Translator: Dreamscribe
Ethan Smith, a Hollywood stunt coordinator. The work he did in film production was vast and varied. Planning, revising, and developing action storyboards, creating and designing martial arts sequences, acting as body doubles, playing opposing roles, background contacts, training, rehearsals, and so on.
The simple list seemed endless.
Before the script is even written, action-related matters are always discussed with him, and both the director and actors would have in-depth discussions with the stunt team, not to mention consulting with him. The art team and special effects team are also closely related to the stunt team.
In other words, when it came to the action scenes in a movie, everything had to pass through his hands.
Normally, Ethan, who was based in Hollywood, was involved from the beginning to the end of a movie, but sometimes he would also take on partial action production like in the case of ‘Beneficial Evil’. Whether it was Hollywood, Asia, or anywhere else, if the timing was right, he would do it. Of course, he also considered the scale of the project. Broadly speaking, he was a freelancer, so it was natural. After all, Ethan wasn’t the only famous stunt coordinator in Hollywood.
Regardless, his experience in Hollywood was extensive.
And so were his connections.
From his perspective, the ‘CQC’-related martial arts storyboard sent by the ‘Beneficial Evil’ team was lacking. Well, in fact, there were rarely any storyboards that satisfied his eyes. A storyboard, after all, is based on the script or scenario, which is usually created by the director or writer. A storyboard that would satisfy an expert like Ethan was one in a hundred, if at all.
‘Beneficial Evil’ was no different.
It wasn’t lacking. It seemed that the writer had done thorough research. However, since they lacked practical experience, there were many points that bothered him. It was Ethan Smith’s job to refine it, but it was impossible to do it freely according to his desires. All he could do was bring out the best according to the situation and reality.
For example, the production budget or the actors.
No matter how brilliant the direction was, if there wasn’t enough money, they couldn’t shoot it in the first place. And no matter how glamorous and sophisticated the techniques were, if the actors couldn’t pull them off, it was all for nothing. Usually, a lot of time was wasted on training the actors’ skills. Therefore, even though Ethan felt the storyboard of ‘Beneficial Evil’ was lacking, he had to compromise.
Raising the actors’ level to match the storyboard was more urgent than making improvements.
But when he arrived in Korea, there was a huge twist hidden.
The ‘CQC’ storyboard provided by ‘Beneficial Evil’ wasn’t long. It was to be inserted into episodes 1 and 2 according to the script, and over 80% of it was to be shot on overseas locations.
It was about quality over quantity.
It had a feeling of hitting hard and fast. The big-nosed Ethan shook the storyboard.
“When I first received this storyboard, I thought it was overall disappointing. Boring would be the right word. While the action design could be revised, it wouldn’t matter if the lead actor was clumsy at ‘CQC’.”
The bear-like man among the team members agreed.
“Even if we develop the storyboard, the actor who just started basic training won’t be able to pull it off. A lot of time would have to be spent just on training.”
“Exactly. But yesterday, Kang Woojin was proficient in ‘CQC’.”
“His foundational martial arts were also above average.”
“Of course, ‘CQC’ is a comprehensive close-quarters combat technique. Without a martial arts foundation, that level of quality won’t come out. Anyway, despite the disappointment in the storyboard due to my judgment that he was lacking, I overlooked it because of other things like training. But if Kang Woojin’s skills are the same as yesterday, we need to make the storyboard more exciting.”
-Flap.
Ethan spread out the storyboard. Then the stunt team members also picked up the same storyboard. Then Ethan Smith spoke again.
“First, tell me your impressions from exchanging moves with Kang Woojin yesterday.”
The team members took turns briefing their thoughts and impressions.
“Kang Woojin’s situational awareness was at a level that would work in real combat.”
Although pointing out problems was also necessary, for some reason, the team members didn’t mention any. Instead, the conversation was dominated by compliments about Woojin’s movements.
“His handling of firearms was at a professional level. Of course, it’s too early to make a judgment based on just one day, but it’s a fact that he’s proficient.”
For several minutes, as Ethan received opinions from his team members, he picked up a pen and began jotting down notes on the ‘Beneficial Evil’ storyboard. He was making notes of ideas that came to mind and various elements outside of the creative choreography.
“…Guns. In the original storyboard, pistols mainly appear, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to increase the variety. Like adding rifles. The AK series comes to mind.”
“They would suit the protagonist well.”
“We also need more instances of using common objects from the surroundings, other than bare hands and knives. Things people use every day but wouldn’t think of as weapons.”
Ethan muttered as he stroked his chin, then spoke up.
“Forks—no, in Korea, they use chopsticks more than forks.”
After spitting out several more ideas, Ethan changed the topic.
“This storyboard already has decent pacing. But I think it needs to be even faster.”
“I agree. The premise itself is that the protagonist is an expert in ‘CQC’ after all.”
“The test cut we did with you guys yesterday was actually a scene dealing with a mid-level boss, so we increased the detail and decreased the pace, but the main thing is speed.”
Ethan’s firm belief was that the core of ‘CQC’ lay in speed. Of course, all his team members felt the same.
“In terms of tempo control, this storyboard needs to be at least twice as fast.”
“Twice as fast. Even more would be fine. After all, most of the cuts involve the protagonist quickly taking down dozens of opponents. While increasing the speed, we mustn’t neglect the design of the action.”
Soon, various words began coming out of Ethan and his team members’ mouths. Action design, artistry, dynamism, impact, swiftness, destructiveness, car chases, and so on.
Gradually, the ‘Beneficial Evil’ storyboard in Ethan’s hands became filled with words.
His ambitions, skills, and experiences were being laid bare. Of course, if the condition of having Kang Woojin wasn’t met, it would all be meaningless. However, Ethan was now off the leash.
This meant that the ‘CQC’ martial arts storyboard of ‘Beneficial Evil’ was being upgraded to Hollywood-level.
At that moment.
-♬♪
The phone in Ethan’s jeans pocket, who was in the middle of taking notes, started to ring. It was a call, and after checking the caller, Ethan smiled slightly. Soon, he gestured to his team members and stood up to take the call.
“Hey, Gary.”
The caller was Gary Peck, a famous Hollywood stunt coordinator, who had met with Kang Woojin during the screen test for ‘Last Kill 3’.
“Hahaha. Ethan, how’s Korea?”
“Not bad. Except for the heat.”
“Really? Did you meet Kang Woojin?”
At the thrown question, Ethan gave a different answer.
“Did you know he was ex-special forces?”
There was a brief silence from Gary on the other end of the phone before he responded.
“…Special forces?”
This time, Ethan became the host of a misunderstanding.
Meanwhile.
As Ethan was spreading this misunderstanding in Hollywood, Kang Woojin, who had left the house earlier, was busy with his schedule.
‘Wearing a coat from the morning, huh.’
His first schedule of the day was a photoshoot for a luxury brand. Although it was summer in terms of seasons, the outfits he was changing into were coats for autumn and winter. He had already changed coats with different designs about five times. It was a pretty tight situation, but this was just the beginning.
He had more than four schedules to handle today.
More than usual. The reason was simple. In a few days, Kang Woojin had to fly to LA for the Miley Cara project. To prepare for that, he had to push up and complete several schedules in advance.
Already, the domestic media was covering Woojin’s trip to LA.
『[Star Photo] Kang Woojin, on the verge of working on an album with Miley Cara, casually greets fans/Photo』
Of course, there were many other issues, but most of them were about Kang Woojin. The collaboration with Cara was particularly sensational, as it was unprecedented. He was the first non-singer Korean actor to do so. By the time Woojin finished the photoshoot, it was late lunchtime.
Woojin’s next destination after getting back into the van was a hotel. There was a fairly large fashion-related event there, and Woojin was an invited guest.
Soon.
“Woojin.”
From the passenger seat, Choi Sung-gun handed over a tablet.
“The trailer for ‘Male Friend: Remake’ just dropped.”
The official trailer for ‘Male Friend: Remake’, set to air soon, was released. Although it was entirely in Japanese, Kang Woojin had no issues watching it.
‘Nice- the quality is good.’
Kang Woojin was satisfied. First of all, he was pleased that the OST featured in the trailer included a portion of the song he sang. Additionally, his voice, which he acted as a voice actor, was also added here and there. Keeping his expression firm, Woojin murmured softly.
“It’s good.”
What was interesting was that the word of mouth for the anime ‘Male Friend: Remake’ was spreading quite rapidly in Korea as well. The search results Kang Woojin found were proof.
『“Male Friend: Remake”, featuring voice acting by ‘Kang Woojin’, releases official trailer in Japan!』
Thanks to the influence of the ‘King of Issues’, Kang Woojin, the anime ‘Male Friend: Remake’ was garnering significant attention in Korea as well. Well, Japanese anime had always enjoyed a considerable following in Korea. Moreover, the domestic OTT platform specializing in Japanese anime was also fueling the buzz, enthusiastically promoting events and advertisements.
The reason was obvious, wasn’t it?
The day after ‘Male Friend: Remake’ officially aired in Japan, the anime OTT platform in Korea would also be offering ‘Male Friend: Remake’.
In other words, Korean audiences would also be able to watch ‘Male Friend: Remake’.
With this in mind, Kang Woojin nonchalantly browsed various online communities on his phone. Although ‘Male Friend: Remake’ was primarily targeted at Japan, he was curious about the reactions from Korean fans as well.
– Never thought I’d live to see the day when a Korean actor voices a Japanese anime ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– Damn… Should I renew my anime OTT subscription for this??
– I’ve already renewed it ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– I’ll just watch the first episode, anyone know where I can stream it???
– Omg, I’m dying to watch it ASAP!!
– But what if Kang Woojin’s voice acting totally sucks??
– That might actually be fun in its own way ㅋㅋㅋㅋ, imagine people who watched it the next day trash-talking it ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– I’m seriously curious about the anime’s plot ㅋㅋㅋㅋ, wonder how they adapted it
·
·
·
The anticipation was greater than he had expected. Not everything being said was positive, of course. There were quite a few negative comments too. But so what? Woojin wasn’t bothered at all.
However, one thing did catch his attention.
-[10/Script (Title: Male Friend: Remake), SS-grade]
It was the result of the SS-grade ‘Male Friend: Remake’.
‘Hmm— It’s probably going to come down to viewership ratings, right? How high will they go?’
Noon, July 7. DM Production.
The production company jointly creating ‘Beneficial Evil’ with Netflix. Inside the expansive conference room of DM Production, where PD Song Man-woo also served as a figurehead CEO, familiar faces were gathered.
About 20 people?
PD Song Man-woo, the martial arts director, several key staff members, and across from them, four members of a Hollywood stunt coordinator team, led by Ethan Smith.
Seated around a ㄷ-shaped table, the atmosphere among them wasn’t particularly bright.
The somewhat dim lighting of the conference room contributed to this. The reason was simple. Everyone in the room had their eyes fixed straight ahead. A screen was stretched out at the front, projecting a video.
Kang Woojin, dressed in a white T-shirt and slacks, was visible on the screen.
That’s right. What everyone in the room was watching was the footage of Kang Woojin from a few days ago, when he appeared at the action school and demonstrated the ‘CQC’ storyboard in a test. The suggestion for the test had come from Ethan Smith, the leader of the stunt team. And everyone present in this conference room had witnessed that video in person.
Nevertheless.
“……”
“……”
“……”
In the video, Kang Woojin—no, ‘Jang Yeon-woo’, the protagonist of Beneficial Evil—moved with decisive precision. No one uttered a word as they watched him in action. The way ‘Jang Yeon-woo’ moved on screen was cold, calculated, and showed unwavering judgment. He was, by all accounts, a character specialized in ‘CQC’.
Meanwhile, the stunt team was mercilessly overpowered.
PD Song Man-woo, while watching the video, stole a glance at Ethan Smith’s expression across from him. It was, after all, at Ethan’s request that they were suddenly watching this video.
‘Why did he suddenly ask to watch this?’
Was he going to raise an issue or perhaps hint at going back for Hollywood? There was definitely some indication of something brewing.
After several more minutes,
As the video reached its end,
-Swoosh.
Ethan Smith suddenly spoke to PD Song Man-woo across the room. Naturally, he spoke in English, his tone serious.
“There’s something I need to discuss with you privately. Is that alright?”
He was asking to have a private conversation, away from the key staff members. Soon after, the interpreter conveyed Ethan’s request, and PD Song Man-woo asked the staff members to step out. They all left the conference room in a rush. Soon, only PD Song Man-woo, Ethan, his team, and the martial arts director—who was requested to stay by Ethan—remained.
Then,
“After seeing Mr. Kang Woojin,”
Ethan spoke to PD Song Man-woo across from him.
“I wondered why we were called here.”
PD Song Man-woo furrowed his brows slightly.
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, I felt we weren’t needed. Mr. Woojin’s ‘CQC’ is close to perfect.”
“That’s…”
“However, I understand now. Our main role was not to train but to enhance.”
Leader Ethan abruptly raised his index finger. Pointing at the paused video of Kang Woojin on the screen at the front of the room, Ethan Smith continued speaking.
“I heard that he served in the military, in the special forces. When you said Mr. Woojin was unfamiliar with ‘CQC’, you meant as an actor, not in actual practice. Certainly, there’s a difference in balance between real ‘CQC’ and choreographed ‘CQC’.”
For a moment, PD Song Man-woo and the martial arts director blinked their eyes. It was like they were in a daze. Though neither of them spoke, internally, they were screaming something akin to a wild shriek.
‘What, what is this?! Special forces??! What kind of nonsense is this??!’
‘Woojin-ssi was in the special forces??!!’
Though Ethan’s statement was completely incomprehensible to them, they didn’t have a chance to question him.
-Swoosh.
The leader of the stunt team, Ethan, handed over a transparent file to PD Song Man-woo.
“I’ve upgraded the existing storyboard. With Mr. Kang Woojin’s proficiency in ‘CQC’, we can raise the tension to a higher level.”
“This quickly?”
The sudden shift in topic made PD Song Man-woo regain his composure. After all, he was a heavyweight in the drama industry. Without hesitation, he opened the transparent file.
“…!!”
From the very first page, his eyes widened dramatically. It wasn’t the storyboard itself that caught his attention but rather the explanatory notes meant to aid understanding.
‘A 10-minute long take??’
****
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