Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 258

258. Turning Point (2)

July 16, 2022

Dating, you say.

Who and who are we talking about?

“Are you perhaps talking about me and Miss Ha-yan?”

“Yes. Who else would it be? It’s not like I’m dating you, right? But why are you reacting like that? Weren’t you two dating?”

“Dating? It’s nothing like that.”

“Huh? It looked like at least a strong flirtation to me? Uh… Did I make a mistake? Oh dear. My mouth is the problem. Please pretend you didn’t hear anything. Seon-woo didn’t hear anything!”

Kang-seok, seeing the genuinely bewildered reaction, tried to salvage the situation in his own way.

He was worried that he might have confused people who were doing well with unnecessary words.

However, Kim Seon-woo already seemed shocked by the unexpected remark.

Watching him, Kang-seok tore at his hair.

“Ugh, if Ha-yan finds out, she might try to kill me…!”

*

Kim Seon-woo’s change, which had been gradually shifting in the latter half, reaches a turning point here.

He realizes a state he was unaware of himself due to Kang-seok’s words.

“Uh… Seon-woo? Seon-woo?”

Kang-seok called out with a troubled face, but Kim Seon-woo was too out of it to answer.

Come to think of it, it was strange.

‘Was I… sticking so close to Baek Ha-yan that I looked that way to Kang-seok?’

He hadn’t realized it at all.

Before gaining the psychometry ability, Kang-seok was a well-known simpleton.

Now that he was somewhat accustomed to the ability.

Kang-seok had set his own rules.

Not to use psychometry unless it was related to an investigation.

Especially not on people around him.

Therefore, Kang-seok in front of him now had psychometry but was still as clueless as before.

‘But for Kang-seok to say something like this… it means I’ve been acting that strange….’

The only reason to meet Baek Ha-yan was one.

It was merely to check how far her investigation had progressed.

But….

-But is that really all?

A whispering voice is heard from somewhere.

-You know that’s not all, Kim Seon-woo. Why are you pretending not to know when you clearly do?

A voice that cannot be located.

The noise of the cafe and Kang-seok’s voice momentarily faded away, and nothing was heard.

Beeeee-

Only a long ringing sound echoed in the perfectly muted silence, disturbing the ears.

Everything flowed in slow motion.

Among them, only the whispering voice maintained its speed.

-You knew it was dangerous, too.

Did I?

I think I did.

-Baek Ha-yan is the only one who has approached this far. If you leave her alone, she will become a nuisance.

The voice whispering like the temptation of a snake is sinister.

-But.

-You don’t want to.

-Why on earth?

Voices echoing from all directions.

Kim Seon-woo’s eyes slowly closed.

Kim Seon-woo, who was nothing short of a paragon of rational human beings.

Being insensitive to emotions, he handled everything based on logic and evidence.

The fact that his first murder target was his father was also chosen for Kim Seon-woo’s extremely rational reasons.

‘A useless pawn. It’s more rational to quickly eliminate him in case he messes things up later in some way.’

There was no such thing as family affection.

In the first place, Kim Seon-woo’s father was not the kind of person to give his son affection.

Kim Seon-woo’s world was solid, firm, and moved in an extremely logical and reasonable way.

‘Murder was the only stimulus.’

A barren desert.

If I had to make a comparison, it would probably be something like that.

While others were lush with greenery and abundant nature, Kim Seon-woo had nothing.

In Kim Seon-woo’s insensitive world, the only thing that was stimulating was none other than murder.

‘Ironically.’

By killing someone, he indirectly felt alive.

The extinguishing life was one proof that there was life.

It was a contradiction, but that very mass of contradictions was Kim Seon-woo.

Baek Ha-yan slowly broke down that uniqueness.

Without Kim Seon-woo knowing, without her knowing. Slowly, slowly.

The impression clearly caught on his brow was slowly zoomed in.

“No.”

At that moment, all the noise burst out at once.

The mute, which was released in an instant, awakened reality.

“Uh, Seon-woo? Are you okay?”

Kang-seok’s face, surprised by the unusual appearance, was divided into several and blurred before merging into one.

-You’re not okay. You know that.

A chuckling laugh.

Kim Seon-woo answered, trying to ignore it with one ear.

“Seok-i. I think we should meet next time.”

*

He didn’t even know how he wrapped things up and came back.

Everything was confusing.

He hated alcohol, which he had seen his father rely on to ruin everything.

Kim Seon-woo felt like he was drowning in that alcohol.

It was as if the logic that had been neatly aligned was strangely distorted and twisted.

“I should have taken care of it.”

Neat lips spit out anxiously.

A persistent camera work moves from the tip of the toe to the top in order, licking the object [a film technique where the camera focuses intensely on a subject].

In any way, it was a well-dressed look ahead of a date.

However, the face caught in the angle was filled with nothing but anxiety, without any excitement.

“I should have eliminated her.”

Tok, tok, tok.

Well-shaped fingertips nervously tapped the table.

“Eliminate….”

The words he spat out were very cold and ruthless.

But strangely, the more he spoke, the darker the man’s, Kim Seon-woo’s, expression became.

As if he understood it rationally but could not accept it emotionally, as if he felt such a rejection.

In fact, it’s a simple task.

Killing someone was not a difficult task for Kim Seon-woo.

There was no need to worry like this, just kill Baek Ha-yan as it is.

‘There wouldn’t be many people who would think it strange that Baek Ha-yan disappeared. She has an image of sticking her head in all sorts of places even though she’s not an investigator.’

The current Baek Ha-yan was only a former investigator, not an investigator.

Despite that, she had a history of poking around here and there.

The process of investigating as a civilian was never smooth.

Thanks to that, even if she disappeared without anyone knowing, the number of suspects was so enormous that it was impossible to easily identify them.

Dealing with Baek Ha-yan was that easy.

But.

But….

“Seon-woo!”

A cheerful voice woke Kim Seon-woo.

Kim Seon-woo’s face, raising his head, was no longer confused.

“Oh, I’m sorry. The traffic was a bit heavy today… I went down to the countryside, and the traffic was heavy even on weekdays.”

“You must be tired. Then would you like to go in and rest today? We can see each other next time….”

“What are you talking about? I need to talk to Seon-woo to relieve stress. I struck out today. I thought it was a decisive tip….”

“…Wasn’t it the criminal you were looking for?”

“No. It can’t be such a clumsy guy. Sigh, thanks to that, I just gave a case to that jurisdiction. I thought I could definitely catch him this time….”

The tightly woven net that Baek Ha-yan had cast was gradually tightening around Kim Seon-woo.

“There are cases where subtle commonalities appear among the Type 1s [referring to a specific classification of criminals], so I thought it was this… I’m a little tired because I struck out.”

She droops her shoulders and takes a cool one-shot of iced coffee with three shots.

When I asked her what to do if she couldn’t sleep, Baek Ha-yan coolly said,

“When do I have time to sleep? I think I’m almost there, so I have to push it at times like this.”

“But as I always feel… there are so many human trash. The guy I caught and put in today killed his family, saying he would commit suicide together, and then lived leisurely with the insurance money? I’m really losing my love for humanity.”

“He’s a bad guy.”

“He’s a bad guy.”

Kim Seon-woo paused for a moment, looking at Baek Ha-yan nodding, and suddenly asked one thing.

“Could it be a misunderstanding?”

“A misunderstanding?”

“There may be circumstances.”

“Is there any circumstance for a bastard… no, a person who murdered his family for insurance money?”

“Maybe he really wanted to die together? But he may have failed.”

“Then it makes more sense to commit suicide again rather than live and get insurance money. Isn’t it a bit strange for someone who has sadly lost his family to change his name and region and live a new life?”

“…I couldn’t stand it in a place full of family memories and memories….”

A reason that sounds pathetic no matter how you listen to it.

Fortunately, Baek Ha-yan did not scold Kim Seon-woo.

Rather, she looked at Kim Seon-woo with sparkling eyes.

“You know. I keep feeling Seon-woo is good in these things.”

“Good…? Me?”

“Yes. You’re trying to show me the bright side of humanity no matter what. Aren’t you deliberately telling me this because I lost my love for humanity?”

“That’s….”

No.

That’s not it.

But here, Kim Seon-woo couldn’t say no.

Instead, he brought up a slightly different story.

“…Maybe there really is some reason. When I think about it, it seems that the value of life is felt heavily only for humans? Livestock is slaughtered for food… and no one says anything about killing insects. Not only killing them, but also making specimens. But no one treats making insect specimens as a criminal. When it comes to the value of life, shouldn’t everyone be the same? Why are only humans treated specially….”

“Seon-woo. Seon-woo.”

The continuous words stopped at the clear call.

Looking up, Baek Ha-yan’s eyes were roundly bent.

There was a gaze looking at something very lovely.

“Our Seon-woo is so kind and good that he seems to be worried. You don’t have to try to understand by attaching it so much. I think I said something wrong. What should I do?”

Unlike Baek Ha-yan’s misunderstanding, Kim Seon-woo was neither kind nor a person who only saw the world correctly.

“Don’t worry about it. If there’s a misunderstanding, I’ll fix it right away. But… this case isn’t like that, so you don’t have to worry too much. You’re wasting your worries on a human being who isn’t worth it. Um… shall we go for a walk outside instead of doing this?”

Although the purpose was different, Baek Ha-yan’s words were not wrong.

‘That’s right. I don’t need to worry about it.’

Kim Seon-woo had never doubted his actions.

‘It’s not my business what Baek Ha-yan thinks.’

But.

Even so.

Kim Seon-woo had no choice but to spout nonsensical sophistry.

The words he spouted like sophistry were nothing more than self-justification, but they were also words he wanted Baek Ha-yan to know.

Because he wanted to be understood somehow for his actions that might be revealed someday.

Fortunately, Baek Ha-yan seemed to have understood the words that didn’t make sense, saying ‘You’re too kind’ after seeing the solid mask that Kim Seon-woo wore.

“Let’s get up and walk a bit. To change the mood.”

“…Okay.”

The appearance of the two leaving the cafe was reflected in the glass window.

It was himself as always, but Kim Seon-woo looked at himself reflected in the glass window as if he were looking at a very unfamiliar person.

“Seon-woo? What are you doing?”

“It’s nothing.”

Strangely.

There was himself in the mirror looking for a reason.

The reason why Baek Ha-yan should not be eliminated.

Trying to find the justification for not killing her somehow.

Himself, who looks desperately different from usual.

*

“Actually, the romance between Ha-yan and Seon-woo wasn’t in the first synopsis. Up to killing his father, it’s similar to the pre-revision, so there wouldn’t have been any difficulty in building up the character. But since the rest was drastically overturned, Yeon-woo would have been unfamiliar with it….”

Song Jin-joo, who was looking into the monitor, suddenly rubbed her mouth seriously.

“Was there anything blocking you?”

Is it an NG [No Good, meaning a failed take]?

If you’re monitoring and asking if there’s anything blocking you, are you saying it’s blocked in a roundabout way?

“We will proceed with the filming again.”

The filming, which was in the middle and late stages of Season 1, was progressing smoothly until just before the last episode of Season 1.

In the meantime, quite a lot of stories have gained momentum.

First of all, there was Kang-seok’s story.

The anxiety that Kim Seon-woo had clumsily sealed, that the ability might disappear at any time, becomes stronger as he cooperates with prosecutor Do Gang-hoon.

This is because the desire for recognition is stimulated, and the fear hidden deep inside is further stimulated as a countermeasure.

Baek Ha-yan, who was making great progress in the investigation, encounters difficulties in an unexpected place.

Baek Ha-yan, who only knew how to investigate crimes, became the target of a crime.

From some point on, Baek Ha-yan recognizes a stalker who obsessively chases her.

At first, Baek Ha-yan hides the existence of the stalker.

She tries to solve it alone, but even that fails.

The existence of the stalker is revealed when Kim Seon-woo, who finds Baek Ha-yan’s behavior showing signs of anxiety strange, asks about it.

Kim Seon-woo starts moving to find the stalker instead of Baek Ha-yan.

‘This is… to gain Baek Ha-yan’s trust.’

If left as it is, it was obvious that Baek Ha-yan would self-destruct on her own, but Kim Seon-woo chases the stalker, deliberately attaching reasons to his actions.

And the scene I just filmed was the chase scene of that stalker.

“No, no, no. The one just now was very tense and good, why? And if you shoot that again now, our stalker will faint.”

Song Jin-joo was startled and waved her hand at the words to shoot again.

“Then…?”

Looking at her suspiciously, she clears her throat.

“No, it’s not that I’m saying let’s shoot again. This is not a typical romance anyway. A psychopath who didn’t know emotions at all chases a stalker for the other person. Right? I know Yeon-woo is a romance male lead who hit the jackpot, but this is a bit… a bit different in nature, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, just in case, I had prepared a lot to answer perfectly if you asked for feedback. But in the end, I couldn’t use any of that… Sigh. Some places have problems because they ask to be spoon-fed too much, but our actors are all smart and do everything on their own because they are adults….”

Song Jin-joo muttered in a very regretful tone.

Listening to those words, Yeon-woo recalled one memory.

Right,

-Ting!

[Conditions are met!]

[‘Understanding Intentions [A]’ is upgraded!]

Before entering into emotional acting in earnest.

It was the notification of the ability upgrade that suddenly came to mind.