The bearded middle-aged man—no, Song Man-woo—was a veteran drama PD at SBC with an exceptional eye for actors. He was also rather picky.
And he had every right to be.
In any case, he had been directing in the drama industry for nearly twenty years, had produced at least fifteen works, and many of them had been box office hits. So when he first received the offer to judge the first round of auditions for "Super Actor," he had no expectations at all.
Out of a thousand people, maybe one or two would be worth meeting.
Even those would probably be no different from the trash already out in the market. Just as he expected, the first participant was a complete mess.
That participant was Kang Woojin.
The first impression Song Man-woo got when he saw Woojin was this:
'His face looks like he's missing a screw.'
He looked like an idiot. As if confirming that, top actress Hong Hye-yeon, who was sitting to his left, said,
"PD-nim, doesn't that guy look kind of dumb?"
The casting director from a famous production company sitting on his right had a similar impression.
"I agree. He looks difficult from the start."
Kang Woojin looked drained. Song Man-woo saw him as a lifeless person. His acting would probably be meaningless.
And then—
"Excuse me, could I have a moment?"
The whisper of the short-haired female PD, the main PD of "Super Actor," only made Song Man-woo's sigh grow heavier.
"That person isn't an official participant. He came with a friend, but that friend is in the restroom right now."
"So?"
"If the first contestant fails, the mood from the beginning will be bad. So what if we have him act for a bit just to fill the time?"
"Fill the time?"
"Yes. It would be nice if we could at least get a comedic scene out of it. We need material for a YouTube trailer or teaser video anyway."
In other words, that idiot wasn't even an official participant.
"So you're saying you want to use him as fishing bait?"
"Ah, 'bait' is a bit harsh. Let's just give it a try."
"Hmm, as the chief PD, that's your decision to make. But naturally, it would be best to get his consent, right?"
"Of course. We're not living in the old days."
Kang Woojin—an ordinary person, or a sacrificial lamb for casting? Including PD Song Man-woo, the three judges came to that conclusion.
And so, Kang Woojin's acting life began.
In just five seconds, the atmosphere changed completely.
"Hrrk! Cough!"
Kang Woojin, looking as though he had lost his mind, startled PD Song Man-woo. Actress Hong Hye-yeon's facial acting was also something to behold.
And then one minute passed.
In an instant, everyone in the room froze. Not just the judges watching Woojin crouched on the floor and sobbing, but also all ten or so members of the "Super Actor" production staff.
The impact of Kang Woojin's acting was that intense.
In only a minute, he had captured the eyes of every veteran in the room.
"Ugh! Hrk—"
It was realistic, vivid, and full of tension. Even without seeing the script, anyone could tell Kang Woojin was being chased through the forest by a strange man.
Watching what was unfolding before his eyes, PD Song Man-woo thought:
"This isn't simply luck or talent. This is the result of polishing himself for at least five years, maybe even ten."
He completely overturned his initial evaluation of Kang Woojin. This was a skill that even top actors who made a living through acting could not easily master.
"Emotion becomes attitude, and feeling becomes posture."
"Anxiety becomes expression, and scent becomes delusion."
All of those elements mix together to create a character's expression, and only after that hard-earned expression is thoroughly chewed over and mulled in the mouth can it finally be conveyed in a single fitting line of dialogue.
Even to capture just one cut, that process has to be repeated endlessly.
Many actors currently working in this country stake their lives on that process. Even veteran actors praised as top stars and top performers are no exception.
And yet—
"Did he just skim through the script for a moment and immediately put it into action?"
Kang Woojin was acting as if it were nothing. It wasn't just that he was good at acting. Woojin seemed to be the character from the script itself.
But the surprise didn't end there. It was because Kang Woojin calmly answered that question.
"I taught myself."
He learned on his own? He reached that level of acting through self-study?
'How lonely must his journey have been?'
In this way, Kang Woojin astonished everyone present, including the top actress, the veteran drama PD, and the rest of the staff on site.
—Silence.
He calmly left the room. No one stopped him. Everyone could only wear bewildered expressions.
After that—
"I-I'm really, really sorry!!"
Kim Dae-young, Kang Woojin's friend and the actual first participant, came in. Usually wearing an arrogant expression, he now looked full of guilt. The very first question PD Song Man-woo asked upon seeing him was this:
"What line of work does the friend you came with do?"
"…Excuse me? Ah, he works in design. Why do you ask?"
"He's still doing that?"
"Yes, he's only ever done design…"
Every answer Kang Woojin had given turned out to be true. On top of that, he had learned acting on his own. Song Man-woo started to suspect that Kang Woojin might be some hidden master unknown to the industry.
"Understood, Mr. Kim Dae-young. Then shall we start with your acting?"
He turned his gaze toward Kim Dae-young.
"Yes!"
But unfortunately, Kim Dae-young's acting…
"Cut. That's enough. Thank you for your effort."
The curtain fell in only fifteen seconds.
Ten minutes later, the bus arrived at the stop in front of SBC Headquarters Arts Center.
Quite a lot of people had gathered, including family members and friends who had come to watch today's preliminary round. Among them was Kang Woojin, who looked as though he had hurriedly rushed out of the Arts Center.
"Ah… damn it."
He sat on the bench at the bus stop, pressing hard against his temples. He had a headache, but he was also replaying the shocking event that had just happened.
'A black square appeared next to the script. When I touched it, I got sucked into some weird place.'
An endlessly dark void.
'The script I received was floating in that damned place, and when I touched it… I suddenly got teleported into some strange forest. I died there, didn't I?'
It was certain. Kang Woojin had died once in that dark, eerie mountain. At the hands of a strange man with a blackened face. It hadn't felt vague like imagination, a dream, or a memory.
He had clearly experienced the process of his own corpse being transported.
In fact, that memory was still vivid. It felt as though he could recall the emotions and images from that forest at any moment. The memory seemed deeply rooted in his mind.
'It feels like I time-traveled or something?'
What in the world was that cursed place? How could it make a perfectly fine person experience death?
"Is that even possible?"
Right then—
—Bzz, bzz.
The phone in Woojin's pocket vibrated. It was a call from Kim Dae-young.
Five minutes passed after that.
From afar, Kim Dae-young came running over energetically.
"Hey, hey! Kang Woojin!"
The moment he saw his friend arrive, Kang Woojin immediately grabbed him by the collar.
"You crazy bastard! Did you go to take a dump, or did you go save the country?"
"…Hahaha! I'm really sorry. It just kept pouring out. I seriously almost died."
"Shut up. I'm the one who actually died because of you."
"What?"
Kim Dae-young looked bewildered, but soon Woojin let go of his collar and let out a long sigh.
"So, what happened with the preliminaries?"
"Ah, right. I did it. Ah! But you went in instead of me?"
"Why?"
"The judges kept asking about you. Why were you in there? What did you do in there?"
Remembering the awkward situation from earlier, Woojin quickly changed the subject.
"Tch, I didn't really do anything. So, did you pass?"
"No? My acting scene got cut after fifteen seconds. So I failed."
"Congratulations, you crazy bastard."
"It's fine. I didn't have high expectations anyway. But did you see Hong Hye-yeon? Did you? She was incredible, right?"
The moment the top actress's name came up, a sincere expression appeared on Kang Woojin's face.
"She's like an angel. No, seriously, she's an angel."
"How can a person be that beautiful? She was so beautiful I started swearing without even realizing it."
"I agree. When in our lives are we ever going to get another chance to see Hong Hye-yeon that close? We even got to talk to her."
"I probably won't ever get another chance to see her again, but I think this moment will stay with me for life."
"Yeah. Seeing Hong Hye-yeon today was great, but everything else sucked."
Then—
—Swoosh.
Woojin noticed a sheet of paper tucked against Dae-young's side. It was the same three-page script he had seen earlier. He stared at it for a moment, then suddenly held out his hand.
"Hey, give me that script."
"Huh? Ah, right."
In Kim Dae-young's hand, it was just an ordinary script. There was nothing special about it. But the moment it came into Kang Woojin's hands, things changed.
'Ah, damn it.'
A black square that hadn't been there before appeared next to the writing. Its swirling gray-and-black form looked like the text's shadow.
'Am I going crazy again? Seriously.'
Whatever it was, the black square had appeared exactly the same as before. Which meant that if he touched it with his index finger, he would be sucked into that bizarre space again.
But he didn't seem to be in the mood for that right now.
—Flap.
Kang Woojin opened the script expressionlessly. Strictly speaking, this was actually the first time he was reading it. And the moment he read the first line, Woojin became certain.
'Just as I thought. This is exactly the same as what I experienced.'
The contents of the script and what Kang Woojin had gone through in the forest were identical.
The terrified man in a brown windbreaker, his emotions, his sensations, the vague stranger appearing in the forest, the rustling fallen leaves, the gloomy wind, the stabbing scene, the man's scream begging to be spared, being stabbed again, and so on.
'I picked the "terrified man," didn't I? So in the end, I became the role and situation from the script itself…'
Who would believe something so absurd? But Woojin was certain. So for now—
'I need to confirm a few things.'
He had to run the experiment again to be sure. Then he could decide whether to ignore the results or not.
Soon—
"Hey."
Kang Woojin turned his head and asked Kim Dae-young, who was staring at him strangely,
"Your house is in Pangyo, right?"
"Yeah. But why are you suddenly asking about my house?"
"Do you have scripts at home? Recent ones would be even better. Doesn't matter what kind."
"…Yeah, I've got a few. Picked them up through one route or another. But why are you suddenly interested in scripts? You barely even watch TV."
"It's fine."
Woojin pulled out his phone and opened a taxi app.
"Let's go to your house right now."
About two hours later.
Kim Dae-young's house.
Kim Dae-young lived with his parents in an apartment near Pangyo Station. But since his parents weren't home, Woojin went straight into Dae-young's room.
Kang Woojin immediately frowned.
"Wow, do you take a dump while sleeping too? What is this stench?"
A sharp smell hung in the air. But Kim Dae-young merely shrugged as if it were nothing.
"A man's room is supposed to smell like this. The fact that your place smells good is what's abnormal."
"Bullshit. Open the window and get some fresh air in here."
Kim Dae-young immediately opened the window. Then Kang Woojin held out his hand.
"The scripts?"
"Ah, just a second. I'll look for the ones I read recently. The ones I've read should be around here somewhere."
Soon, Kim Dae-young started rummaging through his bookshelf. Woojin watched him with a somewhat disgusted look, and three minutes later, Kim Dae-young showed him the scripts.
"Found them. Two drama scripts and one movie scenario. Is three enough?"
"Yeah."
Two neatly bound scripts and a stack of pages containing a film scenario. A total of three were handed to Kang Woojin.
And then—
'Just as I thought.'
Black squares appeared beside the two scripts and the scenario. Their sizes were each slightly different. In any case, Woojin finished his first confirmation and let out a deep breath.
Hoo—
He checked the time. It was 11:41 a.m. Woojin lightly poked the air with his trembling index finger, and Kim Dae-young, sitting in front of him, chuckled.
"Have you finally gone crazy? What are you doing right now?"
With a serious face, Kang Woojin answered his friend.
"Just watch. Got it?"
"I'm watching."
At that very moment—
—Pop!
Woojin jabbed one of the black squares beside the manuscript with his index finger.
And then—
"Gah!"
With a sensation as if his entire body had gone numb, the air pulled him in, and Woojin let out an absurd laugh.
"I'm back here again."
When he came to his senses, all he could see in front of him was an endlessly dark space. He had entered it again. He still had no idea what it even was. That drifting sensation remained unchanged.
But—
"Let's see—"
Maybe because he had experienced it once before, Woojin was fairly calm now. He seemed to have regained some composure. But fear and dread still remained. Kang Woojin had to steel himself.
—Whoosh.
He turned his body and checked behind him. A white square was floating there at about chest height.
Interestingly—
"It increased?"
Something had changed from before. There wasn't just one white square anymore—there were two.
In other words—
"It looks like the number keeps increasing."
That meant every time he obtained a new script or scenario, the number went up. He hadn't checked in detail yet, but the second white square was most likely the script manuscript he had just touched.
But Woojin did not approach the floating white squares.
"In that case, first…"
There was another experiment he needed to do first.
"Leave!"
He shouted loudly, but nothing changed.
"Get out! Logout! Outside!"
Kang Woojin kept shouting similar words.
"Go back! Hey! Miss! Let me out! Lights off!"
About five minutes passed like that.
And then, at that exact moment—
"Ah, damn it! Exit!!"
Together with the word "exit," Kang Woojin's face abruptly darkened. It was so sudden.
"What!"
Because of that, he let out a groan without meaning to. Soon after, Kim Dae-young's voice reached his ears.
"Hey! What the hell just happened? Are you okay?"
When Woojin slowly turned his head, Kim Dae-young was standing right in front of him. He had returned to Dae-young's room. He felt a little dazed, but it was clear he had escaped that void.
There was only one answer.
'Exit. That's the command to get out.'
Woojin immediately checked the time again. It was 11:41 a.m.—the exact same time he had gone into that insane space.
'I was in there for about five minutes. But the time outside is exactly the same.'
Once you enter that infinite space, time outside stops. Or at least slows down drastically. Having arrived at a plausible answer, Woojin asked Kim Dae-young,
"What did I look like just now?"
"What are you talking about? You were just pointing your finger like an idiot."
"And then?"
"You froze for a second, then suddenly started gasping. Are you really okay?"
Seeing his friend's reaction, Kang Woojin stroked his chin.
"Interesting. Now, next—"
Just as Woojin was about to extend his finger again—
—Brrrr, brrrr.
Kim Dae-young's phone, lying on the desk, vibrated. Still looking at Woojin with concern, he picked up the call.
"Yes, hello."
Soon after talking with someone, Kim Dae-young's eyes met Woojin's.
"Yes, yes, yes. Ah! What? Ah, yes, yes. Just a moment. He's right in front of me."
After finishing, Kim Dae-young handed the phone to Woojin and whispered quietly.
"The Super Actor PD wants to talk to you."
Kang Woojin frowned immediately, but took the phone anyway.
"Yes."
A slightly excited female voice came through the phone.
"Kang Woojin-ssi?? Oh my! You disappeared so suddenly, you really surprised me!"
The moment he heard her voice, Woojin started putting on airs again because of the embarrassment from earlier.
"Mm, yes."
"Um, Woojin-ssi? Would you perhaps be willing to appear on Super Actor again?"
"Why?"
"You passed! You made it through the first preliminary round! It would be amazing if you could also participate in the second round! The story itself is interesting too. You came with your friend, but you ended up passing? Isn't that fun?"
So you want to turn me into a laughingstock? Don't talk nonsense.
Kang Woojin answered the excited PD over the phone in a low, heavy voice. Maintaining his image was important.
"I don't want to."
In the course of showing off his toughness, he added an excuse to cover the embarrassment he was feeling.
"Anyway, it was just killing time."
Since it had only been a way to fill time, he told her to forget it.
But the "Super Actor" PD on the other end seemed to have interpreted his words differently.
"That acting… was just something you did to kill time?"