I Was Mistaken As A Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 456

“Is that so?”

Kang Woo-jin spoke to Director Ahn Ga-bok on the phone.

“You’ve worked hard, Director.”

Woo-jin replied solemnly, but inwardly, he was quite impressed.

‘I thought it would be mid to late January? That was super fast??’

The reason was simple. Director Ahn Ga-bok had just announced that the editing for ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’ was complete. It was currently early January. Director Ahn Ga-bok had mentioned late January to ‘Columbia Studios’ and Kang Woo-jin. It was definitely surprisingly fast. Soon, Director Ahn Ga-bok replied over the phone. His voice had a slight chuckle.

“I was so caught up in it that I reached the end before I knew it. I could have had ‘Columbia Studios’ tell you, but I wanted to tell you myself.”

“Thank you. Did you inform ‘Columbia Studios’?”

“Of course. Nora and ‘Columbia Studios’ will be here soon. Haha—now all that’s left is to go for it. But I’m not worried. Even while editing, I felt it again; your ‘Joker’ is chilling. Right now, there’s a lot of talk in the public and media that it won’t work, but if they see it directly, their minds will change immediately.”

“I think so too.”

“Haha, okay. Then let’s meet soon.”

After a brief conversation, Kang Woo-jin and Director Ahn Ga-bok ended their call. As Woo-jin put down his phone, Choi Sung-gun, with his ponytail, immediately approached him.

“Director? Was that Director Ahn Ga-bok? What did he say?”

His face was bursting with curiosity. Of course, the team members around him also had question marks in their eyes, and Kang Woo-jin, with his usual indifference, replied in a low voice.

“He said the editing for ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’ just finished.”

In an instant, Choi Sung-gun’s eyes widened rapidly.

“A, already?”

“Yes.”

“That’s fast?? I thought it was supposed to be around the end of the month?”

“It seems the director hurried a bit.”

“Saving three weeks is not a little, he sped up a lot. Anyway, the editing is done—I’m really curious how the visuals turned out. What about you?”

“Me too.”

The team members, including the stylists, also strongly agreed. Then, Choi Sung-gun, who had already opened his planner, asked again.

“Let’s see, does this mean we’ll have a longer promotion and marketing period? Or maybe add another week to the release. But when is the test screening?”

Kang Woo-jin’s answer to the question was quick.

“Well, he said it would be soon, so I guess it’ll be soon.”

Meanwhile, Kang Woo-jin was also quite excited inside.

‘How did ‘Joker’ turn out? Ugh—damn, I’m curious.’

Meanwhile, inside the editing room at ‘Columbia Studios’.

In the incredibly large editing room, filled with numerous monitors and equipment, Director Ahn Ga-bok was visible. Due to the chilly weather, he was wearing a light padded jacket, and the wrinkles on his face had deepened. He looked exhausted. It was understandable.

It wasn’t just one or two nights that he had stayed up.

And then he.

“Hoo-”

He let out a long sigh and leaned his head back on the chair. The surrounding editors and key staff were busy talking to each other. They were congratulating themselves on the completion of the editing. Director Ahn Ga-bok, who was quietly watching them, shifted his gaze.

-Swish.

It moved to the largest monitor in the center of the many monitors in front. The playing video was paused. In the monitor was Kang Woo-jin, grinning. ‘Joker’ was being displayed. Red hair covering his chin, pale face, and colorful clothes. Director Ahn Ga-bok, staring at the paused ‘Joker’ in his imposing figure, rubbed his face with his dry hands and muttered.

“The gun is loaded, now it’s up to ‘Columbia Studios’.”

Many moments flashed through his mind. From ‘Leech’ to the Cannes Film Festival and his entry into Hollywood. It was quite long, but looking back, it felt like a flash.

At that moment.

-Knock knock.

After the knock, the thick editing room door opened. The first thing visible was a woman with a strong presence. It was the general producer, Nora Foster, and behind her, executives from ‘Columbia Studios’, including a bald man, entered in a line.

They had heard the news of the editing being finished from Director Ahn Ga-bok.

Expectation and excitement filled the faces of Nora and the executives. Soon, Director Ahn Ga-bok, who had risen from his chair, greeted them. Nora and the executives shook hands and exchanged greetings with Director Ahn Ga-bok, then turned their eyes to the monitors stopped at the front of the editing room. The bald executive opened his mouth, looking at the paused ‘Joker’.

“You’ve worked hard; now we can show this guy to the world.”

“It’s the beginning of the ‘Cinematic Universe’. Now that we’ve arrived, my heart is pounding.”

“Haha, me too. Finally…”

The ‘Columbia Studios’ executives all seemed to be lost in thought. It wasn’t strange. They were about to fire the starting shot of the huge ‘Cinematic Universe’ they had been preparing for years, risking their lives. At this point, Nora Foster, who was looking at ‘Joker’ on the monitor, met eyes with Director Ahn Ga-bok.

“Director. Now the remaining tasks are promotion and marketing, pre-release, and the ‘Academy Awards’.”

“…That’s right.”

Nora deliberately omitted one step in the middle: the official nomination announcement by the ‘Academy Awards’ [the Oscars]. If they failed there, ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’ wouldn’t even be able to challenge the ‘Academy Awards’. But Nora had eliminated even the possibility of failure, and she said to Director Ahn Ga-bok again.

“We need a test screening before we start in earnest.”

“I know, are we gathering everyone?”

“We have to. Everyone here, all the actors.”

Nora Foster, who had answered, recited the test screening schedule.

“We plan to hold it as soon as possible, within this week.”

After that.

While ‘Columbia Studios’, including Director Ahn Ga-bok, was buzzing with the completion of the editing of ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’, Kang Woo-jin arrived at the filming location of ‘The Beast and the Beauty’. ‘SPT Studio’, which was 50,000 pyeong [approximately 123 acres] in size. Woo-jin had already been there for several months, and the production team of ‘The Beast and the Beauty’ were all quite battle-ready.

Because the filming here was also reaching its final stages.

Woo-jin was waiting in his trailer, wearing his skintight leotard.

‘Ugh—damn, if I just hold on a little longer, I’ll be done with this outfit too.’

As he did so, he picked up his phone. It was to check various things, but the first thing that caught his eye was the numerous articles overflowing with issues. There were foreign news outlets, but especially the Korean media was quite diverse. From ‘Beneficial Evil’, which had already given up the top spot but had maintained the world number one position longer than Part 1, to ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’, ‘The Beast and the Beauty’, and news about the ‘Academy Awards’.

『When will ‘Clown’, which declared a challenge for the ‘Academy Awards’, be released? Industry insiders say, “It will be tight to meet the conditions.”』

『[Issue Talk] After the success of Beneficial Evil Part 2, Netflix CEO says, “Part 3 will be produced unconditionally.”』

It was a year of issues from January 2023. Of course, Kang Woo-jin was always at the center of it. More than anything, the most powerful issue was related to ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’, and ‘Joker’, aiming for the ‘Academy Awards’, was being dissected and discussed by the media and the public all over the world.

While Kang Woo-jin was surfing the internet, a foreign staff member came to his trailer.

“Kang Woo-jin! Standby!”

Woo-jin, who put down his phone, muttered to himself as he left the trailer.

“If they announce that the editing of ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’ is finished, it’ll get even louder, right?”

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, where various news was overflowing like in Korea, a few more pieces of bait were being added. Rumors began to circulate among famous media outlets.

About Hollywood top actress Miley Cara.

“I heard Miley Cara has decided on her next project?”

“Already? She’s filming ‘The Beast and the Beauty’ right now.”

“It’s just a rumor, but it’s quite credible. I heard she contacted a film company.”

“Which film company?”

“Well, not yet. I need to dig deeper.”

It was a piece of bait about Chris Hartnett.

“Have you heard of a movie called ‘Guest’?”

“‘Guest’? I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s a project that’s been floating around for years, but recently Chris has shown interest in that movie. I heard it from an agency official on Chris’s side.”

“Is that certain?”

Both actors were filming or had filmed projects with Kang Woo-jin, and since they were such great actors in Hollywood, the articles quickly broke. Of course, they were issues closer to gossip without anything confirmed, but they were enough to attract attention.

A man was carefully watching this.

“Is it time to throw it out?”

It was Choi Sung-gun, who was in charge of the main investment for the movie ‘Guest’. He had been on edge since last year, and he was timing his move. ‘Guest’ was in full pre-production, but it had not yet delivered clear news to Hollywood, including Korea. Whatever the case, on the 4th, a day later, Choi Sung-gun.

“Yes, it’s me. We can start with the things we’ve prepared now.”

He communicated with ‘A8 Media’ and started something.

Then, around the afternoon of the 4th, a scoop broke. It started in Korea, with BW Entertainment announcing a new business they had been preparing since last year through their official SNS [Social Networking Service].

-[Hello, this is BW Entertainment. We have something to say to the fans who always support us. Our BW Entertainment has started investing in Hollywood movies; the title of the project is ‘Guest’, and it is a remake of ‘Errand Boy’, one of Mr. Kang Woo-jin’s past works······]

It was a message containing the entire story of ‘Guest’. From ‘A8 Media’ buying the rights to ‘Errand Boy’, to the adaptation and recent events. Of course, it also included that BW Entertainment was in charge of the entire investment. This was almost unprecedented in Korea and Hollywood.

『[Breaking News] BW Entertainment takes on main investment in Hollywood movie! The project is ‘Guest’, a remake of Kang Woo-jin’s ‘Errand Boy’』

『BW Entertainment suddenly starts investment business in Hollywood, right after settling in Korea?』

It quickly became a hot topic. The media was busy, and the Korean public also quickly jumped in.

-Kang Woo-jin is doing so well in Hollywood, so his agency must be feeling it too lololol but isn’t this a bit much?? What confidence is this

-Wasn’t Errand Boy a short film? Does this mean they’re remaking it as a feature film in Hollywood?? Then is Kang Woo-jin the lead?

-Kang Woo-jin can’t be the lead, there was an article saying his schedule is full until the year after next

-Wow!! Amazing!!! Errand Boy was so funㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠ If not Kang Woo-jin, who will play Kim Ryu-jin??!

-I saw on foreign news that Miley Cara and Chris Hartnett are considering the Guest movie

-↑Is that even possible lololololol

-This is a bit much from BW;;; I feel like they’re going to throw in billions and fail miserably lololol

It didn’t take more than a few tens of minutes for this issue to reach Hollywood.

『CNM/Main investment in the movie ‘Guest’, following Kang Woo-jin, his agent also extends his hand to Hollywood』

The name of ‘Guest’, which had faded in the past, was buzzing loudly in the vast Hollywood. But the real thing was still left. It was from the mouth of Choi Sung-gun, who was smiling at the increasing recognition of ‘Guest’.

“Hehe, the flow is nice—”

He muttered quietly.

“If the confirmed leads are Chris Hartnett and Miley Cara, there will be a huge wave.”

A few days later.

Inside a large building in LA. Foreign figures with an unusual atmosphere were gathered. At least 20 people. They were the higher-ups of an organization with great influence even in Hollywood, and in front of each of them were tablets and several transparent files.

The interesting thing was.

“As expected, ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’ is noisy.”

On all the tablets they were looking at, posters and trailers related to ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’ were being displayed.

“Has there ever been a case like this?”

“Never. I haven’t seen it. But theoretically, what they said is possible.”

“To release it in LA for about one to two weeks and challenge our ‘Academy Awards’.”

“The conditions are met.”

“It’s almost February, and the selection of nominees starts then. Can they release it before then?”

“We’ll see if we watch.”

“I’m experiencing all sorts of situations in my life.”

The figures were all busy talking about ‘Clown: The Birth of a Villain’.

“Thousands of members are also looking forward to it. Of course, half of them are bewildered. Because they’ve caused such an absurd situation.”