The core of a long take lies in its rhythm. The lead actor, props, supporting actors, camera, sound, and the planned storyboard—only when every one of those elements is captured in a single camera shot and falls into perfect harmony can the scene be completed in one take.
If even one of those elements slipped out of place, it was an immediate failure.
An NG.
The moment the director shouted cut, everything had to begin again from the very start. That meant it wasn't just the lead actor, but all the supporting actors and every connected element that had to be completely immersed in the storyboard. There was no room for stray thoughts. All that was required was to perform the exact movement at the exact timing.
If the number of people appearing in the long-take scene were few enough to count on one hand, then the difficulty would be relatively low.
But the long-take shoot currently underway for Beneficial Evil involved more than a hundred people. In a situation like that, both the actors and the production team were bound to experience hell. Even so, the reason they insisted on a long take was simple.
-Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Realism and impact.
"Aaaah!!!"
"#&#((%!!"*
"Urgh!!"
Pure intensity.
-Crack!
Excitement.
-Bang! Bang!
Fast tempo and vividness. The camera moved together with the lead actor. If the actor ran, the camera ran with him, and if he rolled, it followed that movement exactly. Perspective. In a long take, the camera was no different from the lead actor's eyes. That sense of unity multiplied the audience's concentration exponentially.
The continuity of stimulation and violence.
Above all, the greatest strength of a long take was that it made the audience lose track of time.
A runtime of over ten minutes was by no means short, yet it was only one part of the whole. Thanks to the urgent camera work and the uninterrupted progression, the flow never broke, and because so many scenes were compressed into a short span, the audience became fully immersed. So even if it felt as though more than ten minutes had passed, once they checked the actual time, it would feel as though not even five minutes had gone by.
A great deal could happen in just one minute.
That was the driving force behind a long take.
And if the protagonist's skills and abilities were exceptional, the audience would never be able to take their eyes off the screen. The explosive and violent stimulation sent adrenaline surging and created excitement. Because of that realism, the audience reacted and breathed right alongside the protagonist.
-Bang! Bang!
In other words, the extreme situation faced by the protagonist applied equally to the audience.
At this moment, that protagonist was Jang Yeonwoo.
No—
it was Kang Woojin.
They were not an audience, but the roughly two hundred members of the Beneficial Evil production team, regardless of nationality, had become absorbed in Kang Woojin's CQC and were overwhelmed by his violent presence.
The Thai staff gathered off to one side were no exception.
"...I heard this actor is filming his first action scene today. Did I hear that wrong?"
The dozens of Thai staff members who had been briefed beforehand could only stare at the scene unfolding before them with their mouths hanging open.
"No way. Just look at him. How does that look like a beginner? He's beyond a veteran."
"And his level is incredible. At this level, he doesn't just look skilled—he looks like he's genuinely enjoying it."
"How is a Korean actor performing CQC at a Hollywood level? Compared to the rehearsal... this is on a completely different plane."
Meanwhile, violent gunfire echoed inside the abandoned building. Muzzle flashes burst, and shell casings flew through the air. Blood splattered in every direction. The center of it all was Jang Yeonwoo.
Or rather—
Kang Woojin.
He had just stepped into the second room from the end on the fifth floor.
-Click!
With his face smeared in blood, Woojin roughly pulled the magazine from the AK-47 in his hand. Bodies were strewn across the floor. Every one of them had their chest, face, or head blown apart. Kang Woojin switched to another rifle lying on one of the fallen corpses and pulled out the pistol strapped to his waist to check the magazine.
Right then.
"Oh."
As he roughly wiped the blood from his face, Woojin let out a small laugh. He had spotted something on the floor. There were about ten seconds left until the next movement cue. What Woojin was doing now had not originally been in the storyboard. Because of that, PD Song Manwoo, seated before the monitors on the first floor, furrowed his brow.
What's that? What did he spot?
Kang Woojin picked up something from the floor that was still trailing a faint wisp of smoke.
It was a lit cigarette that one of the gang members had dropped.
Five seconds remained until the next movement cue. Woojin drew deeply on the nearly burned-down cigarette.
"Hoo—"
In the sunlight pouring through the shattered window, the drifting smoke stood out clearly. The image was striking. The screams of gang members echoing nearby, the bodies scattered across the floor, Kang Woojin's gray short-sleeved shirt soaked in blood, and the lazy drag of the cigarette in complete contrast to all of it. The cameraman, with the camera mounted on his shoulder, instinctively captured that image.
-Shh.
He stepped two paces closer and slightly zoomed in on Kang Woojin's face, where a faint smile lingered.
Watching the monitor, PD Song Manwoo felt goosebumps rise all over his skin. Calmness? In a situation this tense, who would even think of controlling the pace? That action went far beyond a simple release of tension. Going off the planned storyboard could have become a problem, but if it didn't interfere with the next sequence, then it wasn't a major issue.
More than anything—
...Just the way he exhales in that single motion is incredible.
The last five minutes had felt like one long held breath.
In other words, pure tension.
And with a single action, Woojin had effortlessly released that tension. He had given everyone a brief moment to breathe. At that instant, Song Manwoo realized something else.
This isn't acting. He's genuinely enjoying the slaughter.
He realized that Kang Woojin was truly playing around in that moment.
Ecstasy, madness, and satisfaction. He even has the room to express those emotions in between everything else. I'm realizing it all over again—this bastard is a monster.
Kang Woojin had elevated the character Jang Yeonwoo, created by writer Choi Nana, to an entirely different level.
But there was one thing even the seasoned PD Song Manwoo had failed to notice. He was the director of Profiler Hanryang, yet he still had not recognized Assistant Manager Park. That was how precise Kang Woojin's character fusion had become.
At that exact moment.
"$@&@$@$(!!!"
With a grotesque shout, the wooden door to the room where Woojin stood was suddenly flung wide open. Two masked gang members charged in. But Kang Woojin, a cigarette still hanging from his mouth, had already raised the AK-47. At exactly the right timing, the camera shifted behind him. Then five shots rang out.
"Urgh!!"
"Ack!"
Blood burst from their foreheads, hearts, and bodies. Woojin spat out the cigarette butt with a sharp ptui and lowered his stance slightly. The smell of gunpowder drifted from the rifle slung over his shoulder, and another scream followed at once.
"Aaaah!!"
A gang member who had been hiding behind him rushed forward and swung a long blade toward Woojin's head. Kang Woojin made his judgment instantly.
Too late.
There would be no time to ignite anything. He dropped flat to the ground. The long blade sliced through empty air above his head. The gang member stepped in to press the attack against the fallen Woojin and brought the blade down with force.
-Smack!
Kang Woojin blocked it with the body of the AK-47.
Then he drove his foot into the attacker's stomach and kicked him backward.
But—
"Uuaargh!"
Two more attackers joined from the side. Both were swinging blades. Woojin blocked them again with the AK-47. But when the second attacker's blade came down, Woojin released the rifle and rolled his body away. The blade crashed into the floor with a metallic clang. Kang Woojin sprang back to his feet. His eyes swept across the room. On a table right beside him, he spotted a pair of chopsticks.
-Whoosh!!
A long blade came flying toward him. Woojin slipped aside in an instant. He grabbed the chopsticks at once. Closing in on the attacker, he drove his knee into the man's side. A groan escaped him. Then the chopsticks stabbed into his eye. The groan turned into a scream.
"Kyaaaaargh!!"
Woojin followed with a powerful low kick to the collapsing attacker's leg. The man spun and crashed to the ground. Another violent scream burst out.
"Aaaah!!"
The second attacker charged in with his blade raised high overhead. Kang Woojin sneered. The camera pulled back, capturing all three of them in one frame. Woojin moved his hand to his waist and drew a Glock 17 in one quick motion, gripping it firmly with both hands.
-Bang! Bang!!
Two bullets tore through the attacker's throat and face. He collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. A pained groan followed. The man with the chopsticks buried in his eye writhed on the ground in agony. Kang Woojin stepped over him.
Naturally.
-Bang!
And casually blew his head apart.
"Hoo."
Kang Woojin's breathing grew slightly rougher. There were still plenty of gang members outside. The more weapons, the better. Woojin checked the remaining rounds in the Glock 17. Not enough. He picked up the AK-47 on the floor along with a short blade.
Then he started walking toward the door. The camera followed him.
From this point on, the real gunfight would begin.
Woojin pressed himself close to the doorway and peered outside. Three men were charging toward him. Near his feet sat a half-shattered flowerpot. Crash. The three men rushing toward him glanced briefly at the shattered flowerpot pieces scattered across the hallway.
Woojin had thrown it.
At that exact instant.
-Ratatatat! Bang! Bang!
With the AK-47 raised, Woojin instantly riddled their chests and heads with bullets. Blood splashed across the stair railing. Shouts erupted from the opposite hallway. Two men in caps opened fire. Bullets chewed into the wall with a sharp cracking sound. Woojin rolled toward the stairs. The camera wobbled slightly as it chased his movement.
Fourth floor. Woojin angled the muzzle of the AK-47 upward.
Five shots.
Two men with their faces and torsos shattered fell one after another to the floor below. Fragments flew everywhere again. The bullets fired by the men who had just come up the stairs punched into the wall beside them. Kang Woojin raised his gun and fired twice.
-Bang! Bang!
The first man's head burst apart, and he toppled forward. But there were still three left. Gunfire thundered, and bullets poured in. Woojin rolled once and darted into a nearby room.
"$(&$@(@&(!!"*
The enemies shouted as they rushed after him.
But—
-Whoosh!
Kang Woojin reappeared. He thrust only his face and gun barrel out from a prone position and pulled the trigger. More than six shots exploded in quick succession. Blood sprayed everywhere. The attackers charging in had blood pouring from their limbs. They collapsed in a tangled heap. Woojin's eyes moved. At the waist of one of the corpses lying in front of him, he spotted something.
A grenade.
He grabbed it at once and hurled it toward the stairs. The men rushing in from behind screamed.
"Aaaah!!"
"Grenade! Grenade!!"
In that brief instant, Kang Woojin fired again. Several heads exploded apart.
At the same time—
-Boom!!
The grenade went off. Heads, hands, feet, and torsos were blown into the air. Silence fell for a brief moment. Voices could still be heard from the first floor, but they sounded far away. Kang Woojin rose from his spot. First, he checked the ammunition in his gun. Then he looked around the room.
"Hm?"
Inside were five children who looked unconscious. One girl and four boys. Kang Woojin stared blankly at the nearest girl. Her face was familiar. It was Im Haeun, who had joined Beneficial Evil through the large-scale audition.
The camera moved in for a close-up of Woojin's face. There was not a trace of sympathy in his eyes. He looked at them as if they were no more than objects.
"She's not the one."
In other words, she was not the drug king's daughter he had been searching for. Even so, he logged the information. Five children on the fourth floor, first room by the stairs. They might need to be rescued later. Not for their sake—
but for his own needs.
If they had been imprisoned here, then—
They might be useful sources of information.
As if on cue, the camera slowly moved out into the hallway. Continuing to aim the AK-47, Kang Woojin carefully scanned the corridor. He spotted enemies rushing in near the second floor.
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
The first man's fingers and shoulder were torn apart.
"Aaaah!!"
The men behind him hesitated for a moment.
That bought him time. Woojin fired, then charged forward. Roughly nine minutes had already passed. The long-take sequence, which ran more than ten minutes, still had a car chase and an explosion scene left to go.
At that exact moment.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The gang members on the second floor—in other words, the Thai actors—collapsed like dominoes. It had not been a planned movement. One man lost his footing and went down, which made everyone behind him stagger and fall in turn.
A moment later, PD Song Manwoo shouted through a megaphone.
"...Cut!! NG!"
It was an NG. In an instant, dozens of staff members around Song Manwoo started moving busily. Because it was an NG, this part of the scene could not be used. Everything had to be reset and filmed again. Song Manwoo stood up from his seat and smacked his lips in irritation.
What a shame.
Still, this had been expected. Long-take filming was a process of repetition. One minute of filming, NG. Two minutes of filming, NG. Three minutes of filming, NG. Constant reshoots. That was how repeated practice gradually created a high-quality scene.
The fact that they had passed the eight-minute mark without a single major issue was nearly miraculous.
And that's only because Mr. Woojin dragged the whole thing forward by the scruff of the neck.
The chemistry with the Thai actors had been good, but in the end, what had truly made all of it possible was Kang Woojin's acting, which had gone far beyond expectations. The Thai actors who had been lying there like corpses quickly got back to their feet, and dozens of staff members rushed in to recover the props. The makeup team immediately ran over to Kang Woojin.
Woojin showed no particular reaction.
"..."
There was no visible change in his expression. To the Thai actors, that composure looked deeply impressive.
"He's not even out of breath."
"He was running around by himself for over eight minutes, and he doesn't look tired at all. How is that possible?"
"And did you see Kang Woojin's movements? I almost missed my timing because I was too busy watching him."
"The quality is practically at a Hollywood level."
They were wrong.
In truth, Kang Woojin was exhilarated.
Whoa—this is insane! This is seriously so much fun!! My adrenaline is going completely wild! Ah, no, calm down. If I don't, I won't be able to control the character.
The first action scene filmed as a long take had genuinely felt fresh to Kang Woojin.
This is unbelievably intense. I already want to do it again.
The ones looking up at Woojin from near Song Manwoo were Joseph and Megan, the tall figures standing nearby. Smiles had spread across both their faces. Neither of them said anything, but they seemed to be thinking the same thing.
Hahaha, good lord! At this level, he could break out in Hollywood immediately! No, even among Hollywood actors, only a handful could reach this standard!
Compared to this, Last Kill 3 was child's play!! What the hell is this actor? How terrifying is he supposed to be?!
Around them, the foreigners Joseph had brought—the stunt team and the executives from Universal Movies—stood frozen. None of them moved.
Was what I just saw actually real?
Then at last, one of the pot-bellied executives forced out a question.
"How many minutes was that?"
The answer came at once from the giant Joseph.
"A little over eight minutes."
"...Eight minutes without a single real break? Is that even possible?"
"That man always ignores common sense."
The pot-bellied executive slowly lifted his head and stared at Kang Woojin.
"How is something like that possible?"
The reply came immediately, but it did not come from Joseph.
A large-nosed foreign man, who had appeared without warning and was grinning slyly, cut into the conversation. It was Ethan Smith, the stunt coordinator for Beneficial Evil.
"Mr. Kang Woojin is from special forces."
In that instant, the eyes of the pot-bellied Universal Movies executive widened dramatically.
"S-special forces?"