Chapter 7 Part 4: Fear is Stronger Than Any Weapon

Park Junsu, the main camera director, arrives in front of the sedan parked outside the first-floor karaoke bar and gives movement instructions to the assistant camera director.

“Alright.

You’ll be in the passenger seat.

When Zhang Wei gets out of the car and heads down to the basement karaoke, catch it from behind in an FS (full shot showing the entire space).

As he goes down the stairs, zoom into an MS (waist-up shot), then pull back again and finish with a KS (knee-up shot) when he opens the basement door.

All from the back.

Got it?”

“Yes, Director.”

“Director Kim will be watching the angle from over there.

Give it a try.”

“Yes.”

“Stay in the car.

The actor will be coming up shortly.”

While waiting inside the car and checking the camera, Director Kim Minsu and the lighting team come up together.

Lights are installed from the vehicle to the karaoke stairs, and Kim Minsu can be seen holding onto Yejun and explaining things to him several times.

Kim Minsu opens the passenger-side door of the parked car and says,

“Then I’ll be counting on you.”

“Yes, Director!”

“Actor, get in!”

Yejun climbs into the driver’s seat.

The assistant camera director, who was about to exchange polite greetings, flinches when he sees Yejun’s profile.

What the hell?

How can someone change so suddenly?

Where did the kind young man who had been helping the staff downstairs just moments ago go?

A ferocious beast had climbed into the car.

Yejun says nothing and stares straight ahead, but there’s a strange atmosphere that makes it feel like he would tear someone apart the moment he’s spoken to.

Frozen, the camera director can’t bring himself to say a word.

Yejun, who had been staring forward, slowly turns to look at him.

A chill runs through his entire body.

It feels like being attacked by thousands of ants all at once.

Those aren’t human eyes!

A demon.

Or a beast.

The gleaming madness looks like it could burst out of his eyes at any moment.

Swallowing hard, the camera director unconsciously presses his back tightly against the car door, trying to put even a little distance between them.

Then Yejun’s rough, gravelly voice reaches his ears.

“Lower yourself.”

“…Pardon?”

Yejun gestures with his eyes.

Following his gaze, the camera director sees Director Kim Minsu capturing a long shot of the parked car and the karaoke building as a whole.

Since the shot needs to show only Yejun in the car, he needs to duck down and hide.

“Ah!

I—I’m sorry!”

The camera director lowers himself.

Yejun turns his gaze forward again and bites his lip.

I almost split this guy’s skull just now.

For a split second, irritation surged up at the person interfering with his work.

Hitting him with a prop axe wouldn’t cause serious injury, but assaulting a staff member would still turn into a huge problem.

Gripping the steering wheel tightly, Yejun clenches his teeth.

Hold it together, Ma Yejun.

Finish this before this demon devours me.

At that moment, the agreed-upon signal comes.

As Yejun slowly gets out of the car, the camera director, who had been crumpled in the passenger seat, crawls out after him—not through the passenger door, but toward the driver’s side—framing the shot as he goes.

Yejun glances up at the karaoke sign, pulls the axe from his waistband, and scratches his head in the opposite direction.

Below, he’ll have to wage war against numerous Joseonjok gang members, yet Zhang Wei looks as relaxed as if he’s on a picnic.

Walking down the stairs with an unhurried gait, like someone heading into a karaoke session for fun, Zhang Wei throws the door open.

“Cut!

Good!

Let’s move on to the next scene!

All staff, head down to the basement!”

At the cut signal, Assistant Director Jang Youngho runs over and takes Yejun into another room.

The assistant camera director, who had been filming his back, swallows hard.

What the hell is that guy?

He felt like a completely different person.

Before filming, he’d looked genuinely kind and gentle.

Park Junsu, who had been capturing an extreme shot from afar, comes down to the basement and lightly taps the assistant camera director on the shoulder.

“Good work.

Got an O.K. in one take.”

“Uh, Director.”

“Hm?”

“Actor Ma Yejun, I mean.”

“Yeah.”

“He seems extremely immersed right now.”

“Haha.

Yeah, doesn’t he?

He’s always like that.

He was the same during his first shoot.”

“……”

“Let’s go in.

We’ve got full-on action coming up.”

The second shoot captures Yejun entering through the door in a WS (waist shot), then closes in on his face with a CS (shoulder-up shot).

Once the camera team is ready, Jang Youngho opens one of the karaoke room doors and leads Yejun to just outside.

He nods at Director Kim Minsu to signal that everything’s fine and then steps away.

After slightly adjusting the angle, Kim Minsu calls out,

“Alright, actor ready!

Action!”

The door opens, and Zhang Wei enters with an axe in his hand.

Rather than looking like someone storming in, he looks like an ordinary karaoke customer.

With a faintly bored, listless expression, Zhang Wei steps inside.

The moment his face is magnified in a CS, his expression changes.

Spotting the Joseonjok gang members seated in the karaoke lobby, Zhang Wei twists his face into a chilling smile, like someone who’s just found a fun new toy.

The set falls silent.

Some of the staff shudder at the sight of Yejun’s expression, their bodies trembling involuntarily.

“Cut!

O.K.!

Let’s move straight on!

Things are really flowing today!”

At the satisfied voice, the frozen atmosphere loosens, and the staff begin changing positions.

Assistant Director Jang Youngho shouts,

“Joseonjok gang members, come out and stand by!”

About ten stunt actors pour out into the karaoke lobby.

After checking the blood-pack devices one last time and giving the O.K., Jang Youngho signals them to begin.

Camera Director Park Junsu speaks,

“We’ll be filming from this side, facing the stunt actors.

Yejun, you just need to run into the frame so you hit the angle.

We’ll do it all in one take without cutting, so don’t worry about anything—just act.

We’ll handle the rest.”

There’s no response from Yejun.

Instead, Jang Youngho makes an O.K. sign with his hand.

Director Kim Minsu moves to the karaoke entrance and issues instructions while watching the monitor.

“Alright, going in!

Ready, sound!”

“Speed!”

“Camera!”

“Roll!”

“Slate!”

“Episode two, scene one!”

“Action!”

Within the frame, Joseonjok gang members can be seen—some seated, others smoking.

At the appointed time, one gang member seated near the karaoke door looks over and asks with a scowl,

“你是什麼人? (Who are you?)”

Another gang member, cigarette in his mouth, glances at Zhang Wei and smirks.

“找死吗? (You looking to die?)”

Scratching his back lazily with the axe, Zhang Wei grins with eyes gleaming with madness.

“上次我看到你的父母在天安门坦克下,他们怎么样?
(I saw your parents under the Tiananmen tanks recently.

How are they doing?)”

The gang members’ expressions change.

One of them throws his cigarette to the floor and shouts,

“他妈的! (f*ck!)”

“去死吧! (Die!)”

Just as one man rises from his chair, Zhang Wei launches himself forward, kicks him square in the chest, and crashes into the frame.

He rampages like a lone wolf leaping into a flock of sheep.

Seeing another gang member spring up beside him, Zhang Wei jams the axe between the man’s neck and shoulder.

With a twisted smile, he locks eyes with the gang member whose eyes nearly pop out from the impact and murmurs,

“狗养的. (Bastard.)”

When another attacker swings a knife toward his head, Zhang Wei kicks away the man he just embedded the axe into, yanks the axe free, and ducks the blade.

As he regrips the axe, yet another gang member lunges in, trying to stab him in the abdomen.

Zhang Wei twists his body aside, spins, and severs the attacker’s wrist.

The severed wrist flies through the air, spraying blood.

The gang member clutches the stump, blood pouring out as he screams.

“AAAAAAAH!!!”

Watching the man collapse as if appreciating a piece of art, Zhang Wei smiles.

Then, from directly behind, another gang member grabs the back of Zhang Wei’s neck and plunges a knife into his shoulder blade.

Zhang Wei straightens his back for a brief moment, then spins around and drives the axe straight into the man’s skull.

Blood erupts like a fountain as the gang member collapses.

When yet another attacker strikes from behind with a knife, Zhang Wei whirls around and sends the man’s head flying with a spinning kick.

Without even glancing at the body that goes flying, Zhang Wei leaps up, kicks off the wall, retrieves the axe from the corpse he just killed, and hurls it at the man who was knocked down by the kick.

Then he pulls out another axe and buries it into the chest of the gang member who had been seated at the very beginning and was now lying on the floor.

Only one gang member remains—the one who had retreated after swinging his knife toward Zhang Wei’s head.

Seeing that everyone else is dead, the man swings his knife wildly, terror etched across his face.

“…靠. (Damn it.)
你是什麼人? (Who are you?)”

Zhang Wei retrieves both axes, grips one in each hand, and slowly rolls his neck, loosening up his body.

He stares at the man with a sinister grin, then smiles as he says,

“傻X. (Moron.)”

Enraged by the insult, the gang member bares his teeth and slashes with the knife.

“去死吧! (Die!)”

With a knife still lodged in his shoulder blade, Zhang Wei charges forward without a care for his wound and hacks the man apart with both axes.

Blood bursts from all over the gang member’s body.

Eventually, he drops the knife and collapses onto the floor, writhing—but Zhang Wei’s axe swings do not stop.

Thud!

Thud!

Blood splashes up like a fountain, spraying across Zhang Wei’s face, yet all that remains there is a smile filled with madness.

“Cut!!!

Wow!!!”

Director Kim Minsu claps loudly, repeatedly giving a thumbs-up.

“That was incredible!

Absolutely fantastic!

Makeup team!

Separate the gang members who got hit by axes just now and put embedded-axe makeup on the wounds.

Let’s capture separate stills.

The rest, keep going!”

The staff rush in en masse to attend to the fallen actors.

As before, Yejun is led by Jang Youngho into an empty room.

Martial arts director Kang In-ho, looking highly satisfied, reaches out a hand to the stunt actor who played the last gang member to die.

“Damn, you could really be an actor.

Your facial acting was insane.

Did you practice separately?”

“…..”

“Hey, grab my hand and get up.”

Covered in fake blood, the stunt actor lies on the floor, trembling without answering.

Sensing something’s wrong, Kang In-ho crouches down and checks him.

“What is it?

Are you hurt?

You okay?”

When Kang In-ho shakes his shoulder, the actor suddenly screams,

“AAAAAH!!!”

Flailing his arms and thrashing on the floor, the actor struggles wildly.

Startled, Kang In-ho grabs his shoulders firmly.

“Hey!

What’s wrong with you?!”

After a few more seconds of struggling, the actor seems to register his surroundings and slowly looks around with wide eyes.

Kang In-ho frowns and asks,

“What’s wrong?”

The actor stares up at Kang In-ho, mouth hanging open, unable to speak.

“You’re not injured anywhere, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Then what is it?”

Suddenly, as if something occurs to him, the actor frantically looks around and blurts out,

“W-Where’s Zhang Wei?”

“This idiot thinks he’s some kind of great method actor.

Cut was called, damn it.

Snap out of it.

Yejun went into his room.”

The actor suddenly starts breathing hard.

“Hh—hh—huh—huh.”

“What’s wrong with this guy?”

Swallowing hard, the actor speaks.

“Th-that just now.”

“Huh?

What?”

The actor looks at Kang In-ho with eyes full of terror.

“Th-that wasn’t acting.

I—I was genuinely terrified and just swinging blindly.”

“…..”

Looking down at his still-shaking legs, the actor continues,

“Th-that was the real Zhang Wei, Director.

Not actor Ma Yejun.

The real Zhang Wei.”