A man checking his dashcam footage on his phone found himself wondering what on earth he was looking at. He had already replayed the same clip more than three times, yet it still hadn't gotten old.
That was how unfamiliar the scene was.
It went beyond something out of a novel. It felt closer to a miracle.
"Wow, this wasn't staged, right?"
Every time he checked, the screen showed nothing unusual at first. Cars passed by. People walked down the street. Then, all at once, it turned into something straight out of an action movie, and his eyes went wide.
After that, the neatly dressed man checked the beginning and end of the clip again.
Wow.
Unbelievable.
His eyes widened even more. The reason was simple. The footage clearly showed a crazed man with a weapon attacking a woman, then being subdued by police and dragged away in handcuffs. It was already late, but the man forgot all about going home and stayed glued to his phone.
'No, if something this huge had happened, it should already be all over the internet.'
He assumed the incident must have made the news.
Then—
"Huh? Wait a second."
He focused on the woman being attacked, the victim. From a distance, her face was slightly unclear. But once he saw her being helped forward by other women and passing in front of a car, he became certain.
"This is… Hwalin."
The woman who had been attacked was Hwalin, the one famous as Elani.
A celebrity?
Wait, then—
The man quickly reviewed the footage again in greater detail. Before long, he recognized the handsome man who had subdued the attacker in an instant.
"I-Isn't that Kang Woojin? That is Kang Woojin, right?"
He normally paid little attention to male celebrities, but there was no way he wouldn't recognize Kang Woojin's face. He had gone to see Drug Dealer with his wife not long ago, and Woojin had become such a huge topic lately that his face was impossible to miss.
So the person who took down the criminal was Kang Woojin?
The man replayed the scene where the man in the video, who appeared to be Kang Woojin, subdued the attacker. The moment he realized it really was actor Kang Woojin, the whole thing felt even more like a movie.
'No way, what is this? Kang Woojin was the one who saved Hwalin?'
This was definitely a major incident. There was no way it had not spread online already. Considering Hwalin and Kang Woojin's popularity, and the sheer drama of the situation, of course it would have blown up.
The man closed the dashcam app and immediately opened a search engine.
The keyword was Hwalin.
Just as expected.
"Yep, there it is."
The moment he searched her name, countless articles appeared. News about the incident caught on the car dashcam had already become a major online sensation.
『[Breaking] Elani's Hwalin attacked by unidentified assailant』
It was absolute chaos. Not just articles, but YouTube videos, forums, blogs, and social media posts were pouring out nonstop. The comment sections were overflowing too.
It was a genuinely shocking incident.
The man spent several minutes trying to get a grasp on the situation.
"The dashcam footage was recorded yesterday… so that means the public only found out a few hours ago?"
It felt strange.
An incident recorded on his own car's dashcam was shaking the world.
Then it happened.
"Hm? What is this?"
While skimming through the articles, the man began to feel that something was wrong.
『Thankfully, the guards subdued him… Hwalin attacked by an assailant armed with an awl』
No matter which article he read or which YouTube video he checked, there was no mention of the hero.
"Where did Kang Woojin go?"
Kang Woojin was nowhere.
What?
Not a single one of the countless articles mentioned him. But he had clearly been there. There was no way he could have just vanished. Wasn't Kang Woojin the one who subdued the attacker? He had handled it so calmly, like something out of a movie, that it should have become the main story.
And yet every article described it as though the security guards had taken care of everything. Even the official statement released by Hwalin's agency said nothing about Kang Woojin.
Of course, none of the information flooding the press was technically false.
But somehow, in the dashcam footage the man possessed, Kang Woojin's presence felt as though it had been erased from the story. On top of that, no CCTV footage had been released anywhere. At most, there were only a few photos that looked like screen captures from a video.
"..."
The man's fingers moved rapidly across his phone screen.
And then he became certain.
'My dashcam footage… is this a massive scoop?'
The moment he realized he was the only person with footage showing the entire incident, including Kang Woojin's hidden role in it, he sensed that releasing it would draw explosive public attention.
It was less calculation than instinct.
A nearly exclusive scoop.
In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through his head about what to do with the dashcam footage that had suddenly become gold.
'YouTube? A news tip? A community forum?'
──────────
The next day, the 4th, late in the morning.
The night had passed, then dawn, but the incident involving Hwalin being attacked by an unidentified assailant showed no sign of dying down.
『Hwalin assault incident reignites concerns over obsessive stalker fans』
In fact, the situation had only gotten worse. The moment the news broke the night before, people began flooding in, and by now the number had multiplied. Journalists and entertainment insiders were among them.
『[Main Issue] JML Entertainment homepage flooded by Hwalin fans demanding, "Release that stalker bastard's personal information!"』
The public response had grown several times larger than it had been the night before, and attention had reached a fever pitch.
Naturally, the outrage was still there.
And naturally, there was still not a single mention of Kang Woojin.
Everyone connected to Hwalin had been thrown into emergency mode, from her agency to the staff of the various programs she had appeared on. Among them, PD Yoon Byeongseon and the team of Our Dining Table were especially shaken.
『After trouble just before the U.S. departure, will Hwalin leave Yoon PD's Our Dining Table?』
It was unavoidable. The variety program Our Dining Table, which Hwalin was part of, was scheduled to leave for the U.S. on the 6th. But under the current circumstances, no one could be sure whether she would even be mentally stable enough to take part in the very first shoot.
Variety filming was never easy.
So in the end—
"Has Hwalin's side or her agency contacted us yet?"
"No, PD-nim. At this point, shouldn't we adjust the schedule without Hwalin?"
"That seems like the safest option."
PD Yoon Byeongseon and the Our Dining Table team were all on edge. They had expressed their concern to Hwalin after hearing about the incident the night before, but reality was reality. They couldn't just stop production because of her.
"For now, contact the other cast members first. We'll think about whether Hwalin can join the first shoot, but if it's too difficult, then let's consider having her sit this one out and join from the second shoot next year."
"Understood, PD-nim!"
At that moment—
Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
The call Yoon Byeongseon had been anxiously waiting for finally appeared on his phone.
It was Hwalin.
A calm voice followed as soon as he picked up.
"PD-nim, I'm sorry for contacting you so late."
"Oh? No, no, not at all! But are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm okay."
"That's such a relief."
"And there won't be any problem with leaving on the 6th."
"You really don't have to push yourself."
"No, it's not difficult at all."
Hwalin sounded thoroughly professional. Even after such a serious incident, she seemed determined not to miss the first filming of Our Dining Table.
"I'll see you on the 6th, PD-nim."
──────────
Hwalin was at home.
More precisely, she was sitting in front of the sofa in her living room.
She was dressed in white pajamas, her face bare, but her beauty and the mole beneath her eye still stood out even without makeup. After ending her call with PD Yoon Byeongseon, Hwalin slowly lowered her phone. A faint gloom lingered on her face, which was only natural in a situation like this.
Her gaze soon shifted to the laptop resting on the table in front of her.
Click. Click.
With just a few taps of the mouse, she was buying something while recovering at home.
'It's been so long since I bought perfume.'
It was perfume.
What else would it be?
In the middle of all that chaos, after being attacked by a stranger, it was the perfume Kang Woojin had quietly recommended to her. Whether it was because of Kang Woojin himself or not, she found comfort in that scent.
'Two bottles… no, I'll buy three.'
After purchasing three bottles, Hwalin moved the mouse again and checked the endless stream of articles about herself that were flooding online.
Then she let out a small sigh.
"...People should've seen how cool Woojin-nim looked."
Even in this situation, her fangirl side was still alive and well.
But what could she do?
Woojin clearly did not want it publicized.
Then—
Bzz.
Bzz.
The phone beside her laptop vibrated several times in short bursts. In truth, it had been like that since yesterday. Calls from worried celebrity friends had been pouring in nonstop. She had already spoken to her close friend Hong Hyeyeon the day before.
The calls kept coming.
But Hwalin wasn't answering them.
She felt drained.
Instead, she had been updating people through laptop messages.
Then the phone vibrated again.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
This time the vibration was longer.
A call.
But Hwalin had no intention of answering. She only glanced at the caller ID on the screen.
Then—
"Ah!"
The light returned to her dull eyes in an instant.
She immediately answered the call.
"Mm. Ah."
As if announcing that the person calling was someone special, she cleared her throat first.
It was Kang Woojin.
The one she liked most.
Hwalin pressed the phone to her ear.
"...Hello?"
Woojin's voice came through the line, still low and deep as ever.
"Hello, Hwalin-ssi."
"Ah? Ah, hello."
"Did you buy the perfume?"
"What?"
"The perfume."
For some reason, Hwalin let out a quiet little laugh.
"...I just bought it. Three bottles, actually."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Just as Woojin seemed ready to hang up, Hwalin quickly added one more line.
"I'm okay, Woojin-ssi."
"..."
"You didn't call because of the perfume. You were going to ask something else, weren't you?"
"That's good to hear. Eat well."
"Yes. Thank you."
Click.
After the short call ended, Hwalin leaned her head back against the sofa and lay there, naturally staring up at the ceiling.
Then she let out a breath.
"Ha…"
In an instant, the memory of the stranger attacking her returned as vividly as if it had happened only minutes ago. What was strange was that her focus was not on the terror of the attacker. Even in the middle of that exploding fear, all she could see was Kang Woojin.
"He was really cool."
A strange feeling spread through her.
"If Woojin-nim keeps doing this… I might stop being just a fan."
──────────
On the afternoon of the 5th, in writer Choi Nana's studio.
Around six people were seated around the table in the middle of the living room. Writer Choi Nana with her round glasses, her assistant writers, PD Song Manwoo flipping through documents, the production manager, DM Production staff, and even the newly appointed casting director.
They were all part of the Beneficial Evil team.
The mood was neither especially heated nor gloomy. They were nearing the end of a discussion over the script for episode three. Song Manwoo PD closed the script he had been reading, and writer Choi Nana, looking nervous, swallowed hard and asked carefully,
"W-What did you think, PD-nim?"
Song Manwoo smiled.
"It's interesting. I especially like how much faster the pace has become."
"Really?"
Choi Nana's face brightened at once.
Then the production manager jumped in.
"That was a brilliant decision. PD-nim's call was genius. Reducing it from sixteen episodes to twelve was absolutely the right move."
That was right.
There had been a change to the plan for Beneficial Evil.
It had originally been designed as a sixteen-episode series, but to heighten the tension and speed up the story, it had been cut down to twelve, with a second season already being considered.
Still—
"Let's take a short break. Writer, you've got something to drink in the fridge, right?"
As Song Manwoo PD headed toward the refrigerator, Choi Nana hurried after him.
"Y-Yeah! I bought some! Since you like it, I got mango juice."
"Did writer Park tell you that?"
"The one on the right."
"I'm so tired of that. Writer Park described me like that all through Profiler Hanryang."
"And then there's cola."
"Zero? That's too bland."
While they were chatting like that, the production manager, who had been checking his phone, suddenly brought up something else.
"The Hwalin incident is getting bigger and bigger."
The casting director joined in.
"It'll probably take at least a week. Stalker fans are common enough for female celebrities, but cases where they come at someone with a weapon are rare."
"It was an awl, right?"
"After reading the articles, all I could think was, 'What kind of lunatic does something like that?' Hwalin really could've ended up in a terrible accident. If she had actually been hurt… honestly, if I were her, I'd retire."
"Thank goodness there were security guards nearby."
Song Manwoo PD came back into the conversation holding a can of cola.
"Even after something like that, Hwalin is still carrying on with her schedule. That's professionalism. Even rookies could learn a lot from her."
"Ah, you mean Our Dining Table? They leave for the U.S. tomorrow. She's been active since she was young. Hwalin really is something."
As the topic shifted to Our Dining Table and its U.S. trip, the casting director quickly steered it back.
"PD-nim, doesn't Woojin leave for the U.S. tomorrow too?"
"...Right."
"You still haven't gotten a definite answer from him about our project, have you?"
"Hmm."
"The Our Dining Table shoot in the U.S. will probably take over a week. Woojin might need more time to decide… though there's no way he hasn't read the script yet."
That immediately dampened the mood.
Writer Choi Nana's expression darkened, and Song Manwoo PD scratched his head, clearly deep in thought. Then the practical-minded casting director spoke again.
"Rather than holding onto Plan A, which is the best-case scenario, I think it would be better to move ahead with Plan B without Woojin. After sending a script, you have to give actors time to read it. We need to lock the casting in order to move smoothly through pre-production, so dragging this out isn't going to help."
It wasn't wrong.
As the chief PD, Song Manwoo had to make decisions one after another. Hesitation could delay the production, and it might also cool the momentum of both the key staff already assembled and Choi Nana's passion.
At that point, the production manager reopened the episode three script with a regretful look.
"Sigh… do you think Woojin felt burdened by the martial arts aspect?"
"Who knows. Maybe it was the content, or maybe the action. The script turned out well enough, so maybe he hesitated because of the martial arts side of it."
"The action scenes get rougher and more intense as the story goes on, so he might have considered how it would affect his image."
"What the martial arts director said could also have been part of it. Given Woojin's packed schedule, it might've been difficult to fit in martial arts training too. Or it could've been a decision from the agency rather than Woojin himself. What do you think, PD-nim?"
"Woojin doesn't seem like the kind of person who avoids challenges or backs away from difficult things."
At that moment, Song Manwoo PD felt a wave of unease.
'He definitely said it was interesting…'
But that had only been right after he skimmed the script for episode one. Had something changed since then? Had he read the rest and decided it wasn't right?
Song Manwoo PD, who practically worshipped Kang Woojin, looked visibly darker.
"...Sigh. Let's move ahead with Plan B for now. I'll contact Woojin myself tomorrow."
And then it happened.
♬♪
The ringtone of Song Manwoo PD's phone rang from his pocket. Without thinking, he pulled it out.
Then his eyes widened.
Why?
"He's calling."
The caller ID said Kang Woojin.
At once, everyone around the table froze with their mouths hanging open. Song Manwoo PD placed the phone in the middle and answered on speaker.
"Ah, Woojin-ssi."
Soon Kang Woojin's deep voice filled the room.
"Sorry, PD-nim. My reply came a little late."
"No, not at all. Did you finish reading the script?"
"Yes."
"Ha, that… right? There are quite a lot of martial arts scenes. If there's anything you're uncomfortable with, we could tone them down a bit."
"No. If you do that, the essence of Beneficial Evil will fade."
"Hmm, that's true, but still."
"It's fine even if there's more martial arts."
At Kang Woojin's overflowing confidence, both the production manager and the casting director frowned.
Was he serious?
Meanwhile, writer Choi Nana was almost out of breath.
Because of hope.
Song Manwoo PD, sounding slightly surprised, asked over the phone,
"You're alright with learning even more martial arts?"
"Yes. As long as it strengthens the concept of Beneficial Evil."
Just as expected, Kang Woojin's response did not waver.
"PD-nim, I'll take the role of Jang Yeonwoo."