In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 121

After the media created a rivalry not just with Lee Nara but now with Seo Jaeyeon as well, some time passed.

With a restless heart, I headed to the script reading location.

SCBS Broadcasting Station.

I arrived early to focus and get into the right headspace, then opened the conference room door.

A large conference room with an entire wall made of windows.

I’d expected it to be empty, but someone was already sitting at one end of the table.

It was Lee Seonho.

Lee Seonho, who’d been quietly studying his script with the pouring sunlight at his back, heard the door open and looked this way.

The moment he spotted me, he rose from his seat and offered a polite greeting.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hello!”

After exchanging greetings, I glanced down at my wristwatch, slightly flustered.

Right now it’s an hour before the reading.

He came this early?

Lee Seonho must’ve had the same thought, because he smiled lightly and asked.

“You came really early.”

“Ah, yes….”

I sat down across from Lee Seonho while we exchanged greetings.

Lee Seonho kept his eyes on me the entire time I took my seat.

Feeling the awkward atmosphere, I sat down and pulled out my script.

When I glanced at Lee Seonho, our eyes met for a moment.

It felt strangely like looking at a celebrity.

Lee Seonho was famously known in the industry for being mysterious.

I’d heard he didn’t attend gatherings and had no close celebrity friends.

‘The number of people who hit on him and got rejected could fill a truck.’

I recalled something Sung Minhui had told me once.

A celebrity’s celebrity, through and through.

That’s what Lee Seonho had always been to me.

I slowly examined his face.

So this is what he looks like in person.

His face really is tiny.

His eyes without double eyelids looked sharp at first glance, but the gently upturned corners of his mouth kept his overall impression from seeming too cold.

The harmony between his eye shape and the corners of his mouth was quite attractive.

His skin was on the fair side, and his ears had a slightly unusual shape…

While I was appreciating(?) someone else’s face like that, Lee Seonho smiled and said.

“I saw you recently, Sena-ssi. In Hongdae.”

“Oh.”

Hongdae—could it be.

“Did you see the fan meeting?”

“Yes, I had a schedule nearby and caught it on the big screen while passing by. That whole area was paralyzed that day.”

“Ah… You saw that.”

I laughed awkwardly, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Then I muttered internally.

Please tell me you didn’t see me dancing.

“You were a great dancer too.”

Ugh.

“I got curious and looked up the broadcast.”

Lee Seonho chuckled softly.

Whatever, I give up.

“I’ve got a bit of a dancer’s spirit in me.”

At my answer, Lee Seonho laughed out loud.

“You have unexpected sides to you. You and Yu Dayang seem like a good match, don’t you?”

Lee Seonho naturally steered the conversation toward the roles.

His conversational skills radiated a certain depth and expertise.

“You haven’t seen the script past episode 10 yet, right?”

I asked Lee Seonho.

“No, I haven’t either. It feels like there’s something important in the later parts, but not knowing makes it even harder to focus.”

“Yeah, same here…. I asked the writer, but she’s not the type to give actors hints in advance.”

Lee Seonho nodded.

“It’s a difficult script. If it weren’t for you, Sena-ssi, I wouldn’t have even attempted it.”

“What? Oh, you’re being too modest.”

But Lee Seonho answered with a smile yet quite seriously.

“The writer must’ve told you the same thing, but I believe among actresses in Korea, at least, you’re the only one who can pull off this script.”

Hearing words like this made me feel at a loss.

“Such high praise…. I actually felt so reassured when I heard Seonho-ssi would be appearing.”

I meant it sincerely.

It felt like gaining a reliable captain while floating on the open sea.

Among top actors, Lee Seonho was a skilled performer whose acting ability didn’t get buried by his looks.

I continued.

“Actually, while reading the script, I thought the Kang Jio character would be just as difficult to pull off as Yu Dayang.”

At the mention of Kang Jio, Lee Seonho’s eyes showed focused interest.

Kang Jio, the character Lee Seonho would play, was a chaebol third-generation male lead who falls in love with South Korea’s top actress suffering from dissociative identity disorder.

In the script, Kang Jio formed various relationships with each of Yu Dayang’s personalities and did everything possible to help treat the woman he loved.

The reckless hyena Baek Jangmi who constantly targeted men’s bodies, hearts, and wallets, the intelligent lawyer Jung Sewoon who looked down on everyone with knives at the end of every word, the timid but charmingly quirky hikikomori Lee Eunje.

And finally, the mysterious personality Yu Hayeong whose identity remained unknown.

These personalities were all characters that Yu Dayang had absorbed from works she’d loved during her acting career.

To help Yu Dayang’s treatment, Kang Jio embraced all four of those personalities in his heart.

“Still, the Kang Jio character has some fun, bouncy aspects too.”

Lee Seonho said.

I agreed completely.

Usually when the female lead’s character is too outstanding, the other person gets overshadowed.

But in this script, the Kang Jio character held his own against Yu Dayang.

Kang Jio, who always acted cold as if you could stab him with a needle and not draw a single drop of blood, had just as many nicknames as Yu Dayang had personalities.

Total jerk, narcissist, arrogant bastard, son of a bitch…

And a murderer.

Kang Jio lost his grandfather—the only family member who truly cherished him—in an unfortunate accident when he was young.

The problem was that on the day of the incident, his grandfather, who’d been the head of a chaebol group, had died in Kang Jio’s place.

Cousins and adults who didn’t know the truth all blamed Kang Jio, calling him a murderer, and fifteen-year-old Kang Jio at the time shut his heart to protect himself, deciding to become indifferent to everything while carrying that huge trauma.

That’s how Kang Jio grew into an adult who couldn’t offer a single warm word to anyone.

Given this background, Kang Jio didn’t love Yu Dayang or embrace her condition from the start.

Kang Jio and Yu Dayang kept running into each other unintentionally, exposing each other’s vulnerabilities and bickering constantly before falling in love.

“I’m really looking forward to today’s reading, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, just thinking about squabbling with Sena-ssi already sounds fun.”

Lee Seonho smiled slightly.

Watching that smile, I thought briefly.

This person seems like a genuinely good person, better than I expected.

In our short conversation, I could feel traces of Lee Seonho thinking deeply about the project.

He seemed like someone who was more serious and passionate about his career than anyone.

Just then.

Buzz—

A notification sounded on Lee Seonho’s phone.

After checking it briefly, Lee Seonho stood up.

“I’m going to step out for coffee, Sena-ssi.”

“Ah, coffee?”

Should I get one too?

“I’d like some coffee. Let’s go together.”

Then Lee Seonho laughed, looking slightly flustered.

“I already ordered yours too, Sena-ssi. I bought a total of 40 cups for everyone coming today.”

“What?”

I looked at Lee Seonho in shock.

“How were you planning to carry 40 cups by yourself?”

“My manager hyung will help me carry them.”

“That’s too much for two people. I’ll help too.”

I hurriedly got up and followed Lee Seonho out despite his protests that it was fine.

* * *

In the elevator heading down to the basement cafe.

“Which Yu Dayang personality are you most looking forward to?”

“Baek Jangmi for me.”

“Right, the chemistry between Baek Jangmi and Kang Jio has a lot to explore, doesn’t it?”

“They’re probably going to fight like crazy, and there’ll be lots of romance scenes the viewers will love.”

Right, the bratty chaebol third-gen and the sly hyena who feels competitive(?) toward him, plus all the 19+ episodes that would follow.

A bit clichéd, but there’d be lots of entertaining parts.

This kind of pairing was the type of chemistry where actors would get excited first and create scenes all over the place.

While Lee Seonho and I were chatting away about the script like that—

Rumble—

The elevator suddenly shook violently with a loud noise.

“Huh?”

Startled, I pressed various buttons, but even the lights started flickering unstably.

Thud—

The lights went out instantly, and after one more impact hit with a thunk, the elevator stopped completely.

“Sena-ssi, are you okay?”

“Uh… yes. But the emergency call button isn’t working either. This is bad…?”

Lee Seonho pulled out his cell phone.

“The phone’s dead too….”

What on earth is happening.

I grew more and more flustered.

“My manager hyung will be waiting.”

“We’ll be able to get out before our reading, right??”

We both looked around anxiously.

My eyes hadn’t adjusted to the sudden darkness.

Just then, Lee Seonho turned on his phone’s flashlight and dropped it on the floor.

As the harsh light swung through the darkness, disrupting my vision….

I felt strangely lightheaded.

The elevator air felt a bit stifling too.

But then Lee Seonho, who’d picked up his phone, suddenly took one step, two steps toward me.

“…?”

Startled, I instinctively stepped back.

“Seonho-ssi?”

In the narrow elevator, I could only take a few steps before running out of room.

I backed against the wall and looked up at Lee Seonho….

Lee Seonho shone the blinding flashlight on my face from close enough that I could feel his breath.

Then he spoke in a low voice I’d never heard before.

“Who are you right now?”

…?

‘Seonho-ssi?’

I tried to call out to Seonho-ssi, but for some reason the words got stuck in my throat and wouldn’t come out.

Flustered for a moment, I looked up at Lee Seonho.

What’s happening.

But Lee Seonho smirked with a cold expression.

“Are you going to pretend you don’t remember again this time? It’s not like you have dissociative identity disorder.”

“…?”

Hearing that chilling voice…

I got pissed.

What the hell is this bastard saying.

“Back off a bit.”

When I spat out the words irritably, my voice came out this time.

What on earth is this.

“Unpleasant?”

“Obviously. Move back…”

“Right, it is very unpleasant when a stranger gets this close.”

Lee Seonho spoke to me in a lecturing tone.

Then he closed the already tiny gap even more and approached.

The faint scent of soap clinging to Lee Seonho’s body hit me sharply.

“So why does Yu Dayang-ssi keep making me so uncomfortable since last time?”

“…?”

What did he just say….

Lee Seonho’s words instantly short-circuited my thought process.

“Getting this close, confusing people, stealing wallets. And then pretending not to remember when we meet again.”

Only then did I see Lee Seonho’s eyes—as if he were possessed, or as if he’d become a completely different person.

“You really don’t remember me?”

“…”

“You called me a puppy instead of Kang Jio. Son of a bitch.”

“Kang Jio…?”

At my reflexive question, Lee Seonho—no, Kang Jio—answered.

“Does it ring a bell now?”

That’s when golden letters I’d thought would never appear again materialized before my eyes.

<Win Kang Jio’s heart!>

“What?!”

But as the mission content disappeared, new text appeared.

※ This mission has no reset function.

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