Chapter 666. Adjusting (1)

Chapter 666. Adjusting (1)

That voice...! What a scarily composed voice that was!

It was completely flat and monotone. Neither too fast nor agonizingly slow.

Hearing that voice without context might make people mistakenly think that it was plain and unremarkable. However, that voice still echoed eerily within this dark and damp space, and that created an uncomfortable sense of disharmony in Liu Wei's mind.

Liu Wei stopped curling up and slowly stood up like a hypnotized man.

Maybe he could've tried some form of resistance, no matter how insignificant it might be. Such as... holding his breath and pretending he wasn't here. Or finding another escape route. Things like that.

However, Liu Wei's instincts were busy shouting at him. That all forms of resistance were futile.

If the individual beyond the door was the man Liu Wei was thinking of... It would be meaningless to resist!

Liu Wei desperately suppressed his trembling, staggering knees and headed to the door. He grabbed the doorknob but still flinched and trembled several times. However, he still forced himself to open this door.

Creaaaaak...

When the door finally opened wide, though, a sense of relief suddenly washed over Liu Wei. He realized that maybe this was for the better. Now he didn't need to tremble alone in darkness. At the very least, he'd be liberated from the terror of not knowing when this scary Korean man would show up! After all, a man who was already here wouldn't show up again later, no?!

Of course, he'd have to contend with a new fear from now on instead. The fear of confronting this Korean bastard face to face!

Liu Wei cautiously raised his head. However, he still dared not meet his guest's gaze. The best he could do was fix his gaze near Kang Jin-Ho's jaw and shrink himself as much as possible.

Kang Jin-Ho muttered quietly. “It seems you are bad at listening to orders...”

“...P-please, sir! Please spare me!”

“...”

“I, I was wrong! I made a terrible mistake! P-please, I beg of you, don't kill me...”

“Come on. Get dressed.”

“...Sorry?” Liu Wei raised his head in confusion.

That was when he finally got a better look at Kang Jin-Ho's face. And Liu Wei immediately realized something.

This man, he... He was different. Liu Wei couldn't accurately pinpoint why or how, but this man was not the same person as back then. That Kang Jin-Ho and this Kang Jin-Ho might as well be two different people!

This young man was as ordinary as a human could get. Someone commonly found in the streets everywhere! Sure, his looks were above average, but he still existed within the boundaries of a 'human being'.

Unfortunately, this realization failed to put Liu Wei's mind at ease. How could he feel at ease when he knew how creepy and scary it was for a person to freely switch between human and something else! In fact, Liu Wei's nausea only worsened at this realization.

Kang Jin-Ho tutted. “You need to get back to your film set. So, get dressed.”

“...?” Liu Wei was plunged into even deeper confusion. Film set? Did this scary man really say... Film set?

“I told you this before, didn't I?” Kang Jin-Ho suddenly reached out and grabbed Liu Wei's face.

There wasn't much strength in his grip. All he did was grab Liu Wei, but that was enough for the poor actor to spasm and quiver pitifully as if his face was being burned by a scalding-hot iron!

“I told you I'd come for you when your time was up. I showed you what would happen to you back then, didn't I?”

“Heuh-euh...!”

Sweat began flooding out of Liu Wei's entire body. How could he forget? How! How could he not remember those moments he wished were nothing more than byproducts of his nightmares!

Yes, he knew they had to be a part of an illusion. An illusion where his body was slowly and meticulously... being dissected apart! Even though it was an illusion, the pain he felt back then had been so vivid and real!

If Liu Wei was found even a second later inside that elevator... He would have died from shock. Yes, if people hadn't woken him up from that illusion...!

However, Liu Wei knew the truth. What he experienced back then was merely an illusion, but the man before his eyes possessed the necessary power to bring that horrifying fantasy into reality!

Knowing that, how could he not be scared?!

Kang Jin-Ho quietly whispered, “I told you to think about why you're still alive, didn't I? I spared you simply because... You're still useful. But the current you don’t have much use for me.”

“Euh...! Euh... euh...!”

“Now, speak. With your own mouth. Tell me what you need to do to survive.”

There was no need to even think about it. Liu Wei's brain was spinning at the fastest speed it's ever spun since his birth, after all! “I, I need to be useful to you!”

“So, you know,” Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded. “Keep going. How can you be useful to me?”

“I, I...!” Liu Wei hesitated, his irises powerfully quaking.

“Okay! That's it! Cut! Nice work!” Zhang Xiang ignored the assistant director's confused question and sent a thumbs-up sign to his actors.

Choi Yeon-Ha casually shrugged her shoulders. “Thank you. That was a good take.”

“You did great, Miss Choi! Truly exceptional work! Perfection, that's what it is!” Zhang Xiang stood up and began sending an enthusiastic round of applause at Choi Yeon-Ha. That prompted others to follow suit and started a chorus of applause.

Choi Yeon-Ha looked around in a bit of a fluster.

“Miss Choi, that really was perfection. Damn it! If only everyone is like you, I'd never have to worry about film shoots ever again!”

“But I haven't done anything differently, though. Please don't put me on a spot like this, director.”

“What do you mean, you haven't done anything differently? You gotta check the footage for yourself later. You'll see how incredible it really is.”

“Really?” A radiant smile of happiness bloomed on Choi Yeon-Ha's face. After all, the highest praise an actor could receive was how good their performance was.

“Now that this scene is wrapped up, we're almost done with most of the solo scenes...” Zhang Xiang furrowed deeply while glancing at his assistant director. “Have we found that bastard, Liu Wei, yet?”

“...No, not yet.”

“What? Dammit...!” Zhang Xiang's frown deepened.

They had completed most of Choi Yeon-Ha's solo scenes. But their lead male actor was still missing in action. In that case, what were they supposed to do here? Zhang Xiang was about to yell out his frustration, but Choi Yeon-Ha raised her hand to draw his attention first.

“Please wait, director.”

“Mm?”

Choi Yeon-Ha glanced at her manager next. “Any reply from him, Eun-Sol?”

“I got a message from him just now. He's on his way with the cargo, apparently.”

“Ng, got it,” Choi Yeon-Ha nodded, then confidently smiled at Zhang Xiang. “Director. I got confirmation that Liu Wei has been found, and he's being dragged here as we speak.”

“Say what?” Zhang Xiang blinked his eyes in flabbergast. What on Earth was Choi Yeon-Ha even saying here? Not even Liu Wei's talent agency could find him, so who found that bastard? “Who, uh... found him?”

“Well, let's say he's a Superman that I know,” said Choi Yeon-Ha with a content smile.

Zhang Xiang couldn't decipher whether Choi Yeon-Ha was being serious or cracking jokes with him. Before he could scowl and express his frustration at her...

“Oh? They are here already,” said Choi Yeon-Ha while pointing somewhere behind Zhang Xiang.

The director quickly turned his head around to look and spotted a dust-covered white van entering the film location.

'Mm? Isn't that Choi Yeon-Ha's van?'

Liu Wei was supposed to be in that thing? But... Why would that punk be riding in Choi Yeon-Ha's transport?

The object of everyone's intense curiosity, the white van, eventually came to a stop.

Thunk!

Shortly afterward, the van's side door slid open, and a man with a familiar face slowly climbed outside.

“...It's Liu Wei!”

“What the hell! You bastard! Just where have you been until... now... Eh?”

Several people were about to shout at Liu Wei but promptly shut their mouths instead.

'What is going on here?'

'Did something happen to him?'

Liu Wei's state was wretched. Utterly disheveled. So much so that some of the crew members briefly wondered if shutting someone inside a coffin for a few days without food could produce such a haunted, gaunt face.

Besides, Liu Wei's current expression wasn't his usual haughty, stuck-up one. His confidence seemed to have evaporated somewhere as only fear remained in his eyes busy glancing behind him.

'What the hell happened to that bastard?'

Thunk...

That was when the driver's side door opened to reveal a man wearing a face mask and a pair of sunglasses. He glanced in Liu Wei's direction. “Hey. Look alive.”

That one order from him was enough to bring a bright smile on Liu Wei's face. And that bizarre spectacle was more than enough to focus everyone's attention on the man exiting the driver's seat.

'Just who... is that?'

Unfortunately, no one here could answer their question.