Inside the plane bound for LAX.
The flight had already been in the air for about two hours after taking off from Incheon Airport, and there were still around eleven hours left before it reached Los Angeles International Airport. What made this flight unusual was that it was packed with broadcasting staff and celebrity managers.
They were the Our Dining Table team.
There were already dozens of people just from the production side alone, and once the cast members' staff were added in, it became a fairly large group. Among them were the cast of Our Dining Table as well, and Kang Woojin sat there with an indifferent expression, staring out the window.
On the outside, he looked calm.
Inside, he was full of excitement.
'There are so many clouds. Wow, this view is incredible.'
Like a kid on a field trip, Woojin, still Korean to the core, found it hard to believe that he was really on his way to America. Back when he had been working at that design company earlier in the year, he never would have imagined he would get to see a sight like this with his own eyes.
Even more than that—
'I'm on my way to film a variety show in America.'
This trip was not just for sightseeing. It was for filming a program by the entertainment industry heavyweight PD Yoon Byeongseon. Sitting on the plane, Woojin suddenly found himself thinking that life was really impossible to predict.
Right then—
"Woojin."
Hong Hye-yeon, who was seated to his right with her long hair tied back, had been watching his profile for a while before she finally spoke.
"Why are you zoning out? Lost in memories?"
The seating on the plane had been arranged by team. The kitchen team consisted of Kang Woojin, Hong Hye-yeon, Hwarin, Ha Kangsoo, team leader Ahn Jonghak, and the youngest, Yeon Baekgwang.
At Hong Hye-yeon's question, Woojin, who had been looking out the window, turned his head.
Memories? What memories?
This was his first time flying to America, so there was no way he had any memories connected to it. Then Kang Woojin suddenly remembered all the assumptions people tended to make about him.
Stories about studying abroad?
That ridiculous misunderstanding had taken root far too deeply. Still, Woojin had no intention of making up fake memories about America. Instead, he decided to bluff his way through it with a vague answer and a little bit of harmless posturing.
His voice came out smooth and calm.
"No. I was just thinking about a script."
Hong Hye-yeon laughed in disbelief and shook her head.
"At a time like this? I know you're a hardworking genius, but get some rest."
"I do take it easy."
Inside. Not outside, but in the void.
"When? I've never seen it. Even during breaks while filming Island of the Missing in Da Nang, you were always looking at your script."
That was because I was in the void.
"I rest whenever you're not looking."
"That's funny. I've been watching you the whole time… hmph. Anyway, let's talk about something else."
Hong Hye-yeon abruptly changed the subject.
"Are you okay with jet lag? It's not your first time in America, so I guess you'll be fine?"
Jet lag?
There was a sixteen-hour time difference between Korea and LA, but he would be fine. He had the void, after all.
Just then—
"Uh, everyone?"
PD Yoon Byeongseon, who had been talking with the writers, adjusted his glasses and stood up. It looked like he had something to say to the cast.
"People don't really use in-flight remote cams much these days, but just in case, we've set up a few small cameras around you. Chat a little, then get some sleep."
Ahn Jonghak, with his hair slicked back, grumbled.
"If nobody uses them anymore, why not just leave them out entirely?"
"Ah, but with such an excellent group gathered together, I can't afford to waste even a single opportunity."
"Always squeezing, squeezing. So, are you finally going to tell us where we're headed?"
"Yes, yes, I was just getting to that."
Grinning, PD Yoon Byeongseon continued talking to the cast, including Kang Woojin.
"I told you the first two days would be spent serving from a food truck, right? The location is a place called North Hollywood Park. There's a food truck strip there. We've also booked lodging nearby, and once we arrive at LAX, we're planning to stop by the truck before heading to the lodging."
Kang Woojin's heartbeat started picking up.
Unaware of that, PD Yoon Byeongseon smoothly moved on with the schedule.
"By the time we land at LAX, it'll be early morning. Because of the time difference, the first day will be mostly for resting. We'll shoot introductions to the food truck, the lodging, and the nearby area. We already filmed the insert shots. The real filming starts on the second day."
As he went on explaining, PD Yoon Byeongseon turned to Ahn Jonghak, who had his arms folded, and tossed him a question.
"Now then, Leader-nim, what do we start with on day two?"
Ahn Jonghak shrugged carelessly.
"Why am I the leader?"
"Because you're the boss, aren't you?"
"Boss? No, I'm just the boss in name only. The concept is obvious. The real leader is Chef Woojin."
"Then what exactly do you do?"
"Obviously, I support the chef. In any restaurant in America, the chef is basically a god."
"You're okay with taking orders from a junior? Woojin doesn't seem like the type to order people around based on hierarchy."
"So what? Honestly, being the one taking the orders is the easiest position."
"There it is. Your true feelings are finally out. You just want to be comfortable."
"That's the privilege of being boss in name only."
A ripple of laughter spread among the staff. At that point, Ahn Jonghak leaned forward and met Kang Woojin's eyes.
"Alright, Woojin. Start giving orders."
All at once, every gaze on the plane turned toward Kang Woojin, who had been sitting there in silence. An unexpected situation like this would have flustered most people, but Woojin calmly brought up the chef's recipes in his head.
Then the right answer came to him almost instantly.
"We have to decide on the menu first. After that, we choose the ingredients and buy them."
As though he had just heard the exact answer he wanted, PD Yoon Byeongseon clapped his hands.
"As expected of the leader! But Chef-nim, are you planning to prepare the entire food truck menu yourself?"
"That would be difficult. The space is limited and the movement is cramped. Two simple dishes would be more appropriate."
"Two dishes! Great. Chef-nim, choose the menu. We'll buy the ingredients based on what you pick. From the moment we land in LA, Woojin will be leading us."
At that moment, Kang Woojin was no longer a rookie actor.
He was Chef Kang Woojin.
Several more hours later.
"Alright! Let's move!!"
The Our Dining Table production crew, along with the cast including Kang Woojin, stepped into the arrival hall. A vast airport stretched out before them. Even though it was still early morning, the place was crowded with people.
And the sight in front of Kang Woojin was genuinely shocking.
'Wow, this is insane… no, seriously, wow.'
The mix of different races was fascinating, but what stood out the most was how enormous the Americans looked. Left, right, up, down, everywhere he looked, they seemed huge.
As he took it all in, Kang Woojin felt like he had somehow turned into a hobbit.
'That Black guy who just passed by! His fist was the size of my head?!'
Inside, Woojin's excitement started to spike. This did not feel like another country. It felt like another planet.
At that moment, someone tapped him on the back, snapping him out of it.
"What are you doing? Why are you just standing there?"
That finally brought Woojin back to himself, and he answered in a low voice.
"No, it's nothing."
But the excitement inside him did not die down.
'Oh my god. Where even is this place? Are we seriously still on Earth??'
Kang Woojin and the Our Dining Table team had arrived in LA.
Meanwhile, back in Korea...
It was early morning in America, but close to eleven at night in Korea. Even at that late hour, the country was still boiling over with various issues. Hwarin's stabbing incident in particular had become a major topic everywhere.
Groundless rumors, sensational articles, urban legends, wild stories, and blatant lies were all getting mixed together and snowballing bigger by the hour.
Of course, Our Dining Table heading to America was also covered in several articles. Then, in one of Korea's major online communities, a related post appeared.
[Online reactions]
[Post title: HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE NEWS)) The whole thing was captured on my car's black box (not clickbait).avi]
Just from the title alone, everyone could guess what it was about. It was such a hot issue, and the site itself was so well known, that the post quickly passed three hundred views.
More than half the people who clicked probably did so expecting to get tricked. Most posts claiming not to be clickbait usually were.
But about thirty minutes later, once the post had passed one thousand views—
[Online reactions]
[User1: Huh? What is this? Is this actually real??]
[User2: Whaaaat?? I thought it had to be edited, but it's real??????]
The comments started exploding.
In other words, it was not just some bait post made to farm clicks.
Around eight the next morning.
The place was a porridge shop near the terminal in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. It was a familiar place. It was the porridge shop run by Kang Woojin's parents. There were still no customers inside. It had just opened for the day.
On the other hand, Woojin's parents were already busy.
His father, Kang Woocheol, and his mother, Seo Hyunmi, were wiping down the tables in the dining area. One notable thing was that the inside of the shop had changed. The kitchen equipment had been replaced, and the air conditioner in the hall was brand new as well.
The reason was simple.
All of it had been done by their son, Kang Woojin.
On top of that, there were now noticeably more posters of Woojin inside the shop. Magazine pictorials, ad posters, the Drug Dealer poster, still cuts from Boy Friend, and more. It seemed fans of Kang Woojin dropped by often too.
One wall was completely covered in Polaroids taken by fans.
The place almost felt famous.
Even so—
Seo Hyunmi, who had been wiping down the tables, suddenly picked up a thin booklet from the counter. It was one of several brochures for new cars. Kang Woocheol, standing nearby with a resigned look, let out a sigh as he watched his wife.
"You're looking at that again."
"Our son is planning to change cars, so I have to choose carefully."
"You already picked one yesterday."
"When I woke up this morning, it felt like that car wasn't the right choice for me."
"It's already been days. You've been choosing for over two weeks."
"So what! I'm doing it because I like it, because I enjoy it."
"At this rate, you're going to memorize the name of every car out there."
"I already have."
Seo Hyunmi answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world and looked back down at the brochure. Kang Woocheol simply sat beside her, as if deciding to let her do whatever she wanted.
Then he picked up the remote on the counter.
After that, he turned on the big TV mounted on the wall in front of them. That TV had also recently been replaced by Kang Woojin.
Soon—
Kang Woocheol yawned and flipped through the channels the way he always did. He stopped on a public broadcasting channel. It was clearly the morning news. Since he always watched the news while opening the shop, nothing about the scene was unusual.
So for Kang Woocheol and Seo Hyunmi, it looked just like any other morning.
But then—
[Next, we report on the assault incident involving singer and actress Hwarin from a few days ago. In relation to that, new details were revealed yesterday.]
The moment the anchor said that, the ordinary start to their day was hit like a tsunami.
[The person who subdued the stalker attacking Hwarin with an ice pick was not her bodyguard, but actor Kang Woojin. The full sequence of events has come to light through black box footage uploaded to a community site by a citizen whose car was parked nearby. Reporter Go Moonhee has the story.]
At that instant, Kang Woocheol's eyes flew wide open around the remote in his hand.
"Huh? What did she just say?"
His mouth slowly fell open.
Naturally, Seo Hyunmi, who was sitting beside him, reacted just as dramatically. She threw down the brochure and shot to her feet.
"Wh-what?! What did our son do?! Honey! Did they just say Woojin's name on the news?!"
"…Yeah, I heard it too."
By then, the TV news had already switched screens. The anchor disappeared, replaced by footage that was obviously from a car black box. It was the same video that had been uploaded to the community site.
The footage began with Hwarin and Kang Woojin entering the parking lot, while the reporter's voice played over it.
[Hwarin and Kang Woojin can be seen entering the parking lot and having a brief conversation. Right then, an attacker carrying an ice pick appears.]
In the footage, Kang Woojin quickly subdued the attacker rushing at them while protecting Hwarin behind him. The skill and nerve he showed in that brief instant were incredible.
[After pushing Hwarin behind him to keep her safe, Kang Woojin first grabs the attacker's arm and twists it, throwing him down in a move that looks like something out of a film. Even in a dangerous situation, Kang Woojin remains calm.]
The news repeatedly showed the scene of Kang Woojin subduing the culprit. Then it showed Woojin taking the ice pick away from the restrained attacker.
[After subduing the culprit, Kang Woojin takes the ice pick from him and hands it to a staff member. Shortly afterward, bodyguards join in and completely restrain the attacker.]
And then came everything that happened after that.
[As you can see, it is true that Kang Woojin saved Hwarin, but speculation is growing that the reason this fact was never made public was because Kang Woojin requested that it be kept secret.]
The news then showed the community site where the black box footage had been uploaded.
[Comments on the video have already surpassed one hundred. Reactions include, "I thought I was watching a movie," "His takedown skills are incredible," "This has to be edited or CGI," and "The fact that he hid something this heroic makes him even cooler."]
Soon the news moved on to other stories, but Kang Woocheol and Seo Hyunmi kept staring blankly at the television, as though frozen in place.
Seo Hyunmi was the first to speak.
"Th-that person really is our Woojin, right?"
"…That's…"
"He was definitely… filming, right?"
"No."
At that answer, Seo Hyunmi turned her head and met Kang Woocheol's eyes. Both of their pupils had gone wide.
"…How long did Woojin even take hapkido lessons when he was little?"
Recalling a very old memory about Kang Woojin, Kang Woocheol answered shortly.
"Three months."