In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 38

Inside a small theater in Daehak-ro [a district in Seoul known for its performing arts scene].

My teacher walked through the empty seats with a bewildered expression.

“When did you rent this place?”

“As soon as I thought of it… This was the only place available today!”

I set up the tripod below the stage and placed the camera on it.

Then, my teacher came up onto the stage.

“Seriously…”

I smiled at my teacher.

“Shall we practice first?”

“You’re really something.”

My teacher gave me a look that said, ‘Oh, really?’

I sat facing him.

Soon, silence fell, and the atmosphere changed.

My teacher’s eyes became calm.

I took it as a sign that I could start now.

I composed myself and slowly opened my mouth, and everything about Sun-im came to mind.

“Please tell His Majesty the truth. He is different from the Queen Dowager, so if you sincerely repent, he will surely forgive and embrace you.”

A face with graceful lines, eyes filled with kindness, thin lips that always made the right decisions, and even the surprisingly well-suited disguise as a man.

Sun-im’s voice, loyalty, affection towards me, and warmth.

All of those things came to mind at once.

I felt like I was meeting Sun-im again.

“Isn’t that why the Chief Eunuch was shaken as well?”

The eyes of the teacher, no, the Chief Eunuch, looking at me trembled.

The short film to be delivered to the production company…

If I had to pick the most important scene to include in it, it would definitely be ‘that day’.

The day the King found out that the Chief Eunuch was a spy.

The importance of the Chief Eunuch’s role that wasn’t in the script, Sun-im’s boiling emotions, the relationship between them and the King that was sufficiently highlighted even though it wasn’t in this scene, and the King’s character.

It was a section that condensed all of these things.

“You’ve been deceiving His Majesty and me all along! Say something!”

I couldn’t see the teacher in front of me anymore.

Only Sun-im’s anger settled inside me.

But the Chief Eunuch’s answer didn’t follow.

“…You.”

I snapped back to reality at my teacher’s words, who had stopped acting.

“Yes?”

Was something… wrong?

“You, I mean.”

My teacher paused for a moment.

“What did you do for a week?”

“Yes…?”

“A week. Only a week has passed since I last saw you, supposedly preparing for the audition. But how did you improve so much in that time?”

My thought process became tangled at the unexpected words.

What, what should I say?

“Ahaha. I’m just more immersed than before, right?”

I forced a smile like that…

“It’s not just a matter of immersion. Right now, your fingertips, toes, and every single glance are different from a week ago, as if you’re a different person.”

My teacher’s expression didn’t ease at all.

Cold sweat dripped down my back.

“It must be thanks to preparation and practice! Just like you taught me, Teacher.”

I said that and scratched the back of my head.

“You know it too, right? That you’ve improved… so much.”

“Ah…”

“Then that makes the reason for filming the short film even more understandable.”

My teacher nodded to himself in the silence.

Is that how it’s going to be?

“I understand your intentions and your efforts now. Now, I will also sincerely do my best.”

A determined look settled in my teacher’s eyes.

“Let’s start again.”

* * *

Inside the dark theater.

Under a small light, Han Sae-na recited her lines again.

“Please tell His Majesty the truth.”

And at that moment, Yoon Young-jae instinctively felt it.

The kid in front of him was truly special.

An actor different from others.

Whether he was a genius or an unparalleled hard worker.

He couldn’t know.

However, they say that effort is also a talent, so maybe this kid really is a genius.

Unlike when he was preparing for the audition focusing on the cross-dressing, now it was ‘a feeling of living entirely as a man and as a subject’.

Yoon Young-jae began to have confidence in the short film that he had been half-doubting.

Confidence that this child would break through the walls of reality called casting and audition.

And the conviction that he would become Sun-im.

* * *

The next day, in front of NBS [a Korean broadcasting station], at a grilled tripe restaurant.

Director Kang Jung-hwan of “Royal Flower” was seething, holding a soju [Korean distilled rice liquor] glass in one hand.

Colleagues sitting around the table snatched Kang Jung-hwan’s soju glass.

“Hey, hey. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened in this industry, is it?”

Kang Jung-hwan, already quite drunk, growled despite his colleagues’ dissuasion.

“That pain in the ass is driving me crazy. Even if it’s not these guys who are weighing their options, isn’t it obvious who we’ll have to match the level with anyway?”

Then, a colleague sitting next to him also poured a shot of soju into his mouth.

“That’s right… It’s all about name recognition anyway. Director Kang is right.”

“Knowing the situation in this industry and all. He’s the head of the bureau, he should be helping us get into production quickly, but instead, huh?”

Ding-

At that moment, an email arrival notification sounded on Kang Jung-hwan’s phone.

Kang Jung-hwan squinted and picked up his phone.

“…?”

“Why, who is it?”

A colleague leaned his face towards Kang Jung-hwan’s phone.

“Han Sae-na? Is she trying to ask for a supporting role or something?”

Kang Jung-hwan opened the email, found a video file, and frowned.

“What, what’s this again…”

In the roughly played video, an old male actor and Han Sae-na were doing some acting.

“What are they saying…”

The sound wasn’t clear in the noisy grilled tripe restaurant.

Kang Jung-hwan’s expression darkened.

“What’s with this situation, again.”

Then, even another colleague who had been doing something else picked up Kang Jung-hwan’s phone.

“Why, what is it? A PD [Production Director] hopeful?”

“No need to watch it.”

Kang Jung-hwan put his phone away and poured the remaining soju into his mouth.

“The head of the bureau and the actor, are they both trying to dry me up to death…”

After the drinking party broke up, at Kang Jung-hwan’s house.

Kang Jung-hwan threw himself onto the bed and closed his eyes.

But only for a moment, then he opened his eyes.

“Seriously annoying…”

Kang Jung-hwan opened the email sent by Han Sae-na again.

Was it because he remembered Han Sae-na’s overwhelming appearance at the audition?

This video was at least enough to pique Kang Jung-hwan’s curiosity.

“Do you really intend to betray His Majesty?”

‘Betray? There’s no such content in the script.’

“Please tell me, Chief Eunuch!”

Kang Jung-hwan’s brow furrowed.

“What Chief Eunuch. There’s no such thing in Royal Flower…”

Before Kang Jung-hwan’s mutterings could end, Han Sae-na’s emotions began to rise.

“You’ve been deceiving His Majesty and me all along! Say something!”

“…It’s true that it started as a spy for the Queen Dowager’s residence.”

An old male actor in front of him began to confess his sins.

“Then was all the sincerity you showed while serving His Majesty a lie? All those caring gestures?”

“It was at first. But…”

Kang Jung-hwan, watching the video, quietly began to fall into it.

“Do you know what my dream is?”

* * *

The next morning.

“Do you know what my dream is?”

‘Unbelievable.’

Nam Ji-hye, the writer of “Royal Flower,” raised one eyebrow and stared intently at the video.

The moment she played the video, Nam Ji-hye received a shock as if she had been hit in the back of the head.

‘Putting in a character that wasn’t even in the script?’

This felt like a clear challenge to herself, a veteran writer.

Nam Ji-hye reached out to turn off the video, but stopped for a moment.

“…I dared to judge that His Majesty, who has been weak-hearted since childhood, did not have the strength to do so.”

Yoon Young-jae’s sincere lines pierced her ears.

‘Why is this actor doing this?’

From Nam Ji-hye’s perspective, Yoon Young-jae was a name that anyone who knew theater couldn’t not know.

He doesn’t usually show his face in commercial films, but in the theater world, he’s a highly respected actor with almost no negative reviews.

“While watching His Majesty’s upright heart, which does not carelessly handle even the slightest thing or anyone, I regretted it.”

What on earth did the super rookie of the cable drama do to coax this great actor?

And for what reason did the great actor, known for his integrity, get involved in this video?

“Then please tell His Majesty the truth. He is different from the Queen Dowager, so if you sincerely repent, he will surely…”

Nam Ji-hye stared intently at Han Sae-na in the video.

She was not ordinary.

More than at the audition, she resembled the Sun-im she had imagined.

No, she even seemed like a Sun-im who had gained new vitality.

After the video ended, Nam Ji-hye leaned back in her chair.

“What are you?”

An incomprehensible video.

She could just ignore it, but the fact that Yoon Young-jae was involved made it worth watching, which confused Nam Ji-hye.

Besides, the existence of the Chief Eunuch.

‘He’s definitely a character that could exist.’

Strangely enough, because of this video, several scenes in the script began to fit together naturally.

Nam Ji-hye was already arguing with Kang Jung-hwan about the ending.

‘What should I say. Could this video provide a clue?’

The veteran actor’s deep acting amplified the persuasiveness of the lines, and the scene where the Chief Eunuch and the female lead revealed their deep inner thoughts and talked made the writer imagine many things.

Nam Ji-hye touched her temple.

“They wouldn’t have given me the video to reflect the setting in the work, would they?”

It looked like a lot of effort had been put into it, but it was clearly more than just requesting another audition.

Nam Ji-hye, who had been lost in thought for a moment, chuckled.

“Is it both?”

Nam Ji-hye took out her cell phone.

It seemed like she had to have another audition.

Even if it was just to resolve this curiosity.

* * *

The next day, inside the office.

Min-young unnie [older sister or close female friend] answered a phone call from somewhere and looked at me.

Then she twitched her lips.

“What is it?”

Min-young unnie kept silently giggling.

Finally, unnie lost her mind.

Have I been bothering unnie too much all this time…

“Unnie. I’ve been too attached to Royal Flower all this time…”

“They want to see you for another audition! Royal Flower!”

“…?”

Min-young unnie grabbed her phone and prayed.

“We must have been too desperate. They’re giving us this opportunity, right? Actually, I really prayed a lot.”

This was the first time I had seen unnie so excited.

Seeing that, I felt amused and bewildered.

I also thought, is this really happening?

Besides, in two days?

Isn’t this too sudden of a development?

“Hey, you quickly get dressed… No. Let’s just buy something on the way. Move quickly!”

Unnie pushed me out of the office.

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