Episode 461 Prologue (4)

Kang Woo-jin screamed internally. He almost let it slip out loud.

If his stylist and team members had been in the same car, it would've been absolute chaos. Fortunately, they were trailing behind in another vehicle.

For now, he had to hold it in.

'What the hell??!' Woo-jin instinctively turned toward the window.

The weather was nice. Blue skies, a gentle breeze. For a brief moment, he escaped reality.

Then, slowly—very slowly—he turned his head back, forcing his eyes to focus on the phone in Choi Sung-geon's hand.

Maybe he had misread it. Maybe there had been a glitch.

However,

『CNM / Miley Cara Seen Leaving Kang Woo-jin's Home—Romance Rumors Spark / PHOTO』

The article was still there, bold and glaring. Proudly sitting on the screen as if mocking him.

Woo-jin's inner voice grew louder. 'What the hell is this??'!!'

He maintained his poker face.

"Hmm--."

With calm precision, he took Choi Sung-geon's phone. Not snatching—that would be too obvious. Instead, he casually lifted it from his manager's grasp, as if none of this was remotely surprising.

Then, silently, he scrolled past the shocking headline.

And began to read. Kang Woo-jin read the article.

Once.

Twice.

A third time.

It was short, but every word hit like a truck.

A dating rumor.

Between him and Miley Cara.

With photos.

There were two.

The first? A shot of Miley Cara leaving his house in LA—late at night.

The second? A close-up of them standing in front of the house, engaged in what looked like a deep, intimate conversation.

It was obvious. These weren't posed. They weren't staged.

Someone had taken them in secret. It was raw. Unedited. Unfiltered. Real.

But the article itself?

『CNM / Miley Cara Seen Leaving Kang Woo-jin's Home—Romance Rumors Spark / PHOTO』

Not even a question mark.

Not "Are They Dating?" or "A Budding Romance?"

Just a straight-up confirmation.

'Fell in love??!! They're not even asking?! They're just declaring it!!??'

Woo-jin racked his brain, recalling all the celebrity dating rumors he'd seen in Korea.

They usually went like: ➡️ "There seems to be a pink atmosphere between them..."

➡️ "Sources speculate that the two may have feelings for each other..."

But this? Hollywood doesn't do "maybe."

Hollywood is all or nothing. Either you're dating, or you're not.

No in-between. No gray area. Just like Hollywood itself, the industry had a "no-fucks-given" policy.

Even Woo-jin, who's seen some shit, was taken aback.

'What kind of journalist wrote this?!'

Confusion turned to amusement. Because, let's be honest—this was a huge scoop.

Kang Woo-jin. The Korean actor shaking up Hollywood.

Miley Cara. The global top star.

Together? Dating?!

The internet was probably imploding right now.

Woo-jin barely had time to react when Choi Sung-geon, who had been watching him closely, finally spoke.

"Woo-jin."

"...Yeah."

"You're telling me this photo is from that night? When we had dinner with Miley and her manager?"

A tiny flinch. Barely noticeable. Woo-jin nodded, forcing calm.

"...Yeah, that's right."

"Haah—damn. I know the paparazzi are relentless, but I didn't expect them to tail you all the way home." Choi Sung-geon sighed, rubbing his temples.

"I let my guard down because it was late. That's on me."

"No, I didn't notice either."

"Tch. Just look at this nonsense. These reporters are beating the drum, playing the drum, and dancing to their own damn music."

Sung-geon scrolled through the article again, muttering to himself.

'Still... Now that I think about it, this isn't completely off. There was... an atmosphere between them sometimes. Something a little... ambiguous?'

But he needed to know. He needed to hear it from Woo-jin himself.

Carefully, he asked— "Woo-jin... Just to be clear. What exactly is your relationship with Miley Cara?"

That hit like a brick to the chest.

A direct question. No dodging. No fluff.

Woo-jin blinked. Because, technically...Miley Cara had confessed to him.

But with both of them being insanely busy, things were still undefined. They weren't just friends anymore, that's for sure.

But were they... dating?

Before Woo-jin could answer, Choi Sung-geon let out another sigh and shook his head.

"Never mind. We can talk about that later. Right now, we need to handle this article."

Woo-jin exhaled. Crisis delayed.

For now.

"···No."

Silence. Choi Sung-geon blinked.

"...Wait. You're just going to leave it alone?" Woo-jin nodded, his expression unreadable.

"Yeah."

"No, why?!"

'Why?' Because he didn't really want to deny it.

The article was wrong. A misunderstanding. But for some reason... Woo-jin didn't like the idea of correcting it.

It wasn't love. Not yet. But whatever this was—it wasn't nothing.

"For now, I'll just stay quiet. No response."

Sung-geon stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Woo-jin. If we leave this alone, the media will explode. Whether in Hollywood or Korea, this will be a full-blown scandal. And if you don't deny it, it's basically an admission."

Woo-jin knew that. But denying it now?

It felt like... rejecting Cara. And that wasn't the message he wanted to send.

The logical thing would be to deny it, clear things up, and call Cara afterward.

But right now? Kang Woo-jin was choosing instinct over logic.

"I don't want to give the media or public opinion anything to feed on."

He leaned back, his voice calm.

"For now, we stay quiet."

A beat of silence.

Then—"······Okay. I get it."

Choi Sung-geon narrowed his eyes but smiled to himself.

'Yeah... there's something going on between those two. This article might not be so wrong after all.'

Meanwhile—Inside Universal Movies' Reading Room

The room was huge. A massive square table dominated the center, surrounded by dozens of people. Hollywood actors. Producers. Staff. Executives from Universal Movies.

And standing out among them—Joseph Felton. The black giant himself. The executive producer of 'John Persona'.

"Hahaha-."

Felton let out a low chuckle as he scrolled through his phone. The article was everywhere.

And the reactions? Loud.

"Is this real??"

"There are even photos. It looks pretty solid."

"Wait—Miley was at Woo-jin's house?! When the hell did that happen?"

"Nah, two photos aren't enough proof. We know how the media works."

"I agree. Half the time, these reports are wishful thinking."

"...Still. They look good together. And leaving the house late at night?"

The script reading hadn't even started—And the entire room was buzzing about Kang Woo-jin and Miley Cara. After all, the male lead of John Persona was Kang Woo-jin.

Of course, everyone was hooked. The Hollywood rumor mill was already in overdrive.

And Joseph Felton? His smirk only grew deeper.

'It broke out late.' Joseph Felton leaned back in his chair, scrolling through the article again.

He thought back—Miley Cara's first trip to Korea. Her exclusive YouTube appearance with Woo-jin. Woo-jin featuring on her new album. The Cannes Film Festival. Beneficial Evil.

Now, Beast and the Beauty.

Those were just the big moments. Between them? Countless smaller ones.

Could anyone really call them just colleagues or friends?

'No way.' Joseph had seen it coming. The way they interacted—it had an undeniable undertone.

Real or not, the atmosphere between them had always been... different.

And honestly? They looked good together.

"Looks like congratulations are in order."

Joseph's smirk deepened—just as a shadow loomed over him.

Danny Landis. The Hollywood mogul and director of John Persona adjusted his round glasses, peering down.

"What do you think of this article?"

Joseph chuckled, tapping his phone.

"Well," he shrugged. "The pictures look good." Danny snorted.

"Kang Woo-jin already has a mountain of issues surrounding him. And now, this scoop-level dating rumor?" He glanced at the buzzing reading room.

"This is going to shake things up even more."

For a man who had seen it all, even Danny Landis looked impressed.

Joseph glanced around too— The entire room was vibrating with whispered speculation.

Danny sighed.

"We need to calm them down before Woo-jin gets here." Joseph nodded.

Time to set the tone. He stood up, his deep voice cutting through the noise.

"I know you all found something entertaining, but let's calm down." The murmurs softened.

"When Kang Woo-jin arrives—not a word about it."

Silence--

"This is a John Persona script reading. Let's keep it that way." The message was clear. They weren't going to rattle Woo-jin over some Hollywood gossip.

Joseph sat back down, watching the energy in the room shift.

20 Minutes Later—The Storm Walks In The door swung open.

A figure in a brown padded jacket stepped in.

Kang Woo-jin. A wave of greetings erupted.

Woo-jin nodded, responding with his usual cool indifference. But as his gaze swept the room—He saw it.

A mask over every single person. They knew. Of course they did. The article was everywhere.

Actors. Producers. Crew. All trying—and failing—not to let their faces betray their curiosity.

*Swoop—*

Woo-jin scanned them like a predator.

'They're dying to say something.' The twitching mouths said it all.

Then—Danny Landis, ever the professional, broke the tension.

"Shall we begin?"

A beat of silence. He gestured toward Woo-jin.

"Let's start with actor introductions. First—Kang Woo-jin."

Woo-jin straightened, his voice unshaken.

"Hello. I am Kang Woo-jin, playing the role of John Owen."

And just like that—

The script reading began.

Meanwhile—Elsewhere in LA...

Chaos. A major Hollywood agency's meeting room was in uproar.

"What the heck!! What the heck!!"

Looking inside the fairly spacious interior, there were five or six foreigners and a blonde woman sitting on a chair. It was Miley Cara, her legs crossed leisurely. She was looking at her tablet, and on the screen, an article about their relationship was being displayed. Then, the main manager with half-shaved hair continued to shout.

"Correct this nonsense right now! Miley! Contact Kang Woo-jin!!"

The other foreigners were equally angry. Cara then smiled faintly and replied.

"Jonathan, don't do that."

"What?? What are you talking about??"

"Just don't do anything."

"That doesn't make sense!"

"It's true that I like him."

"So you like Kang Woo-jin... Huh? W-What?"

It was very shocking.

"I already confessed to him."

A few hours later--, in Japan.

It was afternoon in LA but early morning in Japan. A large concert hall in Tokyo, Japan. A concert by a Korean girl group was scheduled for today in this concert hall with tens of thousands of seats.

So, the girl group members were gathered in the largest waiting room of the concert hall.

They had to rehearse from the morning.

What was unusual was the woman in the loose black hoodie, who was one of the girl group members.

"······Ah."

While looking at her phone, she suddenly dropped the iced Americano she was drinking on the floor. As a result, the contents spilled on the floor, and the surrounding team members were surprised and clung to the woman. The woman's eyes were wide open as if they were going to burst. The surprised team members shouted.

"Hwa... Hwa-rin, what's wrong?! Are you hurt??!"

The woman was Hwa-rin, who was extremely obsessed with Kang Woo-jin, and she lost her mind while reading the articles about their relationship on her phone.

"Dream—"

News about Kang Woo-jin's romantic relationship was already spreading like wildfire in Korea and Japan.

"Yeah. This is probably a dream."

But it couldn't be a dream.