Chapter 189: One Take
Chapter 189: One Take
An old multi-level parking garage on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
The parking garage was packed with old cars prepared for the action scene.
Most of them were vehicles on the verge of being scrapped, giving off a bleak atmosphere.
Amid all that, one very out-of-place vehicle drove into the garage.
A truck wrapped in flashy pastel tones.
On the front hung a huge banner with Ryu Sunho’s face printed across it.
[Our Check Mate, Ryu! We support you!]
(We support our Check Mate, Ryu Sunho!)
It was a support gift sent by Ryu Sunho’s fan café, Seonhosasang.
A coffee truck of the kind usually seen only in Korea had actually made its way into the middle of Hollywood.
“What’s that? A food truck?”
“I heard it’s a Korean-style support culture.”
“Wow! Is this free?”
“The menu’s huge too.”
At first, the local staff found it unfamiliar, but soon a long line formed in front of the coffee truck.
The menu offered not only basic coffee like Americanos, but all kinds of drinks.
“Yuja tea? What’s that?”
“It’s like a sweet citrus tea. It wipes your fatigue right away.”
“Oh, really? Then I’ll have that!”
The staff were even more enthusiastic about the Korean-style drinks they had never seen before than about the coffee.
Some drank cold maesil tea and gave a thumbs-up, while others blew on warm yuja tea as they sipped it. It was quite a sight.
At that moment, Director Quentin came over to Ryu Sunho.
In his hand was a mysterious beige-colored drink.
“Hey, Ryu. This drink that looks like sand is called MSGR, apparently. What does that mean?”
“Ah, misutgaru. It’s a traditional Korean grain drink.”
“Mi-su-ga-ru. Hard to pronounce.”
Quentin took a long sip through the straw, then opened his eyes wide.
“Oh, shit! This is really good. It’s nutty and sweet, exactly my style.”
He kept sucking it down and admiring it.
The last time, he had finished an entire bag of the rice snacks Team Leader Jo Sehun had gifted him in one sitting.
It seemed Korean-style snacks suited his taste perfectly.
Next time, I should ask them to bring packets of misutgaru powder too.
After that, the staff, refreshed after their drinks, began moving busily again.
A meeting continued about the scene to be filmed today.
“Today’s scene is an action sequence where the Knight, Rook, and Bishop personalities of Alex Han appear in alternating turns.”
The assistant director explained with a grave expression.
“And this scene will especially be shot in a single take without breaking the cuts. If the actor’s breathing or action coordination goes off even once, we’ll have to start over from the beginning, so everyone, please stay focused.”
Tension and anticipation filled the staff’s eyes as well.
By contrast, Director Quentin sat in front of the monitor with a headset on, fiddling with his phone.
He was choosing the background music to layer over this single-take scene in advance.
At last, he picked one track.
“This one should do.”
A classical yet lively waltz.
The dissonance between blood-splattering action and an elegant waltz.
He smacked his lips as he imagined the aesthetic that irony would create.
“All right, final rehearsal!”
At the assistant director’s shout, I took my place behind the pillar, the starting point.
I lightly warmed up my muscles.
Rolling my ankles and shaking out my wrists, I woke up my body’s senses.
I’m not especially nervous.
If anything, I was calm.
Because a perfect map had already been drawn in my head.
There are forty-three movement paths in total, five stuntmen I have to coordinate with, and on top of that, three personality changes.
I closed my eyes and ran a simulation.
I need to show Bishop’s madness, Knight’s killing intent, and Rook’s coldness well.
It would not be easy to swap between three masks, but for the current me, it was not impossible.
Rather, there could hardly be better conditions than this for leaving an impact.
I took a deep breath.
I pushed cold air deep into my lungs, then exhaled the murky tension.
“Okay.”
I turned and met the eyes of the cinematographer carrying the Steadicam.
A single-take scene isn’t something I can pull off just by doing well on my own.
Breathing with the camera.
That was the core of this one take.
I gave the director a short nod as a signal.
After that, I moved at the exact same pace as the real shoot and matched the blocking.
“Okay, the timing was really good just now!”
All checks were finished.
Now all that remained was the real thing.
“Check complete!”
“Camera roll!”
“Sound speed!”
Dozens of staff members held their breath and stared at me.
At the same time Quentin started the music in his headset, he raised his hand high.
“Ready... action!”
An old multi-level parking garage.
Fluorescent lights at the end of their lifespan flickered unstably with a mechanical buzzing sound.
Under that intermittent light, five men gathered beside a pillar, snickering.
“Hahaha! You should’ve seen that brat’s eyes yourself.”
“How many years have you been telling that story already? Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
“Let him be. It’s the only heroic tale that bastard has.”
One of them stuck a cheap cigarette between his lips and pulled out a Zippo lighter.
The metallic sound of the lid flicking open.
Ting—
The instant a small flame sparked, Alex Han’s pupils, hidden in the darkness, dilated.
“......”
The lighter’s flame dragged up Alex Han’s memories.
Screeeech— crash!
The tire friction shrieking loud enough to tear the eardrums.
The truck headlights boring straight in.
The sense of gravity being lost while the world flipped wildly around him.
His family’s screams, and someone’s voice checking whether they were alive or dead.
All the trauma came crashing over him in waves.
Alex Han’s lips slowly parted.
“This is not a personal revenge.”
A voice so solemn and neat it was chilling.
It was the personality of Bishop, wrapping murderous intent in religious conviction.
“This is a hand of salvation for a diseased world.”
As though agreeing with those words, Alex Han slowly nodded.
And immediately, his eyes changed.
Creeeak—
The corners of his mouth lifted as though tearing apart, and killing intent poured out.
It was the destroyer, Knight.
He slipped his body around the pillar and pushed himself into the narrow gap between the cars.
Swwish—
The sound of his clothes brushing the dust on the car body.
It sounded like a snake slithering.
Alex Han’s eyes reflected briefly in the car window.
They were glistening with excitement.
“So I can kill them as much as I want, right?”
Alex Han nodded once more.
Permission had been given.
He then quickly approached the pillar where the five men stood.
At that moment—
Tok.
The tip of his foot struck a small chunk of concrete.
A dull noise echoed through the quiet parking garage.
The laughter of the five men cut off at once.
“Who’s there?”
“Who’s there?”
Five pairs of eyes turned toward the darkness all at once.
Instead of answering, Alex Han tilted his head and measured the distance between himself and the men.
And then—
Baaang!
He burst out from behind the pillar like an explosion.
The first man.
His mouth had not even finished closing after exhaling cigarette smoke.
Alex Han’s hand clamped over the back of his head and, carrying momentum, slammed it into the concrete pillar.
Crack!
Not a dull impact sound, but a hideous bursting sound like a watermelon splitting open.
The first man’s body slid down like a puppet with its strings cut.
“What kind of bastard—!”
The second man, flustered by the sudden attack, reflexively threw a punch.
Whoosh—
A heavy fist cutting through the air.
But Alex Han did not dodge.
Instead, he stepped in closer, snatched the wrist that was coming toward him, and twisted it.
Crunch!
“Aaagh!”
The scream burst out, and at the same time, Alex Han’s knee drove up into the man’s solar plexus.
As the man dropped to his knees with his breath cut off, Alex Han’s heel came down onto the back of his neck as if it had been waiting for that moment.
Thud!
The man’s head slammed into the floor, and he collapsed without even twitching.
“C-Crazy... what the hell is that bastard?!”
The third man screamed as he fled between the cars.
Alex stepped onto the hood blocking his way and sprang up.
A light movement that seemed to ignore gravity.
Twisting in midair, he kicked the third man square in the chest as the man turned to look back.
Pow!
The man struck by the kick crashed into the side of a car and rolled to the ground.
Alex Han grabbed the man by the hair and shoved his head toward the wheel.
Baaang!
The man’s head struck the hard aluminum wheel, and he went limp as though the electrical signals in his brain had been cut off.
The fourth and fifth men, having witnessed that overwhelming violence, lost all will to fight.
Terrified, they started running toward the emergency stairwell.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Urgent footsteps rang against the metal stairs.
Alex did not chase them down the stairs.
Instead, he stepped onto the railing.
Then, without hesitation, threw himself into the air.
Swoosh—
He dropped straight down one floor.
Tap—
The landing was light.
So elastic a landing that his knees barely bent.
The fourth man, who had been running down the stairs, faltered.
Because instinct recognized first that what had come down from above was not a person.
“Aaaah!”
Unable to overcome his fear, he screamed and charged forward, but it was meaningless.
Alex Han’s front kick drove into his chest.
The fourth man tumbled down the stairs.
Thud— thud— thud—
Alex Han slowly walked down the stairs and stepped on the back of the fallen man’s neck.
Press.
A choking sound caught beneath his foot.
“That day, you probably pressed the accelerator just like this too. How much fun was it?”
He put all his strength into his foot and pressed down.
Crack.
Only the sound of bones shifting came back in answer.
Now only one remained.
The fifth man could be seen hiding behind a pillar on the fourth floor.
He was gripping an iron pipe and swallowing rough breaths.
The moment Alex Han approached the side of the pillar, the pipe shot out from behind it.
“Die!”
Alex Han did not dodge.
He caught the pipe in his bare hand.
A dull sound rang out, but there was no pain on his face.
“H-Hiiik...!”
While the man’s face drained of color, Alex dug into his pocket with his free hand.
Jingle—
What came into his hand was a car key.
He raised the sharp tip of the key and drove it below the man’s Adam’s apple.
“Gghk...!”
The instant the man grabbed his throat in agony, Alex Han slid behind him.
He wrapped an arm around the man’s neck and spun his body.
The man’s hands clawed helplessly at the air.
At that moment, Alex Han’s eyes rolled back as he spat out a bizarre praise.
“Behold. He too struggles desperately to survive.”
Bishop had burst back out in the middle of the urgent moment.
A holy sermon spilling out while committing murder.
“This is how everyone struggles and struggles to stay alive! We too must work hard!”
While Alex Han muttered like a madman, the man’s thrashing gradually slowed.
His fingertips scraped at the air, his strength faded, and at last his body sagged.
Thud.
He laid the limp man down on the floor.
Then he looked at the red blood staining his fingers.
“Tch, it ended up getting blood on me after all.”
It was Knight’s irritated grumble, having returned once more.
A moment later, Alex Han’s harsh breathing steadied.
As he slowly lifted his head, his eyes changed again.
“Now I’ll clean up the scene.”
Cold, calculating, emotionless eyes.
Rook, the personality in charge of concealing evidence, came to the forefront.
He rapidly scanned the space, then took out a thin pair of latex gloves from his pocket and put them on.
First, he kicked the iron pipe lying on the floor toward the drain.
Then he crouched beside the nearest corpse.
He searched the pockets and retrieved everything that could identify the victim, including wallet and phone.
Mechanical hand movements, as though there were no emotion at all.
It was the same indifference as an office worker processing a pile of overdue paperwork.
The next corpse.
Then the next.
And the next.
Lastly, he followed the bloodstains, pulled off a victim’s jacket, and used it to wipe the floor.
Every step of the process was perfect, like a machine.
He stood up and swept his eyes across the scene once more.
Nod.
Enough.
He then took off the gloves, slipped them into his pocket, and lightly shook out his wrist.
“I disabled the cameras in advance, so now no traces remain.”
Alex Han walked to his car.
He opened the door, sat in the seat, and started the engine.
Vroom—
The engine sound broke the silence.
The camera followed the rear of the car to the very end without cutting.
The car disappeared from view, and only the silence of the empty parking garage remained.
“......”
But.
The sound that should naturally have burst out did not come.
Three seconds.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
The longer the silence stretched, the more the staff’s eyes began to waver.
Why isn’t he calling cut?
Did something go wrong?
Did Ryu miss the blocking?
Anxiety crept over them.
The assistant director carefully turned his head toward the monitor.
Then he jolted in shock.
“......!?”
At some point, Director Quentin was already on his feet.
Both fists clenched tight, his whole body trembling violently.