Translator: Dreamscribe
Choi Sung-gun grinned smugly. His expression was full of confidence. He had already gathered all the funds? Kang Woojin, maintaining his poker face due to his concept, was actually quite surprised inside.
‘Wow- that was insanely fast!’
Honestly, he thought it would take longer. Understandably so, it was tens of billions, right? Preparing tens of billions this quickly? Kang Woojin was once again impressed by Choi Sung-gun’s capability, but outwardly suppressed his excitement as much as possible.
“That was faster than I expected.”
Choi Sung-gun shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“Since the topic came up, I figured I’d push it through. First, I persuaded Chairman Hideki Yoshimura, and the rest kind of fell into place here and there. But of course, it wasn’t easy. It was only possible because of our bw Entertainment’s value and your name.”
Choi Sung-gun placed a hand on Kang Woojin’s shoulder and smiled.
“You know what your estimated worth is right now, right?”
“I don’t particularly care.”
“Sure, you might not. But the world does. A lot. Anyway-”
Trailing off his sentence, Choi Sung-gun changed the subject.
“How much are you planning to invest in ‘Guest’? Do you have something in mind?”
There was no way Kang Woojin, who knew nothing about investment, had something planned. Before becoming an actor, he had never even touched stocks or anything like that. But now was the time to act tough.
“I do. I’ll organize it and let you know.”
“Good. The base plan is to go under the name of bw Entertainment, but we can draft separate documents for you, so for now, don’t worry about ‘Guest’ and just focus on the work itself.”
“Understood, CEO-nim.”
After that, Kang Woojin wrapped up the conversation appropriately and dove back into filming for ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. That day’s shoot only ended late at night, and among the actors leaving, Kang Woojin called out to Chris Hartnett, who had just gotten into the van. Naturally, both actors had removed their makeup by then.
“Chris.”
At Woojin’s rare initiative to start a conversation, Chris smiled and got out of the car.
“Oh, what’s the occasion that you’re initiating conversation first?”
“I have something quick to say.”
“Go ahead.”
Chris signaled to the team behind to wait and approached Kang Woojin. Then Woojin, without beating around the bush, handed Chris a stack of papers.
“I wanted to recommend a project to you.”
It was the script for ‘Guest’.
“Recommend?”
Chris’s expression turned slightly serious as he took the script.
“That’s pretty out of the blue. I didn’t think you’d recommend something. So what kind of project is it?”
“Read it. It’ll be fun. Of course, if you’re not into it, just ignore it. I don’t mind.”
“……Are you in it too? But realistically, you can’t take on more projects.”
“Right, officially it’s hard. But I thought it was too good to let sit, so I’m recommending it to you. If anything, I’m thinking of just making a cameo appearance.”
Chris looked at Woojin with a strange expression and opened the first page of the script, and Woojin pointed to the script with his index finger and murmured in a low voice.
“I’m recommending you for the male lead role, it’s a role I once played.”
Two days later, morning of September 14th.
A small film company located slightly away from downtown LA. In the very cramped CEO office of ‘A8 Media’, which had only about ten employees. A woman in a suit with short brown hair. No, CEO Jennifer Thurman sat at her desk with a serious expression. On the desk was the script for ‘Guest’. She sighed as she looked down at it.
Her face was severely gloomy, likely because the film ‘Guest’ was about to have its life support pulled.
‘In the end, there’s no choice but to give up.’
For the record, despite numerous meetings, no one had stepped up to invest in ‘Guest’. And today, Jennifer Thurman had to make a decision. The decision to bury ‘Guest’, which was based on Kang Woojin’s ‘Exorcism’, a project she had long desired.
Just then.
-Knock knock.
There was a knock on the CEO’s office door, and a male employee with freckles on his face entered.
“CEO, everyone has gathered.”
“……Alright. I understand.”
Thurman nodded weakly and stood up, picking up the script for ‘Guest’. She moved to the cramped meeting room right next door. Inside, about three employees were already seated. Jennifer Thurman sat at the five-person table and placed the ‘Guest’ script on it.
“No one’s reached out from anywhere, right?”
The freckled male employee replied bitterly.
“No, CEO.”
Another female employee added.
“We’ve tried contacting all the parties we had meetings with multiple times, but everyone said it would be difficult.”
“……I see. Nothing we can do then.”
Looking down at the ‘Guest’ script for a moment, Thurman let out a long sigh and spoke.
“Let’s pull the plug now. There’s no more hope or possibility left.”
At that moment.
-Knock knock knock.
An employee hurried into the meeting room.
“CEO.”
Turning to the employee, Thurman tilted her head.
“Hm? What’s the matter, what is it?”
“Um- someone’s here to see you outside.”
“Someone’s here? Who?”
The employee repeated what they had heard from the visitor outside.
“They said they’re from bw Entertainment.”
“bw Entertainment? Why would that agency be here……”
Suddenly, Kang Woojin, who was shaking up Hollywood, flashed through Thurman’s mind.
“Wait a second, bw Entertainment? That’s the agency Kang Woojin belongs to, if I’m not mistaken.” (TL: No, only Kang Woojin get’s mistaken😁😁)
Korea’s bw Entertainment, or the agency, was already quite famous among Hollywood figures. It was the agency of that alien-like Kang Woojin, after all.
“Why would someone from bw Entertainment come here? Who came?”
“They said they’re the CEO.”
“The CEO?”
Thurman’s eyes widened as she looked up at the employee and stood up to exit the meeting room. Outside stood a man with tied-back long hair, wearing a sky-blue shirt and smiling. He was accompanied by two staff members. Of course, they all appeared to be Korean.
As Jennifer Thurman approached, the long-haired man- no, Choi Sung-gun, extended his hand.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Choi Sung-gun, CEO of bw Entertainment.”
Thurman, caught off guard, shook hands and introduced herself.
“Hello. I’m Jennifer Thurman of ‘A8 Media’. But bw Entertainment, that’s the agency with Kang Woojin, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“What would an agency like that be doing here……”
“I heard you’re preparing a remake of ‘Exorcism’.”
“!”
Jennifer Thurman was visibly startled. On the other hand, Choi Sung-gun, looking relaxed, received a stack of papers from a staff member. It was the script for ‘Guest’. Choi Sung-gun held it out to Thurman.
“I heard you’ve been having difficulties securing investment.”
“H-How did you know about this.”
“I received it from Director Shin Dong-chun in Korea, and I also heard a bit of the backstory behind ‘Guest’. Ah, not in detail though.”
“Ah.”
Thurman recalled the square-jawed Director Shin Dong-chun in Korea. She had shared updates whenever something happened, and it seemed that information had reached the man now standing in front of her.
“I see.”
As Thurman slowly nodded, Choi Sung-gun spoke directly.
“Our bw Entertainment is considering being the main investor for ‘Guest’.”
Immediately, the eyes of the surrounding ‘A8 Media’ employees grew enormously wide. Some even gaped open-mouthed. Even Thurman, who responded casually at first,
“Ah- really? You came here considering investment……”
Was startled.
“What??! You’re saying you’ll invest???!”
“That’s what I said.”
“In this ‘Guest’?”
“That’s right.”
Jennifer Thurman stared blankly at Choi Sung-gun for a moment, then managed to regain her composure.
“It’s so…sudden that I feel like I’m dreaming. Are you serious?”
“I am serious.”
Choi Sung-gun, who had placed the script down, began his explanation.
“As you probably know, Kang Woojin is doing well in Hollywood right now, and our bw Entertainment has been preparing to enter the investment business for quite some time. We’ve already started operations on the Korean side. Actually, we were planning to move into the Hollywood side a bit later, but this investment in ‘Guest’ was recommended by Kang Woojin, so we moved up the timeline.”
“Kang Woojin recommended it?”
“Yes. He says ‘Guest’ is a good project and believes it has great potential.”
Emotion surged in Thurman’s heart, her eyes widening. How should one describe it, was it the feeling of something constantly rejected finally being acknowledged? And that, by a Korean actor who’s currently turning Hollywood upside down, even though she had never met him.
At this point, Choi Sung-gun spoke again.
“Shall we continue talking here?”
“Pardon? Ah! No, not here, please, this way!”
Hurriedly, Jennifer Thurman guided Choi Sung-gun to the cramped meeting room. After everyone had taken a seat at the table, she asked cautiously.
“By the way, CEO Choi Sung-gun, when you say you’ll invest, what kind of scale are you thinking?”
Choi Sung-gun replied without hesitation.
“I said main investor, did you not hear? We’re thinking of covering it all.”
“!!!”
“‘Guest’ has potential, and it’s also a remake of ‘Exorcism’, Kang Woojin’s film debut, so there’s symbolic value in it for us as well.”
“T-The entire production cost-”
“Yes. All of it.”
Having answered, Choi Sung-gun delivered an additional blow.
“As the main investor, how about adding a special appearance by Kang Woojin too?”
Thurman was twice as shocked as before.
Later.
While Choi Sung-gun was in the middle of his conversation with Jennifer Thurman, in Korea, the talk of the town was the series that had overturned the world by sweeping six Emmy Awards.
『Just a few days left until the launch of ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2! Will it meet the expectations of global fans?』
The launch of Part 2 of ‘Beneficial Evil,’ which had already become a legend, was less than a week away. Part 1 was still charting on Netflix. Furthermore, since Kang Woojin’s influence had skyrocketed after the Emmy Awards, interest in Part 2 of ‘Beneficial Evil’ was truly explosive.
Not only in Korea, but also overseas, the hype was tremendous. Expectations were at their peak. Of course, there was also some public opinion that looked at it with skepticism. Since Part 1 had been a massive hit, some believed Part 2 wouldn’t live up to it.
Eventually, a few days later.
『[IssueTalk] Six-time Emmy winner ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 launches worldwide simultaneously!』
On the 19th at noon, ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 launched simultaneously across the globe. In more than 80 countries including Korea, Japan, and the U.S. with Hollywood, ‘Beneficial Evil’ was the constant topic of conversation.
The reviews were mixed.
Rave reviews included.
-Part 2 is even better than Part 1??! I think it surpassed Part 1! And Kang Woojin’s action has improved too!
-It was a sequel superior to the previous one, the direction, Kang Woojin’s acting, and the overall story were excellent.
Criticism.
-I at least finished Part 1, but I turned off Part 2 halfway through.
-Did the director just half-ass it? Only Kang Woojin’s action scenes were somewhat worth watching, everything else was too lacking compared to Part 1.
Whatever the case, the world instantly grew noisy over ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2.
The next morning, on the 20th.
『[Breaking News] ‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 climbs back to global No.1』
‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 had once again claimed the number one spot globally.
『‘Beneficial Evil’ Part 2 reaches world No.1 faster than Part 1, global fans abuzz』
It had climbed the charts even faster than Part 1.
And later that same afternoon.
Even though the news of ‘Beneficial Evil’ reclaiming the global top spot was spreading, Kang Woojin had no time to be delighted. He was fully immersed in filming at the moment.
The location was a set inside Columbia Studios.
However, unlike before, it didn’t resemble a neat city. Buildings were collapsed, cars overturned, and flames were raging. Corpses were strewn across the streets. Sirens echoed from all directions.
In the middle of that war-torn city.
-Swoosh.
Someone walked through the center of a road lined with burning cars. He carried an aura of supreme dominance. A man, with a cigarette between his lips, a pale face, and a wide, torn smile painted in red.
It was ‘Joker’.
The ‘Joker,’ or rather Kang Woojin, with red hair swaying, strode fearlessly down the center of the road. The camera in front of him moved backward as it filmed. Just as ‘Joker’ took a long drag from his cigarette, a man stumbled out from the driver’s seat of a car crashed into a utility pole up ahead. Blood trickled from his head, and as if he had no strength left, he dragged himself across the asphalt.
That man, upon spotting ‘Joker’, reached out a hand.
“S-Save me.”
Kang Woojin, who had been walking majestically without stopping, responded briefly with a smile.
“Sure.”
-Bang bang!
The man’s head burst open, and he collapsed. Kang Woojin, or ‘Joker’, as if completely unaffected, took a few more steps and exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke.
Then.
-Swish.
Amidst the corpses and burning cars filling the road, he suddenly stopped and began to tap dance. Then a brief pause. Woojin, sweeping back his red hair with both hands.
“Ah, right.”
He smirked at the front-facing camera. Or perhaps it was an expressionless look. But thanks to the painted face, he always looked like he was smiling.
“I just thought of a fun prank.”
A moment of silence followed this line.
“……”
Everyone fell silent. Kang Woojin, the filming crew capturing him, Director Ahn Ga-bok watching multiple monitors filled with the Joker’s face, Nora Foster with arms crossed behind him, the hundred-plus foreign staff members, and even the executives from Columbia Studios who had come to check the final scene.
Though at least several hundred people had gathered, it was silent.
Only the sound of burning spread.
At this moment.
“Cut.”
Director Ahn Ga-bok rose quietly and signaled toward the ‘Joker’ inside the filming zone.
“OK.”
At the same time, one of the Columbia Studios executives in the back, a bald man with a commanding expression, murmured,
“It’s finished. Finally.”
All the foreign staff began applauding Kang Woojin in the filming zone.
-Clap clap clap clap clap clap!
Crank up. In other words, Director Ahn Ga-bok’s OK sign was the final signal for ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’.
To challenge the ‘Academy Awards’.
-Clap clap clap clap clap clap!
All of Joker’s scenes had now come to an end.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter