I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 336

Kang Woo-jin, experiencing France for the first time, wore an utterly indifferent expression as he entered the arrival hall of Nice Airport.

“······”

It was all an act. The real Kang Woo-jin was far from calm; he was completely frozen.

Why?

-Flash! Flash! Flash!!

The moment the arrival hall doors opened, it was like a lightning strike. He’d heard reporters would be there, but seeing them from all over the world right in front of him made his heart race. Hundreds of them, no less.

‘Oh, my god! This is incredible!’

The reporters, of various nationalities, were snapping pictures of Kang Woo-jin like crazy. Half of them probably didn’t even know who he was, but they were taking pictures anyway. It was quite a spectacle. He had seen this many reporters before, but it was his first time seeing them from so many different countries all mixed together. Woo-jin felt like he had stepped into another world.

‘But why are they taking pictures of me? They don’t even know me?’

Tension rose, and Woo-jin’s feet froze. He stopped at the entrance of the arrival hall without realizing it, and Choi Sung-gun, with his ponytail, along with the team members and guards following behind him, also stopped. Choi Sung-gun leaned in and whispered to Woo-jin.

“Why? Photo time? Okay, but let’s make it quick if possible.”

What was he talking about? It was a clear misunderstanding. Woo-jin’s body had actually frozen from the pressure. Still, thanks to Choi Sung-gun, Kang Woo-jin’s mind cleared up a bit. He quickly put on a serious poker face and nodded solemnly.

-Swish.

He raised his hand towards the hundreds of reporters. He was so brazen. But if you didn’t know the real him, he would have seemed quite composed. At that moment, Korean reporters among the foreign press shouted.

“Woo-jin! Woo-jin!!!”

“Hello! Kang Woo-jin! Please look this way!”

“Finger heart! Can you do a finger heart?!!”

“Please say something to your fans back home!!”

“Kang Woo-jin! It’s your first time at the Cannes Film Festival! How do you feel!!”

There seemed to be quite a few of them. About 30? They were desperately shouting amidst the large crowd of foreign reporters. Whether he felt sorry for them or not, Woo-jin made a finger heart [a gesture using the thumb and index finger to form a small heart]. Of course, very solemnly.

More onlookers gathered. The reporters who had wandered off also came back.

Broadcasting teams from various countries also entered the airport one after another. It was chaotic. Nice Airport was, in a word, packed with people. From a distance, it looked like an ant colony. Soon, Choi Sung-gun gently nudged Woo-jin’s back and said,

“Let’s move.”

Kang Woo-jin nodded and took a step. As he did, he muttered to himself,

‘What is this place? Is this a dream? It doesn’t feel real. My head is going to explode.’

Just maintaining his cool was a bit overwhelming. So, Woo-jin barely managed to get out of the airport, following the path the guards were making. Numerous tourists outside the airport were taking pictures of Woo-jin with their phones. Anyway, Kang Woo-jin got into the van that was prepared, following Choi Sung-gun’s guidance.

He almost let out a sigh of relief.

The moment the car doors closed, the two vans carrying Woo-jin sped off. Through the window, he could see the crowd of people for at least five minutes. It wasn’t until after driving for more than ten minutes that a slightly less crowded road appeared.

It was then that Kang Woo-jin realized it.

‘Wow—this is insane.’

That he had set foot in the Cannes Film Festival.

After that.

The drive from Nice Airport to Cannes was about an hour. Soon, Kang Woo-jin would arrive in Cannes. His expression, as he wore a zip-up hoodie and continued to look out the window, didn’t change much. It was full of cynicism. But inside his head, he was deeply moved.

‘Wow—really… no, wow—’

He kept exclaiming in admiration. The reason was simple. The scenery unfolding on the way to Cannes was spectacular. The endless sea, the islands in the distance, the picturesque beaches, and the movie-like towns in between.

It didn’t feel like the same world.

‘What is this place, seriously!’

If he hadn’t been acting cool, he would have been making a fuss long ago. He had traveled to LA, Japan, Bangkok, and Vietnam as an actor, but this place was the most shocking.

Thanks to that, Kang Woo-jin couldn’t take his eyes off the window.

Every second felt precious.

Meanwhile, Woo-jin was reviewing one of the abilities that had been instinctively imprinted on him. What could it be? It was ‘French’ among the various languages. He was in the home of ‘French,’ so he would probably need to use it somewhere soon.

At that moment.

“Woo-jin.”

Choi Sung-gun, who was sitting right next to him and had just re-tied his ponytail, pointed forward with his index finger.

“We’re entering Cannes.”

It meant they had arrived at the place where the Cannes Film Festival would be held in grand style. Looking ahead, he could see the entrance to a rather large city. The buildings were densely packed, surrounded by the sea and beaches, and the roads were full of cars and people. For a moment, Kang Woo-jin was reminded of an amusement park on Children’s Day.

‘Wow—shit! The airport was nothing compared to this??! Can we even get through this??!’

Thanks to the Cannes Film Festival, which would open this afternoon, the city of Cannes was already at its peak. The traffic was terrible. No, it was more like crawling. Still, Kang Woo-jin wasn’t bored. There was so much to see out the window.

It was as if this city existed solely for the Cannes Film Festival.

About an hour later.

“Ah! There, there!!”

One of the stylists who had been to Cannes last year shouted.

“That’s where the Cannes Film Festival is held!! Ah! What’s the name?!”

Choi Sung-gun, with a faint smile, answered instead.

“Palais des Festivals [Festival Palace].”

“That’s it! There!”

The ‘Palais des Festivals,’ famous as the place where the Cannes Film Festival is held every year.

It was a massive venue. There was a huge billboard on the front of the entrance, and the whole building was covered in glass. It was a six-story building with three large halls, about six medium-sized halls, and more than 20 small halls. By the way, a large red carpet would be laid out in front of this ‘Palais des Festivals’ building, and the opening and closing ceremonies and awards ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival would be held there.

In addition, 20 films in the ‘Competition’ section would be screened in the large Lumière Theatre inside the ‘Palais des Festivals.’

Around the ‘Palais des Festivals,’ there were thousands of people gathered, even at a rough estimate.

‘Woah—this is crazy.’

As it was the main venue of the Cannes Film Festival, naturally, more than half of them were tourists. Everyone was busy taking pictures with the ‘Palais des Festivals’ in the background. The rest were staff from the Cannes Film Festival. It was like they were in the middle of finishing touches. It was obvious that it was related to the Cannes Film Festival, which would open this afternoon, and outdoor screening venues were also being set up along the beach.

Reporters and broadcasting teams were busy filming, and there were many tourists being interviewed in various places.

In front of the ‘Palais des Festivals,’ a steel fence was installed for several meters from the entrance, and a wide red carpet was being laid out in the middle.

Choi Sung-gun, who had taken a picture of it, said to Kang Woo-jin.

“That’s it. That’s where you’ll walk when the opening ceremony starts.”

The corners of Choi Sung-gun’s mouth were practically touching his ears.

“There will be at least tens of thousands of people there by then.”

At this time.

There was a huge movement happening overseas. Specifically, it was on the SNS of Miley Cara, a global star with over a hundred million followers.

She uploaded a new post at a set time.

-[Everyone! The teaser for the music video of my new album’s title track has finally been released! You can watch it on my YouTube channel, and the official release of this new album is on October 12th······]

The post, which included the jacket photo of her new album, also included the official release date of the album. Cara’s new album, in which Kang Woo-jin participated, would be released on October 12th. About ten days away. Whatever the case, this post received a tremendous amount of likes and comments in an instant.

It was being updated every second. It was close to a bombardment.

It was only natural, considering she had over a hundred million followers worldwide. What was interesting was that the name ‘Kang Woo-jin’ was often seen in the comments in various languages. The fact that a Korean actor had participated in Cara’s new album was already quite a hot topic among Cara’s many fans.

Around this time, Cara’s YouTube channel was already overloaded.

The views of the music video teaser that had just been uploaded had already exceeded hundreds of thousands of views. At this rate, it was obvious that it would easily reach 1 million views in a few tens of minutes.

The running time of the music video teaser was 15 seconds.

After the title of Cara’s new album appeared at the beginning, a very short hook of the title track was heard, and Cara, wearing various outfits, also appeared. And at the end of the teaser, a piano melody suddenly started playing.

-♬♪

Then, a Korean actor sitting at the piano. That is, Kang Woo-jin’s appearance for about 2 seconds. It was very fleeting, but among all the Korean actors, Kang Woo-jin would be the first and last. That’s because there was no actor with the ability to participate in an album by an artist like Cara.

Comments in various languages flooded in.

And Cara’s fans from all over the world naturally moved to Kang Woo-jin’s YouTube channel or SNS. Thanks to that, the numbers of Kang Woo-jin’s things skyrocketed, so to speak.

It was beyond imagination.

Meanwhile, in an airplane flying in the sky.

The destination of this plane was Korea. The plane bound for Korea was full of the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team. Song Man-woo PD [Production Director], with dark circles under his eyes, as well as writer Choi Na-na, Kim So-hyang, the general director, and over a hundred other staff members. They were returning after completing the overseas location filming for ‘Beneficial Evil.’

Half of them were asleep, and the other half were engaged in lively conversations.

“Whew—time really flew by, I didn’t expect the Bangkok filming to end so quickly.”

“That’s probably because the stimulation was insane throughout the filming period, right? From Miley… no, ‘Her’ appearance to Woo-jin’s long take, and so on.”

“But seriously, Woo-jin’s action scenes were—amazing, totally.”

“He also had great chemistry with ‘Her,’ right??”

Kang Woo-jin was the main topic of the staff’s conversation. At this point, writer Choi Na-na, who was pushing up her round glasses, asked Song Man-woo PD, who had a beard, in the next seat.

“PD-nim, Woo-jin must be stirring things up in Cannes by now, right?”

He turned his head, looking at the script with tired eyes.

“Probably. Well, it must be chaotic.”

“······Oh, he must be so tired. He went right after finishing filming.”

“He has to make it in time for the opening day, of course. It’s a global festival, he can’t be late.”

Song Man-woo PD, who had muttered, suddenly recalled his first meeting with Kang Woo-jin. Song Man-woo PD was the first director to discover Woo-jin when he first stepped into the entertainment industry. He was suddenly dumbfounded by Kang Woo-jin’s current situation.

“It feels like yesterday that the ‘Super Actor’ preliminaries were held, and that arrogant monster I saw that day has now gone to a place where it’s okay to be arrogant. To stand shoulder to shoulder with global actors.”

Writer Choi Na-na rubbed her arm.

“Ew—goosebumps.”

Song Man-woo PD chuckled at her and changed the subject.

“’Jang Yeon-woo’ is temporarily out, but we need to speed up our filming. And General Director.”

“Hmm? Yes?”

Song Man-woo PD called out to Kim So-hyang, who was sitting next to her and was busy sending a message somewhere.

“About our ‘Beneficial Evil,’ is it possible to open it in two parts?”

“…What do you mean by splitting it in two?”

“I mean, how about dividing the 12 episodes into 6 episodes and 6 episodes, and opening them with a gap between the two parts?”

“Ah.”

“It’s different from the concept of Season 1 and 2.”

He put down the script he was looking at and continued to explain.

“There are many things that have changed in the conditions of ‘Beneficial Evil’ compared to the beginning. Action scenes, ‘CQC’ [Close Quarters Combat], the script, and even ‘Her’ joining.”

“That’s right.”

“Pre-production is the default anyway. In my opinion, rather than going for all 12 episodes at once, it would be more beneficial to focus on filming and editing the first 1 to 6 episodes as quickly as possible and then open them. The remaining 7 to 12 episodes, which can be seen as the second part, would resume filming when the first part is completed.”

“Hmm—so releasing the first 1 to 6 episodes all at once is the same?”

“Yes. Also, it’s actually impossible to keep ‘Her’ a secret for long. It will leak somewhere, for sure.”

Kim So-hyang, the general director of Netflix Korea, replied.

“So, the main point of what PD-nim is saying is—to move up the scheduled release date of ‘Beneficial Evil.’ That is, to bring forward the launch date, right?”

“Correct.”

“To cut off the back half. No, to keep it and go with the first 1 to 6 episodes first—the schedule would be moved up quite a bit, wouldn’t it? No, significantly.”

Song Man-woo PD, with his beard, made a gap about the size of a fist with his thumb and index finger. Then he reduced it by half.

“That’s right. With simple calculations, half of the entire schedule is cut off.”

Half? The time required for the launch would be greatly reduced? Kim So-hyang, who had been stroking her chin at Song Man-woo PD’s sudden proposal, smiled.

“······That’s tempting, isn’t it?”

End