『A great household was brought to ruin by a single assassin.
A murder occurred within the sanctuary. Even the highest elder of the great household was killed.
Not even the Arbiter could handle him properly, and in the end, the household’s official representative t his end too.
So what happened to the assassin who did all that? Was he executed in disgrace? Punished for tarnishing their honor?
“He achieved everything he wanted and officially died.”
That’s where the real problem lay. From beginning to end, the great household had been played like a fool.
They built their na on honor, boasted their status with pride—and now they had been brought to the ground by a single man. The incident beca a popular tale. And the result: the household’s honor was tainted beyond repair.
So to reclaim their fallen honor... The great household hired a new assassin...』
Clack.
Shin Seoyul furrowed his brow and rolled up the scroll before he could finish reading it.
“Seriously, couldn’t they just give the damn mission straight up instead of all this backstory?”
What a load of self-justifying crap. Was this really necessary?
Muttering to himself:
“In the end, it’s just about controlling the press, right?”
That was the mont Shin Seoyul rembered exactly why he hated the great household. They could drone on forever with their noble language. But the mission was simple: Kill a journalist inside the hotel who was exposing their incompetence.
Classic top brass move—dia control always ca first.
Hoo...
Letting out a short sigh, Shin Seoyul headed straight for the vault.
Inside were hundreds of gold coins, tinged with the faint tallic scent of age. He had stockpiled so much that even in a grim situation like this, the sight made him smirk.
‘I was supposed to just earn enough, retire, and buy myself a nice apartnt.’
But things didn’t go according to plan.
Trying to buy the apartnt too soon had landed him deep in debt. On top of that, he’d tried to “go clean” and start a new business—only to crash and burn.
Back then, to survive, he had no choice but to take out a bold loan. Well, not exactly a loan—he’d just received a fat stack of free money.
‘I thought a single mark would net tens of billions. Sounded like easy profit.’
Turns out, it wasn’t.
Grumble grumble grumble.
Mumbling complaints about his own misfortunes, Shin Seoyul headed into the heart of Gangnam.
A dizzying intersection. Towering skyscrapers.
The apex of 21st-century South Korea’s developnt.
And nestled between those modern monoliths, stood one utterly out-of-place hanbok shop.
A world-famous designer had apparently “redefined the future of hanbok” or whatever... But to Seoyul, it just looked like a fancy front for selling illegal military gear.
Muttering under his breath again, Shin Seoyul stepped inside.
“Welco. Are you here to browse hanbok? Or do you have an appointnt?”
A cheerful staff mber greeted him imdiately. Multicultural trends were all the rage lately, but having a blonde, blue-eyed beauty working at a hanbok shop?
It should’ve felt odd. But her smile was so dazzling, so warm—that any first-ti visitor would’ve naturally smiled back without realizing it.
But to Shin Seoyul...
‘This is insane.’
...it just felt like watching his close friend running so dumb business. All he could feel was disgust.
No matter how many tis he heard it, that fake-cheerful greeting never got any easier. How could she fake it so well?
Without replying, Seoyul simply handed over a single gold coin.
“I an, here I am being all polite and smiling—don’t you think handing over a coin without even saying anything is just rude?”
“Can you please just let in without starting a damn argunt?”
“Our Seoyul... I even wiped your butt back in the day.”
“Yeah, and I washed your piss-soaked blankets, rember?”
That heartwarming exchange behind them, Seoyul moved deeper into the hanbok shop.
“What, you’re coming too?”
“Well, I’m the barmaid. If I don’t go, who will?”
“You’re the barmaid? What about the old couple? They were running the place.”
“They’re off on a cruise now, traveling the world. Gotta enjoy retirent.”
“Hah... anwhile I’ve gotta kill soone in a hotel.”
“You’re... you’re seriously killing soone in a hotel? Inside the sanctuary?”
They got into the elevator and descended straight to the basent.
Ding.
A hidden level, not even shown on the architectural blueprints. Sub-basent level 2.
“Alright, bring out so makgeolli, ice floating on top.”
He wanted one last drink before heading off to kill.
Inside the vault, he was greeted by walls lined with firearms and bulletproof gear.
‘All this... just to kill one reporter?’
So much to prepare.
***
That was the end of the imrsion. The final scene was clearly a homage to the somlier sequence from John Wick.
‘He really called her “barmaid”?’
Well, it’s not wrong. If the West has somliers, Korea has barmaids.
It wasn’t incorrect—but sohow it felt so intimate. So uniquely Korean.
‘They say the most personal is the most universal, right?’
Recalling the words of a famous director, I tucked away the SIN-NEW Bullet script.
Maybe it only felt awkward because it used local terms. But from a global perspective, those very terms could feel refreshing.
And that’s probably why it scored S .
“But wait... does this an I’m filming three projects at once?”
And not just any three.
All of them were already signed on for sequels.
Assuming each film takes two years to finish—
‘I guess from my thirties onward, it’ll be all franchise films.’
It felt a bit bittersweet, like I was only making movies for the global market now.
Sure, I valued the love from fans around the world. But after focusing overseas for so long, I was starting to feel like doing sothing Korean again.
‘Maybe go on a variety show. Upload so stuff on YouTube.’
I wanted more ways to connect with fans.
Still, it wasn’t sothing I had to think about right now.
I’d already signed the contracts. All that was left was to finish the current work and move forward.
With that thought, I boarded the private jet.
The Super Bowl exhibition match had been great stress relief. Now it was ti to work again.
***
Director Jenker of ArcBorn. Right now—
“Wait, huh? I... I didn’t mishear you just now, right?”
“No, you heard correctly. He said he wants to bungee jump from a skyscraper. With a parachute, of course.”
The lead actor he had painstakingly secured was now suggesting sothing that might get him killed.
“...Okay but... why?”
“I want to pay homage to Iron Man. You know, the whole remote-control vibe. You get it, right?”
Oh, he got it. He got it all too well.
‘That’s the problem—I know exactly what he ans.’
Normally, you’d use CGI for sothing like that. No one actually does it.
Who dies while filming a movie?
CGI these days is terrifyingly realistic. There’s barely any difference between faking it and doing it for real.
Sure, it’d make a great behind-the-scenes promo. But you’re telling he wants to bungee jump off a skyscraper for that? That’s nuts.
‘Didn’t he cling to a moving plane in Tarzan or sothing?’
The actor had too many legendary stunts in his history. It was [N O V E L I G H T] hard to tell him no.
‘Felt fine when I tried it. I’ve done it before.’
How do you respond to that?
If the guy who wants to do it says he’s fine, what more can you say?
Sure, maybe the safety officer would intervene.
‘...But what if he gets replaced?’
ArcBorn revolved around Kim Donghu. As long as it wasn’t straight-up abuse of power, everyone just went along with it.
So in the end—
“...Alright. Let’s do it.”
“Thank you.”
Director Jenker lost to Kim Donghu’s bright, innocent smile.
Well, that was that.
“I also wanted to talk about the suit design.”
“Ah, right. The suit.”
Jenker imdiately moved to the next agenda item.
“The bio-suit becos more prominent in part two, so in part one, we agreed not to use CGI for it... Do you still feel the sa?”
“Yes, of course.”
Even the lightest suit would weigh over 10 kg. Basically armor.
But Donghu just brushed it off. He said he preferred wearing it—it made him feel more like a hero.
Plus, getting used to acting in the actual suit would help make his future CGI performances look more natural.
And so the ArcBorn shoot began.
Donghu’s acting chops were already proven. Director Jenker kept shouting “Perfect!” every ti he fild a take.
The actor and director synced perfectly throughout the production. Ti flew by as take after take got the green light.
“...Donghu. Donghu!”
During a short filming break, his manager—also Veritas CEO—Choi Seokho ca rushing in, panting.
Clearly sothing urgent.
And the next words proved it:
“...You’ve got a scandal!”
A major one.
“Huh? What scandal?”
“Just... all of them!”
“All of them?”
“Yes! All five! Every. Single. One. Scandal!”
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