheduled to unpack their luggage at the hotel and then, led by Song Man-woo PD [Production Director], visit several filming locations in Bangkok that had been arranged in advance. Of course, Kang Woo-jin was included.

The real action would start tomorrow.

At this very moment, in Japan, where the time difference with Bangkok, Thailand, wasn’t significant, the stage for Kang Woo-jin was also growing.

The location was ‘Toei-ga’ Film Company near Tokyo.

More precisely, it was a large editing room at ‘Toei-ga’ Film Company. It was the place where the editing of the movie ‘Strange Geisha,’ which had recently had its production presentation and had shaken all of Japan, was in full swing. About a month had passed since the production presentation where Kang Woo-jin had dropped a bombshell, but the numerous teasers and provocations of ‘Strange Geisha’ had not weakened at all.

Rather, it was more intense than a month ago.

It felt like if the movie were to be released, they would pounce on it like beasts.

The first reason was that the ‘Strange Geisha’ side was doing several times more promotion and marketing than usual, almost like they were crazy. The second reason was the power of the Japanese public to spread rumors on their own. The hooks were getting sharper day by day. Of course, Kang Woo-jin was at the center of it.

“······Hoo-”

Inside the editing room of ‘Strange Geisha,’ a man with a lot of gray hair among several editors swept his face with one hand. It was the Japanese master director, Kyo-taro, and it was an action he took while looking at several monitors in front of him. The monitors were displaying one actor. ‘Iyota Kiyoshi’ standing alone in the middle of a subway staircase, where ants or citizens in suits were busily going up, staring at the camera.

Director Kyo-taro stared at the various monitors for a while. Several editors were staring intently at him. All of them had dark circles under their eyes, and the editors each showed different levels of tension. Some swallowed their saliva, others held their breath.

Around that time.

“···Okay.”

Director Kyo-taro slowly nodded. Then, in a low, hoarse voice, he spoke in Japanese.

“Let’s go with ‘Strange Geisha’ like this.”

It meant that the long editing of ‘A Stranger’s Bizarre Sacrifice’ had just been finalized, and suddenly, applause erupted from behind Director Kyo-taro, who was sitting down.

-Clap clap clap clap!

It turned out to be the film company’s president and executives, clapping their hands. Among them, the film company’s president bowed to Director Kyo-taro.

“Thank you for your hard work, Director.”

“Thank you. But the real war starts now.”

“······That’s true, but-”

Soon, Director Kyo-taro, who had said a word of thanks to the surrounding editors, spoke to the film company’s president again.

“When did you schedule the screening test, including the actors?”

“It will be in two days.”

“And the premiere?”

“We have increased the amount more than usual, so we have moved up the schedule a lot, and the release schedule is also a bit tight. Of course, the work has been done in advance. We will start with the press premiere.”

The press premiere was a premiere where reporters and film critics gathered. The film company’s president continued to answer.

“The first premiere will be from next week.”

It was when Kang Woo-jin was in the middle of filming ‘Beneficial Evil.’

On the same day, at night. Bangkok.

It was around 9 PM. The location was the ‘Kempinski Hotel,’ one of the 5-star hotels in Bangkok. It was close to where Kang Woo-jin and the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team were staying, but it wasn’t the same hotel. Two luxury vans stopped at the entrance of the hotel, which had a grand appearance and even recreated nature inside with a swimming pool and several trees. Naturally, the hotel staff standing at the entrance rushed over.

-Thump!

Soon, a number of foreigners got out of the vans. The most noticeable was a giant black man. No, it was the famous Hollywood producer, Joseph Felton. His muscles were prominent thanks to the tight black short-sleeved shirt he was wearing. Behind him, a familiar woman could be seen. Casting director Megan Stone with her brown bob.

In other words, this group of foreigners was the team that Joseph had gathered.

There were about 20 people, and other than the two, the rest were Joseph’s team members, the stunt team that had been hired, and a few executives from the distribution and film company ‘Universal Movies.’ Of course, they had come to see the filming of ‘Beneficial Evil.’ Whatever the reason, the group of foreigners, including Joseph, who got out of the vans, entered the 5-star hotel.

The interior of the hotel was even more dazzling.

The entire place was lined with beige marble, and the ceiling was quite high. The thick pillars and the fountain in the center of the incredibly vast lobby were of an enormous size. Joseph and the group of foreigners who entered the hotel moved to the counter to check in. Of course, the person in charge was Robert, Joseph’s bald subordinate.

Then, the group of foreigners looked around the hotel and exclaimed in satisfaction.

“Not bad.”

“Right? I especially like this wide lobby. There are also many sofas for waiting over there.”

“Shall we rest a bit while we wait?”

The rest of the group, except for those who were checking in, walked towards the waiting sofas that were prominently placed on one side of the lobby. The lobby was so large that it took quite a while to get there. Joseph and Megan were in the middle of a conversation, and just as they were about to reach the waiting sofas.

“Huh?”

A man with a protruding belly, one of the executives from the Hollywood distribution and film company ‘Universal Movies,’ slightly widened his eyes. It was because of a woman who had just entered the hotel. She had her blonde hair tied up, wore a hat pulled down low, and had a white mask on. The woman had covered her face, but the executive with the protruding belly was strangely familiar with her vibe, and he unconsciously murmured her name.

“······Ma, Miley? Miley Cara?”

At that moment, the entire group of foreigners paused. Then, everyone turned to look at the executive with the protruding belly. Even the giant Joseph did the same.

“Hmm? What are you talking about? Did you have a dream or something?”

Joseph laughed in bewilderment.

“There’s no way Miley would be here.”