In This Life, I Will Die As An Actress, Not As A Villainess [EN]: Chapter 97

-You didn’t expect this, did you? Ticket sales soared because of this incident!

“Huh?”

Is ‘because of’ really the right way to put it?

Following the Snowfall Award and the appearance on a major talk show, Rams’s social media became a hot topic, drawing a lot of attention.

But I really didn’t see this coming.

As soon as I read the message, my sister called.

“Sis, what’s going on?”

-I know, you handled the talk show well. Good job.”

“I’m worried about Chloe.”

Then and now, my only concern was her.

-Take good care of Chloe. She must be surprised. By the way, that guy must be fuming. He ended up helping you guys after pulling that stunt.

“…He got what he deserved.”

My sister chuckled at my answer.

-Oh, did you see Little Egg’s score?

“Yeah, I saw it right before the talk show yesterday.”

Little Egg is a movie review site that aggregates star ratings and scores from critics for the latest releases.

We’re already nearing the end of the second week since the premiere.

The creativity score for was 8.76.

Little Egg is known for being stingy with its scores.

So, 8.76 is a great result.

Moreover, it was 0.6 points ahead of , which was released in the same week.

-Oh my god, ahead of . Saena, you’ve done it!

“It’s just a score. The sales won’t even be close.”

-That’s obvious. Still, you’re up against Warners, who are pouring resources into all sorts of events and merchandise, and monopolizing the theaters, and you’ve got almost half their audience. That’s truly amazing!

My sister got more and more excited as she spoke.

I chuckled, listening to her rapid-fire words.

Is it okay to be this ecstatic in the morning?

I tried not to show it.

I felt so good that I laughed a little.

-Yeah. You should have laughed like that sooner.

“How’s Korea?”

My sister, Min-young, replied cynically to my question.

She was as tired and fed up with all the articles and comments as I was.

-What do you think? They’re all caught up in national pride. The talk about why you didn’t appear on Warners has disappeared, so it’s a win for us. Besides, I didn’t know that person would give such a generous score?

“That person?”

-Critic Sung Se-chan.

“Sung Se-chan??”

Sung Se-chan is the most famous film critic in Korea.

For a long time, Sung Se-chan has been a champion of Snowfall [a prestigious film award] as well as overseas film festivals and art films, introducing them to the Korean public who may not be familiar with them.

-Yeah, the ticket sales seem to have jumped even more after Sung Se-chan gave a good score. Isn’t it crazy?

I paused for a moment to think after hearing my sister’s words.

“Sis, this isn’t a dream, is it?”

-Why, does it feel like a dream?

“My life is changing so fast.”

In my past life, Sung Se-chan wouldn’t even dream of giving me a rating like this.

Besides, Sung Se-chan’s ratings were known for being very stingy.

-Anyway, you’ve worked hard. Hang in there a little longer and come back. Take good care of yourself.

My sister poured out all the good news at once and hung up.

* * *

But the satisfying news didn’t end there.

Two weeks later, with the start of the fourth week of release, I attended another talk show.

The Leo Talk Show, which I had been anticipating.

Unlike the last show, Leo came up to me before the cameras started rolling and cheerfully shook my hand.

I don’t know why I felt so grateful for this.

As the curtain rose, Leo skillfully delivered the opening remarks.

“The unquenchable flame! The family!”

The applause and cheers from the audience, who were not yet fully acclimated, poured out towards our team.

Leo brought up the news that I was most happy about.

“What’s going on, family? The number of viewers has been on the rise for four weeks!”

Director Raymond, who was sitting next to me, smiled contentedly.

“This is something we didn’t expect either.”

Usually, by the fourth week of release, the number of viewers decreases or stays at the level of the third week.

But was showing a noticeable upward trend, and the audience continued to grow.

Leo quickly rattled off the words.

“Who would have expected this! I’ve become a huge fan of this movie. So I can’t control my excitement right now. Isn’t this the power of art?”

Laughter erupted from the audience.

Leo sighed and looked at me as if he had calmed down a bit.

And he asked a new question.

“At this point, everyone must be wondering. Were there any interesting episodes during filming? Our Emily?”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the witty Leo.

Unlike the Abigail Talk Show, I answered with a natural smile.

“We can’t talk about our movie without mentioning the climax, the rain scene. It was a really exhausting day. Director Raymond needs to explain.”

When I looked at Director Raymond with meaningful eyes, Director Raymond coughed as if embarrassed.

Then Leo got excited and urged the director.

“Please explain!”

Then Director Raymond laughed as if he had given up.

“It was a day when rain was pouring down like a storm. There was even a warning. The rain in the movie background wasn’t from a sprinkler truck. I risked my position as director and went ahead with the filming that day.”

“Wow.”

At the same time as Leo’s surprised reaction, laughter was heard from the audience as if they were having fun.

“The sound director almost cried. In the end, I bought him drinks at the bar until my wallet was empty.”

As soon as the director finished speaking, I naturally added.

“But everyone would have regretted it if we hadn’t filmed that scene. Fortunately, the movie was completed thanks to that rain.”

Then Director Raymond smiled gratefully.

Aiden also naturally joined in and said.

“The director’s judgment was right, and thanks to Saena, the rain scene became the best scene. You saw her passionate performance, right?”

Leo nodded as if he already knew.

But then he made a serious face.

“Wait a minute, then I’ll just go over one question.”

“…?”

Chloe, who had bad memories of the talk show, looked nervous next to me.

What kind of question is it?

“How did both Saena and Aiden get offers from and at the same time? Isn’t this fate? Can’t we see the two of you together again? Even at Warners…?”

Finally, the perfect opportunity has come.

I can end the endless barrage of questions I’ve been sick of hearing.

‘Why did you give up Warners?’

I’m really about to bleed from my ears.

The short moment of less than a second to think about how to answer.

I quickly turned my head.

It could be a big deal if I put out a strange answer rashly.

People who like to distort things will say, ‘In the end, she didn’t like the Warners role, did she?’

I opened my mouth.

“After filming in Korea, I went to an acting workshop in LA with a fellow actor. I wanted to learn a wider range of acting. That’s where I met Aiden.”

Aiden also watched my expression and agreed.

Then Leo joked.

“You two went to learn acting? Not to teach?”

Aiden and I shook our hands at the same time to that question.

“There’s a saying in Korea: ‘You have to learn for the rest of your life, so it’s called ‘actor’.’ It’s a kind of pun, but I think that’s right.”

After hearing my answer, Aiden said.

“Actually, unlike me, Saena stood out from the first day of the workshop. I wanted to learn acting from Saena.”

I quickly shook my hand at that word.

“Aiden is always exaggerating. I was surprised to see Aiden. That great villain I only saw on the screen is my workshop classmate.”

Director Raymond gently intervened between the talks.

“Let me add a word, I was very embarrassed. Emily had her eye on Saena from the beginning.”

Then Leo opened his eyes wide.

“Really? That’s right.”

“Yes, I didn’t have any other actors in mind. But Saena was so noticeable at the workshop that she received an audition request from the team. And she even passed the audition.”

The director said this far and winked at me slightly.

As if to trust him.

The director looked quite relaxed.

I’m relieved.

“Even when I knew they were aiming for Aiden.”

The director pointed to his temple in an exaggerated manner.

“I thought it was over. I was about to stop filming.”

Then a faint laugh erupted from the audience.

“I thought I’d start by grabbing my friend Aiden’s pants. Unexpectedly, he said he had a relationship with Saena. So I almost begged.”

Leo burst out laughing on the spot after hearing the director’s behind-the-scenes story.

“Oh my god, a director who is watched by the whole world. It doesn’t make sense.”

The director shook his head as if to say don’t say that.

“These actors are so great.”

After hearing that, I joined the conversation again.

“I was persuaded because the scenario was good. In fact, the life of an adoptee in the United States was as far away from me as the fantasy hero in . But the ’emotion’ of attracted me. The director’s sincerity also acted as the last push for me.”

Leo looked at me with a soft smile as if he understood.

It was a perfect ending.

I gave the director a high-five in my mind.

Then Leo skillfully changed the flow of the conversation.

“I’m also curious about the Korean colleague who participated in the workshop together?”

“That friend is young. He’s a high school student, and he’s in Canada now to film the English version of .”

Leo nodded.

After this, the filming external episode continued.

That’s how the story went off for a while and then returned to the filming behind the scenes.

This time, Aiden, who received Leo’s question, answered for a long time.

“…Everyone made the table in the last scene together. From the director to the actors and the youngest staff. It was a very meaningful thing. Everyone harmonized like the theme of the movie.”

Then Leo asked mischievously.

“Then it’s a very precious table. Who took it after filming?”

From here on, it was the flow that was in the talk show script I received in advance.

I smiled and intervened and answered.

“I’m going to decide that with a game here today.”

“Okay, shall we start? Leo Talk Show’s patented game!”

Cheers erupted from the audience.