< Overwhelming (1) >
The terrifying numbers that Kang Woo-jin sees before his eyes.
[South Korea’s All-Time Box Office]
[All-time movie rankings (integrated)]
-1. Leech/ Cumulative audience: 20,483,558
-2. The Island of the Lost / Cumulative audience: 20,321,451
-3. Naval Battle/ Cumulative audience: 16,715,955
-4. Force Majeure/ Cumulative audience: 15,557,118
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Until yesterday, it wasn’t like this. But in just one day, everything changed. ‘Leech’, which had 19 million units, surpassed 20 million units and proudly took the top spot among all-time Korean films. Naturally, ‘The Island of the Missing’ was pushed down to second place.
This means that two movies with a market cap of 20 million were released in one year.
However, Woojin’s expression as he witnessed the extraordinary situation was calm. He even looked cold. Thanks to his recently acquired ‘Beast Transformation’ ability, he was even colder.
But this is only on the surface.
‘Wow- what!! This picture is really finished?! I’m crazy!’
Inwardly, he was celebrating alone with great excitement. It was worth it. It was his second year since his debut. Of course, it will be his third year now, but before the end of this year, he had two movies that he had starred in that had a whopping 20 million viewers. It was a bonus that he had turned all the movies of all time upside down in just one year.
Kang Woo-jin is the only one who caused this absurd phenomenon.
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It was clear that it would never appear in the past or in the future. This was a truth that no one could deny. So it wouldn’t be strange for Woojin to dance a mask dance, but he, who was full of concepts and strong-mindedness, had to be somewhat indifferent at times like this.
But Choi Sung-geon, who had a long hair and a cell phone, couldn’t stand it.
“This kid!!”
Because he suddenly hugged Kang Woojin and jumped around. Woojin just followed his rhythm.
“Two million! Twenty million!! Does this picture make sense?!! No! It doesn’t make sense!”
“······”
“Even within a year! And the 1st and 2nd place Korean films of all time are all your leading roles!! This is crazy! This is really crazy!!”
In fact, ‘Leech’ was a bit slow in terms of audience numbers in the middle. However, it quickly recovered. No, it could be said that it rebounded explosively. It was largely supported in the second half by issues such as Kang Woo-jin’s issues other than Miley Cara and director Ahn Ga-bok’s advance into Hollywood.
Of course, the box office success of ‘Leech’ is still ongoing.
Compared to the beginning, it has weakened a lot, but it is still a monster to this extent, considering that it has been over a month since its release. Well, the truly terrifying monster was Kang Woo-jin. He completed a filming schedule of this scale, and as a result, he completely changed the history of the Korean film industry.
“Hahaha! ‘The Missing Island’! ‘Leech’! Which actor can break these 1st and 2nd place rankings!! No one else can break them! You’ll break yourself!”
“···Representative, please calm down.”
“Really? Ginger?? Are you sure you can do it?!!”
Choi Sung-geon’s seizure or outburst continued for a while as he hugged Woo-jin. It seemed like it would last for more than 3 minutes.
And then.
“Wow- I never thought I’d see something like this.”
As if it wasn’t the end for the real Choi Sung-geon, he picked up his phone again. And then the corners of his mouth curved like a bow.
“What’s really surprising is that there are still nuclear bombs left.”
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He tapped the phone screen a few times. Soon, the screen began to display Japanese instead of Korean. As expected, there were some pretty impressive numbers.
-[Audience numbers for ‘The Strange Sacrifice of a Stranger’ until November 24, 2021]
-[The Strange Sacrifice of a Stranger / Release Date: October 26 / Cumulative Audience: 21,091,784]
It was the result of ‘The Stranger’. ‘The Stranger’, which was released a day before ‘The Leech’, also surpassed 20 million. No, 21 million. It lost a lot of its power compared to ‘The Leech’, but it is still showing its strength by maintaining a top 5 advance ticket sales rate in Japan.
And ‘The Stranger’ also settled in the top ranks of all-time Japanese films.
Although the animated films were full of the rankings and did not beat them, it was a very symbolic and great result. In the Japanese theaters where the animation market was monopolized, ‘Strange Parasite’ brought about a whirlwind of change, and 20 million was the first record in Japan for a pure movie.
Choi Sung-geon gave a thumbs up.
“It’s not a pair of 20 million.”
Kang Woo-jin answered quietly.
“It’s a triple.”
“Yes!! Triple 20 million!!”
Starting with ‘The Island of the Missing’, ‘Leech’ and ‘The Stranger’ all surpassed 20 million viewers. 20 million is 3. In Korea and even in Japan, the only actor who won this many medals in two years was Kang Woo-jin.
“Hey, but this isn’t the end, is it?”
“Yes.”
Choi Sung-geon recited with a face that said there were still a few steps left.
“‘Leech’ will be released in Japan next month, and ‘Stranger’ will be released in Korea next month.”
Each film is like passing a baton.
“If ‘Leech’ exceeds 10 million in Japan and ‘Strange Parasite’ exceeds 10 million in Korea.”
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Because it was scheduled to be released in both Korea and Japan.
“It’s not 20 million, it’s 30 million, 30 million.”
A few days later. Early afternoon on Saturday, November 27th, LA.
In the bustling downtown LA, a large conference room inside a mega-film studio was filled with many foreigners. At least 30 people. Among them sitting around a U-shaped desk, the only Korean sitting in the front was visible.
An old man. No, it was Director An Ga-bok, full of wrinkles.
Director Ahn Ga-bok, who arrived in LA two days ago. This is Columbia Studios, one of the top five Hollywood film studios, and the foreigners gathered in the conference room were the key staff of the movie Clown. In front of all the foreigners, including Director Ahn Ga-bok, there are tablets and transparent files.
and.
-Ugh.
At the front of the conference room where a small screen was spread out, a foreign woman with long hair that was a bit longer than a bob cut stood out. She was the executive producer of the movie ‘Clown’. Similar to Joseph Felton, she boasted a very famous figure in Hollywood.
That kind of her.
“Next, here are the male lead candidates.”
As I moved the remote control, the screen changed. Hollywood big star male actors were displayed. First, the female producer quickly flipped through the actor profile screens, as if she was going to show their faces. One, two, three. As a result, a total of five top male actors appeared, and the sixth Korean actor who was most familiar to Director Ahn Ga-bok appeared.
‘You’re out, Kang Woojin.’
It was Kang Woo-jin.
After that, the female producer turned her head to the dozens of staff members.
“Six people like this.”
The staff was in an uproar. There had been rumors going around that many Hollywood actors were being mentioned, but this was the first time an actor had been revealed so openly.
“It’s quite a feat.”
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“Are there actors like me who can do it? It’s a shame that I can only choose one of them.”
“How much are their ransoms worth?”
“Testing will be like a battlefield.”
“But- Kang Woo-jin at the end? That Korean actor? The one who made a fuss at Cannes.”
“That’s right. You said in your acceptance speech that you were going for an Academy Award. You did some pretty great things, but that actor is a bit out of the blue.”
“There’s a rumor going around among the actors. Hmm, but······is it disappointing if you look at it in a hurry?”
“Director Danny praised him quite a bit.”
“Huh? That Danny Landis?”
Anyway, the female producer continued the briefing.
“I’ll tell you in advance, but information about the actors cannot be leaked to the outside world yet.”
For reference, Columbia Studios has only announced that they are producing a huge new movie and that the director of the new movie is Ahn Ga-bok. They have kept all the other information, including the fact that the movie is called ‘Pierrot’, hidden.
Soon, the female producer turned her gaze to director Ahn Ga-bok.
“And Director. What do you think about holding the actors’ auditions in January?”
Meanwhile, in Korea.
In LA, it was the afternoon of the 27th, but in Korea, it was the morning of the 28th. The location was Yeoncheon, Gyeonggi-do. The set of ‘Beneficial Evil’ where about 100 staff members were moving around busily. Of course, PD Song Man-woo with a beard was also in charge of handling the entire set, and several actors, including Hwa-rin, were seen here and there, perhaps on standby.
At this time.
“Mr. Kang Woojin has arrived!!”
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Just now, Kang Woo-jin in a long padding entered the scene. He was wearing a poker face again today, and PD Song Man-woo, who was leading the filming set, ran to Woo-jin. He was holding the script for ‘Beneficial Evil’ in one hand.
“Mr. Woojin.”
PD Song Man-woo had rough skin due to frequent all-nighters and hellish hardships, and had dark circles under his eyes as if he was wearing sunglasses. Kang Woo-jin greeted him indifferently.
“Please take care of me today too, PD-nim.”
PD Song Man-woo, who was barely able to force a smile, whispered softly to Kang Woo-jin.
“I can crank it up within ten days.”
The end of filming for Part 1 of ‘Beneficial Evil’ was just around the corner.
Filming for ‘Beneficial Evil’ will be over in ten days. Woojin’s expression remained silent as he listened to PD Song Manwoo’s words, but inside he thought, “Already?”
‘It feels like just yesterday that I was shooting a long take in Bangkok, but time flies – it flies.’
Sure, that was part 1, and there’s still part 2 left, but it was definitely a fast pace.
‘Well, it was combative.’
It was a filming schedule that could be described as a crazy shoot. Including PD Song Man-woo in front, the 100 or so staff members, actors, the actors’ staff, and even Kang Woo-jin. Everyone filmed like crazy according to the tight schedule.
A forced march where everyone would die.
Only Woojin was fine. If it weren’t for the grace of the subspace, he would have been struggling too. Whatever it was, the crank-up of ‘Beneficial Evil’ was just around the corner, and PD Song Manwoo, who had relayed this, took a deep breath and spoke to Kang Woojin again.
“Of course, the schedule may change depending on the situation, but if we wrap up filming for Part 1 within ten days, we will be able to launch ‘Beneficial Evil’ as expected.”
By the way, PD-nim, are you okay? Are you suddenly going to collapse? In Woojin’s opinion, PD Song Man-woo looked like he would not have been surprised if he had fainted right now. He had lost a lot of weight. With his strong concept, he quietly asked PD Song Man-woo.
“Yes, PD. But are you okay?”
“what?”
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“You have to be alive to see the filming and launching.”
PD Song Man-woo, who had been blinking, pointed at himself with his index finger and then chuckled.
“Ah- Me? Oh my, I’ve been worrying about Woojin-ssi all along. Haha. Don’t worry, this is something that can be easily achieved with decades of directing. Is this the work One Day Today?”
“Is that so?”
“Of course. You saw it when I was a gangster, right?”
“······”
“Actually, it’s true that it’s a bit tougher than back then, but there have been many works that were tougher than this. In the past, what? The filming environment was so bad.”
After briefly conveying the pain of the entertainment industry in the past, he cleared his throat and changed the subject.
“Anyway, we’ve finished talking with Netflix, and it will probably be released in January, or at the latest in February. It looks like Woojin is the only one who’s doing well on set, but let’s just hold on a little longer.”
In other words, the official launch of Part 1 of ‘Beneficial Evil’ is scheduled for January or February. It was a schedule that was possible because PD Song Man-woo was putting in all his effort.
“And before the launch, I have arranged to have Woojin take a solo photoshoot for some promotional and marketing purposes. Is that okay?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I decided to do Miley Cara’s part too. Phew- I’ll start with the character introduction video and then release teasers and trailers. Oh- And I changed the filming schedule a bit. I’ll be going overseas soon and the end of the year will be busy too.”
It was Kang Woo-jin’s story.
“I will try to focus on the scenes that focus on Woojin as much as possible.”
PD Song Man-woo, who was briefing, showed his double thumbs up and walked away, saying to get ready. Woo-jin, who was watching his back, thought. What kind of reaction would there be if ‘Beneficial Evil’ was released to the entire world?
Kang Woo-jin briefly recalls his rank.
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-[9/Script (Title: Beneficial Evil), EX-Class]
The first sortie of EX-class.
‘Because it’s EX-class – will it be something like going crazy and running wild?’
To be honest, I can’t really tell, and it’s hard to even predict what’s going to happen, but I’m still really looking forward to it. In a way, ‘Beneficial Evil’ is like Kang Woo-jin’s first challenge to the world.
30 minutes back.
The hundred or so staff members were silent as if they were dead, and PD Song Man-woo shouted at Kang Woo-jin on set from the monitor.
“Hi- Action!!”
December 4th.
In the blink of an eye, November ended and December began. The first snowfall also fell. In the meantime, Kang Woo-jin was found on an airplane. He was sitting by the window, his hat pulled down low. However, this airplane was different from the usual ones. There were significantly fewer passengers. Only Woo-jin’s team, including Choi Sung-geon, were visible.
The reason was simple.
This plane was Kang Woo-jin’s private plane. Outside the window of the private plane, there was no longer the ground but a sky full of clouds, and Woo-jin, with a face full of dignity, was mumbling to himself in a slightly excited tone.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been to LA – it feels a bit different. Is it because the planned size is different?’
Of course, I wasn’t nervous at all.
‘What should I do, sir, I lost everything.’
It was the first flight of Kang Woo-jin’s private plane to Hollywood.
And at this very moment, hot news about him was breaking out in Korea.
『[Exclusive] Kang Woo-jin, who secretly boarded a private plane, suddenly went to LA right before the end of the year! Is this a flight to advance to Hollywood?』
