Is This a Good Thing... Right?
Having received the crumpled bundle of papers with the Model Detective 3 script, Tae-gyu tilted his head.
Flip.
Regardless of whether it was good or bad, it felt like he was increasingly landing roles that were one screw loose from normal.
But.
Flip... Flip... Flip...
As he flipped through the pages, taking in the overall setup and lines for this role, Tae-gyu soon found himself hooked on its charm.
"Puhaha! If you turn yourself in, I'll kill you?"
"Congratulations, you're a winner!"
"Whoa! You just pulled a sashimi knife in front of the cops, right? Thanks, for real!"
Taken out of context, the lines sounded like a madman's ravings, but when viewed with the full context and setup, they blended into something hilariously perfect—a role that couldn't be more ideally cohesive.
It had to be that way, really.
The partner roles matching breaths with the detective played by Kim Kwang-woo in the Model Detective series—though the cases differed—were all from 1 to 3 modeled after real people.
So.
[This story is reconstructed based on real experiences.]
The phrase that appeared before the start of Model Detective 1 and Model Detective 2 wasn't just a commercial gimmick to boost audience immersion.
The more he read, the more Tae-gyu felt it.
······This is gonna be fun!
This time, he didn't even need to interview someone else.
The Model Detective series was a DK Entertainment project from planning to investment.
Through company connections, meeting the actual cop who modeled for the role would make snagging dokkaebi fire a breeze.
"Yes, Team Leader Jang. This is Lee Tae-gyu."
With his mind made up, Tae-gyu called Jang Team Leader.
"I was wondering if I could meet the real-life model for that hot-blooded cop role in the Model Detective 3 script you sent. Yeah, for the role interview."
Not long after stating his business.
He got a welcoming reply.
"Oh, you're Kim Kwang-woo sunbae's acquaintance?"
Along with a slightly dubious additional clue.
"············The company gym? Got it, I'll head over now."
DK Entertainment's vast fitness center boasted facilities far superior to those in most hotels.
As off-duty DK staff sweated it out in various spots.
━━Creak!
The door swung open, and a hulking mass of muscle made a majestic entrance into the company gym.
To the exercise-loving DK staff who saw him here constantly, he was just the usual gym rat, nothing exciting.
181cm, 119kg.
DK Entertainment's star actor with a frame slightly thicker than prime Mark Hunt, the former MMA fighter.
He'd shown up at the center with a new 'victim' in tow after a long while.
Thud, thud, thud.
Kim Kwang-woo glanced at Lee Tae-gyu, the hot topic rookie actor these days, and repeated what the kid had just told him.
"············So, you want to meet that hyungnim?"
"Yes."
"Reason."
"He's the real model for this role."
"You ain't even cast as co-lead yet."
"That's why I want to meet him even more. Interviewing him for the role should let me deliver acting worthy of your approval, sunbae."
"Ha!"
"If it's okay, could you at least give me his contact—"
"Hey."
Kim Kwang-woo cut Tae-gyu off.
Having scanned the kid head to toe in his training gear, he spoke.
"You weigh about 76kg, right?"
"How did you... know?"
"What's your big three."
"Pardon?"
"Deadlift, squat, bench press. If you don't even know the basics, I'll be disappointed."
"No, I know. But I don't know my max weights."
"Never tested your 1RM, huh."
Rubbing his chin with a hand like a pot lid, pondering something, Kim Kwang-woo suddenly clapped as if it was perfect and muttered.
"·········Good. We're testing today."
"Pardon?"
"You came in workout clothes and keep asking why. Didn't know you'd be training with me?"
"I just told Jang Team Leader I wanted you to introduce me to him, and he said to dress like this and ask here—"
"Then let's train and talk."
Kim Kwang-woo crooked a thick finger.
Heading to the free weight zone lined with squat racks, he slotted an empty bar with a clang and eyed Tae-gyu.
"Not sure if Jang mentioned, but training's mandatory if you're working with me."
It was a test of sorts.
Introducing the real model for the hot-blooded cop in Model Detective 3 wasn't hard at all.
He still grabbed soju with the guy now and then.
But.
"You know the squat form, right?"
"Yes."
"Grip the empty bar first. And... one!"
Role interview? Real model intro? Those were secondary.
What mattered was this kid's grit, squatting with an empty bar on his traps.
A top actor had to shoulder heavy burdens!
To co-lead with him, the kid had to endure the crown's weight·········
·········Truth was, Kim Kwang-woo was a hardcore gym addict, dead serious about weight training.
He even made muscle conditioning a casting criterion for major Model Detective roles.
Hmm.
That was why he'd opposed Tae-gyu to CEO Do, saying he didn't fit the role's image.
"Not bad now, but spread your feet a bit more at the toes, don't arch your back on the descent. Deeper, okay! Keep it going like that."
"Huff, huff, huff···"
Tae-gyu's body mid empty-bar squat.
Not muscular, barely sturdy—that frame was why Kim Kwang-woo wore a dissatisfied frown.
Action films hinged on presence!
Punching villains with enough power to give audiences catharsis.
No matter the direction, flailing skinny anchovy arms wouldn't excite anyone.
The body needed minimum convincing power.
Yes.
The hot-blooded cop partnering him in Model Detective 3—both the role and its real model 'hyungnim'—were fundamentally jacked humans.
He had to at least look good.
His build's definitely iffy...
So Kim Kwang-woo's displeasure at Tae-gyu's body during bodyweight squats was natural.
Of course, bulking was possible.
Korea or Hollywood, actors bulking decently in 2 months with trainers and strict diets made headlines often.
But.
Kim Kwang-woo knew plenty of actors who failed at unreported short-term bulks.
Proper bulking was tough.
Minimizing fat gain while packing muscle meant brutal diet control and powerlifting-level heavy training.
Hiring a trainer didn't solve that burden.
In this industry full of whiny actors who quit at a little pain, the key to a Model Detective 3 co-lead body short-term was one thing.
Grit━━enduring monotonous, agonizing high-intensity training like a monk, smashing limits casually for quick bulk.
From Kim Kwang-woo's view, wanting to see that grit.
·········Attitude's solid.
Empty bar or not, sweat pouring as he kept squatting without breaking—that stoic face impressed.
"Good, stop."
"Hoo."
Diagnosis complete.
From the kid's expression wiping sweat as he stood, Kim Kwang-woo gauged his starting weight.
"Done? Now introduce me to him, please. I really want that role interview."
"What're you talking? We're just starting."
"·········Pardon?"
"Do everything I say today? I'll hook you up with his direct line."
Saying that, he grabbed massive plates and loaded the barbell ends clang clang.
Couldn't lift? No biggie.
He just wanted to see the kid's attitude toward his limits.
"Ten with this first. Go!"
Tae-gyu stepped under the heavier bar.
"One, two, threeee."
Watching the real heavy squat, Kim Kwang-woo's eyes widened.
"·········Ten. Not bad?"
Better execution than expected.
A bit shaky, but form solid overall, and crucially, no face collapse.
Oh.
Not hard, or enduring if it was.
Either way.
Potential for quick gains.
"······Okay, no sweat, right."
"It's heavy."
"Your face says otherwise."
"Feels like dying."
"Haha, jokes too."
Kim Kwang-woo chuckled heartily, glancing down at the kid's slightly trembling legs.
This guy's something.
A slight grimace, but compared to his own heavy lifts, it was practically a smile.
Still got room.
"Bump the weight, five more. Acclimate then max out. Cool?"
"Feels like dying."
"Kid. Fine."
Perfectly fine face claiming death—hallmark of gym addicts here.
Maybe.
Train him right, he could be a workout partner beyond this film.
Clang, clang.
As the upped-weight squat began.
"Yeah, rest's over—go!"
"·········."
"One, two, three, four, five······Okay, spotting!"
"Hrgh."
Just before Kim Kwang-woo's spot with arms ready, Tae-gyu let out a weird noise and collapsed.
━━Thud!
The bar he'd held slammed onto the rack.
"What the—"
"·········."
"Hey! Where you going mid-workout!"
Staggering up on wobbly legs like a drunk, Tae-gyu fled to the gym's restroom corner.
Ugh━━!
Suddenly, retching echoed from the bathroom across the entire fitness center.
Uweeek━━━!
Kim Kwang-woo's pupils shook.
"·········!"
Heads whipped around from every DK staffer working out across the vast center.
"·········!"
"·········!"
"·········!"
"·········!"
"·········!"
Shock in eyes from cardio to machine zones.
Stagger, stagger······
Tae-gyu returned with a utterly drained face.
"Aigoo, Director, aren't you pushing too hard?"
"Gonna kill Tae-gyu."
"You okay? Our director always goes heavy; hard to keep up."
A team leader working out opposite laughed heartily at what they thought was mere overexertion.
"Tae-gyu, just tell the director if it's too much."
"I did."
"Pardon?"
"Said it was tough earlier, but sunbae kept pushing···"
"Our director?"
"Yes···"
"No, no!"
Kim Kwang-woo waved frantically at the staring DK staff.
"Said it felt like dying, but he kept making me go."
"Th-that's not—!"
No, you psycho······ Thought you were joking since your face was fine······
"Sorry, sunbae."
"No, no! Why you apologizing!"
Should've shown the strain······ Why make me the bad guy······
Tae-gyu, wiping sweaty brow with arm while steadying wobbly legs, cautiously spoke to flustered Kim Kwang-woo.
"Sunbae, head's spinning a bit, breath short—mind if I rest?"
"No, then—"
"Can't, got it."
"No! Rest! I said rest!"
"Ah······But gotta finish for the role interview."
"You punk!"
"I'll stake my life···"
Suddenly the tyrannical senior bullying a rookie, Kim Kwang-woo's tongue twisted in the insane situation.
No, that's not— he tried to say, but stinging glares from all sides.
"Why's the director like that?"
"Not hazing the sudden rookie star, right."
"He's not that type."
"Injures him, company's loss."
"Didn't peg him that way, disappointing···"
"Too much, really."
As Kim Kwang-woo waved to explain to murmuring staff.
"Hey hey! You're all misunderstanding, really!"
"Hup!"
A kiai from behind made Kim Kwang-woo's skin crawl.
"Hraaagh!"
"Hey hey, wait, wait!"
"······Grk."
"Y-you psycho, stop! Fine! I got it!"
Rushing to Tae-gyu, purple-faced and collapsed in seconds, Kim Kwang-woo finally yelled.
"·········I'll introduce you to that hyungnim, so quit it, you madman!"