In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 66

Four days later.

The filming was already down to the last two climax scenes.

As expected, the short film shoot left a lingering sense of regret.

Inside the pension, the four of us—me, Kkot-byeol, Jae-hyung, and Won Hye-rim—sat around the prepared table.

The rest were all dead and gone.

I picked up the camcorder I had prepared and shone it on each person sitting at the table, one by one.

I focused the camcorder on Eun-chae, played by Kkot-byeol, and asked,

“What do you want to do? Shall we split the money and leave?”

Eun-chae shook her head, as if uninterested.

“I really came here to die. I don’t need the money.”

Huh Young-shil, sitting next to her, scoffed at those words.

“What’s so hard for someone so young? Do you even know what dying is?”

Eun-chae stared at Won Hye-rim with a blank expression.

“That psycho bitch. I’m most scared of women like you. I’m glad I didn’t have kids. What if they grew up like that?”

Having said that, Huh Young-shil suddenly frowned and grabbed her neck.

“Cough. Cough…!”

Huh Young-shil suddenly had a seizure and collapsed to the side.

“Gack… Gack, gack…”

Veins stood out on Huh Young-shil’s neck.

“No… way…”

Huh Young-shil stopped breathing with her eyes open.

It was instantaneous.

I silently picked up the camcorder and recorded Young-shil’s dead body.

Then Jae-hyung asked.

In Yoo Joon-ho’s voice, devoid of any emotion.

“Why are you so obsessed with the camera?”

“I have to leave a record.”

“Why?”

I took my eyes off the camcorder and looked at Yoo Joon-ho in front of me.

“At first, it was simply a desire to let people know. But it’s different now.”

“….”

“I need to leave evidence of what murderers like you have done.”

Silence hung over the table after I finished speaking.

Yoo Joon-ho started laughing like crazy.

The low laughter that echoed was eerie.

“When did you find out?”

Yoo Joon-ho asked, sounding genuinely amused for the first time.

Without answering, I captured his laughing face on the camcorder.

Yoo Joon-ho laughed to his heart’s content and then said,

“Aren’t the people who died here so stupid?”

“….”

“They could have died protecting their pure desire to die, but they die for money. Without even knowing whose money it is, or why this money is here.”

Yoo Joon-ho hit the nail on the head.

A question that no one had asked while blindly chasing money.

“Do you know?”

Yoo Joon-ho didn’t answer my question.

He just stared straight at the camcorder and pulled a knife out of his pocket.

“I wouldn’t know.”

It meant he wasn’t interested.

His interest and purpose, the reason he came to this pension, was simply to commit murder.

Yoo Joon-ho flipped the table over.

Eun-chae let out a short scream next to me.

At that timing, I dropped the camcorder on the floor.

I raised my hand and counted down, folding my fingers.

‘5, 4, …, 1.’

“Cut, okay!”

I shouted okay and picked up the camcorder.

The actors who had been watching our performance from inside the room rushed out.

“Everyone, you worked hard!”

“Wow, it ended too quickly. What a shame!”

“Hye-rim, I really thought you took drugs. It’s scary.”

While everyone was exchanging closing remarks, Yuri asked.

“Now there’s only one cut left, right?”

I nodded at her words.

“Shall we all go outside and film this scene together?”

The scenery of this island was scheduled to be included in the last cut.

I wanted to finish this short journey together.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

“Shall we all stay on the island for two more days? It’s such a shame.”

Jang Hee-young threw out a wish that couldn’t be fulfilled, as if she was really disappointed.

“I have a schedule, senior. I’m sorry.”

“I have to go back now, oppa [an honorific term used by women to address older brothers or male friends].”

“Oh, everyone’s so busy!”

With that, everyone chatted and left the pension.

As if to decorate the finale of the last cut, the island was showing off the brilliant sunset descending in the distance.

It was a spectacle.

For a moment, everyone looked at the sky without saying a word.

* * *

Two weeks later, during lunchtime at a certain company.

People were gathered in groups of three or five, watching Han Se-na’s video uploaded to iTube [a fictional video-sharing platform, similar to YouTube].

At the point where Jang Hee-young died, someone reached out and paused the video for a moment.

“Isn’t this crazy?”

“Wow, it’s creepy.”

“Who turned this on? Manager Kim? Where did you find this?”

“I just clicked it because it was at the top. I’ve never seen this channel before either. In the Bazooka…?”

“Everyone, shh! Press the play button quickly!”

* * *

At the same time, in a run-down PC cafe [internet cafe].

Male students in school uniforms, who seemed to have skipped school, were gathered in front of the monitor from broad daylight.

The video was playing on the monitor in a seat piled high with cup noodles.

“You said that trust is as good as poison here. How can you trust me after saying that?”

Seon Yoo-seok, who had somehow found the key and locked the door, smiled brightly at Won Hye-rim.

Won Hye-rim’s eyelids fluttered, filled with anger.

“That acting is amazing.”

“Shut up, you bastard.”

As soon as one male student exclaimed, he was cursed at.

“We were on the same side. Huh? You said we’d go out and live together. You said you liked me….”

Won Hye-rim began to cling to Seon Yoo-seok.

When Seon Yoo-seok made a face as if it was impossible, Won Hye-rim said as if she had made up her mind.

“Then hug me one last time. I’ll give up the money. I’m a lonely person, you know…….”

As she got closer, one step at a time.

Won Hye-rim suddenly took out a knife from her pocket and stabbed Seon Yoo-seok in the stomach.

“…!!”

Seon Yoo-seok collapsed to the floor without even screaming.

Won Hye-rim snatched the warehouse key from Seon Yoo-seok.

“I told you, trust is poison.”

* * *

Half a day later, inside the subway.

Several people were watching the same video.

Towards the end, the table where the four of them were sitting was overturned, and the camcorder fell to the floor, crackling.

Screams echoed over the black screen.

People who were immersed in the video were holding their breath and watching the screen, without even checking which station they were passing.

After a while, the screen in the video brightened, and the bluish dawn was showing the pier.

A ship was coming in the distance.

Footsteps were heard over the screen.

The footsteps grew louder and louder, and then the screen blacked out and the credits began to roll.

“Ah, so who is it! Whose money is it!”

The person watching the video forgot that they were on the subway and shouted.

And then, realizing it, they covered their mouth.

The people on the subway heard the sound and chuckled.

Other people who were watching the video also watched until the end and hurriedly opened the comment section.

-This was 35 minutes long. It really felt like 10 minutes.

-The immersion is really the best. Director Han Se-na, please debut.

-Give us the next episode. You’ll give us a part 2, right?

-It would be fun to make a series about what happens on this island.

As the subway rattled and arrived at Sindorim Station, the people who had been spacing out hurriedly packed their bags and got up.

* * *

Back home again after a long time.

How long has it been since I’ve laid on this bed?

I felt like the cold wind I had suffered on the island was still seeping into my bones.

As I enjoyed the fluffy blanket, the group chat notifications rang incessantly.

-Yuri: I just had a feeling, everyone.

-Hee-young: What is it?!

-Yuri: I really just had a feeling.

-Seon Yoo-seok: What is it, what is it!

-Jae-hyung: Yuri, you talk too much.

It seemed like everyone had been checking the number of views and video comments in real time.

Yuri began to focus people’s attention like the Pied Piper.

-Yuri: I have a feeling that this… won’t just end with us having fun.

It was truly a bombshell.

Yuri is quite confident…?

I admired her inwardly and watched the group chat conversation.

-Hye-rim: Hey, don’t get these people’s hopes up! Especially Jang Hee-young! She won’t be able to sleep from today.

-Yuri: I’m serious, senior. I have a good feeling about this? I think people will like it more than I thought.

-Kim Eun-seo: But I agree with Yuri. Above all, there will be more interest in Won Hye-rim and Jang Hee-young’s appearance.

-Seon Yoo-seok: Then are we… going to film a CF [commercial film]? Pension? Package tour?

-Kim Eun-seo: Are you kidding me?

I could feel that Kim Eun-seo was genuinely dumbfounded.

And that was the same for me.

Suicide travel package, are you kidding me.

-Hee-young: I’m nervous….

-Jae-hyung: Hey, what does Director Han think?

Jae-hyung, who had been reacting cynically all along, sent a rabbit emoticon with sparkling eyes.

Seriously, these people.

I couldn’t help but laugh because they were all so cute.

It was true that the reaction was better than expected, so I was secretly in a good mood.

I was just watching, but I paused for a moment to think about the question that came in.

I slowly typed.

-Hmm… I honestly don’t know about people’s reactions. However, if they give it more attention, I want to hear that it was a work worth making with the combined efforts of rookie actors and famous veteran actors.

Then the people in the group chat sent emoticons of clapping.

-Seon Yoo-seok: Wow, you’re really like a director?

-Kkot-byeol: You’re cool, unnie [an honorific term used by younger women to address older sisters or female friends]!

-Hee-young: I only trust our Director Han ^^.

I suddenly felt burdened and turned off the screen.

I laid down for a while and looked at the ceiling.

After a while, I turned over again and turned on iTube.

Every time I went in, the number of views and comments was snowballing.

My heart was pounding slightly at the unexpected reaction.

* * *

The next day, a small office.

A man was buried in a pile of documents.

It was the title written at the top of the document.

The man rubbed his neck as if in pain and opened his laptop.

Then he went to iTube and randomly played videos.

It was a routine that most people who worked in creative fields had.

When something is blocked, you watch something.

After skipping through the videos a few times, a strange short film-like video came out.

The man carelessly looked into the video….

“1 million views? In 24 hours?”

The man was horrified and checked the ID of the person who uploaded the video.

‘In the Bazooka’

It was an ID that I didn’t know what it meant.

The man put his finger down from the mouse and began to watch the video seriously.

While watching for a while, the man let out an exclamation as if saying, ‘Look at this.’

“It’s pretty good.”

The video was a short film, and the quality was very unexpected.

Technically speaking, it’s not very good, but in terms of content, it’s a very good video.

The video was filmed in a narrow place all the time, as if it was a limitation of the location and budget.

In addition, there were unexpected appearances of various actors.

“Won Hye-rim, Jang Hee-young, Han Se-na, Jung Yu-ri, Kwon Jae-hyung…. And even masked rookies.”

The man was lost in thought.

“It’s an overall psychological thriller… Why is the combination so good? Did they know each other originally?”

Against the background of BGM [background music], which seemed to be taken from free sound sources, the actors were showing off their acting skills that would overwhelm it.

The sharp power struggles between the characters, the escalation of conflict, and even the nuances of the dialogue that resolved it.

As soon as the video ended, the man clicked on the uploader’s channel.

This video was the first and last video on the channel.

The number of comments was already over 3,000.

-The content is the most interesting, but the actor lineup is also a lineup. It’s much better than the movies that are currently showing in theaters!

-Seon Yoo-seok is handsome.

-I’m not used to seeing it from a strange perspective that seems like I’m peeking. But I keep watching it. I feel like I’ve become a voyeur.

-Hello, this is Create, a production company. Please contact us.

From film production officials to broadcasters of other genres, they were showing a wide range of interest.

The man frowned slightly and made a serious expression for a moment.

Then he picked up his phone and made a call somewhere.

“About the original content, there’s a video you need to see quickly.”