-["...What did you say? Mother?"]
-["She told me to call her that."]
Enraged, Yoon Jaho grabbed Kang Woojin by the collar. Woojin smiled with an unreadable expression.
-["She told me to call her Mother."]
Yoon Jaho told him to live like a parasite, to never set foot in the same world again, and not to get confused about his place. A moment later, the giant screen shifted into a close-up of Kang Woojin's face. He was staring at his own reflection in the broad living room window on the first floor of the grand mansion.
It was the very place where Yoon Jaho had been standing.
The exact same space.
A faint smile lingered on Woojin's reflection in the glass. His figure slowly grew larger, and then the angle changed abruptly. It was no longer just a reflection. It was the real Kang Woojin. The man who had been looking into the window was now looking straight at Yoon Jaho before him.
The smile that had been spread across his whole face was gone.
Expressionless.
And lies.
And belief.
-["We're together, aren't we?"]
At that moment, every single one of the 3,000 people filling the Lumière Theater understood it without exception.
This man, Park Haseong, was deeply trapped in Ripley syndrome.
The term Ripley syndrome was never mentioned even once in Leech, yet everyone felt it instinctively. Before long, most of the audience turned to look at Kang Woojin seated in the very front row. The difference between the version of him on screen and the real man sitting there was simply too great.
Among them, the ten official Cannes jurors in particular could not take their eyes off Kang Woojin's image on the giant screen.
He expresses emotion that freely with nothing but his eyes.
His acting is astonishing. Ripley syndrome comes through from that performance alone. Could it be that he actually suffers from it?
Is this really acting??
He must either have personal experience or have practiced like a madman. If he reached this level through practice alone, I can't even imagine how much time he would have had to invest.
Compared to the beginning, Kang Woojin's performance in Leech began truly shining from the early middle section onward. The impression Shim Hanho had left was overturned in an instant. The fact that all 3,000 audience members had fallen completely into Park Haseong within Leech proved it.
Exactly when that shift happened was impossible to say.
At some point, as everyone became absorbed in the film, Kang Woojin was all they could see anymore. But his performance did not feel like a performance. Even Miley Cara, sitting there staring at the massive screen, found herself covering her mouth.
It's chilling. And it's terrifying.
All of the audience members who watched Leech shared one thought, distinct yet somehow universal.
This film does not feel like a film.
That did not mean it lacked artistic polish. If anything, the quality of Leech far exceeded imagination. The problem was that Kang Woojin's acting as the lead was simply too real.
It feels like I'm watching a documentary.
Kang Woojin's acting is too vivid. This is a film, isn't it? Why does it feel like a documentary?
It feels like I'm looking at a real person. I can't believe acting at this level is even possible.
As a result, Leech crossed beyond the boundaries of cinema. It felt as if it were broadcasting the story of a real man named Park Haseong, someone who had entered a chaebol family and fallen into Ripley syndrome.
As time passed, the atmosphere only grew heavier.
The Lumière Theater was thick with a sticky, unpleasant heat. One actor's performance was interfering with the breathing of all 3,000 people in the room.
Somewhere in the latter half—
while the audience held their breath and stared at the screen, the tension Kang Woojin showed in Leech had become completely different from what it was at the beginning. He was a completely different person now. He was covered in lies, yet he was living inside them as if they were truth.
-["Don't smile. If you do, I'll shove a cigarette down your throat."]
-["Hyung."]
-["You little bastard! What? Hyung??!"]
There was sincerity in all of it.
Kang Woojin remained calm and composed.
-["Why are you so wary of me?"]
-["Wary of someone like you? You're completely out of your mind."]
-["Ah, is that so? I think I understand now."]
He acted without hesitation. No one in the film could stop him anymore. Then the giant screen showed Woojin's face reflected in the glass of a framed family photograph. A truth without a single lie was captured whole inside that frame.
Danny Landis, who had been rubbing his chin in thought, was deeply moved.
Even if I saw this scene twice, it would still be breathtakingly beautiful.
The direction was excellent, but the actor's facial performance filling the screen was truly astonishing.
At the very moment he most vividly realizes he has become a monster, even with obvious proof of the lie right in front of him, he justifies himself with yet another lie. And he expresses all of that with nothing but his eyes and a single line of dialogue. The real monster here is that actor.
The ten jurors, Cara, and the rest of the audience could not help drawing in a breath at that moment. Even the Leech team seated in the front row had unconsciously straightened their backs as they watched the completed film. Kang Woojin, who wore the most solemn expression of them all, was no different.
But inside, he was having a reaction that did not suit the solemn atmosphere in the slightest.
Wow, my face looks huge up there.
Seeing his own face blown up across the giant screen made Woojin feel a little embarrassed. Of course, no one could possibly see through what he was really thinking. Plenty of people kept glancing at him, but Woojin never lost that firm faith in his character.
Meanwhile, Leech was racing quickly toward its conclusion.
Now that he had become a monster, he had no choice but to kill the truth in order to preserve that monstrous nature. The only person who could expose Park Haseong's lies, and the one who trusted and cherished him most, was Madam Yoo Hyeonji.
-["I'm confused about who I am."]
But Yoo Hyeonji was both truth itself and the medium that made Park Haseong's lies into reality. In essence, it was the same thing as Park Haseong killing himself.
-["So I'll find out."]
Park Haseong had become completely severed from reality. He was found on the living room sofa inside the mansion. This was the only moment in the film that felt like reality for Park Haseong.
Soon, as the camera pulled back, Kang Woojin's narration filled the entire theater once more.
-["At first, I envied you. I wanted your world. But now I can't find my real self anymore. I think I lost it somewhere. I don't think it'll be easy to find it again."]
The giant screen went dark.
And then—
-♬♪
With mysterious film music rising, the end credits began to roll. The two-hour film Leech had come to an end. At the same time, thunderous applause erupted throughout the theater.
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!
The moment the film ended, all 3,000 audience members rose to their feet and applauded.
A standing ovation.
Hollywood master director Danny Landis, Miley Cara, the ten jurors, and everyone else including Joseph and Megan were not applauding out of courtesy. They were genuinely praising the Leech team from the bottom of their hearts.
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!
Kang Woojin was a little flustered.
Wow, that startled me.
It was his first time experiencing something like this. And this was Cannes, France. The people giving him a standing ovation were thousands of foreigners he had never met before. Watching it happen, Woojin felt both shocked and strangely aware of his own heart pounding harder.
This is insane.
The grand Lumière Theater.
The storm of applause.
Woojin, Director Ahn Gabok, and the entire Leech team rose from their seats in deep emotion and bowed to the audience. Hundreds of reporters in the theater captured the Leech team in photographs, and dozens—no, hundreds—of people recorded the moment on their phones.
Those videos would certainly spread to YouTube.
In any case, the once-silent Lumière Theater had transformed into a furnace of excitement. There was no sign of the heat fading. Kang Woojin found the sight strangely captivating. The atmosphere was completely different from the Japanese film screened on the first day of the Competition section.
Were the films screened on the first day met with reactions like this too? There was applause, sure, but it wasn't this frenzied, was it?
Woojin did not know much about Cannes, but he did know there had been no standing ovation on the first day. As all 3,000 audience members continued applauding on their feet, Joseph asked the entourage around him, including the stunt team and Universal Movies executives,
"What did you think?"
They had already seen the long-take scenes from Beneficial Evil, and they had also been told beforehand that Kang Woojin used method acting, so their expectations had been sky-high. Naturally, not one of them looked disappointed.
"It was incredible. Just like you said, I was reminded again that action acting is only one of Mr. Kang Woojin's many talents."
"The most important thing was his method acting. It really felt as if he had revived a real person."
"To be honest, Beneficial Evil's long-take scenes feel almost shabby when I look at them now. That just shows how extraordinary his acting was here."
At that very moment, as Kang Woojin sat in the very front row directly before the screen—
a man with thinning hair and round glasses approached. It was Hollywood heavyweight director Danny Landis.
"It's been a very long time since I became so immersed in a work that I lost all sense of time."
He extended his hand, asking the expressionless Kang Woojin for a handshake.
"Your performance was extremely impressive, and it left a powerful aftertaste."
Director Ahn Gabok's eyes widened. The actors and audience around them began murmuring in surprise.
"Director Danny praised his acting..."
"Isn't he famous in Hollywood for being extremely critical?"
It was a side of Danny Landis no one had seen before. Meanwhile, Kang Woojin kept his stiff expression on the outside while muttering inwardly with perfect composure.
Why am I so popular with old men?
Later.
Even after the screening of Leech ended, the Lumière Theater remained heated for a long while. The 3,000 audience members who had watched the film stayed in their seats and watched as Kang Woojin and the Leech team were surrounded by reporters.
That situation continued for about thirty minutes.
During those thirty minutes, the Leech team had to endure countless interviews and photo calls. Naturally, most of the questions and cameras focused on Kang Woojin. Eventually, they managed to escape the situation, but the crowd's attention refused to die down.
"It was truly magnificent!"
"A genuinely unforgettable film!"
Famous figures from all kinds of countries—in other words, audience members—flocked toward the Leech team. And once again, Kang Woojin drew the most attention.
His popularity was soaring explosively.
Kang Woojin calmly answered the flood of questions about his acting, his sign language, and his French, maintaining his composed appearance thanks to the concept he had prepared in advance. During that time, Danny, Cara, Joseph, and Megan also exchanged brief greetings with the Leech team.
The theater was far too chaotic for any long conversation.
At last, the ten official Cannes jurors approached. But because they were jurors, they could not offer detailed evaluations or ask deeper questions. They only exchanged simple greetings.
Even as the jurors were leaving the theater—
"Hmm—"
"..."
—they wore expressions showing they were deep in thought. It was only natural. They had many decisions to make before the awards ceremony the next day, and the film Leech they had just seen had left them with much to think about.
It all took about an hour.
By the time Kang Woojin returned to his hotel room, it was already ten at night.
"Ah, I'm exhausted."
He collapsed onto the bed without even taking off his suit. Of course, before entering the room, he had run into Choi Seonggeon, who bombarded him with questions. That was because he had heard the rumor that Kang Woojin spoke French like a native. In the end, though, it did not become a major issue.
Choi Seonggeon had already resolved to accept everything as it was.
Soon, Kang Woojin let out a long sigh. He did not even have the energy to use the void space, and everything felt as though it had passed in a blur. Burying his face into the bed, he replayed the events from a few hours earlier in his mind. He had lived through them himself, yet none of it felt real.
"If it's already this chaotic with only 3,000 people, then the awards ceremony is going to be complete madness, isn't it?"
He was referring to the closing ceremony and the awards. Naturally, with tens of thousands expected to attend, it would be on a completely different level. In any case, the official schedule for Leech was now over. Aside from a few simple interviews and events, Kang Woojin would have relatively free time until the closing ceremony and awards a few days later.
At that moment, Kang Woojin thought of Danny's face.
More precisely, he remembered the last thing Danny had said.
Let's meet soon and talk properly.
Woojin tilted his head, curiosity in his eyes.
"About what?"
──────────
Two days later, on the 4th, in Korea.
While the Cannes Film Festival in France was in full swing, things related to Kang Woojin were also progressing smoothly in Korea. In the case of Beneficial Evil, for example, PD Song Manwoo and Netflix Korea executive Kim Sohyang had both come to DM Production together.
The meeting began with Kim Sohyang's words.
"PD-nim, it's confirmed. We've decided to move up the broadcast schedule for Beneficial Evil."
"Will it be able to proceed without problems?"
"Of course. Whether it ends up being late this year or early next year, moving up the schedule won't be the problem. The only thing is that in order to establish the strategy properly, we'll need to settle on the confirmed release date in advance."
That went without saying.
Kim Sohyang smiled at Song Manwoo.
"Please focus on episodes 1 through 6, meaning Part 1. At the moment, the best option is to release it as quickly as possible."
Meanwhile, the domestic media was in uproar over various issues. Among them, one headline in particular stood out that morning.
『[Cannes Film Festival] Closing ceremony and awards to be held at 7 p.m. Cannes time on October 10, which is 3 a.m. in Korea... YouTube livestream confirmed!』
The closing ceremony and awards of the Cannes Film Festival would be broadcast live.