Translator: Dreamscribe
End of July, LA.
Kang Woojin could be found on a vast set designed to resemble a city. Wearing a worn-out short-sleeved shirt and jeans, he was in the middle of an action sequence with several men in an alley.
“Hup!!”
“Ack!”
With controlled movements and precise strikes, the sturdy men collapsed one after another. The last man, intimidated by Woojin’s expressionless face and unusual skills,
“……Ugh!”
Ran away in a panic. Woojin didn’t bother to catch him and instead searched through the pockets of the fallen men, pulling out a cellphone. Kang Woojin made a call to somewhere. Several cameras framed him in their shots.
Silence lasted for about ten seconds.
Then.
“…Cut!”
From behind the monitor, the renowned director Danny Landis, wearing round glasses on the tip of his nose, suddenly stood up and shouted.
“OK!!!”
The moment he shouted, around a hundred staff members around them erupted in cheers. Applause broke out as well. Danny Landis, who ran up to Woojin, muttered the reason.
“You’ve worked so hard. I intend to pour everything into post-production so your efforts aren’t in vain, Woojin.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Director.”
“There are still a few steps left, such as ADR recordings, but with today, all scheduled shooting for ‘John Persona’ is finished.”
Filming for ‘John Persona’, which had started in February, had finally wrapped. The planned crank-up was supposed to be around June, but due to various events involving Kang Woojin, it had been delayed a bit. In any case, now all that remained for ‘John Persona’, Kang Woojin’s third Hollywood film, was editing.
Soon, Kang Woojin greeted many key staff members starting with Director Danny.
As always, his poker face was firm, but inside, he let out a sigh of relief.
‘Phew- damn, finally! I can rest now. Even if it’s just for a bit.’
At that moment.
“Woojin.”
Someone called out to Kang Woojin, who was surrounded by staff. Turning around, he saw the giant Joseph Felton smiling. Had he put on more muscle? His imposing figure stood out thanks to a tight black t-shirt. Holding a stack of papers in one hand, Joseph Felton reached out to shake Woojin’s hand.
“As always, today’s footage was the best. It was an honor working with you throughout the filming of ‘John Persona.’”
Woojin felt a bit embarrassed inside but replied in a low tone as if it were no big deal.
“Thank you.”
Joseph Felton, glancing around at the noisy surroundings, said to Woojin.
“Could I have a moment of your time?”
“About ten minutes.”
“Yes, that’s more than enough.”
The two headed for Woojin’s trailer.
A short while later.
Though Woojin’s team members were already in the trailer, Choi Sung-gun quickly picked up on the situation and took the others out. Soon, only Kang Woojin and Joseph Felton remained inside. Joseph was the first to speak.
“To be honest, I’ve wanted to propose this to you for a few months, but I knew what your answer would be if there was no script, so I waited until now.”
-Swoosh.
Joseph placed the stack of papers he had brought onto the table. The cover had the title ‘John Persona 2’ on it. Seeing this, Kang Woojin immediately realized what it was.
‘Ah! This is the script for ‘John Persona 2’!’
Handing over the script, Joseph continued with a smile.
“I mentioned it once during filming, right? ‘John Persona’ is confirmed as a series, and ‘Universal Movies’ has plans up to part 3. Among those, the script for ‘John Persona 2’ has now been completed.”
“I see.”
“Of course, ‘Universal Movies’, the director, and myself, all of us desperately hope you’ll take the lead in ‘John Persona 2’. Naturally, for you, Woojin, an audition isn’t even a consideration. Every actor in part 2 will be cast around you after discussing with you.”
“Is that so?”
“……Yes! First of all, the conditions we’ve been considering-”
“Joseph.”
Just as Joseph Felton was energetically about to talk conditions, Kang Woojin indifferently cut him off.
“Before we talk conditions, I’d like to read the script first.”
Screw the conditions, if the script is trash, then none of it means anything. Sure, the first one had a great script, but there was always the possibility that ‘John Persona 2’ could be garbage. Joseph Felton, as if expecting Woojin’s reaction, smiled and nodded.
“Of course. Then, please feel free to contact me once you’ve reviewed the script.”
“Understood.”
With the farewell exchanged, Joseph exited the trailer. Now, only Kang Woojin was left inside. Woojin picked up the script for ‘John Persona 2’ placed on the table. As expected, next to the script was a black square. Without much thought, he poked the swirling black square with his index finger.
-Poke!
In an instant, Kang Woojin’s world transformed into an endlessly dark void space. Stretching his arms wide, he shed off his persona.
“Ahh- now that I’m in here, might as well take a breather.”
He walked toward the space where multiple white rectangles floated around. Their number had grown quite a bit. Woojin started reviewing the works other than ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’, which had already claimed the number one spot worldwide.
“Wow, they’ve all improved a lot.”
The ratings of the other works had risen significantly.
-[12/Script (Title: Beast and the Beauty), EX++ Grade]
-[13/Script (Title: John Persona), EX+ Grade]
-[14/Script (Title: Guest), EX Grade]
-[15/Script (Title: Bat: The Birth of a Hero), EX+++ Grade]
Every one of them was EX grade or higher. Naturally, this was thanks to either Kang Woojin’s overwhelming reputation or the monstrous success of ‘Pierrot’.
And finally, the last one.
-[16/Script (Title: John Persona 2), EX Grade]
Just updated, ‘John Persona 2’ started out at EX grade. Woojin broke into a wide smile.
“Nice- This is awesome.”
At this point, a sudden question came to Woojin’s mind.
“……But how long is this void space going to last?”
He wondered how long this absurd void space would continue to stay with him. Though he was prepared for it to vanish someday, if it disappeared too suddenly.
‘Honestly, I’d be quite bummed.’
By now, the void space felt like a companion that had been with him all this time. And what would happen to his abilities if the void disappeared? Would they stay with him, since they were imprinted on him? Or
‘Would they disappear along with the void space?’
After a brief silence, Woojin looked up and addressed the dark void space.
“Hey- void space, how long are you gonna stick around??”
“……”
Of course, there was no answer. There never had been, so it didn’t feel strange. Woojin muttered to himself, wondering what the hell he was doing.
And then it happened.
-Shhh.
At the very end of the white rectangles, one that hadn’t been there suddenly appeared. It started off translucent, then quickly solidified. Woojin blinked in surprise as he stared at it.
“What, what is this??”
‘John Persona 2’ was supposed to be the last one, but one more white rectangle had been added after it. Woojin furrowed his brows and stepped toward the new white rectangle. The tips of his toes trembled slightly. The unexpected change had caught him off guard.
Soon, the content of the new white rectangles came into view.
-[17/Script (Title: One Year Later and the Missing 30 Minutes), ∞ Grade]
-[*This is a perfect script. 100% reading is available.]
The rating and phrasing were subtly different. No-not subtly. This was the first time something like this had happened.
“……‘One Year Later and the Missing 30 Minutes’? What is this.”
Still frowning, Woojin poked the white rectangle with his index finger. Immediately, new text was displayed.
-[17/Script (Title: One Year Later and the Missing 30 Minutes) has been selected.]
-[Listing characters available for reading (experiencing).]
-[A: Kang Woojin]
Seeing his own name, Woojin tilted his head slightly.
“Me?”
As if drawn to it, he touched his own name.
Soon, a familiar robotic female voice resonated throughout the void space.
[“Preparing for ‘A: Kang Woojin’ reading……”]
[“……Preparation complete. This is a perfect script. Implementation rate is 100%. Beginning reading.”]
The moment her voice ended, a massive wave of gray engulfed Kang Woojin.
How much time had passed?
The once-muted world around Kang Woojin began to grow noisy again as loud voices echoed in his ears. His darkened vision cleared up as well. Gradually, all of Woojin’s senses were coming back. There was a pleasant smell in the air.
‘……Familiar scent.’
A fragrance he often smelled. At that moment, a blonde woman came into view in Woojin’s restored sight. She threw her arms around him.
“Woojin! We did it!!”
Cara? It was unmistakable. The woman who just hugged Kang Woojin was his girlfriend, Miley Cara. The familiar scent was coming from her. More and more people came into Woojin’s view. The space, too, was a familiar one.
‘…This place- isn’t it ‘World Disney Pictures’??’
Surrounding them were Miley Cara, Maria Armas, the cast of ‘Beast and the Beauty’, Director Bill Rotner, key staff, and executives from ‘World Disney Pictures’. Everyone was cheering wildly while watching the screen ahead.
“Can you believe it!! 1.5 billion dollars! One-point-five billion!!”
“Hahaha! I knew it! I knew the world would appreciate our ‘Beast and the Beauty’!!”
“Passing 1.5 billion dollars worldwide!! Sure, the original story helped, but the real power came from Kang Woojin and Miley!”
“There was some talk at first about the ‘Beast’ casting, but who cares about that now? It’s one-point-five billion, man!!”
Kang Woojin, still held by Cara, turned his gaze. The screen displayed the box office results of ‘Beast and the Beauty’. What was this? On closer look, people’s clothing seemed quite thick. He himself was wearing a dark denim jacket. It had clearly been summer, but the attire now suggested early winter.
That’s when Kang Woojin realized.
‘Am I- experiencing myself through a reading??’
Kang Woojin was reading (experiencing) the scenario in which he was the protagonist. Cara, holding him tightly, whispered to him.
“This means audiences worldwide have acknowledged your ‘Beast.'”
“……Yeah, looks like it.”
“What’s with that reaction? Aren’t you happy?”
“I am.”
Director Bill Rotner shouted with excitement.
“1.5 billion dollars! Ranked 8th in global box office history!!”
The surrounding actors applauded.
“All-time 8th place!!”
“Insane! But I guess it’s still hard to beat ‘Pierrot’, right??”
“Hahaha, don’t be ridiculous. How could anything beat those monstrous numbers!”
Everyone was overcome with joy. At this point, Kang Woojin looked again at the screen. The globally highest-grossing films were listed.
-[All-Time Worldwide Box Office Rankings]
-<1/ ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’/ 2.8 billion dollars>
.
.
.
.
-<8/ ‘Beast and the Beauty’/ 1.5 billion dollars>
Two of the world’s top-grossing films belonged to Kang Woojin.
In that moment.
‘Ugh!’
The surroundings started to distort, and suddenly the scene changed. He was at his house in LA. The sky outside was dark. Just then, from behind the blankly staring Woojin.
“What are you doing? Standing there like an idiot.”
A familiar female voice was heard. Turning around, he saw blonde Cara approaching with a smile and wrapping her arms around his.
“Let’s go in, it’s cold.”
“…Huh?”
“Why are you surprised? We were supposed to spend today together, remember? You promised to help me pick out a dress for the celebration.”
A dress? Just then, the surroundings distorted again. Now Woojin was looking down at his phone. Next to him sat ponytailed Choi Sung-gun, whose excited voice could be heard.
“Great!! This means three of your films are in the top 10, Woojin!!”
In Woojin’s eyes was a Hollywood article.
『NT/ Following ‘Pierrot’ and ‘Beast and the Beauty’, Kang Woojin’s ‘John Persona’ surpasses 1.3 billion dollars and enters the all-time worldwide top 10 box office!』
The scene shifted once more.
This time, it was the living room sofa in his LA home.
‘My house??’
Remote in hand, Kang Woojin was leisurely watching TV, where a foreign news anchor was reporting.
-[“The film ‘Guest’, starring Miley Cara and Chris Hartnett and primarily funded by Kang Woojin and his agency bw Entertainment, is continuing its box office success. It remains at number one, pushing aside other blockbuster competitors with production budgets in the hundreds of millions.”]
Then, from the kitchen, Miley Cara’s cheerful voice rang out.
“You’re going to switch to the villa in Korea like you promised, right?”
Miley Cara, her blonde hair elegantly tied up, approached in comfortable clothes with a smile on her face and nestled onto the sofa where Woojin was seated.
“I already bought that boat you talked about! So don’t you even think about putting it off this time!”
Not quite sure why, but Kang Woojin lifted Miley Cara in that moment. Unfortunately, his vision began to distort once again, and the scene shifted. This time, it was a familiar filming set. Dozens of cameras and equipment, actors, and hundreds of foreign staff members surrounded him.
And there stood Director Ahn Ga-bok.
“Woojin, you ready?”
“……”
As he looked at Ahn Ga-bok’s wrinkled face, Woojin glanced down at his outfit. It was the ‘Joker’ costume. Soon, Director Ahn Ga-bok placed a hand on Woojin’s shoulder.
“Let’s turn the world upside down with ‘Bat: The Birth of a Hero’, just like we did with ‘Pierrot’.”
Woojin gave a calm nod.
“Yes, Director-nim.”
Then Director Ahn Ga-bok returned to his position, and hundreds of staff all turned their eyes to Kang Woojin. Soon, Director Ahn Ga-bok’s signal echoed across the entire set.
“Action!!”
At the same time, the world blurred again. However, this time, people seemed to freeze while rewinding in motion. Scenes flashed by rapidly.
The moment Woojin gave his Best Actor acceptance speech as the ‘Joker’, the Emmy Awards, Cannes Film Festival, filming of ‘Leech’, ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’, ‘Island of the Missing’, the Blue Dragon Film Awards, ‘Profiler Hanryang’.
The script of Kang Woojin’s life rewound rapidly.
And then.
“I’m resigning.”
Back at the design company, Woojin was declaring his resignation.
“I have organized the tasks I was in charge of so that there will be no problems. I’ll stop here.”
Soon, the image of his toad-faced boss appeared in Woojin’s vision.
“Ha! You’re quitting??!”
Suddenly everything froze. Woojin, experiencing himself, could only wait. There was nothing else he could do. Soon, the frozen world shifted again. This time it wasn’t rewinding but fast-forwarding. Things zoomed by. The studio apartment he’d lived in for a long time, and then his drinking night with best friends appeared.
And then, the fast-forward came to a sudden halt.
“Hey hey, shit, drink up!!”
“Yeah! What’s life anyway?! Drink up!!”
“Hey! Kang Woojin! Damn- are you drunk??!”
“Shut up, I’m not drunk! Raise your glasses, you bastards!”
-Clink!
Woojin was drunk as hell. Kim Dae-young, Lee Kyung-sung, and Na Hyeong-gu appeared in a blur. He felt like throwing up. Dizzy. His brain wasn’t functioning properly. He wanted to escape. The air felt suffocating. Woojin staggered to his feet with a heavy sigh. The stench of alcohol was overwhelming.
Did it even matter?
All Woojin wanted was a breath of cold air. As he stood and moved, his friends shouted at him, asking where he was going, but Woojin simply mumbled something like restroom and stumbled away. His vision was warped and unsteady.
Ah, where’s the bathroom?
The cold breeze was nice, but he had no clue where he was. How far had he walked? Suddenly, something surged inside Woojin. Vomit. He rushed into a random alleyway, grabbed a wall, and threw up everything he had consumed.
“Ughhhhh! Uweeeeeegh!”
It was strange- despite throwing up, his dizziness intensified. The world spun around him. And with it, all the worries he had buried deep below his gut sprang to the surface.
He had quit his job.
What would he do now?
He had acted indifferent in front of his friends, but that was just a facade to avoid damaging their relationships.
He was scared, terrified, buried under heavy anxiety.
Even while vomiting, tears streamed down Kang Woojin’s face. Some of the tears came involuntarily, pushed out along with the retching, but others were born from the fear of what lay ahead.
“Huuuuh, snff- fuck- life really sucks.”
The past felt hazy. He had done a lot, but everything felt empty now. He had worked hard, lived intensely, focused deeply. He knew he had. And yet, it felt like nothing remained.
Vomiting, Kang Woojin slipped and collapsed face-down on the ground.
Cold. The floor felt cool.
If he just closed his eyes like this, maybe everything would feel easier.
At that moment.
“My child.”
A grandmotherly voice reached the ears of the collapsed Kang Woojin. It was warm and soothing.
“My child, why are you lying face down on the ground in this cold?”
Still dizzy, Woojin struggled to lift his head. He saw an elderly woman with her hands behind her back, smiling. Though her face and clothes weren’t exactly clear, Woojin somehow managed to get up. But then.
“Urgh!”
He slipped and collapsed again. In the end, Woojin planted himself on the ground and leaned his back against the building wall. And for some reason, he began to sob. Emotion surged within him. He couldn’t explain it, but her voice pierced right through his heart.
“Sniff! No- grandma, I’m sorry. I just feel like shit. I’m sorry, really. Everything’s such a mess. I don’t know why life isn’t working out. It’s garbage, life really is.”
The old woman sat beside the drunken Woojin.
“What is so terrible about life? What is so difficult that you drank yourself into such a state?”
“It’s just-just that drinking helps me forget, even if only for a little while. I can escape reality for a bit. Hoo… I just, I just feel like an extra in this world. No one cares even if I get drunk and puke all over the place.”
“……”
“I quit my job. At the time, I felt like I looked cool, like I was being bold. But nothing’s changed. It’s still heavy, it’s still scary. I regret it. I should’ve just stayed, even if it sucked. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so much like an extra. Life’s just not fun-”
The old woman, who had been looking down at the sniffling Kang Woojin, asked quietly.
“Would you like it to be fun?”
“Of course I would. I want it to be exciting and joyful. Not dull and lifeless. Ha- sorry, I’m just rambling nonsense. Thank you for listening in this cold weather.”
“……Drink this.”
Suddenly the old woman handed something to Woojin.
“Drink it. It’ll help your stomach feel better. And life will get a bit more fun, too.”
“Huh?”
Woojin looked up. Still dizzy, but it looked somewhat like a hangover cure in a bottle. He bowed his head deeply and gratefully drank it down.
“Ahh- thank you. But… grandma, I think I’m getting even dizzier-”
“My child.”
Soon, as Kang Woojin’s vision blurred, the old woman’s kind voice seeped in.
“It is not that you exist within the world, but rather that this world is merely the setting for the script that is your life. That’s all it is.”
Her voice, as she stroked Woojin’s head, began to fade slightly.
“Enjoy it. You are the protagonist, my child.”
The world, the background, darkened. Then came the familiar robotic female voice.
[“Ending the reading (experience) of ‘A: Kang Woojin’.”]
Before he knew it.
“……Huh?”
Kang Woojin was back inside the trailer. He slowly looked around. He touched his arm. Everything felt just as it was before he had entered the void space. He checked the time. It was exactly the same.
Suddenly.
“Ah!”
Startled, Kang Woojin checked the ‘John Persona 2’ script in his hand. More precisely, he looked at the black square stuck to its side.
Fortunately.
“It’s still here?”
The swirling ‘void space’ still existed in front of its owner, the protagonist. Kang Woojin let out a deep sigh, his smile growing wide.
“Yeah, let’s just enjoy it like I always do- no backing down.”
He picked up his phone. The person he called was Joseph Felton, whom he had just met. The ringing didn’t last long, and since Joseph had just seen him, he spoke in slight surprise.
“Woojin? Have you already made your decision??”
Smirking, Kang Woojin answered with ‘no backing down’.
“Yes. I’ll do it. The lead role.”
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