He was going to die. He really was.
Kang Woojin, or rather Juan Gonzalez, ran as if his life depended on it. The ground beneath his feet was slick with mud, giant trees blocked his view, and obstacles were everywhere, but none of that mattered.
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!!"
Compared to the dinosaurs filling his vision and the Tyrannosaurus rex right behind him, everything else felt trivial. The camera he had brought was long forgotten by now. It might have been buried somewhere in the dirt already, but survival came first.
The suffocating heat was still relentless, and the coarse grass scratched at Woojin's arms and face. Even so, Kang Woojin did not care. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead and ran as if he were ready to throw everything away.
'Run. Run like your life depends on it. Even if your bones break, do not stop. Keep moving.'
Then—
Thud! Thud!! Thud!!!
The vibration continued from behind him. While sprinting like a madman, Woojin turned his head.
"Aaaagh!!!"
Boom!!
The ground behind his back caved in. The footprint left behind was so enormous it looked large enough to crush ten people at once. It was the footprint of a Tyrannosaurus rex. The giant beast was relentlessly chasing him, snapping towering trees like toothpicks as it came.
At that moment, Kang Woojin was nothing more than prey.
No, to that Tyrannosaurus, he might have been worth less than a fly.
Roooar!!!
With its mouth full of countless sharp teeth, the monster opened its jaws wide and unleashed an ear-splitting roar. It felt as if the world itself had shaken. Woojin had no way of knowing whether the creature was enraged or excited. His ears throbbed as though blood were pouring through them, and liquid would not stop streaming from his eyes, nose, and mouth. His legs, which had been running without pause, were beginning to go numb from extreme fatigue.
It was no different from reality.
Right then—
A crunching sound came from directly behind him. The beast had opened its mouth wide, trying to bite down on Woojin, but because he was too frantic from running, he never noticed. Luckily, the monster did not catch him.
At that exact moment—
Thud!
Woojin's foot made a fatal mistake.
He tripped over a low patch of tangled grass. Already running at full speed, his body was thrown forward helplessly. With a heavy crash, his face slammed into the wet, sticky ground. Mud drenched his whole body. He might even have pissed himself. But there was no time to care about that.
Hoooooff.
A blast of hot breath swept across his back. The Tyrannosaurus had pressed its nose close to Woojin's back and was sniffing him.
It was over.
"Damn it."
Now the only thing left was to be torn apart and killed by that giant beast. To die by being shredded by a Tyrannosaurus? In some absurd way, that might not even be the worst death imaginable. How many people in the world could meet an end like that? Kang Woojin stood right on the edge of madness.
Thud!!!
The beast stepped closer, and the earth shook. Woojin, sprawled on the ground, bounced up slightly before crashing back down. His face was already coated in mud.
Fine. If he was going to die anyway, he might as well get a proper look at the bastard's face.
Half resigned to his fate, Woojin turned his battered body over.
"!!!"
His eyes widened. The reason was simple. The enormous beast's face was right in front of him. Its yellow, blood-stained teeth looked twice the size of a human's. It inhaled deeply, sniffing Woojin again. It felt as if he might be sucked straight into those massive nostrils.
Then the Tyrannosaurus rex opened its mouth wide once more.
Woojin's trembling grew stronger and stronger until it was completely out of control.
Bang! Bang!! Ratatatatatat!!
Out of nowhere, deafening gunfire rang out. The monster, its jaws still wide open, snapped its gigantic head to the side as though annoyed.
Screeeech!!!
But the shooting did not stop.
At that moment, with the sound of tires screeching, a jeep came skidding to a stop in front of the fallen Woojin. It was an open-top vehicle with no roof. Then an English voice rang out.
"Hey!! Get in! Right now!!"
His face a complete mess, Woojin jerked his head up. A large man was reaching out a hand to him. Acting on pure reflex, Woojin forced himself up with everything he had and scrambled into the jeep. The three men who had been firing at the monster climbed in as well.
Screeeech!
The jeep shot off at full speed, its tires shrieking.
Thud! Thud!! Thud!!! Thud!!!!
Of course, the beast kept chasing them stubbornly. Kang Woojin shouted at the burly man driving the jeep.
"Step on it!! Faster!!"
"Shut up!!"
"It's right behind us! It's right there!!"
"I said shut up!!"
Right then, the jeep roared out of the forest. The engine belched out a deep, heavy growl, and soon an enormous plain spread before them. Staring at it, Woojin went speechless.
Screech!
Caw! Caw!!
Roooar!!
Whether in the sky or on the ground, it did not matter.
"...My god."
Dinosaurs were everywhere.
──────────
Inside the black van.
Kang Woojin, who had been in a world full of dinosaurs only a few minutes ago, had returned to reality.
"..."
His face was gloomy. Of course, nothing had changed here. The van was still speeding down the road, and the dozen or so team members inside were absorbed in their own work. Who in the world could have imagined something like that would happen?
'Damn. That was absolutely insane.'
Woojin was still in a state of excitement, as if he had just returned from the age of dinosaurs, but he forced himself to come to his senses and reminded himself that he had to sink back into character. Then he checked his condition. Both of the hands gripping the Jurassic Land 4 script were trembling ever so slightly.
That was only natural.
A Tyrannosaurus rex had been right in front of his face just moments ago.
Without a word, Kang Woojin slowly turned to look behind him.
Fortunately, there were no dinosaurs in sight. That alone proved just how vivid the experience had been. He could still feel the rough, solid texture of the Triceratops he had touched.
'Wow, that was unbelievable.'
A giant movie screen? VR? None of it was anything compared to the void space. Woojin was more satisfied than ever. He had seen, felt, and touched real dinosaurs, not props or assembled models. It was something only Kang Woojin in the entire world could ever experience.
"Even if they make this movie, it'll just be covered in CG from start to finish."
It was hard to describe, but Jurassic Land 4 had felt like stepping into a theme park. The other films had their own difficulties, but Jurassic Land 4 was genuinely exhilarating. That was surely because the screenplay had come not from Korea, but from Hollywood.
The overwhelming scale made all the difference.
Smiling to himself, Kang Woojin quietly muttered inwardly.
'At this rate, I'm definitely going to space one day too.'
There were simply too many things he could not possibly refuse. Dinosaurs, space, the deep sea, and more. Come to think of it, fantasy and superhero genres would not be bad either. Woojin briefly thought of countless Hollywood blockbusters, then changed direction.
The engravings that had been etched into his mind, starting in France and now extending all the way to Spain.
He did not need them at the moment, but—
"If I learn this now, I'll definitely need it one day. No matter what, it'll become a huge advantage for me."
There was no downside to engraving the languages of the world into his mind. That was why he had chosen a name like Juan Gonzalez.
Anyway, putting that aside, Woojin lowered his gaze back to the Jurassic Land 4 script in his hands. No matter how he looked at it, one thought would not leave his mind.
'Do I really have to do this?'
The film had only received a mediocre B rating, and the role they had offered him was merely a supporting part.
'No matter how badly they want me, is there really any reason for me to accept it?'
Then Kang Woojin let out a small laugh inwardly.
'Wow, my level really has gone up a lot.'
He was talking about his own standing. In any case, he was now in a position where he could choose Hollywood films at will. But Kang Woojin was starting to lose interest in Jurassic Land 4. He had already gotten enough out of it through practicing Spanish, and as long as he had this script, he could always go back and watch dinosaurs whenever he wanted.
That was enough.
There was no reason to cling to it or rush. Today was not the only day, and there were countless opportunities in the world.
'Haha, I think I've finally developed a bit of composure and calm as an actor.'
Right now, the real priority was reducing the monstrous schedule and workload in front of him while carefully reviewing his options. Still, he needed to go through the other four scripts besides Jurassic Land 4 as well. Two French films, one Hollywood film, and one American television series.
Soon, Kang Woojin set down the Jurassic Land 4 script and picked up another one.
The moment he did, his reality froze once more.
──────────
Two days later, Wednesday the 20th, Tokyo, Japan.
It was around eleven in the morning inside the largest screening room of a major multiplex near Tokyo Station. Even though it was a weekday morning, the theater's biggest auditorium was completely full. More than five hundred seats were packed with people. But the attention in this screening room was not focused only on the movie itself. Something important was happening there.
On the large screen at the front of the hall, the event title was displayed in Japanese for all five hundred audience members to see.
[The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice — Audience Preview Screening]
It was an audience preview screening for the film The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, and ordinary viewers had been allowed in. Even though the official release was less than a week away, the production team had not slowed its publicity and marketing at all. If anything, they had intensified it further. Journalists who had attended preview screenings had flooded the internet with articles, and with Kang Woojin becoming a hot topic after winning Best Actor at Cannes, interest in The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice had reached its peak.
Anyway, the five hundred people attending this audience preview screening were from all sorts of backgrounds.
Some had simply come because they had been drawn in by the excessive buzz around the film, or because they had won tickets through social media events. Others were devoted fans of the original novel, The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice. Some had already developed negative feelings toward the film, and there were also Kang Woojin's Japanese fans and fans of the Japanese actors appearing in it.
Because all five hundred viewers came in with very different perspectives, the conversations before the screening were equally varied.
"Wow, I'm so excited. I'm really curious how actor Kang Woojin performed in this one."
"He won Best Actor at Cannes, didn't he? I'm sure he'll completely blow past our expectations. Especially since this character is totally different from the one he played in Boy Friend*, I'm even more excited."*
"Before watching the movie, I read the original novel The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice*, and the journalists are going crazy over it. They keep saying it betrayed the original fans and all kinds of things like that."*
"Ah, I saw those too."
Woojin's fans were openly thrilled, but the diehard fans of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice, along with those who were already negative about the adaptation, let their dissatisfaction show.
"How badly did they butcher it? I read a few articles, and apparently they ruined it. Ah, seriously, this is so annoying."
"Why are they even releasing this?"
"Probably because Kang Woojin made a name for himself at Cannes, and they're trying to ride that popularity."
"Kang Woojin, Kang Woojin. I'm already sick of hearing that name. And what kind of nonsense is it that the lead of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice is a Korean actor?"
"And I heard Kang Woojin hasn't shown his face once during promotions for The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice*."*
"Well, that's probably because he's a global star now."
"Hmph. Fine, I admit his status shot up fast, but this is too irresponsible."
The hundreds of viewers waiting for The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice to begin kept talking without pause. Their conversations varied, but they all shared one thing in common.
Kang Woojin.
"Wasn't there supposed to be a stage greeting with the cast of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice today? Is Kang Woojin really not coming?"
"He's a global star now. Do you really think he'd bother coming here?"
Right then—
The lights in the huge screening room dimmed.
Then The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice began in earnest.
The expressions of the five hundred audience members changed constantly. Eyes widened. Brows furrowed. Some looked shocked, others horrified. Some shivered with chills, while others covered their mouths. For more than two hours, not a single person remained calm.
"..."
"..."
The film ended with a close-up of Kang Woojin, also known as Iyota Kiyoshi, filling the giant screen. It denied karma and consequence and moved in a completely different direction from the original novel, The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice. By the time the ending arrived, most of the five hundred audience members were visibly shaken.
"…Does that even make sense? What the hell was that?"
The most furious of all were the most devoted fans of the original.
"This is ridiculous! That's not The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice*! Absolutely not!!"*
"No way. There's something seriously wrong with this movie!"
The auditorium, now brightly lit, instantly became loud and chaotic. Around a hundred viewers who had come without strong feelings, or who were simply Kang Woojin fans, stayed relatively quiet, but the other three hundred or so began shouting. Then several large security guards appeared near the giant screen at the front of the hall.
Behind them came director Kyotaro, his hair streaked with white, followed by the Japanese actors. Famous actors such as Kosaku Mana and Uramatsu Mifuyu were with him, but Kang Woojin was not. He had never been scheduled to attend in the first place.
Soon, director Kyotaro and the Japanese cast lined up before the five hundred viewers.
The expressions aimed at them were icy. Even so, no matter how bad the atmosphere was, there was no reason to avoid this moment.
At least, that was what director Kyotaro and the Japanese actors of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice believed. People would naturally have different perspectives on the film, and accepting that was part of their responsibility. To turn away from it would have felt no different from denying the entire film itself.
And so, the stage greeting for the audience preview of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice began.
The first to take the microphone was Japan's legendary director, Tanoguchi Kyotaro.
"Hello. I'm Tanoguchi Kyotaro, the director of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice*."*
But the moment his greeting ended, one woman seated in the audience suddenly shot to her feet and shouted in an aggressive tone.
"You call this a movie?! You completely ruined the original!!"
The furious woman screamed at the top of her lungs, but two security guards quickly escorted her out with practiced politeness. Her shouting, however, only worsened the already tense atmosphere. Her outburst became a spark, and one by one, the remaining diehard fans of The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice began shouting too.
"That's not The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice*!"*
"Why did you change the ending however you wanted?!"
"What was wrong with sticking to the original?! What even is this?!"
"This should never be released! You can't let this movie out into the world!"
The chaos deepened. Some people in the audience began leaving their seats. But whether they stayed or left, the voices of the enraged fans only grew louder. In the end, security guards and theater staff began signaling director Kyotaro and the actors to step off the stage.
At that exact moment—
"Ah."
"...What?"
"Over there."
Most of the audience members who had been shouting suddenly fell silent and turned their heads toward the main doors of the auditorium, as if drawn by some invisible force. Their faces were filled with surprise. Just seconds earlier they had been flushed red with anger, but now the hundreds of viewers were standing there with their mouths slightly open or their eyes wide.
Caught off guard by the sudden stillness, director Kyotaro tilted his head.
"Hm?"
The Japanese actors from The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice followed the audience's gaze and turned as well.
A man in a black trench coat with a deeply cynical expression was walking toward them.
Then director Kyotaro and the Japanese actors jolted in shock.
"Woojin?"
Kang Woojin had appeared out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, still wearing that indifferent expression, Woojin lightly bowed to the stunned director Kyotaro.
"Director."
Then he held out his hand. It was a clear signal asking for the microphone. Still stunned, director Kyotaro handed it over without hesitation.
Kang Woojin turned toward the hundreds of audience members and began to speak.
"Hello. I'm Kang Woojin. I played the role of Iyota Kiyoshi in The Stranger's Grim Sacrifice*."*
In a deep, gentle voice, he spoke fluent Japanese in a low tone.
Yet not a single one of the several hundred audience members who had been screaming furiously just moments earlier could say a word.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The presence and aura of Kang Woojin, the man from Cannes.
"…Wow. The real Kang Woojin really is on another level."
It sealed everyone's mouths shut.