Unexpected Synergy (5)
Something's off—
That was Kang Min's impression upon arriving at the set for the final shoot of King and Sovereign.
"...So from the start, Actor Kang's appearance in Unbelievable itself was..."
"That's what I'm saying? All calculated..."
"That kind of actor... My God..."
"Even the writer who figured it out... she's something else..."
Of course, the staff were busy as always before shooting.
Especially on a studio day like today, at least five cameras were mobilized, and if they ran into a PD who hated backseat directing from the sub-control room, plotting camera paths was no different from grunt work.
That was why most of them didn't even have time to glance around.
'...?'
Put another way, today felt a bit weird.
The staff still looked busy, but they couldn't help sneaking glances and whispering anyway.
Some stole peeks at him now and then, and when their eyes met, they'd flinch and look away.
Kang Min couldn't help feeling baffled.
"Hwan-jae, what's going on?"
"No, just... everyone's suddenly all shocked again. Me too..."
"What?"
"Like, does anyone interpret the script that deeply from the first read? Should I just quit acting, fuck...?"
"?"
Even asking the two leads, Yi Hwan-jae and Park Yeon-ju, they just muttered something gloomy and wandered off.
Even the veteran seniors like Park Seong-ho and Yi Hoon were giving him strange looks, like they were staring at a monster.
What the hell was it?
"Ah, Min-i-ssi! You're here!"
"Writer-nim."
At least Baek Chae-i seemed normal.
She was grinning a bit more than usual, but hey, that was tame.
Seeing the writer so composed, Kang Min inwardly sighed in relief—no bad news, then.
"You got the new script, right?"
"Of course."
"What do you think?!"
"Pardon? Well, I think it's good..."
'No side-script changes right at the end...?' Unlike that horrifying morning two days ago, the scenario hadn't deviated much from the original.
Just some dialogue tweaks and added facial expressions, maybe.
The difficulty had ticked up a notch, sure—but it didn't matter.
To repeat: this was the final shoot.
"That's a pass, right?!"
"...Aren't you the one grading pass or fail, Writer-nim?"
"Don't do this— just say pass or fail in one word! As Hui-yul!"
"...?"
At Kang Min's reluctant thumbs-up, Baek Chae-i pumped her fist with a drawn-out "Yesssss!" For some reason, PD Yu Ho-hyeon and the cinematographer were watching with "Ooh" faces.
Hmm.
Yeah, everyone seemed a little off their rocker.
Kang Min felt a bit down.
'...Well, in this death march schedule, it'd be weirder if they were still sane.'
What could he do?
Kang Min resolved to pour everything into his debut drama, even if he was the only sane one left.
This was the show that connected him to Unbelievable, after all.
"Actor Kang! They're asking when you can start shooting!"
"Right now."
"...You know it's nine scenes straight, right? Be a bit more careful."
"Yes, right now."
"......."
Kang Min flashed a soft smile at the blinking staffer.
He had confidence.
No—he had to have it.
'Hui-yul dies today...!'
All conditions were perfect for the King of Death Acting.
Eighteen episodes, nine weeks of suffering without dying—maybe that was why the energy surging inside him dwarfed even the Unbelievable shoot.
A torrent of imagery that made King's Fist, 4x King's Fist look like child's play.
Omnipotence—like he could nail any acting.
Kang Min chuckled.
'Right now, even 20x King's Fist doesn't cut it...!'
So what to go with?
Right—like Vegeta said so coolly back then—
'Super Kang Min...!'
Flexing the naming sense that even Seo Bom sometimes met with "Uh... Sunbae... that's..." and wandering eyes, Super Kang Min strode onto the set with zero fucks given.
...And that was it.
#
Looking back, Hui-yul was the star of King and Sovereign's Episode 0, the special.
Almost everything from the special wove neatly into the main story. Moments that made you go, "It connects here?!"
But one part never linked up, no matter what.
"Uh, Director Jeong."
"What, Director Choi Bong-man."
"This scene from the special where Hui-yul dies from an arrow. That's the finale, right?"
"Probably."
"It doesn't connect to the current King and Sovereign story at all."
"Hmm..."
In the special's end, amid the chaos between the Left State Councillor's and Crown Prince's forces, Hui-yul takes an arrow and dies.
He sees both the old man's glory talk and the young one's peace talk as meaningless bullshit.
[The old one speaking of everyone's glory and the young one of everyone's peace bestowed mere charity. Charity that granted qualification but demanded no proof.]
[The ranks made by good swords, good armor, and good steeds—the soldiers followed faithfully.]
[Hui-yul could not understand the tales shouted by the young one and the old one...]
"Even in death, he goes with this relieved exhaustion, like he's finally done. But now Hui-yul's named the Crown Prince his successor and is fighting to pave his way..."
Contradiction.
The two couldn't coexist.
So what the hell was this scene?
Jeong Seo-hoon sighed at the tilting-headed Choi Bong-man.
"What else? They tossed it in roughly, realized it didn't fit, and rewrote the script."
"Doesn't feel like that..."
"Listen, Director Choi. You've spun in Chungmuro so long you don't get drama life—if the schedule doesn't snag, it's a miracle, and no side-scripts means the Second Coming. It's common to barrel ahead and scramble later."
"Hmm."
But Choi Bong-man couldn't shake the odd feeling.
Han Ye-seul thought it was weird too.
"It's common, sure... but would Actor Kang let that slide?"
Hong Ji-ho, the academy head, found it strange.
"Weird. Everything fits except that one bit?"
Choi Ra-hee and the friends thought it odd too.
Stuntman Kim Ho-jin wailed.
"Fuck...! Fuck...! Why the hell are these MBS bastards telling me to show up for the finale special...! Just let me forget it...!"
...Yeah, whatever with that one.
Everyone just thought it was weird—no one expected the glitch to fix itself.
One episode left. No one figured it could wrap up in that.
Hui-yul barely had time to exit, anyway.
"Takes a fatal wound for the Crown Prince and bows out?"
"Master and disciple. Cliché."
"Sigh, too predictable."
"Predictable's good. Clichés work because they're clichés."
Even Choi Bong-man, defending it, thought so—as Episode 18 began.
Its opening scene diverged a bit from expectations.
[Warrior-nim, why are you so strong?]
Early on, the dazed heroine asks blankly.
Back then, Hui-yul didn't answer, and no one cared. He was just strong.
But Episode 18's whole arc kicked off from that one line.
Scene shift.
[You have good eyes, Hui-yul.]
Flashback: the old man, Hui-yul's master and Jeong Ji-uk's origin, who exited and wasn't expected back, smiles faintly.
The boy looks puzzled.
[My eyesight isn't that great.]
[Not that kind of eyes. It's the difference between seeing and observing.]
[...?]
[I'm no officer, but I served as a soldier envoy, so I know. You don't see the sword path well. You see people well.]
A hand rests on the puzzled boy's head.
[Treasure that talent. It might show you something more important than a mere sword.]
Scene change.
Time passes. People grow.
Episode 11: the endlessly aged old man faces the grown, youthful Hui-yul.
Their bond couldn't be closer.
[Take the book from the third drawer in my study.]
[Discard it, teach it, burn it—do as you will. It's yours now.]
No reply.
But the scene that faded to black in Episode 11 gets a tail.
As Hui-yul turns to leave, the old man asks.
[What did you see?]
[.......]
[What future did your eyes see ahead?]
Hui-yul exits without answering.
But the camera peers through his receding back at what he saw.
Viewers blinked in confusion.
The camera showed a future yet to happen in-story.
[We have won.]
[But this is not the end—only the beginning.]
Waaaaah—!!
A successful revolution.
Atop a podium piled with blood, Hui-yul declares boldly.
Cheers erupt from all sides.
[We must lead each other with benevolence. Our enemies, with fear.]
[How long must the rage of kings, queens, generals, and ministers be justice, while our justice is mere rabble revolt?]
[The people's will is heaven's will. The people cannot err, commit crime, or overstep— who dares question heaven?]
But beyond their seized road, blood-soaked corpses litter the gutters.
Hui-yul swings his fist undeterred.
[I appeal to you all. Overcome sloth. Overcome the sloth those foolish lords shoved upon us. Reclaim our people's true glory etched in blood.]
[One—one mission alone transcends all.]
[The more we fail to unite, the more we lose. Unite, and victory nears.]
Close-up on Hui-yul.
His acting swells to pull even viewers into the ecstasy.
His eyes blaze with zeal unlike his usual weary fatigue—passion, duty, selflessness, every positive force crammed in.
The epic BGM backs it.
But no one joins in.
No—instead, viewers' spines prickled.
Choi Bong-man, Han Ye-seul, Hong Ji-ho, Choi Ra-hee, countless others—all chilled.
The Ecuador priest.
The madman who upended the world last week—his smile overlays Hui-yul's face perfectly.
[Here I swear: our Hanmin people will gladly bear the heavy burden to victory!]
Goosebumps ripple across viewers.
They know how eerie this cheering scene is. How this future must not happen.
Hui-yul saw it.
That's why he rejected it.
"......."
"......."
"......."
Silence falls.
As Choi Bong-man falters, the camera keeps showing futures Hui-yul glimpsed.
None intact.
Hui-yul speeches from a podium.
From a beach.
From plains.
Hui-yul kills foes.
Stabs, burns, drowns, crushes, drops, starves, slices.
Endless futures flash. None bloodless.
Give up everything? Just the worthless death viewers saw early on.
Vapid, valueless end.
Hui-yul sees it all.
[...Is that so.]
And picks none.
Is that so—
Fatigue slowly builds in his eyes.
"This..."
"Holy..."
Choi Bong-man and other directors groan.
Honestly, the sequence wasn't masterful. Frenetic scene switches in minutes? Terrifying.
But the actor—one actor—digested the runaway direction and script perfectly.
Each future glimpsed piles more despair in Hui-yul's eyes.
Chaos reigns.
Yet viewers empathize through his expressions and gaze alone.
Mere producers could only gape.
"This... works...?"
"My God..."
"This scam..."
Directors who saw Super Kang Min gawked mutely.
If past awe was admiration, this was sheer bewilderment.
5 minutes.
60-min drama, 18 eps, 1,080 min total.
Just 5 min.
Kang Min imprinted Hui-yul's endured hell on viewers instantly, linking everything.
And,
One figure always appears in those futures.
[Stop! Please stop!]
[Forgive them, I'll beg instead—spare the children at least...!]
[Why go so far with the kids...!!]
[Kill me, you bastard! Kill me instead!!]
[What heaven's will! What justice! You murderer...!!]
The heroine, Min-hwa.
She always appears in Hui-yul's memories.
Amid countless futures and deaths, she's unwavering.
Far more than Hui-yul himself.
[Perhaps.]
Weary Hui-yul senses suddenly.
[It's time to bet on hope one last time.]
Viewers realized late: this was the main story's true start.
#
King and Sovereign is romantic comedy.
But post-midpoint, romance vanished, spawning memes like romantic(sword), romantic(revolution).
No one complained. It was better that way.
—Thus, no one expected romance in Hui-yul's endgame.
Condensed main story lines flow.
Mundane dialogue.
But now, viewers feel utterly different.
[Warrior-nim.]
[What.]
[Kids are here today. They're scared—keep distance today.]
[No.]
[.......]
[Thinking this guy has some past I can understand? Bad habit. Fine in good times, but in chaos? First to lose your head.]
[.......]
[From my common experience, petty thieves die early.]
[Stop! What's the point?! Hide first, then later...!]
[Lady. Seeking meaning in action? That's for those who can afford it.]
[Won't listen till now. Run, I said.]
[...I ran. Came back.]
[Typical fool.]
And Episode 6—
[Common, right? Pathetic fool shoving his face everywhere in chaos dies.]
[Choosing doom after all?]
[Who knows—]
Back then, Hui-yul smirked through an obviously irrational choice.
[Sometimes, a whim where fools survive wouldn't hurt.]
'Sometimes'.
'Whim'.
Viewers belatedly grasped the subtle emphasis, the emotions laced in that line.
All those "common" lines suddenly gained meaning, linking up.
Kang Min's acting—subtly caring yet drawing lines—nails each wedge.
At the very end, viewers dazedly watched the Hui-yul they knew reassemble completely.
"My God..."
As everyone blanked out, Choi Bong-man alone let out a hollow chuckle.
He clutched his head.
"Right... it's a romance genre, this..."