He couldn't hear anything.
His senses felt completely numb. The only sensation left was the strange feeling that his body was floating in midair.
That was Kang Woojin's current state.
"…"
How should this even be described?
Everything felt vague. He was conscious, but his mind was blank. He couldn't tell whether he was lying down or standing. The temperature around him was indistinct.
Were his eyes closed?
Or open?
What was happening?
What exactly was he doing right now?
Only one thing was certain.
'It's comfortable.'
The anxiety he had felt earlier was gone. Right now, Kang Woojin felt unbelievably comfortable. Comfortable enough that he even thought it might not be so bad to stay like this forever.
Then—
'Ah.'
Suddenly, Kang Woojin came to his senses.
No.
It wasn't voluntary.
Something external had jolted him awake. That was how it felt.
Not long after—
"...Mm."
Woojin let out a faint groan and slowly opened his eyes.
So they had been closed.
A few seconds later, after his head finally cleared, he blanked out again.
For one simple reason.
"Where… is this?"
He had absolutely no idea where he was.
No—could this even be called a place?
Even with his eyes open, it felt no different from having them shut.
Because everything around him was pitch-black.
It felt like he had been thrown into a sealed room with no windows and no light. The air itself was so oppressive that it wouldn't have been strange if claustrophobia hit him on the spot.
Because of that, Kang Woojin quickly got to his feet and shouted,
"Hey!! Kim Daeyoung!!"
"…"
There was no answer.
"Excuse me!! Hello!!!"
He shouted again.
Still nothing.
There wasn't even an echo.
Where the hell was this place?
Nothing but endless blackness.
He couldn't even guess how big the space was. It felt boundless.
Right now—
"Hey! Hey! Kim Daeyoung! Where the hell am I?!"
Kang Woojin was drowning in fear.
Then, in that moment, he remembered what had happened just before he ended up here.
"I definitely touched something weird."
A square.
Black and gray swirled together inside it.
It had been floating beside the script, and Woojin had pressed it with his index finger.
"…What is this? A movie? Did I get sucked into it?!"
Soon, Kang Woojin grabbed his head.
His thoughts froze.
No matter how he looked at it, this felt real. There was no way a dream could be this vivid.
What exactly was this place?
Whatever it was, the most urgent thing right now wasn't understanding it.
It was getting out.
Then—
"Huh?"
Woojin, who had turned around, suddenly stopped walking.
In the middle of the pitch-black darkness, he saw a single white rectangle.
It was about three steps away.
Had it been there before?
He couldn't tell.
But he had to check.
Soon, Kang Woojin hurried over to the white rectangle.
Swoosh.
Up close, it was definitely white.
About the size of an A4 sheet, floating roughly at chest level.
What was strange was—
"Words?"
White text was written inside it.
-[1 Script per page (Title: Unknown), Grade F (Undetermined)]
-[*Completion rate is extremely low. Script or scenario is damaged. 100% reading is impossible. (Approximately 10% can be implemented)]
At the same time, Kang Woojin frowned.
"What is this? A damaged script? A scenario?"
The white letters were made of characters he couldn't read.
But only for a moment.
The instant he saw the word script, something clicked.
"…Ah, that script."
The few pages of script he had received from the female employee at the broadcasting station.
Now that he thought about it, he had been dragged into this bizarre place immediately after receiving it.
So—
"No way. Are the letters in this square… that?"
Weirdly enough, it seemed possible.
Anyway, Kang Woojin slowly raised a hand and tried to grab the white rectangle.
But it didn't budge.
Then something happened.
Whoosh.
New text suddenly appeared beneath the white square.
-[1/Script (Title: Unknown) has been selected.]
-[Readable character list (Experience).]
-[A: Frightened Man, B: Strange Man]
What was this?
Kang Woojin stood there, caught between frustration and panic.
He needed to do something.
Fast.
"Ah, damn it, whatever."
He randomly pressed one of the lines of text.
It was A: Frightened Man.
At once, a woman's voice echoed through the mysterious darkness.
["Preparing to read 'A: Frightened Man'…"]
The voice was flat and emotionless.
Almost robotic.
But that didn't matter.
It was the first human voice he had heard here.
Woojin shouted desperately,
"Hey! Who are you?! There's a person here!!"
But the woman's voice ignored him completely.
["...Preparation complete. This is a damaged script or scenario. Implementation is approximately 10%. Reading will now begin."]
Immediately after—
A huge gray mass swallowed Kang Woojin whole.
The weather was cold.
Strange.
Just moments ago, temperature itself had felt vague. But now he could clearly feel the cold.
Was he outside?
Woojin looked down.
"Huh?"
"…!!"
Everything had changed.
The padded jacket he had been wearing was gone. In its place was a brown windbreaker.
Feeling something was wrong, he quickly lifted his head.
His surroundings had changed too.
It was still dark.
But now he could make out faint shapes.
Trees?
Were those all trees?
And what was under his feet—
fallen leaves?
Then… was he in a forest?
He tried to make a sound, but it wouldn't come out properly.
It felt like his body was resisting him.
At the same time, sounds and sensations he had never felt before came rushing in.
Whoosh.
The irritating wind.
Branches shaking.
Just the atmosphere alone made his whole body tremble.
Then—
Run. I have to run.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, a flood of emotion and sensation hit him all at once.
Move.
Move your legs.
Keep running.
Escape.
Soon, Woojin started running like mad.
Without caring where he was going, he ran uphill.
He ignored his ragged breathing.
Ignored the branches whipping his face.
He just ran.
"Ugh! Cough!"
Why?
Why was he running?
He didn't know.
He didn't understand, but he couldn't stop.
He felt like if he stopped, it would be over.
His heart began pounding harder and harder.
Yes.
He was being chased.
Even now.
Crunch!
As Woojin crushed the fallen leaves beneath his feet, he kept looking behind him.
Thankfully, nothing changed.
The forest behind him was still swallowed by darkness.
Then—
"Hey."
A low male voice came from right beside him.
"Don't run. It's annoying."
Crash!
Before Woojin could even process what had happened, his legs were swept out from under him and he slammed face-first into the ground.
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
Why did it hurt so much?
This pain was real.
The sting in his cheek as it scraped across the dirt and tore open—
that was real.
Then—
"You're making me hungry."
The man's voice came from behind him as Woojin lay sprawled on the ground.
No—
the presence of that strange man felt real too.
All Woojin could do was struggle.
He had no choice.
This was something he had never experienced before.
Who suddenly gets chased by a stranger in the middle of nowhere?
I'm going to die.
For some reason, he knew it.
Woojin struggled desperately.
But it was useless.
The strange man behind him had planted a foot on his back.
"Ugh! Hah—!"
Even then, Woojin kept fighting.
He refused to give up.
Dirt filled his nose.
Tears and mucus streamed down his face.
I'm going to die.
But I want to live.
Desperation.
Fear.
His hands clawing at leaves and soil.
The crushing weight on his back.
The runny nose and tears.
The ragged breathing.
Everything was real.
Then—
"Hmm… I've decided. I should head down and eat pizza."
The strange man muttered to himself.
Then Woojin's body was flipped over.
The stranger had done it.
Because of that, trembling violently, Woojin finally saw him.
"...?"
He had no face.
More precisely, there was a face there—
but it was completely black.
A round black void hanging where his face should have been.
Only the outline of the man's body was faintly visible.
Then—
Stab!!
Woojin, lying helpless on the ground, felt something pierce his side.
"AAAAAH!!!"
He didn't even get to see what stabbed him.
The pain was unbearable.
It felt like all of his organs were being torn apart at once.
It was agony beyond description.
Tremble.
Woojin's whole body shook uncontrollably.
His legs trembled.
His arms spasmed.
His face twitched.
What kind of pain was this?
Damn it—
it hurt too much.
It was real.
It was all real.
Beg.
Yes.
Beg for your life.
Woojin clasped his trembling hands together and pleaded desperately.
Looking up at that black face, he begged with everything he had.
He would do anything.
Anything at all, if he could just survive.
Even though he couldn't see the stranger's expression—
He was still human, wasn't he?
The strange man laughed.
His face was completely black, but he laughed.
Maybe it was because of the desperate hope buried in his delusion, but Woojin thought that.
So he forced a smile too.
Then—
Something stabbed into him again.
Stab!!!
"AAAAAH!! AAAAAH!!"
Then—
["Reading of 'A: Frightened Man' has ended."]
The robotic female voice echoed out.
How much time had passed?
Still dazed, Kang Woojin faintly heard a voice near his ear.
"...Excuse me! Hello!!"
At that moment, Kang Woojin—who had been holding a phone to his ear—slowly lifted his head.
Three people were sitting at the desk in front of him.
A man in his thirties.
A bearded man in his fifties.
And a beautiful woman.
The man in his thirties seemed to be the one who had just called out to him.
Then—
Ah… this is where I was. I'm back.
Kang Woojin slowly lowered the phone from his ear.
But his expression was odd.
Almost like someone slightly drunk.
He checked the phone screen.
Only one minute had passed.
Strange.
He had been in that forest for at least thirty minutes.
Still—
"…"
Woojin stared blankly ahead as if nothing mattered.
His brain felt slow.
Then—
"Excuse me, aren't you going to do it? We can't get in touch with Kim Daeyoung."
The man in his thirties at the desk asked while waving the script.
Woojin quietly looked at him.
…A script. Right. Something like that happened earlier. Should I show them?
He slowly stood up.
Swoosh.
The man in his thirties looked a little surprised.
"Oh? You're really going to do it? Wow, you and your friend must be close."
Woojin stood two steps in front of the three people seated behind the desk.
Why?
He didn't know.
But for some reason, he suddenly felt like he should show them.
What he had just experienced in that unknown place.
For Kang Woojin, whose mind was only now beginning to steady—
Cut.
Everything was still vivid.
Because he had lived through it himself.
About ten minutes later—
Kang Woojin collapsed onto the floor after reenacting everything written in the script.
Both his hands were raised toward the ceiling.
Why?
Because only moments earlier, he had been desperately begging for his life.
Then—
"Ah."
His mind cleared.
No—
his consciousness had been clear the whole time.
But now that the performance was over, his brain began working faster again.
Still—
Cut.
The very first thing Kang Woojin felt as he slowly lowered his arms was—
'Ah, damn it. What did I just do?'
Pure embarrassment.
Then—
'Huh? What just happened? Is something wrong with my head?'
He tried to make sense of it.
Something had definitely happened.
But at the same time, it felt like nothing had happened.
Everything was tangled.
A mess.
Whatever it had been—
he had just shown it all to everyone in the room.
And whatever that experience had been, it had been intense.
Soon, Woojin slowly pushed himself up and cleared his throat.
Ahem.
Then he came to a decision.
'Pretend nothing happened. Act normal. I'll figure it out later.'
It was unbelievably embarrassing.
But he forced his expression to stay perfectly blank.
Inside his head, he repeated it over and over.
'I'm confident. I'm cool. Kang Woojin, you're not embarrassed at all right now.'
Stay calm.
Then—
"...You."
A woman's voice cut in.
It was the absurdly beautiful woman sitting at the desk.
Wait.
Who was she?
'Huh? Am I crazy? Is that Hong Hyeyeon?!'
Hong Hyeyeon—with her long hair and flawless skin—was sitting right in front of him.
A top actress everyone knew.
Why hadn't he recognized her earlier?
Maybe because she didn't feel real.
She looked like an angel.
If angels really existed, they would probably look like her.
Maybe she had seemed too unreal, too inhumanly beautiful, for him to process.
Because of that, Woojin was completely mesmerized.
'Wow… seriously. Wow…'
He stopped brushing off his pants and stared at Hong Hyeyeon, who sat only two steps away.
Then she narrowed her eyes and asked,
"Which university acting department did you graduate from? Chung-Ang University? Hanyang University?"
What was she even talking about?
Anyway, Woojin wanted to shout that he was a fan.
But because of what had just happened, he was too embarrassed, so he forced himself to stay calm.
Maybe that would make things less awkward.
Woojin slowly resumed dusting off his pants and cleared his throat again.
Deeply.
Heavily.
Acting cool should be fine.
When he finally spoke, his voice came out much lower than expected.
"No. I graduated from a design department at a university in Gyeonggi Province. I'm talented at design."
Ridiculous.
Why had he added I'm talented at design at the end?
Even though he realized the mistake instantly, Woojin kept his face expressionless.
"Design… department?"
"...?"
The three people in front of him—including top actress Hong Hyeyeon—looked utterly confused.
For some reason, they all seemed shocked.
"Then where did you learn acting?"
Acting?
That was absurd.
Kang Woojin had never cared about acting before in his life. Still, he tried to dodge the question somehow.
He just wanted to get out of there.
Fast.
"I taught myself. I practice a little on weekends."
"...What?"
That only made him sound even more arrogant.
But Woojin didn't realize it.
Soon—
"So."
The bearded man in his fifties sitting in the middle leaned forward and asked with wide eyes,
"How did you just do that? That was your first time, right? You barely looked at the script—how did you perform like that?"
Just now?
Don't remind me of the embarrassing part.
Woojin glanced behind him before answering, already preparing to escape.
Of course, he still had to act calm and serious.
"It wasn't particularly difficult."
After answering, Woojin gave the three people in front of him a vague nod.
"Anyway."
Even though he was rushing inside, he walked calmly toward the back door.
Repeating one thing in his head.
Don't call me. Don't call me. Don't call me.
Soon he stopped at the door and left them with one final warning.
"Sorry, but please don't use what I just did on broadcast. If you do, I'll file a lawsuit."
It was just a bluff.
He simply wanted to escape that hell as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, no one stopped him.
He left the room without trouble.
Outside, other contestants were still waiting.
"..."
Woojin kept his expression straight as he passed them.
Then he suddenly sped up.
Almost to a jog.
Cut.
After getting far enough away, he covered his face with both hands and let out a deep sigh.
"Damn it… that was so embarrassing."
Meanwhile, back inside the room he had just left—
"...PD. Did he really just say that performance wasn't difficult??"
Top actress Hong Hyeyeon was in complete shock.
Her excitement was obvious.
The bearded man in his fifties sitting in the middle answered her.
"A design department? He says he's good at design? What a strange person."
"Self-taught? No way. He had to have learned somewhere—"
"Even if he really did teach himself everything… even if that's true… do you think someone who majored in design, not acting, could perform like that so casually? I've been directing for twenty years, and I'm telling you, that's impossible."
"...That…"
"The confidence and calmness in the way he answered—that was real. He looked like it took no effort at all. And he skimmed the script for one minute before delivering that performance. I've never seen an actor whose past is this hard to read."
Soon, the bearded middle-aged man looked toward the door Woojin had exited through and smiled.
"A rare genius. Monsters like that only show up once in a while."
And just like that—
the snowball of misunderstanding began to roll.