In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 54

Inside a darkened room.

Someone was sitting in front of a bright monitor, tapping away at a keyboard.

It was a young woman with short, bobbed hair.

The monitor was filled with windows related to Han Saena and Gyeol Flower.

「Title – Comparison of Short Film vs. Actual Filming Scene Frame by Frame.gif / Author – Master of Clip Editing」

– Wow, that was half a year ago?

– I understand what Lee Seokhyun meant ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

– I would have felt self-conscious too

– This is method acting

「Title – Beginner’s Guide to Girl Group Choreography (Link) / Author – Both Saena」

– There’s no way my actress, who was amazing since her rookie days, is a complete beginner

– Isn’t it better this way?

– The cute charm of a beginner is the truth. Please respect my taste.

– Get out, all you heretics who like anything other than sexy.

As soon as the press conference articles were released, Han Saena’s fan cafe was in a festive mood, receiving a wealth of content.

The promise of a short film and a girl group dance.

The fans’ cheers were bound to be enormous.

However, the woman, who had been staring at the monitor for a while, frowned slightly.

“Hmm.”

– Yoo Ji-anBootlicker: ……

Known as ‘Yoo Ji-anBootlicker,’ it was the nickname of a well-known named fan in Han Saena’s fan club.

Her real name, which no one knew, was Park Da-hye.

Park Da-hye, who had an expression of displeasure, stopped writing a comment.

And she opened a new window and began to write a post.

「Title – Viewership Encouragement Guide for Fulfilling the Girl Group Dance Promise / Author – Yoo Ji-anBootlicker」

It was a systematic guide posted on the fan cafe, containing various SNS promotion methods and the charm points of Gyeol Flower for real-life acquaintances.

“You have to properly promote good content from the start. Like this.”

In less than a minute, notifications rang with comments.

– You can’t just become a named fan.

– I’ll promote it diligently!!

*Encouragement 인증샷* [Proof shots of encouragement] began to appear like mushrooms after the rain below the guide post.

Park Da-hye smiled contentedly, as if finally satisfied.

* * *

On the way in the van.

I felt a vibration and opened my phone to see a text message.

– Noona’s [Older sister – a term of endearment used by younger males] fan cafe is going crazy?

It was Seon Yu-seok’s message after a long time.

Seriously, he goes into her fan cafe so often, even though it’s not his.

Don’t tell me he’s a member?

As soon as I opened the fan cafe after hearing Seon Yu-seok’s words, a gasp escaped my lips.

It was truly a mess, half festival and half promotion.

‘Our core fans… why are they so serious?’

Did they want to see my girl group dance that much?

It was the same with the flat shoes incident; I wasn’t that kind of image.

Or are they more enthusiastic because of the different image?

Besides, Lee Seokhyun was involved, so it seemed like his fandom had joined in as well.

– I highly praise actress Han Saena for bringing out our *oppa’s* [Older brother – a term of endearment used by younger females] dance.

– Making a top star dance, she’s no ordinary rookie. Achieve great success, Han Saena!

Etc….

They seemed to be praising me a lot for bringing out Lee Seokhyun’s girl group dance promise.

The two fandoms were even interacting with each other, sharing content to promote on community sites and SNS.

So this is how scary fandoms are.

I was sweating.

I had never had such an active fandom in my past life, so it was both amazing and bewildering.

I turned off my phone and looked out the window for a moment.

Are they really going to go to Yeouido Park?

No way.

At that moment, my manager stopped the car.

“We’re here. Have a good time. Don’t get too drunk.”

“Ah, I will!”

After getting out of the car and entering the restaurant, an unexpected scene unfolded.

“Wow, Ms. Soon-im! I didn’t know you were such a heavy drinker!”

“I know, the lotus pond scene was wrong. Someone who can handle a *royal liquor shot* [A strong shot of traditional Korean alcohol] without batting an eye. Should we reshoot it?”

The new ad for Saebyeok Dew was playing on the beam projector, and the staff were watching it without me.

“Ugh, everyone! No! Turn it off right now!”

Ugh, embarrassing.

People chuckled at my reaction.

Today was a company dinner where we rented out the entire restaurant.

It was a place to watch the first broadcast together.

People were joking around, but they seemed a little nervous.

I felt the same way.

At that time, one of the staff members opened his mouth.

“I’m so nervous. What will our viewership rating be?”

“About 10%? No, 7%? No, 4%…?”

Another staff member replied in an increasingly smaller voice.

Following that shrinking voice, the atmosphere gradually weakened.

Then, Director Kang, who had been sitting quietly, got up.

“Let’s not look at the numbers until dawn after our dinner today. It could ruin the atmosphere if we see it. I’ve been burned before.”

Huh?

People, including me, looked at Director Kang with puzzled eyes, but only the cinematographer chuckled.

He seemed to know the inside story.

“Director’s previous work was .”

Wow, Dreaming Flame.

How long has it been since I heard about that drama?

But I remember it being successful?

“It became popular by word of mouth after the middle, but the viewership ratings were a bit serious in the beginning.”

At those words, Director Kang narrowed his eyes as if recalling hell.

It was quite a funny sight.

If he had received the viewership ratings in real-time the day after the monitoring, he wouldn’t have been able to say anything to the actors and would have suffered in silence.

And his pride, which was about twice as high as others, would have been scratched.

“At that time, our director drank a whole case of alcohol, a whole case.”

At those words, people laughed loudly.

Then, Director Kang opened his mouth again.

“So today, let’s focus on the results and drink as much as we’ve worked hard. We have to run for another month.”

And so, people began to gather in groups of three or five to eat.

In the increasingly lively atmosphere, people only sipped their beer, and no one heartily gulped down their drink.

Everyone was thinking the same thing.

I decided to postpone getting drunk as well.

It had been so long since I’d monitored [watched the broadcast of a show] like this.

Usually, I missed the broadcast time because I was filming, or because I was always a supporting actor, I monitored alone at home on days without filming.

And it was always the monotonous and cliché villainess acting that I was monitoring.

While doing so, I researched how to appear as a slightly different character within similar villain roles.

‘Those were the days.’

As I was lost in emotion, a staff member shouted while looking at the screen.

“Oh, it’s starting!”

As if everyone had promised, they hurriedly turned to face the screen.

At this moment, even Teacher Yoon Young-jae, Senior Won Hye-rim, Lee Seok-hyun, and Heo So-jin, who had been quiet lately, all had tense expressions.

Soon, the drama’s splendid opening began.

Watercolor paintings of the characters were drawn against a beautifully colored Korean paper background, and the actors’ names were introduced.

In my turn, a scene was drawn where Soon-im wore official robes and tied her hair in a topknot, disguising herself as a man.

Pretty….

As I gradually became engrossed, the drama began in earnest.

After watching for a while, Teacher approached me and asked quietly.

“Good, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it’s good. What should I do, Teacher? I think I really love this work.”

Seeing it together with everyone made the overwhelming feeling even greater.

Teacher smiled at my expression.

“Yes, that’s an actor’s asset.”

Teacher’s face was also flushed as he said that.

It was the excited look of an actor as if they were just making their debut.

Even I felt my heart flutter at Teacher’s gaze.

The hour we spent watching flew by, and it was truly satisfying.

I could be sure that over a hundred staff members who saw the scenario had unfolded the same imagination.

The picture in my head was concretely realized.

At that moment, the staff’s laughter burst out at a certain scene.

It was the last scene, where Soon-im was caught by the king while exploring the palace on her first day.

As the king strode towards Soon-im, Soon-im was startled and stepped back.

Seeing that, even I felt embarrassed for some reason.

“Oh my, I don’t know where the acting starts!” [A playful comment suggesting the line between acting and reality is blurred]

The assistant director took a swig of beer and joked.

Lee Seok-hyun’s confident lead and my embarrassed appearance seemed quite amusing to the staff.

Lee Seok-hyun also started to tease from the side.

“Our Sae-na is really good at acting. Above all, she’s really good at acting embarrassed. Is this method acting?”

“Ugh, go away. What’s wrong.”

With that close-up shot of the flustered Soon-im, the preview for the next episode played.

As the drama ended, the art team and costume team, who were in charge of the flower and core of historical dramas, shouted as if deeply moved.

“Ah, it’s so pretty! This is what a historical drama is.”

“Senior, I think I’m going to cry. Sob, the costumes are so pretty even to me.”

A round of applause erupted for the art team.

“Good job, everyone! And the other teams too!”

I also smiled brightly and applauded.

Director also smiled brightly for the first time and raised his glass.

“Everyone worked so hard, let’s drink as much as we want today. To all of us who worked hard!”

“Cheers!”

The sound of glasses clinking echoed in the restaurant.

* * *

The next day.

“Ugh, my head.”

I drank too hard.

A late morning at home after a long time, and a hangover was the first thing to greet me.

It’s been so long since I’ve had such a heavy drinking session.

“What time is it….”

When I turned on my phone, there were congratulatory messages from people around me who had watched the first episode.

From Seon Yu-seok, the Flat Shoes staff and actors, and Professor Lee Seong-jin.

I smiled because I was grateful to everyone.

Knock knock-

Then, I heard a knock on the door.

“Daughter, are you awake? Come out and get some hangover soup.”

It was my dad’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in a while.

I rubbed my eyes and went out, and spicy bean sprout soup was on the table.

“Wow.”

I staggered over and sat down, immediately picking up a spoon.

“Tsk, how much did you drink.”

Unlike his words, Mom and Dad sat across from me, smiling and watching me eat the soup.

“Cough- Why are you looking at me like that….”

“We watched the first episode yesterday too.”

Mom said in an excited voice.

“It was so fun that we forgot it was our daughter in it, right?”

Dad added with a smile.

“You picked a good project, our daughter. I can see why you tried so hard to do it.”

“Hehe, of course. Who do you think I am.”

My mood improved so much from Mom and Dad’s encouragement that even the hangover seemed to disappear.

“It suddenly feels like you’ve become a full-fledged adult. It seems like you’ll do well no matter where I send you now. I’m proud of you, our daughter.”

My nose tingled at Dad’s sudden words.

“How embarrassing from the morning….”

Mom stroked my hair as if she knew my heart.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Ah, no.

I felt like I was going to cry, so I quickly lowered my head and drank the soup.

Mom and Dad’s warm embrace still often felt unreal.

At times like this, my past life in my 40s felt like a fantasy.

As if I had a long dream.

I swallowed my tears and looked at Mom and Dad’s smiling faces.

If I were the main character in a story, what kind of person would Han Sae-na be?

How old would I be?