Chapter 161: D-1
Chapter 161: D-1
The special preview screening of Mueon:ga.
The day of the so-called “Silent Screening.”
A strange tension hung in the air from the very entrance of the theater.
[ A special gift will be given to the quietest audience member. ]
It was a preview screening with a shockingly unconventional condition.
There were already many people waiting because of the news that it had won at the Cannes Film Festival, but once that unique concept was added, it immediately sparked the public’s interest and curiosity.
And when people heard that Ryu Sunho had personally prepared the gift as well, it became a massive hot topic, and the screening slots were filled through brutally fierce competition.
“Wow... it really is quiet.”
At a normal preview screening, the place would have been buzzing with excitement.
But right now, the theater lobby was quieter than a library.
As if they had already immersed themselves in the concept, people communicated with their eyes and gestures instead of words.
Some had even shown up wearing two or three masks layered over each other.
[ Practicing silence since winning the screening ticket... ]
There was even someone wearing a placard around their neck.
It was a bizarre sight, with all kinds of concept devotees gathered in one place.
Meanwhile, inside the auditorium, preparations were proceeding thoroughly.
The sound-specialized theater that Han Seungwoo had emphasized so strongly.
Before the audience entered, staff dispatched by Content Trinity were carrying out the final inspection of the small Decibel Meters installed at each seat.
“But Team Leader, won’t the movie’s sound get picked up by the meters too? Is that okay?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re selecting them by relative evaluation anyway. The movie’s sound goes in equally for everyone. We just need to catch the sounds that stand out aside from that base noise.”
“Ah...!”
“Still, this idea really is brilliant. Running it with this concept means, just like Director Han said, the audience will end up focusing entirely on the film’s sound.”
“Exactly. And since the audience will be trying their hardest not to make any noise, the immersion is going to go through the roof.”
“That’s why I thought at first it was Director Han’s idea. But apparently Actor Ryu Sunho was the one who proposed it?”
“He’s a Cannes Lions winner. It’s not like he got that Grand Prix for free. He’s a genius, a genius.”
After that, once all inspections were complete, the audience began entering.
People’s eyes widened when they saw the Decibel Meters glowing red at every seat.
But instead of making noise, they showed their excitement only through their expressions.
At last, when everyone had taken their seats, the lights went out, and the movie began.
A world on the screen where silence had to be maintained.
The audience in reality joined in that silence as well.
Even though the film did not contain a single line of dialogue, the speakers in the sound-specialized theater relentlessly stimulated the audience’s eardrums.
The sound of wind scraping against a window.
The rustle of fabric brushing past.
And even the actors’ rough breathing.
Every single noise came at them as sharply as a weapon threatening their survival.
The audience naturally held their breath.
Then, in the early-middle part of the film, there came a scene where the protagonist, Gu Sunwoo, expressed his suppressed emotions through his body.
[Crkktkktkkt—krkraak—kkrrkkt—]
At that moment, people who could not suppress their chills at Ryu Sunho’s insane acting began screaming one after another.
“Gasp...!!”
“Uaaah...!!”
“Kyaaak!!”
Brief cries of horror and shock burst out.
At that instant, the numbers on the Decibel Meters attached to the seats jolted wildly in red.
When the audience saw their meters flashing, they flinched in alarm and desperately clamped their mouths shut.
It felt as though, just like the characters in the movie, the fear that making a sound meant death had spilled over into reality.
Maintaining its suspense for sixty minutes, the film raced toward its climax.
The final ending.
The scene where Gu Sunwoo faced his own hideous true nature inside a building surrounded by hundreds of mirrors.
Gu Sunwoo’s pupils trembled as they lost focus, until at last they turned into empty voids.
And then came the final scream that burst out.
[Noooooooo!!!]
The moment Gu Sunwoo broke the taboo and collapsed with a scream, the theater speakers roared as if they were being torn apart.
At the same time, the audience’s hearts dropped with a lurch.
The audience beyond the glass wall on the screen fled, and Gu Sunwoo turned into a cold corpse.
The camera slowly closed in on dead Gu Sunwoo’s pupil.
Reflected in that black eye was an empty audience seating area, and one chair still swaying ever so slightly.
Then—
Tak.
The screen went dark, and the credits rolled.
But not a single clap was heard inside the theater.
Only the sound of breathing, leaking out here and there as though people were lost in deep shock and lingering aftertaste.
Soon, someone who had come back to their senses lifted a hand to clap.
But the rule that said “you must not make any sound” made him hesitate.
Instead, to express his admiration, he began striking his palms together in the air.
A silent applause.
The audience member doing it naturally felt a chill at that moment.
...Isn’t this exactly the same thing the audience in the movie was doing right now...?
Those creepy audience members Gu Sunwoo had witnessed beyond the glass wall, clapping without making a sound.
He had become one of them.
The thrill of reality and film collapsing into each other ran down his spine.
College student Park Sujin rubbed her bloodshot eyes as she got up.
Because she had slept poorly all night.
She had failed to win a ticket for yesterday’s Mueon:ga preview screening, and the bitterness had kept her awake.
“...Reviews, are the reviews up yet?”
The moment she opened her eyes, she reached for the phone beside her bed.
Her fingers were already moving by habit, jumping between the fan cafe and movie communities while furiously hitting refresh.
Please... please, if you got in, at least write a really detailed review...! Let me live vicariously through you, at least!
Fortunately, overnight, preview-screening reviews had begun popping up like mushrooms after rain.
Wow... it really deserved the Cannes Palme d’Or. This isn’t just national pride talking. I’m genuinely getting drunk on movie hype.
Ryu Sunho’s acting was insane. He didn’t say a single line, but he said everything with his expressions and body language. Even his breathing felt like acting.
I understand a hundred times over why Cannes broke tradition and gave him Best Actor. If they hadn’t, there probably would’ve been a riot.
New best movie of my life. Once it comes out, I’m definitely going for repeat viewings.
“That good...?”
The further she scrolled, the more it was nothing but rave reviews.
It was not just a matter of people saying it was fun.
These were reviews soaked in shock and exhilaration.
Park Sujin swallowed hard and read another review.
This time, it was a detailed account of the “Silent Screening” event itself.
《Review from the Silent Screening lol (super long, no spoilers)》
“The atmosphere at the screening was seriously unique.
Everyone must’ve come dead set on winning the gift, because they didn’t even make breathing sounds lol.
People were even muffling themselves with their clothes whenever they felt a cough coming on so they wouldn’t raise the Decibel Meter reading. It was chaos.
But the funny thing was, no matter how much they tried to hold it in, every time Ryu Sunho’s acting exploded in the middle, people all over the place kept letting out little groans like ‘gasp!’ and ‘ugh...’ lol.
But tbh, it really was impossible to hold back.
Oh, and the long-awaited first-place winner.
This person seriously deserves full respect.
Apparently they’d been practicing silence ever since the day they won the screening ticket lol.
And even when they were called up as first place on-site, they didn’t shout ‘wow!’ even once. They just held up a sketchbook they’d prepared in advance with [Thank you] written on it lol.
Ryu Sunho cracked up when he saw that and gave them the gift he’d prepared himself, a prop used during filming and a personally signed headset, and I almost died of jealousy ㅠㅠㅠ”
After reading the vivid review, Park Sujin let out a sound that was practically a groan.
“Aaaagh...! I could’ve stayed quiet too...!”
She writhed in envy, but at the same time, something in her chest swelled with emotion.
People’s expectations must be insanely high right now because of what happened at Cannes...
The flood of reviews seemed more than enough to surpass even those high expectations.
As expected, Ryu Sunho really did pull a Ryu Sunho...!
She felt strangely proud and kicked her feet on the bed.
Just then, her phone started ringing noisily.
Bzzzt— Bzzzt—
The name on the screen was [Lee Jihyeon].
A med-school friend who also fangirled over Ryu Sunho with her.
Looks like she saw the screening reviews too. Time to freak out together.
She answered with delight.
“Hey, did you see the reviews? They’re insane, right?”
“Hey... that’s not the problem right now. Did you see the Ryu Sunho interview video that just got uploaded on YouTube?”
Jihyeon’s voice on the other end did not sound normal.
“No? Why? Did he mess up the interview?”
“No, it’s not that. Those JTBN bastards seriously screwed up big time. Hurry and go watch it. I’m seriously so pissed off.”
Park Sujin hurriedly opened YouTube.
A video of Ryu Sunho’s interview with the title [JTBN Exclusive] was sitting right on the main page.
The moment she clicked on it, a stupid little sound slipped out of Sujin’s mouth.
“...Huh?”
On the screen, Ryu Sunho was moving his mouth and speaking earnestly about something.
But no sound whatsoever came out of the speakers.
JTBN Broadcasting Station, Entertainment Department office.
Reporters were gathered in front of their computer monitors, anxiously checking the reactions in the comments.
“This is really going to be okay... right?”
“...What can we do? When the higher-ups tell us to do it, we do it. Apparently the chairman’s son asked for it personally.”
“Even so... should we really just leave it like this...?”
“They say that man’s been doing great work lately. Let’s trust him for now.”
“The comments section is a complete mess right now... We’re getting absolutely torn apart.”
“...He said just endure it for six hours, so hold out a little longer. He also said if it still seems bad then, we can delete it.”
Just as they said, the comments section was filling with heated reactions.
JTBN had uploaded the video as Ryu Sunho’s exclusive interview celebrating his Cannes win, but Ryu Sunho’s voice itself had not been properly included, so people were naturally furious.
Are you kidding me? What’s the point of putting the interviewer’s questions in subtitles when we can’t hear Ryu Sunho’s answers?
Does JTBN not review its videos before uploading? Did the editor make this half-asleep?
But the weird thing is, you can hear the background music and sound effects just fine, and only Ryu Sunho’s voice is missing.
⌞At this point, doesn’t it look like they muted it on purpose?
⌞Nah, no way; why would JTBN go out of its way to do something like that?
JTBN really has some nerve lol. They baited everyone with “first exclusive interview” and then pulled this kind of disaster. Do they think Ryu Sunho’s ever going to give them another interview after this?
Take the video down and reupload it already! Are all the staff on vacation or what? What the hell are they doing right now?
But even in the middle of all this, just how hard was Ryu Sunho answering? Even though we can’t hear his voice, I feel like I can basically tell what he’s saying ㅠㅠ
⌞Seriously lol, his expressions are so rich it feels like all his words are visible.
As the employees failed to hide their anxiety in the face of the flood of angry comments, Seo Jiyeon, the reporter who had personally conducted the interview, was instead focused on other work without a care.
“Aren’t you worried, Reporter Seo?”
“The six hours aren’t up yet.”
“Wow... seriously, Reporter Seo deserves respect. She’s got nerves of steel.”
Though she said it indifferently, she had something she was relying on.
She had directly heard the bigger picture Ryu Sunho laid out on the day of the interview.
The moment she heard it, she had immediately pictured how dramatically people’s reactions would change.
This is absolutely bound to hit big. Getting cursed out right now? That’s actually better. Later, people will come looking for the video again to reevaluate it.
After that, the promised six hours passed.
From that point onward, strange eyewitness accounts began appearing one by one across social media and online communities.
[Why are all the ads Ryu Sunho appears in like this?]
Someone had uploaded a video filmed at Hongdae Entrance.
It was a giant digital outdoor billboard owned by Taeseong Ilbo.
There, an ad for Mate, the beverage brand Ryu Sunho modeled for, was playing.
On the screen, Ryu Sunho wiped away sweat and then took a refreshing gulp of the drink.
The cool swallowing sound, the clinking of ice, and the beat-heavy background music all rang out loudly.
But the moment Ryu Sunho opened his mouth—
[ “......” ]
No sound came out at the exact timing when his voice should have been heard.
It was as though someone had pressed the mute button only for that part.
At first, people assumed the billboard was malfunctioning.
Wow, that expensive billboard broke down lol. Don’t they maintain it?
But hold on, the background music is playing fine though?
The strange eyewitness accounts kept coming.
From another digital outdoor billboard came Ryu Sunho’s Singgeut ice cream ad.
Ryu Sunho bit into the ice cream and let out an exclamation—
[ “......” ]
Again, there was no sound.
People wondered if maybe it was a billboard malfunction after all.
But the ad featuring another model that played immediately afterward had perfectly fine audio.
Only the ads featuring Ryu Sunho had his voice erased.
Only then did people gradually begin sensing that something was off.
??? What is this?
Isn’t it weird that only Ryu Sunho’s ads have no sound?
⌞No, it’s not that only Ryu Sunho’s ads have no sound. To be exact, only Ryu Sunho’s voice is missing.
⌞Huh? But now that I think about it, in the JTBN interview too, only Ryu Sunho’s voice was missing.
⌞Wait a second... no way?
Ryu Sunho, the film Mueon:ga, and the media channels owned by Taeseong Ilbo.
Each fragment was beginning to connect into a single line.
And about an hour later, a speculative post appeared in one online community.
[My guess on why Ryu Sunho’s voice keeps disappearing right now]
It was a post full of sharp analysis.
The post instantly spread everywhere as it racked up thousands of recommendations, and people began finding the situation entertaining.
The swearing and condemnation stopped, and detective play began instead.
And finally, as if they had been waiting for exactly this moment, Content Trinity released an official press statement.
[“If you make a sound, you die”... Ryu Sunho’s voice has disappeared]
[From interviews to outdoor ads... Why was Ryu Sunho’s voice erased?]
[An unconventional marketing campaign that expanded the film’s worldview into reality]
An official finishing blow.
Questions turned into certainty, and certainty turned into admiration.
People thrilled at the realization that they had already stepped inside the massive worldview Ryu Sunho had designed.
Holy shit lol, I never even imagined this.
Just how huge of a board did Ryu Sunho lay out in advance..?
We were all mere mortals..
An actor who came back after sweeping Cannes really is on a whole different level.
Damn, this is already as exhilarating as getting punched in the face lol.
Interactive marketing made the public voluntarily experience the film’s worldview indirectly.
Thanks to that, anticipation for the movie shot straight upward.
Now it was D-1 until release.