Translator: Dreamscribe
Kang Woojin stood in the pitch-black void space, smiling.
“Keke, that’s right. Nice.”
Standing in front of a white rectangle, he was looking at Hollywood projects with upgraded grades. In particular, what caught Kang Woojin’s eye was ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’.
-[11/Scenario (Title: Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain), EX+++ grade]
EX+++ grade? Wasn’t it originally EX+ grade? It jumped two levels? Even EX+ grade was already a massive hit, so just how insane had things gotten? Kang Woojin’s heart pounded as he looked at the upgraded grade of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. And then he thought,
“As expected, the red carpet performance really worked, huh?”
Kang Woojin had walked as ’Joker’ on red carpet.
Because of that, tens or even hundreds of thousands of people at the ‘Emmy Awards’ were left in shock. Of course, the global audience watching the live broadcast must have felt the same. On top of that, Woojin’s remark, “This is the villain. Watch or don’t.” had an explosive impact.
Given that Kang Woojin already held an overwhelming presence in Hollywood, dropping a nuclear bomb-level statement on an already drawn-in audience was bound to make curiosity explode.
“Even I wouldn’t be able to resist.”
That performance must have played a major role. Additionally, Woojin winning the Emmy Award for Best Actor must have contributed as well. In short, Kang Woojin’s influence, his performance, and his Best Actor award combined into a perfect storm, causing fireworks to explode.
And the result?
“The grade skyrocketed.”
It shot up to the absurd EX+++ grade.
‘But is EX+++ the final level? Or does it just keep adding more plus signs as it goes up?’
Well, it didn’t really matter either way. There might be a level above this, or this could be the final one. As someone who possessed the void space, Woojin simply had to enjoy the moment. His gaze then shifted to other projects.
”Beast and the Beauty’ is EX+ grade, ‘John Persona’ is SSS+ grade.’
Both works had leveled up by one stage. This was undoubtedly a spillover effect from ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ and his ‘Emmys’ Best Actor win. More importantly, the grade surge for ‘John Persona’ was happening at an alarming pace. It had started at S grade, yet somehow had jumped all the way to SSS+ grade. Of course, nothing was ever fully guaranteed.
If something unexpected happened, there was always the possibility of a sudden drop.
Even so.
“That’s a problem for later. For now, I’ll just enjoy it, keke.”
Woojin had the mindset of dealing with future issues when they came. With that thought, he gleefully did a little shoulder dance. Anyone would react the same way after seeing such an astonishing results chart. After swaying for a while, Kang Woojin suddenly flopped down.
He needed to conserve his energy for the long journey ahead.
How much time had passed?
After lying down and resting for quite a while, Woojin slowly sat up.
“Guess I should head out now.”
He returned to reality, a world filled with his name.
Later.
Back in reality, Kang Woojin wrapped up his remaining ‘Emmy Awards’ schedule. Most of it was celebratory events, but he also had to handle interviews with the remaining broadcast teams and reporters.
Additionally.
“Hahaha, Woojin, congratulations! I’d love to have a conversation with you sometime.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Is the agency representative here?”
He also had to talk countless times with directors, producers, production companies, and such figures. And that’s not all. Hollywood actors and actors from various countries around the world also flocked to Kang Woojin. They asked for handshakes, greeted him, took pictures, and exchanged SNS contacts. Even though it was past 2 AM, everyone was wide awake.
At this moment, though the live broadcast of the ‘Emmy Awards’ had ended, the chatrooms were still buzzing. Messages in countless languages were flooding in like crazy.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Crazyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Seriously, Kang Woojin actually won Best Actorㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Wow!! Honestly, I still can’t believe Kang Woojin won the Best Actor award!!
-‘Beneficial Evil’ winning six awards is also insane.
-There must have been some kind of deal behind this! Kang Woojin had the lowest odds of winning!
-Stop it already. He won because he deserved it. That’s why the ‘Emmys’ gave him the Best Actor award.
-No… Wow… Seriously, Kang Woojin is on another level… ‘Beneficial Evil’ won six awards! Congratulations, Kang Woojin-nim ㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅜㅠㅠ
-It must be an exciting night for Koreans. Though, they already look like they’re having the time of their lives.
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Didn’t Kang Woojin just completely dominate all the Hollywood actors??
-I’m getting even more curious about Kang Woojin’s villain role. He won Best Actor at Cannes and now at the ‘Emmys’, so there must be something different about him.
-Krk!! My national pride is soaring!! Wave that flag!!!
-Seriously, what kind of magic spell did Kang Woojin cast over Hollywood??
.
.
.
It was a result shocking enough to warrant such reactions.
By the time Kang Woojin finished his ‘Emmy Awards’ schedule and arrived at his home in LA, it was around 4 AM. As soon as he got inside, he shrugged off his tuxedo jacket and threw himself onto the bed.
“Ahhh!”
Thanks to the void space, he wasn’t overwhelmed with sleepiness, but his body felt heavy. Thanks to Director Ahn Ga-bok’s consideration, he could rest today without filming as morning was breaking, so Kang Woojin, sprawled on the bed, slowly picked up his phone and turned it on. It was filled with KakaoTalk messages, texts, and DMs. Since he had already spoken with his family earlier, he could check the rest of the messages after some sleep.
-Swoosh.
The first thing Kang Woojin opened was the Korean internet. Did he even need to check? Korea was already overflowing with news about ‘Beneficial Evil’ and Kang Woojin.
『[Breaking News] The ‘Emmy Awards’ Best Actor in a Drama goes to Kang Woojin! Gives acceptance speech in fluent English, then thanks “the people of Korea and his fans” in Korean.』
Articles were being published endlessly.
『It happened! Kang Woojin wins Best Actor, Song Man-woo takes Best Director… ‘Beneficial Evil’ sweeps six ‘Emmy Awards’!』
『[Breaking News] Kang Woojin wins Emmys Best Actor… First Asian-nationality actor to achieve this.』
『[Summary] ‘Beneficial Evil’ wins six out of ten nominated categories, setting a historic record as a non-English production.』
『Kang Woojin stands at the peak of LA… Wins Emmys Best Actor! Declares in acceptance speech: “Now, only the Academy Awards remain.”』
It had only been a short while since the ‘Emmy Awards’ ended, so this level of media frenzy was completely natural.
『[StarTalk] Entering as a ‘villain’, finishing as ‘Jang Yeon-woo’, Kang Woojin wins Emmys Best Actor… Directly challenges the ‘Academy Awards’!』
『From ‘Cannes’ to the ‘Emmys’! Best Actor Kang Woojin, his red carpet performance sparks massive interest in ‘Pierrot’.』
Lying on his side, Kang Woojin’s lips curled into a smirk.
“Hehe, this pride rush never gets old no matter how many times I see it.”
Additionally, his thumb moved faster as he scrolled through the screen.
Korea’s major portal sites, forums, blogs, and online communities were all buzzing with excitement about Kang Woojin and ‘Beneficial Evil’. As Woojin lay there, taking in the exhilarating sight, his eyelids slowly began to droop. Before he realized it, he had drifted off to sleep.
But even as he slept through the early hours of the morning, Korea, and the world, continued to be in absolute chaos.
『The world is losing its mind! Kang Woojin wins Best Actor, ‘Beneficial Evil’ takes six awards, foreign press unanimously declare: “Beneficial Evil rewrites Emmys history.”』
『[Big Issue] CNM: “’Beneficial Evil’ is absolutely phenomenal!” Foreign media shower it with praise.』
From the moment the ‘Emmy Awards’ ended, Korea, Japan, Hollywood- no, not just Hollywood, America and the entire world were frantically reporting on the unexpected turn of events.
The media, online platforms, YouTube, social media, no matter where you looked, Kang Woojin and ‘Beneficial Evil’ were the hottest topics.
Especially Kang Woojin.
-【Breaking News!!】 Full version of Kang Woojin’s Emmys Best Actor acceptance speech!! Starts in English, then switches to Korean… He’s simply brilliant…
Praise and hero worship for Kang Woojin soared to the heavens. From the moment the ‘Emmy Awards’ ended and even two days later, on August 3rd, the momentum hadn’t waned, it had only multiplied several times over.
『“A legend has been written”… ‘Beneficial Evil’ sparks a global phenomenon, and what will be Kang Woojin’s next project for the ‘Academy Awards’?』
Additionally, the ‘Academy Awards’ remark Kang Woojin dropped and the ‘Joker’ performance he showed were also heating up global communities.
While the world was still obsessively consuming everything about Woojin, he, now fully rested, returned to the filming set of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’.
“Hello.”
Immediately, over a hundred staff members and actors rushed toward him.
“Ohhh!! Kang Woojin!! Congratulations!”
“Wow- The Best Actor himself is here!! You know Hollywood is in a frenzy over you right now, right?! Congratulations!”
“This is amazing! Seeing our lead actor win an award made me just as happy as if I had won it myself!”
“Best Actor is a huge deal, but that ‘Joker’ performance was absolutely killer!!”
“Hahaha, right! Honestly, wasn’t this year’s ‘Emmy Awards’ practically made for Woojin?!”
A flood of congratulations and exclamations erupted. It was only natural. Not only had Kang Woojin’s influence skyrocketed, but it was also extremely rare for an actor to win the Emmy for Best Actor while in the middle of filming. This was a massive win-win for both Woojin and ‘Joker’.
While Woojin was still receiving congratulations from the foreign crew, Director Ahn Ga-bok and producer Nora approached him. They weren’t alone, executives from ‘Columbia Studios’ were with them.
Director Ahn Ga-bok was the first to speak.
“Congratulations on your award. And you did an outstanding job with the ‘Joker’ performance. On the day of the event, Columbia studio’s social media nearly crashed.”
That was no exaggeration. Because of that, Columbia studio’s executives had come personally to express their gratitude. No amount of money could buy this level of publicity. Soon, Nora and the executives all extended their hands to shake Woojin’s, sincerely thanking him.
“Thank you for being such a powerful force in our ‘Cinematic Universe’.”
Woojin simply nodded, unfazed.
“Yes.”
As the executives walked away from the set, they all had the same thought.
“This means we need to raise his value even higher.”
Because if someone else were to take on the role of ‘Joker’,
“Of course, let’s review the proposal again.”
There might be a global rebellion.
August 8th.
A week had passed since the ‘Emmy Awards’. However, its firepower remained as intense as ever. News outlets from around the world continued to churn out new angles, while YouTube and social media were flooded with ‘Emmy Awards’ behind-the-scenes footage.
Especially if a video had “Kang Woojin” in the title, hitting a million views was effortless.
But none of that concerned Woojin. He was fully immersed in filming once again.
Advertising offers, interviews, TV show appearances, meeting requests poured in like a nuclear explosion, but everything had to be postponed.
Right now, filming took priority. ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ was in its latter half, and the first shoot for ‘Beast and the Beauty’ was fast approaching. There wasn’t even a moment to consider other schedules.
Meanwhile, the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team, apart from Woojin, was.
『[Issue Pick] ‘Beneficial Evil’ team, winners of six ‘Emmys’, make a group appearance on a U.S. talk show!』
Continuing their Hollywood engagements. And finally, on the late afternoon of the 8th.
『[On-Site Photos] ‘Emmy Awards’ conquered… ‘Beneficial Evil’ team, including PD Song Man-woo, returns home in triumph! / Photos』
They returned to Korea with golden trophies. There were hundreds of articles welcoming them, and numerous spectators gathered to welcome the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team. Though the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team had spent many schedules in Hollywood, many places in Korea were looking for them too. Particularly, various variety shows were drooling.
However, PD Song Man-woo, who received the Best Director award:
“PD-nim, are you heading straight to the editing room?? You could take a break first, you know.”
“No way. The whole world is in an uproar over this. If I slack off even a little, all this praise will turn into backlash before I know it.”
“I get that, but- at least have a meal before you go.”
“I’ll eat when I get there.”
Like Kang Woojin, PD Song Man-woo was also in full-on work mode. The editing for ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 was nearly complete, and within a few days, he planned to wrap it up entirely and hand it over to Netflix.
A few days later.
Late morning. The location is the large editing room of DM Production. As soon as he returned to Korea, PD Song Man-woo locked himself inside the editing room. Unlike a few days ago when he had looked neat and sharp, he now looked completely worn out, with unkempt stubble and messy hair.
“Arghhh!”
After burying his face in the monitor for what felt like ages, he suddenly stretched and let out a groan, staring up at the ceiling as he mumbled,
“It’s over-“
The editing for ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 was officially complete.
Lowering his gaze, he stared at Kang Woojin on the monitor for a moment before letting out a short chuckle.
“It feels like yesterday when we were filming Profiler Hanryang, and now that guy is Hollywood’s Emmys Best Actor.”
At that moment.
-Bzzz. Bzzz.
His phone vibrated twice. Checking it, he saw a message on KakaoTalk from Executive Director Kim So-hyang.
“What the-? Did she sense it? How does she message me the second I finish editing? Is she watching me somewhere?”
Startled, he opened the message. But it wasn’t about the editing.
– Kim So-hyang (Executive Director): PD-nim, have you seen Woojin-ssi’s Hollywood ‘Pierrot’ movie poster? I think it just dropped.
– Kim So-hyang (Executive Director): (Photo attached)
– Kim So-hyang (Executive Director): The mood is insane.
PD Song Man-woo opened the attached image, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise.
“……Wow, this is crazy.”
Meanwhile, in LA.
It was morning in Korea, but in LA, it was already the afternoon. Hollywood’s downtown streets were jam-packed with traffic. Among the vehicles, two large vans were moving through the congestion. Inside the first van, Miley Cara sat. Unlike PD Song Man-woo, she was looking at a tablet screen, but the image displayed was the exact same.
‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain First Official Poster-‘
As she gazed at the pale, white-faced Kang Woojin filling the screen, a faint smile formed on her lips. There was admiration in her voice.
“So, this is the villain? The visuals are insane.”
The world had just gotten its first look at Joker’s face.
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