In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 128

A moment later.

Jung Se-eun was listening to the zookeeper and handing out food to the alpacas.

Kang Ji-oh watched from the side, smiling contentedly at me.

But then.

Suddenly, an alpaca spat.

A thick glob of spit flew and landed right on my face.

“…?”

I stared at the alpaca, dumbfounded.

Kang Ji-oh, flustered, took out a handkerchief and wiped my face…

And then, I burst out laughing again.

Kang Ji-oh started laughing, trying to stifle his chuckles.

At that, Jung Se-eun got completely angry and threw down the handkerchief.

“Does Ji-oh think it’s funny when I look like an idiot?”

Jung Se-eun walked away.

Kang Ji-oh stopped laughing, panicked, picked up the handkerchief, and followed after Jung Se-eun.

“No, that’s not it! I, *chuckle*.”

Kang Ji-oh kept chuckling.

Jung Se-eun quickened her pace, and only then did Kang Ji-oh stop laughing and grab her arm.

Jung Se-eun glared at Kang Ji-oh.

Kang Ji-oh said calmly.

“I think it’s fun to see Se-eun enjoying herself.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to be perfect here. It just has to be fun.”

Then, Jung Se-eun lowered her glare.

“Geez. You’re so smooth with your words.”

“Huh?”

“I guess I can’t give you to anyone else.”

“…?”

Jung Se-eun suddenly changed the subject.

“Baek Jang-mi and Lee Eun-jae are both gone, too? Did you make that happen, Ji-oh?”

Kang Ji-oh looked at Jung Se-eun blankly, a little surprised.

“Ji-oh, you’re amazing. They’re incredibly stubborn.”

“They cooperated well.”

“I guess they liked Ji-oh that much.”

Jung Se-eun smiled slightly.

Kang Ji-oh looked down at Jung Se-eun, his face a little uneasy.

“Are you… going to leave too?”

Jung Se-eun chuckled, looking at Kang Ji-oh.

“What would you do if I threw a fit and said I wouldn’t go?”

“…You wouldn’t do that.”

“Yeah. But I don’t want to beg to stay longer by borrowing someone else’s body. It’s beneath my pride.”

“….”

Jung Se-eun looked at Kang Ji-oh seriously.

“The fact that I’m the best match for Kang Ji-oh hasn’t changed. But even so, since you’re going this far…”

Kang Ji-oh bit his lip, facing another farewell.

“I guess I have to disappear.”

“Se-eun.”

“Disappearing doesn’t mean disappearing. It means merging into the main personality.”

“Se-eun-ah.”

Kang Ji-oh called Jung Se-eun’s name with a slightly pained expression.

“Don’t call me so affectionately. It makes me not want to leave.”

“….”

“And let me give you a piece of advice. About Yoo Da-yang. Break it off with her quickly.”

“What do you mean?”

Kang Ji-oh looked down at Jung Se-eun, a little surprised.

I was also surprised to hear unexpected words.

“Because you’ll have to break up with her someday too.”

Kang Ji-oh stared blankly at my face as I spoke incomprehensible words.

I couldn’t understand it either.

What on earth is she talking about?

“Well then. I’ll leave coolly from here.”

“Se-eun.”

“Goodbye, Kang Ji-oh.”

“Goodbye….”

In a corner of a sunny amusement park, Jung Se-eun said her last goodbye.

* * *

‘(3/5)’

I sat on a bench, staring at the golden letters.

Kang Ji-oh was out buying ice cream.

The time I’m staying in this script world feels unusually long.

Since it’s not looping and the story is progressing straight through, I’m getting more attached.

I felt a little sad at the thought of leaving the script.

Like the personalities who left Yoo Da-yang’s body one by one, I also had to say goodbye to Kang Ji-oh.

Just then, Kang Ji-oh came and sat next to me with ice cream.

“What were you thinking about?”

Kang Ji-oh asked, handing me the ice cream.

I couldn’t bring myself to give an honest answer to that question.

Kang Ji-oh must be having a hard time continuing to say goodbye too.

“I was thinking I’m a little tired.”

I answered like that and took a bite of the ice cream.

“Sweet.”

Kang Ji-oh ate his ice cream next to me without saying anything.

“Se-eun said something strange.”

“?”

“She told me to prepare to break up with you too.”

“….”

Kang Ji-oh looked at me with a serious face.

“Yoo Da-yang. You’re not going to leave me, are you?”

Kang Ji-oh looked very anxious as he said that.

I chuckled at those words.

“Where would I go? I’m a top star in Korea. If I disappeared overnight, the whole world would be looking for me.”

Hearing my boastful answer, Kang Ji-oh looked a little relieved.

“I guess that’s a good thing.”

Kang Ji-oh took another bite of his ice cream and said.

“I found that driver.”

“?!”

I looked at Kang Ji-oh in surprise.

“Did you meet him?”

“Yeah. Before coming here. As expected, he was someone who was bribed by my uncle. But.”

Kang Ji-oh looked pained.

“It wasn’t an accident. My uncle told him to kill both me and my grandfather.”

“What?”

What on earth.

“I survived a prearranged scheme. The driver was scared when the accident actually happened, so he ran away.”

“Ji-oh, are you okay?”

“I’m okay. I survived thanks to my grandfather. The problem is that I feel so sorry for my grandfather… and I can’t stand being so angry at those people.”

“….”

I hugged Kang Ji-oh without a word.

“Ji-oh, it must be so hard.”

Kang Ji-oh weakly hugged me and lowered his head.

My heart ached.

How could such a terrible thing have happened to such a person?

I think I now truly understand why Kang Ji-oh always treated the people around him coldly and kept them at a distance.

He must have had no choice but to make that choice because the people around him and his heart kept getting hurt.

I felt so sorry for this man who always had only three choices in life.

Hugging me, Kang Ji-oh reached out and stroked my hair.

“You even know how to comfort me like this. You’re impressive.”

“Geez. Do you think I’m a kid?”

I grumbled, but hugged Kang Ji-oh even tighter.

* * *

The hospital counseling room I visited after a few days.

I came after being called by Nam Woo-hyuk.

“What’s going on?”

I sat facing Nam Woo-hyuk, but somehow Nam Woo-hyuk’s expression was unusual.

I sat down feeling uneasy, and Nam Woo-hyuk opened his mouth.

“Da-yang, you….”

“Huh?”

“You said you don’t remember your childhood well, right?”

“Ah, yeah. Why?”

It was a bewildering question.

Why is he suddenly bringing up the story of Yoo Da-yang not remembering her childhood well?

“Since when did you want to become an actress?”

“Probably since I was in elementary school?”

I recalled the contents of the script I remembered and answered.

“Do you remember why you wanted to become an actress?”

“Just because it looked fun. The life of an actress also looked glamorous somewhere. I hated being from a poor family.”

Nam Woo-hyuk continued to ask absurd questions.

Answers came out of my mouth without me realizing it.

It felt like Yoo Da-yang’s personality was intervening a little.

Hearing the answer, Nam Woo-hyuk hesitated for a moment, then looked at me with a determined look.

And then he told a strange story.

“Da-yang-ah.”

“What on earth is going on?”

“The last personality, Yoo Ha-young.”

“…?”

“Maybe that personality is the main personality.”

For a moment, my head went blank.

I felt like my thought circuits were cut off.

Silence flowed in the counseling room.

“What are you talking about?”

“Literally. Yoo Ha-young may have created you….”

Nam Woo-hyuk couldn’t finish his sentence.

I shook my hands, overwhelmed with shock.

“Are you saying I’m a created personality…?”

Was this the setting written in the second half of the script?

I couldn’t believe it.

Nam Woo-hyuk continued.

“It’s just a hypothesis. But I think this is probably the answer.”

At that time, my cell phone rang in my bag.

I just listened to the sound for a moment and then took out my phone.

It was Kang Ji-oh.

I answered the phone as if possessed.

-Hello? Da-yang, are you listening?

“….”

-My memories have returned. All of them.

* * *

“I remember. That day…. You said to me, who wanted to run away anywhere, that you wanted to live glamorously like the actors on TV. You were sick and tired of being poor. You were tired of others treating you carelessly because you didn’t have a dad, your mom was a restaurant cook, and you didn’t have any friends.”

Kang Ji-oh looked at me with complicated eyes and asked.

“So you created Yoo Da-yang?”

“Is that what you remember now?”

Yoo Ha-young inside me, who had emerged and was listening to Kang Ji-oh’s words, asked calmly.

Kang Ji-oh wiped his face silently.

He looked as distressed as I was now.

Kang Ji-oh stared at me again for a long time.

In those eyes, there was affection, pain, longing, and all the emotions he wanted to escape from.

He looked sad.

“I should have been better to you.”

Kang Ji-oh said quietly.

“I should have made things less difficult for you. So I should have helped you carry some of your burdens.”

“….”

“Then you wouldn’t have become like this now.”

What kind of person is Yoo Ha-young to Kang Ji-oh?

I suddenly wondered what Kang Ji-oh’s heart was feeling so much pain.

At that time, Kang Ji-oh murmured as if he had heard my curious thoughts.

“You were my only friend. You were my precious person who protected me from my family several times on difficult days.”

Both Yoo Ha-young and I listened quietly to those words.

It’s already been quite a while since I’ve been living as Yoo Da-yang.

Is that why?

Seeing Kang Ji-oh’s heart aching so much because of Yoo Ha-young made me feel strange.

I felt an indescribable sense of powerlessness.

I thought Kang Ji-oh was my person.

I thought I was the closest to him than any other personality.

And I thought I was naturally the main character….

There was no room for doubt….

Everything was wrong.

“I don’t know how to treat you now.”

Kang Ji-oh was confused.

Yoo Ha-young, who had been silent for a while, asked.

“Do you love Yoo Da-yang?”

Kang Ji-oh’s pupils trembled.

“….”

I could feel Yoo Ha-young getting hurt as she watched Kang Ji-oh not answering easily.

“I woke up after being asleep for 10 years because I missed you, Ji-oh. But you’ve fallen in love with another personality I created….”

Kang Ji-oh couldn’t answer and lowered his head.

And after a long time, he barely asked.

“Do I have to let Yoo Da-yang go?”

“What?”

“She’s been living in your body for over ten years. Yoo Da-yang takes up half of your life. Is there no other way?”

“…….”

Yoo Ha-young stared at Kang Ji-oh without a word.

“You bastard.”

Yoo Ha-young turned around.

* * *

As soon as I got home, Yoo Ha-young disappeared.

My whole body felt drained and weak.

I sat down on the sofa as if lying down and closed my eyes.

Thoughts chased each other’s tails.

So, is the ending of this work, and my end, the extinction of Yoo Da-yang?

I was angry.

I lived in place of Yoo Ha-young for more than ten years, and now you’re telling me to disappear?

Yoo Da-yang fulfilled all the life and dreams that Yoo Ha-young wanted.

The other personalities also gave up their lives for Yoo Ha-young and left.

This situation felt so unfair.

Knowing that she has to disappear, can Yoo Da-yang choose a beautiful farewell with Kang Ji-oh?

Am I being too greedy?

“Sigh….”

I needed to get out of immersion [stepping out of character].

“I’m not Yoo Da-yang.”

I muttered out loud.

I’m Han Se-na, not Yoo Da-yang.

If I go outside the script, I have to play all five personalities.

I shouldn’t take sides with one personality.

‘Do you love Yoo Da-yang?’

But suddenly, Kang Ji-oh’s expression when he received Yoo Ha-young’s question came to mind.

That expression that gave Yoo Ha-young a sense of betrayal.

That expression kept me from getting out of immersion.

Then what happened to the mission?

The number is still 3/5.

Why isn’t it over?

Kang Ji-oh loves both Yoo Da-yang and Yoo Ha-young.

Is it because the problem between Yoo Da-yang and Yoo Ha-young hasn’t been resolved yet?

Because Kang Ji-oh is confused…?