The moment Kang Woojin spotted the attacker rushing Hwarin, he reacted on instinct. The situation was urgent, so it was only natural. His head and body moved before he could think.
Then reason stepped in.
'This should be enough. I can stop him. I just need to grab the arm holding the awl first.'
Woojin quickly took in the attacker's posture, build, and weapon, then arrived at the answer immediately. The man was only charging straight at them. There was no technique in it at all. Woojin shielded Hwarin with his body and briefly disrupted the attacker's line of sight. Anyone would hesitate for a split second in a moment like that.
The attacker was no exception.
Hide? What now? Do I stab Kang Woojin first?
Woojin didn't miss the brief flicker in the man's eyes. The instant that hesitation appeared, he snatched the hand holding the awl and subdued him in one clean motion. There was no need to wonder what came next. Because of the martial arts embedded into him, the next action was already clear in his mind.
And now—
"Ah! Damn it, my arm!! Let go!! Let go of me!!"
The attacker writhed with his face pressed against the ground. Woojin quietly looked down at the back of the man's head, which he was pinning in place.
Only then did it really sink in.
'Wow, that's actually amazing. That scared me.'
He had done it without much difficulty.
'It worked?? It was real. That was actually cool just now.'
He wasn't flustered. He was simply astonished that his ability worked so effectively in real life. Martial arts were different from language skills or vocal technique. This was something that could actually strike, restrain, and overpower another person. More than that, the martial arts absorbed into Woojin's body were not some shallow imitation.
What Kang Woojin had was the real thing.
But imagination and reality were completely different worlds. Situations like this did not happen every day. He had learned martial arts, yes, but he had never expected to use it in a real emergency like this.
That was why his heart only started pounding afterward.
Right then, the attacker twisted even harder against the floor. The force of the man's body, the sensation of contact, the sound of his screaming—those things sent a faint tremor through Woojin's forearm. A strange mix of awe and accomplishment wrapped around him. It was almost like pleasure.
But Kang Woojin was not the kind of person who enjoyed violence.
'Still… I don't feel good about this.'
He was proud that he had stopped the man, but he did not want to experience anything like this again. That was his honest feeling.
Still, the situation had been resolved, and that was enough.
Kang Woojin had built up his persona carefully for a long time, guarding his identity by instinct. Now it was time to hide his pounding heart, lower his voice, and respond according to the situation. When he spoke, even he was surprised by how deep his voice sounded.
"Call the police."
A few sturdy security guards came running over. One grabbed the attacker's arm, while the others pinned down his body and legs. The man had already been unable to move under Woojin's grip, but now he looked completely sealed in place, like he had been locked inside a fortress.
"Ah! Let me go!! Let me go, damn it!!!"
Even then, the attacker kept struggling desperately. That was when Choi Sunggeon and Hwarin's chubby manager rushed over to Woojin.
"Woojin! Are you okay?!"
"Are you all right?!"
The stylists who had arrived late clung to Hwarin instead, still trying to figure out what had happened.
At that moment, Kang Woojin slowly straightened up.
His expression turned even colder.
'Is Hwarin okay?'
He looked at the shocked Hwarin standing in front of him and spoke.
"Hwarin, are you okay?"
Still covering her mouth with both hands, Hwarin stared blankly for a moment before she barely managed to answer.
"…Ah, yes?? Oh. Yes, I'm okay…"
Only then did Woojin calmly nod at Choi Sunggeon and the people around him.
"I'm fine."
Hwarin's chubby manager looked faintly stunned by how composed he was.
How is he that calm? Everyone else is panicking, and he's just… And what was that move just now?
Standing beside Woojin, Choi Sunggeon also drifted for a second into a completely different line of thought.
So that's how he's been living, pretending to be an ordinary person. Otherwise, would people have even been able to approach him? No, wait, what exactly did I just see?
Then Choi Sunggeon snapped back to himself.
"Ah!"
His eyes filled with worry as he immediately started patting down Woojin's forearm and the rest of his body.
"Hey! Are you really okay?! Look at me! Are you hurt anywhere? Does anything feel off?!"
Seriously, where are you touching?
Woojin lowered his voice.
"CEO."
"Here? What about here?"
"CEO, I'm really fine."
"Ah, thank god!"
Choi Sunggeon glared down at the restrained attacker. His eyes were blazing.
"Who the hell are you?! What is wrong with this bastard?! Are you some stalker?!"
Choi Sunggeon had experienced something similar years ago. The victim back then had been Hong Hyeyeon. And she was not the only celebrity who had gone through something like that. Disturbingly enough, incidents like this happened in the entertainment industry more often than people thought.
For example, there were sasaeng fans.
In any case, Woojin walked over to the still-shaken Hwarin. She was trembling slightly as the stylists supported her. He met her eyes, but no comforting words came out. No reassuring line, no gentle speech.
'What am I even supposed to say in a situation like this…? I really don't know.'
Would anything he said actually calm her down when he barely understood what she was feeling himself? In the end, unable to think of an answer, Woojin looked instead at the stylists around her.
"I think it'd be better if Hwarin went back to her car."
The stylists hurriedly nodded and slowly moved with Hwarin.
Then, just as she passed by him—
"Hwarin."
"…Yes?"
Woojin spoke to her gently.
"It's Chanel Allure."
"Huh?"
"You asked me about the perfume."
He gestured for her to show him her wrist, then took the perfume bottle from his pocket and lightly sprayed it there.
"It's Chanel Allure."
After looking at her for a brief moment, Woojin turned and walked back toward Choi Sunggeon. Hwarin climbed into the white van and quietly smelled the perfume on her wrist.
"…It smells nice."
She felt herself calm down a little.
Behind them, the underground parking lot where the attacker had appeared was in complete chaos. The police had already arrived, and the attacker was now fully restrained by security, barely able to do anything but breathe. Even his screaming had faded into weak, exhausted gasps.
Choi Sunggeon scratched his head and asked Hwarin's chubby manager,
"What's wrong with that bastard?"
The manager answered in a voice mixed with embarrassment, irritation, and guilt.
"I'm sorry, but I think he's Hwarin's stalker."
"Ah—"
"Things have been pretty dangerous lately. Strange letters keep showing up at the company. Sasaeng fans aren't exactly unfamiliar to Hwarin or Elani… but I never imagined some lunatic would show up with an awl."
His voice trailed off. Grinding his teeth, he quickly turned back to Woojin.
"Woojin, are you really okay?"
"Yes. I'm fine."
At that answer, the manager bowed deeply to him.
"Thank you so much. I can't even imagine what would've happened if you hadn't been here. If you feel uncomfortable about anything later, please let us know right away."
"All right. I understand."
The chubby manager let out a long sigh, then seemed to remember something and asked Woojin,
"But how did you do that?"
"Hm?"
"You remember what you just did, right? The way you caught him and subdued him?"
"…"
Oh, that? I got it as a gift from thin air.
He obviously could not say that, so Woojin coolly shifted the subject. He pointed at the attacker sprawled on the ground with his index finger.
"Shouldn't you check his pockets first?"
"What?"
"He probably drove here. If he did, there might be evidence in the car."
"Ah!"
The manager hurriedly searched the attacker's pockets, and his eyes widened. There really was a car key. Then Woojin pointed toward the far end of the parking lot.
"Press it."
Beep!
An alarm sounded somewhere. A gray compact car was parked in one corner of the garage. There were all sorts of things inside, but the most noticeable were the Hwarin posters and merchandise filling the back seat, along with a camera whose memory was packed with her photos.
The moment the chubby manager saw inside, he exploded.
"You crazy bastard!!!"
A few security guards had to stop him from charging at the attacker. Watching the situation quietly, Woojin finished his thoughts.
'There aren't many witnesses, right?'
Then he turned to Choi Sunggeon and spoke as if it were nothing.
"CEO. I'd like to be excluded from this incident."
He was asking for any record of him subduing the attacker to be left out.
"It'll be troublesome if this gets noisy. It's not a good thing."
To be honest, Woojin had never intended to use the martial arts embedded in him for anything other than acting, and he had certainly never imagined something like this would happen. But now that it had, his thinking was simple.
'This smells like another misunderstanding waiting to happen.'
He could already sense a whole new kind of misunderstanding rising up. There were already enough of those piled up around him. Even if it was too late to stop everything, there was no need to throw more oil onto the fire.
If this got out, people who knew him would definitely bombard him with questions.
In short, it would be annoying.
Kang Woojin's life was already tiring enough. He did not want things to get any bigger. What he wanted, sincerely, was peace.
That was all he was thinking.
But Choi Sunggeon, looking at him, had no idea.
He probably feels uncomfortable using something that horrible to build his fame.
Thinking that, Choi Sunggeon looked away from Woojin and scanned the parking garage. He saw the CCTV cameras mounted on the ceiling and the many parked vehicles nearby.
"Witness statements and the CCTV footage can probably be handled through discussions with Hwarin's side. But dealing with those parked cars will be harder."
If the person directly involved did not want it, then Choi Sunggeon had no choice but to agree and take action.
'All right. I'll follow Woojin's wishes for now, then let things settle naturally after that.'
If they exploited this incident, it would definitely create a wave. But doing something that underhanded would not help Kang Woojin at all in his current position. There was nothing to regret.
'Mistakes can happen. Just like with Hwarin.'
After making the calculations in his head, Choi Sunggeon looked back at Woojin.
"Understood. I'll handle the follow-up. I'll go speak with them on site. But the incident itself will probably end up being reported widely. Hwarin's company will have to deal with it, and some sort of general warning should be issued too. It's important to raise public awareness."
"I'm fine with that."
"All right. For now, stay in the car."
A few minutes later, the police car arrived, and Choi Sunggeon climbed into the front passenger seat of the van. Inside, only Kang Woojin was there, looking down at his phone. The rest of the staff were still outside. Soon Choi Sunggeon met Woojin's eyes in the rear seat and let out a small sigh.
"Whew, Woojin. It's mostly taken care of now."
"Is that so?"
At the question, Choi Sunggeon let out an even deeper sigh.
"Honestly, I'm glad Hwarin is safe, but you matter more to me."
Wow. That's really touching.
Suppressing his reaction, Woojin answered mildly.
"Yes, CEO."
"Next time, use me as the shield. I'd rather get hurt a hundred times than see you get hurt once. Got it?"
Woojin quietly let that comment slide. There was no way that was ever going to happen.
"How did the handling go?"
"What handling? The evidence is obvious. Hwarin's side is preparing to punish that stalker properly, and they'll file the report by tomorrow or the day after at the latest. I passed along what you said, but her manager told me he still has to report it to their CEO. JML Entertainment's CEO is a decent man, so I'll handle that part myself."
"Understood, CEO."
Choi Sunggeon suddenly opened and closed his mouth as though hesitating to ask something. Then, scratching his head in frustration, he finally spoke with a resigned look.
"But… how did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"What do you mean, do what? How did you subdue that attacker?"
"Ah."
"Woojin, I know this sounds weird even as I'm asking it, but are you some kind of secret agent? Seriously. What the hell was that?"
At the question, Woojin was genuinely caught off guard.
What?
A secret agent?
He nearly lost his composure right there, but somehow managed to keep himself steady while also understanding why that question had come up.
'I guess it could look that way.'
He could speak multiple foreign languages, even various forms of sign language. He had godlike acting skills, and now martial arts on top of that. Add in his cold personality and his mysterious past—
'What is this? It sounds like the backstory of a spy movie protagonist.'
The misunderstanding had definitely gone too far. At this point, keeping today's incident quiet felt even more necessary. So Woojin denied it firmly.
"Not at all. Nothing like that."
"Hahaha, all right, all right. Forget it. Even I know that sounds ridiculous."
"I'm just an actor. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Right, but still—how did you take that guy down? It happened fast, but… that wasn't something anyone could just do."
This time, Woojin chose the truth.
"I trained in hapkido a little when I was younger."
"…Hapkido? A little?"
In truth, Kang Woojin really had taken hapkido classes when he was a kid. Choi Sunggeon decided to accept the absurd answer for what it was.
"Ah—hapkido. Right. Sure. Hapkido. That must be it."
There was no point trying to understand any further.
The next morning, December 3rd, inside a meeting room—
Choi Sunggeon was seated in a medium-sized conference room. Unlike his usual casual look, he was dressed quite formally in a black blazer.
In front of him sat—
"Hehe, my film's become quite the hot topic, hasn't it?"
Director Ahn Gabok, with his short white hair.
Of course, he was not alone. Around him were the CEO of the film production company and several staff members.
In other words, this meeting was about the film Leech.
Kang Woojin was not present. The reason was simple. His schedule was extremely packed right now, and this meeting was going to involve very practical discussions. Woojin had already shown interest in Leech, but so far it was only a verbal agreement. So this meeting had been arranged to formalize his contract and discuss the details, including his appearance fee.
Choi Sunggeon answered with a professional smile.
"I was a little surprised. Shim Hanho… I was caught off guard when I suddenly saw the 기사 without any prior notice."
Director Ahn Gabok smiled with his usual wrinkled expression, as if he understood.
"I can see why. I was surprised too. I didn't realize there was a reporter at the restaurant."
After a brief exchange, Choi Sunggeon took the lead.
"Director, did actor Shim Hanho really show interest? Or did the reporter just misunderstand the situation?"
"Shim Hanho and I are close friends. But it wasn't just a meal. CEO Choi, I think you should know that. And yes, I gave him the script too."
"…I see. Did you talk to him about our Woojin as well?"
"I explained everything. He was the second person I handed the script to."
For a second, Choi Sunggeon groaned inwardly.
'Did he really have to say it like that? Shouldn't Shim Hanho have been the obvious first and only choice?!'
But the veteran director Ahn Gabok did not seem bothered in the slightest.
Still smiling faintly, he said,
"Shall we begin, then?"
When Director Ahn looked toward the production company CEO, the man began explaining the core of the meeting.
"Let's start with this."
A transparent document folder was handed over to Choi Sunggeon.
"This is our preliminary estimate for Mr. Woojin's appearance fee. We plan to finalize it today."
"All right. Let me take a look."
Choi Sunggeon scanned over the names and numbers, but the essence of it was immediately clear.
Kang Woojin / Appearance fee: 150 million won / Guaranteed bonus: 100 won per viewer beyond break-even point
"!!"
A fixed appearance fee of 150 million won, with an additional bonus structure on top. By simple calculation, if the audience went over five million viewers, Woojin's earnings would climb past 600 million won. For a rookie in his debut year, it was an enormous amount. Compared to Island of the Missing, his value had risen dramatically.
He was already being paid extremely well.
But—
'We can push this higher. This isn't the ceiling.'
Choi Sunggeon was certain he could raise Woojin's price even further.