In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 28

So that was today, captured in this gray tracksuit.

It was a concept approved after a heated discussion between the executives and staff of .

The makeup, which focused solely on highlighting her natural skin texture, made her look simple, almost bare-faced.

“Unlike before, it’s about healthy beauty and purity. That’s the main thing,” the makeup artist, who had been working on her makeup, said.

“I never thought a tracksuit could look this good. It’s vibrant and beautiful,” the camera assistant commented, smiling in her direction.

“Okay, shall we start? Just be comfortable, Ms. Saena.”

“Yes!” she replied.

With that, she slowly moved towards the set and stood on the marked spot.

The set for this scene was a cozy room with wooden furniture and a table.

The lights positioned outside the window streamed into the room, mimicking the warm glow of the setting sun.

Comfort was the key concept, the goal everyone was striving for.

She consciously adopted a posture, gait, expression, and gaze that were distinctly different from her previous roles.

This was the result of filming, reviewing, and refining her performance in the practice room for days.

The conclusion she reached after countless rehearsals was to simply be herself.

Not Yoo Ji-an in , not rising star Han Saena, but just the natural and relaxed her.

She swept a few stray hairs behind her ears.

And smiled brightly at the camera.

“Hi, cue!”

She got up from the sofa, stretched, walked to the refrigerator, and took out a bottle of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor].

After scratching the back of her neck, she sat at the table and poured the soju into a glass with a logo on it.

She clinked glasses with the Lego figure sitting across from her.

In that moment, while filming, she was so amused that she frowned slightly and laughed self-consciously.

Then, she downed the shot and stretched her legs out with a satisfied ‘Keah-‘ sound.

Finally, she held the soju bottle to her cheek and smiled shyly, feeling content.

“Cut!” the director called, and she burst into laughter out of embarrassment.

At the same time, laughter and applause erupted from the staff.

“Wow, this is really great.”

“I didn’t expect it, honestly. It’s a completely different vibe from the Yoo Ji-an concept; both are incredibly appealing.”

“Saena, did you practice a lot? All your movements are so natural.”

Even the director praised her.

“I’m sorry for laughing in the middle. It was just so funny at that moment.”

“Don’t be! Saena, I really like your laugh.”

The director replied while intently reviewing the footage.

“Me too. I think it’s better when you don’t act like you’re acting. It’s like the innocent and lovely Han Saena is shining through in her comfort zone.”

The camera assistant added his insightful observation and nodded in agreement.

“Thank you for seeing it so positively.”

“We don’t need many takes. Saena, just be yourself, like you just did, without feeling like you’re acting. It’s perfect.”

As the director gave his instructions, the staff began to bustle around again.

She responded cheerfully, “Yes, I’ll give it my best shot!”

* * *

Meanwhile, Kwon Min-young was observing Han Saena from among the staff.

‘That tough girl,’ Kwon Min-young thought, smiling as she sipped her coffee.

Every time Han Saena delivered a seamless performance in front of the camera, Kwon Min-young’s mind flashed back to the memories of the past few days.

‘Unnie [term for older sister or female friend], where is the most natural place to scratch?’

On the first day of practice, Kwon Min-young had stared at Han Saena, who was scratching herself all over, with a bewildered expression.

“Why are you scratching yourself like that…?”

That wasn’t all.

Han Saena had dragged a sofa to the center of the practice room and was engrossed in something, looking in the mirror, lying down and sitting in various positions.

She had wondered what that was all about.

It was too much for Kwon Min-young to simply laugh it off in front of Han Saena, who was lying down and rolling around.

But now that she thought about it, Han Saena had been researching the most natural and comfortable ‘looking’ posture.

She had been practicing so diligently to bridge the subtle gap between what is truly comfortable and what ‘looks’ comfortable on screen.

Moreover, throughout the few days that Kwon Min-young had spent with her, Han Saena had repeatedly shared her opinions with the PR team over the phone.

‘Didn’t a Lego figure appear in a Morning Dew commercial before? How about clinking glasses with a Lego?’

‘There will be a close-up of the hand, so how about painting my nails in the Morning Dew signature color?’

And so on….

The dark circles under the eyes of the employee she had met this morning were practically down to her cheeks.

“Saena, your passion is incredible,” the PR manager had said, taking a sip of coffee with trembling hands.

She must have been tormented quite a bit.

“That practice bug,” Kwon Min-young mused, taking another sip of coffee as Han Saena scratched her head in front of the camera in a somewhat comical way.

Kwon Min-young smiled, her eyes crinkling.

An actress who thoroughly approaches and prepares for even a single commercial in terms of acting.

She wondered if Han Saena knew that she was enjoying and feeling overwhelmed every day because the actress she had been waiting for and searching for was right in front of her, possessing both talent and a captivating personality.

Kwon Min-young was experiencing awe for the first time since entering this industry, awe for the abilities and personality of an actress.

And that too, for such a young actress.

Meanwhile, the PR manager, who had been briefly collapsed in a corner of the set, was also monitoring Han Saena’s performance and was deeply moved.

“Cut, okay!”

With the director’s okay sign, the staff let out the exclamations they had been holding back.

“Wow, I really want to drink [soju, after watching that scene].”

Everyone burst into laughter at the words of one of the staff.

“Her hands are so pretty too? Usually, they use hand models for this kind of thing.”

“I know. Morning Dew really made an amazing choice of model.”

At those words, the PR manager smiled slightly, covering her mouth with a clenched fist.

“Everyone, it’s me. I’m the one who pushed for Han Saena as the model.”

At the manager’s words, the staff laughed and applauded once again.

“Let’s move to the side,” the director instructed, signaling to shoot once more from a different angle, and the staff became busy again.

In that scene, which was shot once again, a sense of ease and enjoyment was embedded in every gesture of Han Saena.

It was truly a miracle tracksuit set.

“It’s working, it’s working…,” the PR manager muttered to herself, looking dazed.

When she had chosen comfort as the second concept, she had been pushing for the tracksuit, but she had been wondering if it would work, if it would look too much like a bum [someone who is lazy and unkempt]….

Moreover, she had been preparing for an additional pure concept shoot in case the risk factors of this concept backfired.

But now, it seemed like it would be unnecessary.

The PR manager repeated just one phrase in her heart: ‘We must renew the contract for the next season; this is it.’

With that, the PR manager made a firm resolution.

* * *

After the commercial shoot ended, it was the time when the sun was setting.

“Thank you for your hard work! Let’s wrap up!”

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard!”

“Saena, you’ve worked really hard today!”

The people on set exchanged warm words with each other and finished up.

Soon, the staff checked the footage and began to clean up the set.

Suddenly, as she was looking at the scene, a thought crossed her mind.

“Unnie, give me my phone,” she said, quickly approaching Min-young Unnie and urging her to hand it over.

“What are you going to do with it?”

She took the phone from Min-young Unnie and lay back on the bed, taking a couple of close-up selfies.

“What are you doing?”

“Just something.”

Her unnie gave her a look as if to say, ‘What is she doing,’ just like when she had first practiced for the commercial shoot.

“What can you see if you take a picture that close?”

“I’m taking it like this so you can’t see it. The commercial hasn’t been released yet.”

She wondered if she should upload these photos to the fan cafe.

It was a photo that balanced fan service for the fans and consideration for the company.

This kind of thing… doesn’t really suit her personality.

But still, isn’t this much what celebrities usually do?

“Unnie, take one picture with the set visible and one without. I’ll release the one with it visible later!”

After taking a few more pictures, she uploaded the photos using an app.

Having experienced the apps of the 2030s, she was amazed by the photo upload function.

“Really, every time I do this, this kind of thing is inconvenient…,” she muttered to herself, beginning to craft a caption to upload.

Um, something cute, cheerful, like that….

「Soju commercial shoot! The concept is a secret♡ Please look forward to Saena’s surprise transformation!」

“Done.”

Min-young Unnie laughed as she watched her.

“You’ve become a celebrity, Han Saena.”

As soon as she uploaded the photos, comments started pouring in.

‘Cute!’

‘Top star Han Saena! Commercial fairy, seriously.’

‘She’s really blown up. I’m looking forward to seeing what she’ll be like in the future. The commercial too.’

‘What is this? It looks like she got a huge commercial deal.’

She watched the fans’ reactions one by one.

“I’ll take you. Let’s go,” Min-young Unnie said, picking up the car keys, but Saena fixed her gaze on her phone and quickly waved her hand.

“Unnie, it’s okay. Drop me off at the practice room. I’ll go home on my own.”

“Another practice? You’re going to lose your stamina.”

Immediately, her unnie’s nagging began.

They were words full of concern for her.

“No matter what, you have to think about your body. Are you only thinking about succeeding quickly and not thinking about going for a long time?”

“Unnie, I’m so happy. I feel so good right now,” she said, shaking her phone at her unnie and showing her the fans’ comments.

“This is enough for me.”

At her words, her unnie let go of her arm that she was holding.

After arriving at the practice room, she simply stuffed kimbap [Korean seaweed rice rolls] into her mouth.

She was hungry after filming.

Looking at the mirror in the empty practice room, she felt different.

Hut-jja- [exclamation of determination]

She got up straight away.

The practice she was about to start was also a scene filled with the same lines as a few days ago.

“Those who used to report trivial flaws are now shaking His Majesty’s authority. Why do you intend to leave those who do not cover up their words!”

“How can you say such a terrible thing? This is the council. Please refrain from slander that is unrelated to state affairs.”

Once loudly, once high, then low, then softly, and then firmly….

She explored various modes, made sounds, and recited lines.

Repeating the same lines was not easy.

As she repeated it several times, her face quickly became wet with sweat.

After a while….

“Aigoo… [expression of exhaustion]”

She finally knelt down and collapsed to the floor.

Even while her whole body was exhausted, she tried to read the lines, but it was not easy on the sofa where she barely laid down.

As she looked at the script, perhaps because she was tired… the letters were not coming into her eyes at all.

Other thoughts were also cluttered.

By the way, what was the real problem?

Why couldn’t she remember this script, which was full of such interesting characters and lines?

As she became more accustomed to preparing for auditions, this question lingered in her mind.

The full script had not come out, and she had not read it all, but…

She couldn’t identify any major problems with the script.

Unlike after the 2020s, she had completely said goodbye to pre-produced dramas.

She was now more familiar with things she had not experienced and could not predict.

Moreover, it was a completely different situation from .

“Can I solve it…?”

A helpless murmur escaped her lips.

Drowsiness began to creep in.

She drank the coffee she had bought in advance and stood up again.

I will die as an actress, not a villain, in this life.