I WAS MISTAKEN AS A MONSTROUS GENIUS ACTOR

Translator: Dreamscribe

Around noon Korean time on the 13th. Though he woke up at dawn, Kang Woojin, who had fallen back asleep, got up groggily. With disheveled hair, Woojin grabbed his phone first.

“Ugh- damn, 12 o’clock? Am I crazy? How long has it been since I’ve slept in like this?”

Sleeping until noon was a first since he became an actor. It was partly due to accumulated fatigue, but being in a comfortable home had made him relax completely, allowing him to sleep deeply. Still, Kang Woojin had no regrets.

“Whatever. It’s a holiday anyway.”

Woojin, who had three days off starting today, moved to the living room and gulped down some water. After waking himself up with some light stretching, he picked up his phone from the bed again. To check his accumulated messages. There were overflowing messages from many people starting with Choi Sung-gun, but among them, what caught Kang Woojin’s eye was.

“Huh?”

A DM from Hollywood’s top actor, Chris Hartnett. The content was brief. Something about looking forward to working together and hoping to make ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ a success. Reading it, Kang Woojin tilted his head.

“This handsome guy… didn’t he drop out of the audition?”

So why was he saying they should work well together? Woojin, scratching his chin, finally understood Chris’s message after reading Choi Sung-gun’s fairly long text message.

“Ah.”

That message had information about Chris, specifically that he had joined the cast of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. Slightly surprised, Woojin checked Hollywood-related foreign news articles online. Articles about Chris were already flooding in.

『LA TIME/Columbia says, “Chris Hartnett confirmed to join ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’”』

『ABY/Chris Hartnett confirmed for ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’, wasn’t he auditioning for the lead role?』

This news had been circulating since a few hours ago, while Woojin was still fast asleep. Columbia Studios had announced Chris’s participation, and the foreign press had been rapidly spreading the news. According to reports, Chris’s casting was confirmed early afternoon, LA time.

“Oh- amazing.”

Reading a few foreign articles, Woojin was genuinely surprised. Director Ahn Ga-bok hadn’t told him anything about it, and honestly, he hadn’t even expected it.

‘I thought my connection with him ended with the audition.’

Regardless, to the foreign press, Chris’s participation in ‘Pierrot’ was an incredibly juicy piece of news. After all, Chris Hartnett had gone head-to-head with Woojin for the lead role in an audition and lost. Technically, he had dropped out, but to the press, it looked like he had been defeated. Now, despite losing to Kang Woojin, he was confirmed for a different role in ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’, sparking curiosity.

『NT/Chris Hartnett, who was a candidate for the lead role alongside Kang Woojin and lost- now joining ‘Pierrot’ in a different role?』

Why did Chris Hartnett join ‘Pierrot’ even though he “lost”? And not even as the lead but in another role.

Lingering regret? Determination? Revenge?

The foreign articles were riddled with all sorts of speculation. After skimming through the articles for a while, Kang Woojin lost interest.

“Whatever, damn it. I’ll find out when I meet him.”

After casually sending a reply to Chris’s DM, Woojin began preparing to go out. His destination for the day was Jinju, where his parents lived. Having been busy recently, he decided to spend at least a day there since he finally had some free time.

Later on.

While the world was abuzz with news about Kang Woojin, he spent a quiet and peaceful holiday. He met his parents after a long time, caught up on delayed conversations, and ate delicious food.

‘This is so relaxing.’

Stripped of all his public persona and work-related matters, he felt like his true self. While Woojin’s parents initially expressed amazement at their son, now a “world star” they soon treated him as they always did, simply as their son. Of course, Kang Hyun-ah, on the other hand, was in a constant state of excitement.

“Oppa!! Are you seriously going to be working with Chris Hartnett on ‘Pierrot’?!”

Various conversations continued until late at night. Stories about things in Hollywood, meeting big shots, projects, and so on. Only late at night could Kang Woojin lie down in his room. After browsing various things on his phone for a while, Woojin.

-Swoosh.

Accessed SNS. To be exact, the official SNS of ‘World Disney Pictures’. Naturally, the most recent post was the one officially announcing a few days ago that Cara had been confirmed as the Beauty ‘Belle’. This post already had hundreds of thousands of fans flocking to it.

– Miley!! Miley!!!

– I knew Miley would be perfect as the Beauty ‘Belle’. Maria Armas is great too, but Miley is a step ahead.

– Finally, the casting for Beast and the Beauty ‘Belle’ is confirmed! I’m looking forward to it, Disney!

– Why look forward to it? The moment Kang Woojin was confirmed, it was already doomed!

– I think the same. Miley is fine, but I wish they’d reverse Kang Woojin’s casting.

– Come on, everyone. It’s not a good look to criticize just because it’s not to your taste.

-Disney! Are you making another mistake??

– Kang Woojin and Miley… hmm, I can’t imagine it yet, but I think it’s okay. Seeing Kang Woojin in ‘Beneficial Evil’ gives me a bit of hope.

– What was the criteria for choosing the actor for the Beast role, Disney?!

– Considering how often Miley and Kang Woojin have worked together, I think they’ll do well.

– Hey, Disney! Are you going to keep ignoring the complaints of fans worldwide?!

Chaos. A colorful and messy mix of various languages. Seeing this, Kang Woojin smiled. Of course, only inwardly.

‘Man- this firepower just keeps exploding.’

If this was the state of things here, other platforms must have been in complete meltdown without even needing to check. And that was exactly the case. Communities, SNS platforms, YouTube, everything worldwide was already ablaze.

And Korea? Needless to say.

-Kang Woojin and Miley Cara in a Beast and Belle two-shot?! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ can’t wait!!

It was no different from the earthquake happening in America.

Currently, the Korean media and public opinion were rabidly pouncing on any tidbit about “Kang Woojin”. To Woojin, it didn’t feel like a big deal, but to Korea, everything about this was unprecedented and miraculous, almost a series of miracles.

『’Beast and the Beauty’ receiving intense global recognition and criticism, when will filming begin?』

Several days later, after Kang Woojin finished his holiday. The accumulated schedules for him upon his return were tremendous, and among them, what Woojin started first was.

“Oh, look at this, our world star has arrived!”

“Alright, everyone, let’s give him a round of applause!”

“We already told you this via message, but congratulations, Woojin-ssi! On everything that happened in Hollywood!”

“Hahaha! And right on time, ‘Beneficial Evil’ blew up too, so you must’ve been insanely busy in Hollywood, right??”

It was a preliminary meeting for ‘Beneficial Evil Part 2’. The location was Netflix Korea. In the spacious meeting room, PD Song Man-woo with his trademark goatee, several key staff members, Kim So-hyang, the Executive Director, Netflix executives, and writer Choi Na-na erupted into exaggerated fanfare the moment Kang Woojin appeared.

This place was more like a wild party than anything else.

While Kang Woojin’s explosive rise in Hollywood played a part, ‘Beneficial Evil Part 1’ still being loved globally made this enthusiasm natural. Although Kang Woojin wore an indifferent expression, inwardly, he shared their excitement.

At that moment.

“Sorry to interrupt everyone’s joy, but- Woojin-ssi, we should start talking about work now.”

PD Song Man-woo, barely managing to steer the conversation back on track, addressed Kang Woojin.

“’Beneficial Evil Part 2′ filming starts next week.”

Afterward.

Before the official filming for ‘Beneficial Evil Part 2’ began, Kang Woojin had to endure yet another hellish schedule. The backlogged tasks from his time in LA came rushing at him like a tidal wave, interviews, commercials, various shoots, photo spreads, countless events and promotions. On top of that, fan signings and fan meetings were also held.

Kang Woojin ran frantically back and forth between Korea and Japan.

However, unlike the relatively relaxed pace of LA, this sudden plunge into a grueling schedule didn’t shake Woojin much. In the past, just maintaining his public persona would have been overwhelming, but now he had some breathing room. This wasn’t him trying to show off.

‘How should I put it? It doesn’t feel that intense? Have I unknowingly grown? It feels like I could handle several times this workload.’

Of course, he still made appropriate use of the Void Space, but its frequency had drastically decreased.

Meanwhile.

The YouTube video featuring Kang Woojin and Miley Cara related to ‘Beast and the Beauty’ had produced staggering results, surpassing 70 million views.

It was truly a display of global power.

However, the truly global impact involving Kang Woojin at this time was coming from.

『[IssuePick]’Beneficial Evil’ maintaining global #1 for 6 weeks, viewing time increases further with recent ‘Beast and the Beauty’ issue』

It was ‘Beneficial Evil’, which was setting new records both in Korea and on Netflix.

『’Beneficial Evil’ starring Kang Woojin has worn the ‘Global #1’ badge for over a month, PD Song Man-woo “Dumbfounded by global box office storm”』

『Netflix CEO says, “’Beneficial Evil’ could become the greatest series of all time”』

Even though ‘Beneficial Evil’ had already achieved the world’s #1 spot and was thriving, the explosion of Kang Woojin’s influence in Hollywood caused its word-of-mouth popularity to multiply. He was appearing so frequently on the world’s largest online community, “Reddit”, that it had practically become a trend.

『[Overseas Topic]’Beneficial Evil’, ‘Global Fever’ at #1 in 80 countries including US, Europe… gains more momentum thanks to Kang Woojin』

Moreover, what initially circulated as speculation, that ‘Beneficial Evil’ might be in contention for an Emmy Award, was now openly gaining traction. A Korean drama achieving such unprecedented global success, coupled with Kang Woojin’s momentum, had propelled the series further.

『Rumors swirl that Netflix’s ‘Beneficial Evil’ has been nominated for an Emmy, the award for the world’s best TV programs』

For now, this was still just a rumor. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), which oversees the Primetime Emmy Awards, had not made any official announcements.

But very secretly, ‘Beneficial Evil’ had already.

『Netflix CEO confidently declares, “’Beneficial Evil’ will aim for the Emmys”』

Been placed on the nominee selection ballot for the ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’.

Then.

『[Issue Pick] Korea’s first potential Emmy contender, ‘Beneficial Evil Part 2’, begins filming soon. Global fans in love with Kang Woojin are thrilled at the news of the upcoming shoot!』

The announcement of ‘Beneficial Evil Part 2’ starting production spread worldwide.

March 22nd, late morning. Incheon Airport.

Around 11:30 AM, crowds were gathering at the airport’s arrivals hall. Over 200 people, including dozens of reporters clinging to barricades and fans armed with phones and massive camera lenses, were present.

The reason was simple.

A popular domestic girl group was returning after completing their schedule in Japan. This was the usual scene when a top-tier idol group showed up at the airport.

At that moment.

-Swoosh.

The doors to the arrivals hall slid open, and people began to emerge one by one. Ordinary travelers looked slightly startled at the crowd of reporters and fans, though some seemed to understand the reason. As signs of the girl group’s arrival began to surface, reporters quickly raised their cameras.

Then, a group of foreign individuals suddenly appeared at the arrivals hall.

About six people.

Most of the reporters didn’t pay much attention to the group of foreigners. They simply assumed they were tourists visiting Korea. However, a few of the dozens of reporters.

“Hm?”

Fixed their gazes on the newly arrived foreigners. More precisely, they were staring at a towering black man in the group, whose face was oddly familiar. Among the reporters was a chubby journalist, well-versed in Hollywood news and foreign entertainment stories.

“That- giant.”

He muttered quietly, looking at the absurdly tall black man.

“What was his name again? Joseph Felton? Isn’t he a famous producer in Hollywood?”

He wasn’t entirely sure, though. So the chubby reporter decided to snap a photo of the tall black man and the foreign group. Then, as he watched the group walk away, he sent the photo to a fellow reporter he knew, along with a question: “This tall black guy, isn’t he Joseph Felton?”

The reply came quickly. Confirming it was Joseph Felton.

But the chubby reporter’s curiosity only deepened. From what he knew, Joseph Felton was a very prominent producer in Hollywood.

‘Don’t those Hollywood giant studios line up just to work with him? So why did he suddenly come to Korea?’

Sensing instinctively that something unusual was going on, the reporter received another message. Reading the text sent by his acquaintance, the chubby reporter’s eyes widened slightly.

‘Joseph Felton is currently working with ‘Universal Movies’?’

‘Universal Movies’ was one of Hollywood’s “Big Five” studios, on the same level as ‘Columbia Studios’ and ‘World Disney Pictures’. A heavyweight producer collaborating with such a massive studio had just arrived in Korea. At that moment, a thought flashed through the reporter’s mind.

“’Columbia Studios’, ‘World Disney Pictures’, and… ‘Universal Movies’? Could it be Kang Woojin?”

It was about Kang Woojin.

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