I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 399

In the waiting room of the ‘Columbia Studios’ press conference hall, Kang Woo-jin was, in fact, a bundle of nerves. From the moment he entered the hotel until his name was called.

“······”

His face was a mask of cool composure, but inside, he was a mess of jitters.

‘Ugh, I’m a bit nervous. Even though I’ve done this before.’

He’d been to press conferences with over a hundred reporters several times, but this was his first time in Hollywood. Moreover, today was about making a splash, about showing the world his presence, so the pressure was even greater.

Kang Woo-jin mentally amplified his ‘cool’ persona several times over.

He splashed imaginary ice water on his pounding heart repeatedly.

Since he was about to introduce himself to the world, he couldn’t afford to look flustered. The indifference in Woo-jin’s demeanor intensified. It deepened. He let out a breath he didn’t show. He barely managed to calm himself. On the other hand, Woo-jin’s team, including Choi Sung-gun and the stylists, were in a state of excited chaos.

“What do we do! Why am I so nervous?!”

“I know! I’m going crazy! Woo-jin *oppa* [an affectionate term for an older brother or male friend] is so calm, so we should be too, but it’s not working!!”

“Once *oppa* goes out, the whole world will know, right?!”

“Of course! I peeked, and there were over 100 reporters!”

“······If this blows up, it’s going to be a real mess.”

But Kang Woo-jin didn’t hear them. He was completely focused on maintaining his image. There was no set script for the press conference. No matter what questions were thrown at him, no matter what situation arose, Woo-jin had to handle it himself.

At that moment.

-Knock knock.

A foreign staff member knocked on the waiting room door, signaling Kang Woo-jin to get ready. His team members’ jitters worsened. Choi Sung-gun grabbed Kang Woo-jin’s shoulder and said.

“Do well.”

The composed Kang Woo-jin replied.

“Yes, CEO.”

He slowly followed the staff out of the waiting room. As he approached the hall where over a hundred reporters were gathered, the murmuring grew louder, followed by the serious voice of the general producer of ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain.’

“Please come up.”

It was the cue to enter. Kang Woo-jin, having checked his persona one last time, stepped through the front door of the hall. The scene immediately registered in Woo-jin’s eyes: the vast hall, director Ahn Ga-bok and the production team sitting on the stage at the front, and the swarming foreign reporters.

In particular, the expressions of the reporters as soon as they saw Kang Woo-jin were quite a sight.

‘They’re all dumbfounded? They probably didn’t expect me to come out.’

Surprisingly, seeing the blank faces of over a hundred foreign reporters made Woo-jin feel at ease, and his arrogant self-assurance fueled each step he took. Yes, as always, he would do things his way. Kang Woo-jin sat down. And he gave his first greeting to the reporters whose eyes had widened in surprise.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Kang Woo-jin, the actor who will play ‘Henry Gordon’ in ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain.’”

He declared to the world that he, not the prominent Hollywood top actors, was the main character of the movie ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain.’

Surprised, right?

It was a calm but firm introduction. However, all the foreign reporters looking at Kang Woo-jin on the stage.

“······”

“······”

“······”

Did not react immediately. Their movements froze. They blinked. It was because a person who was far from everyone’s expectations had appeared. The hall with over 100 people was silent. For at least 5 seconds.

Woo-jin, who had been staring at the reporters in front of him for a moment.

‘They’re out of it, completely out of it.’

He spoke into the microphone again.

“Were you surprised?”

This comment wasn’t a question of concern. It was more of a taunt. How is it? A twist, right? Something like that. Whatever it was, only after Woo-jin’s question of whether they were surprised was thrown out.

“Ah.”

“Uh.”

Over a hundred foreign reporters began to snap out of it one by one. But they still couldn’t quite believe Kang Woo-jin in front of them. Still, the cameras instinctively went up. Soon, many reporters, without exception.

-Flash flash flash!

-Flash flash flash flash!!

Started taking pictures of Kang Woo-jin on the stage. The relentless flash barrage poured down. It was enough to make one go blind if they kept looking, and the foreign reporters were buzzing with excitement.

“Kang Woo-jin?? Did Kang Woo-jin really get it?!”

“Th, this! I really didn’t expect this!!”

“Who would have known!”

“Anyway, it’s a scoop!”

It was the shock of the unexpected. A picture that no one had predicted. Of course, among the frenzied hundred or so reporters, there were still many who couldn’t believe it.

“Really?? Did ‘Columbia Studios’ give the role to Kang Woo-jin?”

“Oh my god······They’re planning a huge ‘Cinematic Universe’ project, and they’re entrusting the first step to Kang Woo-jin!”

“W, with this, does it mean that a Korean director and a Korean actor will lead ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain’?”

“Wait a minute, if Kang Woo-jin is confirmed, that means he beat out those prominent actors, including Chris Hartnett.”

“What the hell happened at the audition?!”

Before they knew it, the foreign reporters were going wild. But Kang Woo-jin was calm, and director Ahn Ga-bok, who was sitting on Woo-jin’s left, watching the situation, gave a faint smile.

‘This is quite a sight.’

It was the reaction he had expected and intended.

The inclusion of Kang Woo-jin in this press conference was an event. But now, it was with a nuclear bomb attached. Kang Woo-jin, who was making waves in Hollywood with ‘Pierrot,’ ‘Beast and Beauty,’ ‘Beneficial Evil,’ and many other issues since Cannes. ‘Columbia Studios’ had no intention of making his appearance bland, and looking at the reporters now, the nuclear bomb-level event was clearly successful.

Of course, the one who designed it was the female producer of ‘Pierrot.’

And she.

“‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain,’ which will be the beginning of the ‘Cinematic Universe,’ will go with actor Kang Woo-jin as the first villain.”

Started the scheduled briefing. With Kang Woo-jin present, she had to explain the production status of ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain,’ the explanation of the large-scale project ‘Cinematic Universe,’ and future plans.

But the hundred or so reporters were barely listening to her.

-Tap tap tap!

-Tap tap tap tap!

They were all busy typing on their laptops.

At this time, at ‘World Disney Pictures.’

The production team of ‘Beast and Beauty’ is gathered in the conference room.

“Okay, then let’s proceed with the audition and screen test in 5 days.”

They had recently passed on the audition and screen test materials to the candidate actors, so there were many things to finalize.

“Okay. Let’s inform the actors right away.”

“But which one should we do first, the ‘Beast’ role or the ‘Beauty Bella’ role?”

“Shouldn’t we look at the ‘Beast’ role first and then finalize the actor?”

“I agree. After deciding on the ‘Beast’ role actor, how about having that actor participate in the ‘Beauty Bella’ role audition?”

“To check the chemistry between ‘Beast’ and ‘Beauty Bella’? Not a bad idea.”

“It’s not just about acting, but also matching each other’s vocal tones.”

“It would be helpful in finalizing the actress for the ‘Beauty Bella’ role.”

At that moment.

“Ah!”

Among the dozens of foreigners, the eyes of a man with a bushy mustache from the production department, who habitually picked up his phone, suddenly widened.

“Th, this!”

Thanks to that, everyone in the conference room turned their attention, and the man with the bushy mustache shouted while looking at his phone screen. The man’s phone was displaying a breaking news article.

“Kang Woo-jin has been confirmed as the male lead for ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain’?! ”

The conference room quickly became noisy.

But the same commotion was unfolding all over LA.

Starting with Hollywood top actor Chris Hartnett in a van driving down the road.

“Chris, look at this. The actor for the ‘Henry Gordon’ role has been announced. It’s Kang Woo-jin after all. It seems the stage was the press conference.”

“Haha. It’s not surprising that ‘Joker’ is playing ‘Joker.’ It seems they designed the stage and moved, instead of just announcing it in the news. It’ll have quite an impact.”

“It’s a shame. ‘Columbia Studios’ should have told us about the ‘Cinematic Universe’ from the beginning.”

“What does it matter, I’ll participate in a different role than ‘Joker,’ so it’s not a problem, right?”

“Well, the audition is tomorrow, how about it?”

“I’m not going to hold back. I’m going to give it my all, because I want to be a part of this no matter what.”

Miley Cara, who was busy preparing for the ‘Beauty Bella’ role.

“He got it after all.”

“Hmm? What?”

“Kang Woo-jin. He got the male lead in ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain.’”

“Ah, really? Oh, oh! Really?!”

“Yeah. The articles are coming out now. I should send him a congratulatory message.”

“Th, then does that mean that ‘Columbia Studios’ ‘Cinematic Universe’ starts with Kang Woo-jin??! That’s amazing!”

“Amazing? I don’t know. I didn’t get to audition, but Kang Woo-jin must have presented something that only he could show. He’s a mysterious man, it’s the first time I’ve seen someone’s power not waning like this. It’s going to be noisy for a while again.”

Cara seemed to be in a very good mood.

“With this, ‘Beneficial Evil’ will get another boost, right?”

Of course, this news also reached the ears of Hollywood’s famous producer, Joseph Felton.

“Hahaha! Amazing! He’s amazing!”

No, all of Hollywood was witnessing it. The moment Kang Woo-jin confirmed his entry into Hollywood. Even as the press conference was underway, articles were pouring out, and many Hollywood actors who saw it showed different reactions. Amazing, mysterious, unbelievable, false, new.

Kang Woo-jin is a whirlwind.

What about the numerous film companies, distributors, and production companies in LA?

“K, Kang Woo-jin has been confirmed?!”

“What?”

“‘Pierrot,’ ‘Pierrot’! ‘Columbia Studios’ decided on Kang Woo-jin!”

“What?!! Really?!”

“This—if Kang Woo-jin is also confirmed for ‘Beast and Beauty’······isn’t it going to be a really absurd situation??”

“N, no way.”

They mostly showed expressions of shock and bewilderment. The situation was unfolding in a direction that no one had expected, and the current situation was unprecedented even when looking back at Hollywood history.

Now, it was a luxury to even guess what would happen in the future.

Anyway, even though it was just the beginning, and all that was known was that Kang Woo-jin was decided for the ‘Henry Gordon’ role, all of Hollywood was shaking like an earthquake.

That trend soon spread to the public in various parts of the world.

It was spreading.

The fingers of the overseas public who saw the real-time articles began to move rapidly. Probably. No, 100% the rumors through fingers would spread around the world in an instant.

Even in Korea, where it was past 4 AM, unlike LA in the morning.

『[Breaking News] Kang Woo-jin Confirmed as Male Lead for ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain,’ Starts Hollywood Debut as Lead Role』

It was so incredibly fast that it was thrown out immediately.

About an hour later, back at the press conference hall.

An hour and several tens of minutes had passed since the shocking appearance of Kang Woo-jin. The press conference in the hall where ‘Columbia Studios’ personnel, director Ahn Ga-bok, Kang Woo-jin, and over a hundred foreign reporters were gathered was nearing its end. In between, the general producer had informed and explained many things to the reporters. The direction and reason for planning the ‘Cinematic Universe,’ the production status of ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain,’ and so on.

Soon, she spoke to the reporters who were still busy clicking their shutters.

“That’s all for our explanation. We will now take questions.”

Numerous reporters who had been holding back until now simultaneously raised their hands. All of them had faces that said, ‘Pick me!!’ Of course, the eyes of all the reporters were on Kang Woo-jin, who had an indifferent expression. The reporters’ prey was naturally Woo-jin.

Therefore.

“Yes, you there.”

The first reporter chosen by the general producer, a female reporter with short red hair, immediately asked Kang Woo-jin.

“First of all, congratulations on your successful entry into Hollywood. There are so many things I want to ask, it’s hard to choose just one. Um—Kang Woo-jin, it’s expected that your overseas recognition will skyrocket after being selected for ‘Beneficial Evil,’ ‘Beast and Beauty,’ and now ‘Pierrot: Birth of a Villain.’ Do you have anything to say to your overseas fans who are watching you?”

Usually, one would think a bit here, but Kang Woo-jin, who was sitting calmly, opened his mouth right away.

“In my Best Actor award acceptance speech at Cannes, I said, ‘I recently got a house in LA. So I’m going to aim for this side.’ I also said that it would be good to keep watching. I know that became quite a hot topic. I heard there were many people who cursed at me?”

As if he didn’t care about the slightest bit of worry or the world’s gaze.

“I don’t break my promises, as you can see, I’ve taken the first step of the promise I made.”

It was ‘my way or the highway.’

“See you at the ‘Academy Awards.’”