I WAS MISTAKEN AS A MONSTROUS GENIUS ACTOR

Translator: Dreamscribe

The ‘Joker’ was completed with flour and blood. A pale white face, with dark red smeared around the eyebrows, eyes, nose tip, and thick, grinning lips. On top of that, it was crude. Clumsy. Because the flour and blood were smeared on haphazardly.

However, that only amplified the tension of this scene several times over.

Looking straight at Kang Woojin in such a state.

‘Damn it.’

A foreigner carrying a large camera on his shoulder. It was cinematographer Adam Dickens. His rather broad face was covered with brown stubble on his nose and chin, and he wore his cap with the brim pushed back. His arms and the nape of his neck were covered in goosebumps.

‘…What is this even?’

Because this scene was far beyond expectations. According to the original script, Kang Woojin was only supposed to pick up the ‘JOKER’ card within the frame, and that would be the end of it. But this Korean actor had effortlessly spun an entirely new shot out of nowhere.

‘Does he feel no pressure at all?’

The moment he entered Hollywood, Kang Woojin was setting off one explosion after another. As a result, he was drawing the world’s attention entirely to himself. The same was true at this filming site. Hundreds of foreigners were staring solely at him. And their gazes were far from friendly.

Yet, this Korean actor, Kang Woojin, seemed to throw that aside like it meant nothing, displaying a boundlessly creative performance.

‘For fuck’s sake, to think he’d complete the ‘Joker’ face with blood……’

Cinematographer Adam Dickens felt that the ‘Joker’ Woojin was portraying now seemed like a child. A mischievous, young child. One who had been repressed for a long time and was now set free. That’s why his curiosity was bursting out, and he even danced along to the music. He showed off the character’s personality to the fullest. This place was nothing short of his playground.

The problem was.

‘A playground where slaughter has taken place.’

Contrary to the child playing while immersed in the feeling of liberation, there were corpses lying in the background of this playground he was enjoying. The blend of these two elements created an indescribably eerie horror. And that horror magnified the presence of the ‘Joker’ who was grinning in front of the camera.

Additionally.

‘That tear falling from one eye is a masterpiece.’

Soon, from Woojin, who had fully transformed into the ‘Joker’, a single unfamiliar tear slid down. To Adam, the cinematographer, it looked like a silent scream. Though he had found freedom as the ‘Joker’, this child had no choice but to become this way. The situation, society, they had turned ‘Henry Gordon’ into this.

Director Ahn Ga-bok, watching Woojin through the monitor, thought the same.

‘That tear is the final scream of reason that ‘Henry Gordon’ had suppressed until now.’

So did the dozens of Hollywood actors. Even Chris Hartnett, who was letting out a baffled laugh.

‘A maddening ‘Joker’ with an eerie mix of sorrow. A tear filled with either overwhelming emotion or utter despair, a dual-layered performance. On the flip side, it makes me even more excited, now, that ‘Joker’ is about to truly unleash himself. His acting is completely insane.’

To the hundreds of staff, crew members, and other foreign figures present, it delivered both shock and awe at the same time.

The problem was.

‘That level of acting was an ad-lib?’

The fact that Woojin’s performance, which had left everyone speechless, was not even in the script.

At that moment.

-Swoosh.

Kang Woojin, who had been staring at the camera for a brief moment as the ‘Joker’, moved his feet without wiping away the tear. One step, then another. Slowly stepping backward.

Cinematographer Adam did not move, keeping him in the frame, and when Woojin took his third step backward.

-Screech!

His foot suddenly slipped, and he lost his balance. It was so natural that Adam quickly shook the camera slightly. Then he captured the flour and blood scattered on the floor before realigning the frame with Woojin, who had lost his footing.

Woojin flailed slightly before inevitably falling. His wet hair swayed as he went down, and his face landed right on the heavy, meaty flesh of the corpse’s rear end.

Since the classical music filled the scene, the sound was drowned out, but in Woojin’s ears, he could distinctly hear a squelching chop! sound.

Was it because the body was so heavy? It was oddly soft. The smell, however, was far from pleasant.

Kang Woojin, whose face was now stuck to the slab of meat’s rear end, remained still for a moment. Watching this from right behind, cinematographer Adam Dickens was in awe.

‘There was more.’

Because the pacing and control were nothing short of spectacular.

‘He just reminded us of the absurdity of the ‘Joker’ to relieve tension. A continuous cycle of suspense, chills, and realism in acting.’

But he was mistaken.

Kang Woojin, whose face was buried in the chunk of meat’s rear end, was actually lamenting.

‘Ah- shit, this wasn’t part of my plan.’

He had planned everything up until the moment before, but he hadn’t expected to slip and have his face smashed into this actor’s ass. And what the hell was this smell? Damn it, did he just fart right before this?

At that moment, Woojin unconsciously.

“Urp.”

He dry-heaved. At the same time, he instinctively knew- ah, this was an NG. He also felt a slight pang of guilt toward the heavy actor. It wasn’t intentional, I swear. It’s just that I’ve never smelled anything like this in my life.

However, for some reason.

-Swoosh.

Cinematographer Adam zoomed in on Woojin’s face as he slowly peeled it off the actor’s rear with a serious expression.

‘Meticulous.’

Because an unintended mistake could never be undone.

‘He used wit to ease the tension and solidified the character’s presence.’

With the ‘Joker’ face still on, Woojin remained calm in response to the camera movements following him closely. Staying composed in moments like this was key to winning. Plus, thanks to his accumulated experience in acting so far, he realized something.

‘This atmosphere… feels oddly familiar.’

As long as the director didn’t call for an NG, the shoot wouldn’t stop.

With that in mind, Kang Woojin ran his hands through his damp hair and slowly stood up. His expression was indifferent, but inside, countless thoughts were swirling. What should I say? I could just end it here, but that’d be kind of boring.

Raising the ‘Joker’ within him once more, he finally decided.

“This damn mass. Your ass smell is disgustingly awful.”

To just be honest.

“Did you take a dump before you died?”

And internally, he apologized to the actor lying sprawled on the ground.

Soon, Woojin turned his head to face the camera beside him, deliberately offering an extra cut. Ahn Ga-bok, the director, of course, didn’t miss this and.

“……Cut.”

His signal echoed across the set.

“OK.”

At this moment, the slightly distant camera stopped rolling, and cinematographer Adam Dickens uttered one sentence.

“That was amazing.”

Meanwhile, Kang Woojin, having seamlessly switched back to his professional persona, thought to himself.

‘What was? The poop smell?’

Then, with a solemn expression, he simply replied.

“Thank you.”

The heavy actor slowly rose and looked at Woojin’s face. His expression was one of complete bewilderment, as if he had no idea why Woojin’s face had ended up buried in his ass. Moreover, shit smell? Woojin genuinely wanted to ask him. Did you actually go? But instead, he maintained a poker face.

“Were you surprised? I’m sorry.”

“…No, not at all. As long as the scene gets better, it’s all worth it.”

At that moment, Director Ahn Ga-bok and the foreign staff entered the pizza shop set, approaching Woojin. Ahn Ga-bok, with a wrinkled yet amused smile, gave him a thumbs-up.

“That was incredible, even your final line.”

A short while later.

Kang Woojin was watching the playback on a monitor set up near the director’s seat. For reference, his ‘Joker’ face, smeared with flour and drawn with blood, remained unchanged. That was per Ahn Ga-bok’s instructions. The makeup team had already taken reference photos of his face earlier. Anyway, Woojin was now reviewing the scene alongside the heavy foreign actor.

Of course, Director Ahn Ga-bok was there as well. Surrounding them were dozens of actors, including Chris, and a throng of foreign staff members sticking close, replaying Woojin’s performance in their minds.

And then.

– [“Did you take a dump before you died?”]

As soon as the playback reached that line, the scene came to an end. The heavy actor, who had been watching with a deeply serious expression, slowly nodded.

‘Ah, so that’s why he buried his face in my ass.’

Then, turning to Woojin beside him, he muttered.

“That was incredible.”

Of course, Woojin wanted to say, Yeah, your shit smell was incredible. But with his persona in full effect, his voice remained low and composed.

“I hope you weren’t offended.”

“Not at all. Like I said earlier, as long as it enhances the scene, anything is fine.”

Director Ahn Ga-bok joined the lively English conversation.

“As Roger said, the scene composition looks several times richer. I’d like to go with this, what do you think?”

Kang Woojin nodded.

“No problem.”

“Great. Then let’s break into teams for a quick meeting. Let’s adjust the camera movements, angles, and revise the storyboard on the spot. You take a break in the meantime.”

With that, Director Ahn Ga-bok called over the cinematographer and the key staff to begin discussions.

While it varied depending on the director’s style and the situation, it was fairly common in Hollywood to revise the shot composition on set. It wasn’t unheard of in Korea either, but Hollywood tended to be far more flexible. Some directors would even tell actors to improvise freely, and if they liked the scene, they would scrap the original script cut entirely and use the footage they shot on the spot instead.

Of course, there were also directors and producers who emphasized sticking to the fundamentals, but overall, Hollywood offered a high degree of creative freedom. That’s why the key staff members followed Ahn Ga-bok’s direction without much resistance.

Except for one person.

“……Hmm.”

A woman with slightly longer-than-bobbed hair and sharp features. The person with the most influence on set, the executive producer, Nora Foster. Her expression was far from pleased as she stood with her arms crossed, watching the key staff gather around Ahn Ga-bok. After a few seconds, her gaze shifted to the back of Kang Woojin as he walked away.

She had anticipated from the start that these two figures would stand out on set.

‘Kang Woojin’s acting was absurd, but this shift in direction, I don’t like it.’

Yet, as someone who had climbed her way up as a renowned Hollywood producer, she had always upheld one thing, principles.

A minor deviation could later snowball into a major issue. Moreover, if things that had been set in stone were suddenly changed, it could stir up dissatisfaction among the key staff members.

For a producer responsible for maintaining harmony across the entire set, this was a situation that demanded vigilance.

Still, for now, Nora Foster chose to.

‘Observe a little longer.’

She did not intervene.

Unaware of Nora’s watchful eyes, Kang Woojin chatted briefly with the makeup team before moving toward a makeshift tent with foldable chairs set up on the filming site, rather than heading to his trailer.

It was a communal space where everyone could take short breaks.

Waiting there were his team members, including Choi Sung-gun. Grinning, Choi Sung-gun handed Woojin a water bottle.

“Your acting was killer. You should’ve seen the looks on everyone’s faces outside.”

Even the stylists and other team members were in an uproar. Choi Sung-gun then moved closer, examining Woojin’s ‘Joker’ face.

“Gave me chills. The idea of drawing the ‘Joker’ face with the blood of your first kill, how did you even come up with that? I kept getting goosebumps while watching the playback.”

Woojin internally praised himself, agreed, even I thought it was brilliant. But on the outside, he played it cool.

“It’s nothing special.”

“Nothing special my foot! Look at Director Ahn and the key staff over there! They’re all flipped out and going crazy!”

“Well, that’s true.”

“The way you slipped and face-planted into the ass, that was great too. And the ‘shit smell’ line? Genius.”

At that moment, a familiar blunt voice joined in. Han Ye-jung, with her signature blue short bob tied back, spoke up.

“But since the ‘Joker’ character had already fully emerged, it wasn’t funny to me. I actually found it terrifying.”

“……”

Woojin stared at her intently for a moment before shouting in his mind.

It really was terrifying. The shit smell, I mean.

Misconceptions can be terrifying.

However, Choi Sung-gun simply agreed wholeheartedly with Han Ye-jung’s words.

“That’s right. Calling a corpse’s smell ‘shit stink’, you killed it, Woojin.”

Something else is rolling along on its own again. Kang Woojin, already familiar with such situations, suddenly thought of a dangerous joke.

“No, I actually tripped for real. And the line? I just blurted it out.”

A sneaky confession.

Immediately, Choi Sung-gun and Han Ye-jung, along with the entire team, stared blankly at Woojin’s stern face.

Among them, Choi Sung-gun let out a chuckle and shook his head.

“That kind of humility doesn’t suit you, man.”

The next day, the 12th, late morning, New York.

A massive crowd of foreign reporters gathered in front of a grand hotel in downtown New York. Every single one of them was furiously pressing their camera shutters at the hotel entrance, where a photo zone had been set up.

Standing in that photo zone was.

“Miley!! Miley Cara!!”

Hollywood’s top-tier actress, Miley Cara, who was recently confirmed to play ‘Bella’ in ‘Beast and the Beauty’. Her reason for being at this hotel was simple. She was attending a major charity event. While it was partially for image management, she also regularly participated in charity events a few times a year.

-Pabababapak!

As cameras flashed continuously, she stood there wearing wide-leg jeans and a cropped short-sleeve top. After briefly waving at the cameras, she began walking at her managers’ gestures.

Inside the hotel, the crowd was even denser.

There were many celebrities, including fellow actors of Cara’s. As she exchanged brief greetings with acquaintances, a female voice suddenly cut through from behind.

“Miley.”

At this, Cara turned her head, and her brows furrowed slightly.

“Ah.”

Because someone she didn’t like had appeared.

Unlike Cara, who wore casual attire, the woman in heels had striking brown eyes and a face with notably large eyes.

Maria Armas, the Hollywood actress who had been the first to audition for the role of ‘Bella’ in ‘Beast and the Beauty’.

She had also had a verbal battle in Spanish with Kang Woojin.

Now, Maria approached Cara and greeted her.

“Hello. I knew you’d be here.”

Her voice was devoid of emotion, and the blonde Cara responded coldly.

“You can feel free to ignore me?”

“Come on, we’re about to work on the same project soon. That’d be a bit rude, wouldn’t it?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Maria shrugged.

“It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but-”

She whispered to Cara.

“I’m joining ‘Beast and the Beauty’ too.”

Cara, momentarily surprised, quickly recovered and put on a relaxed smile.

“Really? Even though you lost to me?”

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