Dozens of Japanese voice actors had gathered inside the spacious booth. All of them were staring at the huge monitor in front of them. Naturally, the first episode of the anime Boy Friend: Remake was playing on the screen. As they watched the footage, the voice actors delivered their lines with complete focus.
What was interesting was that each of them had a different dubbing style.
Some glanced back and forth between the monitor and scripts filled with notes. Some used exaggerated gestures as they acted. Others occasionally stole glances at the other voice actors. Since everyone involved in Boy Friend: Remake was a well-known veteran, each of them had their own recording habits. Of course, that included the female lead Natsumi Umi and Sayaka Asami.
There was nothing unusual about that.
In fact, it was probably the same for all voice actors.
But inside that wide recording studio, there was one person who stood out more than anyone else. It was Kang Woojin. More precisely, he was still. Even while following the movements of the male lead, Sengoku Toru, he remained calm the entire time, and he did not look at the script even once.
That alone was enough to shock the other voice actors.
'W-What? Is he really going all the way without looking at the script?'
'At first I thought he was just showing off, but…'
'He hasn't gotten a single line wrong so far. How is that even possible?'
Yes, every now and then there were geniuses who could perform without looking at the script. Extraordinary talent like that existed not only in voice acting, but in every field.
But still—
'Kang Woojin is an actor, isn't he?!'
This was his first-ever dubbing session. It was only natural for the veteran voice actors to be stunned. Of course, they were not the only ones surprised. Most of the people watching him from outside the booth felt the same way. The chief director, the A10 Studio staff, and the voice acting staff were all visibly taken aback. In particular, Sakuchi Mahiro, the famous director from the animation industry, frowned in disbelief, unsure what to make of what he was seeing.
"I noticed it during the earlier reading too. Even without looking at the script, he matched the mouth movements and timing perfectly and didn't make a single mistake."
One of the main reasons voice actors look at the script during recording is to match the character's movements and voice perfectly inside the animation. They need to know exactly when to breathe, when to pause, and when to cough.
They recorded all those tiny details in their scripts and followed them while dubbing.
But Kang Woojin needed none of that, and he was still perfect.
And that was not all.
"Not looking at the script might be because of his acting experience, but… his dubbing feels unbelievably real."
"Right?"
"Yes. I don't know exactly how to put it, but it feels like he turned the animated Sengoku Toru into live action."
"Exactly. In the middle of all this, he's not only preserving the acting and emotion completely, he's making it feel even more alive."
The chief director unknowingly smiled as he murmured to himself.
"If he hadn't become so successful as an actor… I would've tried to recruit him as a voice actor no matter what."
Inside the booth, Kang Woojin stood out overwhelmingly even among the many famous Japanese voice actors. A girl in a wheelchair was staring at him in a daze. Asami Yusako, whose dream was to become a voice actor someday, could only think one thing.
'I'm… jealous of Mom.'
She imagined herself one day becoming a professional voice actor and standing in the same recording booth as Kang Woojin.
To her right, among those waiting, Choi Sunggeon stood with his arms crossed, wearing a crooked grin.
'I knew the animation looked good, but—'
Outside the booth, the monitor was also showing Boy Friend: Remake without sound, while the voices of the actors rang loudly through the speakers. In other words, it felt as though Choi Sunggeon was getting an advance screening of episode one.
Truthfully, Choi Sunggeon was not an anime fan. He had never been especially interested in animation.
And yet even someone like him—
'With Woojin and all these voice actors added in, this is absolutely insane.'
He had become so immersed in Boy Friend: Remake that he was completely drawn in.
'If that's the case, then how are Japanese viewers who are obsessed with anime going to react when they see this?'
──────────
Later that night, Kang Woojin's first dubbing session finally came to an end. It was well past ten o'clock.
Even after finishing his first official recording, Woojin's stiff expression did not change much.
'Whew, just like I thought, this isn't easy. Good thing I kept going in and out of the Void Space during breaks.'
Inside, however, he clicked his tongue in surprise. Well, no field was ever easy, and voice acting was definitely difficult. To be honest, if not for the cheat item called the Void Space, it would have been nearly impossible.
In any case, they had completed work all the way up to episode four of Boy Friend: Remake. They had not reached episode five, which the director had hoped for, but the schedule had not fallen seriously behind.
At this pace, it seemed possible to finish all the dubbing within three days.
After wrapping up a meeting with the production team and director about tomorrow's recording, Kang Woojin got into the van at eleven that night. By the time he reached the hotel and finished preparing for bed, it was already well past midnight. Tomorrow's recording began at nine in the morning, so once he factored in prep time, the schedule was tight.
Even so, Woojin did not feel bad.
'Once Boy Friend: Remake is finished, my schedule in Japan is basically almost done, right?'
That was because both of his major projects in Japan, The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice and Boy Friend: Remake, were nearing completion.
The next morning, May ended and June began.
On the morning of June 1, Kang Woojin ate a rice bowl Jang Suhwan had bought from a famous restaurant near the hotel while sitting in the car on the way to A10 Studio.
'What is this? This is ridiculously good.'
The flavor exploded in his mouth, but as always, Woojin kept a calm expression. Choi Sunggeon turned around from the passenger seat and looked at him while he was eating.
"Woojin, once you finish eating, take a look at the Japanese media. They're completely obsessed with you right now."
After finishing his meal, Woojin checked the trending topics on a Japanese portal site. There were three major topics in particular.
The first was The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice.
["The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice" has officially entered post-production and is aiming for a release in the second half of this year.]
Originally, they had planned to leave more space between their marketing pushes, but once they decided to expand Kang Woojin's influence, the production company and distributor moved immediately.
'Wow, they're really spreading the word everywhere.'
As a result, news about The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice had become a hot topic not only in newspapers, but also across all kinds of social media platforms. For reference, Director Kyotaro had officially entered post-production yesterday, and some of the cast aside from Woojin had already begun appearing on Japanese variety shows and YouTube for promotional activities.
The second topic was Boy Friend: Remake, which Woojin was currently recording.
[Hello, this is A10 Studio! At last, the official dubbing for Boy Friend: Remake has begun. We're revealing photos from the reunion of Kang Woojin and Sayaka Asami!!]
[#BoyFriendRemake #KangWoojin #SayakaAsami...]
Along with official SNS promotion, A10 Studio had fully launched a promotional war for Boy Friend: Remake. The project had already been widely known because of the many issues surrounding it, but once the real recording site was revealed, fan interest exploded.
And on top of that—
[Netflix original anime Boy Friend — dubbing for Boy Friend: Remake begins, Kang Woojin also participating in the OST and piano performance!]
One of the biggest highlights of Boy Friend: Remake was Kang Woojin's involvement in the OST and piano recording, and that created enormous buzz. Since Woojin's vocals and piano skills had already been proven, expectations from the Japanese public were naturally very high.
Of course, all of this was a first for Kang Woojin.
Then there was the third topic.
That news shook the Japanese media even more on June 2, the day after Kang Woojin finished the second dubbing session for Boy Friend: Remake.
[Kang Woojin's first starring film Island of the Missing surpasses 10 million viewers in Korea and becomes a major sensation.]
It was about the film Island of the Missing. Strictly speaking, it was more of a Korean film industry story than a Japanese one, but because the movie's explosive growth had drawn so much attention, and because Kang Woojin was the male lead of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, the Japanese press paid close attention to it as well.
As of yesterday, June 1, Island of the Missing had already surpassed 11 million viewers.
It was the most explosive box office run seen in the Korean film industry in recent years. The Japanese media who saw it focused less on the actual box office numbers and more on what they implied.
"Wow, Kang Woojin is really rising fast in both Korea and Japan."
"Honestly, I thought his success was temporary, just riding the Netflix wave. But at this rate, he might surpass all the Korean actors who became big in Japan before him."
"The momentum looks good so far, but… what about The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice?"
"Hard to say. Theaters here are still dominated by animation, so it could be tough, don't you think?"
They were curious whether Kang Woojin's ticket-selling power would explode in Japan too. Most media outlets and magazines were thinking the same thing.
"Can The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice break ten million in Japan as well?"
"Ten million? Well, it has Director Kyotaro and writer Akari's original work behind it, so the original fans will support it, but ten million won't be easy. There haven't been many pure film-genre movies in Japan lately that crossed that line."
"Exactly. No matter how popular Kang Woojin is, theater ticket sales are a separate issue."
"Still, at this pace… three million? That should be easy."
"I think around five million."
"The final box office performance will depend on the content of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice itself."
Japan was buzzing over all sorts of issues, but Kang Woojin paid no attention. Rather, he had no time to care.
"Cut, moving on to episode ten!!"
He was fully absorbed in the final stretch of dubbing for Boy Friend: Remake, and today was the last day of the entire recording schedule.
The final signal for the dubbing of the last episode, episode twelve, came like this—
"Cut! Great work, everyone!"
It was after eleven at night.
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Two days later, in Korea.
It was late morning on June 4. One of Korea's major film production companies, BOX Movies, had its conference room packed with people. Around thirty people had gathered, including executives and high-ranking employees.
The atmosphere in the room was fairly heavy.
"...Hmm."
"Sigh—"
The expressions of the executives seated around the U-shaped table were all similar. The BOX Movies conference room was slightly dim, and various pieces of information and data were displayed on the large PPT screen at the front. Naturally, a team leader-level employee was in the middle of a presentation.
Interestingly—
"This chart shows the results of The Naval Battle on its sixteenth day after release."
The film being shown on the screen was The Naval Battle. It had held the record for the highest attendance in Korean film history for years. The reason was simple. BOX Movies, the giant film production company, had produced The Naval Battle.
The team leader operated the remote.
Then the movie playing on the front screen changed from The Naval Battle to a different one.
"The next film is Island of the Missing."
It was the same movie that had been breaking record after record in the Korean film industry since its release. Soon the remote was pressed again, and the latest box office figures for Island of the Missing appeared on the screen.
[Audience count as of June 3, 2021]
[Daily domestic box office]
Island of the Missing / Release date: May 19 / Viewers: 550,215 / Number of screens: 1,159 / Total cumulative viewers: 12,592,969
The number had already passed twelve million and was charging toward thirteen million without slowing down. The team leader giving the presentation spoke quietly.
"These are the results as of yesterday, the 3rd. In other words, day sixteen."
Soon murmurs spread through the BOX Movies conference room. Most of the executives looked visibly uncomfortable, but the team leader with the remote continued the presentation.
"As of this week, the popularity of Island of the Missing has weakened somewhat. Weekday attendance has dropped from over 700,000 to the 400,000 to 500,000 range, and weekend attendance has fallen to a similar level."
But that was a natural phenomenon, and for The Naval Battle, it only served as a source of pain.
"Although the heat has cooled slightly, Island of the Missing is still moving at a very fast pace. Compared with past data from The Naval Battle, Island of the Missing is still ahead by two days."
One of the board-level executives cut in.
"If Island of the Missing keeps going like this… when do you think it'll overtake us?"
"…At the earliest, next week. At the latest, also next week. We expect Island of the Missing to pass 16.7 million viewers and move into the 17 million range."
In other words, according to their analysis, The Naval Battle was approaching the point where it would have to step down from the throne.
That was why most of the executives were genuinely shocked. To be honest, they had been surprised by the explosive reaction Island of the Missing showed at release, but they had never expected it to create a sensation of this scale. More than that, they had never even dreamed it would break past sixteen million.
The reason was simple.
A great deal had changed between the time The Naval Battle had been released and now. Above all, the theater industry had been far more prosperous back then. There were fewer competing films, and content platforms like Netflix were nowhere near as widespread or diverse as they were now.
Still, BOX Movies had one last hope.
"What are the highly anticipated releases coming out next week?"
"Right! What if we quietly strengthen promotion for those films?"
"That's not a bad idea, but if we make it too obvious, it could create unnecessary noise."
"Is that really the problem right now? We're at the moment where history could change!"
At the time, the Korean theatrical market was in peak season, so both domestic and international blockbuster films were opening every week. That meant they could potentially weaken the momentum of Island of the Missing, their competitor.
And also—
"If you look at the steady decline in Island of the Missing's attendance, doesn't that signal that audience interest is fading?"
"That's right. Once a successful movie starts running into strong mid-release competition, reservation rates can shift drastically."
"What does this week's schedule look like? How many new films are opening?"
"There are three highly anticipated titles. Island of the Missing is still number one, but from today through the weekend will be a crucial period."
Although it was a natural trend, it still suggested that the excitement around Island of the Missing was gradually cooling.
The drop in performance was clear evidence of that.
"It means the bubble may be starting to burst, so the numbers could fall sharply."
"Hmm. They already did everything they could with promotion, marketing, and word of mouth. There's probably not much left to push now, especially with the other blockbuster new releases going heavy on promotion too."
"The upcoming Hollywood films are also likely to have a major impact."
Little by little, a glimmer of hope for The Naval Battle began to brighten. Even the faces of the director-level executives, who had looked grim before, began to show faint smiles. The outlook for the new releases was improving as well.
But in that conference room, there was only one person whose expression remained stiff—the team leader giving the presentation.
"There's one thing we absolutely must not overlook."
"Hmm?"
"…Even though Island of the Missing is currently succeeding, there is still one major factor missing from its promotional side and from several other areas."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Kang Woojin."
It felt as though someone had suddenly thrown ice-cold water across the room. Exclamation marks flashed across most of their faces.
"!!!"
"Ah!"
Then the team leader delivering the presentation revealed one final fact that shattered the hope they had been clinging to for The Naval Battle.
"Kang Woojin returned to Korea today."