Now, only Kang Woojin or Iyota Kiyoshi remained on the rooftop.
Even though someone had just fallen, Woojin showed no reaction at all. He simply kept staring at the same spot.
"..."
The camera, which had been slowly scanning him from the side, finally reached the front of his face. It traveled upward from his chest to his face in one slow sweep. Kiyoshi was unnervingly calm. His blinking was steady, and even his breathing was even.
Everything about him was empty and still.
Swish.
Something white fluttered down between the camera and Kang Woojin.
"Hm?"
As Woojin slowly lifted his head, the camera followed a beat later. More and more white filled the sky.
Snow.
Strangely enough, despite the horrific events that had unfolded in the fishing village, the falling snow turned the desolate landscape into something almost beautiful.
At that moment, Kang Woojin stretched out his right hand and murmured in a flat voice.
"Did they say they'd be here soon?"
The camera caught a snowflake landing in his palm. It was artificial snow, but Kang Woojin, steeped in Iyota Kiyoshi's presence, felt the cold exactly as it was.
"Let's go down."
Muttering to himself, he turned around. His steps were ordinary, without a trace of urgency. If anything, they were too ordinary. The camera pulled back and caught him from the front.
That was when Director Kyotaro called cut. They filmed the same scene one more time, and after two takes it passed. Once the set below the building had been prepared, filming resumed.
Swish.
Kang Woojin had already come down from the building. He turned his head to the left.
"..."
His dry gaze landed on the bloodied corpse. Woojin walked over calmly. Even his usual blank expression was gone, leaving him looking like emptiness itself. In his eyes, only the lifeless body lying there stood out clearly.
A homeless man.
No, it was Misaki Shutoku.
The camera vividly captured the body, its head smashed beyond recognition.
He was Misaki Toka's father. Woojin had found him a year before he began carrying out his task in earnest.
'Hello. My name is Iyota Kiyoshi.'
Shutoku had been living like a complete ruin of a man. He was as good as dead already. After his daughter died, his wife had also passed away after losing her mind. There had been nothing left for him. He was little more than a breathing doll.
Woojin had only briefly breathed life back into him.
"Your daughter didn't kill herself. She was murdered."
Woojin told him everything he knew, every last bit of pain his daughter had suffered. Shutoku had burned with rage, exactly as Kiyoshi had expected. Once he found a reason to live, Shutoku dragged out his life just to walk beside Kiyoshi.
And a few minutes ago, that journey had come to an end.
Kiyoshi, or rather Woojin, silently looked down at Shutoku's body, soaked in blood and gradually being covered by snow. Kang Woojin's eyes were dry.
'In the end, I should have stopped him.'
"It never had to go this far."
In truth, Kang Woojin had built his plan on the assumption that Shutoku would stay alive. He had prepared specific ways to throw the investigation off and had even worked out what instructions he would give him. But there was no longer any need for that. Woojin looked down at Shutoku, whose body was steadily turning colder.
"I'd like to hide all of it for you, but that won't be possible now."
He spoke even though he knew there would be no answer.
"If I cover anything up, it'll make it obvious that a third party was involved."
"..."
Again, there was no reply. But just as Woojin turned to leave, he flinched.
Because Shutoku's voice, a voice that should never have been heard, brushed past his ear.
'Thank you. Now go where you need to go.'
That voice was not actually heard on set. It would be added later in editing, and at the time there had been no sound at all. But the camera's close-up caught Kang Woojin's expression in full. His face remained blank, and his eyelids blinked calmly.
Even the faint tremor in those lifeless eyes.
Nothing changed on the surface, but inside, something was shaking in silence. After standing there without reacting for around five seconds, Woojin moved again.
The snow began to come down harder. He stopped at the dock where two wooden boats were moored. One camera filmed him from behind, while another caught Konakayama Kinjo crouched naked inside one of the boats.
His eyes were wide open, but there was no movement at all.
Snow was piling up over his bare body, and a strange wound marked his neck. Kang Woojin looked down at Kinjo without emotion, then pulled something from his pocket.
Swish.
It was a crumpled sheet of paper. He unfolded it. Of the nine names written there, he marked an X beside Konakayama Kinjo.
"The second one."
Above Kinjo's name was Horinochi Amie, the woman who had been moved by the fragments of Kinjo's life.
Kang Woojin quietly examined the names, then folded the paper again and slipped it back into his pocket.
"It's cold."
With that dry remark, he lifted his head and looked up at the sky. The camera slowly pulled back. On the monitor, Kang Woojin's eerie back, the bright moonlight, and the restless sea were all gradually swallowed by the falling snow.
It was a strangely beautiful shot.
──────────
Everything was showing on the monitor. Beside Director Kyotaro, who was watching intently with a grave expression, Writer Akari stood wrapped in a padded jacket, both hands over her mouth as she stared at the screen. Then she slowly raised her head and looked at Kang Woojin's back beyond the monitor.
Iyota Kiyoshi.
He was there as though he had always been real.
She was so overwhelmed she felt on the verge of fainting.
'To be able to witness something like this…'
It felt like tears might spill at any moment. The scenes the fans had imagined and the characters she herself had created were unfolding right in front of her. This was not mere recreation. It felt as though the world inside the book had been brought here intact.
'It's incredible. How could any writer not be moved by this? What would this have been like if Woojin hadn't been Iyota Kiyoshi?'
Whenever a writer's work is adapted into live action, there are always things that have to be abandoned because of the thick wall of reality. But Writer Akari chose to think of this as stepping into another world.
This was the world of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice.
And her ambition only grew stronger.
'I need to show this to them soon. I want to show it to everyone who read my writing as quickly as possible.'
Kang Woojin had built the world of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, and she wanted to show that world to its readers. If even the original author was this overwhelmed, then how much more overwhelmed would the fans who had loved the story be?
Director Kyotaro felt the same.
'His acting… the intensity has risen to an unbelievable level. I was already stunned during the script reading, but now there's something deeper in it, something more flexible, something I can't even put into words.'
He was watching not only the direction of the scene but Kang Woojin's acting itself.
"He already performs at a world-class level, and yet he keeps improving. It feels like there's no end to his growth."
He felt relieved.
'Who else could portray such profound, hollow killing intent? Only Woojin can do this.'
And a thought came to him.
'He really is a monster. The character he created, Iyota Kiyoshi, will remain a legend in Japanese film history.'
For a brief moment, silence settled over the entire set.
As soon as Kang Woojin's gaze stopped on the falling snow, the camera filming his back went still, and so did the dozens of staff members who had been swallowing nervously. Even the lead actors who had come only to watch, despite not appearing in the scene, were fixed on Kang Woojin's performance.
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere was solemn and quiet, but the air itself felt charged enough to suffocate. The tension on set had climbed to its peak.
Then, in that very moment, Director Kyotaro suddenly jumped to his feet and shouted with force.
"Cut!!"
"Agh!!!"
Naturally, the shot was approved in a single take.
──────────
Thirty minutes later, the dockside set for The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice was being cleared away. It was already past eleven at night. Filming for the day seemed to be over, but they were scheduled to begin again early the next morning. So the dozens of staff members were busy cleaning up and preparing for tomorrow.
Among them, the great Director Kyotaro was going around enthusiastically praising the actors.
He started with the supporting actor who had played the homeless man, Misaki Shutoku.
"Haha, that was excellent. Your delivery on the rooftop was especially good."
"Thank you, Director."
Then he turned to Yasuta, who had played Kinjo.
"Ogimoto-san, your performance in the latter half was excellent. It was exactly the atmosphere and acting I wanted."
"R-Really? Truly?"
"Yes. That was exactly the Kinjo the writer and I had in mind. Did you suddenly reach some kind of breakthrough? Hahaha."
"No, no, that's not it!"
"You worked very hard. The corpse makeup and posture may be uncomfortable, but I'm looking forward to your work again tomorrow morning."
"Of course!"
Even with his nearly naked body wrapped in a thick coat, Yasuta's eyes burned with ambition. Praise from Tanoguchi Kyotaro, one of Japan's greatest directors, carried that much weight.
Soon after, Director Kyotaro approached Kang Woojin, who was wearing a long navy padded coat and speaking with Choi Sunggeon.
"Woojin-san."
At the sound of his name in Japanese, Woojin turned with an indifferent expression. The moment he realized who it was, his voice softened.
"Ah, Director. You worked hard."
"What do you mean? Woojin, you worked especially hard. Filming starts in the afternoon tomorrow, so you can rest well."
"Yes, Director."
Having overheard their exchange, Choi Sunggeon stepped back with Woojin's team, including Han Yejung. Director Kyotaro moved a little closer, as if preparing to say something more personal, and smiled faintly.
"You gave Ogimoto-san some advice during filming, didn't you?"
He was referring to Yasuta. Director Kyotaro thought Yasuta had regained his footing thanks to Kang Woojin's advice. Meanwhile, Woojin found himself momentarily puzzled.
'Advice? What did I say?'
Then he remembered telling Yasuta on the boat to catch his breath.
'Ah, that.'
Assuming Kyotaro must have seen it on the monitor, Woojin nodded easily.
"Yes. He looked like he was in trouble."
Just as I thought.
Kyotaro's smile widened.
"Thank you. An actor ended up doing what a director should have done."
"Not at all. It's better for someone to say something before there's an accident."
"It really was that close. If it had continued, we might have had to stop filming for the day."
If an actor had collapsed, it could have affected not just today but several days after that.
With that in mind, Woojin quietly continued.
"I'm glad it was resolved before that happened."
"His acting was already more than enough, but I didn't expect you to look after the other actors too. That side of you is unexpected, Woojin. You don't seem as cold as you look. In any case, I heard Ogimoto-san had a breakthrough in his acting because of you. What exactly did you tell him?"
And then, almost repeating himself, he added,
"I didn't expect you to care about another actor's condition too. That side of you really is unexpected. I heard Ogimoto-san had a breakthrough because of you. What advice did you give him?"
'A breakthrough in acting? Advice?'
It felt a little off, but Woojin answered vaguely anyway.
"I only told him to breathe slowly."
"Breathing. For Ogimoto-san, that must have been the perfect answer."
They were technically talking about different things, but somehow the conversation flowed without any problem. Around then, Yasuta, who had been cornered by the main cast of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, was being bombarded with questions.
"Yasuta, what exactly did Kang Woojin do to you on the boat? Your acting changed completely after that."
"Yeah, did Woojin give you some kind of advice? What did he say?"
"Did he really teach you acting?"
The handsome Yasuta smiled and nodded.
"Yes. I was able to change because of his advice. Once filming for The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice is over… I think I'll return to the stage."
"W-What did he say to you?"
"Filming might end in a few days, but don't let your guard down. Watching Woojin from a distance and seeing him up close are two completely different things. Forget the idea that this is acting. Once you fall under Kang Woojin's spell, this place becomes the world of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice."*
Then Yasuta declared to the remaining actors of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice,
"You'll be fighting a bloody battle against a real monster called Iyota Kiyoshi."
──────────
The next morning.
On the twenty-first, Shin-Okubo, known in Japan as Koreatown, had become a famous tourist spot thanks to the explosive popularity of Hallyu. The streets were crowded not just with Koreans and Japanese people but with tourists from all over the world.
In the middle of all that, three foreigners were seen sitting by the window of a large café.
A woman with a short brown bob, a man with short orange hair, and a heavyset man.
There were three in total, and the woman with the brown bob had a familiar face.
She was Megan Stone, the casting director for the Hollywood film Last Kill 3.
She was the one who had first brought Kang Woojin to the attention of the Santa-like Director George Mendes, and she had also attended Woojin's screen test alongside the famous producer Joseph Felton. So why had she suddenly turned up in Japan?
It definitely was not to see Kang Woojin.
Megan Stone and her team had simply come to Japan to attend the Tokyo International Short Film Festival, which had wrapped up a few days earlier. It was the kind of festival Hollywood insiders visited every year. In other words, this was a business trip.
That meant her running into Kang Woojin in Japan had been pure coincidence.
In any case, Megan's team had wrapped up the festival, taken some time to rest, and was scheduled to leave Japan later that afternoon. At the moment, they were leisurely sightseeing around Tokyo. Naturally, their conversation had turned to the Tokyo International Short Film Festival.
"Compared to what I expected, it was a little disappointing."
At the heavyset foreign man's comment, the orange-haired man nodded.
"Exactly. It was grand in scale, sure, but there wasn't much to actually see. Even the actors they brought in weren't especially impressive."
As they spoke in English, nearby Japanese customers occasionally glanced over. Megan brushed back her brown bob and crossed her long legs.
"Kang Woojin was there too."
The sudden mention of the Korean actor made the others nod at once.
"Who? Kang Woojin? Ah, right, that Korean actor."
"Yeah. I was surprised he showed up at the closing party. I never expected him to be in Japan instead of Korea."
Megan took a sip of coffee before replying.
"He's obviously here because he's filming Director Tanoguchi Kyotaro's movie."
"Ah, right. I remember seeing that when we looked into him. Looks like he's doing well."
Megan and her colleagues had not paid much attention to Kang Woojin after the Last Kill 3 audition. The role he auditioned for was minor, and they were all busy anyway. But Megan, as the leader of the team, had stayed interested in him.
"I'm curious."
"About what?"
"About Kang Woojin."
"Why?"
"It feels like there's been some noticeable change around him."
The recent case involving Miley Kara was worth noting too. For some reason, she had met Kang Woojin during her visit to Korea and praised him lavishly on The Jamie Show. It had sounded like more than casual praise. It was sincere.
And that was not all.
'Joseph Felton is showing interest too.'
The famous Hollywood producer Joseph had also asked about Kang Woojin after the audition. He had even requested a detailed report. Why? Why were people like that showing such keen interest in a Korean actor?
'Of course, I know he isn't ordinary.'
His filmography and the martial arts he showed during the test were impressive in their own right, but somehow it still did not feel like enough. That was why Megan had looked into him more after seeing him a few days ago.
The articles were absurd beyond belief.
And it was the same in Korea. He came to Japan to film something, then suddenly made a bold declaration of war?
That was why Megan's curiosity had reached its peak.
"Why are all those famous people always around Kang Woojin?"
The heavyset man casually shrugged.
"Maybe it's coincidence, or maybe it's because he has more than just basic skill. Honestly, what we saw of his martial arts during the test was impressive."
"But we've never seen him act."
"Acting? Well, from what I heard from Director George and a few others, a lot of people were overwhelmed by his acting after the audition."
Overwhelmed?
That could not be right.
At the time, the idea that he would turn down Last Kill 3 had felt completely absurd, and Megan had thought so too. Logically, nobody would pass up an opportunity like that. But looking back on it now, the idea that he had been intimidated felt strange instead.
Kang Woojin had seemed almost excessively confident about that whole matter.
"...I suppose I'll have to see for myself."
When Megan murmured that, her teammates frowned.
"See what? What do you mean, see?"
Megan smiled at them with her phone in hand.
"Looks like we'll have to postpone our departure by a few days."
And with that, she placed a call.