I Was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor

Translator: Dreamscribe

The shout from Director Bill Rotner to begin the “Beast” makeup. At that, Kang Woojin, who was wearing formal evening attire and looked like a perfect nobleman from head to toe, stepped out of the filming zone. Soon, over a hundred staff members began moving in perfect coordination once again. Kang Woojin inconspicuously scanned the surroundings.

‘Crazy. It was impressive earlier, but seeing it again is still spectacular.’

He was referring to the massive castle set that would represent the life of the Beast in Beast and the Beauty. They had even built castle walls. Just looking at this was overwhelming, but when seen in the context of the entire SPT Studio which spanned over 50,000 pyeong, this was merely a small area. Even so, it was impressive.

‘Isn’t this set complex basically a whole country?’

The sheer scale was jaw-dropping, but what kept making Woojin gasp in awe was the atmosphere constructed across the entire set. Villages, castles, and so on, this SPT Studio was a fantasy world in itself. And among all the people here, Woojin was the only one who had lived multiple times in the actual world of Beast and the Beauty.

Still, it was fascinating how that vast universe had been recreated so similarly in reality.

‘Of course, in terms of quality, the Void space wins hands down.’

There was also a swelling of emotion. A live-action version of a nostalgic work. And he himself was the “Beast” on this live-action set. Outwardly, he looked indifferent, but inwardly, Kang Woojin’s pride was soaring into the sky. While moving with the foreign staff, Woojin’s gaze drifted toward the upper parts of the castle walls.

How to put it, there was a lot of green.

At the edges of the castle walls, on the castle roof, and here and there on the set, green was spread everywhere. It was as if all the tops had been finished with green fabric. Looking at all the green, Kang Woojin murmured internally.

‘So that’s the green screen, huh?’

The green screen mainly used for adding special effects in production. Since ‘Beast and the Beauty’ would be heavy on CGI, there were at least twice as many green screens as in regular films. Of course, Woojin had seen them in various films before, but never this many. Merging the real and the CGI would definitely make it feel more realistic.

Woojin, having come to his own conclusions, was turning his head when a familiar female voice came from the side.

“You really suit the noble look, don’t you?”

It was Miley Cara. It wasn’t her turn yet, so her blonde hair was tied in a single strand and she was dressed casually in a white short-sleeve shirt. Because of all the eyes around them, Woojin responded in full character mode.

“It’s hot.”

“For someone saying that, you don’t look hot at all.”

“You’ll understand if you try it yourself.”

“Mm, I’m third. Also, I just took a picture of you, hope you don’t mind?”

“Not really.”

Perhaps mindful of the nearby staff’s gazes, Miley Cara took a step closer. A pleasant scent spread toward Woojin. Then Cara whispered softly.

“I ended up taking it without thinking.”

“……”

Kang Woojin chose to remain silently indifferent. Cara gave a faint smile and raised her voice.

“Time to start the ‘Beast’ makeup, right?”

“Yes.”

“As far as I know, you’ve never done such extensive makeup like this before. You’d better brace yourself.”

Giving a small thumbs-up, Cara walked away. Watching her back, Woojin tilted his head inwardly. Brace himself? You needed to brace yourself for makeup? He found it strange. For Woojin, the most intense makeup so far had been the recent Joker. It always took at least an hour.

Was it just going to take a little longer since the “Beast” level was higher?

‘Well, I did hear from the director that it would take a while. Since it’s more complex than the Joker, maybe it’ll take about two hours?’

With a surprisingly light heart, Kang Woojin began moving again. His destination was the area near the entrance of the set, where several trailers were stationed.

The biggest of them was the base of the makeup team. Soon, near the entrance of the set, Kang Woojin encountered another actress. It was Maria Armas, who had already completed her makeup. Her entire hair had been changed to brown and was slightly permed. Her outfit consisted of a beige dress with a white apron. A look befitting a staff member working in the prince’s castle. The interesting part was.

‘She’s holding a teapot.’

Maria was holding a white teapot adorned with various patterns. This was to indicate, as hinted in the poster, that she transforms into this teapot.

She was probably up next for filming.

Maria made eye contact with Woojin but didn’t say anything.

“……”

She simply passed by with a composed, aloof expression. Woojin didn’t think much of it either, but for some reason, he felt an urge to mess with her a little.

‘When we get into the shoot later, I should roar a bit louder at her. Anyway, she’s my employee, so it should be fine.’

With this amusing goal forming in his head, Kang Woojin stepped into the makeup team trailer. He had already visited once before to prepare for his “prince” look, but this time, for some reason, he was quite shocked. Of course, only on the inside.

‘Wow- fuck, what is that? They’re gonna stick those on me??!’

Inside the makeup team trailer, there were huge horns and mounds of brown fur. And that wasn’t all. There were all sorts of grotesque-looking leathers and various strange props everywhere. Woojin instinctively hesitated. He suddenly felt the urge to just say, “Oh, wrong room, haha,” and walk back out. But playing tough was second nature to him, so he held his ground.

‘Whatever, fuck it. It’s not like I’ll die.’

The foreign staff, who exuded professionalism, spotted the resolute Kang Woojin and said,

“Please have a seat here, Mr. Woojin.”

They greeted him with smiles. Woojin, pretending to be unfazed, sat in the chair the staff directed him to. He had never experienced it before, but it felt like sitting in a torture chair. The lead of the makeup team, standing behind him, lightly tapped his shoulder.

“Just relax. It’s going to take about three to four hours to complete the ‘Beast’ makeup.”

“……Four hours.”

“Yes, it’s a bit long, right? But at least it’s not a full set, so it’ll only take around four hours. It’s not too bad, really. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, please let us know.”

“No, I don’t think that will happen.”

Woojin instinctively added a layer of bravado while inwardly shouting:

‘Four hours??!!! Are they insane? Is that even possible?!’

Yes, it is possible. In Hollywood, there are makeup jobs that take more than twice that long. But for first-timer Kang Woojin, it was only natural to be shocked. Just as several staff members began attaching things to him.

Suddenly, Kang Woojin made a request to the staff.

“Can you give me the script?”

It was a clever tactic.

Later.

With the lifeline of hope, the script, in his hands, Kang Woojin’s face began undergoing all sorts of changes. At the same time, the main makeup staff member smiled again and explained.

“Still, there won’t be that many scenes with the full ‘Beast’ makeup. Just this poster shoot and a few during the main shoot……”

Her briefing didn’t register well in Woojin’s ears. His face was getting heavier and heavier with everything being applied to it. But the staff’s explanation didn’t stop.

“During the main shoot, over 80% of your scenes will be in the special effects costume, oh, you’ve seen the outfit, right? The one that fits snugly to your body.”

He hadn’t seen it yet, but Woojin gave a vague response.

“Yes, I know it.”

And so, four hours passed.

Whenever it got tough, Kang Woojin endured by secretly slipping into the Void space now and then. What had been morning was now approaching 2 p.m., and during those four hours, everyone, including Miley Cara, had finished their shoots. However, not a single actor had left the set.

The reason was simple, wasn’t it?

To see the Beast.

Soon.

“‘Beast’ coming in!!”

The “Beast” entered the filming zone, filled with countless cameras, over a hundred staff members, and dozens of Hollywood actors. Because the makeup was so heavy, staff members were supporting the “Beast” on either side, and the eagerly awaiting Director Bill Rotner reacted immediately.

“Oooooh! Killer!”

When he suddenly clapped, most of the staff joined in with applause. Kang Woojin, his whole body feeling like it weighed a ton, fiercely resisted internally.

‘Don’t clap! Stop clapping! Damn it, this is fucking heavy!!’

But there was no change in his expression. Part of it was staying in character, but also, the makeup stuck on his face was so firm that it forced stillness. The newly attached coarse and grotesque skin, thick brown fur running from his forehead to the back of his neck, the curved and pointed horns on his forehead, the enlarged and beast-like eyes, nose, and mouth, all of it transformed him. Naturally, even his teeth were fitted.

Right now, Kang Woojin was a monster itself.

But the path to becoming the “Beast” had been brutal.

At this point, the surrounding staff began expressing their amazement.

“It suits him so well!”

“Right? But Woojin seems surprisingly calm. Isn’t it hard?”

“Yeah, that’s got to be super heavy. But he looks light on his feet, right?”

No, it wasn’t. He was mentally disoriented by an experience he was going through for the very first time. Internally.

‘Uuuugh!! I feel like throwing up, seriously!!’

It felt like he had about ten pumpkins strapped to his head.

Anyway, Woojin or rather, the “Beast”, barely managed to stand in front of the camera, greeted warmly by staff and actors. He could see, but not at 100%. Vaguely visible next to the director was a blonde woman. Miley Cara. She was taking pictures of Kang Woojin no, of the “Beast”, with her phone, then suddenly chuckled.

“But why is it only your upper body that’s the ‘Beast’?”

Because only the upper body was the Beast. The lower body was still Kang Woojin’s. In other words, only half the makeup was done. Soon, the director responded.

“The lower body won’t be in the poster anyway.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Smiling slightly, Cara took a full-body photo of half-‘Beast’ Kang Woojin. Then she muttered softly.

“Title: Half-Man Half-Beast. Yep, perfect.”

The next morning, at Columbia Studios.

From executives to many stakeholders, people had gathered in a large conference room. The atmosphere was quite heavy, suggesting an important discussion. What else could it be? It was about ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’. More specifically, it was regarding Director Ahn Ga-bok’s proposal related to the Academy Awards.

“That makes no sense. It’s not about money, it could derail the future progress of ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain.’”

“Exactly. Expectations are already sky-high. If we take a risk and it flops, we could see a wave of cancellations in countries where release is already confirmed. I’m against it.”

“We all know this, right? If we push too hard, something is guaranteed to break somewhere. I’m against it too.”

As expected, the voices of opposition were louder. Things were going well, and suddenly taking on a risky challenge? It was understandable. Among the dozens of people, one man had been tapping his index finger on the desk, lost in thought. The bald executive. Perhaps because he had been involved with Kang Woojin from the start, he seemed to be the one thinking the most deeply.

He was now recalling the past.

The meeting with Director Ahn Ga-bok. The intentions of producer Nora Foster, she had unexpectedly supported Director Ahn Ga-bok’s opinion. And the recent conversation with Kang Woojin, who had reached out.

Eventually, he let out a small sigh, having made a decision.

‘Hoo- indeed, we need to change the momentum.’

In the noisy conference room, he suddenly raised his hand.

“Maybe we’re just too scared.”

The bald executive’s sudden interjection. Instantly, everyone in the room turned their eyes to him. Some frowned, others looked confused. In contrast, the bald executive calmly crossed his legs.

“Scheduling conflicts, what if the ‘Academy Awards’ bid fails, what if the budget goes up in smoke, what if theaters cut screenings. We can pile on excuse after excuse, but if we were going to spend all our time worrying, we shouldn’t have started a ‘Cinematic Universe’ in the first place.”

“So you’re saying you’re in favor?”

“It’s not about agreeing or disagreeing. I’m just pointing out that we’re all too afraid of failure right now. The dice for the ‘Cinematic Universe’ has already been cast. Didn’t we all start this knowing what was at stake?”

“……”

“Failure lurks everywhere. Whether it’s Director Ahn Ga-bok’s proposal or the plans we initially drew up. Whether it’s risky or safe, there’s no such thing as a fail-proof path. Am I wrong?”

The atmosphere began to shift. The bald executive seized the moment.

“You think I don’t care about our ‘Cinematic Universe’? But if we’ve built this massive world and we ourselves are cowardly, then the result will be a narrow-minded creation. Besides, isn’t ‘Pierrot: The Birth of a Villain’ the beginning of everything? From the very start, we’re cowering and stepping backward, that’s what we’re doing now.”

“…But on the other hand, since it is the beginning, you know better than anyone that it has to succeed without fail.”

“I know. That’s why I ask everyone this.”

The bald executive paused briefly, then scanned the entire group before posing a question.

“Kang Woojin. Do you all think the ‘Joker’ he created isn’t enough to shake Hollywood?”

“……”

“We’ve seen it, haven’t we? His chilling performance. That wasn’t some imitation, it was the real thing. Have you forgotten? Kang Woojin made even Chris Hartnett give up. All I’m saying is, let’s believe what we’ve actually witnessed. Let’s give them what they want, and I suggest we simply watch silently from here.”

Everyone in the conference room either held their breath or wore solemn expressions. Some were starting to change their minds. At this point, the bald executive brought up Kang Woojin’s name again.

“I heard that Kang Woojin said, ‘Academy Awards the year after next isn’t in my plans.’”

“Not part of his plan??”

“From the very beginning, he’s been aiming only for this year’s ‘Academy Awards.’ Yes, to be precise, since Cannes. Or maybe even before that.”

The bald executive leisurely changed the direction in which his legs were crossed.

“The very first ‘villain’ of this massive universe is showing that level of confidence so openly, and if we tuck tail and run away, all the sequel contracts with him will fall through. Because we failed to show trust.”

He dropped the core point.

“Are you all prepared to give up Kang Woojin’s ‘Joker’?”

The conference room fell into dead silence.

**

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