The film Drug Dealer officially premiered today, the 28th.
And today, for the very first time, it was shown to the world through its opening screening.
Inside the theater, around thirty adult viewers had taken their seats, Hwarin among them.
There was no helping it.
Drug Dealer was rated R, after all. From the instant the film began, the audience's anticipation climbed steadily higher. It started the moment the rough black-and-red title filled the screen, and it lasted all the way through the reveal of the main cast.
But more than anything else, there was one moment that caught everyone's attention.
-[And Kang Woojin]
The name of Kang Woojin, who had appeared in Drug Dealer as a cameo.
Lately, he had been at the center of one controversy after another, and the biggest reason was undoubtedly the success of Boy Friend. Most of the people seated here had probably seen it already.
That alone heightened both anticipation and curiosity.
As soon as Kang Woojin's name appeared, dozens of audience members, male and female alike, began whispering under their breath.
"Kang Woojin's name came up, but he's only a cameo. Why is he listed first?"
"Maybe because he's so popular right now? Either way, I'm curious what he'll be like in this."
"Do you think his image here will be similar to Boy Friend? Or maybe rougher?"
"He's good at acting, so at the very least he'll be decent."
Most of the whispers revolved around the same thing. What kind of figure would Kang Woojin's cameo character be? What sort of acting would he show? How different would he be from Han Inho in Boy Friend? And what kind of face would he wear this time?
But it did not take long for the audience's attention to shift back to the film itself.
Drug Dealer opened with a provocative, tense atmosphere. After the protagonist, Jung Hoon, played by Jin Jaejun, appeared, the movie continued forward with gripping momentum. Hwarin and the rest of the audience kept their eyes fixed on the huge screen.
But as with any film, pacing mattered.
There were moments that required explanation, and scenes where the world of the story was revealed through the conversations between characters. A movie that ran breathlessly without pause could become suffocating. In that sense, Drug Dealer also had moments when it deliberately slowed down.
Because of that, the audience's focus loosened for a while.
People shifted in their seats. Some let their attention drift. Concentration wavered, if only briefly.
And then, just as their attention seemed ready to scatter, the tone on the giant screen changed without warning. The background shifted into a strange new mood and landscape. Rain came pouring down just as abruptly.
'Huh? Something changed.'
The music that rose over the scene was grand and heavy.
Little by little, the audience sharpened again.
Then a single figure stepped out of the last of four parked sedans, a cigarette already between his lips.
"Wait… is that Kang Woojin?"
It was the first appearance of Lee Sangman.
Everything around him intensified the force of that entrance—the rain crashing down, the gangsters in suits, the music filling the theater, even the vivid movement of the camera itself.
And then—
"Hoo—"
Lee Sangman exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke, his face wearing a mask of controlled violence.
The actor playing him was Kang Woojin.
The instant he appeared, every wandering eye in the theater snapped back into place.
Hwarin froze and murmured to herself, while the faint stirrings among the dozens of viewers gradually grew stronger. Every gaze in the theater was drawn toward Lee Sangman on the screen.
That was how powerful his presence was.
He had not appeared until roughly an hour into the movie, yet the tension spiked the very moment he entered.
From then on, the audience's ears and eyes grew even sharper.
After Lee Sangman appeared, the mood felt like the stillness before a storm. Every word he spoke carried that same quiet weight.
"Come a little closer. I'm soaked."
"Ah! I'm sorry!"
"Or is that what you wanted?"
"N-No, hyung!!"
Everything he did had a subtle gravity to it.
He looked languid and loose, yet there was something cruel and violent drifting beneath the surface. It was strange, and deeply unsettling.
The audience reacted almost at once.
"Wow, I've got goosebumps."
"Isn't he kind of scary?"
One woman rubbed her forearm without thinking. The cold air of the theater's air conditioner only intensified the sensation. The chill against her skin blended almost perfectly with the cold brutality radiating from Lee Sangman on the screen.
Meanwhile, Hwarin sat there with her lips slightly parted, completely captivated by Kang Woojin's performance.
'This is completely different. There's none of the acting or atmosphere he showed before. Did even his voice change? His naturally low voice is still there, but… how is he making it sound like there's phlegm caught in his throat like that?'
Whether as a fan or as an actress, Hwarin was fully immersed in Kang Woojin's acting.
'There's not even a trace of the pure, warm emotion Han Inho had. Honestly, it's incredible. From the way he smokes to the smallest hand movements, the way he handles his gaze, even the blink of an eye, nothing feels light or unnatural. Everything strengthens the character's presence. I already knew he was detailed, but really…'
If even Hwarin, who had learned from Kang Woojin's acting up close, felt that way, then what about the dozens of ordinary viewers around her?
She glanced sideways at the women seated beside her, those brushing their forearms and staring at the screen, and understood their reactions completely.
'The timing of Lee Sangman's entrance was perfect, and more than anything, Woojin-nim's acting and character transformation went far beyond what anyone expected.'
It was right around then.
"They're dancing."
Lee Sangman muttered the words while staring at a row of orange streetlights stretching into the distance. His eyes were unfocused, a faint smile hovering on his lips as if he were staring at something only he could see.
But since the moment he first appeared, Lee Sangman had kept scratching at his neck and forearms.
At first, it had not seemed important, but now the audience began to sense that something was off.
"Hasn't he been scratching himself this whole time?"
"Right, right. I thought something felt weird too."
"Is that supposed to be a clue?"
At the same time, discomfort became more visible on Lee Sangman's face. Even the music thickened, growing heavier, more oppressive.
It felt as though Lee Sangman was revealing his problem to the audience piece by piece.
And that problem was exactly what they feared.
The rain scene passed.
He muttered again.
"It's going to burn."
"What?"
"The sea. It's going to burn."
Then came the scene of dealing with a subordinate's death.
"Throw him into the water."
As Lee Sangman climbed a dark, grim staircase, the darkness around him seemed to deepen further. The space waiting at the top felt grotesquely ominous, but on his bizarrely indifferent face, a faint smile began to spread.
The camera shifted head-on, filling the screen with Lee Sangman's face as he climbed.
"..."
The muscles in his face twitched.
His lips curved slowly like a bow, baring his teeth.
Madness gathered in his eyes.
His movements grew faster.
That slow, progressive change in his expression hit the audience with shocking force.
"W-What is that? Why is he making that face?"
"Ugh, I'm going to have nightmares because of that expression."
"What? Is he actually insane? Like, completely out of his mind?"
Hwarin widened her eyes and stared at the screen without blinking as she caught on to what was happening.
"It feels like release. Like freedom. Up until now, everything around him had just been a tedious workplace, but now it's like he's heading toward his own playground… and that laugh is making it worse. It feels like the laughter itself is telling us Lee Sangman's fate."
Her interpretation was precise.
At this point, Lee Sangman seemed almost to be spoiling his own ending for the audience.
My laughter is death.
Kang Woojin expressed it without words, through acting alone, and the audience felt the death embedded in Lee Sangman's laughter as pure unease.
But before long, that unease turned into certainty.
With a heavy thud, the film showed Lee Sangman—slightly unhinged now—opening a desk drawer and pulling out various tools. A moment later, he took off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.
"Hup, hup."
His breathing grew rougher, but at the same time his face seemed more alive than ever.
Sitting on the sofa, Lee Sangman looked as though he had finally been set free.
And in that instant, the audience understood.
Lee Sangman was a drug addict.
What made it even more disturbing was how many times stronger Lee Sangman himself branded that truth into the audience's minds.
"Heh."
Still sitting on the sofa, he let out a low laugh.
It was exactly that sort of smile.
Behind him, the screen showed the rain-streaked window.
And then—
Thunder crashed.
A violent flash struck so suddenly that nearly half the audience jolted in shock.
"Ah!!"
"Whoa!!"
"Oh my God!!"
"That scared me!"
Even so, Lee Sangman on the screen slowly lifted his head and looked upward.
The angle shifted, looking down on him from above as it gradually closed in on his face. Soon, a horrifying laugh spread through the entire theater.
"Ehehe—"
No, it sounded less like laughter than death itself.
In that moment, not a single one of the dozens of people in the theater spoke. They sat frozen stiff, staring at the screen as if they had turned to ice.
The pull of that scene was extraordinary.
No one said a word.
No one moved.
And Hwarin felt the same thing as everyone else.
One thought rooted itself firmly in every mind present.
Kang Woojin's acting was exceptional.
Because what they had just seen was more than an actor who merely grabbed the eye.
It was something heavier than that.
──────────
About an hour and a half later, before anyone really had the chance to come back to themselves, the screen in Hwarin's theater faded to black and the ending credits began to roll.
A grand OST announced the end of the film.
The darkness inside the theater eased slightly as the lights came up. There was no post-credit scene, which meant the audience should have started leaving by now.
But for some reason, the dozens of viewers did not rise immediately. It was as if they were reluctant to let go of something.
Among a cluster of men seated together, voices started up first.
"That was seriously incredible. Really fun. There wasn't a single weak point in the acting."
"Honestly, it feels like it's been a while since a properly good movie came out."
"Man, I really want to watch that again. But Kang Woojin's acting was insane."
"I completely agree. No, seriously, is that guy crazy? He was just a cameo. Why is he overpowering the lead actors?"
"But Kang Woojin was already amazing in Hanryang."
"Ah, you mean Assistant Manager Park, but with less charm?"
The women were no different.
"It was kind of brutal and scary, but it was fun, right?"
"Right, right! I totally agree! Jin Jaejun was so cool."
"Ah, I didn't really like it. It felt kind of gross? I don't think movies like this fit me. But the scene where Kang Woojin appeared was the best. He stood out more than Jin Jaejun."
"He was amazing. It was starting to get a little dull, and then he came in and raised the tension instantly. Ah… I really liked Kang Woojin. The role itself was kind of trashy, but he was cool."
"That's because he's just that good at acting. Everyone watched Boy Friend, right? But there wasn't even a trace of Han Inho here. It felt like a completely different person."
The couples thought the same thing.
"Wow, Kang Woojin is seriously good. When we get home, I'm definitely watching Boy Friend."
"See? I told you to watch it, oppa. In Boy Friend, he's all tsundere and warm, but in Drug Dealer he's completely insane. How can he act this well just by changing roles?"
"There was a reason the media kept calling him a monster rookie."
Only when the end credits had fully finished did the audience finally begin to leave their seats.
They tossed their half-eaten popcorn and empty drink cups into the trash bins outside the theater, but their mouths never stopped moving.
And what was most interesting was this.
"Kang Woojin has SNS, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. Did you see Kang Woojin's YouTube too?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Most of the audience mentioned Kang Woojin's name.
Hwarin, hidden behind a cap, a mask, and glasses, followed behind them.
She looked dazed.
No, to be more precise—
'Woojin-nim… wow. He really is unbelievable.'
The fandom she already had for him only kept growing larger and larger.
It was a different kind of faith from the "Kang Totem," but no less overwhelming. In other words, the scale of her admiration had become enormous.
Among everyone who had watched today, Hwarin was probably the only person who could properly evaluate Kang Woojin's acting.
Why?
Because she had seen every single one of the characters he had played.
From Kim Ryujin in Exorcism, the performance that had turned her into a fan in the first place, all the way to Lee Sangman now.
And not a single one of them felt even remotely repeated.
'Is this what method acting is? No… it feels deeper than that. Even the acting technique changes from role to role.'
What kind of actor was he, really?
As an actress, Hwarin felt jealousy.
As a fan, she felt awe.
'With Boy Friend and Drug Dealer releasing at the same time, Woojin-nim's range stands out even more.'
In any case, even after she got into the elevator, she kept thinking about Kang Woojin all the way down to the underground parking lot. Naturally, she was going to keep thinking about him for the rest of the day.
When she reached her imported car, she got into the driver's seat.
Only then did she finally remove the disguise covering her face.
Her long hair, rumpled from the cap, fell loose.
Just as she was about to start the car, she suddenly clapped once.
"That's right!"
"I need to leave a rating!"
It seemed she had just remembered that she wanted to rate Drug Dealer, the film she had watched as one of its first audience members.
Of course, that also meant writing a review.
She knew very well how important those early ratings were to the success of a new movie. Hwarin quickly picked up her phone and opened a search site. Naturally, the keyword she entered was Drug Dealer.
Information about the film appeared at the very top of the search results.
As she tapped into the rating section, her eyes widened slightly.
"Wow, already?"
The morning screening had only just ended, yet a large number of ratings and audience reviews were already piling up.
[Drug Dealer / Released October 28, 2020]
[Rating: 9.7]
[Audience & Netizen Reviews / 198 participants]
[It was seriously fun, and Kang Woojin is the real deal / t****]
[A little brutal and scary… but the actors' performances were amazing… especially Kang Woojin / g****]
[Jin Jaejun is a revelation. No need for words, just go watch it / c****]
[Casting Kang Woojin for the cameo was a brilliant choice / ★ 1]
[Why is Kang Woojin only focusing on acting now? His acting is insane. He really felt like someone high on drugs / 9*****]
[Seriously so fun, the immersion was crazy, and Kang Woojin is going to become a top star soon. His acting is insane / daebak]
Here too, the presence of Lee Sangman was impossible to ignore.