Chapter 283: All Time (14)

Chapter 283: All Time (14)

Dozens of Japanese voice actors gathered in the spacious booth. They were all watching the enormous monitor in front of them. Naturally, it was playing the first episode of the anime ‘Male Friend: Remake’. As they watched, the voice actors passionately performed their lines.

The interesting thing was that each voice actor had a different dubbing style.

Some alternated between looking at scripts filled with notes and the monitor. Others made exaggerated body movements. And some glanced at the other voice actors. All the voice actors participating in ‘Male Friend: Remake’ were veterans with high recognition. Therefore, each had their own recording style. Of course, this was true for the female lead Umi Natsumi and Asami Sayaka were no exception.

This was not unusual at all.

Probably, every voice actor does the same.

However, there was one person who particularly stood out in the spacious booth. It was Kang Woojin. To be precise, he could be described as ‘static’. Although he mimicked the actions of the male lead, Toru Sengoku, he was calm and didn’t even look at the script. Just the fact that he wasn’t looking at the script was a big shock to the voice actors.

‘W-What? Is he seriously going without a script till the end?’

‘At first I thought he was just showing off, but...’

‘But up to now, he hasn’t messed up a single word of his lines. How is that even possible?’

Yes, occasionally, there are geniuses who perform without looking at the script. Such extraordinary talents exist in any field, not just voice acting.

But.

‘Kang Woojin is an actor, isn’t he?!’

It was his first time doing voice dubbing recording today. Therefore, it was no surprise that the veteran voice actors were stunned. Of course, it wasn’t just the voice actors; most of those watching him from outside the booth were equally shocked. This included the overall director, the staff of ‘A10 Studio’, and the staff of the voice actors, among others. Particularly, Mahiro Sakuichi, a renowned director in the anime industry, couldn’t straighten his furrowed brow.

“...I noticed during the previous reading too. He doesn’t look at the script but still matches the lip movements and timing perfectly without a single mistake.”

One of the main reasons voice actors look at the script while recording is to perfectly sync their voices with the character’s movements in the anime. They need to know where to breathe, pause, take breaks, cough, and so on.

They record all these minute details in the script and voice accordingly.

But Kang Woojin was perfect without any of that.

And that was not all.

“Not looking at the script might be something he’s used to from acting, but......his dubbing is incredibly realistic.”

“Right?”

“Yes, I don’t know how to describe it exactly, but it’s like he’s brought ‘Toru Sengoku’ from the anime to life.”

“Exactly. Despite all that, he’s keeping the acting and emotions intact, and even adding vitality.”

The overall director murmured with a smile without realizing it.

“If only he wasn’t such a successful actor......I’d want to recruit him as a voice actor somehow.”

Inside the booth, Kang Woojin stood out among the numerous famous Japanese voice actors. A girl in a wheelchair watched him in a daze, Asami Yusako, whose future dream was to become a voice actor, thought. No, she imagined.

‘I’m... envious of Mom.’

She imagined the day she would become a professional voice actor and be in the same booth as Kang Woojin. And to her right, among the many waiting people, Choi Sung-gun crossed his arms and smirked.

‘I thought the anime quality was good. But-’

Even outside the booth, the monitor was displaying ‘Male Friend: Remake’ without sound, while the voice actors’ voices blared through the speakers. In other words, it was like Choi Sung-gun was getting a preview of episode 1 of ‘Male Friend: Remake’. In truth, Choi Sung-gun wasn’t much of an anime fan. He generally had no interest in it.

But even someone like Choi Sung-gun..

‘With Woojin and the voice actors’ voices added, this is insane?’

He was so engrossed in watching ‘Male Friend: Remake’ that he was deeply absorbed.

‘So what happens when the anime-obsessed Japanese people see this??’

Later.

Kang Woojin’s first dubbing recording finished late at night. It easily went past 10 PM. Although Woojin’s stiff expression didn’t change much after finishing his first recording,

‘Whew- as expected, it’s not easy. It’s a good thing I went back and forth to the void space during breaks.’

Inwardly, he stuck out his tongue in astonishment. Well, nothing is easy in any field, and voice acting was certainly tough. Honestly, without the cheat item that is the void space, it would have been nearly impossible. Anyway, they had completed up to episode 4 of ‘Male Friend: Remake’. Although it didn’t reach the expected episode 5 as the directorhad expected, there weren’t any major changes to the planned schedule.

At this rate, they could finish all the dubbing within 3 days.

After the meeting about tomorrow’s recording with the staff and the director of ‘Male Friend: Remake’, Kang Woojin got into the van at 11 PM. By the time he arrived at the hotel and finished preparing for bed, it easily passed midnight. And the call time for tomorrow’s dubbing recording was 9 AM. Considering the preparation time, it was still tight.

Still, Kang Woojin’s mood wasn’t bad.

‘Once I wrap up ‘Male Friend: Remake’, my Japan schedule is almost done, right?’

Since the major projects ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’ and ‘Male Friend: Remake’ were coming to an end in Japan.

The next day, morning.

May had ended, and June had begun. On the morning of the 1st, naturally, Kang Woojin headed to ‘A10 Studio’ while having a simple breakfast in the van. It was a rice bowl from a famous restaurant around the hotel that Jang Su-hwan had bought.

‘What is this??! So damn good.’

The taste exploded in his mouth, but Woojin maintained his habitual stoic concept. Choi Sung-gun turned to the passenger seat where Woojin was eating the rice bowl.

“Woojin, after you finish your meal, check out the Japanese media. They’re going crazy over you right now.”

After finishing his meal, Woojin checked the issues on Japan’s portal sites. There were roughly three main topics. The first was ‘The Eerie Sacrifice of a Stranger’.

[Audience Count as of June 3, 2021]

[Daily Domestic Box Office]

1. Island of the Missing / Release Date: May 19 / Audience Count: 550,215 / Screens: 1159 / Cumulative Audience Count: 12,592,969

The figures had surpassed 12 million and were relentlessly heading towards 13 million. The team leader who was presenting murmured.

“These are the results for the 16th day, as of yesterday, the 3rd.”

Soon, the executives gathered in the ‘BOX Movies’ conference room began to murmur. Most of their tones were mixed with discomfort, and the team leader who was operating the remote continued with the presentation.

“As of this week, the momentum of ‘Island of the Missing’ has slightly weakened. The weekday audience count, which was over 700,000, has dropped to 400,000 to 500,000, and the weekend count has similarly declined.”

However, this was a natural phenomenon, and for ‘Sea Battle’ it could only be a cause for distress.

“Even though it’s lost a bit of steam, ‘Island of the Missing’ is still progressing quickly. Compared to the past data of ‘Sea Battle’, ‘Island of the Missing’ is still two days ahead.”

One of the director-level executives interjected.

“If, if ‘Island of the Missing’ continues like this... when do you think it will surpass us?”

“...At the earliest, next week. At the latest, the week after next, ‘Island of the Missing’ will surpass 16.7 million and be looking at 17 million.”

In other words, the analysis showed that ‘Sea Battle’ would soon have to relinquish its crown and step down from the throne. Therefore, most of the executives were quite taken aback. Frankly, they were surprised by the overwhelming initial impact of ‘Island of the Missing’ upon its release, but they didn’t expect it to cause such an excessive sensation. Moreover, they had not anticipated a performance exceeding 16 million.

The reason was simple.

Many things had changed when comparing the past when ‘Sea Battle’ was released and the present. If anything, the theater industry was more prosperous when ‘Sea Battle’ was released. There were not as many competing films, and there were fewer content options like Netflix back then.

Still, there was hope for ‘Sea Battle’.

“What, what are the highly anticipated tentpole films opening next week?”

“Right! If we subtly boost the promotion for those films?”

“It’s not a bad idea, but if we do it too overtly, it could cause unnecessary noise.”

“Is that really the issue now?? History is about to change!”

The fact that the domestic theater market was in its peak season. Therefore, new domestic and international tentpole films were opening every week. In other words, they could support a competing film to reduce the momentum of ‘Island of the Missing’.

Additionally,

“Looking at how the performance of ‘Island of the Missing’ is gradually declining, isn’t that a sign that interest is waning?”

“That’s right. If a strong film jumps in mid-way, the reservation rate could flip drastically.”

“How does this week look? How many new releases are there?”

“There are three anticipated films. ‘Island of the Missing’ is still number one, but the crucial period is from today until the weekend.”

Although it was a natural phenomenon, it indicated that the buzz around ‘Island of the Missing’ was deflating.

The decreased performance was clear evidence.

“It means the bubble is starting to burst, so there’s a possibility that the audience numbers will drop sharply.”

“Hmm, they’ve done all the promotion, marketing, and word-of-mouth they could, so there’s not much left to stand out, right? Other new tentpole movies will also be promoting heavily.”

“Hollywood films that are about to release will likely make a strong impact as well.”

Gradually, a light of hope was brightening for ‘Sea Battle’. Some director-level executives even smiled, which they hadn’t done before. The favorable conditions for other new movies were also favorable for them. However, there was one person in this conference room – the team leader in charge of the presentation – who still had a stiff face.

“There’s something we shouldn’t overlook.”

“Hmm?”

“...Despite the current success of ‘Island of the Missing’, it has been missing a key component in its promotions and other aspects.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Kang Woojin.”

Suddenly, it felt like a splash of icy water had been thrown across the conference room. Exclamation points appeared in most people’s eyes.

“!!!”

“Ah!”

Then the team leader, delivering the presentation, dropped a fact that crushed the hope for ‘Sea Battle’.

“Kang Woojin returned to Korea today.”

*****

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