'See… this is my Void Space!'
The exclamation rang loudly through Kang Woojin's mind, and the smile on his face widened. In the past, he might have been a little flustered by something like this.
"Sweet."
The Woojin of now was simply enjoying the gift that was the Void Space. French? Well, yes, French. To be honest, had there ever been a moment in his life when Kang Woojin thought he would need to use French?
'Not once. I never would've imagined it, not even until the day I died.'
English and Japanese were familiar because he heard them often enough around him, but French was an entirely different matter. It was so unfamiliar that it only made his anticipation grow stronger.
'It's bound to be useful somewhere, right? Either way, being able to learn a language this easily is an incredible advantage.'
Kang Woojin could now acquire languages from all over the world. They might not be languages he would use every single day, but the fact that they were engraved in his head at all was enough to excite him.
Inside that dark, empty space, Woojin looked out at the familiar gray that stretched on without end.
The gray enveloped him, and he smiled to himself before falling briefly into thought.
In the near future—
"Oh, right. French. I could use it at Cannes."
He was already imagining the stage where he might put it to use.
──────────
Who knew how much time had passed.
The meeting room at BW Entertainment gradually grew crowded. Team leaders from each department began to arrive one after another, followed by the actors' staff members. They all belonged to the same company, but they rarely had reason to see one another, so the room quickly filled with greetings and small talk.
Meanwhile—
"..."
"..."
The company's two top actors, Kang Woojin and Hong Hyeyeon, were already seated, and for some reason, a strange silence hung between them.
Woojin sat quietly reading through the script Hyeyeon had handed him. Across from him, Hyeyeon brushed back her long hair and looked at him with a faint furrow between her brows.
'What is this? Why am I getting nervous for no reason? Why isn't he saying anything?'
Woojin had always been taciturn, but after opening the script, he seemed even calmer than usual. Hyeyeon, on the other hand, was subtly tense, and with people around them occasionally glancing over, she couldn't bring herself to look away from him.
She tried to act unbothered, but it wasn't easy.
At that moment, Woojin quietly turned the page.
His expression remained serious, and Hyeyeon found herself caught in indecision. Should she just ask him outright? She thought about it for a moment, but in the end, she said nothing.
'…But if Mr. Woojin says it's bad, should I not do it?'
She actually liked the project quite a lot. But what if Kang Woojin looked her in the eye and said, without hesitation, that it was boring? Would she have to turn it down?
Then she gave a small shake of her head.
'No. I can't let myself rely on that.'
Kang Woojin's instincts—his intuition, or perhaps something closer to an animal's natural sense—were beyond doubt, almost at the level of the divine. There had already been more than enough proof of that in the past, and every work he touched became a major success.
It was no longer a matter of whether to believe him or not. It was practically religion.
Still, depending on that too much would only become a bad habit.
At least, that was how Hong Hyeyeon saw it.
'I'll just use it as reference. Even if he says it's awful, if I decide I want to do it, then I'll do it anyway.'
Just then, Woojin's somewhat cool voice broke the silence.
"Thank you."
Hyeyeon blinked and looked at him, confused.
"Ah, really? Is it interesting…? Wait. Thank you? For what?"
When she asked again with a puzzled expression, Woojin answered as calmly as ever.
"I mean."
"What?"
"This script isn't bad."
"You jumped from 'thank you' to 'it isn't bad'?"
"Then should I switch the order?"
"What difference would that make?"
"You'll understand if you hear it."
Really, this man.
Every time she spoke with Kang Woojin, Hong Hyeyeon ended up feeling like she was being pulled around without realizing it. She lightly bit her lower lip, took the script back from his hand, and gave a small cough.
"Ahem. Anyway, thank you for looking at it."
Remembering the French he had just learned, Woojin murmured sincerely,
"This much is nothing."
──────────
The next day, Monday the 7th.
The chaotic weekend had passed, and the workweek had begun again. It was around seven in the morning, and although it was still early, Kang Woojin had already come out of the salon.
His hair was neatly swept back, and his makeup was already done. The reason was simple.
'Today's schedule is packed too.'
From early in the morning, he had to move through one nonstop schedule after another. He had spent nearly the entire day on Sunday filming Leech, but today he would only be able to join that set sometime after noon.
In other words, everything from morning until lunchtime was already full.
"Woojin!"
Choi Sunggeon waved from the large van parked outside the salon. He had been away for a few days taking care of company matters and hadn't been around that morning either, but now he was back.
"Haha, didn't you miss me? I got kind of lonely not seeing that stiff face of yours for a few days."
He patted Woojin on the shoulder a couple of times and gestured for him to get in. Soon, the van carrying Kang Woojin and several staff members pulled away from the salon.
Once the van was out on the road, Choi Sunggeon stretched and turned to him.
"First, we're heading to Harmony Film Company."
Harmony Film Company, the studio behind Island of the Missing, the film that had shaken the Korean film industry.
The reason Woojin was heading to Harmony Film's office in Sangam-dong that morning was simple.
"The audience is going to be completely shocked."
Starting that day, Kang Woojin was officially returning to support the follow-up activities for the film Island of the Missing. For that reason, all of the cast members, including Woojin, were set to gather at Harmony Film.
After going on with the explanation for a while, Choi Sunggeon pulled out his phone and changed the subject.
"Even with you not there, the Japanese side is making an even bigger fuss."
He was talking about what had been happening in Japan during Woojin's absence.
"Even taking into account the fact that we've been spreading things on purpose, and that the production company and distributor for The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice have started doing the same, the ripple effect is much bigger than we expected."
And that was true.
Japanese media had gone so far as to report the box office performance of the Korean film Island of the Missing in Japan in real time, almost as if they were eagerly waiting for Kang Woojin to return. On top of that, news about The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, which was currently in editing, and Boy Friend: Remake spread in an instant as well.
There was more.
One of the lead actors from The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, Uramatsu Mifuyu, had even said she was delighted to visit Korea and appear as a guest on Kang Woojin's Alter Ego channel.
Interviews and variety show appearances by Japanese actors who had worked with Kang Woojin created considerable waves. At the center of all of it, as always, was Kang Woojin.
The more he expanded his field of activity, the greater his influence on the Japanese entertainment industry grew.
It was only natural that his name kept coming up.
All across the Japanese entertainment world, countless people—actors, voice actors, directors, PDs, staff—had recently been experiencing a chaotic mix of emotions.
Resentment, jealousy, anticipation, envy, admiration, contempt.
Proof of that was easy enough to find.
Take Kosaku Mana, for example, who had been resting after filming The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice. He was the Japanese actor who had played Detective Mochio Yoshizawa and had exchanged the most lines with Woojin during filming.
He was currently attending a private gathering. Although he had first become famous as a member of a well-known Japanese band, the people gathered there were all top actors in Japan.
There were around ten of them.
And among them, Kosaku Mana was saying this—
"If you ever act with Kang Woojin, you'll understand. Even though he's a foreign actor, there's really a lot to learn from him. It's almost a shame he's Korean."
He was praising Kang Woojin without reservation.
It wasn't unfamiliar behavior. During the filming of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, he had been struck by Woojin again and again, but it had always been difficult to put what he felt into words.
So now he was sharing that experience, and that praise, with genuine fervor.
"Japanese actors need to change now. Once the film is released, a lot of actors are going to come to their senses."
But most of the top Japanese actors gathered in that private meeting did not agree with Kosaku. If anything, more than half of them had already been looking at him for some time with open displeasure.
Their expressions seemed to say the same thing.
Why does he keep bringing that guy up? It's irritating.
Finally—
"Hey, Kosaku."
One Japanese actor, casually sipping whiskey, spoke in an openly annoyed tone.
"Aren't you praising Kang Woojin a little too much? I'm getting sick of it."
Several of the other actors, men and women alike, nodded in agreement.
"Exactly. There's already far too much media coverage and public noise about Kang Woojin lately. It's uncomfortable enough as it is."
"Knock it off, Kosaku. What is there for us to learn from that actor?"
"Even if there is something to learn, shouldn't it be from veteran actors, not some Korean rookie? You know what I mean, right?"
In the end, the reactions from the others were all more or less the same. The actor who had first shown his irritation frowned and asked Kosaku Mana again,
"Kosaku. You're one of Japan's top actors. I don't know what exactly you see in Kang Woojin, but you look pathetic. Have you even lost your pride?"
Pride?
Kosaku Mana, who had been reaching for a slice of watermelon from the fruit platter, nearly laughed out loud. No, in truth, a faint chuckle had already escaped him.
"Heh, pride? Pride, huh…?"
He slowly looked around at the Japanese actors watching him. Their faces were full of discomfort.
Ah.
So that was it.
Kosaku understood instinctively.
"Change takes a long time."
For the acting scene in Japan to change—for stagnant water to finally clear—it would take an absurdly long time. And all that time, he himself had been swimming in that same water.
It was only after seeing Woojin that he had finally woken up.
"Why was I even here? I couldn't see anything either. Only now do I understand what Director Kyotaro Tanoguchi meant."
At his muttering, the surrounding actors frowned even more deeply.
"What? Is Kosaku talking to himself now?"
"Stop ruining the mood and just drink."
But without replying, Kosaku Mana rose from the sofa. Then he quietly addressed the Japanese actors holding their glasses.
"All of you are trapped in this narrow pond, stagnant inside it. You think this is all there is. But if you don't try to climb higher and look beyond it, you'll rot and start to stink."
"W-What did you just say?! Hey!!"
Kosaku met the eyes of the actor who had first shown irritation and smiled, recalling the final scene of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, the one that had sent chills through his entire body because of Kang Woojin's acting.
"Kenjiro, you may never get the chance to act alongside Kang Woojin. But I'll tell you one thing."
"…What is it?"
"At first, I wasn't comfortable with Kang Woojin either. I even wanted to break that smug nose of his."
"And?"
"It was a meaningless impulse."
Kosaku's smile deepened. There was a great deal contained inside that smile.
"Something like pride is nothing but trash in front of Kang Woojin."
After that, Kosaku left the room where the private gathering was being held. As he slowly walked down the hallway, he muttered to himself,
"Looking at the mindset actors have now, when The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice is finally released… it should be quite a sight."
──────────
Meanwhile, in Korea, things were moving at Harmony Film Company in Sangam-dong.
The van carrying Kang Woojin came to a stop in the film company's parking lot. Woojin got out immediately.
Today, he was dressed simply in a thin white shirt and jeans. The stylist and the rest of the team remained in the van, while only Woojin and Choi Sunggeon headed toward the elevator.
They arrived on the third floor.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Choi Sunggeon headed to the right down the hallway. For some reason, however, Kang Woojin moved to the left.
In a low voice, he said to Sunggeon,
"I need to use the restroom."
Retieing his hair, Choi Sunggeon nodded and gave a thumbs-up.
"All right. I'll get things set up."
"Yes, sir."
With that short reply, Woojin calmly continued walking.
His face remained stiff the entire time. There wasn't the slightest change in his expression. He opened the glass door to the restroom and checked inside.
There was no one there.
Phew.
Woojin slightly parted his lips and let the corners of his mouth lift for a moment. But what came out of his mouth this time was not Korean.
"Bonjour. Je suis Kang Woojin, acteur coréen."
It was French—the French he had already mastered perfectly.
No matter how many times he used it, it still felt astonishing. The words came out so fluently it was as if he had spoken them his entire life. If his face had been covered, no one would have doubted that he was someone who had lived in France.
'The pronunciation really is unique.'
Unlike English or Japanese, French had a strange kind of pleasure to it. Because of that, after taking care of his business and washing his hands, Woojin casually let a few more lines of French slip from his lips.
"Je me demande ce qu'il y aura pour déjeuner. J'espère qu'il y aura de la viande."
He wondered what lunch would be that day. Hopefully meat.
The food truck at the Leech set was known for being excellent, and since he would be heading there in a few hours and eating lunch the moment he arrived, he found himself sincerely hoping there would be meat.
The French came out effortlessly.
Woojin smiled faintly and shook the water from his hands.
Right then—
The glass restroom door opened.
Sensing someone's arrival, Woojin instantly switched back into character and turned around. Standing there was an absurdly handsome man.
No—more accurately, it was top star Ryu Jungmin, dressed in a green knit short-sleeved shirt. He had come to the film company for the same reason as Woojin.
The unusual thing was how wide his eyes had become.
"Mr. Woojin."
Ryu Jungmin approached the calm-faced Woojin and spoke.
"…I happened to hear a bit of it from outside. Was that French? Don't tell me you can speak French too."
Even in that unexpected situation, Kang Woojin, expressionless as ever, reacted calmly and produced a plausible excuse.
"No. I was just practicing basic greetings."
"Greetings?"
At that instant, a film festival flashed through Woojin's mind like lightning.
It was the very same festival he had thought of in the Void Space, right before the French lesson.
"Yes. Because of Cannes."
That was right. Cannes.
It was a perfectly natural answer. Saying he had been practicing a simple greeting for Cannes fit well enough. There was no particular reason to hide the fact that he could speak French, but there was also no reason to reveal it right now.
It would only create needless hassle.
Ryu Jungmin, however, only looked more bewildered and blinked.
"Cannes? The Cannes Film Festival is still months away, and even if you don't prepare a greeting in French, there'll be interpreters there. Besides, unless you're receiving an award and going up on stage, there won't be many chances to speak anyway."
What he said was true. Cannes, the greatest of the world's three major film festivals, was attended by a vast number of famous filmmakers from Hollywood and many other countries.
But only a very small number of people ever stood on that stage.
Kang Woojin answered in his usual calm, indirect tone.
"I know. I just wanted to try it once in advance."
"..."
What was interesting was that, after staring at Kang Woojin strangely for a moment, Ryu Jungmin suddenly burst into laughter.
"Ah, so it wasn't just a simple greeting."
He laughed again.
"You were preparing an acceptance speech, weren't you? There's no way you wouldn't win something."
And just like that, a misunderstanding about his French was born.