I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 335

The largest theater in a major cinema in Tokyo was filled with hundreds of reporters and other audience members. The end credits rolled, displaying the movie title and the names of the cast. All eyes were fixed on the white letters against the large screen.

“······”

“······”

The audience wore blank expressions, as if they had been struck on the back of the head. Bewilderment and disbelief were etched on their faces. While their individual reactions varied slightly, they all shared a common experience: the movie they had just witnessed was a profound cultural shock.

The film was titled ‘Strange Sacrifice of a Stranger.’

This was, of course, a press screening, not a public showing.

Today marked the first press screening of ‘Strange Sacrifice.’ These screenings were crucial, attended by hundreds of reporters, media personnel, and film critics. While there were various types of screenings—general, VIP, and blind—the press screening held particular significance.

It was directly tied to promotion and marketing.

Although immediate publication of reviews was prohibited, articles about the movie would flood the media when the embargo lifted. These articles would shape the public’s first impression of the film.

In essence, they determined the movie’s initial image.

While direct spoilers were forbidden, reporters were allowed to include their personal feelings and brief descriptions of the content. This was why film companies and production houses held large press screenings with multiple sessions.

The ‘Strange Sacrifice’ team was no exception.

However, ‘Strange Sacrifice’ had doubled the scale of a typical screening. This was a decision made by Director Kyotaro and the film company, resulting in a packed theater far exceeding the usual capacity. The number of screening sessions was also increased several times.

At the far right end of the front row, a gray-haired man watched the end credits.

“Hmm.”

It was Director Kyotaro, the director of ‘Strange Sacrifice.’ Beside him sat top Japanese actor Mana Kosaku and about half a dozen of the lead actors from the film. They were there for the stage greeting that would follow the screening.

Notably, only Director Kyotaro and the actors appeared calm.

Some of the actors even seemed slightly excited.

‘As expected! Seeing it on the big screen amplifies the tension; it’s completely different from the test screenings!’

They were generally composed, having already experienced the finished product.

On the other hand…

‘······Huh! Wh, what did I just see??’

The screening’s emcee, seated in the same row as Director Kyotaro and the actors, stared at the screen, his mouth slightly agape. His face mirrored the shock of the hundreds of reporters behind him. Despite having read the original book ‘Strange Sacrifice’ multiple times, he struggled to comprehend the movie he had just seen.

‘I knew there would be some adaptation, but—did they cut this much? Even the ending! It’s completely different from the original!!’

The movie’s ending was a complete 180-degree turn from the original.

‘Is this movie ending really okay??! It feels like it’s going to be a complete disaster when it’s released???’

As the end credits reached the halfway point, the lights in the theater came on. The credits were replaced by Japanese text on the screen.

-[Strange Sacrifice of a Stranger/ Stage Greeting]

It was time for Director Kyotaro and the Japanese actors to move to the front of the screen. But first, the emcee, still in shock, stepped forward.

“…Th, then! Let’s welcome the main cast of ‘Strange Sacrifice.’”

It was around this time that the murmuring among the reporters and media personnel began to escalate.

“Hey, hey, why is the ending of this movie like this??”

“Did it end like that?! Does it really end like that? With Kang Woo-jin’s face???”

“With that, Kang Woo-jin is the main pillar… The ending is different from the original? And severely so.”

“Director Tanoguchi Kyotaro is crazy. What kind of backlash is he going to get from the hardcore fans of the original if he releases it like this-”

The shock-induced pause in their thinking was slowly resolving.

“Did they deny the idea of cause and effect or express that it’s meaningless?? And they changed the setting of the main character Kiyoshi too!”

“D, did they change Kiyoshi’s setting because of Kang Woo-jin’s casting?”

“Did the original author, Akari, really approve of this? It doesn’t make sense. The ending is too much.”

“This is – like trampling on the unwritten rules of the current Japanese content market.”

“If the public sees this ‘Strange Sacrifice’… it’s an accident, a huge accident!”

Hundreds of reporters, without exception, expressed shock and horror. They recalled the movie’s content: the meticulous murder plan of ‘Iyota Kiyoshi,’ played by Kang Woo-jin, the stark reflection of Japanese reality, and the absurd ending with a close-up of Woo-jin.

The reporters’ excitement was turning into a frenzy.

Amidst this, Director Kyotaro and the Japanese actors lined up in front of the screen. The reporters, whose murmuring had become excessive, suddenly raised their cameras and began taking pictures of the main cast. Flashes went off like lightning.

-Flash! Flash! Flash!

These were not positive shutter sounds. It was like gathering information in preparation for a major controversy, resentment, disaster, and backlash that would soon erupt. It felt like a war had broken out across Japan. Among the reporters, the film critics, who had been relatively quiet, saw something different in ‘Strange Sacrifice.’

‘The ending—yes, I predicted that this kind of interpretation would appear in Japan someday. But I didn’t know that Director Tanoguchi Kyotaro would do it. And with Akari’s work. By the way, Kang Woo-jin… what is his acting? It’s like they took Kiyoshi and filmed him??’

It was Kang Woo-jin. More precisely, his acting.

‘It’s partly because it’s such a hot topic, but honestly, in terms of acting, I could only see Kang Woo-jin.’

‘The last cut will probably cause a big controversy in Japan, since there are so many fans of ‘Strange Sacrifice’ and it will be absurd in their eyes. But in my eyes… I think it might be the best ending of the year. Especially, Kang Woo-jin’s eyes were really – chilling.’

These were critics who had covered almost all the movies in Japan. Unlike the hundreds of reporters, their reviews were not negative.

‘Direction, sound, acting. There was no lack. No, it was overflowing. Especially, Kiyoshi’s piano scene and the scene where he seemed to have multiple personalities were memorable.’

‘It seems like a great work has been produced in a different sense.’

Regardless, the frenzied reporters were flashing their cameras like crazy, and then, as if they couldn’t stand it anymore, they bombarded Director Kyotaro and the actors with questions.

“#)(%*#()%*(!!!”

“%(%*)(#%*)(#%*!!!”

The questions were all mixed together, making it hard to understand what they were saying. The reporters were recalling the press conference for ‘Strange Sacrifice,’ specifically, the lines that Kang Woo-jin had dropped like a bomb.

‘I think it will easily surpass 20 million viewers.’

‘I think it’s the first movie that will have a big impact on the Japanese film industry. Many things will change.’

Soon, a reporter’s question barely reached the ears of Director Kyotaro, who was standing in front of the screen.

“Director!! A, are you really going to release it like this??! Then a nuclear bomb-level controversy will erupt!!”

Director Kyotaro, who had received the hand microphone from the frozen emcee, smiled calmly.

“It doesn’t matter, reporters, please write articles later with your current heightened emotions.”

After that.

This situation was the same at another press screening held two hours later.

Because the hundreds of reporters there also fell into a state of panic.

Meanwhile, in France.

It was morning on the 29th there. But Nice Airport, close to Cannes, was crowded from early morning. The airport lobby was so packed that there was no room to step. Crowds of people from various countries were swarming.

The reason was simple.

It was because of the Cannes Film Festival, a world-renowned film festival where many global stars had already arrived, scheduled to open tomorrow. There were over 4,000 invited reporters and tens of thousands of official invitees. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The number of tourists from all over the world to see the Cannes Film Festival was close to hundreds of thousands. They had already started arriving last week, but Nice Airport was still exploding with tourists.

Their destination was, of course, Cannes, France.

It was about an hour away from Nice, and Cannes, one day before the huge film festival, had an excessively festive atmosphere. The 5-star hotels and small accommodations in Cannes were already fully booked, the sidewalks were packed with people in the small city, there were huge billboards for the Cannes Film Festival all over the city, promotional flags on every street lamp, pamphlets scattered everywhere on the roads, and so on.

At this point, Koreans were often seen among the diverse crowds of people.

“Here, here! Take a picture of me here!”

“Oh my, there are so many people.”

“Hurry up and take it! We have many places to go.”

Indeed, it was a day before the Cannes Film Festival, so there were so many things to see. Just watching people would make a day disappear in the blink of an eye. Among the many sights, what stood out were the movie posters distributed throughout the city. They were the movie posters of the 20 films invited to the main ‘Competition’ section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

They were displayed on monitors, attached to building walls, made into pamphlets, and even seen on the sides of buses.

There were a lot of cameras around the posters.

Reporters from all over the world and broadcasting teams were taking pictures of the posters. There was nothing better than the invited works to capture the situation and atmosphere of the Cannes Film Festival. Since the main awards, from the highest award of the Cannes Film Festival, the ‘Palme d’Or,’ to the Best Director Award and Best Actor Award, all came from the ‘Competition’ section, attention was bound to be focused on them.

Therefore, poster promotion was essential.

It was a rather interesting sight to see overseas broadcasting teams gathering around the ‘Competition’ posters, and among the broadcasting teams from various countries, there was, of course, a Korean team.

Even now, a team that had secured a spot was filming.

“Here? Is it okay to stand here?”

“Good – perfect!”

“Let’s do a rehearsal first.”

“Okay!”

A female reporter holding a hand microphone and a large camera filming her. Several team members around them. Next to the camera was the logo of the Korean public broadcaster MBS. It was clearly an MBS news team. They had set up in front of a large poster in the form of a huge banner on a building.

Soon, the female reporter, standing so that the large poster in the back was clearly visible, spoke in front of the camera.

“I’m here in Cannes, France. This is the ‘Cannes Film Festival,’ which will open tomorrow afternoon, and huge crowds have gathered. Can you see the large poster behind me? It’s the poster for Director Ahn Ga-bok’s ‘Leech.’”

‘Park Ha-sung’s’ full body, taking up half of the dark background. He was looking at a family photo, and the family of the chaebol [a large family-owned business conglomerate], including Chairman Yoon Jung-bae, was in the frame. ‘Park Ha-sung,’ reflected in the glass of the frame, was smiling, but the reflection of him in the frame was a chilling blank expression. The poster itself expressed the Ripley Syndrome [a psychological condition where a person creates a false identity], but it was impossible to know before watching the movie.

One thing was clear here.

“The poster with Kang Woo-jin’s face prominently displayed is impressive.”

Kang Woo-jin’s face was plastered all over Cannes, France, where world-class stars and hundreds of thousands of tourists had gathered.

“‘Leech’ is the only Korean movie to advance to the ‘Competition’ section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it is attracting a lot of attention. Even now, foreign reporters and overseas broadcasting teams are filming the ‘Leech’ poster, and…”

The war had already begun.

Late morning on the 30th.

From the entrance of a large airport, a rope fence was stretched out, and on both sides, crowds of at least 300 people were closely packed together. What was unusual was that they were all of different races. It was as if people from various countries were mixed together.

That was the truth.

The 300-plus people were reporters dispatched from various countries. Among them, dozens of Korean reporters were also seen. The reporters, sitting or standing on small ladders, were all holding cannon-like cameras.

It was quite understandable.

World-class stars had been appearing at the entrance of this airport for several days. Celebrities, actors, sports stars, and so on were numerous.

At this time.

-Swoosh.

The entrance door opened. At the same time, hundreds of reporters of various races began to press their shutters like crazy.

-Flash! Flash! Flash!

Soon, a black-haired Korean actor appeared in front of the reporters. His outfit was casual with a zip-up hoodie, but his expression was firm. He didn’t even show a hint of surprise at seeing hundreds of reporters.

“······”

He just casually raised his hand.

-Flash! Flash! Flash!

Flashbulbs poured down on him.

Several tens of minutes later, articles with the same content began to flood in Korea. All the articles had a picture of one actor plastered on them.

『[Cannes Film Festival+] Calm ‘Kang Woo-jin’ Arrives at Nice Airport Late Morning/ Photo』

End