Translator: Dreamscribe
The first ti Kang Woojin noticed the plump woman holding a knife was, in fact, almost by chance. Woojin, standing close to the entrance of the massive studio do, had put on his tuxedo costu, and around him were a mix of his own stylist team and foreign staff mbers.
They had gathered to do his hair and makeup.
Up until that mont, Kang Woojin hadn’t thought much of it. He was simply maintaining his poker face while secretly marveling inside.
‘Wow- how many people are gathered here just for my makeup?? If soone saw this, they’d think I was a Hollywood star.’
Woojin’s stylist team alone had 5 mbers, while the foreign team had 7. Soon after Kang Woojin’s makeup was finished and he was adjusting his tuxedo, Cara, who had been practicing choreography with backup dancers, stepped into the center of the do. That’s when the foreign makeup team around Woojin rushed towards her.
In the midst of this, Kang Woojin noticed sothing.
‘Huh?’
The plump woman in the foreign makeup team was holding sothing strange. Of course, he had only caught it by chance while glancing at them rushing off. It was sothing silver.
It was a knife.
He didn’t know when she had taken it out, but the plump foreign woman was definitely holding a knife. At that mont, Kang Woojin furrowed his brows as he watched them run.
‘Wait a minute, was she holding a knife before?’
That woman had been close to Kang Woojin just a few minutes ago. Even though she hadn’t left a deep impression, she definitely wasn’t holding a knife earlier. What’s going on? Does makeup require a knife too? Woojin was puzzled. His own team had never used a knife.
‘It looks like the size of a small kitchen knife.’
Looking at the plump woman now about five steps away, Woojin felt a sense of disbelief. Well, in Hollywood, there could be equipnt he didn’t know about, right? He might have just seen it wrong. But what completely overturned Kang Woojin’s sense of relief was—
“!!”
—the smile on the face of the plump woman who was running. From here, Woojin didn’t hesitate for even a second.
-Wham!
Kang Woojin suddenly sprinted. It didn’t matter what had kicked in—whether it was ‘martial arts’ or ‘CQC’—what mattered was that Woojin could only see the plump woman lunging towards Miley Cara. The shouts from his team mbers echoed from behind.
“Huh?! Oppa! Where are you going?!”
“Woojin oppa!!”
Soon, the screams of the foreign staff running alongside the plump woman mixed in.
“Eek!!”
They must have noticed the knife in the plump woman’s hand.
‘Fuck! I’m late!’
Kang Woojin, dressed in his tuxedo, ran with a singular focus. Like a runaway train. The entire studio do was chaotic.
‘Telling soone won’t help—I need to get there first!!’
Even if he told soone, they might not believe him. Right now, Kang Woojin arriving first to control the situation was the best option. This was truly a do-or-die mont.
Seven steps, five steps, three steps.
By the ti the plump woman reached the blonde Cara, she was raising her knife, and Miley Cara was only just opening her eyes. The scene played out in slow motion for the sprinting Kang Woojin.
Thanks to his vision and judgnt, courtesy of ‘CQC’.
Kang Woojin quickly finished his calculation. He needed to not only subdue the woman but also get her away from Cara. He was almost there. Just close enough to hear the plump woman’s low whisper in English as it reached Woojin’s ears.
“Goodbye, Miley Cara.”
What bullshit.
In an instant, Kang Woojin was upon the woman. He lifted his leg. The target: her side. He had to control his strength. If he kicked too hard, she could crash into soone nearby. There were staff mbers around. He needed just the right distance to knock her away from Cara and imdiately subdue her. Woojin relaxed his leg halfway.
-Whoosh!!
The knife was about to stab down towards Cara. The plump woman let out a choking sound and fell forward a step away. Woojin’s long leg had swept past in front of Cara. Cara’s blue eyes widened, following Woojin’s movent.
“……Huh?”
A face that sohow exuded both indifference and aggression. However, Kang Woojin didn’t spare Cara even a glance.
-Thud!
He imdiately took his next step. Brushing past Miley Cara, he muttered a short but firm command.
“Alert the guards.”
Then, Kang Woojin quickly closed the distance between himself and the plump woman sprawled just two steps away. The woman let out a short groan, scrunching her face in pain.
“Kyaak!”
She gritted her teeth and jerked her head up. She couldn’t quite grasp what had happened. Why did I just go flying? That was the look on her face. At the sa ti, Cara’s sharp voice echoed through the space.
“Here!! Over here!!!”
Only now did the many people in the studio do turn their attention toward Cara. Dozens of backup dancers, staff mbers, and even the large-bodied guards.
“Cara? What’s going on over there?”
“Hey, hey!! Move!”
“Miley!!!!”
A dozen or so startled guards began to dash over. Despite their bulky fras, they moved quickly, and from all around, screams and shouts started to ring out. In an instant, the do transford into a space filled with terror. Confusion and panic spread everywhere.
But only one person—
—swoosh.
Kang Woojin, standing before the fallen plump woman, remained—
“……”
—calm and cold. There was no tension in Woojin’s eyes as he looked down at the woman. The plump woman trembled slightly and suddenly sprang to her feet. Her eyes were filled with rage and madness. She knew she had failed.
‘Damn it!! I couldn’t stab Miley Cara!!!’
The woman’s eyes darted around. If she couldn’t get to Cara, she had to stab soone—anyone. If not, she felt like she would lose her mind. Ti was running out. Once those bulky guards running her way reached her, she wouldn’t be able to do anything. The problem was the Asian man standing right in front of her. Because of this bastard, she couldn’t move hastily. The distance was too close.
Soon, the woman’s thoughts twisted.
“Fine, then I’ll just stab you!!!”
Screaming furiously, the plump woman charged at the Asian man. No, she lunged at the still, silent Kang Woojin. She thought she got lucky when he kicked her away, believing his body must have stiffened from shock. You were surprised too, right? Weren’t you?
She had picked the wrong opponent. Very wrong.
If possible, Woojin had no intention of touching the woman. This woman—or rather, this criminal—was unpredictable. You never knew what a provoked criminal might do. But with her charging like that, there was no choice. Honestly, subduing this woman was nothing for Kang Woojin.
—swoosh.
Woojin lowered his gaze. The woman didn’t even know how to properly hold a knife. If she stabbed like that, her own hand would get torn up more than her opponent. Does that matter? The woman thrust the knife straight toward Kang Woojin. Woojin easily dodged it, sidestepping, then grabbed her wrist. Pulling her in, he tripped her with his leg. The plump woman collapsed helplessly.
However—
—swoosh.
Kang Woojin did not let go of her wrist. The woman dangled awkwardly, suspended by her arm. She scread a bizarre shriek and tried to stand up, but Woojin yanked her wrist forward. Her face and stomach dragged against the floor. Without hesitation, Woojin pressed her wrist down to the ground and pinned her hand under his foot.
“Krrrk!!”
The knife slipped from the hand of the struggling woman. Woojin kicked the knife aside without a second thought. Subdue complete. Actually, can this even be called subduing? In a way, it felt as though the woman was dancing according to Woojin’s intent, and the expressionless Kang Woojin simply stared down at the trembling woman, calm and cold.
In that brief mont, Cara, who had witnessed everything, covered her mouth with both hands.
‘……Oh my God.’
The strange thing was that Cara’s gaze was fixed solely on Kang Woojin, and her heart was pounding wildly. While the recent incident was certainly a factor, half of it felt like it was sohow because of Kang Woojin.
The noisy studio do suddenly grew a bit quieter.
And then—
-Wham!!
A dozen guards quickly restrained the plump woman sprawled on the ground.
Afterwards.
After the woman who had attacked Cara was restrained, the massive studio do had turned into complete chaos. Half of the hundred or so staff mbers were either screaming or shouting, while the other half surrounded Miley Cara, checking on her. The dozens of people on Cara’s team were no different.
They were all focused on making sure Miley Cara was alright.
As her main manager, Jonathan, checked on her physical and ntal state, he shouted to those around him.
“Did soone call the police?! When the hell are they getting here?!”
As expected, amidst the chaos, most people were agitated. Emotionally, that is. The do was filled with screams as people yelled at the top of their lungs. anwhile, Cara’s manager Jonathan and the staff were looking for Kang Woojin. He stood near the bound, plump woman with an indifferent expression. Choi Sung-gun and Woojin’s team were already sticking to him, bombarding him with worried questions, while Jonathan and dozens of staff mbers expressed their gratitude to Woojin.
Even so, the atmosphere was still frantic.
The staff appeared as if their souls had been drained from them. After all, if not for Kang Woojin, Cara would have been in serious danger, so their reaction was understandable. On the other hand, Woojin remained calm. Well, it was more like he was pretending to be calm, with a bit of bravado mixed in. On the surface, he had his poker face on, but inside, he was feeling imnse relief.
‘Wo—seriously, that was so fucking close! This is crazy for real.’
Subduing the woman hadn’t been particularly difficult, but seeing such an absurd situation unfold right before his eyes was still unsettling.
At the sa ti, he felt a bit of disdain towards Hollywood.
‘Is terrorism in Hollywood just a normal, everyday thing or what??’
Woojin felt a chill at the re thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t noticed in ti. Lowering his gaze, Woojin looked at the plump woman being pinned down by the massive guards. The woman was squirming, letting out strange groans. There was even so foam forming at her mouth. What gave him goosebumps was how the woman, with madness in her eyes, was still glaring at Miley Cara.
Internally, Kang Woojin cursed.
‘Is she seriously a lunatic?’
At this point, the massive guards who were restraining the woman kept glancing at Woojin.
‘That movent just now—what was that? It was fast and precise. No unnecessary motions.’
‘It didn’t seem like a coincidence. He’s definitely learned sothing.’
‘Without a second’s hesitation… He could’ve been in danger himself. So he wasn’t worried about that at all?’
Of course, Miley Cara, surrounded by nurous staff mbers, was also staring at Kang Woojin.
“……”
Why is my heart still racing? She had a peculiar expression on her face.
Just then—
—screech!
L.A. police cars arrived aggressively at the front of the studio do. Watching them, Woojin couldn’t help but make a pure observation. Naturally, it was internal.
‘Whoa—this looks just like a movie.’
About two hours later. Inside a large van.
Among the nurous cars parked in the external lot in front of the studio do, Miley Cara was sitting alone inside an unusually tall and spacious van.
“……”
Her makeup had faded, and her previously tied-up blonde hair was now loose. Her expression was dark. No, it was more like she was in a state of shock. She always had a sowhat cold atmosphere, but now it felt even more intense. She was likely lost in deep thought.
As she sat there in a daze, the mont when she was almost attacked earlier flashed through her mind.
The woman’s creepy smile and voice, the knife that had almost lodged itself sowhere in her body, her own frozen self, unable to do anything. The more she replayed it, the more terrifying the scene beca. Feeling a bit nauseous, Cara closed her eyes.
“Whew-”
It wouldn’t have been surprising if she experienced ntal issues after sothing like that. No matter how often incidents like this happen throughout Hollywood, seeing it in the news and experiencing it firsthand were worlds apart. Even if she took a few months off, no one would bla her.
But Cara was a professional.
‘Get a grip. If you break down here, you’ll be haunted by this for the rest of your life.’
Miley Cara, who had maintained her position at the top in Hollywood for over a decade as a singer and actress. Though this was her first ti facing such a situation, she had grown up seeing all kinds of things. She had fought her way to the top, enduring everything along the way. Cara judged that if she crumbled here, everything would be in vain.
‘I’m scared, but I have to endure. I have to overco this.’
She had been hurt by paparazzis, had accidents during filming, had been stalked, and had even suffered from absurd rumors. But Cara had always maintained her ntal strength, continuing to walk her path with resilience.
This incident would pass as well.
It would just be filed away as another grotesque event. Cara, who had closed her eyes, slowly opened her eyelids. Her deep blue eyes were revealed, still tinged with anxiety, but sowhat calr now. She took another deep breath, trying to steady her mind.
At this mont.
—knock knock, click.
The back door of the van opened, and Cara’s main manager, Jonathan, who had a buzz cut, appeared. His face was full of concern.
“Cara, are you okay?”
Cara, now much calr, ran her fingers through her blonde hair and nodded.
“Yeah.”
“I’ve scheduled the psychiatrist for tomorrow morning like we discussed.”
“Thank you.”
“…I’m sorry. This is mostly my fault. I couldn’t stop it, and I should have checked things more thoroughly beforehand.”
Jonathan was blaming himself. However, Cara didn’t reproach him.
“Don’t be like that, it’s fine. It’s no one’s fault. There’s no need for everything to fall apart because of that one woman. What happened just happened, and we just need to be more careful moving forward.”
Jonathan, who was standing outside the van, looked at Cara inside the vehicle, but then suddenly turned his head. He sensed soone approaching. From the right, a black-haired man was walking toward them. It was Kang Woojin. Since Cara had requested to speak with him, Jonathan quietly stepped aside.
Of course.
“Mr. Kang Woojin.”
As Kang Woojin passed by, Jonathan extended his hand in gratitude.
“Thank you very much.”
“……”
Woojin, with a silent expression, shook his hand and then moved inside the van where Cara was seated.
-Click!
As soon as the door closed, a brief silence filled the interior.
“……”
“……”
It was Miley Cara who broke the silence first. She made eye contact with the quiet Kang Woojin and spoke solemnly.
“I owe you a debt, and quite a large one at that.”
****
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