小火星

“Self-taught… really?? You, you’re kidding, right?”

The woman from the making team clung to hope. It must be a joke to lighten the heavy atmosphere of the reading hall. However, Kang Woojin’s answer was low and filled with certainty.

“Yes, self-taught.”

“Really? Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.”

For a moment, the woman from the making team covered her mouth with one hand. It was because she was surprised. She didn’t expect the word ‘self-taught’ to come up. The same was true for the dozens of people remaining in the hall.

The entertainment-related staff, the production crew, and the reporters all started murmuring audibly.

“What did he just say?”

“Self-taught? He learned acting by self-studying?”

“Is that even possible? He must be joking. We’ve seen his acting, right? That’s not the quality you’d get from self-study.”

“But, his expression is so serious, doesn’t it?”

Of course, the situation was similar for the actors, including Ryu Jung-min.

Among them.

‘Self-taught? No, self-taught???’

Ryu Jung-min, the male lead of ‘Profiler Hanryang,’ looked utterly shocked. It was even more so after seeing Kang Woojin’s insane acting. The veteran actors sitting around him also looked stiff. Naturally, all the actors found it hard to believe.

Except for one person.

-Swoosh.

It was Hong Hye-yeon who just took out her cell phone. Among dozens of actors, she was the only one who reacted nonchalantly. Because she already knew.

‘Everyone must be shocked. Well, I understand. Even I, who already knew, find it hard to accept.’

In addition, two people. PD Song Man-woo and writer Park Eun-mi, who were sitting side by side at a ㅁ-shaped desk. The two heavyweights were simply observing the situation without intervening.

The atmosphere in the large hall had reached a critical point.

The word ‘self-taught’ that Kang Woojin had uttered was only one word, but at this moment, a tremendous amount of misunderstandings and misconceptions were rampant. Explaining one by one was impossible.

Now the protagonist Kang Woojin, who ignited all this, thought:

‘Stay calm, Kang Woojin.’

He did his best to maintain a poker face. He had to create an atmosphere fitting the word ‘self-taught,’ used for the purpose of appearing cool.

‘Control your expression, control your expression.’

Even if it initially started as a smokescreen or a diversion to hide his embarrassment, now ‘self-taught’ had become a trademark for Woojin, who had adopted this dreadful persona. PD Song Man-woo and writer Park Eun-mi already knew about it.

‘It might look a bit arrogant, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve already said it.’

Consistency was necessary in keeping up the persona. At least Kang Woojin thought so. Going back and forth would only make him look foolish. He may have buttoned it wrong from the start, but what can he do now that he’s come this far?

Moreover.

‘It’s not even a lie, is it? Although there was a cheat key, I did self-study. Yeah, so it’s safe.’

In a way, there was no lie in Kang Woojin’s words. The period was extremely short, but it was correct that he had done it on his own. Kang Woojin continuously consoled himself with this thought. The hall was filled with top actors. It’s better to be hit with a counterattack quickly.

However.

‘Ugh, I’m nervous. I should probably run away now.’

The gaze of the veteran actors and other older actors were too sharp. It was a great burden for Kang Woojin, who was a commoner at heart. He was already tense all over, and it was problematic to continue with this persona in front of them. He was already worn out from maintaining it for more than half a day. Therefore, Woojin chose to run. In other words, to flee.

-Drag.

Woojin, with a poker face, slowly got up from his seat and bowed slightly to the making team in front of him.

“I’m sorry, I’m not good with words.”

Then the making team awkwardly responded and made way for him. At this point, Woojin’s mind was filled only with the thought of going straight ahead. The people left in the hall simply watched him leave.

At that moment.

“Hey, Hong Hye-yeon.”

Ryu Jung-min, with seriousness on his face, stood up from his seat, approached Hong Hye-yeon, and spoke.

“You knew, right? Kang Woojin came with you.”

Hong Hye-yeon, who was preparing to leave, brushed her long hair back and answered.

“Yeah. Sorry. The PD asked me to bring him.”

“Who is Kang Woojin? Is he from your agency?”

“No.”

“Do you know what he used to do? Self-study doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know either, it feels like he suddenly popped up to me too. Ask the PD during the dinner party or something.”

Having finished answering appropriately, Hong Hye-yeon picked up her script and joined the nearby CEO Choi Sung-gun. When she was at a decent distance from Ryu Jung-min, Choi Sung-gun whispered to Hong Hye-yeon. His voice tone was filled with excitement.

“Hey, Hong Hye-yeon. Was what that guy said earlier true? The self-study thing.”

“That’s right. Even if you use your connections to look into the theater world, you won’t find anything. Acting is just his hobby. He even appeared on ‘Super Actor’ for fun.”

“What… is this even possible? Acting is not a memorization subject. What about the overseas part?”

“I told you, his past is unclear, right? Who knows what the situation is… Anyway, let’s talk about it in my room.”

At this moment, everyone left in the hall was busily talking about Kang Woojin.

Meanwhile.

Kang Woojin, who had left the large hall a few minutes ago, was walking down the hallway with a consistent expressionless face. There were quite a few staff members passing by, and he couldn’t let his guard down in this battlefield. However, the accumulated tension made every step heavy.

‘Ah- I’m tired. I want to go to my room and lie down quickly.’

Kang Woojin, who had maintained his persona from morning till now, was very tired. His body felt heavy as a ton. Although he wanted to eat meat, he felt like he had to sleep for an hour in his room.

As he was crossing the first-floor lobby,

“Mr. Woojin.”

Someone called Kang Woojin from behind. It was a man’s voice. Turning around, a slightly chubby man came up with a gloomy smile.

“Hello, I was impressed by your acting of Park Dae-ri. You completely dominated this script reading.”

“Thank you.”

Who is this? Kang Woojin responded indifferently while racking his brain. There were so many people that he could not identify who this man was. Fortunately, the chubby man handed Woojin his business card.

“I’m Kim Nam-gu, manager at BHM Entertainment.”

Oh, a person from the entertainment side. Today, more than twice as many entertainment officials as actors attended the script reading. Anyway, Manager Kim Nam-gu continued speaking with a smile.

“I have a great interest in you, Woojin. Do you have an agency?”

“No, not yet.”

“Oh! Really?!”

Woojin nodded cynically, but he was slightly excited inside.

‘Wow- is this the famous contact or scouting? Awesome.’

Kim Nam-gu, who had no way of knowing this, clung to Kang Woojin.

“Please! Absolutely! Contact us. I would like to have a long talk at our company after this reading is over. Woojin, you are really, really intriguing. Both this unique atmosphere and your crazy acting ability earlier.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Ha ha, as you know, our BHM Entertainment is…”

The chubby manager continued to brag about his company. It seemed to be a large entertainment company. Of course, it was a boring story for Woojin who didn’t know the market well, and fortunately, the manager who read Woojin’s expression quickly finished the explanation.

“Let’s talk more at the company. Be sure to contact us. With you, Woojin, we can offer exceptional terms.”

He didn’t know what ‘exceptional’ meant, but Kang Woojin nodded as he put the business card in his pocket.

“Yes, I’ll think about it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Kang Woojin started moving again. He wanted to get to his room quickly. But when Woojin arrived in front of the elevator.

“Mr. Kang Woojin!”

He was stopped by someone again. This time it was a woman’s voice.

“Do you have an agency?!”

Several dozen minutes later.

Normally it would have taken only 5 minutes to arrive, but it was after 30 minutes had passed that Kang Woojin reached his room. Whatever the case, as soon as he closed the door to the room,

-Thud.

Kang Woojin, leaning against the door, collapsed. His legs gave out and he slumped onto the floor.

“Ha- I’m going to die.”

Unfamiliar place, unfamiliar top actors, over a hundred strangers he saw for the first time, etc. And acting. From morning till past noon, the tension was at its maximum, and he had maintained his composure for a similar amount of time, so it was tiring.

Then Kang Woojin blankly leaned his head against the door.

“······What did I do today?”

He felt like he had experienced a war, but he couldn’t remember when he looked back. Then, Woojin took something out of the pocket of his flight jacket.

-Whisk.

There were several overlapped business cards. Kang Woojin casually placed those business cards in front of him. There seemed to be about 8 cards. He didn’t even look at them properly. Everyone had handed over their cards and explained something, but he could barely remember.

“Were they all from entertainment companies? Ah- I think there was one from the production place too.”

He didn’t know. All Woojin wanted right now was to lie down on the bed. He had to wash up, but his brain strongly wanted rest. So, Woojin,

-Thunk!

Threw his body on the bed. Sleep came quickly. Oops, that won’t do. As he was about to close his eyes, Woojin set the alarm on his phone for an hour later.

Soon.

“Ah- I’m so tired…”

Kang Woojin fell into a deep sleep.

About two hours later, around 7 pm.

In the rear outdoor parking lot of Condo 1, a lively barbecue party was in full swing on a fairly large open space. Of course, it was the ‘Profiler Hanryang’ team. Temporary tables and chairs were set up on artificial grass, along with equipment for grilling beef and pork belly, etc.

Approximately 50% of the total number of people attended.

Including PD Song Man-woo, almost all of the production staff joined. However, writer Park Eun-mi was nowhere to be seen. Quite a few entertainment-related personnel had gathered. Some of the actors had left the condo due to schedules or chose to rest. Veteran actors only showed their faces at first, and then stayed mostly in their rooms.

So about 50 people remained.

The problem was that Kang Woojin, who had been craving beef, was nowhere to be seen. The reason was simple.

Right now, Kang Woojin was completely knocked out, unaware of the world.

Meanwhile, Ryu Jung-min, sitting at a table with eight other actors, was deep in thought. His mind had been filled with thoughts of Kang Woojin.

“Kang Woojin, a type of actor I’ve never seen before. Even though I saw him in person, I can’t gauge him, And what’s this about self-study?”

Ryu Jung-min was among the top tier even among the top actors. He had seen thousands of actors until now. However, it was difficult to judge the actor Kang Woojin. He was an oddity. His inscrutable expressions and actions, his seemingly vacant yet steadfast gaze, high self-esteem aura, and inexplicable acting ability were something else.

There was only one certainty here.

‘Yeah, the self-study must be just words. The quality of ‘Park Dae-ri’ can never be achieved by self-study.”

The character ‘Park Dae-ri’ was one of the best performances in Ryu Jung-min’s acting career.

At that moment.

“But it’s a bit strange.”

A female actor sitting at Ryu Jung-min’s table grumbled a bit.

“I mean, doesn’t Kang Woojin have to attend the dinner party? He just made a mess of the script reading, and he’s a newcomer, after all.”

She seemed unhappy.

“Isn’t he becoming arrogant just because he can act a little? I find those types of people uncomfortable. His expression seems almost indifferent, and it seems like his personality is not that great.”

Soon, the actors sitting at the table seemed to agree somewhat. Surprisingly, it was Ryu Jung-min who responded.

“Well, his acting seemed more monstrous rather than just good in my eyes. And from the beginning, the PD said that attendance at the dinner party is optional. It’s not the ’90s anymore. It’s okay to skip if it’s too hard.”

“But, still!”

“Moreover.”

Ryu Jung-min, brushing his long hair aside, continued calmly.

“Didn’t you see ‘Park Dae-ri’ earlier? After drawing out such deep emotions, those feelings won’t clear up in just a few hours. From Woojin’s perspective, wouldn’t attending the dinner be a burden?”

“Um…”

“Although our roles build up emotions as the story progresses, sociopath Park Dae-ri is already a completed character. He has to show that from the beginning of Part 1. The intensity is different.”

By this point, one or two of the actors began to understand.

“I mean, Woojin did draw out such deep emotions in no time, right?”

“Yeah, he must have been doing a lot of mind control a few hours before the reading.”

“It was stunning enough to drop our jaws, but he himself must have had a massive emotional collision.”

Ryu Jung-min took the baton again.

“He recovered his emotions incredibly fast after the act, but appearances can be deceiving, and inside, it must be muddy. In that state, it’s only hard to talk with others.”

“I have experienced that too. When emotions become intense, I unintentionally get irritated with the people around me.”

“Kang Woojin did look a bit on edge. Always emotionless. He needs to control his emotions well.”

“I thought it was a bit dangerous. Isn’t it? Woojin’s acting was truly Method acting, maybe even more.”

“The role itself is sensitive, portraying a sociopath. Even if he distinguishes well between reality and the drama world, it would be challenging.”

As expected, the opinions of the acting professionals flowed smoothly. Ryu Jung-min landed the final blow here.

“You might not know, but he’s probably suffering a lot by himself now, trying to recover emotionally.”

They were wrong. The actual subject of this conversation was.

“We all have that experience, don’t we? It’s hard to recover emotions.”

He was sleeping without a care.

The next morning, in Kang Woojin’s room.

Kang Woojin, still in yesterday’s outfit, was seen asleep. His phone beside his head began to ring at that moment.

-♬♪

Awakened by the loud ringing, Kang Woojin abruptly opened his eyes. Wiping his drool as he woke up.

“Huh! Did I fall asleep? What time is it?”

As he muttered to himself, he picked up his phone. It was a call. The caller was top actress Hong Hye-yeon. He also checked the time.

“7 o’clock?? Wow, did I sleep for 2 hours?”

Then Woojin, about to answer the call in a slight hurry, hesitated. It was to prepare his voice.

“Yes, hello?”

A laughter-mixed response came from Hong Hye-yeon on the other end.

“Are you awake? Come out, to the store.”

“Okay, I got it.”

-Click.

As soon as he hung up, Kang Woojin thought of the beef. The dinner party was at 7, so it wasn’t that late. Hong Hye-yeon was leaving now, so it should be fine.

Then, Kang Woojin stopped in his tracks.

“Huh? Why is it bright?”

A little bit of bright light was seen between the curtains. That was not the light of the evening. Thanks to that, Woojin drew the curtain back.

“Ugh!”

The dazzling, brilliant sunlight enveloped him. At this moment, Kang Woojin had a hunch.

“Huh, no way.”

He quickly checked his phone. Soon, Woojin covered his face in dismay.

“It’s 7 AM, not PM – ah, I messed up.”

He realized that he had missed out on the beef due to sleep.

About an hour later.

The outdoor parking lot in front of the condo was bustling with people. Staff members packing up, actors getting into vans, etc. Among them, PD Song man-woo, who had greeted Kang Woojin a few minutes earlier, could be seen.

Of course, alongside him was writer Park Eun-mi, wearing a hairband.

The two were looking at a large white van ahead. That was Hong Hye-yeon’s van. Kang Woojin and Hong Hye-yeon were currently in the van, and the next passenger was CEO Choi Sung-gun of bw Entertainment.

Seeing that, writer Park Eun-mi crossed her arms and opened her mouth.

“They came separately, but after seeing Woojin’s acting, CEO Choi is going with him.”

PD Song man-woo chuckled.

“Hong-star is very interested in Woojin. Since CEO Choi and Hong-star are practically one and the same, they probably have a lot to talk about. I thought this might happen. Oh, by the way, wasn’t Hye-yeon with bw Entertainment as a member and investor?”

“I heard that Woojin received a lot of business cards from the entertainment companies yesterday. It’s the first time I’ve seen an unknown actor collecting business cards on the reading day during my writing career.”

“Woojin is not an ordinary unknown actor. His impact is different, isn’t it? Anyway, won’t Kang Woojin be the first unknown actor to receive a signing bonus regardless of where he signs?”

“A signing bonus?”

In response to the question, PD Song man-woo grinned broadly.

“After giving him time to assess his value, he negotiated with me to raise his appearance fee. He’s clever.”

Recalling the day of the contract with Kang Woojin, PD Song man-woo recited assertively.

“He’s got the guts to receive a signing bonus.”

*****