It sounded as though Miley Cara was whispering something into his ear, but Kang Woojin could not properly hear anything right now. A global superstar was hooked around his arm, yet he could not even feel that either.
All he could see was the grand, overwhelming spectacle spread out before him.
'...This is absolutely insane.'
It was right there in front of him, plain as day, and yet for Woojin, it was a sight he had never witnessed before.
It was vast in a way words could not contain. Along both sides of the wide, endless red carpet stood thousands of reporters from all over the world, lined up like decorations in formal black tuxedos. Because they were all dressed in black, they looked like swarming ants. It felt as though he had stepped into an anthill.
His eyes stung.
'Ugh.'
There were hundreds of reporters nearby, and nearly five thousand in total, all holding cameras and firing flashes without pause. For a moment, Kang Woojin felt as though his vision had turned white.
His ears hurt too.
"%(%)#%(#)!!"
"$()*%(%(#(#!!!"
"**(#(%%)%*#(#%!!!"
The reporters' voices, or rather their screams, poured straight into his ears and left him disoriented. It was not only the reporters. There were tens of thousands of spectators surrounding the red carpet and the press line as well, and their roaring cheers were all mixed together. If he stayed there much longer, it felt like his ears might start bleeding.
His mouth was dry.
He tried to swallow discreetly, but his throat felt rough, as though all the moisture had been sucked out of it. Woojin also realized that his whole body had gone stiff.
'Damn it, my legs won't move.'
The sheer scale of it, the atmosphere, the fever pitch of the entire red carpet felt so overwhelmingly real that it seemed to be flowing through his veins. His mind began to blur. He felt dizzy. If he let his focus slip even a little, it seemed like his legs might give out beneath him.
But still.
"..."
Even in such a bizarre situation, Kang Woojin's face remained expressionless from beginning to end. Part of it was because his mind had gone blank for a moment, but another reason was that the acting style he had refined over such a long time had naturally settled into his face. Repetition became muscle memory. What once required effort began to show itself on its own. By now, Woojin's expression was practically a second nature.
Look at that face.
"Hmm, I suppose I can understand acting indifferent on the Cannes red carpet."
Wearing a black dress that exposed her back and chest, Miley Cara had his arm linked with hers, and that had led her to a misunderstanding.
"Still, I have to admit, it's a little disappointing that you don't even blink when I'm walking arm in arm with you."
Right then, Kang Woojin gathered his thoughts.
'Ah.'
The haze in his head slowly began to clear. His muffled hearing returned to normal as well.
'Right. I'm at Cannes.'
Little by little, his senses came back to him. The first thing he noticed was Miley Cara's touch wrapped around his arm, followed by the faint scent brushing past his nose. Woojin slowly turned his head. The blonde Miley Cara was smiling at him softly.
"I'm joking, so don't take it too seriously."
"..."
Joking? About what? He had only glanced at her, yet she was the one talking to herself. On top of that, he was standing on the red carpet with her linked to his arm.
What in the world is going on here?
At the same time, Kang Woojin desperately tried to steady himself.
It was a moment that demanded intense mental focus.
Woojin forced himself back into calmness, gave Cara a detached glance, and spoke in a low voice.
"Let's go."
Cara tightened her hold on his arm just a little and nodded.
"Yes. All right."
At that moment—
-screech.
Another black limousine pulled up behind Kang Woojin and Miley Cara. The first one to step out was Director Ahn Gabok. His short white hair and deeply lined face showed his age, but his tuxedo was neat and immaculate. After him came top actor Shim Hanho, with his signature gray hair and tiger-like presence. Then Oh Heeryeong, Jin Jaejoon, and Han Sojin got out one after another.
In other words, it was the Leech team.
Dressed in tuxedos and gowns, the Leech team immediately gathered behind Kang Woojin as soon as they stepped out, as though it had all been planned in advance. And just like that, the procession began, with Kang Woojin and Miley Cara at the front.
-pabababababak!
-pababababababak!
The Leech team walked forward waving or smiling in rhythm with the endless barrage of camera shutters. Since they were the only Korean team to make it into the main Competition lineup, it was only natural. The reporters snapped away frantically, but most of them were wearing confused expressions and tilting their heads.
"But who is that man walking with Miley Cara?"
There were not many people who knew Kang Woojin's real identity. To countless foreign reporters, Kang Woojin was clearly an unfamiliar face. And yet he had suddenly appeared arm in arm with Miley Cara. On top of that, the two looked strikingly close, which pushed the reporters' curiosity to the extreme.
"He looks like an actor, but why is Miley mixed in with that team?"
"Are they close friends?"
"But wasn't Miley invited as a celebrity guest, not for a film project?"
"Could they be involved somehow?!"
"Whatever, just take the pictures first! Take the pictures now and think later!"
Amid the confusion, there were also Korean reporters mixed in, shouting loudly for Kang Woojin.
"Woojin! We came from Korea! Woojin!"
"Kang Woojin! Over here! Just wave once!"
"Miley Cara is going in with you. Did the two of you plan this, Woojin?!"
"Please wave to your Korean fans!"
As the atmosphere grew even hotter, Han Sojin, who had been quietly watching Kang Woojin and Cara from behind in a beige dress, muttered under her breath. Even her face showed how hard she was trying to suppress the tension boiling inside her.
"...Why is Miley Cara standing right in front of me? And on top of that, she's walking arm in arm with Woojin."
Jin Jaejoon let out a small laugh. This was his second time attending Cannes.
"How would I know? To be honest, this is my first time seeing Miley Cara in person too."
"Same here."
"Suddenly, Woojin feels very far away."
Top star Jin Jaejoon was only three or four steps behind Kang Woojin, but in that moment, Woojin felt far more distant than that. He was not talking about physical distance. He meant the psychological gap. To Jin Jaejoon, who had worked closely with Kang Woojin on Drug Dealer and Leech and had come to know him well—
'Woojin... at this point, he's definitely a top-tier actor. Maybe even something beyond that.'
In any case, because the Leech team had people with Cannes experience, they moved across the red carpet relatively smoothly. Of course, Kang Woojin and Miley Cara, who had entered ahead of the Korean team, looked far more at ease than the rest of them.
But in truth, Kang Woojin was fighting a fierce battle inside himself in that very moment.
Only on the inside, of course.
'Focus on the concept. Only the concept. Don't think about anything else!'
Photographs of Kang Woojin and Miley Cara were destined to spread across the entire world.
After that.
Time flew by in an instant. Kang Woojin simply let himself be carried along by the chaotic current. Too many things happened, and they passed so quickly that it was hard to keep them straight in his memory. The red carpet event ended, then came the photo calls, and then the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival in the grand hall of the Palais des Festivals, where famous filmmakers from around the world gathered in one place.
Countless cameras filled the space.
The magnificent stage bore the iconic palm-leaf emblem of Cannes, and the festival president delivered the opening speech. For reference, the closing ceremony and awards ceremony would also be held in that same enormous hall. After that, Kang Woojin spent most of his time doing interviews and photo shoots.
That was because not only Korean reporters, but foreign reporters as well, had crowded around the Leech team.
There was more than enough reason for him to attract so much attention.
Not only was Leech the only Korean film in Competition, but the fact that he had appeared on the Cannes red carpet alongside Miley Cara had also played a major role.
'Ah, this is driving me insane. It's so chaotic.'
Kang Woojin realized that maintaining his concept was harder now than it had ever been. A foreign country, an unfamiliar environment, strangers everywhere. Of course, after the opening ceremony, he ended up meeting a few familiar faces.
"Hahaha, Woojin. In that tuxedo, I almost didn't recognize you!"
"Thank you."
"You look very different from when we saw you in Bangkok."
Joseph, Megan, several members of the stunt team, and a few executives from Universal Movies were all together. He had seen them before in Bangkok, but meeting them again in Cannes made Woojin feel strange in a different way. It was hard to describe. Somehow, it suddenly hit him that these people were actual Hollywood heavyweights.
In any case, Kang Woojin exchanged greetings one after another with famous directors and major industry figures, regardless of nationality.
He did not recognize any of their faces, of course.
'Honestly, they just look like ordinary foreign uncles to me. Whatever. It doesn't matter.'
He also briefly greeted some of Hollywood's top actors and performers from other countries. Miley Cara stayed beside him through all of it.
And so—
"Ugh..."
By the time Kang Woojin returned to his hotel room, it was nearly midnight.
The next day.
Morning broke on the first official day of the Cannes Film Festival that had opened its doors to the world. The sky over Cannes was clear on the morning of October 1. It was around 8:30 a.m. Cannes was once again crowded with tourists, and inside the Palais des Festivals, the Lumière Theater, where screenings had begun, was bursting with energy. All three thousand seats were filled.
The reason was simple.
The first of the twenty films selected for the Cannes Competition was about to be screened. Which meant that the three thousand people filling that enormous theater came from all walks of life. Top Hollywood actors, directors, celebrities from various fields, journalists, and of course the ten official jurors were all present. Among those seated near the front were the following people.
'Wow, that screen is huge.'
Kang Woojin was there too, as expressionless as ever. Unlike the tuxedo from the day before, today he was dressed in a more casual suit. He quietly took in the vast theater around him. Everything about Cannes seemed to fascinate him. Beside him stood the hulking Joseph and Megan.
Neither Choi Sunggeon nor anyone else from Woojin's team was anywhere nearby.
In any case, if you did not know English or French, watching films at Cannes could be rather inconvenient. The subtitles came only in those two languages. Of course, that posed no problem at all for Kang Woojin, who had already mastered both. Anyway, the first film screening in Competition that day was Japanese. Woojin could hear the low murmur of the reporters seated around him.
"That's Director Hamaguchi's film, right? I'm really looking forward to it."
"That's right. Didn't he win Best Screenplay at Cannes two years ago?"
"I read an interview where he said he was aiming for the Palme d'Or this year."
"He's a brilliant director, so I'd say he has a real chance."
"If Cannes selected his film as the opener, that means it must be excellent."
Soon, the lights in the Lumière Theater dimmed.
The screening began.
The first Competition title, a Japanese film, ran for a little under two hours. Kang Woojin completely immersed himself in it along with the other three thousand audience members. It was the story of a man who discovers the diary of his dead wife, then seeks out the people and places mentioned in it, ultimately uncovering the hidden truth of her past. It began quietly, but little by little built tension until it turned into a thriller.
After the film ended—
clap clap clap clap clap!
clap clap clap clap clap clap!
The huge theater filled with applause. Some of it might have been out of courtesy, but the three thousand viewers were praising it so enthusiastically because the film itself had genuinely impressed them.
"As expected from Director Hamaguchi! That final twist almost made me laugh out loud."
"The story was amazing! And the acting was incredible too!"
"Didn't the aftertaste of the ending feel especially strong? It was so compelling."
"Director Hamaguchi looks like a strong contender for an award again this year."
The lively atmosphere in the theater was something Kang Woojin simply could not understand. He clapped along with a detached expression, but inwardly he was baffled.
'Seriously?? Was I the only one bored? I almost nodded off in the middle.'
That was his honest opinion as a pure audience member. But what did it matter? Before leaving the theater with Joseph and Megan, Woojin lingered for a moment, thinking. The three of them were on their way to have breakfast together.
And then—
"Hm?"
The tall Joseph Felton suddenly stopped near the entrance to the theater after spotting someone. Megan, brushing back her brown hair, stopped as well. The two of them approached a group of foreigners. Joseph spoke to a man with thinning hair and round glasses.
He looked to be around his sixties.
"Director Danny Landis, it's been a while."
The man being addressed as director turned his head. Kang Woojin could see the rough beard on his face as the man casually greeted Joseph and Megan.
"Ah, Joseph and Megan. Long time no see."
"Yes, Director. Have you been well?"
"Ah, as always."
Director Danny Landis's gaze shifted to Kang Woojin standing behind Joseph. Megan introduced the two of them first. Woojin and Director Danny Landis exchanged a brief handshake. There was not much conversation, only formal greetings, but Woojin felt as though there was something strangely familiar about him.
'Hm, a director? Have I seen him somewhere before?'
Soon Joseph smiled and spoke to Danny.
"Director, I've reached out several times and sent over a few proposals, but I never got any reply."
"Hm? Ah, did you? I must have missed them."
Danny pretended not to know, and Joseph inwardly sneered, though he kept smiling.
'You're pretending not to know?'
Still, he stayed polite on the surface.
"Yes. I'd appreciate it if you could check."
"All right. I'll get back to you later."
Once the conversation ended, Director Danny Landis left. While that was happening, Kang Woojin secretly searched the director on his phone. The moment he saw the results, he gasped inwardly.
'My god!!! Danny Landis? He's a Hollywood legend!!!'
And it was true. Danny Landis was one of the most famous directors in Hollywood. He had made countless blockbusters and boasted over thirty years of career history. There were endless articles and materials about him. Some of the films Woojin enjoyed had been his work too.
'Whoa, he directed that movie too?!'
While Woojin was panicking inside, Danny Landis, already surrounded by reporters befitting his status, was speaking with several journalists further away. Other famous figures had begun to gather around him as well. Watching the scene closely, Joseph turned to Woojin and spoke.
"You know who Director Danny Landis is, right?"
Woojin immediately returned to his usual self and lowered his voice. He had literally just learned who the man was, but he acted as though he had known all along. It was shameless confidence at its finest.
"Of course."
"Hm... He's such an influential figure that he was our top priority, but it looks like that won't work out. We sent him multiple proposals and got no answer at all."
Megan cut in.
"Well, we always start by sending proposals to people like Director Danny Landis anyway, don't we? It's not as though sending one costs anything. Besides, he's one of the few directors in Hollywood who writes and produces his own work. We knew from the start that bringing him in wouldn't be easy."
"That's true, but meeting him in person still makes it disappointing."
"By the way, I've heard Director Danny can be a bit eccentric. Is that true? I've never worked with him myself. Joseph, have you?"
"He's an odd one, yes. Well, it's true he isn't exactly ordinary."
Joseph grinned and met Kang Woojin's eyes before continuing.
"But that isn't such a strange thing. Eccentricity is a common trait among geniuses."
The next day, October 2, in Cannes, France.
It was around eleven in the morning. The Lumière Theater inside the Palais des Festivals was filled to its full capacity of about three thousand seats.
-♬♪
The ending credits rolled over the film's music. It was the second day of the Cannes Film Festival. Two Competition films had screened the day before, and now the first showing of the third film had just ended. Another screening was scheduled for that afternoon as well.
The interesting thing was this.
"..."
"..."
"..."
As the ending credits rolled across the giant screen, an odd silence hung over the theater packed with viewers. Usually, once a film ended, the room buzzed with applause, conversation, and movement. That had happened the day before too. But now, all three thousand audience members, including famous figures, sat frozen through the entire five-minute credit sequence.
In fact, shock was written across every face in the room.
Among them was the Hollywood titan Kang Woojin had briefly met the day before. Director Danny Landis, with his thinning hair and round glasses perched on his nose, was one of those stunned silent.
"What—"
He too stared blankly at the giant screen where the film had just ended. In his hand, he still held the film's poster.
The title on the screen was—
Leech.
Soon, he remembered something he had overheard among reporters before the screening, and realized he could not agree with it at all.
"How can anyone say this film is just here to boost numbers?"
The Hollywood figures who had come with Danny Landis turned their heads toward him. All of them looked fairly advanced in age.
"What did you just say?"
"I'm talking about Leech."
Danny Landis murmured so quietly it was almost as though he were speaking to himself.
"This isn't a film filling out a lineup. This is the sort of work Cannes should be grateful to have. And..."
Danny Landis slowly lowered his gaze to the poster on his lap and pointed at it with his index finger. More precisely, he was pointing at Kang Woojin printed on the poster.
"Did they actually cast someone with Ripley syndrome for this role?"