I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor [EN]: Chapter 74

That’s right. The stack of papers was director Tanoguchi Kyotaro’s completed screenplay. With this, Woo-jin now had two master screenplays, one from director Kwon Ki-taek and another from director Kyotaro, a master from another country.

‘Oh, so that Japanese director really sent the screenplay?’

The last meeting with director Kyotaro was at the company. There, director Kyotaro had said some rather ambiguous things, but in the end, he wanted Woo-jin to join him. Something about advancing into Japan.

‘What exactly did he say? Hmm, he mentioned adapting the screenplay, and the original work was by some famous novelist in Japan, right?’

That was a few weeks ago. Honestly, Woo-jin hadn’t heard from him since, so he figured that was the end of it. Knowing how the entertainment industry worked, with so many interests intertwined, he thought that even though director Kyotaro had asked him to join, the situation might have changed after his return to Japan.

But he hadn’t gone silent.

The screenplay from the Japanese master had indeed arrived. If this news spread to the domestic media, it would cause a stir. But for now, it was confidential, and with his heart pounding, Kang Woo-jin lowered his gaze from Choi Sung-gun to the screenplay.

The screenplay cover had the title and director’s name on it. In Japanese, of course.

-‘The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger’

-Director/ Tanoguchi Kyotaro

Woo-jin read the title to himself.

‘“The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger”? It sounds meaningful. More than that, it feels like I’ve heard it somewhere before.’

It wasn’t an unfamiliar title. Was it because it was based on a famous novel? It felt like he had heard it somewhere. However, Woo-jin wasn’t much of a book person.

‘Is it just my imagination?’

At that moment, Choi Sung-gun tapped Kang Woo-jin on the shoulder.

“The email said that after you read the screenplay, we should have a meeting. So, director Kyotaro is coming back to Korea. Just by looking at it, the scale of this project is unusual.”

“That director is coming back to Korea?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if he’ll change his mind later, but for now, that’s what you should know. I don’t know when he’ll arrive.”

Wow, because of me? Is he serious? Choi Sung-gun smiled at the slightly surprised Kang Woo-jin.

“Director Kyotaro, I sensed it when he came to the company last time. He seems really interested in you. He’s always been a pro-Korean director, but seeing him go this far, it seems like there might be other intentions besides casting.”

Choi Sung-gun muttered and gestured for him to get in the car. Woo-jin, hiding his excitement, got into the van with a blank expression. Jang Su-hwan and Han Ye-jeong weren’t in the van. Choi Sung-gun, who got into the driver’s seat, explained the reason.

“The kids will join us around lunchtime today. They’ve been working hard for the past few days, so I told them to sleep in.”

“Ah, okay.”

Kang Woo-jin nodded calmly. Choi Sung-gun slowly started the car. As he turned the steering wheel, he glanced at Woo-jin in the rearview mirror.

‘He’ll decide whether to do it after reading the screenplay. I hope that crazy intuition of his kicks in again.’

Then he chuckled softly.

‘If Woo-jin says he’ll do director Kyotaro’s project, it’ll really turn Korea upside down.’

It had only been a few months. Although it hasn’t been announced yet, Kang Woo-jin is currently part of director Kwon Ki-taek’s team. And now, he’s suddenly attached to a project by a Japanese master? If these two bombs went off, the domestic media would come running with their tongues hanging out.

It would be a first in history.

There had never been a case where a rookie joined the projects of such masters so easily. In other words, Kang Woo-jin was making unprecedented history.

‘Just imagining it gives me chills.’

Woo-jin, who had been looking down at the screenplay with an indifferent expression, had already turned several pages. Of course, the screenplay was entirely in Japanese. Did they send the original because they knew I could read Japanese?

Well, that made sense.

If the screenplay were translated, there could be differences from the director’s intentions. Well, it would be translated as closely as possible, but for Kang Woo-jin, who had already learned Japanese, it was better to read it as it was.

Soon.

-Swish.

Kang Woo-jin subtly raised his index finger. Why? To enter the subspace, of course. Woo-jin poked the black rectangle next to the screenplay.

In an instant, he arrived in the endlessly dark subspace.

It was now no different from home. Then, Kang Woo-jin stretched briefly and turned to move. The white rectangles had increased to seven.

Among them.

“Hmm-”

Kang Woo-jin checked the last one. It was director Kyotaro’s screenplay, ‘The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger.’ What was interesting was that as soon as Woo-jin saw the white rectangle for ‘The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger,’ he was openly surprised.

“Whoa, damn.”

The reason was simple.

-[7/Screenplay (Title: The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger), Grade A]

-[*This is a very high-quality movie screenplay. 100% reading is possible.]

‘The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger’ was A-grade from the start. It had been a while since he had seen an A-grade from the beginning. Woo-jin smiled, half surprised and half expectant.

“I guess I just have to go for this one.”

Then, out of the blue, he shouted ‘Exit.’ In no time, Woo-jin was back in the moving van and immediately picked up his phone. He was going to search for ‘The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger.’ Since works with original sources often have similar titles.

The result was quick.

‘There’s a book. With the same title.’

There was indeed a Japanese novel titled ‘The Bizarre Sacrifice of a Stranger.’ It was even a bestseller. It seemed popular in Korea too, with many reviews. Woo-jin tapped the screen to check the book information. Soon, the novelist’s name appeared.

‘Author Takikawa Akari? Ah! I know her! I think I’ve heard of her. She’s super famous in both Japan and Korea, right?’

A Japanese master director, an original work by a super-famous novelist, A-grade. Just looking at the key points, it was incredible. At that moment, Choi Sung-gun, who was braking at a red light, turned his head.

“How is it? After skimming through it, do you think it’s worth advancing into Japan?”

Woo-jin, putting on a serious poker face, added a bit of bravado.

“It doesn’t seem bad.”

Meanwhile.

Around the time Kang Woo-jin was traveling, the number of individuals infected with misconceptions was gradually increasing in various places. It meant that it was spreading even more from a fairly established state.

The source was the ‘Profiler Hanryang’ team.

Several dozen staff members or actors. Of course, the ‘Profiler Hanryang’ team didn’t move directly. It was others who acted. They had been receiving calls from various places.

“Hey, it’s me. You know that friend, Kang Woo-jin? How was he during the Hanryang filming? His personality and stuff.”

“Huh? Oh, right? I heard Woo-jin is filling in on your ‘Drug Dealer’ set this time?”

“That’s right. He’s starting filming in a few days, and I was wondering what his vibe is like.”

“Hahaha, well, I didn’t get to talk to him much while setting up the lights, but Woo-jin seems like a good guy. A real gem. Oh, come to think of it, he was amazing at English, wasn’t he? There’s a rumor he lived in an English-speaking country.”

“Huh?”

The places asking about Kang Woo-jin were people from the projects he would be joining. Among them, there were many people from ‘Drug Dealer,’ which was about to start filming.

“Kang Woo-jin, his acting style is unique. How does he handle his emotions on set?”

“Well, when you watch him, you just wonder what he’s doing. Anyone can tell he’s a rookie who debuted a few months ago, but to my eyes, he looks like someone who’s been in the acting scene for at least a decade. No, he definitely has experience somewhere.”

“Is he that unusual? To the point where you can’t make a judgment?”

“He’s strange. He’s like a ghost. His emotional shifts are unbelievably fast. More than anything, when you watch him in front of you, you get confused whether he’s an actor or the character itself.”

“Huh-”

“But he said he taught himself acting. He said it himself during the script reading.”

“What? What does that mean?”

Close veteran actors, private gatherings, or actors from the same agency, production staff such as lighting crews with established connections. The people from ‘Drug Dealer’ weren’t working together. They were just contacting each other in their own ways.

There was worry and curiosity.

The situation with ‘Drug Dealer’ was so unique, and the information about Kang Woo-jin, who was coming to fill that role, was extremely lacking. If he had been a cast actor from the beginning, they would have gradually gotten to know him, but since Kang Woo-jin had suddenly been inserted, they needed even small pieces of information right away.

“Kang Woo-jin? I don’t know about anything else, but his stamina is incredible. Everyone was worn out around the mid-to-late part of filming, but he was the only one who was fine. It was a grueling shoot from dawn till night, but his acting didn’t falter. He’s a monster, a monster.”

“But he’s just a rookie, right? He must have been unknown back then.”

“You’ll know when you see him. I thought the same thing, but the more you see that guy, the more he seems like more than a veteran.”

Thanks to this, the number of individuals who had swallowed misconceptions was increasing on the ‘Drug Dealer’ side as well.

“He’s a bit cold, but he’s sharp. Who was it? Ah! The camera director said it? He’s annoying but nice. Exactly that. He doesn’t talk much, but even if he doesn’t seem to be looking, he sees everything.”

“He was unknown when he filmed Hanryang, but he had that kind of composure?”

“Hey, it goes beyond composure. He’s not a rookie, that guy. He was the most comfortable one on set. Like he was at home. Maybe it’s because he’s been abroad, but his mindset was different.”

“Abroad??”

The baseless misconception was traveling far and wide.

Two days later, on the afternoon of the 8th. Kang Woo-jin’s van.

The time was around 6 PM. A black van was speeding down the highway. Inside the van were Kang Woo-jin and his team. Jang Su-hwan was focused on driving, Choi Sung-gun with his ponytail was constantly on the phone, and Han Ye-jeong was deeply engrossed in Woo-jin’s styling book.

And Kang Woo-jin, with the sleeves of his checked shirt rolled up.

“······”

-Flip.

He was reading the screenplay. His face was dead serious. It was partly a concept, but it was also an expression that came from pure concentration.

What he was looking at was the screenplay for the movie ‘Drug Dealer.’

The reason was simple. Kang Woo-jin was currently on his way to the Suncheon set, the filming location for ‘Drug Dealer,’ and today, Kang Woo-jin would officially begin filming for ‘Drug Dealer.’ The schedule was set for about two weeks, but it could be shorter or longer.

Whatever it was.

-Flip.

Kang Woo-jin continued to read the screenplay. It was more of a review. He had already read it several times, and he had completed the readings with the other actors who would be interacting with Woo-jin’s character, ‘Lee Sang-man.’ The world of ‘Drug Dealer’ was firmly established in Kang Woo-jin’s mind. He could probably portray it more vividly than even the screenwriter, director Kim Do-hee.

It was like he possessed ‘Drug Dealer’ itself, beyond just ‘Lee Sang-man.’

The setting of the movie ‘Drug Dealer’ was Busan in 1999. After the financial crisis, South Korea was in a crisis, but the number of drug offenders was actually increasing. The number of customers looking for drugs was also exploding.

In other words, the drug market was booming.

It was seizing an opportunity in a crisis. Even other countries were getting involved in this market. Russia, China, Japan, and so on. As demand increased, supply was bound to increase. Drugs manufactured everywhere were pouring into the country like crazy.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency was in a bind.

Drugs were endlessly proliferating, and drug offenders, like parasites, were increasing as if they were being mass-produced in a factory. Moreover, they were hiding deeper into the darkness. If they missed the timing, it would grow too big to handle. To make matters worse, the police were also corrupt from within.

Some were colluding with drug organizations.

Eventually, a few police executives gathered and made a decision. Let’s start an undercover investigation. The decision was to infiltrate the drug market with undercover police officers. However, only a few knew about this project. The police were also corrupt.

There, ‘Jung Sung-hoon,’ a drug addict and detective, was chosen.

He was already a delinquent detective with deep ties to gangsters. Thanks to that, Jung Sung-hoon was puzzled. Why me? For such a troublesome task? But due to threats about his past behavior and the promise of a reward if successful, Jung Sung-hoon decided to take on this project. The start was going undercover in prison.

The goal was to gain the favor of the drug kingpin ‘Choi Jun-ho’ in that prison.

The key was to become part of drug kingpin Choi Jun-ho’s gang. Of course, Jung Sung-hoon barely managed to join Choi Jun-ho’s gang through his unique delinquent nature and cooperation with the police. Later, with the drug kingpin as his backer, Jung Sung-hoon started a drug business in Busan. At the same time, he passed on information about hidden drug offenders to the police.

It was around this time that he met Kim Hyun-soo, nicknamed ‘Professor Kim.’

Professor Kim was a man who manufactured drugs, and together with him, Jung Sung-hoon grew into the largest drug distributor in Busan. From here, conflicts with the police arose. Because the money was enormous. Eventually, Jung Sung-hoon, who had become too powerful, even set his sights on the Japanese market.

But how? How would he advance into Japan?

This was where ‘Lee Sang-man,’ played by Kang Woo-jin, appeared. He was the boss of Busan’s largest gangster organization, ‘Sangman’s Gang.’ He had deep ties with the Japanese Yakuza, so Jung Sung-hoon made a deal with Lee Sang-man and advanced into Japan.

As such, ‘Drug Dealer’ was a crime thriller with many keywords embedded in it.

Speed, betrayal, action, cruelty, and so on. Anyway, the ‘Lee Sang-man’ that Woo-jin would show would serve as a stepping stone to the Japanese setting, and he was an important character who would create tension and anticipation in the early to mid-part of the story.

But there was no problem. Kang Woo-jin was already fully prepared.

‘Hoo- This is my first movie shoot after ‘The Detective Agency,’ so I’m a bit nervous? It’ll be packed with unfamiliar actors, right? Looking at the list they sent, there are many top actors and amazing actors.’

Still, he couldn’t help but feel excited. Would this feeling last a lifetime? The entertainment industry was still incredibly vast and unfamiliar.

‘Hoo-’

Kang Woo-jin took a small deep breath and made a promise to himself. He would put on his concept, but he would be serious on set.

‘I should keep my words to a minimum if possible. It’ll be awkward if I make a mistake in front of unfamiliar actors. And someone who knows me might pop up, like during the commercial meeting.’

It was at this moment, when Woo-jin had decided to emphasize his cynicism as much as possible, that Choi Sung-gun spoke to him.

He was grinning.

“Woo-jin, we’ll be there in 10 minutes. Get ready.”