Chapter 74
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Translator: Wjin
Chapter: 074
Chapter Title: Short Film Contest
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The only ranking that had been stagnant was in the US, and it had finally hit number one there.
That was as good as saying it had topped the charts in every single country.
- Worldwide #1.
It was a record proving once again that Korean content could conquer the globe.
Even Newflix had gone a long time without birthing a true Global All-Kill.
'For real.'
Confirming the fact, Shin Yi-han couldn't help but widen his eyes.
'Today?'
[Newflix drama Others' Hell achieves historic global box office success! Tops charts in every country!]
[Others' Hell charges to worldwide #1 with Part 2 release, conquering the US last!]
The articles were already starting to pop up. He glanced at them once.
- Yi-han?! It hit #1! It's done!
- Isn't this a total miracle? Shin Yi-han nailed it again!!
Then at the messages from Choo Gyeo-ul, whom he'd just parted ways with.
- Hyung... it hit #1...?!?!?!?!
- H-how did you know?!!! What?!
And once more at the call from his manager, Na Seon-yong.
He'd learned the news almost the moment he got home. Shin Yi-han couldn't wipe the grin off his face.
He'd had a feeling it'd hit #1 soon,
'This is insane.'
but he honestly hadn't expected it to happen this fast.
Shin Yi-han was still smiling even as he brushed his teeth.
US #1. The real deal.
Knowing his past life made the feeling even stranger. A drama that had done well back then was now reaching even greater heights.
Even in his past life, it hadn't made much impact in English-speaking countries.
It hadn't even gotten a mention on podcasts, let alone any promo opportunities in the States.
But this time around, from Part 1 to Part 2,
everything—the story, the fun factor, the hype—was completely different.
Shin Yi-han felt another surge of joy knowing the future kept changing.
It made him feel like he was forging a brand-new path.
- Yi-han...?!
Of course, some things stayed the same for the better.
- I just watched the finale. It's insane. I'm scared! But insane! So scary! Goosebumps! Aaaah!
Pfft. Shin Yi-han burst out laughing at Kwak Hoon's text.
A reaction straight out of Kwak Hoon's playbook.
Even he had to admit the finale of Others' Hell was the kind of ending that demanded this response.
It was the episode with the most screentime for Geum Seong-je in Part 2.
The highlight that wrapped everything up.
What remained here would freeze everyone to the core until the very end.
'Might as well watch the finale and chill.'
Suddenly craving it, Shin Yi-han fired up Newflix without a second thought.
He'd already previewed Part 2 in Director Gil Mi-jin's office, so he knew the quality.
But this was the type of thing you could rewatch endlessly without getting bored.
It hadn't been long since the finale started.
The protagonist had finally set foot back in Lucky House.
- If we don't catch you,
- we're dead...!
The residents filled the first-floor hallway, all gunning for the protagonist.
- Die!
- Just die already!
To avoid being murdered by their landlord, who held all their weaknesses.
They'd completely forgotten the hell they'd inflicted on others, too busy flailing in the hell someone else had created.
They thrashed desperately to survive.
But.
Those charging to kill could never lose to those lunging just to live.
Kwajiik-!
Kwajiik! Kwajiik!
Before long, the first-floor hallway of Lucky House was drenched in blood.
Ban Gi-hyeok alone stood atop it all, hand axe gripped tight.
It didn't matter whose flesh or bones squelched underfoot.
Ban Gi-hyeok simply pressed forward.
- Geum Seong-je!
Searching for one person.
- Answer if you're alive!
- Answer me!
The voice was laced with rage at having his first kill stolen, urgency at the thought of that life ending by another's hand.
Bereok! Bereok!
Bereok! Ban Gi-hyeok flung open every door in Lucky House, hunting Geum Seong-je.
Even though he hadn't decided what to do with him yet.
He started sprinting just to confront that living, breathing form.
And at last, the final room.
Bereok-!
Huff, heave. Ban Gi-hyeok panted raggedly as he threw open the door.
The landlord's room, entered for the first time.
Worn but spacious, reeking of harsh disinfectant that masked any scent of activity.
- What, already here?
The landlord greeted him casually. Ban Gi-hyeok gripped his hand axe tighter.
- As expected.
- Our Seong-je picks 'em well.
Clap clap clap! The landlord laughed like he was having the time of his life.
And right beside him...
Geum Seong-je sat in a wheelchair.
Like a marionette with cut strings, staring blankly with unfocused eyes.
- ......
This was how Geum Seong-je had survived.
Confirming it for the first time, Ban Gi-hyeok raised his axe without hesitation.
He'd made up his mind.
To kill. To end him.
To snuff out the last breath of that empty shell.
That wasn't Geum Seong-je anymore.
But to do that, something had to go.
Lucky House's owner, the landlord.
- Where you looking?
- I'm about to grab you!
The landlord closed in first, annoyed that Ban Gi-hyeok wasn't watching him.
Ban Gi-hyeok charged right back, desperate to clear this obstacle as fast as possible.
Villain versus villain.
Protagonist meets main villain.
The life-or-death brawl unfolded.
Ban Gi-hyeok's hand axe arced toward the landlord's throat. The landlord thrust out with a sharp syringe in hand.
Thud! Kwajiik, kwajijik!
The wooden wall splintered as they tumbled across the floor—but only for a moment.
The outcome came in a flash.
Gasp, heave! Gasp! Soon, ragged breaths mingled with one person's laughter.
A smile only the victor could wear.
That's right.
The axe had only severed one wrist.
In the end, the syringe full of deadly poison plunged into Ban Gi-hyeok's neck.
- Looks like I win?
Kahat! Hahaha! The landlord cackled madly.
He savored the brink of victory with an exaggerated expression, finger hovering over the plunger.
- Huh?
- But why...
Something felt off.
- aren't you despairing?
Pinning Ban Gi-hyeok down, the landlord peered into his eyes. Pure curiosity gripped him.
He wasn't seeing his favorite part.
That moment when the hunter's arrogance—that he'd never die—crumbled.
The despair everyone else showed... wasn't there.
- Why?!
It made no sense.
Even with death staring him down, those eyes held only hatred, relief, rage, laughter—nothing more.
No despair. No sorrow. Nothing.
- Why do you think.
Ban Gi-hyeok finally said it. A hollow laugh escaped at this ending.
- We both lost.
Right as the landlord thought he'd achieved his deepest desire.
So easily.
So pointlessly.
Puk-.
- ......?
A knife plunged into the landlord's throat.
His severed vocal cords silenced him completely.
Gurgle, kuhuk...!
Clutching his neck, the landlord crawled across the floor like deflating.
Puk! Puuk! The blade struck again, ending his breath.
And the hand wielding it was, naturally,
- Ah. Thought you were gonna die crawling so quietly?
Geum Seong-je.
He, who'd hidden until the end, had climbed from the wheelchair and slit the throat.
Dragging his barely functional body—one leg gone—across the blood-and-dust floor with his arms.
Puhahat!
Laughing like he just couldn't hold it in.
- So, Gi-hyeok.
He'd overturned the entire board.
- The supreme moment when you think it's all your world.
- That freshly plucked fruit.
In a terrifyingly calm tone, Geum Seong-je parroted the landlord's own words.
- How'd it taste?
He giggled, mocking him.
- That fun for you?
He shrugged like it was utterly baffling.
- I think this is more fun.
His lips curled wide, as if his fun lay right here, right now.
Overturning a board woven with everyone's thoughts and schemes.
Then dancing freely atop it.
- Ah. This is really fun.
Puhahaha! He laughed uncontrollably.
And that mad smile on Geum Seong-je's face.
Even with his broken body.
Was plenty to send chills through everyone.
Ban Gi-hyeok watching it up close. Viewers peering from beyond the screen.
All of them.
Because... that was still Geum Seong-je, through and through.
Pure evil.
Utterly horrific evil.
Itself.
In front of that Geum Seong-je, Shin Yi-han couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.
See? Isn't this more fun?
More horrific. More chilling.
Shin Yi-han genuinely loved this ending.
Ah, of course, only he—as the actor who played Geum Seong-je—could feel this way.
Around the same time, Bobby Pax and his friends, watching the exact same Geum Seong-je in the finale, had been frozen solid for ages.
'......'
'...Holy shit.'
Facing the Geum Seong-je who'd personally slain the landlord, everyone felt an eerie shudder.
And the ending after that?
The protagonist, Ban Gi-hyeok, passed out.
Just then, the police investigating Lucky House arrived.
Boom-!
Lucky House exploded.
The massive blast made it impossible to even identify the corpses left inside as it burned fiercely.
Never once showing Ban Gi-hyeok or Geum Seong-je's fates.
The incident hit the news as the worst mass murder ever. Police tape cordoned off Lucky House.
Too many victims and perpetrators mixed in the ashes. Figuring out who killed whom was a nightmare investigation.
Reporters and gawkers swarmed the area daily.
And before that case wrapped up in a blink,
'What? No way they both just vanish without a trace?'
'Uh...? But Ban Gi-hyeok survived, right?'
'Who knows. Geum Seong-je might've killed him.'
Even the viewers were left confused.
Was this the open ending? Or was there more? They couldn't tear themselves away, dying to know.
Then, suddenly.
The screen panned to the street packed with crowds gawking at Lucky House.
'Uh...?'
'...Hold up.'
'At the edge there.'
The camera swept over the throng in the wide street.
But soon, something felt off amid the masses.
A limping figure vanishing into the crowd at one end.
A familiar face walking off in another direction.
Silhouettes unmistakably Geum Seong-je and Ban Gi-hyeok.
'What! No way!'
'Both of them! Th-they... survived?!'
'Walking off totally fine!'
Bobby Pax and his friends' eyes bulged spotting them.
A little thrill at recognizing them.
But moments later,
Bobby Pax and his friends could only rub their goosebumped arms.
'B-but... where are they going...?'
Those figures slowly blending into the crowd...
Unsettled even the viewers.
They'd just confirmed where the two were, yet now they were gone.
No clue if they headed the same way or split off.
Mingling among strangers.
Just like that.
Vanished.
"......"
"......"
Especially madmen like them.
Mixed in with the crowd.
That street looking so utterly peaceful.
It gave them chills.
"What the..."
"How am I supposed to go home now..."
"Insane. My way home's packed with crowds like that..."
All the more because it felt so real.
Bobby Pax and his friends shuddered uncontrollably.
- Others' Hell.
The logo faded in over that final shot of them.
No scene captured a hell of mutual distrust better.
"Uwaaaah...! I can't go home!"
"Let me crash!"
"Sun's up in a few hours!"
Bobby Pax and his friends kicked up even more of a fuss to shake off the feeling!
"This is straight-up crazy!"
"Mister Geum! Evil! Wow till the end!"
"Scaring me with just their backs is cheating!"
Bobby Pax felt quietly proud amid his friends' reactions.
This drama had shocked him too, but...
The actor delivering this impact had been right here two days ago!
"Heh heh heh! See? Now you get what kinda actor Yi-han is, right?! Told ya, another level!"
Bobby Pax couldn't help bragging.
"That short film we shot together two days ago... Ugh! It was insane!!"
"Uh...?"
His words—connecting screen Geum Seong-je to the short film he'd shot—
"Whoa. Hold on. I forgot."
"That... Mister Geum is that actor Yi-han?"
"The guy you shot the short with is Geum Seong-je right now?!"
sent his friends into chaos.
Yi-han was no other actor—he was Mister Geum?!
The apathy about some Korean actor's short film was long gone.
"Bobby, what kinda stunt did you pull?! How'd you cast him?!"
"Quit bragging! Show us the short! Please!"
They were dying to see that short film Bobby had shot.
"Oh, wanna see? Of course!"
Bobby grinned triumphantly at his suddenly desperate friends.
"No way I'm showing you!"
He'd submitted it to the contest at A Haunted House!
"Results come out, then it'll go up on YouTube. Watch then!"
His friends tilted their heads at that.
Not just the quick submission after shooting,
"Huh?"
"But that contest... deadline was today, right?"
"Yeah. Closed an hour ago?!"
No frantic last-second editing for submission.
"You shot it two days ago?! No edit, just watched Others' Hell with us?!"
"You're nuts?!"
They were baffled by Bobby goofing off with them.
"Psh~ Submitted it. Before you guys came."
Bobby laughed as he answered.
"One-take wonder. Barely anything to do."
His V-sign came naturally.
The short was so polished, edited in a day for submission.
"Wait, you said you submitted earlier...?"
"That possible?"
"Just two days after shooting?"
Off the cuff, Bobby nodded excitedly.
His friends remained baffled.
Even for a short film.
How could it be edited and submitted that fast?
And truth be told, the folks at A Haunted House—hosts of the short film contest—were just as baffled.
They'd gathered a day before deadline,
- ...Fun. Seriously fun all the way!
- Sniff. Korean dramas ain't dead.
- What're they gonna do, nailing thrillers like this too...!
- Guess we gotta step up? Can't have a horror house lagging in thrills!
But starting a Newflix drama on break had eaten half the day,
"Huh? Why's it midnight already...?"
"We got zilch done, right?"
"Damn."
And now, checking new submissions, they were about to spot something unexpected.
"Let's at least check how many came in today... Can't go home empty-handed."
"O-okay."
About twenty new entries that afternoon.
"Figures. Deadline brings the rush."
"Hm. Twenty... three hours to watch."
"Fewer than expected. We meet up, might as well watch ten and pick finals fodder?"
"Yeah. Let's watch with snacks! Gotta sort some for finals!"
The contest staff stretched, linking laptops to the big screen.
They saved the submitted shorts to a folder...
Thumbnails popped up atop it.
- ...?
"What. Did I binge Others' Hell too hard?"
"Tell me about it. So hyped on Mister Geum... maybe hallucinating."
The staff rubbed their eyes.
One unexpected face floated there.
"Uh... but same Asian, yet too identical to chalk up to mix-up."
"Faces match perfectly."
Familiar yet unimaginable in that spot.
"......?!"
Everyone was on the verge of flipping out.